We go through life encountering the common and uncommon. Those things we understand are taken at face value and we keep moving through our day. Then there are those events or mysteries we encounter that leave us with questions…all kinds of questions. How do we know what to ask to get the answer we seek? Truth is, sometimes we don’t.

When our Mom was fighting a cancer diagnosis, she faced a last surgery. The surgery was long…and we waited with anxious hearts. When the surgeon appeared to speak with us, he said she had come through the surgery well and was in recovery. He said we should go home and get some supper. By the time we returned, he thought we could see her. That didn’t sound bad, did it? My brother’s house was just a few minutes from the hospital, so we went to eat.

When we returned, one of Zan’s friends came. He and Zan were doing their fellowships at this same hospital. We waited and waited…so Zan’s friend, Jack, offered to go back and check on Mom. When he came back, it was not good. Zan went on back too.

Mom had survived the surgery but…the surgeon did not prepare us for what we found. Without going into details, it was extensive. There were things we didn’t expect and that were just awful.

After surgery when the surgeon came out to speak to us, we had two doctors and a cardiac intensive care nurse with us. He knew he could speak the truth to them…they would understand…two of them were family members too…But the way he spoke to us in no way indicated we needed to question him…so why ask questions? 

The truth is, we cannot find the truth without knowing what to ask. Jewish children are taught to ask good questions. That the good question is more valuable than giving their teacher the correct answer. Totally different from our perspective. 

For example, a Western perspective asks, “Why did God allow that to happen?” What does this do? It questions the goodness and integrity of God. But an Eastern mindset would ask, “What is God doing?” Not question His goodness, but look for His working out of all things.

Let’s stop ourselves before we speak. Let’s consider what we say or ask. Let’s begin to seek the “good questions” that lead to Truth. His Truth.