Unanswered Questions

Unanswered Questions

By Clayton Adams One of my idiosyncrasies to deal with stress in my life is to walk into a bookstore and wander around for a couple of hours and look at books while drinking coffee. I do enjoy my coffee! Stress is a silent killer even though it gives warning signs. Unanswered questions lead to great stress if they are not properly handled.

One of my working pleasures was working with what was at one time, the largest trucking company in the nation and having started at their home office in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I transferred to West Memphis. One of my job functions was to help drivers solve problems they encountered while they were on the road. Problem solving, asking questions and developing the ability to listen are three vital skills I learned while in the trucking industry. Having heard the call into the ministry, I left the business with many unanswered questions.

Moving here from Green Bay was a hard struggle at first as we left both sides of the family in Green Bay and knew no one here at that time. We found a church and stayed at that church for almost twenty years and were part of the ministry team. It is a very good church and yet when I left to pursue nursing, I had many unanswered questions.

After a few years of visiting folks in hospitals, nursing homes and in their homes, my interest in nursing was piqued. I left ministry to pursue a nursing degree – my goal was to be a Registered Nurse and work in an emergency department. I believe God opened a few doors and allowed me one of the highest pleasures and a humble honor in my life to serve at the former Crittenden Regional Hospital in the emergency room. The medical knowledge and experience I gained is priceless but it was the interaction with people, sometimes at the worst moments of their lives I truly value. The day the hospital closed, I was there and what a sad day it was – I left the hospital with many unanswered questions.

Friend, even though we ask questions of ourselves, of others and of God, rarely do we receive the answers that truly satisfy our souls thirst for answers.

The Bible does have the answers to the future, for eternal life, to live a good, righteous and productive life, how to get along with other people, but, the Bible does not provide all the answers. I have many unanswered questions and I am sure you do to.

Jesus, I believe for our benefit, asked the greatest question while hanging and dying on the Cross, “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46) I do not see specifically where His question was answered in the Bible, but one day I know all of our unanswered questions will be answered. This is why we call our belief in Christ, faith.

In the letter of Hebrews we read “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Jesus commended His disciples at that time for following Him (because they saw Him in the flesh and could talk with Him) but Christ blessed those that follow after Him having never seen Him! It does take faith to follow Jesus Christ and sometimes that faith gets injured along the way. Spiritual injuries present themselves as questions such as “why have You forsaken me?” Faith is made stronger through our many unanswered questions. Use the Bible for its purpose – to guide you to eternal life, for righteous living, to learn how to forgive others, to be about the Father's work and to help another in need and know that one day your unanswered questions will be answered.

As Jesus committed His soul to God the Father, so must we! His example is found in Luke 23:46, “Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit.” I urge you to commit your Spirit into His Hands along with your unanswered questions too. Will you?

Clayton Adams is pastor at Earle First Assembly of God. You can e- mail him at cpalaa@ yahoo. com, or find Earle First Assembly on Facebook.

‘AWord from the Pastor’