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It seems so convenient that many preachers are blessed with revelation on some of the most pleasing and popular parts of scripture. I wish I could be released by the Holy Spirit to only preach on the things that are most appetizing to those who may listen. Instead, I find myself puzzled by the difficult, and dare I say “problematic,” passages of scriptures. This leads me to investigate portions of the Bible that challenge what I know about God, and cause me to question what I value, understand, and believe.
Maybe that is why some do not take the adventure to study these parts of the Bible. It’s not that God has not released them, but they have not released themselves… released themselves to question, debate, and ponder. It is a brave and even stupid thing to question. Brave to question yourself, and stupid to question God.
When you refuse to investigate the difficult to understand, and seemingly contradictory portions of scripture you make a decision to question God, and not to question yourself. You question God in that you can’t understand why He has allowed this to be in scripture (because it contradicts what you want God to be), so you doubt its significance and relevance by not not studying it, processing it, and eventually sharing it. When you do investigate these types of passages you make the brave decision not to question God, but to question yourself.
Ask yourself this, “Am I willing to change what I believe if my search leads to a conclusion other than what I already have,” or “Am I going to already conclude what I believe about God and then search the scripture until I find something that brings me to that conclusion?” Can I say, that perhaps that is how heresy is born? By questioning God and not questioning yourself. The Bible is a tool that God should be using to form us, not something we should be using to form God.