An Ecclesiastes Moment

Just a short blog post while I'm working:

Ecclesiastes 1:1-4
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

I'm having an ecclesiastes moment right now.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author laments about the meaning of life, and how despite all his wisdom he finds things meaningless. He questions everything: the existance of God, the futility of man, and everything in between.

Right now, I have a thousand doubts in my head. I'm having doubts about everything: about God, about Church, and about Life. You may ask: what happened to your childlike faith? What happened to Obedience? What happened to your unwavering faith in God?

It is gone, missing, thrown out the window. Or not quite. Rather, this phrase sums up what I'm feeling right now: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!

As Christians, we are often taught to believe without questioning, and to quote the famous phrase: "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it."

It is not as simple as that. Faith is a journey, and in that journey is a road full of doubt. To say that "I believe and I believe" but having not questioned anything is utter folly. Faith matures when doubts are thrown at you, but you come out of it stronger than ever.

I find a thousand questions bombarding me right now: Why does a good God allow suffering? How do we know eternity is real? Is there heaven and hell?

Friends, how would YOU answer these questions?

I asked myself that, and I find I do not have adequate answers. Recently, a blogger questioned why the church has invited Benny Hinn. And I didn't have good answers. It irks me, irritates me.
I'm not saying that I've never asked myself those questions before, but it's just that the answers I had no longer satisfied me. So for the next few months, an urgent task for me will be to read and write on these existentialistic topics. How can we reach out if we ourselves aren't sure of our faith?

The bible says that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". But the Word must also "be like a seed sown on good ground." Yes, we may have a measure of faith given by God, but we must nurture it, and guard it. We must seek out the answers ourselves, be it from the Bible or from other sources.

God is not stupid. He made us to be inquisitive by nature. We are not made for blind obedience. We have a yearning to know the unknown, to seek out the truth. He said, "Let us reason together." The Bible says: "Let us seek Him where he may be found." The answers are out there for us to find.

So let us seek out the answers. Let us ask tough questions. Faith is not blind obedience, but it is believing that in the midst of asking those tough questions, God will show us the right answers. Read, write, ask, do whatever it takes.

Faith is believing that God controls all knowledge, and that He will lead us in the right way.