Hiding from the answers

Why is it that we hide from the very one who can answer our questions?

I went to the beach the other day with my family. We are a family of three; myself, my wife, and our daughter who is 4. We have a good time together just the three of us, but we decided to take along a playmate for lorelai. It is a wonderful thing to be able to actually have a conversation with my wife while the children entertain each other. The playmate that went along with us is in the question asking phase. He is hilarious. The questions range from an accusing why, when he wants to know the reason for something he's not sure he likes to the questions of the thousand umms. Its kind of like a teenager who, like, you know, like, uses, like a thousand, like, likes to say, like, you know, like anything. Its interesting how different personalities handle the different questions that come our way. I have no problem with the accusing whys, but the thousand umms drive me crazy - just say it already. My wife on the other hand thinks the umms are hilarious and has complete patience with them, but the whys are just to controlling for her.

I was reading through Genesis 3 this morning and when I got to the end of this third chapter I found myself asking more questions then I could answer for example: How could Adam have meet all the animals in one day? Why did it take sin for Adam and Eve to notice that they were naked? Why did it take a fruit from the tree of life to sustain eternity in man? Etc.

Sometimes when I have these questions I find them turning into doubts and I noticed that doubts start to make me withdraw from God. Even as I was praying in my journal I stepped back from calling him father to just calling him God as I was wrestling with these doubts.

Then I realized that I was doing the very same thing that Adam and Eve had done. When they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they realized they were naked. First they hid from each other by sowing together fig leaves to cover themselves and then they hid from God when they heard him coming.

Hiding from God is really rather pointless. First of all he knows where we are and second he is the one who can take care of our need anyway. When he finds Adam and Eve he is the one who clothes them with skins instead of fig leaves. Even though they do have to face the consequences of their sin even in the midst of the curse the promise for redemption is in the same breathe. Gen 3:15 one of the seed of Eve, the messiah, with crush the head of the serpent, the devil. So even at the entrance of sin and its curse the promise of redemption is provided.

The same is true of my questions. Instead of letting them becomes doubts and disbelief driving me into the darkness of hiding from God, I can bring them to God and find the answers that he has for me. I didn't get the answers to all of my questions this morning, there are still things I don't understand. But I'm not going to get them if I hide from the only one who can answer them whether it is now, later, or in eternity.

When Lorelai's little playmate had his questions he didn't run away down the beach he ran to us...the ones who had the best chance of giving him an answer. I'm glad that he did, umms included. I believe that God, our heavenly father, will be glad we come to him with our questions as well.