I love God who asks me questions.

God is not a Zeus-like god who demands and threatens and sends lightning bolts. God who I love stoops down and asks me questions.

When Hagar is fleeing in fear from the mistreatment from Sarah, God asks her, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” Genesis 16:8. Doesn’t God know this already. Shouldn’t God already know about the mistreatment? Does God care that Hagar was being mistreated? Yes. The question he asks is giving Hagar a chance to tell him what is going on. God is interested in Hagar’s bad situation. He want to hear from her.

God asks Elijah the same question twice in 1 Kings 19, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9, 13. Elijah just had this public victory on Mount Carmel (read 1 Kings 18, it is a great story), but then Elijah becomes afraid, runs away, and ends up hiding in a cave at Mount Horeb. God doesn’t immediately lecture Elijah or give him a new assignment. He asks a question. A question that gives Elijah placement. Like the question to Hagar. The question invites you to stop the fear and locate yourself before God. This placement helps you find the next step when fear has led you to where you are now.

God asks Abraham a question about his wife, Sarah. “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’” Genesis 18:13. Again, doesn’t God know this already? Haven’t Abraham and Sarah prayed and prayed and prayed for a baby? At that moment and getting that question, I’d want to punch God in the face and say, “Have you not heard any of our prayers?!!!!!” The answer in that moment is, “Yes.” Because God asks another question in v. 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” So God did hear the many prayers, and the answer is yes. God came near personally to Abraham to tell him the answer and ask another question.

God asks Moses a question. “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. Exodus 4:2. Couldn’t God see what was in Moses’ hand? Of course, he could. What is God doing here?

Adam is asked, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:9) Cain is asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Genesis 4:9) Job is asked, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (Job 38:4). Jonah is asked, “Do you have a right to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4).

Jesus asked more questions than he gave answers. In the Gospels, Jesus asks 307 questions, Jesus is asked 183 questions, but directly answers only three. (Jesus Is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered by Martin B. Copenhaver)

What is God doing?

Questions are God’s relational desire to connect with us, to get our attention, and to challenge us.

There is more here than simply saying, “God asks questions because he wants us to think.” God’s questions are relational. God already knows the answers, so the purpose of the question is often not to get information from us but to draw us into an honest encounter with him. (Like wanting to punch God for asking my question back after I have prayed it for one million years, or so it seems. That’s an honest encounter that disrupts.)

God’s questions are relational because he desires a relationship with us. God asks questions because he wants engagement. A question requires a response. It creates a conversation. God likes us and wants to have a conversation with us.

Think about the scenario of meeting someone at a party. You are at that “getting to know you” stage with someone who you want to get to know. The more questions this person asks of you, the more you feel known by this person. The more important you also feel.

We love a God who wants that sort of relationship with us. God created us to be interesting and he finds us to be interesting.

God is not Zeus-like. God does not throw thunderbolts. God does not use shame to pursue us. God does not have a still face towards us. God stoops down and asks us questions.

This is what we can expect from a God who asks us questions:

• God wants the relationship.

• God invites our honesty.

• God will challenge our assumptions. This becomes easier in relationship.

• God will expose what needs to be exposed. This becomes easier in relationship.

• God will keep pursuing relationship with us through the conversation.

A God who asks questions isn’t a God who has abandoned us. He is a God who is still talking to us .