A Question For God

I love poetry.  

There's something freeing and beautiful to me about reading great poems, filled with incredible imagery, shaped and fashioned to make the most of language and rhythms of speech, and that convey emotions and ideas in creative and thought-provoking ways.  

I  have this excellent book that I was given recently entitled "One Poem A Day," which gives you prompts to write poems of all kinds.  So over the last month, I've written a new poem almost every day.   

I don't often publicly share the poems I write.  But, as I was writing this one, I felt I might want to share it in a Devo.  

The prompt was: "Write a poem as one long question."  

As I stared at the page, wondering what my question might be, I suddenly began to write almost before I knew what I would ask.  Here's the poem: 

The Question

What is that You really 

think of us from wherever 

it is that You ponder 

such things, as if You pondered, 

which is to say, sat and 

thought, or bent Your mind 

toward us, as if You had one, 

in a body that You don't 

possess, even though we humans

like to think of You that way 

so that we can comprehend the 

infinite, which, though beyond 

our abilities, we try to do at 

every turn to make some kind of 

sense of the world and of You, 

and also to see if  there is something 

we're missing or getting wrong, 

or getting You wrong because 

it's hard to know if You are there

at times, or are mindful of us, 

as we do our best to see You, 

hear You, and know You--You, 

who are unknowable, unseen, as if 

You are hiding on purpose, 

wanting us to try to find You?

I must tell you that this poem's words and rhythm poured out of me, and I felt led along, if that makes sense, while I composed it.  

The question posed in this poem is a question that we all have asked in one way or another at some point in our lives.  We wonder what God thinks of us.  We wonder if God is there.  We wonder why we wonder.  

I feel like it's our wondering that is evidence for God to a certain extent.  At least the God I choose to believe in.  Because everything I have learned or experienced God in my life seems to point to a God who delights in our wondering and revels in our questions.  

Even those who rail against the existence of God delight God, in my humble opinion.  Because to not wonder is to be indifferent, and I believe God desires anything else but our indifference.  

Maybe you've had questions for God about what God is up to in the world.  Maybe you've wondered where God has been as you muddled through life's challenges.  Maybe you have wondered if maybe God isn't there at all.  

Take heart in all your wondering.  Be at peace in the knowledge that your wondering makes you human, and God delights in your humanness--so much so that God became one of us to rescue all of us.  

So ask your questions.  Wonder all you want.  The God who placed the wondering within you takes joy in your wondering and is eager to reveal Godself to you if you are willing to step further up and further in on your faith journey. 

May it be so.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.