Are you a questioner?  Do you ask people questions?  You should.  I should too.  You know information that I don’t know; I know information that you don’t know.  Your favorite subject is probably not my favorite subject. And my favorite subject may not be yours. Which means there are certain questions I can ask you and certain questions you can ask me.  For some you can just say one word and that’s all it takes.  Here’s the great thing about asking questions; its give and take. There should be a conversational cadence going on.  I ask you a question, you give me an answer.  You ask me a question, I give you an answer.

We gain knowledge when we ask questions.  And every time we ask questions we are mimicking the majesty of God.  God is a God who asks questions.

The Bible has 2,530 different questions in it.  Questions that people ask God and questions that God asks others.  The first question of the Bible was directed to Adam and Eve.  God said, “Where are you?”  He asked Abraham, “Is anything too hard for me?”  He posed this one to Isaiah, “Isaiah, whom shall I send?”  Then he goes to Jeremiah, “Jeremiah, what do you see, man?”  I added the “man.”  God didn’t say “man.”  He said, “Jonah, aren’t you concerned about the great city of Nineveh?”  Then in the New Testament, Jesus said, “Who do you say that I am?”

Obviously, God knows the answers.  God’s not asking questions for information.  He knows everything.  He’s sovereign.  He asks questions and he wants us to ask questions.  Perhaps He asks questions for dialogue, for communicative purposes.  Perhaps He asks questions to put us on a path of discovery. We have got to ask questions—questions to God and also questions to others.  Are you a questioner?

Asking questions is a powerful way to remove two big barriers in our walk as leaders; Weakness and fear.

Weakness: Some believe that if I ask a question it will show a sign of weakness. Don’t you know as a pastor you are supposed to have all the answers? We let the fear of weakness hold us back form exploring greater things and trusting God for the impossible.

In Judges 6, Gideon had this conversation with God because God said, “Gideon I want you to deliver the Israelites from those evil Midianites.”  And Gideon’s responsed with this question “How can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I’m the least in my family.’  The LORD answered, ‘I will be with, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.’”

Asking questions knocks down the barrier of weakness.

Fear: Sometimes we let fear paralyze us in moving forward. Perhaps it’s the fear of the unknown that keeps us from asking questions. If you are not sure of the answer or where it will lead it can be scary. Or perhaps you know the answer and you are afraid if you ask the question the answer will pull you out of your comfort zone.

I love the story of Nehemiah. In chapter 2:2 Nehemiah gets very transparent with this admission; 2:2, “I was very much afraid.” Can identify with that?  Nehemiah did.  Verse 5, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”  And God did an incredible work.  God used the money that King Artaxerxes had to finance the entire deal, to finance the whole building project that Nehemiah headed up.  And he rebuilt the city walls around Jerusalem.  It’s a marvelous example of team-building and leadership and it started when Nehemiah faced his fear and went to the King with questions.

When its all said and done many of you are just one question away from a breakthrough.  Many of you are just one question away from stepping up to the next level.  Some of you are one question away from having your eternity sealed.  Your task is the ask.  Questioning is always seeking knowledge.

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