It is important to ask the right question. A man arrived at the desk of a motel lobby to register. A large dog lying in front of the desk made him nervous. The desk clerk greeted him and could see the man was afraid of the dog. He haltingly asked, “Does your dog bite?’ The desk clerk responded emphatically, “No!’ With that assurance the man decided he would stoop down and pet the dog. As he put his hand down, the dog clamped down on it. In pain, he said, “I thought you said your dog would not bite.” “I did,” responded the clerk. “But he bit me!” the man replied. Then the clerk said, “That’s not my dog!’ It is obvious we do need to ask the right question.
One question we prefer to ask is why. More times than not when hard times or heartaches come our way, we ask God, ‘Why?’ I have been asked by many people experiencing difficulty or times of emotional duress, why me? This is one question the Bible never answers. Even if we understood all of the whys behind the trying moments we are experiencing, it still would not change the fact we were going through them. This is why the Bible is more of a ‘how to’ book. Throughout scripture we are reminded of the faithfulness of God, of His strength in light of our weakness, and of the sufficiency and adequacy found in Christ.
In addition to the ‘how to’ emphasis, it never hurts to ask what can I learn from this experience? Although we spend many of our formative years in school, we are not always cued into learning. There are some days we seem to absorb more than we do on other days. There are those teachable moments where we tend to learn more than we do on other occasions. It is during these teachable moments we would do well to apply Psalm 32:8 to our lives. David wrote of God, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” It is important to ask the right questions.