Questions and Answers

"Dad, what is the biggest number?"  My son Elliot, who's five, is full of questions these days, many of them surrounding numbers.

"There really isn't one," I answered.  "Whatever number you think of, there is one more than it."

"Oh," he said.  He was silent for a little bit, taken aback, I suppose that there wasn't any easy answer to this fairly simple question.  A few seconds later, he asked me, "What's one hundred and two plus eight, Dad?"

This was a little easier.  "One hundred and ten,"  I replied.

The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that "Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh." 

There is no end to the asking of questions, particularly not for a five year old.  Even after completing four years of college, four years of medical school, three years of residency, and doing continuing medical education every year, I still have many questions (although few of them involve numbers).

There is a time in each of our lives when we want all of the questions answered, particularly when it comes to our purpose, God, and the meaning of life.  It seems that few of these questions are easy to answer.  At the same time, I know from my own life that satisfaction did not come from having answers to all of my questions, it came from meeting someone.

People say that Jesus is "the answer" and perhaps that is true, but I know Him and still don't know a whole lot in the scheme of things.  Certainly I don't know what the biggest number is, or why all sorts of bad things happen in this world, but I know Jesus and I trust Him and I suppose that is enough.

So often I have come to Jesus like my five year old son, asking questions and desiring answers.  The whole time He just wants me to put my small hand in His great hand and walk with Him.

For, I do not know anyone who has found joy from having all of their questions answered, but I know plenty of people who have found joy from meeting my Savior.