The student teacher had just...
Illustration
The student teacher had just given a lecture to beginning math students. The supervising instructor called him aside and said: "That was a marvelous lecture you just gave. It showed the great wisdom you have acquired over your years of training in mathematics. There is just one basic problem. Much of what you said, true and insightful as it was, went right over the heads of your students. You see, you were answering all kinds of important questions that these students aren't even asking yet! You've got to teach them to ask the right questions first."
In many ways, the questions we ask are more important than the answers! Jeremiah wonders why he should be like a lamb led to slaughter. Later, in verse one of chapter 12, he asks, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" That is Jeremiah's consistent question and lament. Sometimes, for him and for us, it seems that the answer never comes.
But that's just the point. Our constant struggle with the question of evil and suffering encourages and reminds us to keep doing as much as we can (with God) to remove evil and ameliorate suffering! The question contains within it the hope that we will eventually see the victory over sin, death, and evil. We will ultimately experience THE ANSWER.
The day we stop asking why there is injustice and suffering in the world is the day we are really in trouble.
In many ways, the questions we ask are more important than the answers! Jeremiah wonders why he should be like a lamb led to slaughter. Later, in verse one of chapter 12, he asks, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" That is Jeremiah's consistent question and lament. Sometimes, for him and for us, it seems that the answer never comes.
But that's just the point. Our constant struggle with the question of evil and suffering encourages and reminds us to keep doing as much as we can (with God) to remove evil and ameliorate suffering! The question contains within it the hope that we will eventually see the victory over sin, death, and evil. We will ultimately experience THE ANSWER.
The day we stop asking why there is injustice and suffering in the world is the day we are really in trouble.
