Have you ever wondered why October is the tenth month? I mean Octo is like Octopus which both contain the Latin word for eight. So why is the eighth month actually the tenth month? Well, in the old Romulus calendar 750 BC, it was the eighth month, but then January and February were added and it became the tenth in our current Gregorian Calendar.
I only discovered this very recently as I’d never really thought this through before. I wonder how much of our knowledge we take for granted and never really question. In schools questions abound, teachers ask questions, students ask questions and exams are full of questions!
Throughout the bible people ask questions, including many questions about God. Job in chapter 7 asks why God is targeting him? David in Psalm 22 asks God why he has forsaken him? Matthew asks how many times he has to forgive someone who hurts him in Matthew chapter 18. Paul in Romans asks whether we should keep sinning so God’s grace can keep being used! That reminds me of a comment a student said to me yesterday tongue in cheek, “We should sin, otherwise Jesus died for nothing!”.
God asks questions too. The very first question he asked of humans was “Where are you?” in Genesis 3:9. This happened after the first sin and Adam and Eve ran and hid. God knew exactly where they were. His question may have meant “ Where are you? Are you with me?”, because by sinning they had rejected following God. God still asks that question of each of us today “Are you with me?”.
Maybe you are a follower of God through Jesus Christ, maybe you are interested in a journey or have started that journey, maybe your position is that you are not nor want to be a follower of God. Whatever your position, I hope you keep asking questions and explore the answers the Bible offers you. As Pastors, we love nothing more than when a student asks a challenging question about faith!
In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus encourages us to “ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
If, as a parent, your children ask you faith questions and you are not sure how to respond, we would love to equip you with answers. Email us or check out gotquestions.org which is a great resource covering many thousand faith questions from a biblical point of view. There’s also a site called gqkids.org for children.
Have a blessed week.
Pastor Fi