Philip says that for many, a non-answer only leads to more questions. For me.... well, I'm not surprised by the lack of an answer. Maybe I've been asking the questions so long that it has just become evident to me that, God does not intend for me to know what only He can see, and understand. I know some who have just given up asking not only the questions, but anything of God. They have been worn down by the lack of response from God. Kind of like a child and a parent. The child keeps asking for something and the parent ignores the child in hopes that the child will get tired of asking. I'm not there but I shared in earlier chapters that I thought I knew where this book was going and that it was curiosity as to whether I had missed something or not that drove me to read the book. Thus far no surprises and no disappointments. We'll..... maybe a little? I would welcome a missed step or the exposure of a misguided belief, anything that would answer the questions, but I'm not seeing any of that. God has simply chosen to reveal Himself to me and not the advance details of His plans for me regarding my life here on earth.
So where does that leave us? Philip writes that due to the lack of an answer and silence from the Bible, he now will share pure speculation. He says this for the persons who can not accept a non-answer, for those who cannot stop asking questions that God has declined to answer. Speculation seems dangerous to me. Job's three friends did a lot of speculating and where did that leave them in the end?
Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because enlightenment might not help us. Suffering people have the same types of questions. Why? Why me? What is God trying to tell me? I'm asking myself it it would really make a difference if God did answer my questions? I am making a big assumption that it would. But really.... would I bear what I think is "my" suffering any better if I knew the reason behind the suffering? The prophet Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations was not in the dark or without answers. He knew exactly why Jerusalem had been destroyed. The Hebrews had broken covenant with God. But knowing the cause did nothing to alleviate the suffering or feelings of despair and abandonment for Jeremiah. "The Lord is like an enemy, Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?" Jeremiah knew full well the answers yet it did nothing for him. Conclusion..... there is only one...... no intellectual answer will solve suffering.
Job repented. His three friends repented. Jesus rebuked the disciples when they drew conclusions about a man born blind in John 9 and about two local catastrophes in Luke 13. God did send His son in response to human pain, to experience it and absorb it into Himself. That act of love did not solve human suffering but it was an active and very personal response.
Conclusion.... there is only one..... no intellectual answer will solve suffering. I cannot honestly say that, even if I knew every detail of why.... that I would not still ask, why, or.... try to persuade and negotiate a different ending, other that what God had intended.
That takes us to speculation number two. Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because we are incapable of comprehending the answer.
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