No Such Thing as a Stupid Question
How many times have you been standing in the kitchen, up to your elbows in dishwater, damp dishtowel draped over one shoulder, and a pile of last night's dinner dishes teetering precariously on the counter beside you, when one of your children strolls in, rather nonchalantly and says, "Whatcha doin'?"
You pause briefly, raise one eyebrow and either a) bite your tongue and smile sweetly, responding, "nothin'...what are you doing?" (This response can be found in the How to be the MOM of the Year manual.) or b) you quip, "Baking a cake! What does it look like I'm doing?" (thus loathing the sound of your own voice coming out of your mouth.)
Sarcasm stinks. But that's not the lesson I want to share today...we'll talk about that another day. What I want to address today is the rhetorical questions that people ask. Often we lovingly refer to them as 'stupid' questions.
I went to Dictionary.com and looked up the word rhetorical:
(then I had to look up bombast, which means "speech too pompous for an occasion; pretentious words." Not sure why, but I found that amusing.)
After God finished chastising me for the repeated use of biting sarcasm, He finally said to me one day, "He (the child asking the 'stupid' question.) just wants to talk to you. It's not really a question about what activity you are currently engaged in, he just wants to talk."
Oh. Ok...so now I'm learning to control my natural response and replace it with kind, loving words that promote openness and honest communication. Why is that so difficult sometimes??
Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that God uses the same method of drawing His children into honest communication. He really does!
As I sat reading Genesis for the ump-teenth time yesterday, I started noticing how God would ask rhetorical questions. It wasn't that he was ignorant of the answer, He's GOD, for Pete's sake. He knows EVERYTHING. So why would he ask Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3:9, "Where are you?" He knew they were hiding from Him because they had eaten the fruit from the forbidden tree, and realized that they were naked.
Why did He ask Cain, in Genesis 4:9, "Where's your brother, Abel?" and in verse 10, "What have you done?" I wonder if Cain really thought he could convince God that he didn't know where Abel was. Surely Cain knew that God knew. I believe God was giving Cain an opportunity to confess his sin.
As a mother, I know I have used this tactic. "Just tell me the truth and you'll be in far less trouble."
And in Exodus 4:2 He asked Moses, "What's that in your hand?" I wonder if Moses did that whole eyebrow thing like I do and thought, "Well hello...Captain Obvious, it's a staff!" God wanted Moses to acknowledge the inanimate object in his hand before God used it to perform signs and wonders by turning it into a living, breathing, slithering, hungry snake.
These are just a few examples that I came across in one sitting. God knew the answer to every single one of those questions. He knew that Cain had killed his brother. He knew that Moses was holding a staff in his hand. God wants us to be interactive participants in life. What glory would there be if God didn't engage our will and allow us to choose to love Him and communicate with Him?
Imagine a world where we could all read each other's minds...there would be no reason to speak. We'd already know what the other person was going to say, and they'd know what we were going to say...and we'd all be mad at each other. Not fun.
God can read our minds (and thankfully still loves us), but to draw us into a two-sided relationship, He has to allow us to tell Him what He already knows.
Next time your husband or one of your children asks you a 'stupid' question, listen past the question, hear with your heart, not your ears. What is it that they want from you? Is it acknowledgement? (We do this to our husbands all the time! "So, how do I look?" We know we look good...we just want to have our man acknowledge it!) Or is it just communication that they are looking for? Give them what they need. If you don't, you can't complain that your son spends all his time talking to strangers across the globe while playing his X-Box, or that your husband spends his time on the phone with coworkers who respect him and listen to him.
Be the one who listens to them and talks to them. I doubt anyone ever got to the end of their life and thought, "I wish I'd spent less time talking to my family." Enjoy it while you can.
Be blessed.
You pause briefly, raise one eyebrow and either a) bite your tongue and smile sweetly, responding, "nothin'...what are you doing?" (This response can be found in the How to be the MOM of the Year manual.) or b) you quip, "Baking a cake! What does it look like I'm doing?" (thus loathing the sound of your own voice coming out of your mouth.)
Sarcasm stinks. But that's not the lesson I want to share today...we'll talk about that another day. What I want to address today is the rhetorical questions that people ask. Often we lovingly refer to them as 'stupid' questions.
I went to Dictionary.com and looked up the word rhetorical:
rhe·tor·i·cal
[ri-tawr-i-kuhl, -tor-] adjective
(then I had to look up bombast, which means "speech too pompous for an occasion; pretentious words." Not sure why, but I found that amusing.)
After God finished chastising me for the repeated use of biting sarcasm, He finally said to me one day, "He (the child asking the 'stupid' question.) just wants to talk to you. It's not really a question about what activity you are currently engaged in, he just wants to talk."
Oh. Ok...so now I'm learning to control my natural response and replace it with kind, loving words that promote openness and honest communication. Why is that so difficult sometimes??
Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that God uses the same method of drawing His children into honest communication. He really does!
As I sat reading Genesis for the ump-teenth time yesterday, I started noticing how God would ask rhetorical questions. It wasn't that he was ignorant of the answer, He's GOD, for Pete's sake. He knows EVERYTHING. So why would he ask Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3:9, "Where are you?" He knew they were hiding from Him because they had eaten the fruit from the forbidden tree, and realized that they were naked.
Why did He ask Cain, in Genesis 4:9, "Where's your brother, Abel?" and in verse 10, "What have you done?" I wonder if Cain really thought he could convince God that he didn't know where Abel was. Surely Cain knew that God knew. I believe God was giving Cain an opportunity to confess his sin.
As a mother, I know I have used this tactic. "Just tell me the truth and you'll be in far less trouble."
And in Exodus 4:2 He asked Moses, "What's that in your hand?" I wonder if Moses did that whole eyebrow thing like I do and thought, "Well hello...Captain Obvious, it's a staff!" God wanted Moses to acknowledge the inanimate object in his hand before God used it to perform signs and wonders by turning it into a living, breathing, slithering, hungry snake.
These are just a few examples that I came across in one sitting. God knew the answer to every single one of those questions. He knew that Cain had killed his brother. He knew that Moses was holding a staff in his hand. God wants us to be interactive participants in life. What glory would there be if God didn't engage our will and allow us to choose to love Him and communicate with Him?
Imagine a world where we could all read each other's minds...there would be no reason to speak. We'd already know what the other person was going to say, and they'd know what we were going to say...and we'd all be mad at each other. Not fun.
God can read our minds (and thankfully still loves us), but to draw us into a two-sided relationship, He has to allow us to tell Him what He already knows.
Next time your husband or one of your children asks you a 'stupid' question, listen past the question, hear with your heart, not your ears. What is it that they want from you? Is it acknowledgement? (We do this to our husbands all the time! "So, how do I look?" We know we look good...we just want to have our man acknowledge it!) Or is it just communication that they are looking for? Give them what they need. If you don't, you can't complain that your son spends all his time talking to strangers across the globe while playing his X-Box, or that your husband spends his time on the phone with coworkers who respect him and listen to him.
Be the one who listens to them and talks to them. I doubt anyone ever got to the end of their life and thought, "I wish I'd spent less time talking to my family." Enjoy it while you can.
Be blessed.
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