I wouldn't have written this article if I hadn't done Wendy's "Employment Aptitude Test" in last month's magazine - and got one answer wrong. The question was how many animals of each sex Moses had taken on the ark. And being a know-all, I replied that it depended on whether they were pigs or pigeons - if you read carefully, you may find the ark contained seven hen-pigeons, but only one sow.
Of course, I trusted the question. I forgot that it wasn't Moses at all who took the animals in the ark, but Noah. So in fact I was answering the wrong question.
We often try to answer the wrong questions on our way through life. We think God wants us to count the good deeds we do each day. But in fact we should not count - we should lie back and listen. We should become as fully loving as we can, and give ourselves without considering the mathematics. We think we can show ourselves to be Christians by going to meetings, by reading our Bibles, by turning up in church on a Sunday. But in fact being a Christian means being one of a family, and working side by side with our neighbours.
(We are also very good at making excuses for our mistakes, by the way! For Moses did have an ark - look at Exod. 25 - it just wasn't the sort of ark you would put animals in!)
Another question told us that some months had 31 days, and asked how many months had 28. The answer was "all of them". This was a puzzling answer. If the question had specified "at least 28" days, it would have been good. But to anyone brought up on the rhyme "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November," the answer was wrong. If not wrong, at least unhelpful.
People sometimes give us unhelpful answers on our way through life, too. Yes, God made us. But this is not necessarily a help to our friend dying of cancer. Yes, divorce can be destructive. But this does not help the child of a broken marriage. Yes, Jesus died for our sins. But this does not mean we can do as we please. Paul slapped the Christians of Corinth on the wrist for suggesting that they could "sin the more, so that God's grace could be shown" and that "all things were lawful". Yes, they may all be lawful, but they are not useful if they are not loving, if they do not lead us in the way of peace.
Some questions have no "right" answer. What does the 5'10" tall butcher's assistant weigh? If you asked directly "What do you weigh?" you would not expect the answer "Meat". But it is a true and valid answer.
Sometimes we expect pat answers to questions that concern us. What career should we choose? Should we go ahead with some particular plan? How should we proceed in a particular relationship? But often in these cases there is no "right" answer - God will bless us and stand by us whatever we choose.
We may well seek to know God's will for us, and we do well to pray. But God will not always answer, for often there is no one answer. Life cannot be reduced to questions and answers, and we should not be worried if we do not always "know the answer". For it is far, far more important to know God in person.
HD