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Do you think money grows on trees? Do I look like I was born yesterday? How many times do I have to tell you...? These are examples of rhetorical questions we use from time to time when we are not really asking for an answer but hoping that the hearer rethinks their choices. There are many rhetorical questions throughout the Bible.
For example, Job was mourning the loss of his family and health and understandably asking "why?" God intervened, asking Job to compare human wisdom with God's wisdom when He said: "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth," (Job 38:4)?
Abraham and Sarah were told by God that they would have a son, yet this had not happened and they were both beyond that stage of life. Then, God asked Abraham and Sarah if they believed that He could still give them a child in their old age when He said: "Is anything too hard for the Lord," (Genesis 18:13NIV)?
Also, God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and Moses said that he was not an eloquent speaker. God's question was "Who gave human beings their mouths," (Exodus 4:11 NIV)?
When Jesus was discussing worry and anxiety, He said, "Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life," (Matthew 6:27 NIV)?
When Jesus was warning the people about messages from false prophets, He said, "Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles," (Matthew 7:16 NIV)?
We may sometimes ask the same types of questions that Job or Abraham and Sarah or Moses asked when we struggle with the purposes of the challenges of life. When we are facing trials and question God for clarity, God speaks through His Word. Perhaps when it seems that we are facing the impossible, we think that God can't help us. Then, again, as we read these scriptures and come across rhetorical questions, we ourselves, are challenged to ponder God's power and greater purpose in what is happening.
While we don't often find specific answers for our unique needs and questions, there are certainly a lot of situations that might reveal an answer for our needs. Sadly, I found myself saying one day that, while I trust God to take care of me, He's not likely to knock on the door and fix my toilet or replace the fascia that is coming off one side of my house. I was at least partly wrong about that. He may not show up in my back yard with a ladder but he sent someone who says they will do that before the snow flies! He also gave me insight and ideas from things I learned from my husband that did help me stop the toilet from adding a little more water every few minutes.
When I was teaching students who learn differently, one tool I was taught to use often was to ask leading and sometimes rhetorical questions. By doing that, it forced the student to engage the mind rather than just become a Charlie Brown character, lost in a lecture while hearing "wah-wah-wah-wah-wah." When we are forced to engage, we learn much more quickly. Therefore, as we read His Word, let's engage by watching for rhetorical questions while considering their possible implications and applications for our own lives.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV).
Helen McCormack is author of a second book, “Journeys in Faith, Pursing Obedience,” containing more than 50 additional devotionals written for The Minot Daily News.