Why? Why? Why?

“The best swordsman in the world may be disarmed by a trick that's new to him.”
― C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

     Many times Jesus answered a question with a question.  When I think back, it was always people who did this that I learned the most from.  They teach you to think, they teach you to discover the picture in your own mind, it stays with you this way.  I can read all day and not remember a thing, but if the author asks questions, then my brain becomes engaged.
     I went to a couples retreat years ago.  It was held by the counselor I was seeing at that time, Steve, and a woman he worked with.  There was an exercise we did as couples facing each other.  I wish I could remember all of it, but I do know one of us was to ask the other the same three questions over and over and the person answering was to give the answer that popped into their mind first.  I believe the questions were something like, What do you want?  What do you need?  What can I do to support you?  Something like that.  My answers were "I don't know"  "I don't know"  "I don't know" until I finally answered, "Shut the _ _ _ _ up."  Of course Steve laughed and said that it had worked most of the time and he had never heard that statement given as an answer before.  I decided not to participate in that exercise any longer.
     The point of this little story is that the same question repeated (with a few exceptions) usually will bring out the true answer through emotion.  Little kids asking Why? repeatedly brings out a little emotion eventually.  During the fourth step in AA, I became stuck and called a friend.  She wasn't home but her husband was and very happy to help.  The fourth step is to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  Randy and I were talking about fear and he kept asking why.  Why are you afraid, why are you afraid?  It all came down to dying. 
     I think God asks us "Why"?  I think He asks us over and over, or He lets us get to the point where we start asking Him "Why?" to the same question.  For example, I felt like every time I turned around I was having to face something that made me angry.  Instead of God asking me why I was angry all the time, it turned around to me asking Him.  When I searched for the answer with His help it was fear.  I have always believed anger is fear based, but with His help, I realized why I was afraid and where a lot of my anger comes from.  Now we work on dealing with it.  It was easier for me to believe when I was asking the question, instead of Him just giving me the answer.
     Sometimes we have to get to the point where we can't see straight before we ask God why.  As an addict, I try every way I can to numb out before asking.  It's really quite humorous.  A typical addict may take the day off work because he just can't deal.  He finds himself on the couch with a bag of chips and a drink, while he smokes a cigarette and watches porn.  "GOD, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?"  Well, to start off, you are looking to the enemy for your answer instead of God.  Instead of escaping in a nap, talk to God.  Maybe He will answer right away, because you finally figured out the right question, but sometimes I think He makes us think about it, while He sets the things in front of us that we need, to instigate the correct thinking. 
     Sometimes I think God has too much faith in me.  He seems to think I can figure out things that just make no sense, but I tell myself, He knows me better than I do and He wants me to find the answer.  He wants it to happen in a way that I get the most growth and He gets the most glory.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
― Albert Einstein