How to Let Curiosity Lead the Way to God

Sometimes, their questions impress me.

Sometimes, their questions delight me.

Sometimes, their questions are easily answered.

Every once in a while, their questions challenge me—and that’s what happened last week.

I never know quite what to expect on Sunday mornings when I teach a group of 4 to 11 year-olds about God through Bible stories. One of my favorite parts about our curriculum (footnote: The Great Big Bible Walkthrough by Meredith Miller) is the “wondering questions” after each Bible story: the kids are encouraged to wonder aloud about the story.

This engages their biblical imagination, encourages them to think deeply, and reassures them that questions are okay—that grappling with a text is a way to stay faithful to it.

Last week, we covered the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt: the plagues, the pillar of cloud and fire, the crossing of the Red Sea. When I opened up the floor to wondering questions, they asked:

“How could they run away from the Egyptians in their sandals?”
“Was the bottom of the Red Sea muddy?”
“Did they find seashells?”
“How old was Moses?”

Then came the doozy, from the third-grader sitting in the back:

“But I thought God loves everyone and died for us, and gives us second chances, so why did the Egyptian army drown?”

And that, my friends, is when I broke into a bit of a sweat.

How to let curiosity lead the way to God

Many of us grew up in churches that glossed over or dismissed questions, with well-meaning Sunday school teachers who gave us pat answers. Over time, we learned to stop asking our questions, knowing that the responses wouldn’t satisfy, or sensing the discomfort among the adults.

Eventually, many of us learn that our curiosity or skepticism isn’t welcome in the presence of God, that our questions will lead us down a path we can never return from—a slippery slope of doubt that will result in walking away from the faith. But Jesus never shied away from our questions, whether asked from genuine curiosity (Why do you speak to the people in parables? Mt 13:10) or challenge (What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this? John 2:18) or skepticism (Lord, are you going to wash my feet? John 13:6).

I love how Lore Ferguson Wilbert puts it in her book Curious Faith:

“Asking a question is an act of faith: faith that we could be answered, or that we won’t be refused, or that we will like the answer, or, if we don’t, that it will lead to a better question. To ask a question is to hope that what we currently know isn’t the whole story. It’s a gamble that we deep down want to win. If we don’t make space for curiosity in the Christian life, we will become content with a one-dimensional god, a god made more in our own image than the God who made us in his image.”¹

So the next time you encounter a troubling passage of Scripture, don’t be afraid to go there, to sit with the discomfort, to find others who have wrestled with similar questions. Spiritual growth is on the other side of our seeking. Following our curiosity can lead us closer to the heart of God.

When we play it safe and only stay in the parts of the Bible that we understand, we deny ourselves the chance to know God more deeply. “Complacency, not doubt, is the great enemy of spiritual development.” (When Everything’s on Fire by Brian Zahnd, p. 77)

What if our questions aren’t a sign of weak faith, but an invitation into deeper relationship? What if God is less interested in our certainty and more interested in our trust—the kind of trust that keeps showing up with honest questions and open hands?

I hope that little third grader never stops asking hard questions (even when my answer to her was essentially “I don’t know.”) I hope she keeps bringing her curiosity to God, knowing that her wondering heart is welcome at his feet. And I hope you know the same is true for you—every doubt, every question, every unpolished prayer is safe in the presence of the One who made you, knows you, and loves you still.

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