Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go.
Clayton Christensen, social media post, quoted in Hal Gregersen, Questions Are the Answer (2018), 17
One purpose of the scriptures is to prepare our minds and our hearts to receive revelation from God. One way we do that is by formulating and asking good questions. The process of figuring out what we need to know, eliminating incorrect assumptions, and then exercising faith by verbalizing the question helps us be prepared for the answers God is willing and even eager to give us.
Near the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Nephi experienced an expansive vision after asking God to show him the things his father had seen. (See 1 Nephi 10:17, 1 Nephi 11:3.) His nephew, Enos, received peace of conscience after praying for his sins to be forgiven. (See Enos 1:1-6.) Alma learned about church governance by asking how to respond to accusations of flagrant unrighteousness within the church. (See Mosiah 26.) Mormon shares two questions that he asked in prayer, one about the status of the three disciples who were promised they would never die (3 Nephi 28:36-40), and one about baptism of small children (Moroni 8:7-10).
The Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ also began with a question:
Two hundred years ago, on a beautiful spring morning in 1820, young Joseph Smith, seeking to know which church to join, went into the woods to pray near his home in upstate New York, USA. He had questions regarding the salvation of his soul and trusted that God would direct him.
In humility, we declare that in answer to his prayer, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph and inaugurated the “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21) as foretold in the Bible.
“The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World,” The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5 April 2020
Today, I will begin the new year with questions. I will think about the challenges I face, the things I don’t understand, and the wisdom I lack. I will convert those generalized gaps into specific questions. I will exercise faith by asking God those questions in prayer and listening for answers.
Leave a Reply