Dig a Little Deeper

I think, no matter where you fall politically, you can agree that this is a tumultuous time for our nation. I recently stumbled upon this post I wrote over a year ago, when the Republican party was scrambling trying to whittle down their extensive list of candidates. I didn’t feel like this post was ready back then, but I feel prudent to share it now.

I watched the last Republican debate last night and have not stopped thinking about it since. Now, this post is not going to be political. I will not be endorsing a candidate, or advocating for a particular party or platform. Now, with that being said, I enjoy learning about our government, I think it’s a privilege to see democracy in action, and I find politics interesting. But more and more I find myself asking “Is this it?” I feel many responses given by candidates on both sides of the political spectrum seem to be taken directly from “The Party’s Field Guide of Acceptable Phrases: Words to Use if You Want to Be Elected”, but don’t seem to have much depth to them. And this isn’t a problem limited only to politics.

We don’t get to the root of issues.

I have a good friend who enjoys nudging me out of my comfort zone and will let me return the favor to her. Whenever we’re talking and someone makes an absolute statement we’ll usually return with “Why?”. For example, one day we were talking and I said “I hate compliments,” and quickly continued with my train of thought, as if the phrase was unimportant. Almost immediately she stopped me with a “Why?”. I answered and was met with the question again and again and again until we began talking about some of the real issues I struggle with: fear and insecurity. She wasn’t willing to let something like that slide by without causing me to take a closer look. She cared more about my well-being than my comfort and challenged my thought-process when I desperately needed it.

Ever since that exchange, I’ve found myself thinking more deeply. I’ve begun questioning myself to get down to the real reason why I think certain things or hold certain opinions. It’s an uncomfortable exercise and much of the time I have to answer “I don’t know” to my own questions because I haven’t taken the time to truly think my thoughts through to their inevitable end.

I wonder how many problems in the world could be solved if we had the courage to ask “Why?” once more. I believe the world can be a drastically different place if people began asking “Why?” and daring to search out the answer.

We could all be a little more like Daniel. 

In case you haven’t  noticed, I love that question and I ask it often. When I was teaching, there was one particular student named Daniel who loved to ask me “Why?”. He wasn’t doing it to be disrespectful, he asked because he was inquisitive and wanted to know more about the world around him. There were so many days when we’d be walking through the hallway and he would ask “Why?” to every question, making me really think about what I knew as fact. It’s amazing how a 4 year old can make you take a long, hard look at things.

I believe that God delights in our asking “Why?”. He’s not intimidated by it or turned off by our curiosity, but encourages it. Proverbs 25:2 says:

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

I want to encourage you to go deeper. Allow yourself the room to question things. Look at problems from multiple view-points and come up with the best solution. Let’s be a people who search out important matters as we search after God. I think you’ll be amazed how you grow personally, with God, with others, and even in business, if you begin to question things in a respectful way, seeking out the best option. I believe that God rewards the process of searching for truth.

I love asking “Why?”, what about you?