Is it Ok to Ask God "Why"?

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them." Psalm 22:1-4

In reading another Christian’s blog the other day, I was hit with the realization that all of us do doubt sometimes. All of us sometimes ask “why?” Or if we don’t ask, we do, all of us, wonder why – and maybe just don’t verbalize it.

God’s Word is His revelation of Himself to us. All the answers we seek are there – albeit some are hidden, and we have to dig to find them.

Is it wrong to ask why? I’ve heard people say that we should never question God. But is that scriptural?

Job was a “righteous” man. Perfect, no, but righteous. God allowed Job to be made an example of how we are to react in overwhelmingly painful circumstances.

Job repeatedly asked “why” and was never rebuked by God for doing so. However, when God chose not to tell Job why, Job demanded an answer and decided that God was unjust if He did not give Job an answer. For THIS, Job was rebuked.


In spite of all that Job experienced, he was victorious in his suffering because
1. He recognized that is it God that gives us all we have, thus God has the right to take these things from us – and we should be thankful for the times we did have these things.
2. Job was grounded in the Word of God before the suffering came.
3. Job turned TO God in his suffering instead of FROM God.

Job’s wife never got it. “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” Job 2:9

Suffering hurts, but bitterness destroys.

Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life. Yet, He asked why. On the cross as He felt the weight of the sin of all the world on His very soul, God turned His back on Him. In His humanity, Jesus, through the physical pain of the scourging, the beatings, the nails piercing his body, and through the spiritual pain of the guilt of all mankind on Him, cried out My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?

Did Jesus not know? Of course He did. This was written in Scripture for our benefit. If Christ Himself can suffer and ask why, then we can also ask why, but we must accept that God will not always give us an answer.

Our sovereign God has the right to choose to answer or not answer our “why”. God is beyond our comprehension, and sometimes we cannot understand suffering.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. “ Isaiah 55:8

“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” Proverbs 25:2

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God.” Deuteronomy 29:29


If we truly trust God for our salvation, then we should truly trust Him in all of our lives – including in our suffering.

Three young men of the Old Testament understood this.

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Daniel 3:17-18

And we should all strive to be willing to say, if necessary…

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him…” Job 13:15