Is That Your Final Answer?
Many of you will recognize the title of this article as the tagline from the game show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Contestants sit in a seat opposite the host and answer multiple-choice questions in increasing difficulty, but also in increasing value up to the final one million dollar question. As they answer the questions the host asks, "Is that your final answer?" to which the player must respond that it is their final answer in order to "lock it in." Only then will the show proceed to find out if the answer was the correct one or not.
The contestant must lock in an answer, even in the cases when they don't know the answer. Who knows, they might get lucky and actually pick the right one? In such cases, they get to continue to play for even more money. However, life certainly isn't like that. GOD certainly isn't like that. Living for the Lord is a walk of faith that, on occasion, demands we declare we don't know the answer, yet proceed anyway.
The story of Abraham underscores this tremendous truth. In -3 we find the call of Abraham and it starts like this:
"The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you." (NLT)
As the call continues, the Lord promises Abram to make a great nation out of him - a nation that will bless the world.
tells us that Abram obeyed the Lord and moved his family. Obviously, the Lord led Abram to the land of Canaan, but often we neglect to delve into the true act of faith required to make that move. Imagine telling not only your immediate family but your extended family that you are moving. They all come over and help you pack up your moving camels (trucks of Abram's day) and keep asking you where you are moving to. Your only response, "I don't know." Abram had no idea where he was going, only a sense of the Lord's leading and that when Abram got there, God would tell him; "To a land which I will show you."
In His famous "Don't worry" teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, Jesus told us not to be concerned over the affairs of life:
"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? (NLT)
"So don't worry about these things, saying, `What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." (NLT)
"I don't know" is a legitimate answer, and often it is the answer required by those who live by faith. Where are you going? What are you going to do when you get there? How will you live? How will you pay your bills? I don't know, I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T KNOW! But I know this, God knows! The fact that God knows, in the end, is the only thing that really matters. As He leads, He provides because He is a good father.
We like to put on the false front that we have it all together and have the answers for everything. It gets uncomfortable and we feel silly telling people that we don't know the answers to their questions. Pretending that we know it all will rob us of our faith. We don't live trusting in luck, we live trusting in God. It is okay to not know. So, the next time someone asks the tough questions of faith and how things are going to work out, for which there is no definitive answer, look them straight in the eye and tell them, "I don't know, but God knows, and that's my final answer."
Copyright © John P. King. Used by permission.
