Josiah Road

“That Guy”

posted by Daniel Blackaby 15Dec

Have you ever heard the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question”? Sounds like a reasonable claim does it not? I even used to believe it. But that was before I had a linguistics class with Scott…

Nearly every class has one, and in this class Scott is “That Guy.” You know who I’m talking about. They’re the ones who feel the irresistible urge to comment on absolutely every point the teacher makes. Now I’m generally a pretty patient guy; there are very few people that get under my skin. On this particular day Scott made the short-list.

In class last week, my professor explained the lexical categories of nouns (don’t know what those are? That’s ok, neither do I!). The example sentence was, “The child tried to impress the chocolate.” She then explained why chocolate belongs to an incorrect lexical category, making it inappropriate for the given context. Self-explanatory, right? Apparently not…

I winced as Scott’s hand shot into the air. “Professor Wung,” he said in his matter-o-factual tone, “what if chocolate is used metaphorically? Or what if it’s actually the name of a sports team?” Can’t you just picture it now? “Ladies and Gentlemen! Make some noise as your Mississippi Chocolate takes the field!” I couldn’t take it. I rushed out of class to the nearest Scott-free location. Scott has proven that there are indeed stupid questions.

While stupid questions exist in the classroom, I’ve been encouraged to learn that there are NEVER stupid questions with God. For years I have heard fellow Christians put great emphasis on trusting God, or “blind faith.” Perhaps that is the reason I’ve almost become nervous to ask God questions. I used to actually feel guilty in doing so. I figured that if I had to ask, that meant I wasn’t spiritual enough to understand the obvious or that God would be disappointed in my lack of faith. I’m not saying we shouldn’t trust Him and walk by faith; of course we should. But it’s possible to do both.

I am learning that sometimes God has reasons for not revealing all the details of His plan—either to test my faith, to teach me a lesson, or just to let me experience it myself. That doesn’t mean He abandons me. He will make things clearer or He will offer me peace of mind and comfort. Either way, He always provides an answer. I take comfort in the fact that God will never look at me as “That Guy.”