To stop & ask questions to someone who is suffering can be a sign of care. In some cultures, this might be considered rude or intrusive, but in God’s culture, it reveals love. I’m the first to admit that I don’t always do this well. I’m afraid to ask as I might get stuck listening for hours, or what if I don’t have the answers or can’t offer help???
Rejected & despondent, Hagar (Genesis 16) finds herself in the wilderness. The suffering she was enduring was NOT her fault. She had been dealt a harsh blow by her boss Sarah. In the midst of her pain, the Angel of the Lord appears and asks two very important questions, “Where have you come from & where are you going?” Why would the all-knowing all powerful God even bother to ask?? Well, He wanted to release compassion & healing to a woman who had been exploited.
This was not just a once off event. Again in Genesis 21 when Hagar and her son Ishmael had fled, the Angel comes to them asking “What’s wrong?” God hears & He sees, even when no one else does. His heart is always for the exploited & abused. What if we had the courage to ask “what’s wrong?”
As Mary Demuth says, “If churches would simply ask questions we would see a revival of healing. To listen & dignify a story is freeing, and to dream about the future alongside someone who has suffered trauma is redemptive.”
Who can you sit with today and ask meaningful questions to? Then we need to listen with empathy and without judgment (sometimes we are too busy telling them what they need to do). This could be the simple action that unlocks the gate of shame in someone’s heart & sets them on the path of freedom.