#76 – Hard Questions: Say the Quiet Parts Out Loud

Welcome to season eight of Presently Engaged with Mandy Pallock. Here you’ll find short, friendly, Jesus-focused encouragement to live intentionally right where you are. And now for your host, Mandy Pallock. You know that I love a good question.

Asking questions and listening well can take every relationship you have deeper. In this season, we are diving deep into questions in Scripture because as we look to the Bible, we look to the very best source. We will then end the podcast with a Scripture reading anchoring us in the truth of God’s Word before you go on with your day. This will give us the opportunity to center our minds on Jesus and our hearts on His Word because lives will change as we engage with God’s Word.

I wonder if you could help me with something. Would you consider texting this podcast right now to a friend or to someone that you’re mentoring? Listen in and then join me at PresentlyEngaged.com. I am so grateful for your time and glad that you are here because you, friend, are making a difference.

In my teens and twenties, I spent a lot of time on the road packing my suitcase, hauling gear, and schlepping across the country to help lead spiritual growth and training conferences. Every trip was full of purpose and people and prayer and late nights. When I finally came home, I always carried two things, a full heart and an empty tank, so to speak. My suitcase was stuffed with dirty laundry and wrinkled name tags and a half-squish toothpaste tube.

For whatever reason, I used my toothpaste tube as an indicator for my life balance so when the tube was empty, it was time to come home and recharge. We all have our metrics, y’all. My eyes were tired, but my soul was glowing with gratitude for what God had done. And still, let’s be honest, I was wiped out.

And that’s when a mentor’s wise advice would echo in my ears. I could hear his voice saying, sleep until you get hungry, then eat until you get sleepy, and repeat until you feel human again. Simple, grounded, brilliant, and it worked! After about three cycles of that simple prescription, life came back into focus and I started feeling human again, awake and grounded and ready for whatever God had next for me.

And over time, I have added two more pieces to that rhythm. So more along the way, I started taking a slow walk outside while listening to the Psalms. Sometimes through earbuds, sometimes just whispered aloud along the sidewalk. And the words of David have become my soul’s realignment, the reminder that God welcomes both my praise and my questions.

So now I call this rhythm my hero routine. It’s simple, restorative, and incredibly practical. Sleep, eat, stroll, Psalms, repeat. There’s something healing about letting God’s words speak over you when your own words have run dry.

And there’s something grounding about walking while the Psalms remind you that others have cried and wondered and rejoiced and trusted through every possible emotion before you ever did, perhaps even breathing those same words under their breath as they walk through their day. If your heart feels heavy or your body’s running on empty, try the hero routine. Seriously, it’s not complicated or glamorous, but it’s sacred. Sleep, let your body rest.

It’s not laziness. It’s stewardship. Eat, nourish yourself with what’s good and simple. Stroll, step outside.

Let your senses wake up to God’s creation. Psalms, let his word do the work, the heart work that only it can do. And repeat. Sleep, eat, stroll, Psalms, repeat.

When life feels loud, this rhythm whispers peace. And when you’re tired of trying to fix or figure out everything, it brings you back to dependence and delight. And the many questions tucked throughout the Psalms, they remind us that asking can be a holy endeavor. The writers of the Psalms whispered and thundered and shouted their biggest questions to God and to their fellow man.

David asked, Asaph asked, even Moses, and the sons of Korah asked. Their questions didn’t drive them away from God. They drew them closer. So don’t be afraid to take your own hard questions to God.

Take them on a walk. Speak them out loud and then listen for his gentle voice in response. The Psalms are a wonderful place to start when your soul feels too tired to pray, too tangled to process. And when you need a tangible way to reset, come back to that hero routine.

Deep, eat, stroll, Psalms, repeat. You’ll be amazed at how human you start to feel again and how near God already was and how near he’s always been. With the hero routine in mind, let’s look at some of those questions in the pages of the Psalms. Let’s listen in to David’s own heart questions because this person, after God’s own heart, asked some profound questions.

Psalm 10 verse one, why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? That’s honest. That’s raw.

That’s someone who’s not afraid to bring the ache in his soul directly to God. And now listen to how this same Psalm lands in verses 17 and 18. You Lord hear the desire of the afflicted. You encourage them and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

Do you notice the shift from anguish to reassurance, from question to confidence? We see that again and again in the Psalms. Let’s look at another. Psalm 18 verse 31, for who is God besides the Lord and who is the rock except our God?

And then just four verses later, verse 35, you make your saving help my shield and your right hand sustains me. Your help has made me great. David’s heart questions are not theoretical. They’re personal.

They came from the battlefield and the cave from the throne room and the lonely hillside. They’re questions that start in vulnerability and often end in victory, not because the circumstances change, but because David reorients his heart toward God. He acknowledges and verbalizes both his very real emotions and feelings and his very real confidence that God is who he says he is. One more that we can look at a question David asks Psalm 2410.

Who is he, this King of glory? And the answer directly after it. The Lord Almighty, he is the King of glory. David is not just asking to understand.

He’s asking to behold and in asking those questions in meditating on the answers, he beholds the very word of God. Let’s talk about what David’s heart questions teach us. We learn that honest, open-ended questions cultivate relationships and David models this with God and we see his relationship with God deepen as a result. David doesn’t just pretend.

He doesn’t filter his emotions before he comes to the Lord. Instead, he brings his whole messy thing to God in question form. Why Lord, do you stand far off? That’s not polished.

That’s personal. You can imagine grunting that on a really hard day. He laments and here’s why that matters. We see that lament is not the opposite of faith.

It’s an act of faith. It’s choosing to bring pain to God instead of pretending it doesn’t exist or taking it somewhere else to save self-medicate or distract or cope. It’s believing that God can handle your sorrow, that he won’t shame you for your questions and your feelings, that he listens even when you’re not sure how to talk. I notice something else.

David rarely stops with the question. The pattern is clear in the Psalms. He brings the raw question. He recalls who God is.

He reframes his reality in light of God’s character. We could call these question and answer Psalms, Q&A Psalms. They’re not formulas. They’re windows into one heart dialoguing with God in real time.

So try this. Write your own Psalm. Start with a real question. Why am I overwhelmed right now?

Where is justice in this situation? I feel alone. Am I alone? And then remember a truth about God or find it in the pages of your Bible.

Why am I overwhelmed right now? Psalm 1831 through 32 says, For who is God but the Lord and who is a rock except our God the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless? Where is justice in the situation? Psalm 8914 tells me righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. I feel alone. Am I alone? Hebrews 13.5 declares, You will never leave me nor forsake me.

So ask your question. Find the answer in the pages of Scripture. Then close your own personal Psalm time with a commitment or a declaration. I will trust you even when I don’t understand.

I will trust you to be my strength in my song today. Let your mercy be my guide daily. This habit friend of framing your emotions into question and answer moments with God. It isn’t just for pastors and preachers.

It’s for you. It’s for me. It’s for your lunch break, your evening walk, your drive to the grocery store, your adventure through the car line. Sacred, sacred space where you learn to deal and feel deeply and listen fully.

So here’s your invitation today. Go on a walk or take a drive or sit on your porch. I’m not picky, but wherever you go, pick one question from a Psalm, one that speaks to what you’re feeling right now. Say it out loud.

Let it linger in the air. Maybe it’s why Lord, you stand far off from Psalm 10.1. Maybe it’s Psalm 1831. Who is God but the Lord?

Or maybe who is this King of glory? Say it like you imagine David saying it, not like you’re performing or posturing, but that you’re genuinely curious that you’re asking your good father something he delights to answer. And then listen. Let the spirit bring truth to your memory.

Let God speak through his word or through the quiet or even through a song or a picture that comes to mind. Let the question become a conversation. And if you’re walking with a child or a friend, try this. Ask the question together and then invite each person to share a word or phrase that answers it.

This is how we keep walking with Jesus. One question at a time. Let’s look at Psalm 1833-36. This God, his way is perfect.

The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock except our God?

The God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war so that my arms can bend above bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation and your right hand supported me and your gentleness made me great.

You gave a wide place for my steps under me and my feet did not slip. That’s who our God is. That is the God you can know daily. We see it through our God-given curiosity by asking, who is God?

The answer comes in the words of the Psalms. He is a rock. He equips you with strength. He offers to make your way blameless.

He gives you a purpose and a calling inviting you into the adventure of enjoying and following him. He gives you the shield of his salvation. He supports you. His gentleness makes you great.

So go today with confidence because even your questions are held in his hands. And before you go, would you share this episode with a friend, maybe someone who’s going through a hard season and needs permission to ask honest questions of God because you friend are making a difference. Hanging on a cross with the entirety of humanity’s sin crushing his sinless body, Jesus cried out with a loud voice verbalizing an anguished question. We read it in Matthew 27, verse 46.

And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama, Savakthani, that is my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? The Messiah is famously quoting Psalm 22, a Psalm of David. Both David and Jesus took their biggest, most confused, most real questions to God.

So listen for the questions in Psalm 22 as we read it. Listen for the prophecy and fulfillment of these words in Jesus’s life and imagine the comfort that he felt and knew in orienting himself to the truth of God’s promises and the truth of God’s word. Listen for how the writer anchors himself in the truth of God’s holiness, goodness, and trustworthy character. This is the word of the Lord.

Psalm 22, for the director of music, to the tune of the dough of the morning, a Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from my cries of anguish.

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One. You are the one Israel praises. And you, our ancestors, put their trust.

They trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved. And you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man.

Scorned by everyone, despised by the people, all who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord, they say. Let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him. And see the lights in him. Yet you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

From birth I was cast on you from my mother’s womb. You have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me, strong bulls of bashing encircle me.

Roaring lions that tear their prey, open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. It has melted within me.

My mouth is dried up like a potchard and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me. They pierce my hands and my feet.

All my bones are on display. People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. But you, Lord, do not be far from me.

You are my strength. Come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion.

Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my people. In the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him.

All you descendants of Jacob honor him. Revere him all you descendants of Israel. For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise and the great assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise him.

May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations will bow down before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him.

Later generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn. He has done it. God’s word is for you, friend.

Can you imagine not being able to read it or listen to it in your own heart language? The language that you think in, dream in, and speak in? Biblical is a global ministry innovating new ways to reach people with the Bible. My husband Peter and I have supported their work for almost 10 years and we’d like to invite you to join us.

Biblical’s mission is to end gospel poverty wherever it is found. So as your heart was blessed by today’s reading of God’s word, please visit biblical.com to support translating and distributing the Bible in someone else’s heart language. God’s word and people are the two things from this world we take into eternity. Together, we can provide the Bible in accurate contemporary translations and formats so that Bible-less people experience the word of God in a language they understand.

Two dollars delivers a Bible to a waiting community. How might God include your family in translating God’s word, delivering Bibles to frontline churches and sharing the love of Jesus? Send truth, hope, and God’s word at biblical.com. And now, as we conclude, a blessing for you from 2 Corinthians 1-4.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May you see, experience, and know. The God and Father of your Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. May he comfort you in all your troubles so that you can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort you yourself receive from God.

And now, as we conclude, a blessing for you from 2 Corinthians 1-4. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May you see, experience, and know. The God and Father of your Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

May he comfort you in all your troubles so that you can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort you yourself receive from God.