Luke 9:41-45: in context

After Jesus heals a boy and all the crowd marvels at the majesty of God, he turns to his disciples with a hard word: let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. It is a plain foretelling of his coming suffering. But the disciples did not understand what he meant; it was hidden from them. And, we are told, they were afraid to ask him about it. They did not grasp his words, and rather than asking, they kept their confusion to themselves out of fear.

The detail worth noticing is that the disciples were afraid to ask. They did not understand Jesus' words about his suffering; the meaning was hidden from them. And rather than bringing their confusion to him, asking him to explain, they kept silent out of fear. Perhaps they feared the answer, or feared looking foolish, or feared to probe a hard and troubling saying. Whatever the reason, their fear kept them from asking, and so they remained in the dark, ununderstanding, when they might have asked and been taught. This is a tendency we share. When we encounter hard truths, troubling passages, things about God or his ways that we do not understand, we can be afraid to ask, keeping our confusion and our questions to ourselves. We may fear the answer, fear that asking reveals a lack of faith, fear to probe what troubles us. And so we remain in the dark, our questions unaddressed, our confusion unresolved, when we might have brought them to God and been helped. The disciples' fear to ask kept them from understanding; and our own fear to ask can keep us from the understanding we might have. This calls us to bring our questions and confusion to God rather than being afraid to ask. God does not despise our honest questions; he invites us to bring them to him. If any of you lacks wisdom, James says, let him ask of God, who gives generously and without reproach. God does not reproach the honest asker; he gives generously to those who bring their questions to him. And Jesus, we are told, explained everything to his disciples in private; those who brought their confusion to him were taught. The way out of our confusion is often to ask, to bring our questions to God, rather than to keep them to ourselves out of fear. This searches whether we bring our questions to God or hide them out of fear. When we do not understand, when hard truths trouble us, do we ask, bringing our confusion to God, or are we afraid to ask, keeping our questions to ourselves and remaining in the dark? The disciples were afraid to ask and so did not understand; and we are called to a different way, bringing our honest questions and confusion to God, who does not reproach the asker but gives generously to those who seek understanding. Better to ask and be taught than to remain, like the disciples, in a confusion we were afraid to bring into the light.

When I encounter hard truths or troubling things about God that I do not understand, do I bring my questions and confusion to him, or am I afraid to ask, keeping them to myself out of fear and remaining in the dark, as the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus about his coming suffering, and can this move me to bring my honest questions to God, who does not reproach the asker but gives wisdom generously, rather than hiding my confusion out of fear?