Tobit 5:1-5: a reflection

1Then Tobias answered and said to him, “Father, I will do all things, whatever you have commanded me. 2But how could I receive the money, since I don’t know him?” 3He gave him the handwriting, and said to him, “Seek a man who will go with you, and I will give him wages, while I still live; and go and receive the money.” 4He went to seek a man, and found Raphael who was an angel; 5and he didn’t know it. He said to him, “Can I go with you to Rages of Media? Do you know those places well?”

When Tobit tells his son Tobias to go on a journey to collect money that had been left in trust, Tobias responds with a willing heart and an honest question. Father, I will do all things, whatever you have commanded me, he says, committing himself to obey; but then he adds, But how could I receive the money, since I don't know him? He does not refuse or resist; he commits fully to obey. Yet he also honestly voices a real practical concern, asking how it can be done. His willing obedience and his honest question go together; he obeys wholeheartedly and still asks the practical question that troubles him.

Notice that Tobias's willing obedience and his honest question coexist. He does not treat his practical concern as a reason to refuse; he commits fully to do all his father commanded. But neither does his willing obedience keep him from honestly voicing the real question he has about how to carry it out. Obedience and honest questions are not opposites; Tobias shows that we can commit wholeheartedly to obey and still honestly ask the practical questions that trouble us. His willingness was real, and so was his question; he brought them together, obeying while honestly seeking to understand how. The honest question did not undermine his obedience; it accompanied it.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too can commit wholeheartedly to obey God while honestly voicing our practical questions. We can think that to obey we must have no questions, or that voicing our questions means we are resisting; but Tobias committed fully to obey and still honestly asked how it could be done. Willing obedience and honest questions can coexist; we can commit to do what God asks while honestly bringing him our real concerns about how. Do not think that honest questions are incompatible with obedience; you can commit wholeheartedly to obey God and still honestly voice your practical concerns, as Tobias did. Commit wholeheartedly to obey God while honestly voicing the practical questions you have, as Tobias said he would do all his father commanded and still asked how it could be done; for willing obedience and honest questions are not opposites, and we can give ourselves fully to what God asks while honestly bringing him the real concerns we have about carrying it out.

Lord, when Tobit tells his son Tobias to go on a journey to collect money that had been left in trust, Tobias responds with a willing heart and an honest question. Father, I will do all things, whatever you have commanded me, he says, committing himself to obey; but then he adds, but how could I receive the money, since I don't know him? He does not refuse or resist; he commits fully to obey. Yet he also honestly voices a real practical concern. His willing obedience and his honest question go together. Show me that Tobias's willing obedience and his honest question coexist. He does not treat his practical concern as a reason to refuse; he commits fully to do all his father commanded. But neither does his willing obedience keep him from honestly voicing the real question he has. Obedience and honest questions are not opposites; Tobias shows that I can commit wholeheartedly to obey and still honestly ask the practical questions that trouble me. The honest question did not undermine his obedience; it accompanied it. Take that to my heart, for I too can commit wholeheartedly to obey you while honestly voicing my practical questions. I can think that to obey I must have no questions, or that voicing my questions means I am resisting; but Tobias committed fully to obey and still honestly asked how it could be done. Willing obedience and honest questions can coexist. Keep me from thinking that honest questions are incompatible with obedience; help me commit wholeheartedly to obey you, Lord, while honestly voicing my practical concerns, as Tobias did all his father commanded and still asked how it could be done.