HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD

Scripture: Genesis 22:1–19

Time: 35–45 minutes

Workpage: The Question File (optional)

Prompt: This passage is difficult.

Don't pretend it isn't.

Read it slowly and identify exactly what makes it difficult before looking for explanations.

Directions: Track God's instruction, Abraham's actions, Isaac's questions, the interruption, and what God provides. Write at least three questions the passage creates for you. Then use a reliable study Bible or commentary to investigate the historical and theological context.

Take It to the Margin: What does the passage ultimately emphasize about Abraham, God, and provision? Which questions remain difficult even after studying?

For the Grown-Up: Resist immediately explaining the passage. Ask your student which part troubles them most. If they research interpretations, help them distinguish what Genesis explicitly says from later theological explanations.

Scripture: Deuteronomy 7:1–11; Joshua 6:15–27

Time: 45–60 minutes

Workpage: The Question File (optional)

Prompt: These are some of the Bible's most difficult passages.

Treat them accordingly.

Directions: Read both passages in context. Identify the commands, reasons given within the text, and the language used. Then consult multiple reputable scholarly resources about ancient warfare language, judgment, Canaan, and major Christian interpretations of these texts.

Take It to the Margin: Which conclusions come directly from Scripture, which depend on historical research, and where do interpreters disagree?

For the Grown-Up: Don't reduce this to “God is God, so that's the answer.” Your student is old enough to encounter serious scholarship and competing interpretations. Help them choose credible resources and acknowledge where Christian scholars disagree.

Scripture: Job 1–2; 38:1–42:6

Time: 45–60 minutes

Workpage: The Question File (optional)

Prompt: You know something Job doesn't know.

You saw chapters 1–2.

Job didn't.

Directions: Compare what the reader knows with what Job knows. Then examine God's response near the end. Notice which questions God answers—and which He doesn't.

Take It to the Margin: Does the book give Job a simple explanation for his suffering? What does the book challenge instead?

For the Grown-Up: Avoid turning Job into a formula for explaining someone's real-life suffering. Let the literary structure and unanswered questions remain part of the study.

Scripture: Psalm 13; Psalm 22:1–11

Time: 30–40 minutes

Workpage: The Question File (optional)

Prompt: Scripture contains prayers from people who feel like God is absent.

That's important.

Directions: Mark every statement expressing God's apparent distance and every statement expressing continued trust. Don't try to make one cancel out the other.

Take It to the Margin: How can the writers question God's apparent absence while still speaking directly to God?

For the Grown-Up: Don't treat expressions of spiritual distance as something requiring immediate correction. Let the student observe that Scripture itself preserves these prayers.

Scripture: Exodus 32:7–14; Numbers 23:19; Jonah 3:6–10

Time: 40–50 minutes

Workpage: The Question File (optional)

Prompt: Put these passages beside each other.

Now you've got a question.

Good.

Directions: Examine what each passage says, who is speaking, the situation, and the language used about God. Research how different interpreters understand statements about God “relenting” alongside statements about God's unchanging character.

Take It to the Margin: Can you explain the tension without pretending one set of verses doesn't exist?

For the Grown-Up: This is exactly the kind of question High School Margin should allow to remain open during research. Help locate multiple responsible interpretations rather than forcing one immediately.