Curious: Asking with Wonder and Humility
Today’s devotional
A question can change the way you enter a familiar situation. Instead of assuming you understand a person's response, a difficult passage, or an unexpected event, you begin to wonder what you have missed. Curiosity opens attention. Its direction matters, because the desire to know can serve either love or control.
Proverbs 25 honors mystery and careful searching. God knows depths that remain hidden from us, while wise rulers have a responsibility to investigate rather than decide by rumor or appearance. There is dignity in patient inquiry. There is also humility in recognizing that we do not possess the whole picture.
Jesus asked the disciples who they understood him to be. Peter recognized him as the Messiah, yet still resisted the path of suffering Jesus described. A true answer had not completed Peter's understanding. He needed to keep listening as Jesus reshaped his assumptions about power, victory, and God's work.
We also come to Christ with answers that need deeper formation. His cross and resurrection reveal a wisdom centered in self-giving love. The Holy Spirit can help us hold a conviction without assuming we have understood every implication. Our worth does not depend on being the quickest person with an explanation.
Choose a question that is worth your patient attention. Read carefully, observe, pray, and learn from someone with relevant experience. Let trustworthy evidence correct your first impression. When your question concerns another person's life, ask permission and accept their boundaries. Their experience belongs to them; curiosity does not give us a claim on every private detail.
The aim of this search is a more truthful and loving response. You may discover something useful, recognize an assumption, or become more aware of what you still do not know. Each can deepen humility. What you learn becomes a gift when it helps you worship with wonder and serve with greater understanding.
Adapted from Week 19, “Curious: Seeking wisdom with wonder and humility,” in Wonder Words by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice how the word takes shape within God’s story.
Proverbs 25:2 · WEBU
2It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
Matthew 16:13-23 · WEBU
13Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
19I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”
20Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
Pause and respond
For reflection
What assumption might Jesus be inviting me to release so that I can understand more truthfully and love more wisely?
A practice for today
Carry one honest question today. Give it careful attention through Scripture, a trustworthy source, or a respectful conversation, and allow what you learn to revise your first impression.
A prayer
God of wisdom, awaken wonder where I have settled for an easy answer. Holy Spirit, give me patience to search carefully and humility to be corrected. Jesus, meet me in what I do not understand. Teach me to honor other people’s boundaries and let what I learn become thoughtful love. Amen.
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