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In English 101, most of us learned about the five W-questions. Today, I’ll focus on the first three — who, what and when — as found in Scripture.
WHO
This word explores a person’s identity, character, origin or importance.
2 Samuel 22:32 — “Who is God besides the Lord? Who is a protector besides our God?”
Revelation 1:8 — “... says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the All-Powerful.”
Luke 5:21b — “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Job 38:5 — “Who has set its (the world/creation) measurements?”
WHAT
An inquiry about specific information, value, use or purpose — perhaps cost, description of a thing or information — and how that impacts us.
Matthew 6:31 — “The people asked Jesus, ‘What will we eat? Drink? Wear?’” (See also Luke 12:29.)
Ephesians 5:10 — “… instructs us to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
Luke 13:18 — Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?”
Mark 10:36 — Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Matthew 15:11 — “What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”
Mark 7:20 — “What comes out of a person defiles him.” Matthew 16:26 — “For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life?”
WHEN
Refers to time, circumstances or specific occasions.
James 1:15 — “Then when desire conceives (a thought, temptation or alluring idea), it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.”
2 Corinthians 12:10 — Paul said, “Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
Isaiah 43:2 — “When you pass through the waters (great trouble), I am with you; when you pass through the streams (rivers of difficulty or danger, or perhaps transition), they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire (of oppression), the flames will not consume you. For I am your God, your deliverer.”
These words include ideas of being in over your head — of rough situations or devastating events — yet God says, “I am your deliverer.”
I pray our lives embrace the who, what and when of Scripture — and that, like the Apostle Paul, we can say, “When I am weak, then I am strong through Christ.” Until next week, Anita Onarecker, an Elgin resident, author of “Divine Appointment: Our Journey to the Bridge” and minister to women and adults, earned a Master of Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007.
