“Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.”

For the most part, there are no dumb questions, unless someone was to have already prepared and known the question ahead of time and only asks because they haven’t done the pre-work or worked hard enough.  That said, most questions are fine to be asked and we should not hesitate to ask for clarity, rather than move ahead not fully understanding direction or the desired outcome.  But, there are dumb answers.  These are the ones that come from those who think they know it all, and really know very little.  These are the people who usually are the first to speak up without thinking and then come to find out they don’t have their facts correct.  We all know these people and we must be careful that this mode of operating doesn’t creep into the culture of our teams or company.

As I wrote last week, Jesus was masterful at using questions to answer the questions that others had of Him.  But, He was also not fearful of making declarative answers when required, but never without thought and being able to back up each of those answers with the authority of God and many times grounded in the prophecies of the writings of the Old Testament.  Our learning is that we shouldn’t be afraid to answer, but we can, and should, call on Him before we speak up.

Reference:  1 Corinthians 8:2 (New Living Translation)