A fan of J.R.R. Tolkien posed a question to him in a letter. He asked why the heroes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy didn’t simply fly on the giant eagles into Mordor. In a later interview, Tolkien admitted, “It would have made the quest a whole lot easier.” Yet he gave a shockingly curt answer: “Shut up.”

Tolkien’s inelegant response contains a lesson for us. We might ask a similar question of the Grand Storyteller—God. We say, “You’re the all-powerful God. Why don’t You fix my problem?”

Although the poets and prophets of the Bible are full of hard questions for God, He doesn’t tell us to shut up. Yet when we humans are confronted with His presence, we tend to grow silent.

Job, who suffered tremendously, had big questions. His children dead, his wealth gone, his health ruined, he lamented, “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer” (Job 30:20 ). Eventually, God replied, but in a surprising way. He said, “I will question you, and you shall answer me” (38:3). Job had no answer, and concluded, “I spoke of things I did not understand” (42:3).

If Tolkien’s eagles had flown Frodo and Sam into the evil heart of Mordor, there would have been no quest, no story, no character development. God is writing a story, and He’s developing our character through it—yours and mine. We’re on a quest in the greatest fellowship of them all.