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Lesson OneSuffering Comes With The Freedom To Choose5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoSuffering Reveals What Is In Our Hearts5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeSuffering Takes Us To The Edge Of Eternity5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourGod Can Turn Suffering Around For Our Good5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FivePain Can Warn Us Of Danger5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SixIn Times Of Crisis We Find One Another5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SevenSuffering Gives Opportunity To Trust God5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson EightPain Loosens Our Grip On This Life5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson NineGod Suffers With Us In Our Suffering5 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TenGod's Comfort Is Greater Than Our Suffering5 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 1
Discussion Questions
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Douglas Geivett said that people sometimes respond to suffering by becoming bitter against God or by rejecting Him. Can you identify some Bible characters who displayed those responses?
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12 Replies
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The Israelites are the first I think of when I think of bitterness towards God during suffering. They complained and complained even though God was delivering them from slavery. They rejected God and wanted to return to their old lives in slavery.
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The first one that comes to mind is Cain. He gave a poor offering compared to Abel and it affected the rest of his life. Eventually his bitterness led to a group of people against God.
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Saul became bitter against God and tried to take out David to remain King of Isreal. There has been a few times that I have questioned God but I can’t remember a time that I became bitter and rejected God.
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Joseph’s brothers are the first people who come to mind. They viewed themselves as suffering because of a lack of favor from their father, and as a result rejected both God and their brother.
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The children of Israel when wandering in the desert blamed God and wanted to go back to Egypt, even though they were slaves, they felt they could get better provisions.
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Paul Brand spoke of patients “taking off the mask” in private. Why do you think it is important for God to unmask our hearts—even if suffering is required to accomplish it?
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13 Replies
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Unmasking our hearts allows us to see what lies beneath. We can ignore all the ugly stuff and pretend it’s not there, but when God unmasks it, we see the truth. We can then repent and grow closer to God.
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We are taught far too often to hide our emotions or keep things close to our heart. God often has to get us to be honest with ourselves about different struggles in our hearts. We all fall prey to different sins and often we can “get away” with them in some sense. But those things may truly affect our relationship with Christ and with others. We need to have those things exposed so that we can confess them and give them to the Lord.
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When we take off our masks we are out our most vulnerable and child like and when we have no walls built up around us and when we can see what is being done in our lives.
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To reveal what lies beneath. To reveal to us our true nature and giving us the choice to repent or turn away from God.
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Our hearts must be completely unmasked in order for us to have the most pure relationship with God. We have to confront the truth of our hearts and our human condition to grow.
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Think about the amount of pressure required to transform coal into a diamond. What would be the human counterpoint of that necessity for pressure? How can pressure affect us?
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14 Replies
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Pressure helps us grow, but it can also break us. Having child-like faith, I think, during the pressure is what will help us to grow closer to God.
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I think like many people said in the lesson, death can often lead people to the edge of their limit. We think of people as indestructible when it comes to death. We think are parents will live forever. We can’t imagine anything happening to them as a young kid. However, if that occurred, you would be shaken to the core. At that point, the worldview that has been instilled deep into your heart will reveal itself. Your reactions will tell a lot about what you believe. As a youth group leader, one of our students passed away due to complications with the flu. Everyone reacted in different ways, but what affected me the most was the way her parents leaned into the Lord and used it as an opportunity to preach the gospel to friends and family.
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The human counterpoint is emotion and knowledge. This includes our relationship with Jesus. Of course the unbeliever is left to temporal/secular perspectives.
We are to understand that grief/pain my stay with us for a lengthy period of time. Pressure may lead to anger, bitterness, isolation/loneliness and a critical spirit.
Pressure can also develop our spirit into a closer walk with God and a more gentle spirit for those around us. -
Lose of a loved one, lose of income would build that type of pressure in ones life. Pressure reveals who we are as individuals and the choses we make when the pressure comes.
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Pressure can have an extremely negative or an extremely positive affect on us. How a human responds to pressure is going to depend on the human and the kind of pressure. Things that pressure, or challenge, us to work harder, be more faithful, and grow in a positive manner can have a tremendously positive impact. However, the wrong kind of pressure can also destroy a person.