Download Five Anchors for the Soul Powerpoint

Helping Suffering Families
What do you say to people
who are suffering?
Friends
“When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz…Bildad
…Zophar…heard about all the trouble that
had come upon him, they set out from their
homes and met together by agreement to go
and sympathize with him and comfort him.”
Job 2:11
Everyone Needs Friends
“When they saw him from a distance, they
could hardly recognize him; they began to
weep aloud, and they tore their robes and
sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat
on the ground with him for seven days and
seven nights. No one said a word to him,
because they saw how great his suffering
was.”
Job 2:12-13
But Not Friends Like These
“A despairing man should have the devotion
of his friends, even though he forsakes the
fear of the Almighty.
But my brothers are as undependable as
intermittent streams, as the streams that
overflow when darkened by thawing ice and
swollen with melting snow but that cease to
flow in the dry season.” Job 6:14-17a
Guideline Number One
Be There and Be Silent
Guideline Number Two
Listen, and Permit Lament
Guideline Number Three
Express Your Love Through
Action
Guideline Number Four
Express Words of Love and
Sympathy
Guideline Number Five
Don’t Interpret
So, What More Can We Say?
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Sunday AM: God Loves
Sunday PM: God Listens
Monday PM: God Understands
Tuesday PM: God Reigns
Wednesday PM: God Wins
Helping Suffering Families
The Unrelenting Love Of God
Lord, How Have you Loved Us?
Have you ever asked that question?
Malachi 1:2
“I have loved you,” says the Lord.
But you ask, “How have you loved us?”
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord
says. “Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I have
hated.”
The Lament (Psalm 77:1-3)
“I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God
to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought
the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring
hands and my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I
mused, and my spirit grew faint.”
The Questions (Psalm 77:7-9)
“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never
show his favor again? Has his unfailing
love vanished forever? Has his promise
failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be
merciful? Has he in anger withheld his
compassion?”
Our Questions
Do we ask….
– Where is God’s love?
– How have you loved us?
– How can we know you love us?
Remember
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord
says. “Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I have
hated.”
Malachi 1:2
Reflection (Psalm 77:10-12)
Then I thought, “To this I will appearl the
years of the right hand of the Most High. I
will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I
will remember your miracles of long ago. I
will meditate on all your works and
consider all your mighty deeds.”
Remember
• Remember God created you out of love.
• Remember God’s loving creation of Israel,
Deuteronomy 7:7-9
• Remember God’s loving pursuit of Israel.
Hosea 3:1; 11:8-9
Where Do We Find God’s Love?
Do we find it in . . .
• our health?
• our prosperity?
• our employment?
• our happiness?
We Find God’s Love in Jesus
“For I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
We Remember . . .
• that God loved us relentlessly, even when
we were his enemies
• that God loved us empathetically in Jesus
Christ, even sharing our experience
• that God loved us sacrificially, even to
death on a cross
Helping Suffering Families
The Inviting Presence of God
Lord, Are You Listening?
When Prayer Speaks the Heart
Not the Way It is Supposed To Be
• God created life, but now there is death.
• God created peace, but now there is chaos.
• God created community, but now there is
fragmentation and segregation.
Lament over Fallenness
• Lament over sickness, disease and pain.
• Lament over sin, injustice and oppression.
• Lament over alienation and death.
The Lament of Psalm 13
• Complaint: How Long? (13:1-2)
• Petition: Look at Me, Answer Me! (13:3-4)
• Praise: I Trust You (13:5-6)
The Complaint of Psalm 13:1-2
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me
forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Questions of Complaint
• “My soul is in anguish.
How long, O Lord, how long?”
Psalm 6:3
• “Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of
trouble?”
Psalm 10:1
Pouring Out Our Complaints
“I cry aloud to the Lord;
I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before him;
before him I tell my trouble.”
Psalm 142:1-2
May We Lament?
• The angels in heaven lament.
Zechariah 1:12
• Jesus Christ lamented on the cross.
Matthew 27:46
• The saints in heaven lament.
Revelation 6:9-10
The Function of Lament
• Communal Sympathy and Empathy
• Engaging God Honestly with the Heart
• Spiritual Therapy through Divine Presence
The Petition of Lament: Redeem Me
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Psalm 44
We have heard of your past history, God.
But now we don’t see you.
Your people are slaughtered as sheep.
But we will not forget you.
“Rise up and help us; redeem us because of
your unfailing love.”
We Trust His Redeeming Love
Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 in Romans 8:36,
and then writes:
“No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us.”
The Sanctuary Experience
• Psalm 73:16b-17a
“it was oppressive to me till I entered
the sanctuary of God.”
• Job 42:5
“My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.”
Divine Comfort and Hope
May the God of hope fill you with all joy
and peace as you trust in him, so that you
may overflow with hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Biblical Story as Lens
The models of lament in Scripture are
paradigmatic for our own experience
of suffering and subsequent comfort.
Helping Suffering Families
The Caring Empathy of God
Lord, You Don’t Understand!
How can the cosmic Creator
understand our pain and hurt?
The Sympathy of God
• God weeps over evil in the world.
• God weeps over death in the world.
• God weeps over suffering in the world.
God Weeps Over the Wicked
• Jeremiah 48:36, “So my heart laments for
Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for
the men of Kir Hareseth.”
• Isaiah 16:9, “So I weep, as Jazer weeps…O
Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with
tears.”
God Weeps Over His People
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how
often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under
her wings, but you were not willing.”
Matthew 23:37
The Empathy of God
Does God Understand?
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Does God understand an unfaithful spouse?
Does God understand a rebellious child?
Does God understand disappointment?
Does God understand the grief of death?
But Does God Understand...
• what it is like to be tempted?
• what it is like to be hungry or thirsty?
• what it is like to live in the flesh?
• what it is like to die?
God Comes Near
• We do not serve a distant God who insulates
himself from our hurt and pain.
• We serve a God who comes near to our pain
and joins us in our suffering.
• We serve a God who suffers with us.
In Jesus, God Understands
• Jesus understands how it feels to hunger and thirst.
• Jesus understands what is like to be tempted.
• Jesus understands what it is like to weep by the
tomb of a friend.
• Jesus understands what it is like to die.
In Jesus, God Understands
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest
who has gone through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the
faith we profess. For we not have a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been
tempted in every way, just as we are--yet
without sin.”
Hebrews 4:14-15
The Son Became One of Us
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels, now crowned with
glory and honor because he suffered death,
so that by the grace of God he might taste
death for everyone…he too shared in their
humanity so that by his death he might
destroy him who holds the power of death.”
Hebrews 2:9, 14
Suffering Perfects Jesus
• “…make the author of their salvation perfect
through suffering...Because he himself suffered
when he was tempted, he is able to help those who
are being tempted.”
Hebrews 2:10,18
• “Although he was a son, he learned obedience
from what he suffered and, once made perfect,
became the source of eternal salvation for all who
obey him.”
Hebrews 5:8-9
So, Confidence!
“Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy
and grace to help us in our time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
Our Confidence
• God unrelentingly pursues us in love
• God listens patiently to our laments over
our pain.
• God understands our pain because he has
himself experienced it.
What Do We Say to Sufferers?
• God loves you and he has demonstrated this in
Jesus: “Keep your eyes on the cross.”
• God hears your lament and weeps with you: “Tell
God all your troubles.”
• God understands your suffering because he
himself has suffered: “God is sitting with you on
your mourning bench.”
Because….
• Because God loves,
• Because God listens,
• Because God understands,
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he
cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Helping Suffering Families
The Unlimited Sovereignty of God
Lord, Why This? Why Now?
God reigns over his world in order to
bring us into communion with him
and fulfill his original creative intent.
Where is Your God?
• Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever he
pleases.
• Psalm 115:3
• The Lord does
whatever pleases him,
in the heavens, and on
the earth, in the seas
and all their depths.
• Psalm 135:6
Our God Reigns
• It is the worship of Israel
Psalm 68:16; 93:1; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1
• It is the proclamation of Israel
Isaiah 52:7
• It is the message of the Gospel.
“The Kingdom of God is near.”
God Values Authenticity
• God created freedom in freedom.
• God yearns for authentic reciprocity.
• God seeks integrity in our faith response.
God Tests the Heart
“I know, my God, that you test the
heart and are pleased with integrity.”
1 Chronicles 29:17
The Testing of Job
• The story of Job is a cosmic “integrity
check.”
Do we serve God for profit?
Do we endure when there are no props?
Do we trust even when we cannot see?
The Sovereignty of God in Job
• “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.”
Job 1:21
• Lord says: “though you incited me against him to
ruin him without any reason.” Job 2:3.
• “They comforted and consoled hm over all the
trouble the Lord had brought upon him.” Job
42:11.
The Questions of Job:
Job Complains
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Why is life given to those in misery (3:20)?
Why has God made Job his target (7:20)?
Why does God hide his face (13:24)?
Why do the wicked prosper (21:7)?
Why does not God judge the world (24:1)?
The Victory of Job
• He maintained his integrity before God; he
did not admit to a false self-incrimination.
Job 27:5-6
• He maintained his faith in God; he did not
curse God.
Job 19:25-27
The Trusting Faith of Job
“But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.
I have not departed from the command of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than
my daily bread.”
Job 23:10-12
God’s Goal
God is more interested in our faith
than our pleasure; in the joy of
communion than temporal pleasures.
The Testing Motif in Scripture
• The Divine Act of Testing
Genesis 22:1; Psalms 7:9; 11:4-5
• The Divine Motive for Testing
- To Reveal the Heart (Deuteronomy 8:2)
• The Divine Goal in Testing
- Character-Building (Deuteronomy 8:5)
The Intent of Testing
• “The Lord your God is testing you to find out
whether you love him with all your heart and with
all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 13:3
• “God left him to test him and to know everything
that was in his heart.”
2 Chronicles 32:31
The Trust Factor
• God is the listening empathetic lover.
• God is the sovereign Lord.
• Human Response: We trust that God is at
work to accomplish his purposes, even
when his ways are hidden from us.
The Hidden God on the Cross
The suffering of the cross is
paradigmatic for the hiddenness of
the meaning of suffering.
The Revealed God in the Cross
God reveals his love through the
weakness of suffering and acts to
reconcile the world to himself.
God is Sovereign over Suffering
“We know that God is at work in
everything for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to his
purpose.”
Romans 8:28
The Goal of God’s Sovereignty:
What is the “Good” God Desires?
“For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the likeness
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.”
Romans 8:29
God Conforms Us to His Son
God is at work in everything to shape
us into the image of his Son in order
to enjoy eternal communion with us.
The Biblical Story as Lens
While the meaning of suffering is
often hidden from us, we are
confident that God is at work in order
to accomplish his purpose for us.
Helping Suffering Families
The Ultimate Victory of God
How Long, O Lord?
Faith means waiting on the Lord’s
timing for his ultimate victory.
Romans 8:18-27
Fallenness
Already
Not Yet
Groaning
Holy Spirit
Adoption
Suffering
Hope
Revelation
Bondage
Waiting
Freedom
Decay
Prayer
Resurrection
Futility
Intercession
Glory
The “Not Yet” Revealed
The resurrection of Jesus tells us what
the future will be and assures us of
the victory of God over fallenness.
Back to the Future
• The resurrection of Jesus is an act of God
which comes from the future.
• The resurrection of Jesus is the final event
of history.
• We have a preview of the end.
His Resurrection is Ours
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For
since death came through a man, the resurrection
of the dead comes also through a man. For as in
Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits;
then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
Our Resurrection Body
1 Corinthians 15:42-49
Natural Body
Spiritual Body
From Adam
From Christ
Perishable
Imperishable
Dishonor
Glory
Weakness
Power
Mortal
Immortal
To Be Like Christ
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who,by the power that enables
him to bring everything under his control,
will transform our lowly bodies so that they
will be like his glorious body.”
Philippians 3:20-21
The Spirit At Work On Us Now
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into
his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18
The Connection
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you, he who
raised Christ from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit,
who lives in you.”
Romans 8:11
Already Waiting for Glory
“…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of
the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies….we wait for it
patiently.”
Romans 8:23, 25.
Also: 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20; Titus 2:13
Hoping and Waiting
“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance, character; and
character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Romans 5:2b-5
What Do We Say to Sufferers?
• God loves you and he has demonstrated this in
Jesus: “Keep your eyes on the cross.”
• God hears your lament and weeps with you: “Tell
God all your troubles.”
• God understands your suffering because he
himself has suffered: “God is sitting with you on
your mourning bench.”
What Do We Say to Sufferers?
• God is at work in everything to accomplish
his goal for us: “God is in control; trust
him.”
• God has demonstrated his victory over
death in Jesus Christ: “It will not always be
this way.”
Because….
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Because God loves,
Because God listens,
Because God understands,
Because God reigns,
Because God wins,
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he
cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7