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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? • • • • • 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 • • • • • 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? • • • • 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 • • • • • 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…. • • • • • 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