“…not doubt-free certainty; rather,
it is tenacious obedience.”
John Ortberg
The Painof Christianity
“Salvation is free.Discipleship costs.”
C.Y. Kim
“Where are You, God?”
C.Y. Kim
Job 7: 17-21
“3 Questions that no one asks.”(but we all do - Job started it)
Is God unfair?
Job 10: 2-9 21: 6-17
“3 Questions that no one asks.”(but we all do - Job started it)
Is God unfair?
Job 10: 2-9 21: 6-17 Is God silent?
Job 19: 7 30: 20
“3 Questions that no one asks.”(but we all do - Job started it)
Is God unfair?
Job 10: 2-9 21: 6-17 Is God silent?
Job 19: 7 30: 20 Is God hidden?
Job 13: 23-24 23: 3-5
“Where is God when it hurts?”
Psalm 71: 12
“God’s great mistake?”
PAIN
“Fearfully & Wonderfully Made”
Psalm 139: 13-17
“When you have no experience of pain, it is rather hard to experience joy.”
George Wald
Job 36:15 - Elihu speaks
“But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.”
God’s megaphone..“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S. Lewis
The big IF...
Romans 8: 16-17
The big IF...
Romans 8: 16-17
BUT verse 18
“light & momentary..?”
II Corinthians 4: 16-18
What is already a part of your relationship?
“Though He slay me…” Job
“Your law is my delight…”David
Doesn’t God know that He might actually drive people away from Him?
Psalm 119: 67, 71, 75
A faith refined...
I Peter 1: 6-7Isaiah 48: 8-11
As you suffer,God may not show you why, but He will show you Who.
Job 38-42
The wicked prosper..The righteous are afflicted..
I Peter 5: 10Job 20: 4-5Psalm 73
Rain & SunRighteous & Unrighteous
Matthew 5: 45
Is pain & suffering God’s punishment for our sin?
Psalm 89: 20-37
“If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have You made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?”
“If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have You made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?”
Job 7: 20
Why do bad things happen to those who love Jesus & to those loved by Jesus?
Is my suffering Is my suffering proportional to my sin?proportional to my sin?
Lamentations 3: 31-33Lamentations 3: 37-40
Psalm 28: 3-4Psalm 94: 1-2Psalm 103: 8-10
Pay ‘em back, God, but….
Wages of sin is….?Suffering?
Does God punish & discipline me?
Hebrews 12: 4-11
What for?
Is all my pain & suffering because of my sin?
John 9: 1-3Luke 13: 1-5John 11
Not “Why?” but rather...
To What End?
“…now I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God.”
II Corinthians 7: 8-11Complete Jewish Bible
Why won’t God
just heal us?
Philippians 1: 29I Peter 4: 12-19
Do we allow God to use us, however He sees fit, to draw others to Him?
II Corinthians 12: 7-10I Timothy 5: 23II Timothy 4: 20
Isn’t the Bible full of examples of healing?
If God can heal, then why won’t He?
What is my perspective toward suffering?
Do we get what we deserve?
Psalm 53: 1-3
Matthew 19: 16-17
James 2: 10-11
Do we get what we deserve?
Psalm 103: 8-18
Isaiah 53: 4-6I Peter 2: 21-25
What has changedabout God?What has been healed?
Philip Yancey
“Jesus gave God a face, and that face is streaked with tears.”
Psalm 10: 1Psalm 10: 17-18Psalm 22: 24
“Where is God when it hurts?”
Psalm 119: 50
“My comfort in my suffering is this:Your promise preserves my life.”