[1-10] [11-20] [21-30] [Nazareth Syndrome]
Day #21: Survivor’s Guide to Suffering (Part 1) – Wonder
Read: Job 38
Preparedness is what is done in advance of a crisis to help ensure survival. A banner, hung at the front of the classroom where a preparedness course was being taught, aptly said, “At the moment of truth, you will not rise to the level of expectation, but will fall to the level of training.”
There is another kind of “preparedness,” something we can do in our walk with Christ that will ensure not just survival in times of deep suffering, but that we thrive, whether that suffering is the result of a natural disaster or a personal crisis.
The first key to surviving suffering is to cultivate and maintain a sense of wonder and awe. God knits this into us in the womb, but years of life have a way of pummeling this out of us. In his book, Recapture the Wonder, Ravi Zacharias notes, “The tragedy with growing up is not that we lose childishness in its simplicity, but that we lose childlikeness in its sublimity.” There’s just something about the years that beats out of us our ability to rise in transcendent awe and wonderment at the simplest of marvels – a flower’s beauty, a puff of wind, or a splashing wave.
Job definitely had lost his sense of wonder. From where he sat next to the ash pile, all he could see was incongruence: a God who had brought upon him great calamity even though he had done nothing so evil as to merit such treatment. It made no sense!
If what Job wanted was answers, it seems God felt what he really needed was more questions – 64 of them to be exact! Questions like: “Where were you when I created the world? … Where does darkness reside? … Does the rain have a father? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?” (Job 38:6, 19, 28, 35)
Sixty-four questions later Job was thoroughly overwhelmed. In a spirit of deep awe and humility, he answers God,
“You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 42:1-3)
Job still had no answer, but after his “interview” with God he was content to allow wonder to fill that space. And suddenly, that was enough.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) What conclusion do you think God was leading Job towards by asking him so many impossible questions?
2) How could such a conclusion help us rise above impossibly difficult circumstances that don’t seem to make sense? Give examples.
Day #22: Survivor’s Guide to Suffering (Part 2) – Worship
Read: 2 Chronicles 20:21-22
Preparedness is not only for surviving disasters; it’s also for surviving sorrows that come with living on a fallen planet. One piece in our “suffering preparedness” arsenal is to cultivate a strong sense of wonder. A second is worship, the heart directing extravagant love and adoration to God.
In the depths of deepest suffering, worship rises, at times, only by the strength of sheer obedience steadied by a resolute will. Sometimes our will even grabs our emotions on its way by, and the outlook brightens, the heart is soothed by an unforeseen drop of hope miraculously finding its mark through the darkness.
This is the power of worship.
BATTALIONS OF MUSICIANS
Good King Jehoshaphat understood the power of worship. In fact, he considered worship so powerful that he placed singers at the head of his army when they went into battle. Imagine the jeers of the enemy when they saw Judah’s army advancing toward them for battle being led by musicians! According to the record, “As [the musicians] began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.” (2 Chronicles 20:22).
This is the power of worship.
TIPS TO WORSHIP IN HARD TIMES
Worship out loud with words. Somehow hearing ourselves say a truth out loud presses it more deeply into our hearts and psyches than when it just floats around like a haze in our minds. What’s more, our adversary and his lackeys, who cannot read our minds, hate hearing our worship! It’s like a poke in their eyes.
Worship in gratitude. There is power in the simple act of saying thank you – especially to our Heavenly Father. Perhaps God tells us to “in all things give thanks,” not just because it’s right, but also because there’s healing in it, all the more so when we feel least inclined toward gratitude.
Worship with song. Science cannot fully understand the connection that exists between humans and music. Music touches the whole person, making us tap our foot and move in time (physically), moving us to happiness and tears (emotionally), and raising us up in worship and exaltation (spiritually). And all this is achieved often without conscious effort on our part.
Suffering is warfare because our adversary, the ultimate opportunist, strikes hardest when we’re down. Following Jehoshaphat’s battle plan, we can rise up and overcome through worship.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) Has worship ever lifted you above deep pain and sadness even if just for a moment? Describe what did that looked and felt like.
2) Is this simply a function of the emotions, or of reason/logic, or both? Elaborate.
Day #23: Survivor’s Guide to Suffering (Part 3) – Staying Under His Wings*
Read: Psalm 91
“Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry,
new sorrows strike heaven on the face.” – Wm Shakespeare
It is strange to think of heaven being “struck on the face” by earthly suffering. Was this phrase a product of Shakespeare’s poetic genius or his knowledge of God? Either way, it is accurate. In today’s terms, this “strike” of heaven’s face could be described as a gut punch to our Heavenly Father’s love for his children.
The world is a dangerous place where people are killed every day from disease, accidents, war, and terrorists’ murderous plots. The question is, how do we stay safe in such a place?
Jesus wants us to be safe. He mourned because Jerusalem refused His safe protection. “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)
Jesus uses the metaphor of a mother hen covering her chicks from harm. The fire, the rain, hail, and cold all strike her, while the chicks under her wings are spared. This is what happened on the cross, when Jesus died in our place.
But does this protection extend beyond spiritual protection to physical protection? After all, we are presently living in a physical world and connected to physical bodies. While we long to be in our heavenly bodies, the transition into that body – death – is not usually anticipated with excitement.
Psalm 91 is another “under his wings” passage. While spiritual protection is included, this passage describes divine protection in graphically physical terms – protection from dangers such as pestilence, terror, arrows, plagues. While easily misinterpreted – such as Satan’s twisted use of this passage when he tempted Jesus (Matthew 4) – this psalm clearly sets forth God’s strong protection of our physical lives. Whatever the danger, God is our place of safety (verse 2), His promises are armor around us (verse 4), and He deploys angels to protect us (verse 11).
God is no bystander in the world’s suffering; He is a participant in it. Our God, who wears skin and knows His way around the physical world, gives us this promise: “I will be with them in trouble.” (verse 15)
Survival tip: Get under Jesus’ wings and rest in active belief (i.e. trust). Don’t refuse as the people of Jerusalem did.
* These thoughts were inspired by a Timothy Keller sermon.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) Agnostics and atheist’s claim that the horrible suffering on this planet is proof that, if God exists, He cannot be both loving and all-powerful. How do you resolve this enigma in your own mind (i.e. what loving purpose could an all-powerful God be achieving through suffering)?
2) Do you think Shakespeare’s anthropomorphic description of mankind’s suffering “striking God on the face” is accurate? Explain.
3) Do you believe that God feels our pain? Why? Can you think of a Bible verse or passage that proves your belief?
Day #24: Splash Overs of Hell
Read: Psalm 91:14-16
If the name Joni Erikson Tada is widely known throughout much of North America, it is not because of her strong abilities as an artist, musician or speaker, but because of her disability. She has been a quadriplegic for all but the first 16 years of her life when she had a diving accident. Decades of living with her disability have discipled her into a woman of extraordinary wisdom and beauty, making her one of the foremost voices speaking into our culture concerning the role of pain and suffering in the human experience.
I recently heard a radio broadcast in which Joni shared a conversation she and her husband had one day as they drove home from a treatment center where she had just been treated for cancer. Here is the transcript of that portion of the broadcast:
“My husband Ken was driving me home one day down the 101 freeway after a visit to the chemo clinic. As we were driving we were discussing how suffering is like a little splash over of hell – a little spoonful of hell come early, getting us thinking about and appreciating all that the Savior did to rescue us from that ultimate hell. And we talked about how suffering is, yes, a splash over of hell. It’s awful; it’s difficult; it’s terrible.
“And then as we pulled up in the driveway and he turned off the ignition, we sat there for a moment and talked about, ‘Well, then what are the splash overs of heaven?’ Are they those easy, breezy bright days where birds are singing and everything is rosy?’ We paused a moment, then decided, ‘No, a splash over of heaven is finding Jesus in your splash over of hell.
“There’s nothing more sweet, nothing more poignant and tender than finding Jesus in the midst of your hellish circumstances because then and only then do we find him to be ecstasy beyond compare. We don’t see that side of Him apart from the adversity, but when we discover the Savior in the midst of our suffering…THAT is sweet.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) Imagine you are Daniel. How do you think he might describe his “splash-over of hell” in the run-up to and including his ordeal in the lions’ den?
– How do you think he might have described his “splash-over of heaven”?
2) Describe a poignant “splash over” of hell you have experience, where, in the midst of it, you discovered a “splash over from heaven” by finding Jesus in the midst of it.
Day #25: Prayer (Part 1) – When the Heavens are Like Brass
Read: Hebrews 5:7; Mark 14:35-36; Mark 15:34
Prayer is the most critical piece in the Survival Guide for suffering. But what of those times when the “heavens are like brass” and prayer seems to “bounce off the ceiling?” These clichés accurately describe a common experience in prayer. At such times one wonders, “What’s wrong with me…my prayer…my faith?” Maybe nothing.
Jesus was a model pray-er. While the disciples saw Jesus perform amazing miracles, it was His prayer life that most intrigued them. “Lord, teach us to pray,” they asked, not “teach us to do miracles.” So, did Jesus, the model pray-er, ever experience the “heavens like brass” phenomenon? Judge for yourself based on heaven’s response to one of Jesus’ prayers.
[THE REQUEST] The gospels record that Jesus prayed, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36) [THE OUTCOME] God did not grant Jesus’ request for the cup to pass from Him. The following day He died a horrific death, becoming our sin so we could become His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). But then the worst happened. God turned away from Jesus, who cried out in anguish of spirit, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”The cup did not pass from Jesus. His Father did turn away from Him. Could the heavens at any other day in history seem more “like brass” than they did for Jesus on that day?
[THE PROBLEM] Was it that Jesus lacked fervency in prayer? Not at all. So fervent was He that the intensity was breaking down His body, His sweat dripping like blood. [HEAVEN’S RECORD] What looks one way on earth can look quite different from heaven. While the gospels describe eyewitness accounts of Gethsemane and Golgotha, Hebrews 5:7 reveals the testimony from heaven. This is how that account goes: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”According to heaven, Jesus’ cries were heard, His tears seen, His prayer, “Not my will but yours,” answered.
Though the heavens seemed like brass that day, it turns out they were as soft as the morning mist, just as they are for all who pray in reverent submission.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) The Bible identifies the key to Jesus’ powerful prayer life as being His reverent submission, as evidenced in the phrase, “Not my will but yours be done.”
2) Some today suggest that, while it was right for Jesus in to pray “not my will by yours be done,” for us to pray that way today indicates a lack of faith; they claim that this prayer is simply giving ourselves (and our belief in God) an “out” if God doesn’t answer.
3) Is praying, “Not my will but yours be done” indicating a lack of faith or reverent submission? What do you think?
Day #26: Prayer (Part 2) – Worship in Reverent Submission
Read: Hebrews 5:7
Hebrews 5:7 says that Jesus’ prayer during His greatest time of crisis was heard “because of His reverent submission.” Reverent submission is critical, not just in prayer, but for our daily lives. Without it, faith in our always-good, all-powerful, all-knowing God is impossible. The opposite of reverent submission is the spirit seen in the pathetic story of author Charles Templeton.
In his earliest ministry, Templeton traveled and preached with Billy Graham. Of the two, Templeton was said to have the stronger gifts, but he also had something Billy Graham didn’t: growing doubts. Lee Strobel’s interview with Templeton for his book, The Case for Faith, provides insight into this man’s fall into agnosticism. This fall can be traced back to Templeton’s disagreement with how God was running the planet. Safe to say, Templeton definitely lacked reverent submission.
According to Templeton, his faith finally broke under the weight of a picture in a Life magazine article on a devastating drought in Africa. In the picture, an African woman holds her dead baby, her face looking in agony toward heaven. Templeton says, “I thought, ‘Is it possible to believe that there is a loving or caring Creator when all this woman needed was rain?’” (The Case for Faith p. 14) Templeton cites other reasons it was impossible for him to believe in the God of the Bible, such as the Bible’s teaching on hell and the existence of evil and disease.
Nearing the end of his life in 1999, Templeton published, Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith, in which he explains why he abandoned his faith. One of those reasons, which he describes in especially horrific detail, is Alzheimer’s disease. As it turns out, he had recently been diagnosed with the disease, which would take his life two years after his book was published.
Templeton’s arrogance is slightly reminiscent of what Job was starting to sound like, but with one important difference: Job was humble and quickly repented of “darkening” God’s character, while Templeton dug in his heels in human reasoning.
Prideful arrogance, the opposite of reverent submission, describes Templeton’s error, and explains why his story ended very differently from Job’s, and for that matter, Billy Graham’s. Is there any more poignant way to illustrate the importance of reverent submission than the divergent trajectories of the lives of Templeton and Graham?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) What are some common issues debated today that can make believers struggle with doubt similar to how Templeton struggled?
2) How could a person facing genuine doubt respond with reverent submission as Billy Graham did in stark contrast to Templeton? What does it look like?
3) What can a believer do to avoid the error that Charles Templeton fell into?
Day #27: Watch Your Mouth! (Part 1) – Job
Read: Matthew 15:18; Job 38:2; Job 40:8; Eccl. 4:2
Job must have been struck dumb before God, when at the end of his ordeal God calls him to task for foolish words he exchanged with his three “comforters.” God says to Job, “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge…Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”
Job didn’t sin with his mouth when he lost his wealth, servants, or even his precious children. He was still above reproach when he lost his health. Even when his comforters first arrived he was fine. It wasn’t until he opened his mouth that he got into trouble with God.
At the core of the argument between Job and his friends is the claim that God is too holy to allow the righteous to suffer. If suffering is the result of sin, Job must have committed a big one.
Job argued rightly that his trials were not due to sin. In fact, though he didn’t know it, it was exactly because of his righteousness – not sin – that he was targeted for trouble. But, as so often happens in arguments, each frenzied attempt to make a point can leave one leaning slightly farther from the truth. Before long, Job was sounding way better than he really was, and God was sounding unjust.
The wise adage says, “Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” (Proverbs 10:19 NLT)
There was another dynamic that contributed to Job’s incremental movement toward error. It has to do with the power of a word once it is spoken. Have you noticed the sudden power a thought takes on the moment it is spoken? So the more Job heard himself talk, the more he believed his increasingly extreme hyperbole.
Working in three languages through the years has given me deep experience in mispronouncing words. After being corrected, sometimes I’ve thought, “I know I’ve heard it pronounced the other way.” Upon further reflection, I realize that I had heard it the other way; when I myself had said it! A harmless example, but it illustrates the power that a word takes on once it is spoken.
Once Job realized his error, one can imagine him cradling his head saying, “What was I thinking?”
The point is not that God can’t handle hearing our faithless thoughts; but that maybe we cannot. We must be careful with the spoken word.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) Have you noticed the sudden power a thought can take on the moment it is spoken? Describe an experience you have had or observed where, the more something is said out loud, the more powerful and even true it seems to become.
2) Does this mean we can never express out loud our honest questions, “edgier ponderings”, and even doubts?
3) How can we guard against being led astray when expressing genuine thoughts and ponderings we have about our faith?
Day #28: Watch Your Mouth! (Part 2) – Jeremiah & Jonah
Read: Psalm 94:11; Psalm 73:2, 15-17
Jeremiah has been called the Apostle Paul of the Old Testament because he, like Paul, was called from day one to suffer. Jeremiah can also be coupled with another prophet, the prophet Jonah. But in this case it is not due to the similarities but to the dissimilarities. As different as they both are, they each illustrate an important point about prayer in suffering.
Apart from the facts that Jeremiah and Jonah were both prophets and almost contemporaries (Jonah 100 years before Jeremiah), the dissimilarities begin:
- Jeremiah obeyed God’s call from day one while Jonah fled God’s call on day one.
- Jeremiah loved his people and pled with them to listen to God while Jonah hated the Ninevites and was angry when they listened to God.
- Jeremiah was persecuted and mocked by his people while Jonah was listened to and his message accepted by the Ninevites.
But these two very different prophets illustrate the same important truth about prayer in suffering: we can be forthright and honest with God.
Jeremiah accuses God, saying, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem…” (Jer. 4:10) On another occasion He accuses God of deceiving and utterly overpowering him (Jer. 20:7)!
As for Jonah, his answer to God’s call, though non-verbal, was abundantly clear: he just ran away! If his lack of a verbal response is an indication of Jonah’s reticence to speak frankly with God, three days in the belly of the fish must have cured him, because his prayers in the last chapter of Jonah actually sound a bit mouthy (Jonah 4)!
Returning once again to the story of Job, one must wonder why God accepted Jeremiah’s and Jonah’s frank, even mouthy objections, while calling Job to task for his?
Perhaps the difference is the audience. Jeremiah and Jonah both spoke to God while Job’s words were spoken in public, to his comforters. “Who is this that darkens my counsel,” God asks Job, “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?” (Job 38:2 & 40:8)
The issue is not that God cannot handle our “real” thoughts, it is more that other people may not be able to. The place to express questions, doubts, and accusations is before the One who already knows them, who already hears them in our consciousness. But double caution should be taken when expressing them to anyone else.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) Jeremiah accused God to His face saying, “You tricked me!” and so did Jonah, who accused God of being wrong in forgiving the wicked Ninevites. Yet neither of them received the “dressing down” that God gave Job, who disparaged God in the eyes of others in order to justify himself.
2) How are these three cases different? Why did God call out Job while seemingly overlooking Jeremiah’s and Jonah’s accusations made to His face?
3) What lessons can be drawn from these examples of how we make our complaints about and before God?
Day #29: Our Happy God
Read: Matthew 25:23
“Come and share your master’s happiness”
Theologians list 20 or so attributes of God from Scripture. To finite man, these 20 attributes are like marbles in a jar, rarely touching and never mixing. But in reality, these attributes move and mix more like liquids. They are eternally co-existing, never conflicting, always moving and acting together in perfect harmony. This is our indescribable God.
One attribute emphasized in these daily thoughts is God’s sovereignty – that disasters, death, or whatever the crises and the resulting suffering upon man may be, these are not cosmic “oops-es.” Even through these acts God is achieving His good and loving purposes for all they touch. We’ve also considered God’s love in suffering, that He is not aloof or a spectator, but rather a participant in it.
John Piper adds one more important characteristic about God: He is happy. Even in the midst of crisis and suffering, God is “blessed” (1 Timothy 1:11) or happy. This is possible because His happiness exists fully within Himself.
Even as God longs for the world to come to Him, that longing cannot diminish the happiness He has within Himself. He does not worry; the sea before His throne is as serene as glass, un-rippled by the winds of man’s disobedience or the dark kingdom’s assaults. His acts play out unthwarted; they, “…delight [his] heart because they reflect his glory…for in this his soul rejoices.” (John Piper, Desiring God, p. 53)
Our God is happy! He fills the heavens with beautiful music. (Revelation 14:1-3) Music so beautiful it would make Bach weep.
He is happy and loves celebration, filling the calendar of His people, Israel, not with fasts, but with feasts! He is happy, inviting us to join Him at a marriage supper to savor food without calories or cholesterol.
He is happy, enjoying walks with man in the cool of the day. (Genesis 3:8)
This truth that ours is a Happy God, far from a thumb-in-the-eye to people stuck on a fallen planet, is a grand relief. As Piper has noted, who wants to spend eternity with an unhappy God? Knowing God is happy means we can be happy today in proportion to our intimate union with Him. We can be confident that the forever-afters of all who are found in Him will be happy.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) What difference does it make in our daily lives to know that God is now and will forevermore be Happy?
2) What are the implications of this truth for us right this moment and for our eternal futures?
3) What are some words that describe how this truth may make believers feel.
Day #30: The Parable of the Little Kite
Read: John 16:33
The little kite was ecstatic. After weeks of being lovingly assembled piece by piece, today his master finally would take him out to do what he was made to do: fly high! The sky was blue. The wind was stiff. The day was perfect!
In the field, the master runs with him and instantly the little kite takes to the wind. “Higher! Higher!!!” he squealed, and up he rose. “How beautiful it is up here!” he marveled.
But soon he realized he wasn’t rising anymore. “It’s this string! It’s holding me back!” he realized, growing increasingly frustrated, then disgruntled, and then angry and sullen. “Why won’t my master let me go? Why does he keep me tethered like this?” he brooded. Just then a strong gust of wind came and yanked him upward so hard it snapped the string. “Yea! I’m going higher. Higher. Higher!!!”
The end of the story of the little kite is not so glorious.
This is a metaphor for us as we walk through life. The wind will blow – which is fine because we’re made for it. Indeed, we need the winds of trial and adversity to grow and purify our faith. But the string – our faith – must be tethered to our Heavenly Father. He will never let us go.
The question is, where is our faith anchored? Is it tethered to a graven image, a god of our own making? If so, when our wrong notions are discovered and disillusionment settles in, will our string snap under the strain? Will we end up spiraling downward and crashing into a jumbled mess on the ground? Or will we look to the Lord to keep us airborne, holding us up when our own strength falters?
Crises and the suffering they cause will come. It’s the stuff of a groaning planet, of people being made perfect day-by-day even as they are already perfect – “Already but not yet,” as the saying goes.
Jesus’ words to His grieving disciples the night before His crucifixion are a perfect conclusion to these thoughts: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
1) “The wind will blow – which is fine because we’re made for it.” Would you agree that we are made for “windy” times?
2) Do we, like kites, merely survive the wind, or do we actually need it to be our best selves? Elaborate.
3) How important is it for the kite be tethered to someone on the ground holding the string? What happens if it is no longer tethered? What implications might this hold when applying this metaphor to believers trying to survive life’s powerful gusts?
This metaphor is limited and imperfect. The discussion can go in several interesting directions; so just run with it!