Helping Suffering Families

1
Helping Suffering Families

• What do you say to people
• who are suffering?

2
Friends

• When Jobs three friends, EliphazBildad
  Zopharheard 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 211

3
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 212-13

4
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 614-17a

5
Guideline Number One

• Be There and Be Silent

6
Guideline Number Two

• Listen, and Permit Lament

7
Guideline Number Three

• Express Your Love Through Action

8
Guideline Number Four

• Express Words of Love and Sympathy

9
Guideline Number Five

• Dont Interpret

10
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

11
Helping Suffering Families

• The Unrelenting Love Of God

12
Lord, How Have you Loved Us?

• Have you ever asked that question?

13
Malachi 12

• I have loved you, says the Lord.
• But you ask, How have you loved us?
• Was not Esau Jacobs brother? the Lord says.
  Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.

14
The Lament (Psalm 771-3)

• 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.

15
The Questions (Psalm 777-9)

• 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?

16
Our Questions

• Do we ask.
• Where is Gods love?
• How have you loved us?
• How can we know you love us?

17
Remember

• Was not Esau Jacobs brother? the Lord says.
  Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.
• Malachi 12

18
Reflection (Psalm 7710-12)

• 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.

19
Remember

• Remember God created you out of love.
• Remember Gods loving creation of Israel,
• Deuteronomy 77-9
• Remember Gods loving pursuit of Israel.
• Hosea 31 118-9

20
Where Do We Find Gods Love?

• Do we find it in . . .
• our health?
• our prosperity?
• our employment?
• our happiness?

21
We Find Gods 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 838-39

22
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

23
Helping Suffering Families

• The Inviting Presence of God

24
Lord, Are You Listening?

• When Prayer Speaks the Heart

25
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.

26
Lament over Fallenness

• Lament over sickness, disease and pain.
• Lament over sin, injustice and oppression.
• Lament over alienation and death.

27
The Lament of Psalm 13

• Complaint How Long? (131-2)
• Petition Look at Me, Answer Me! (133-4)
• Praise I Trust You (135-6)

28
The Complaint of Psalm 131-2

• 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?

29
Questions of Complaint

• My soul is in anguish.
• How long, O Lord, how long? Psalm 63
• Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off?
• Why do you hide yourself in times of
  trouble? Psalm 101

30
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 1421-2

31
May We Lament?

• The angels in heaven lament.
• Zechariah 112
• Jesus Christ lamented on the cross.
• Matthew 2746
• The saints in heaven lament.
• Revelation 69-10

32
The Function of Lament

• Communal Sympathy and Empathy
• Engaging God Honestly with the Heart
• Spiritual Therapy through Divine Presence

33
The Petition of Lament Redeem Me

• Psalm 44
• We have heard of your past history, God.
• But now we dont 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.

34
We Trust His Redeeming Love

• Paul quotes Psalm 4422 in Romans 836,
• and then writes
• No, in all these things we are more than
  conquerors through him who loved us.

35
The Sanctuary Experience

• Psalm 7316b-17a
• it was oppressive to me till I entered
• the sanctuary of God.
• Job 425
• My ears had heard of you
• but now my eyes have seen you.

36
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 1513

37
Biblical Story as Lens

• The models of lament in Scripture are
  paradigmatic for our own experience of suffering
  and subsequent comfort.

38
Helping Suffering Families

• The Caring Empathy of God

39
Lord, You Dont Understand!

• How can the cosmic Creator understand our pain
  and hurt?

40
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.

41
God Weeps Over the Wicked

• Jeremiah 4836, So my heart laments for Moab
  like a flute it laments like a flute for the men
  of Kir Hareseth.
• Isaiah 169, So I weep, as Jazer weepsO
  Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears.

42
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 2337

43
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?

44
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?

45
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.

46
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.

47
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 414-15

48
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 everyonehe too
  shared in their humanity so that by his death he
  might destroy him who holds the power of death.
• Hebrews 29, 14

49
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 210,18
• 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 58-9

50
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 416

51
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.

52
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.

53
Because.

• Because God loves,
• Because God listens,
• Because God understands,
• Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares
  for you. 1 Peter 57

54
Helping Suffering Families

• The Unlimited Sovereignty of God

55
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.

56
Where is Your God?

• Our God is in heaven he does whatever he
  pleases.
• Psalm 1153

• The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the
  heavens, and on the earth, in the seas and all
  their depths.
• Psalm 1356

57
Our God Reigns

• It is the worship of Israel
• Psalm 6816 931 9610 971 991
• It is the proclamation of Israel
• Isaiah 527
• It is the message of the Gospel.
• The Kingdom of God is near.

58
God Values Authenticity

• God created freedom in freedom.
• God yearns for authentic reciprocity.
• God seeks integrity in our faith response.

59
God Tests the Heart

• I know, my God, that you test the heart and are
  pleased with integrity.
• 1 Chronicles 2917

60
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?

61
The Sovereignty of God in Job

• The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
  Job 121
• Lord says though you incited me against him to
  ruin him without any reason. Job 23.
• They comforted and consoled hm over all the
  trouble the Lord had brought upon him. Job
  4211.

62
The Questions of Job Job Complains

• Why is life given to those in misery (320)?
• Why has God made Job his target (720)?
• Why does God hide his face (1324)?
• Why do the wicked prosper (217)?
• Why does not God judge the world (241)?

63
The Victory of Job

• He maintained his integrity before God he did
  not admit to a false self-incrimination.
• Job 275-6
• He maintained his faith in God he did not curse
  God.
• Job 1925-27

64
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 2310-12

65
Gods Goal

• God is more interested in our faith than our
  pleasure in the joy of communion than temporal
  pleasures.

66
The Testing Motif in Scripture

• The Divine Act of Testing
• Genesis 221 Psalms 79 114-5
• The Divine Motive for Testing
• - To Reveal the Heart (Deuteronomy 82)
• The Divine Goal in Testing
• - Character-Building (Deuteronomy 85)

67
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 133
• God left him to test him and to know everything
  that was in his heart.
• 2 Chronicles 3231

68
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.

69
The Hidden God on the Cross

• The suffering of the cross is paradigmatic for
  the hiddenness of the meaning of suffering.

70
The Revealed God in the Cross

• God reveals his love through the weakness of
  suffering and acts to reconcile the world to
  himself.

71
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
  828

72
The Goal of Gods SovereigntyWhat 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 829

73
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.

74
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.

75
Helping Suffering Families

• The Ultimate Victory of God

76
How Long, O Lord?

• Faith means waiting on the Lords timing for his
  ultimate victory.

77
Romans 818-27
78
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.

79
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.

80
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 1520-23

81
Our Resurrection Body1 Corinthians 1542-49
82
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 320-21

83
The Spirit At Work On Us Now

• And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the
  Lords glory, are being transformed into his
  likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
  from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
• 2 Corinthians 318

84
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 811

85
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 823, 25.
• Also 1 Cor. 17 Gal. 55 Phil. 320 Titus
  213

86
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 52b-5

87
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.

88
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.

89
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 57