Psalm 34: 17-19

“…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.”

William Barclay

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Does our suffering glorify God?

II Thessalonians 1: 3-10

Philippians 3: 10-11

This isn’t the way God intended for it to be...

Revelation 21: 1-4What is to be:What is to be:No more death, mourning, No more death, mourning, crying or paincrying or pain

Our attitude toward suffering?

It’s our choice...

““A relationship with God A relationship with God does not promise does not promise supernatural deliverance supernatural deliverance from hardship, but rather from hardship, but rather a supernatural use of it.”a supernatural use of it.”Philip Yancey

Help to keep them from suffering for the wrong reasons•God is trying to tell you something•must be a reason for your suffering•you must have sinned - confess & be healed•if only you had more faith

Why does God allow suffering in the world?

If God dwells in us now, then shouldn’t the question be...

From the pain of the moment, to the joy of eternity...

John 16: 33Romans 8: 28Psalm 34: 17-18

“Where is God when it hurts?”

“There from the beginning - there to the end.”