Trials and Errors: Why?
Feb. 7, 2021
Personal pain is loud
Psalm 9:9The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble
PS 10:1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Life going wrong… We question the goodness of God
It difficult to have a deeply personal relationship with God if we don’t trust him; if our picture of him doesn’t inspire love and worship
There is no one answer to where bad things come from!
Our own fault
1 Peter 2:20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
God will lead us but he doesn’t force us.
Targeted by the evil one
Luke 13:16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?
Personal active evil power is at war with us
God’s discipline
The world (people/nature) is broken
John 11:4 this sickness is not unto death.
Romans 8:22-23 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
There is no one reason why there are trials
Not helpful when people give only one reason
“Nowhere does Voltaire address this Christian belief in an ancient alienation from God that had wounded creation in its uttermost depths.” David Bentley Hart.
There are many reasons why we go through trials
Gen. 3:1, 4, 5 He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” … “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
What were the temptations?
God can’t be trusted
What were the temptations?
God can’t be trusted
Be like God and know
Be content being my creations. Don’t try and be me
Foundational Lies
God is untrustworthy
You need to know
Heb. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being
What is God foundationally like?
God feels compassion for us
What is God foundationally like?
God feels compassion for us
God suffered for us
What is God foundationally like?
God feels compassion for us
God suffered for us
God gives good gifts
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Foundational Truths
God is trustable
You don’t need to know
There is not one reason why trials come
God is trustable
You don’t need to know
God gives us a foretaste of forever
Now and Not Yet
We trust in God (not his answer)
“Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” C. S. Lewis
