17 Apr Discussion Guide: Where Can Wisdom Be Found? Week 12
Prayer
Take the first 10 minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
Suffering…it’s a reality everyone goes through at some point in life. But what does suffering mean? Does it tell us something about ourselves? Does it tell us something about our world? Does it tell us something about God? The answer is a resounding YES. The real question is what does suffering tell us about those things, and perhaps even more importantly is the question of how can we navigate through our suffering in a way that makes us stronger in the end? That is what we will discuss during our time together.
Discussion Questions
Genesis 50:19-20
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Have you ever seen suffering result in some greater good, either in your life or in the life of another?
When suffering comes, what is typically the first question we want the answer to? Why do you think that’s the question the ask?
Typically, when suffering comes, the first question that comes to our mind is, “Why?” We want to know the cause of our suffering. Is there something we did to deserve it? Is God falling down on the job? What is the cause of our pain. The reason this is typically the first question is because we want to feel like we are somehow in control of our circumstances. If we can pinpoint the cause of our suffering then we can fix it. We can alter the course and shorten the extent of our suffering and perhaps prevent the same kind of suffering in the future. Suffering brings fear and fear causes us to grasp for control.
How would you describe the difference between cause and purpose?
The cause of something involves the circumstances or variables that produced the occurrence in the first place. Whereas, the purpose of something is the intended results behind the cause. Webster’s Dictionary defines cause as something or someone that produces an effect, result, or condition. It defines purpose as the reason why something is done or used : the aim or intention of something.
Why is the question of cause not a helpful question? What would be the better question to ask? Why is that?
The question of cause is not always helpful because once something has happened you can’t go back and undo it. It can help in preventing it from happening again in the future, but that is not going to change the situation you currently find yourself in. You can spend all your time trying to figure out the cause of your pain and still never deal with the emotional, physical, or spiritual effects the pain has caused. The better question to ask is regarding purpose. Even though you may never find out the cause you can always move forward when you understand the purpose. Cause deals with the past, but purpose deals with the future. Constantly trying to solve the past will prevent you from walking into the future purpose.
Jim Davis, Why Me? (And Why That’s The Wrong Question)
“What wakes us up to the futility of our false gods and leads back to intimacy with the One True God? Often, it is pain.”
How can we wrestle through the tension the Bible gives us regarding the fact that sometimes God allows pain and suffering to accomplish His greater purposes?
How has suffering changed your perspective on life?
How has suffering changed your knowledge and/or intimacy with God?
How has that deeper intimacy with God affected other areas in your life?
Philippians 3:8-11
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
How would you define the word “resurrection”?
Most people would define resurrection as coming back to life from death. But, the Biblical perspective of resurrection goes beyond just coming back to life, it has to do with the undoing of, or the reversing of, the effects of death and sin. When Paul says he wants to know the power of Jesus’ resurrection he isn’t just talking about wanting to be raised from the dead. He is saying he wants to know the power of the undoing of the effects of sin and death in his life. The resurrection of Jesus was the first fruits of God making all the sad things come untrue. It was the re-inauguration of God’s Kingdom on Earth as in Heaven. It is the beginning of God putting the world back together again as He originally intended in the beginning where Heaven and Earth are united as the dwelling place of God.
What does it mean for death to be undone?
How does the Bible’s promise of resurrection empower is to endure through our own suffering?
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope
“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”
How can we bring resurrection life into the dead places in our world?
Closing Thought
Is there any area of pain or suffering we can pray with you about? Is there anything we can do to help carry that burden with you?