Date: February 2, 2020
What is God’s Answer to Suffering?
The Point: God’s actions are often beyond our understanding, but we can trust Him.
Get Into the Study
Use the following information to introduce Question #1.
Citizens of Colorado have been seeing lots of drones in the sky the past few months and authorities are investigating. Between November 23, 2019, and January 13, 2020, there have been 90 reports of suspicious drone activity, including some reports of large-sized drones flying in groups. Colorado investigators have determined that some of the reported drones are actually planets, stars, atmospheric conditions, commercial aircraft, or small hobby drones. So far investigators have not determined that the drones are involved in any illegal activities. They continue to investigate the drones.
Say: Investigators are still working to solve the mystery of the suspicious drone activity in Colorado. Call attention to question #1 (What’s a mystery you’d most like to see solved?) and invite volunteers to respond.
Information for this post was gleaned from:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/us/drones-colorado-nebraska-investigation/index.html
— Donna McKinney wrote this Leader Extra. Donna is retired from a career with the federal government of the United States. She is a veteran Bible study group leader living in North Carolina.
Get Into the Study (Additional Option)
In advance, locate a periodic table, map or Europe, or an anatomy poster. You can also use these links: periodic table, map, and anatomy.
Display each item and ask, “Who thinks they can accurately label all the elements found on this table?” “Who can accurately label at least half of the map?” and “Who can identify 20% of the bones that make up our bodies?” Allow time for responses. Explain that each of these represent things that can be known, but our minds are limited in our capacity to know everything. Additionally, some things are beyond our ability to understand. In this session, we will see that God’s actions are often beyond our understanding, but we can trust Him.
This idea supports the teaching plan in the Daily Discipleship Guide, the Adult Leader Guide, and the Young Adult Leader Guide.
Study the Bible
Use the following information to supplement Question #4.
When a tornado passed through Anniston, Alabama, on January 11, it toppled the steeple on First Baptist Church of Saks, and tore a hole in the roof of the church. The tornado was part of a deadly storm system that killed 11 people as it passed through Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Iowa. Kenneth Todd Stewart, the senior pastor, described the damage to the church building. “Our damage to our facility … was minimal in that the entire steeple blew over, laid down on its side, but it did not fall off of the building,” he said. Despite the damage to the church building, the congregation gathered for worship services the next day. “Worship went forward, and people gave thanks and praised God that things were not worse than they were,” Stewart said. The people who gathered to worship offered “thanksgiving unto the Lord that His hand of providence and protection was with our people and our community,” he said. “We actually opened our service with ‘To God Be the Glory.’ Great things he has done, indeed.”
Say: The congregation at First Baptist Church of Saks, gathered to thank God for His protection and presence through the deadly storm. Call attention to question #4 (When has God proven His trustworthiness to you in the midst of suffering?) and invite volunteers to respond to the question.
Information for this post was gleaned from:
http://www.bpnews.net/54161/update-disaster-relief-teams-respond-to-us-storms
— Donna McKinney wrote this Leader Extra. Donna is retired from a career with the federal government of the United States. She is a veteran Bible study group leader living in North Carolina.
Additional Questions
Icebreaker
- Who is someone you can always trust?
- What is it about a mystery story that gets your attention?
- When have you trusted someone else to make a decision for you?
Job 40:1-5
- When have you struggled to understand difficult circumstances in your life?
- Is it acceptable for us to question God or feel frustrated by His plan? Explain.
- How would you describe Job’s response to God’s question?
Job 40:6-8
- How has God proven Himself just and trustworthy in your life?
- How does God’s justice differ from human views of justice?
- What does humility before the Lord look like?
Job 42:1-6
- What can we learn from Job about how to wrestle with questions of suffering?
- In Job’s concluding remarks, what does he ultimately acknowledge about God?
- How did Job demonstrate humility before God in these verses?
Member Extra
Send the following link to your group members as either a teaser before the group meets or as a follow-up thought:
Video
Here’s a brief video giving you an overview of this session: When Life Gerts Hard, Session 4.
Printer friendly image of extra will not press down for printer image to appear for printing.
The link has been fixed.
I tried, but the link to get a printer-friendly version of this handout is not working. Just wondering… Thanks again for all the extras to help us in teaching classes.
The link has been fixed.
AWESOMENESS!! Thanks! 🙂
Thank you for this lesson. I concluded that we are very fortunate to have this opportunity to come to Job’s state of understanding, without having to go through his severe circumstances. It is much easier to comprehend God’s sovereignty intellectually than it is to accept it personally.
Thank you for your work!