Why? The Answer (Pt. 2) | Resources
Discussion Questions
1. Summarize Job 42:7–17.
2. How does the story of Job end? How does this make you feel?
3. What does this chapter teach you about God’s love and compassion for you?
4. Job’s suffering leads to a greater understanding of who God is. Is there any current suffering in your life that may teach you the same truths? How can you learn from your suffering rather than run from it?
Memory Verse
“Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 (CSB)
Story
In elementary school, I fell out of a tree and landed face-first on a stump. That “accident” caused severe trauma to my face and mouth, including broken bones, facial lacerations, and the loss of adult teeth. The injuries required reconstructive plastic surgery and years and years of oral surgeries to fix the damage caused by the impact. After months of healing that helped cover the outward physical damage, it still took another ten years to heal damage not noticeable at a glance. I’ll never forget the week before taking my senior photos, receiving my permanent fake front teeth that made my smile finally look normal.That was a bizarrely joyful day! Still, to this day, I struggle with the ramifications from that “accident.”
Besides the Bible, that “accident” has taught me the most about God and His goodness. My mom has often told me, “Travis, you are who you are today because of that accident.” I genuinely believe I wouldn’t know God’s love, faithfulness, goodness, care, and help at the depth I do today without my great need for them. That “accident” was the greatest theology class I have ever taken, and at the end of that class, I have learned to a greater degree what Paul said in Ephesians 3:17-19: “I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
If God sees fit that I better learn the depth of His love through suffering, then the road of suffering is the best! If my minor suffering points me to Christ’s immense suffering, then I am forever grateful for my suffering.
I praise God regularly for the scar on my face that reminds me of His wounds on His hands, feet, and side! -TW