Doctrine: Suffering
Attribute: Compassion
Big Idea: Our compassionate, loving God is near us in our suffering.
Opening Music
Opening Prayer
***Adoration: Father, You are the faithful promise-keeper who is sovereignly in control of the past, present, and future. While the world looks like it’s in chaos, my future is secure because You hold the future. I praise Your powerful name!
***Thanksgiving: Thank you, Father, that I don’t have to wonder or worry about the future. You graciously tell me all I need to know to settle my anxious heart and grow my faith. Thank you that Your past faithfulness assures me You will be faithful to keep Your future promises, including the return of Jesus!
***Supplication: (from Josie) “I pray regardless of the situation His will is my will, but please give me the strength to accept it.” Amen
Discussion Questions
Interactive Group Work
– Create an Acrostic, in the format of Lamentations
– Breakout groups of 3 for 5 minutes
– Work together, take a picture of the finished exercise, and send it to Cheryl
Third Day
Questions 6, 7, 8
Fourth Day
Geneology Song
Model of the interior of Solomon’s Temple
Question 9
Scripture
***2Kings 25
8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
2Chronicles 36
****18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials.
2 Kings 25 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.
***Lamentations 3:21-25
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
Great Is Thy Faithfulness – Slideshow
Fifth Day
Writing a Lament (worsksheet from SheReadsTruth)
Simplified Version:
LAMENT
- Address: “Dear _______“
(attribute of God — God, Father, Comforter, Healer, Creator, etc) - Complaint: “________ is not right or not how it should be”
(any kind of brokenness you see – arguments, illness, death, depression, addiction, homelessness, natural disasters) - Trust: “But God _______“
(making a choice to trust God: I will not be afraid because I trust in you, I have faith in you because you are with me, I trust in your will, I will submit my ways to you, I know that you can fix this, I know that you care about me) - Plea for help: “Please Lord, _________“
(Guide me, protect me, stay with me, rescue me, help me be brave) - Praise: “You are/I praise you because ________“
(You are Love, You are all-powerful, the creater, I praise you, I worship you, You are greater than any brokenness in the world)
Closing Music
“The Goodness of God”