Disappointment and Hope

From the homework:

But because we do not know the when, our character is being revealed in our day-by-day choices. What am I living for, not because I am under the pressure of a deadline, but because I choose to live for it?

As we work our way through the parables, that question becomes urgent. The question is never, “When will the end come?” but, “How am I living today in light of the coming King?”

Write a letter to God detailing your disappointment and discouragement

Alternate Activity – Write your own Psalm of Lament

  1. Address and introductory cry: Identify the Lord as the person to whom the Psalm is addressed.
  2. Complaint or Lament : Articulate the problem and ask the Lord for help.
  3. Confession of Trust: Verbalize your trust in the Lord.
  4. Prayer for Deliverance: Request deliverance, or God’s intervention in the problem.
  5. Praise: Offer praise and thanksgiving to God for God’s many blessings.
  • Rayonnant Gothic rose window (north transept), Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral

Response

From the Homework:

Ask God to give you a fresh view of the hidden things, the small things, those that he is doing in your life and in the people you love.

Then ask him to give you a new strength, a new heart to keep watching and waiting.

Discussion Questions:

  • Where have you seen God use someone’s weakness?
  • Where has someone received unexpected blessings or deliverance from trouble?
  • What are the difficult things you are going through during the pandemic? What are positive things that you have seen that have resulted from the pandemic?
  • What everyday interactions can irritate you the most? What sorts of things are most likely to draw you away from a heart of God?
  • How do we turn our hearts toward God instead of away from God?
  • How do we turn our hearts toward God in everyday interactions with people?
  • What ways can we remind ourselves of what we believe about God?
    • What happens when we “write on our hearts” and speak aloud verses and creeds about God’s love and provision?
    • What are places that you can sit and become aware of God’s presence/that encourages you to reach out to God?
    • What art or objects help remind you and encourage you in your faith?
    • What meals have you had that brought friends and family together, building relationships?
  • How am I living today in light of the coming King?
  • How can we glorify God this week?

Find Bible verses that remind you of God’s goodness

Psalm 27:14
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Psalm 119:90
Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.

2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Romans 8:24
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 147:11
the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Psalm 5:3
At daybreak, Lord, You hear my voice;
At daybreak I plead my case to You and watch expectantly.

Hebrews 11-12
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.