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THE PROBLEM OF PAIN

THE PROBLEM OF PAIN. The Scream , E. Munch, http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch /. FINAL THOUGHTS 1: The Role of Lament. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS.

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THE PROBLEM OF PAIN

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  1. THE PROBLEM OF PAIN The Scream, E. Munch, http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/

  2. FINAL THOUGHTS 1:The Role of Lament Problem of Pain 10

  3. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS • “When confronted with enemies, we should go directly to the Psalms if we are not sure how to feel or what to say. In them we are given exactly what we need. What the Psalms do is lean against some of our natural instincts. When we are inclined to take matters into our own hands, the Psalms teach us to trust God. When we would insulate ourselves from pain, they teach us to trust God.” Welch, When People are Big, 187 Problem of Pain 10

  4. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS • “The Psalms are often so precise in articulating our sufferings that we think they were written just for us. And that is true- they were written for us . . .” Welch, When People are Big, 187 Problem of Pain 10

  5. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 13 • Psalm 13:1-6 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID. How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 4 lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him," lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. Problem of Pain 10

  6. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 22 • Psalm 22:1-8 TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO THE DOE OF THE DAWN. A PSALM OF DAVID. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!" Problem of Pain 10

  7. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 38 • Psalm 38:1-9 A PSALM OF DAVID, FOR THE MEMORIAL OFFERING. O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! 2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness, 6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. 7 For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. 9 O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. Problem of Pain 10

  8. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 51 • Psalm 51:1-12 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN NATHAN THE PROPHET WENT TO HIM, AFTER HE HAD GONE IN TO BATHSHEBA. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Problem of Pain 10

  9. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 70 • Psalm 70:1-5 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. OF DAVID, FOR THE MEMORIAL OFFERING. Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me! 2 Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt! 3 Let them turn back because of their shame who say, "Aha, Aha!" 4 May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!" 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay! Problem of Pain 10

  10. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 140 • Psalm 140:1-8 TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID. Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, 2 who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. 3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah 4 Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. 5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah 6 I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD! 7 O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. 8 Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot or they will be exalted! Selah Problem of Pain 10

  11. LAMENT AND THE PSALMS: 143 • Psalm 143:1-9 A PSALM OF DAVID. Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! 2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. 3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. 4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. 5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. 6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah 7 Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. 8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. 9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge! Problem of Pain 10

  12. FINAL THOUGHTS 2:The Role of the Cross Problem of Pain 10

  13. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • “To be more specific, King David spoke on behalf of the greater king, King Jesus. The enemies of which he spoke are those of Jesus; the sufferings of which he spoke are those of the Messiah. . . . We will find that Jesus’ pain was greater than our own. As P.J. Forsyth said, ‘What happens to the sinful creatures of God, however tragic, is less monstrous than what happened to the Son of God.’” Welch, When People are Big, 187-8 Problem of Pain 10

  14. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • Psalm 22:1-3, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Problem of Pain 10

  15. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.” • Lamentations 1:16, “For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.” Problem of Pain 10

  16. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • Isaiah 53:4-6, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Problem of Pain 10

  17. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • Matthew 26:37-39, “And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” Problem of Pain 10

  18. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” • Hebrews 5:7-8, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” Problem of Pain 10

  19. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross “‘On your back with you!’ One raised a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do ‘all things hold together’ (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on- he grants the warrior's continued existence. Problem of Pain 11

  20. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross The victim wills that the soldier live on- he grants the warrior's continued existence. The man swings. As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm- the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless- the nerve performs exquisitely. ‘Up you go!’ They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear, and can scarcely breathe. Problem of Pain 11

  21. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being- the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot. His Father! He must face his Father like this! Problem of Pain 11

  22. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes. ‘Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped- murdered, envied, hated, lied. Problem of Pain 11

  23. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten- fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned. Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk- you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Problem of Pain 11

  24. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp- buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves- relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, I loathe these things in you. Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Problem of Pain 11

  25. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross Can you not feel my wrath?’ Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed. The Father watches as his heart's treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction. Problem of Pain 11

  26. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross ‘Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!’ But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply. The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-Man from Nazareth perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished. . . .” Tada and Estes, When God Weeps, 53,54 Problem of Pain 11

  27. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • “At the recent Christian Counselor’s world conference, Diane Langberg, told of her work among adult survivors of sexual abuse. Among her counselees was a woman who in her teen years was stripped naked and gang-raped. In addition to the sheer trauma of such an atrocity, the woman felt utterly betrayed and abandoned by God. After some time . . . the matter of her anger at God, her bitter and anguished cry and her questions of Him, remained unabated. Problem of Pain 10

  28. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • After some time, Langberg prayerfully asked her to reflect on just a phrase, three words actually, from Matthew’s account of the passion of Jesus, and, without prescribing what she would get out of the passage (Matt. 27:28a), suggested the woman simply listen, to see if God had anything to say to her. Problem of Pain 10

  29. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • The woman came back the next session exclaiming, ‘They took his clothes! They took his clothes too! Jesus knows what it was like for me because he suffered too!’ . . . Lament can lead one to the cross; and the cross always leads one to Jesus, the perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2), and the one who, by his wounds, heals us (Is. 53:5 NIV).” Dr. Robby Bell, Inaugural Address, ETS, 7Nov05 Problem of Pain 10

  30. FINAL THOUGHTS: The Cross • “ . . . We have seen how the cross powerfully addresses the destructive effects of human hurts. But the cross also reveals much about the process of healing. The extended arms of Jesus on the cross illustrate the crucial first step in the healing process: Jesus opens himself to the excruciating pain. He makes himself vulnerable. He holds nothing back. With his exposed heart and pain-racked body, Jesus embraces the agony of the cross. His outspread arms teach us that healing happens not by avoiding suffering but by accepting and actively bearing it. Those on the healing path must be willing to walk into and through- not away from or around- pain.” Steven Seamands, Wounds That Heal, 113 Problem of Pain 10

  31. FINAL THOUGHTS 3: The Last Word Problem of Pain 10

  32. THE QUESTION • “‘So, Diana says you’re big into the Bible. Tell me, do you think God had anything to do with my breaking my neck?’ She casually brushed a wisp of hair from her forehead with the back of her wrist, but those eyes were anything but casual.” • Question posed by Joni Eareckson to Steve Estes, summer 1969 (co-authors of When God Weeps, 12) Problem of Pain 11

  33. THE RESPONSE • “I know what the Bible says about her question. A dozen passages come to mind from years of church and a Christian dad who taught his kids well. But I’ve never test-driven those truths on such a difficult course. Nothing worse than a D in algebra or puppy-love-gone-sour has ever happened to me. But I think, If the Bible can’t work in this girl’s life—it never was for real.” When God Weeps, 12 Problem of Pain 11

  34. THE RESPONSE • “I clear my throat and jump off the cliff. ‘God put you in that chair, Joni. I don’t know why, but if you’ll trust him instead of fighting him, you’ll find out why—if not in this life, then in the next. He let you break your neck because he loved you.’” When God Weeps, 12 Problem of Pain 11

  35. THE LAST WORD • “What is the ultimate solution to the problem of pain and suffering? Restoration. Through Job’s restoration, God’s purposes are most clearly seen. Pain is not to be philosophized away through ‘rational thinking,’ talked out, ventilated through catharsis, marginalized, medicated into oblivion, ignored, given a ‘silver lining,’ or explained. Only the hope of restoration and the knowledge that God has a purpose behind and beyond the pain, enables the suffering Christian to endure the pain faithfully, in hope of Christ’s return.” Schwab, 41 Problem of Pain 10

  36. THE PROBLEM OF PAIN The Scream, E. Munch, http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/

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