CONNECT Deeper Friendships! Deeper Faith! Where Is God In All - PDF document

CONNECT Deeper Friendships! Deeper Faith! Where Is God In All This? Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing A suffering Job longed for his day in court. • Transience Job 13:3 & 22, NIV But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God …Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me. Job Gets His Wish! Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing God speaks to Job, showing power and grace. • Transience Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind… Job 38:1, NLT

God, The Interrogator Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing The Lord answers Job—with questions! • Transience Job 38:1-3 , NLT Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: "Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them." Question After Question! Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing The Lord asks Job about the physical universe. • Transience Job 38:4, 12, 31-32 & 34-35, NLT Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much…Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?...Can you direct the movement of the stars?...Can you direct the sequence of the seasons?...Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Question After Question! Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing The Lord asks Job about the animal world. • Transience Job 39:1, 5, 19, 26-27; 40:15 & 41:1, NLT Do you know when the wild goats give birth?...Who gives the wild donkey its freedom?...Have you given the horse its strength?…Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar?…Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest?...Take a look at Behemoth, which I made, just as I made you…Can you catch Leviathan with a hook?

Is God's Answer Evasive? Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing Job wanted to hear from God, the JUDGE. • Transience Instead, he heard from God, the CREATOR! The Lord is making the point that Job is vastly under-qualified to run the universe! Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Romans 11:34, The Message God's Answer Focuses On His Power! Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing And yet many people today try to solve • Transience the problem of evil and suffering by denying God's omnipotence! If God isn't almighty, we can't be sure that good will triumph in the end! Why Doesn't God Give Us Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing The Answers We Seek? • Transience We mistakenly assume that God owes us explanations—and that we could understand them if he gave them to us! " My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." Isaiah 55:8, NLT

Faith Is What God's Looking For! Why F y Frien iendship is hip is Challen Challenging ing The Lord is more interested in being • Transience trusted than understood. If God would concede to me his omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if he gave me his wisdom too, I would leave things as they are. J.L. Monsabre