HOLY SPIRIT

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THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/
2
FINAL THOUGHTSThe Role of Lament
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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

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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

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 13

• Psalm 131-6 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.

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 22

• Psalm 221-8 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!"

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 38

• Psalm 381-9 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.

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 51

• Psalm 511-12 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.

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 70

• Psalm 701-5 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!

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 140

• Psalm 1401-8 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

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LAMENT AND THE PSALMS 143

• Psalm 1431-9 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!

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FINAL THOUGHTSThe Role of the Cross
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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

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• Psalm 221-3, 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• Lamentations 112, 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 116, 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• Isaiah 534-6, 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• Matthew 2637-39, 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• Matthew 2746, 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 57-8, 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.

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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 117). 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• 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. 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!

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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. 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?

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• 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. 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! Can you not
  feel my wrath?

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• 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 agains humankind from every century
  explodes in a single direction. 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

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• At the recent Christian Counselors 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.

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FINAL THOUGHTS The Cross

• After some time, Langberg prayerfully asked her
  to reflect on just a phrase, three words
  actually, from Matthews account of the passion
  of Jesus, and, without prescribing what she would
  get out of the passage (Matt. 2728a), suggested
  the woman simply listen, to see if God had
  anything to say to her.

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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. 122),
  and the one who, by his wounds, heals us (Is.
  535 NIV). Dr. Robby Bell, Inaugural Address,
  ETS, 7Nov05

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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

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LAST WORDS
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THE QUESTION

• So, Diana says youre 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)

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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
  Ive 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 cant work in
  this girls lifeit never was for real.
  When God Weeps, 12

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THE RESPONSE

• I clear my throat and jump off the cliff. God
  put you in that chair, Joni. I dont know why,
  but if youll trust him instead of fighting him,
  youll find out whyif not in this life, then in
  the next. He let you break your neck because he
  loved you. When God Weeps, 12

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THE LAST WORD

• What is the ultimate solution to the problem of
  pain and suffering? Restoration. Through Jobs
  restoration, Gods 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 Christs return. Schwab,
  41

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THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/