Good day dear friends.
Part II of our MADE TO COUNT Sermon series dealt with "Through the
Suffering," and a study of the life of Job. The 8:30 sermon is
available online at www.fumcsm.org for you to hear if you wish.
Job's faith is a model for our faith when we feel pressed beyond
what we can take.
Here is today's study guide:
Monday: Does suffering come as a result of wrong choices? Read
Genesis 3:21-24. What events happen that one could label as
suffering in this passage?
Here is the Genesis passage 3:21 And the Lord God made garments of
skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. 22 Then the
Lord God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good
and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from
the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"— 23 therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from
which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the
garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and
turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
In the creation story, Adam and Eve made a wrong choice. They chose
to disobey God and as a result everything changed. And in our lives
we sometimes make the choice of doing something we know is wrong but
justifying it in our irrational ways, we proceed and then wonder why
we got sick or lost a relationship or got thrown out on the streets.
In the creation story, the wrong choice resulted in 1) animals dying
to "make garments of skins for the man and the his wife." 2)
Getting thrown out of the Garden, 3) Work for the man and woman, and
4) access to the "tree of life" denied to them.
What wrong choices have you made? What have been the results? The
good news is that you don't have to stay there! You can walk away,
with the Lord's help, to the place you know God wants you. One
suffers as a result of wrong choices, but it is God who can comfort
us and help us out of our suffering.
PRAYER: Loving God of second and more chances, grant to us the
faith to know with your guidance we can make the right choice of
life and the fullness of life. Grant to those who suffer, hope and
deliverance. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord. Amen.
e.v.
PS Please stay warm!
