Guilt, feeling bad about having done something wrong, is one of the most powerful feelings that humans have. We can also deny that we’re experiencing it.  Yet, guilt itself isn’t the worst feeling we encounter.  That might be shame, a negative sense of who you are as a person, which often accompanies guilt.  But is there a way that we can feel guilt without the accompanying (overpowering) shame, one that would lead us towards redemption after experiencing it?  


Questions for further thought:
1. How do you allow for guilt in your life without translating into perpetual shame?

2. Do you acknowledge your guilt before God so that He can use it to forestall the shame you might feel if you kept it to yourself?


​Challenge: Guilt itself isn’t bad.  It often makes us take an honest look at ourselves and our actions.  But we shouldn’t let it transform into overpowering shame, where we feel like we are nothing and can do nothing positive.  Give the guilt to God and let Him use it to teach us the lessons we need to learn, then move forward in His power.  Amen.

We often have sorrow because we have fears.  Many of these fears come from various places, such as social disapproval, or perceived danger or inadequacies.  Many of these are entirely irrational, but people still feel them.  Then, once the fear is over, often a sorrowful action occurs whereby people feel even worse than before.  Peter felt that, and so do we.


Questions for further thought:
1. Where in your life do you have fears (absences of faith) that you need to acknowledge?

2. Do you turn those over to God (who knows them, anyway) so that He may work in you to lessen or even eliminate them, and the sorrow which accompanies them?


​Challenge: Pray that we take our fears straight to God so that He can work in us and make us stronger (and less sorrowful) each and every day.  Holding onto that fear and sorrow is unnecessary and is contrary to what He made us for and His will.  He wants us to give Him things we cannot handle, including our fears.  So, let’s do that today.

We all are sorry, or feel sorrow, at various times in our lives.  This is perfectly natural and normal.  But there are different kinds of sorrow that God looks at, and we need to make sure that we’re, essentially, “being sorry the way God needs so He can work in us.”  Paul spoke of this when he visited Corinth, but do we know what he meant?


Questions for further thought:
1. Do you know the difference between temporal and eternal sorrow?

2. Do you know which one is good and which isn’t? (Seriously)


​Challenge: In our sorrow (which is normal, and we shouldn’t suppress it), let’s pray to have a heart in which God can recognize it and can use that sorrow for His good purposes in us.   Moreover, let’s give Him that sorrow so that we are changed and comforted by His power and love in the midst of it.

It’s easy to forget about God when things are going well and blame Him when life takes a downturn. Ultimately, though our feelings may change, God does not. One of the great challenges of the Christian life is coming to the point of understanding that whatever our circumstances, God is still God and God is good. We choose to follow Him whether we walk through the fire or are reduced to ashes, and despite what those around us may decide to do.


Questions for further thought:
1. Have you ever been tempted to walk away from God? What kept you on track – or brought you back?

2. What spiritual disciplines are you practicing to strengthen your connection to and faith in God?


​Challenge: In what area of your life are you struggling to understand what God is up to? Bring that to Him. Ask someone else you trust to pray with you. If you’re free of struggle at the moment, be sure to praise Him!

The title may be an overstatement because our brain is one of God’s most impressive creations. However, many of our struggles come because we are utilizing our limited knowledge and experience to make sense of an infinite God. There is no possible way we can see the whole picture, or even a tiny chunk of it. God has shown us what we need to know of Him by sending Jesus. He is patient with us as we learn to trust Him while living in our broken world.


Questions for further thought:
1. In terms of understanding God, what advantages do we have that those in Old Testament times did not?

2. Even though God says His ways are beyond our understanding, is it ok to question him? Why or why not?  


​Challenge: Find three places in the Bible where the writer questions God (other than Job). Then find answers to those questions in other Bible passages.

We are often angry at God for two reasons. Either we didn’t get what we asked for or someone else didn’t get what we felt they deserved – and not in a good way. Jonah illustrates both. It’s almost funny. Jonah is angry because God is who He says He is – compassionate and quick to forgive. The hated Ninevites aren’t going to get the smiting Jonah feels they have coming to them, and on top of that Jonah is going to look like a false prophet. Perhaps it will be helpful for us to remember that we’re not getting what we deserve either, thanks to Jesus.


Questions for further thought:
1. Can you identify at all with Jonah? If so, what specific struggles are most common for you?

2. How do you typically respond when you experience an unfair situation involving either you or someone you care about? Is that the response you would like to have?


​Challenge: Unforgiveness – against God or against others – will hinder our walk and our prayer life. Ask God to reveal any areas of unforgiveness, as well as other areas of unconfessed sin, and to give you the faith to forgive.

I suspect every believer has had the experience of praying for something for months or years without seeing any results. We’re not talking about selfish prayers here, but rather prayers for things like healing, salvation, and restored relationships. Didn’t God say that He delights in giving good things to His children? What gives here? As the passage illustrates, God operates in a completely different time zone. We may not understand what’s going on, but we can trust that His timing is perfect.


Questions for further thought:
1. Why is it sometimes so hard to believe that God knows best in a situation?

2. Can you think of a time or times when you were able to look back and see that God’s timing was much better than yours would have been? 


​Challenge: Do you have any prayer requests that you’ve basically given up on? Maybe it’s time to bring them up again. Consider enlisting others to pray with you.

Perhaps one of the toughest things a believer can endure is the feeling that God has forgotten you exist. Why am I going through this? Why aren’t my prayers being answered – in fact, I’m not sure they’re even being heard. David was as close to God as anyone in the Bible – the man after God’s own heart. Yet this passage is just one of many psalms where David cries out his feelings of abandonment, confusion, anger, and fear. Clearly, it’s ok to have these feelings and be honest with God. He can handle it.


Questions for further thought:
1. How does the fact that one of God’s great heroes had these concerns make you feel?

2. While David did question God, he also ended his petitions by praising God. What do you make of that?


​Challenge: Take time to notice your surroundings today. Listen for the kind words that are spoken to you- by others, in a song on the radio, in your daily bible reading. Listen to a bird sing. Be amazed at the color and shape of a flower. In all these are evidences that God is thinking of you and loving on you today. Remember, His still, small voice. 

The promise of forgiveness was given to us in the scriptures from the last two days. How big is that forgiveness? It is removed from us as far as possible. Even though the psalm was written before Jesus was even known to the psalmist, he knew how big God is! God was able to foreshadow His power through the poetry of the psalmist!


Questions for further thought:
1. Why is His forgiveness so powerful?

2. What would it mean to remove your sin completely?


​Challenge: Find a way to acknowledge the removal of your sin to the Lord! Sing a song, write a letter to God, serve someone else, go for a walk to enjoy His creation. Take time to show your appreciation for what He has done. 

Yesterday we talked about the command to forgive one another. Paul doubles down and says to be kind while forgiving the other. When Christ died for us, His kindness was evident through His actions. We should not consider it optional when forgiving the people who wrong us.


Questions for further thought:
1. What would forgiveness look like without kindness?

2. If you forgive without kindness, are you really letting go of a grudge?


​Challenge: Show kindness to someone who normally triggers a negative reaction. See how they change, and just as importantly, how it changes you.