REJOICE (2025 Key Verse)

Forsaken was the theme based on my 2024 key verse, Ps 22:1: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Because Christ was utterly forsaken on my behalf, I never would. I am encouraged by Anne Frank, who died in a concentration camp of typhus fever at age 15. In just her early teens, the age of my oldest grandchildren, it is remarkable that she wrote in her diary, "God has not forsaken me, and He never will."

Rejoice is the theme based on my 2025 key verse, 1 Th 5:16: "Rejoice always," which is the shortest verse in the Bible. Through my ordeal and predicament I learnt that joy and sorrow, peace and pain can coexist peacefully, even perfectly. This was exemplified by Jesus, who was simultaneously all of the following: 

• a man of sorrows who was familiar with pain and suffering (Isa 53:3; Mt 23:37; Lk 13:34), 
• a man of peace, for he is the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6), and the giver of peace (Jn 14:27) that transcends all understanding (Phil 4:7), and 
• the happiest man who ever lived, for he was a man of joy, happiness and contentment (Jn 4:32; 10:30; Mk 1:11; 9:7; Lk 9:35; Mt 3:17; 17:5; 11:25-30).

Ps 22 Forsaken (Psalm 22)

The most profound mystery. When Jesus screamed his agonizing cry on the cross (Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34), it might surprise some that Jesus was NOT abandoned by God in the sense that God was not present. God was there as implied by the fact that Jesus prays, for you cannot address someone who has gone off. Thus, God is watching as Jesus was tortured, suffering as profoundly in his spirit as Jesus suffered in body and spirit. What unbearable agony it would be for a man to watch his son or grand-son be tortured in agony and not stop it when he could! In essense God listens to Jesus on the cross, screaming, "Why have you forsaken me?" and does nothing.

Ps 88 Faith Without Hope as the Darkness Deepens

"Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you" ["by day I have screamed, by night, in front of you" {Motyer}] "...darkness is my closest [best] friend" (Ps 88:1, 18).

• Can you live a life without comfort (1-9a)? Die without hope (9b-12)? Have questions without answers (13-18)?

Sadness, Sorrow, Storms and Suffering; Trials, Troubles, Testings and Tribulations

The Gift of Suffering (C.S. Lewis)

Faith under Fire (Psalm 73)

Find your Faltering, Flickering, Fading Faith under Fire: "...till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood …" (Ps 73:17).

A. Faith professed (Ps 73:1). God is good.

B. Faith questioned (Ps 73:2-14). The evil of envy.

C. Faith refocused (Ps 73:15-20). A new perspective.

B1. Faith unquestioned (Ps 73:21-26). Guided by God's counsel.

A1. Faith affirmed (Ps 73:27-28). God's closeness is good.

5 books of Psalms corresponding to the Torah:

1. Book 1 (1-41). Genesis. Songs of relationship...with God.
2. Book 2 (42-72). Exodus. Songs of redemption...delivernace by God.
3. Book 3 (73-89). Leviticus. Songs of refuge. Sanctuary of God. [reflection]
4. Book 4 (90-106). Numbers. Songs of repercussion. Rebellion...against God.
5. Book 5 (107-150). Deuteronomy. Songs of revival. Renewal with God.

Discovering the Gospel in Job – Tim Keller

Wounds are Healed from the Heart, not the Head (Henri Nouwen)

Live Your Wounds. You have been wounded in many ways. The more you open yourself to being healed, the more you will discover how deep your wounds are.... The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down to your heart. Then you can live through them and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds.

When Overcome by Sin and Guilt (Psalm 38)

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When You are Overcome by Your Sin and Guilt:

1. How does David describe his suffering (Ps 38:1; 6:1)?
• Is he asking not to be rebuked or disciplined?
• Who does God discipline (Heb 12:6)? Why (Heb 12:10)?
• How does he feel (Ps 38:2)?
2. What does David connect his suffering with (Ps 38:3, 5)? How did his sin and guilt affect him (Ps 38:4, 6-8)? How does your sin affect you?
• Does God discipline severely (Ac 5:5, 10; 1 Cor 11:29-30)?
• What kind of suffering have you experienced in your life?
• What do you think caused your suffering?
3. What does David know about God's knowledge of him (Ps 38:9; 139:1, 5, 7, 23-24; Gen 16:13)? How is he different from Adam (Gen 3:10)? How devastated is he (Ps 38:10, 17)?
4. How does David's friends react to him (Ps 38:11-12)? Why (Ps 38:16, 19-20)? How did he respond to their criticism and opposition (Ps 38:13-14; 46:10; Eccl 5:2; Isa 53:7; Mt 27:14)?
5. After expressing great suffering what did David do (Ps 38:15; 39:7; 42:5, 11)? Is it easy for you to just wait on God without any time schedule (Job 13:15) What if you do (Isa 40:31)?
6. Is it easy to honesty confess your sins (Ps 38:18)? What if you don't (Ps 32:3-4)? What if you do (Ps 32:5; 1 Jn 1:9)?
7. Do you long to be near God more than with someone else (Ps 38:21)? How earnestly do you affirm your need for help (Ps 38:22)?
• Was his suffering relieved at the end of this Psalm? Is there a high point in this Psalm?
• How could David be so bold to appeal to God for mercy, being the guilty sinner that he was (Ps 51:3-4)?

• How might affliction, anguish, adversity and anxiety help a Christian more than comfort and convenience, safety and security (Ps 119:67, 71, 75, 92)?

• How does Psalm 38 point to Christ (Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34)?

Learn How to Suffer Well (Job 1:1-22)

* Learn from Job how to suffer well.

* Don't think that you did something wrong [even if you did] (Jn 9:1-3).

* Own your suffering (Job 1:20-21). Accept your situation/suffering. 

* The ultimate value and purpose of our suffering (Rom 8:28-29).

* No need to know why except that God is good in all that he does.

Is something wrong with me if I don’t feel God’s presence in my suffering?

Affliction (God’s Medicine) by J.C. Ryle

"Affliction is one of God's medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly.

Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is a greater blessing. Prosperity and worldly comfort are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands on the last day, will testify with David, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted' (Psalm. 119:71)."

Suffering Produces Angels

If You Would Suffer with Patience

"If you would suffer with patience the adversities and miseries of this life, be a man of prayer. If you would obtain courage and strength to conquer the temptations of the enemy, be a man of prayer. If you would mortify your own will with all its inclinations and appetites, be a man of prayer. If you would know the wiles of Satan and unmask his deceits, be a man of prayer. If you would live in joy and walk pleasantly in the ways of penance, be a man of prayer. If you would banish from your soul the troublesome flies of vain thoughts and cares, be a man of prayer. If you would nourish your soul with the very sap of devotion, and keep it always full of good thoughts and good desires, be a man of prayer. If you would strengthen and keep up your courage in the ways of God, be a man of prayer. In fine, if you would uproot all vices from your soul and plant all virtues in their place, be a man of prayer. It is in prayer that we receive the unction and grace of the Holy Ghost, who teaches all things." —St. Bonaventure.

The Way to Exaltation is Suffering

God will never use a man effectively until He first wounds the man. 

Blameless, Just, Fear God, Shun Evil (Job 1)

"Job...was blameless and just, one who feared God and avoided evil" (Job 1:1b). "...a man blameless and just, who feared God and avoided evil" (Job 1:8). "Does Job fear God for nothing?" ("Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?") Satan replied (Job 1:9).

What is the relationship between perfect character and perfect life (Job 1:1, 8)? Are the two inevitably related? This question is at the heart of the book of Job.

Job 1 directly and indirectly poses all kinds of theological questions: