Mar. 23, 2025

Discernment

March 22 & 23, 2025

Primary Text: Lamentations 3:1-25

1) As To Jerusalem, So to Me

Lamentations 3:1-18:  I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the LORD’S wrath.  He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.  He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.  He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.  He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.  He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.  Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.  He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.  Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.  He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.  He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.  I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.  He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.  He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.  I have forgotten what prosperity is.  So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

DQ 1) What was the most “broken down” you have ever been?

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DQ 2) Was it hard to hear or feel God during this time?

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2) Rise Up My Soul and Redeemer

Lamentations 3:19-21:  I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness, and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.

DQ 3) Was there anything that helped bring you out of  your dark time?

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DQ 4) Was it sudden or gradual?

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3) Discernment – Seeing Truth Clearly

Lamentations 3:22-25: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.

DQ 5) How does the truth of the Lord’s mercies comfort you even when you can’t make sense of your situation?

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DQ 6) Is your sense of God’s goodness related to earthly circumstances?

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