cdn.hopetv.org.s3.amazonaws.com/.../HSS-2016-Q4-E09_1.mp4

♪ theme music ♪

(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,

an in-depth, interactive study

of the Word of God.

Have you ever felt hopeless

like you were going through a
dark time and couldn't see light

at the end of the tunnel?

Today on Hope Sabbath School,

we're going to be talking
about intimations of hope,

glimmers of hope even in a difficult time,

which will change our
hearts and give us courage.

I'm glad you joined us in our
study of the Book of Job.

And welcome to the team.

What a series this has been,

and we've been looking for hope all along.

We found it in a living
connection with God, right?

And here's Job who doesn't
even know about Jesus.

We have the advantage
of the full revelation

of the character of God in the
Person of Jesus our Savior,

but there is hope, even
in the challenging times,

and we're so thankful for that today.

And we're glad you've joined us for our
study wherever you are around the world.

We don't know how many countries are
represented, though the last statistics

I had on our Android app, 150 countries
were using the Android app, 137, I think,

using our IOS app, which is for
Apple devices, so lots of you.

We'd love to hear from you even
if you've written to us before.

Tell us how the Word of
God is blessing your life

and your sharing that with others.

You can write to us at [e-mail],

or you can put a note
on our Facebook page,

just go to our Hope Sabbath
School Facebook page

and leave a comment.

Here's a note from Zambia.

Chileshe writes from Zambia

and says, "Hi, Hope Sabbath School."

(Team) Hi.

(Derek) "Thanks for the amazing
Sabbath School discussions.

They are helping me grow
spiritually every week."

That's our prayer, isn't it?

"May God continue blessing
you as you help us."

Chileshe, and I must confess
I do not know, Chileshe,

if that's a man's name or a lady's name;

you'll have to send me another email,

but Chileshe attends the
University SDA Church in Lusaka.

So we're glad you wrote to us.

Here's a note from Samuel.

Thank you for writing,
Samuel, from Nigeria.

We have a lot of Hope Sabbath
School members in Nigeria.

"I'm from the 'Goody' Sabbath School Center in Nigeria.

We're just a family of three, but we enjoy
our Sabbath worship because on Fridays

we watch Hope Sabbath School.

It helps me to teach the class
in a very interesting way."

And Samuel says, "I'm a
high school teacher,"

so we are teaching teachers
to teach the Word.

Isn't that awesome?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) "God bless the Sabbath
School in-depth teaching.

It's the reason why we
have an interesting class."

(Derek, Team) Amen.

Well we are exciting whenever we hear
from Hope Sabbath School members

who are becoming Hope
Sabbath School teachers.

And you can download the outline that
we write, that semi-structured outline,

interactive outline,
website: hopetv.org/hopess,

and you can click on the outline and
download it and use it in your own class.

Thanks for writing to us, Samuel.

Here's a note from Peter in Kenya,

and I was impressed with what Peter said.

He said, "I'm writing to you
from Chuka University in Kenya.

Hope Sabbath School's been quite a
blessing since I started following

just one month ago.

We usually assemble on Friday
evenings together with my roommate

and other hostel mates."

I guess that's like a dormitory situation.

"It's helped us to understand
the lesson in an amazing way."

Sounds like you've got a mini
Hope Sabbath School there, right?

In Chuka University.

That's wonderful, Peter.

Keep inviting other
classmates to join you.

"We pray for special blessings

as you present God's message

to the souls of the world.

Praise the Lord."

Well, Peter, praise the Lord for you, too.

Thanks for writing to us from
Chuka University in Kenya.

And one last note from Phoenix in
California, thanks for writing.

Now is Phoenix a man's name or a lady's
name or can it be used for both,

does anybody know?

Phoenix.

We'll need another email.

Good morning, beautiful
servants of the Most High.

Just wanted to say Praise the
Lord for Hope Sabbath School.

It is the high point of my day.

I learn so much; it's interesting,

plus it's just a blessing.

Being filled with the
understanding of God's Word,

it's like tasting water in the desert."

(Team) Wow.

(Derek) "Excellent job, team.

Plus now with the app on my phone,

it really rocks."

That sounds American,
doesn't it, Timoetel?

But, you know, you can go to the App Store

or to Google Play; you
can download our app.

We've got an Android
app and an Apple app.

Put it on your phone;
it's free to download.

It says, "Now I can watch Hope Sabbath
School anytime with no excuses.

Just keep up the good work.

God encourage your heart to keep
going forward towards the mark

of the high calling in Christ Jesus."

Now I've not taken a poll, but there
may have been a time when you said,

"Well, I'm supposed to come and
film Hope Sabbath School today,

but I'd rather just relax
and not do something."

When you hear these stories,
what does it do for you?

It's encouraging, isn't it?

To see the miracles that are
happening, and so we want to thank you

for writing to us wherever you are
around the world at [e-mail].

When you send that, we send it
out to our media team as well,

so they can be encouraged.

We want to thank God for what
He is doing in your life.

By the way, if you go to our website,

hopetv.org/hopess,

you can download the song,

the outline.

We've got sheet music for the song.

You can start a Hope Sabbath School group

in your area and sing the
Scripture song with them.

In fact, we're going to sing it right now.

It's 3,000 years old;
at least the words are.

My wife wrote a simple tune,
but I love this promise,

"I would have lost heart," it says in
Psalm 27:13,14, "unless I had believed

that I would see the goodness of
the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage,
and He shall strengthen your heart."

Let's sing that beautiful
promise together.

♪ music ♪

(Derek) Let's pray together.

Lord God, we thank You that
we can study Your Word today.

It is a lamp to our feet,
a light to our path.

As we talk about intimations
of hope, glimmers of hope,

we pray that we might not only
see hope but experience hope

even during the challenges of our lives,
that we would have that living connection

with You that changes everything.

So bless in the study of
Your Word today we pray,

each Hope Sabbath School member
blessed, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

(Team) Amen.

(Derek) Well, we're in the
Book of Job, chapter 13,

and I'm always thinking

that people may join us
for Hope Sabbath School,

and they haven't watched the
first parts of this series.

You can watch it all; you can
go to our website at hopetv.org

and watch all of the programs,

but let's just catch up
on the story of Job,

and, Brittany, just a quick summary.

Here's a man,

tell us a little bit about
him and what happens to him.

(Brittany) Sure, Job started out as a
famous and wealthy man of the East,

and God even called him blameless.

He had multiple possessions, ten children,

and just was very blessed.

But then there was a heavenly
council where the Devil accused God

of blessing him and that Job was only
serving God because of the blessings.

So God says, "Well, I'll
allow you to test him,"

and then everything that Job owned
was taken away, even his children.

All ten of them died in one day.

And after that experience,
then Job was covered in boils

from his head to his toes

and was in pain and anguish and wondering,
"Why is all this happening to me?"

(Derek) So he's going through
a terrible experience,

and then three friends show up,

meaning well, Nathan, right?

And do they help the situation at all?

(Nathan) I think at first they
helped by their presence.

(Derek) Okay.

(Nathan) Seven days sitting
in silence, mourning with Job,

empathizing with him.

But then when they begin to speak,
it's quite clear that their wisdom

is not heavenly wisdom.

(Derek) What did they basically say?

(Nathan) They were basically
saying, "Job, whatever you did

has brought this upon you.

You have done something wrong.

No one else knows about it because
you look good on the outside,

but God's punishing you
for what you've done."

(Derek) And remember that
startling comment of Zophar?

What did he say?

(Nathan) "You deserve worse than this."

(Derek) "You deserve worse than
this, if the truth were known."

And that's speaking to a man that
the Lord Himself called what?

(Team) Blameless and upright.

(Derek) Blameless and upright!

So Job is confused; he doesn't understand.

We're going to Job chapter 13 now,

and Puia, if you'd begin our study
today with the first four verses.

I'd like you to tell us after he speaks,
before we talk about his comments,

what do you think he's
experiencing on the inside now?

He's kind of going through a
very difficult time, Job 13:1-4.

(Puia) I'll be reading from
the New King James Version:

(Derek) Okay,

Well, at first he said the Lord
gives, the Lord takes away;

blessed be the name of the Lord.

Someone said in our study, he's
holding onto the promise, though maybe

a little bit in denial about everything
that's really happened to him.

Nathan, where do you see him here?

Whew, that's pretty strong
language here, isn't it?

(Nathan) Yeah, and I
was just thinking that

we can't miss what he said in verse two.

(Derek) Okay.

(Nathan) When he says, "What you know,
I also know; I am not inferior to you."

Sometimes, meaning well, we
can speak down to people,

make them feel inferior or like, "I
really have greater spiritual insight

than you do; let me help
you straighten out here."

(Derek) Okay.

(Nathan) That's really not helpful.

And we have to be careful that
we don't condescend to people.

(Derek) Condescending, like we're
looking down, treating them as inferior.

They had good intentions, right?

We know that from the beginning; they
sat for a whole week with him, right?

But there's something there that's wrong.

How would you describe what's
happening on the inside?

Anybody?

What emotions are going
on there, do you think?

Jason?

(Jason) He sounds angry.

(Derek) He sounds angry about their
attitude; in fact, doesn't he call them

worthless physicians?

"Forgers of lies."

He's angry.

(Nathan) He also seem to be helpless.

He wants to speak to God; he
wants to reason with God.

He's like, "Here I am; I'm a helpless
victim, and I can't even speak my case."

(Derek) Okay.

(Nathan) Or present my case.

(Derek) Is he just angry?

Is there anything else going
on here, do you think?

Defensive a little bit, like
wanting to present his case.

He certainly wants to speak to God.

(Joshua) But he's depressed as well.

(Derek) You think he's depressed as well.

He's not in denial about
what's happened, right?

So, the good news is that God loves him!

But he's struggling with why these
things are happening to him.

So let me ask a question.

Sometimes when people are hurting,

especially if we're not that helpful,

but even if we are helpful,
they can kind of lash out at us

because they're hurting so much, you know?

"Let me help you with that bandage,"
you know, and they're like, "Aah!"

Does that make sense to you?

Have you ever met people like that?

The're hurting so much they don't
want you to get near to them.

So how do we show God's love to
someone who's at that level of pain?

What do you think?

What can we do for them?

Jonathan.

(Jonathan) I think it's helpful
to try to take time to understand

where someone's reactions
are coming from.

From personal experience, I've been in
situations where I haven't been able

to act in quite the way that I wanted to,
and some people are able to understand

that and give me grace, and others
don't quite understand that.

(Derek) So kind of thinking, you
know, there's a saying in America

about walking in someone
else's shoes, right?

In other words, take some time,
probably before I open my mouth, right?

Anybody else?

Someone's really hurting.

He's pretty angry here.

How would you approach someone
with that level of anger, Puia?

(Puia) I think it's important for us,
first of all, to ask God to give us

heavenly wisdom in how to approach them.

I think that would be the first step.

(Derek) What would be my human reaction,
if I didn't pray and think about it,

when someone was kind of
lashing out like that?

(Nathan) You'd take it personally
and think they're angry at you.

(Derek) Okay, I could take it personally.

What else might I do?

(Team Member) You'd want to stay away.

(Derek) Stay away, that's right, "I'm
just going to leave you," you know?

"You can take care of it by yourself."

(Nathan) Or even worse,
you might strike back.

(Derek) Or you might try to strike back.

And none of those is helpful; withdrawing,
just to protect myself is not helpful;

striking back is not helpful.

So I've got to pray, "Lord, show me here."

But let me understand, like Jonathan
said, what the person's going through,

so I don't come to kind
of careless conclusions.

Stephanie.

(Stephanie) And if you're the one that has
caused them to be somewhat defensive,

maybe that's where you
could be quiet, you know?

"Lord, I've said something; help
me to be more understanding

of where they're coming from."

(Derek) Okay, so let's keep reading in
Job chapter 13, verses 5 through 12,

and Timoetel, if you'd keep
reading for us in Job 13:5-12,

and let's see what part of his
comments makes sense to you.

Job's struggling, too, so I'm
not saying everything's perfect,

but what about his response
to his friends makes sense?

(Timoetel) Job 13, verses 5 to 12,

and I'll be reading from
the New King James Version:

(Derek) Was he speaking any truth there?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) If you read the end
of the book, what happens?

(Timoetel) God rebukes them.

(Derek) God rebukes them; He says,
"You have not said what is right

about my servant Job."

So, that part, that
makes sense, doesn't it?

In fact go back to verse
5, better to do what?

(Derek, Team) Be quiet.

(Derek) And if they're saying,
"Why is this happening?"

It would be better to say, "I don't know.

I don't have an answer."

(Nathan) This is an indication,
too, of the unity of Scripture.

Job is speaking under inspiration, or
this is recorded under inspiration here

where he says, "It would be better to be
silent, and that would be your wisdom."

And in Proverbs 17:28, it basically
says that even a fool seems wise

when they keep their mouth shut.

(Derek) Right, and back to the
comment you made earlier, in Job 2

where the friends come and they're
simply silent and grieving,

that probably was some comfort

until they started speaking.

So they brought three friends together,
apparently from different territories.

They were very earnest
in wanting to help him.

But again, how do I respond
to someone who's defensive?

Let's try to understand
them, walk in their shoes.

Can you share a time
when you realize that?

Maybe a friend was hurting, and
you realize the best thing was

just to be silent and
present with her or him?

Or a time when you were hurting,

and you really appreciated someone
just kind of came to be with you

without trying to give you a bunch of -
what do we call those - kind of canned

or platitudes, canned answers.

Anybody have an experience
where that happened for you?

Joshua?

(Joshua) Yeah, there was a time when
I experienced a death in the family,

and someone came by my home
and gave me a box of pizza.

And, you know, I just ate
that delicious box of pizza.

They didn't

want to ask me a ton of questions
about what's going on in my life,

and I preferred that because I
didn't want to talk about it,

but them just bringing the food to me
helped me a lot; I really appreciated it.

(Derek) Does that remind you of a story in
Scripture, that wasn't pizza by the way,

but does it remind you of
a story in the Scripture

where a person was going through a
very hard time, and someone just said,

"Here's some food"?

Anybody remember that story?

"Here's some food..."

(Team Member) I remember Elijah.

(Derek) Elijah, that's right, Elijah.

And it was actually an angel, it
wasn't a pizza delivery person, right?

An angel brought the food,

but no big description of what
you should be feeling but just

knowing you're going to need some food
and some rest, "Here's something to eat."

All right, anybody else, Puia?

(Puia) Well, in my culture,
in the Mizo culture,

we have a very strong community support
whenever people lose their family members,

so what we would do as a community
is visit that family's house

and just hang out with them, just
comfort them without really needing

to talk everything about the person
that they just lost but just being there,

just being there and being a support.

It's such an important part of healing.

(Derek) Someone's probably going
to write and email and say,

"Where is the Mizo culture?"
and that's north...

(Puia) It's on the border
of India and Burma.

(Derek) India and Burma, okay.

And there, there's part of the culture
of just coming and being present

in order to bring some comfort.

Thanks for sharing that.

Well, having kind of vented...

You know what the word "vent"
means, to kind of let it out, right?

You know, "I'm not really happy
with the counsel you're giving,

and I'm not really understanding
everything about God,"

but he speaks some words of hope now.

These are glimpses of hope, right?

Naiara, if you could read for
us Job 13, verses 15 and 16.

(Naiara) Sure, I'll be reading
from the King James Version,

Job 13, verses 15 to 16:

(Derek) He's saying what?

"I believe I know my heart,
and my heart is..."?

Yeah, "My heart is sincere."

Now he's confessed his
sins; we'll talk about that.

He believes that, because of the mercy
of God, he's standing how before God?

Blameless, and by the way, was he right?

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) Yeah, God called
him blameless, right?

So he's saying, "I'm going to
trust my relationship with God."

How does his relationship with God

say, "I know the character of God,

and I'm going to keep holding on
even though I don't understand,"

because he still doesn't
understand what's happening.

How does his awareness of the character
of God plus his connection with God

give him courage to hold on even
though he doesn't understand?

Anybody?

(Tricia Lee) We can imagine he must be
so just worn out and physically tired,

emotionally tired, and he has three of
his friends telling him all these things,

and in all of that, instead of
just saying, "You know what,

you guys must be right; if three people
are telling me the same thing, it's true."

(Derek) Three against one.

(Tricia Lee) Three against one,
he's literally getting beaten up.

His wife is not even in his
corner necessarily, giving him

the right advice either, and he can still
through that all say, "You are lying!"

It's like that knowledge of who God
is was just so strong he could say,

"Here are my friends, and you're all
agreeing with each other, but no!

Those are lies; you're forgers of lies;
you're not really helping me right now."

I think that's powerful because
when you're at your wits end,

you're looking for an answer.

He was looking for answers.

And sometimes we can say, "Oh,
well these people came to me.

Maybe God sent them to me to tell me
this," but he knew enough about God

to know, "God would not send you
to me to tell me these things.

This really isn't true; I just want to
talk to Him; I just want to hear from Him

and understand why this is happening."

(Derek) There's a text of Scripture, I'm
going to have us read, and I want us

to continue, that speaks about
not what we see giving us hope,

but our connection with
God giving us hope.

And it's a Scripture song my wife
wrote to help me remember it,

from Lamentations 3.

You might say, "Can any good
thing come out of Lamentations?"

What does the word "lamentations" mean?

To grieve, right, to lament,

and it's after the
destruction of Jerusalem,

and the prophet Jeremiah.

Brittany, if you'd read that for us in
Lamentations 3, verses 22 through 26.

(Brittany) I'll be reading from
the New King James Version,

Lamentations 3:22-26:

(Derek) Wait quietly, that
reminds us of our song,

which was written, what,
400 and some years earlier

by the psalmist, "Wait on the
Lord; be of good courage."

He's writing this lamentation;

what's going on around Jeremiah?

When he says, "Through the Lord's
mercies we are not consumed;

His compassions fail not."

What's going on around him, Jonathan?

(Jonathan) The whole city is being
destroyed or is about to be or...

(Derek) Well, "Lamentations,"
I think it's over;

it's been destroyed,

captivity has happened...I mean,
everything is falling apart.

And what could he be saying?

What could he be saying?

"My hope is lost.

Where are you, God?"

Or, "What did they do?"

And instead what's he choosing to do?

(Team Member) Wait on the Lord.

(Derek) Yeah, he's choosing to wait
on the Lord, to trust in the Lord,

to look to the Lord.

Tricia Lee.

(Tricia Lee) I think what's interesting
is that these three friends show up

at this particular time in his life,
when Job has been walking with God

for many years, I would imagine before
that, and he has an established

relationship with God that won't
be wavered by these friends coming

and telling him things.

I think sometimes - and that's probably
contributing to why he's so upset -

it's just like, "You don't
even know my walk with God.

Where were you, coming to visit me when
I was praying for forgiveness every

morning for my sons and daughters, but
you show up at this particular time.

Granted, I'm happy you came, but you're
not really saying anything that's helpful

to me right now."

And I think that when we hear these
encouraging words from Jeremiah

and from Job, it's just that they have
established a walk and a relationship

with God that cannot be swayed by what
they see or what they hear from their

so-called comforters...

(Derek) Or what's happening to them.

(Tricia Lee) Or what's happening to them.

(Derek) Yeah, Naiara.

(Naiara) It just amazes me that also
he knew himself because he was so low

to a point that anything that somebody
can tell you, you may be just like, "Okay,

yes, you're right; it's my fault," but,
yes, he knew God, he acquainted himself

with God, if we go read in Proverbs
22, but also he knew himself.

He knew himself so much,
he said, "Wait a minute.

I know who I am; I know what I have
been doing, so you are wrong."

(Derek) I want to unpack the
"acquaint yourself with God"

because it seems to me, when you're
going through difficult times,

a clear picture of the character
of God is crucially important.

(Team) Yes.

(Derek) In fact, we need to
acquaint ourselves with God

before those hard times come because
then we need to be holding on

through the dark valley, right?

So how do we get a true picture
of the character of God?

How do we get to know Him in
a living connection, Marianela?

(Marianela) I think through those hard
moments, and even if they're small trials,

and you let God lead you
and ask for the Holy Spirit;

He will guide you through that.

And in those small moments when a
big trial comes, you realize that,

"Wow, God is different.

My relationship with Him was
different in these small moments,

and now He's going to provide," and
I see how Job was able to defend God

to his friends.

(Derek) Defend the character...

(Marianela) Defend the character of God.

(Derek) Now you said something really
important, which I want to just restate,

and that is that we trust
Him in the little challenges

so that in the big challenges,
you know, we've learned.

We've learned He's dependable.

When else, how else, Nathan, do we
learn about the real character of God

so that when we don't understand we say,
"Well I may not see the path, but I trust

the God I've chosen to know and love"?

(Nathan) Okay, I was going to
share something else, but I think

the clearest picture of the character of
God is revealed in the life of Jesus.

We look there, and we see Jesus saying,
"If you've seen Me, you've seen

the Father," and I say, "Wow, I want to
be in a connection with that kind of a God

because look at how awesome Jesus is."

Look at the constant love and
acceptance that He showed to everyone.

But I was going to point out that in verse
15 when Job said, "Though He slay me,

yet will I trust Him," that
Job sets an example for me.

When I've been in really difficult times,
and I've had my share, and there's times

when things have happened unfairly or
whatever, you know, it's very easy to say,

"God, I'm mad at You," or "Why did You
allow this?" and I've been there, too,

but Job makes a decision.

By an act of his will, he
says, "I will trust Him.

I don't understand it; it doesn't
make sense, even if He slays me."

"I'm at the point of death,"
is kind of how he's feeling.

"I'm suffering from the top of
my head to the soles of my feet,

and I've lost everything.

I'm suffering emotionally; I'm suffering
mentally; I'm suffering physically.

I'm hurting spiritually because I'm
all messed up in trying to understand

what God's doing," and yet he
says, "I'm going to trust Him."

So I see in that the power of a
decision and the power of our words

and our self-talk.

And so, what I've taken from that, in
my experience, there have been times

when I say, "Okay, God, I don't
get it, but I know You love me.

I know that Jesus died
for me; He's my Savior.

I know You want to spend eternity
with me, so I'm trusting You."

And it's the hardest thing to do when
everything seems like, "He's not even

blessing you; He doesn't love
me," but I say, "I know You do."

So I think for me an act of faith is
speaking the words that we know are true

even when it doesn't
seem to be true for us.

(Derek) Speaking the words that we know
are true, that have come out of that

relationship with God, right?

What we know.

Puia?

(Puia) Yes, I think it's important for us
to look back on the past and see where

God has led us, you know?

Or what we like to call mountaintop
experiences where God has shown us...

(Derek) Maybe even valley
experiences, right?

(Puia) ...and see how God
has led us through them.

I think by looking back over how God has
guided us, that can really give us hope

that God will still bring us through
this current situation that we are in.

I believe that's what
Job is doing, you know?

Holding onto God and reminding
himself what God has done for him.

(Derek) So we're talking about how
we can experience hope in the midst

of difficult times and how our
understanding of the character of God

is really important.

Did anyone grow up with that kind of
false notion that the three friends

are sharing, "Well, if
something's happening to you,

God obviously is judging you"?

Did anybody grow up with that?

That's really kind of a stumbling block.

Anybody?

(Nathan) I did.

(Derek) Yes, Nathan?

That was just your picture
of God growing up.

(Nathan) Yeah, good people are
blessed, and bad people are cursed.

(Derek) Okay.

(Nathan) A common understanding
that I grew up with, that God is

kind of looking over you and watching,
and you're going to get what you deserve.

(Derek) You know, I think a lot
of us grew up with the idea

that God is more interested in
catching you misbehaving than He is

in rescuing you from hurting yourself.

A different picture of the
character of God, Tricia Lee.

(Tricia Lee) The opposite is also equally
as damaging, the idea that if you're

blessed that you must be right with God,
and so if things are going well in my life

I don't need Him; I'm
probably being favored.

So you start to slip and let go of
God because you think, you know,

instead of thinking about the
responsibility you have you think, "Oh,

I must be okay, so I don't have to do
as much to maintain that relationship

with him," so both ends
are very dangerous.

(Derek) I think it was the psalmist Asaph
who said, "I don't understand why these

wicked people seem to be doing so well,
but then I looked and saw the end,"

so you're saying that
can be confusing, too.

The righteous are suffering, and sometimes
it seems like the wicked are doing well,

right?

There was another hand raised, Missy.

Do you remember what...?

(Missy) It was just a personal
experience, and I was going to let it go,

but since you just let me share...

For a long time, through highs and
lows, I've had a connection with God

where I've really...I'm not trying
to pat myself on the back...

It's just I have this relationship
with God, and thank God I've had it

because there have been times that we
have been tried and tried very hard,

and in those moments I remember calling
out to God saying, "I don't think I have

the kind of faith You want me to have.

I'm just not Abraham, I'm not these big
heroes of faith," you know, "I'm not

who You want me to be."

And I go to my Bible, reading it on
my app, and this passage pops up,

Lamentations 3:22-26.

(Derek) The one that we just read.

(Missy) Yes, I mean, just randomly,

and I just felt God speaking to
me in those moments, you know.

Give God the opportunity.

Don't let go for any reason whatsoever,
and He will come to your rescue,

and I have felt rescued by God through
His Word or through words of friends

time and again.

(Derek) And that's a great illustration,
a sequel to where I'd like us to go now,

and that is some other texts
of Scripture that give you hope

in the midst of a difficult journey
and also some stories of Scripture

that illustrate hope.

So let's start with some texts
of Scripture that give you hope

even on a difficult journey.

Marianela, did you have one or a story?

(Marianela) I have a story.

(Derek) Okay,

(Marianela) It's Moses when he was with
God and, I can't remember which mountain

it was, but the people of Israel were just
not following God's commands; they were

being rebellious, and God says,
"You know, I regret what I did.

I'm going to destroy them all," and
Moses goes up to Him and says, "No,

You can't do that; You promised that the
seed of Abraham was going to be blessed

from generation to generation."

And he cried out to God and said,
"You can't do that because Your word,

You promised in Your Word."

I see that story as so powerful because
sometimes we have to come to God

and say, "You promised, and You said
in Your Word that You would bless

or You would take care of me; You would
provide for me," even in those times

where we're feeling like
we can't continue anymore.

(Derek) And by the way, he didn't
change the heart of God, did he?

(Team) No.

(Derek) Because when God reveals
Himself, He's abundant in mercy

and lovingkindness, right?

It's almost like a reverse psychology
where the Lord says, "Well,

what do you think?"

And, "Well, I think you should do this,"
as if He hadn't already known in His heart

how He wanted to treat His people.

But that illustration of God, we see
God again with Abraham over Sodom

and Gomorrah, right?

Wanting to show compassion.

A text of Scripture or an insight?

(Tricia Lee) I have another story.

In another lesson, Stephanie was sharing
that God can work all things for good.

I think about Joseph who, I mean, was
betrayed by his own brothers, you know,

sold into slavery; he was a prisoner.

He seemed to have these rises and falls,
but through it all God allowed that

situation of his life to be a
blessing not only for his own family

but even for the entire nation of Egypt
he was able to be in the right place

at the right time to give wisdom and
counsel to save them all from a famine.

And it's just like, how many times are we
in a place where we feel like we've been

betrayed, or we feel like we're in some
sort of prison of life, and we see

no good coming from it, but the end, God
can still use us and bless us and take us

out of that prison, from
the pit to the palace.

(Derek) So that gives you hope.

(Tricia Lee) It gives me hope.

(Derek) You know, I'm thinking
about Joseph just for a minute.

You might say, "Well, he brought some
of the sibling rivalry upon himself,"

and that's kind of why he
got thrown in the pit.

Maybe he deserved that a little bit.

Some people could argue that, but when you to Potiphar's wife where he's

determining to honor God even though Potiphar's wife is trying to seduce him,

I mean, there is no way - this is unjust treatment, you know?

We'd file a law suit today, wouldn't we, for sexual harassment?