The Promise of Trouble
Teaching Pastor; Staff Governing Elder; Staff Director
God’s messenger reveals the future to Daniel, and it is full of suffering, injustice, and systemic evil at work. However, God will be with his people, giving them strength and hope for a future beyond this world.
Study Questions
God’s messenger reveals the future to Daniel, and it is full of suffering, injustice, and systemic evil at work. However, God will be with his people, giving them strength and hope for a future beyond this world.Application
The Bible is clear that because we live in the midst of a cosmic struggle, suffering and brokenness are normative. How can this reality actually give us hope? How should it impact our reaction to difficult situations in our lives?
Read 1 Peter 4 and consider that suffering makes us partners with Christ. This truth only makes sense if you have a personal relationship with Jesus—what does your relationship with Jesus look like? How has it helped you withstand hardship in the past?
In the face of the forces of darkness, we are part of the “resistance movement” of the gospel—seeking to build something solid that will transcend this world. What does it mean to be part of that movement? What are some concrete ways you can resist the evil and injustice in this world?
Key Points
God’s messenger gives Daniel a glimpse of what is to come. And although it is terrifying, God will be with his people and he has appointed an end to all evil.
There are unseen forces at work in the world, seeking to destroy what God has created. However, we have hope that God has made a way for us to transcend this world through the work of Jesus.
Knowing that suffering and injustice are normative should ballast us. We need not be surprised when bad things happen.
Suffering makes us partners with Christ. When we know him personally—not simply information about him—we can have joy even in the face of difficulty because we know he has gone before us.
God has called us to resist evil and injustice during our time on earth. In doing so, we embody the future hope of eternal life in community with God.