Trinity Questions #2: Why? Application

As we think about how to apply the idea of these "mysteries" in our lives—particularly during the hardest times—it can be challenging to make any sense of it at all.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the foolishness of boastful knowledge or certainty about the ways of God. Isaiah, centuries earlier, prophesied similarly, saying, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8–9). And Job, when faced with immense personal tragedy about which he had no understanding or justification, said of God, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him"—but he also said immediately following, "Yet I will argue my ways to his face" (Job 13:15).

It may be helpful in this case to ask application questions, rather than instruction-like statements.

Personal

• What drives you to feel the need to ask "why"? Is this a question of simple curiosity? A longing to know the reasons for everything? A sense of "deserving" to have the wrongs of the world justified? Something else? Does Paul's admonishment in 1 Corinthians speak to our hearts about this at all?
• Why do we, like Job, feel that we have a right to "argue our ways" to God's face? Do we have a right to know why things happen to us, or to others? How did that work out for Job?
• When bad things happen to you or around you, is your instinct to think, "God has it in for me"? Why do you think people—especially Christians—think of crises and tragedies as punishment? Are there other ways to think of them? How does this sense of punishment fit with Christ's atonement through the cross?
• Often, the objection that a good God wouldn't allow bad things to happen is offered as evidence that God doesn't exist. What is the weakness of this argument? Would it be more comforting to believe that there was no God, rather than to believe that, for some reason, God allows bad things to happen? Is it arrogant to think that, if God exists, we must be able to understand all that he does and allows? (How does that fit with Isaiah's prophecy?)
• What does it take to embrace "mystery" as a Christian? What does it require of you in terms of trusting God? What stands in the way of trusting him in that way?

Community/Church

• People often look to the church and/or to God during times of crisis. What are some of the answers they would find? What comforts do the church offer to those seeking solace?
• How does the church's identity as "the body of Christ" fit into this puzzle? Is there a sense that the church, as Christ's body, is a comforting presence in itself, without being able to offer clear or comprehensive answers to these hard questions?
• The members of Trinity are no strangers to the trials and hard parts of our fallen world. What comfort can we offer to one another through our own experiences of grief and personal crisis? How can we offer those comforts to our neighbors outside of Trinity?
• In what ways does the worship liturgy that we use call us to see the "higher ways" of God, and to embrace the mysteries of the faith? How about other aspects of our life together as a congregation? How could these fulfill those goals more fully?