God’s promise fulfilled applies both to problems placed on us and problems within us.
Welcome! (2 minutes)
Welcome to Session 3 of It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way. A key part of getting to know God better is sharing your journey with others. Before watching the video, briefly share with one another any personal revelations you’ve had since the last session.
Opening Discussion (15 minutes)
Answer the following questions to prepare for this week’s video teaching:
• What insights did you discover in your personal study from last week or in chapters 5–6 of the book It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way?
• How did the last session improve your daily life or your relationship with God?
• What is one thing you have learned about disappointment?
VIDEO
Problems Placed on Us and Problems Within Us (18:30 minutes)
LEADER:
Play the video segment for Session 3. Instruct your group to use the outline below to follow along or take additional notes on anything that stands out.
THIS WEEK’S STATEMENT TO HOLD ONTO:
God’s promise fulfilled applies both to problems placed on us and problems within us.
EXODUS 12:12–13, 21–23
Truths about hyssop:
• It was used as the paintbrush to spread blood on the doorframes of the Israelites’ houses so that the plague of death wouldn’t strike them. [Example of a problem placed on them.]
[Your Response Here]
• It was the purification ingredient in David’s cry to be cleansed (Psalm 51:7). [Example of a problem within.]
[Your Response Here]
• It was used to cleanse lepers (Leviticus 14:4).
[Your Response Here]
• It was present when the promise was fulfilled by Jesus on the cross (John 19:28–30).
[Your Response Here]
• Hyssop was one of the last things of creation that Jesus interacted with before He died.
[Your Response Here]
God’s promise fulfilled applies both to problems placed on us and problems within us. Both can be healed and fixed at the cross.
[Your Response Here]
PSALM 69:21
Jesus didn’t look to something to numb the pain.
[Your Response Here]
(45 minutes)
LEADER, READ EACH NUMBERED PROMPT TO THE GROUP.
1. What part of the teaching had the most profound impact on you?
[Your Response Here]
2. In the Bible hyssop is featured at moments dealing with both kinds of problems: problems placed on us and problems within us. We first see hyssop as the paintbrush in the Passover rite as God dealt with the problem of slavery that had been placed on the Israelites, from the sin of a cruel and fearful pharaoh (and even further back, the sin of Joseph’s brothers).
Passover foreshadowed the cross. The firstborn of every family in Egypt was going to die because the pharaoh of Egypt refused to free the Israelite slaves. God told the Israelites to sacrifice lambs and to put the blood of the lambs on the doorframes of their houses. Any house that had the blood covering, God would pass over when He carried out this plague of death.
Have someone read Exodus 12:12–13, 21–23 aloud to the group:
12“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” . . .
21Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
• Think about this image of dipping a stalk of hyssop into the lamb’s blood and painting the doorframe with it so that the curse would pass by those in the house. How is this like what Jesus’ blood sacrifice has done for you?
[Your Response Here]
3. King David’s problem was caused by his own sin, his decision to commit adultery with Bathsheba and then ordering her husband to be killed. After these terrible sins, David prayed:
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)
• God’s forgiveness didn’t mean that He shielded David from the natural consequences of his choices. David and Bathsheba’s child died. As with David, there are still consequences of our choices even though we are forgiven. Do you ever struggle with this?
[Your Response Here]
• What did God’s cleansing provide for David?
[Your Response Here]
Both the problems that are placed on us and those that come from within us find their ultimate solution at the cross. Jesus offers healing for both. Read John 19:28–30.
28Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
• How does Jesus’ death on the cross offer healing for problems that result from our sin?
[Your Response Here]
• How does Jesus’ death on the cross offer healing for problems placed on us and caused by someone else’s sin? Can you make the choice today to let go of unforgiveness and bitterness?
[Your Response Here]
It may be helpful for you to look again at what you learned in Session 2 from Hebrews 2:14–18:
14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
4. Because of the details the Bible gives us and the historical context of the Roman treatment of men being crucified, we know the immense suffering Jesus experienced leading up to and on the cross. The first-century church would have seen this cruelty firsthand. The Gospel of Matthew gives us this verse that details the last few moments of Jesus’ life:
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). (Matthew 27:46)
Jesus’ cry was a quotation of Psalm 22:1. This psalm as a whole is a picture of the suffering Jesus endured and the faith He held onto. But if we stay with this one “forsaken question” we can connect with the depth of the torment Jesus felt when He prayed “Thy will be done” at Gethsemane. He very much knew what he would soon experience during the crucifixion. So, when He cried out to God on the cross, this wasn’t just because of the physical pain but also because of the emotional and spiritual pain of feeling utterly separated and abandoned by God.
• Jesus took on the weight of your sin so that you would never know what it feels like to be forsaken by God. Look up Deuteronomy 31:8 and write it out below. How does this give you hope?
[Your Response Here]
5. Jesus had never before experienced the absence of His Father. In eternity they were united. Throughout His earthly life He had enjoyed an unbroken prayerful connection with His Father. But now, as He carried our sins, the chasm between a holy God and a sin-soaked man opened up. What do you imagine that was like for Jesus?
[Your Response Here]
6. We often try to numb the pain of feeling distant from God. Jesus didn’t do that. How does that play out in your life?
[Your Response Here]
7. What is your takeaway from this hyssop teaching that runs through the biblical story?
[Your Response Here]
(25 minutes)
Begin by reading Psalm 40:103 aloud. Then, read this excerpt from the book:
And not only is His presence in the process, but there’s also a purpose in the process.
Longsuffering is long because you can’t sprint through it. It’s one step. And then another that might be more treacherous than all the previous steps. Getting to that solid rock from Psalm 40 might require a bit of a hike. Sometimes God lifts us up in an instant, and other times He wants to join us on a bit of a journey—a process through which we can gain a little more strength and grit and lung capacity for what He sees we’ll need once we reach that rock at the top. There is a purpose to the process, and it’s called preparation.
If God thought we could handle the promise today, He’d lift us up today. But if we aren’t standing on that firm rock, singing a glorious song, it’s because He loves us too much to lift us up there right now. This process isn’t a cruel way to keep you from the promise; it’s the exact preparation you’ll need to handle the promise.
It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, pages 101–102
1. Based on what you just read, what do you now know about the purpose for a long season of disappointment?
[Your Response Here]
2. How does knowing there’s a purpose for the process help you?
[Your Response Here]
3. Read the following verses and write down what they tell you about the purpose for your suffering or the promise that’s ahead of you.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)
[Your Response Here]
9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:9–11)
[Your Response Here]
9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)
[Your Response Here]
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2–4)
[Your Response Here]
4. Which of these passages lifts your heart and changes your outlook the most right now, and why?
[Your Response Here]
(5 minutes)
Complete this activity on your own.
1. Briefly review the outline and any notes you took.
2. In the space on the next page, write down the most significant thing you learned in this session—from the teaching, activities, or discussions.
WHAT I WANT TO
Remember
FROM THIS SESSION
Personal Prayer
(8 minutes)
Write a prayer request here that reflects the area of this week’s teaching you feel most in need of prayer.
[Your Response Here]
(2 minutes)
LEADER, READ THIS PRAYER ALOUD OVER THE GROUP BEFORE DISMISSAL:
Lord Jesus, it’s hard to wrestle between how much You love us and some of the hard things You allow us to go through. And while we may never understand how all of this works together for a good that You see, we will intentionally look for the good You do reveal to us. And we declare our trust in You. A trust that doesn’t have to know all the details to stand in the certainty of a faith in You. Thank You for the revelation about hyssop this week—this purple thread pulled throughout the Bible that breathes such confidence into our souls about Your intentionality and attention to detail. Let this spill over into our hearts and minds. You are also that intentional with our lives and You are aware of every detail that affects us. May our deepest desperations lead us to our greatest revelations about You. Lord, You are good even when circumstances are not. You are kind even when people are not. You are there for us even when all else fails. Your love carries us through and your compassion attends to our hurting hearts until healing is found. In Your holy name, amen.