Rev Hooker’s Bible Study on Unselfish Prayer Session 2—On the Other Side of Despair: Daniel 4:28-37

Session 2—On the Other Side of Despair: Daniel 4:28-37 A. Why Blame God for Our Suffering? B. God’s Presence in Our Suffering C. Nebuchadnezzar’s Unselfish Prayer We live in a culture and a time when more and more people hold God responsible for every- thing that happens—from a gambling win to a murder, from a professional promotion to a war. Whether we intend it or not, this attitude demonstrates the fact that we blame God for our misfortunes. Some of us, in an attempt to honor God’s sovereignty, claim in the midst of a tragedy that “God is teaching me a lesson in this catastrophe,” or that “God doesn’t put on us more than we can bear.” Though brought up in a church and a community that comforted themselves with such a view of God’s providence, my pastoral experiences with parishioners in tough times caused me to despair about what I could actually offer those who struggle with the problem of pain. We know that some measure of suffering is a pre- dictable part of life. No one has ever been able to explain to the satisfaction of all the source of evil or its prevalence.