Chapter 7 Discussion Questions

Chapter 7:  The Searching God

In Part 2 of this book, we have moved from our unsuccessful attempts to quench our thirst to encountering the Living Water, God himself. 

Barnes begins this chapter by differentiating between loneliness, which he describes as the most common problem that therapists and pastors deal with, and solitude.  We have all experienced loneliness, even while we maintain busy lives surrounded by other people.  This is a loneliness that Jesus, in all his humanness, experienced, too. In fact, as Barnes says, Jesus “knew the loneliness of being abandoned by the people who professed to love him but left him to die alone on the cross.”  But, Jesus turned his many experiences of loneliness into experiences of solitude, and “what Jesus always discovered in solitude was that he was loved by the Father, who has not left me alone.” 

Barnes defines solitude as “a courageous choice to set aside the distractions, the relationship, and the busyness….”   Are you able to create moments of solitude in which you can encounter God and know that God has not left you alone and that God will come searching for you?  If so, do you do this intentionally, or do you do you experience moments of solitude “in the ordinary places?”  (p. 99)   Or, do you “manage your spiritual routines  so closely and hold them so tightly that they have lost nearly all potential to amaze?” (p. 100) 

Read and discuss the last paragraph of page 102:  “So when God says, …” 

Once again, Barnes asks us to change our perspective on our own lives (It’s not about us!).  At the bottom of page 104, he says, “In God’s hands, life is no longer a challenge we need to get right, but a holy gift to be received with awe, reverence, and faithfulness. Now even the simplest and most ordinary work, if done to the glory of God, is an opportunity to hear the seraphs singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory” – including your own little corner of the earth.”  How often do we pray to “get it right,” rather than pray in gratitude to simply receive the holy gift of life?

How often do you recognize “sacred moments of visitation from God?”  (p. 107)

At the bottom of page 107, Barnes says, “We are living in a society that has far too many expectations and not nearly enough hope.”  The last paragraph on page 108 says that it is only “the hope supplied in and through Jesus Christ that can lead us out of the darkness of our self-preoccupation and into the glorious light of God’s kingdom.” How can we abandon our expectations and adjust our mindsets to be receivers of God’s gifts and God’s love and to be a people who have great hopes?