Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
Week 11: Chapter 10 — Trusting God When You Are Hurting
Read Chapter 10 of Trusting God. Key passages: Psalm 22; Hebrews 5:7–8; Job 13:15.
Previewing Week 11 of Trusting God
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
This is perhaps the most emotionally tender chapter of the book — Bridges sits with the reader inside real, specific, unresolved pain and refuses to offer easy comfort.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Bridges does not rush to resolution in this chapter. He lingers with the reality that some pain is simply hard, and that God does not always explain Himself or hurry to relieve us. What is the pastoral importance of that posture? How does it differ from the way Christians sometimes talk about suffering?
2.Psalm 22 opens with 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' — the cry of desolation that Jesus himself used from the cross. How does the fact that Scripture gives us this kind of lament validate our own experience of feeling abandoned by God? What does Bridges say about the legitimacy of honest cries to God?
3.Job 13:15 — 'Though he slay me, I will hope in him' — represents one of the most radical expressions of trust in Scripture. What makes that statement possible? Is it the absence of pain, or something else entirely? What does it ask of us?