Daily Devotional Guide
1.11.09

Consider these scripturally probing questions to enrich NEXT Sunday's (1.18.09) message:

                                        The Shack Series (chapter 5):
                                              Notes from Papa

Day 1	On page 78 Mack starts to let flow a torrent of emotions directed at "the indifferent 
God he imagined." Ever picture d God that way yourself? What happened that caused you to paint 
God with those colors? Having endured such happenings do you think it is a sign of spiritual 
strength or weakness, health or sickness, to hold out hope as Mack does (p. 80) that "God might 
actually care enough to send him a note?"

Day 2	Ever got a "note from Papa" yourself? Of course, I don't mean a note precisely, but a message 
through another person or a peculiar experience that affected you with a similar wonder as the note 
from Papa affected Mack (see p. 16)? Would the Bible suggest we are gullible to consider such peculiar 
instances? What form did "notes from Papa" take in the following passages: (with Moses in Exodus 3:1-10, 
with Shadrack in Daniel 3:24-30, with Saul in Acts 9:3-19, with Gideon in Judges 6:34-40, with Jacob in 
Genesis 28:10-22). 

Day 3	 Contemplating the still potential encounter with God Mack states, "...he was more than ready to 
get a few things off his chest, respectfully of course..." (p. 77). In the pages that follow, what clues 
do you find to the "few things" Mack had in mind? Let's say you were granted a face-to-face encounter with 
God, would you have anything to get off your chest? What top two personal issues would you most want to talk 
through with God? On what basis can we be sure that God would welcome such meetings? (See Heb. 4:14-16)

Day 4	What did Mack expect God to look like (see p. 73)? What would you imagine God's appearance to be 
like? List six words that would best describe what you are imagining. How different is Gandalf (p. 73) 
from Elousia (p. 82)? What do you think gets communicated by the way God intentionally represents Godself 
to Mack through Elousia, Jesus, and Sarayu that might have been undetected with a Gandalf-like appearing? 
What did the Biblical Jesus say God looked like (see John 14:6-10)?

Day 5	Compare and contrast the language of the Trinity in the words of the Biblical Jesus (see John 14:23-31 
for example) with that of the initial images of the Trinity on pages 82-87 of The Shack. Don't you love the 
moment when Sarayu cares so for Mack that she collects his tears (p. 84)? What shameless sentimentality and 
trip! Apparently, David in writing Psalm 56:8, did not think so. Read it yourself. Is it easy to conceive of 
God as so tender and empathetic toward you that He would save your tears as precious in his sight? Or is it 
easier to think of God as ignoring them? Explain.