Daily Devotional Guide

Consider these scripturally probing questions to enrich NEXT Sunday's (2.8.09) message:

                                  The Shack Series (chapters 8):  
                                  Can Anything Justify All This?

Day 1	 In chapter 8 Mack has a flying dream.  Ever had one of those?  What feelings do 
you associate with a flying dream?  How do they compare with the feelings you might associate 
with a great sadness?  How could the flying dream be related to the idea in the last chapter 
of living life loved?  Any one person can experience the contradictory emotions of such 
divergent perspectives.  What do you suppose determines which perspective prevails in a person 
(the despair of the great sadness vs. the lift of living loved)?  Explain.


Day 2	If Papa claims to have no favorites (p. 118), what do you think she means by her expression 
"especially fond of?"  Does Papa deny the capacity for anger?  Why do you think God's wrath and 
vengence is an important concept to explore for Mack?  What conclusions might he have drawn based 
on his assumptions about God's wrath?  In Romans 2:1-8 what attributes are accounted to God along 
with wrath?  Could one be said to be truly loving without ALL of these attributes?  Explain.


Day 3	 At the top of p. 120 what does Papa say of her intent to punish sin?  Does this passage 
suggest this is Papa's fullest answer on the matter?  What misperception of Mack's do you suspect 
Papa is trying to correct?  What do the following passages suggest of God's intent toward sin or 
sinners?  (John 3:16-21, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Romans 6:21-23)  Apart from any intervention of God, 
what are some consequences for sin (positive or negative)?  When you punish your children for 
misbehavior, for whose need do you do it?  How does Hebrews 12:7-17 suggest we view God's discipline?  
How is this discipline different than vengence?  How do the answers to these questions particularly 
affect our trust in God?


Day 4	Are we rightfully suspicious of human authority?  Explain.  Does Jesus disavow authority 
(see Matthew 28:18)?  How does self-interest play against the possibilities of a power-free "circle 
of relationship" (p. 122) in human relationships?  Why is realizing the other-interest of God, key 
to the will to submit to God's authority?  Does God use authorities to restrain evil (see Romans 
13:1-8)?  Why is civil authority viewed here as a healthy thing for human society?  Is Philippians 
2:1-5 an invitation to "join our (God's) circle of love?"  Explain.  List some laws that would become 
unnecessary in such a society?

Day 5	Mack questions the cost of God allowing people a free will.  To value the cost we must see 
what it purchases and that reality is beyond our human perception.  How does that contribute to our 
"underlying flaw" - that we don't believe God is good (p. 126)?  What do those closing comments of 
chapter 8 mean to you; "We are not justifying it.  We are redeeming it."  How does that correlate to 
Romans 8:28?