Icebreaker

Pumpkin Spice or Peppermint Mocha? 

Recap

What happens when you pray, and pray, and pray, but don’t seem to get an answer? Are you waiting for God to give you the good gift you have been praying for? Why is He making you wait? Why won’t He answer your prayers when it seems like He’s answering everyone else’s? As someone who has experienced unimaginable hurt, how can we say God is good when it certainly doesn’t feel like He is good to us?

Today we looked at God’s perspective in regard to His timing and the truth that God is the one who creates all good things, that God’s plan for you will be connected to a bigger story than we can see.

Open Your Bibles

Read Luke 1: 5-23, 57-66. What stood out to you?

Focus Questions

1. If God is good, why is His goodness so long in coming? If God wants the best for us, why doesn’t He fix our hard situations as soon as we find ourselves in them?
2. What is the longest you’ve ever waited for God to give you the good gift you’ve been waiting for? Are you still waiting? What gift from God are you waiting for?
3. Does God wait? Read Genesis 1-2, Acts 1:11, Titus 2:13, and Revelation 1:7. If God can speak things into being immediately (Genesis 1 and 2), why would He wait for His own words to be fulfilled? 
4. What is the point of waiting? Why does God make us wait? And why does God wait for us? He can make everything perfect in an instant… So why doesn’t He?
5. Read Ruth 1:1-22. Name all the hurtful things Naomi and Ruth experienced. Have you ever experienced a deep season of loss and hurt? One that seemed to last far too long? Now, read Ruth 2:1-20. What did Naomi declare about God in verse 20 in spite of all that she had experienced? What can you declare about God today, having come out of a season of hurt?
6. Read Romans 8:28. What is promised about God at work in our lives? How is God good “in the waiting”?
7. Jesus lived by God’s time: He submitted fully to God’s plan for His life. What does it mean to live by God’s timing? What do you need to do? What do you need to change? What is scary about submitting fully to God’s plan, perspective, and timing for our lives? How can we remove that fear and fall into the comfort of God’s goodness over and for our lives here on earth?
8. Do you see your current problem as being larger than the promises of God? Do you truly believe that God’s plan for you personally will be connected to a bigger story than you can currently see? Do you trust that God’s gift for you is there, just not ready to open yet? How does knowing God’s perspective – His favor over you, His goodness for you – affect how you can wait and what you can do while you wait?

Send Out Question

The goodness of God is all over the story of waiting for the birth of Jesus, and His goodness is all over the people who were waiting with the unknown arrival date. What can you do this week to encourage yourself while waiting for God’s good gift for you? How can you shift your perspective this week away from your hurdles, obstacles, and problems, and instead line up your perspective with the reality of the  goodness of God? Think about someone you know who is also waiting for good news from God, a gift that could change the course of their lives. Commit yourself to stand in the gap and pray for favor over them this week.