Written by: Madison Wilcox
Doesn’t life seem to strike in patterns, both the suffering and the sin? It always hurts in the same place. I always react in the same way. Life spirals. Where is God? Isn’t He supposed to burst in like a lightning bolt and fix me as He’s promised? “I will make all things new,” He says. (Revelation 21:5) But where is the new?
In 2020, I took a gap year to ask these questions, to see whether God could really change my life. He did.
Mostly, He used an online biblical counseling course from the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF). The premise of the course was simple: Growth happens in the place where my life and the Word meet. Yet, as I had discovered, learning to connect the details of my life with Bible truth does not always come naturally. Many times I let the Word waft over my life without it truly penetrating the complexity of my situation.
God, however, does not work in generalities. He works in the particulars.
Under this assumption — that God operates within the details of our lives — the course introduced eight simple questions. These questions function to draw out the particulars of both our experiences and God’s involvement within them. The first four focus on you. The next four bring God into the picture.
1) What is happening to you? This question targets your situation. Put it into words. Who or what is involved? Focus on the concrete particulars.
2) How are you reacting? What have you done in response to the situation? What have you felt? Expand your vocabulary past general terms. (“Sad,” “Mad” or “Bad” don’t count.)
3) What rules you and “hijacks” your heart? This question reaches past the surface- level facts of your experience to examine your motives. What does your reaction reveal about your desires/cares/fears? What does it reveal about what/who you obey?
4) What are the consequences of your actions? Use this question to detail the “ripple effects” of your actions. How do your actions in this one situation influence the other sectors of your life? Work, family, relationships?
5) Who is God in light of this issue? The tide turns here. Search the Bible for God’s response to your particular struggle. Take your time; this is the most important question. Push for a deeper understanding of God’s character, especially in relation to your specific situation.
6) How can you have a conversation with God? Respond to what you have learned about who God is. What would you do if you believed it? How can you interact with God honestly?
7) How can you show love to others in your situation? An honest conversation with God serves as a springboard to greater care for others. What would it look like to love someone else from this place?
8) What are the consequences of questions five through seven? Imagine the “ripple effects” that result from question five, six and seven. These positive effects reach as widely as the negative ones from question four.
As you begin to utilize these questions, approach one situation at a time. I journaled through them, allowing myself to linger on each question as long as I needed. You can use them to guide your morning devotions, or take some alone time on a Sabbath to work through them. Once you have learned what to look for, you can even apply them to your life in the heat of the moment.
However, if you choose to incorporate these questions into your experience, remember that growth requires intentionality and often happens more slowly then we wish. At the same time, slow growth is the best kind of growth. It lasts.
Religion Editor’s Note: The course mentioned in this article and the material summarized are found in the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation’s course “Dynamics of Biblical Change,” where late counselor David Powlison teaches the methodology for biblical counseling described here. I recommend this course as the most effective tool for spiritual growth I have yet encountered. To learn more or register for the March session, visit https://www.ccef.org/course/dynamics-of-biblical-change.
