Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 10, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am in Control of Your Life and Your Death’”

Chapter 10, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am in Control of Your Life and Your Death’” pp. 137-148

Revelation 1:17-18

Guthrie recalls a time of prayer when she realized asking God to extend a dying child’s life may not be in the best interest of the child or the survivors. Should we rather trust God to number her days rightly? The Scripture clearly portrays God as the one who knows and has lovingly determined the limits of our lives. While we live them fully the Lord is the one who has ordered them. Jesus, the resurrection and the life, holds the keys to our life.

Final Observations

This is clearly a devotional and highly emotive book, much more emotive than I am. Guthrie writes in a very gentle and caring style. Yet that style, paired with a theology which sees divisions in the will of the Father and the Son, is a concern to me. The cover text calls it a “paradigm-shifting book.” The shift is unclear.  If we are to find comfort in our sorrows, let us find it in the unified mind of God who bore all our sorrows and will deliver us to life.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 9, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Giving Life to Those Who Believe in Me’”

Chapter 9, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Giving Life to Those Who Believe in Me’” pp. 123-135

John 11:25-26

Guthrie observes on Easter that many of the people who are most dedicated to Christ and His resurrection are people who have lost someone. Jesus and the resurrection are our hope.

Often we think of the resurrection as Martha did in John 11, as a distant future hope. Jesus calls us to think of it as a present reality. This is what we receive as we believe in Jesus.

Guthrie discusses belief on p. 129. “Belief begins when we agree with the truth about Jesus, and it blossoms into saving faith as we accept that truth for ourselves, entrusting our whole selves to Christ.” Guthrie continues to speak in terms of our choice and the strength of our belief as opposed to “an inspirational kind of faith and an impersonal type of religion” (p. 130). This, Guthrie says, informs our grief and allows us confidence in the midst of loss.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 8, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Enough for You’”

Chapter 8, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Enough for You’” pp. 107-122

2 Corinthians 12:9

Suffering can lead to an intensity in thought, prayer, and communication which we might not have under less extreme circumstances. Guthrie observes that after the death of her children there wa a great emptiness. This in itself is not a bad thing, as it can bring us to Jesus who will fill our emptiness. On p. 110 she illustrates this concept from John 2:1-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:24-27. When we endure suffering, as Paul did, God declares his grace to be what we need (2 Cor. 12:9, p. 114). While we would often like God to do the miracles we think of as important, God works for his glory and our good, often in ways we would never think of.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 7, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Give You a Heart for Forgiveness”

Chapter 7, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Give You a Heart for Forgiveness” pp. 91-106

Mark 11:25

Forgiveness is essential to the Christian life. Guthrie emphasizes Jesus’ demand that we forgive others. I observe that her exegesis is again based on the NLT version, which does not reflect the original, choosing to add a qualifier that we forgive if we are holding a grudge. The text simply says if we have anything against someone we must forgive. Guthrie pushes our stubborn unforgiveness which is less forceful than what Jesus says, but she suggests we are all stubborn.

What of times when we would justifiably hold something against someone? Maybe we hve been hurt, possibly badly. Jesus says we are forgive. [At this point, Guthrie uses the NIV translation of Mark 11:25, which is much closer to the original.] Jesus, in fact, is willing to give his own life for forgiveness, generously, regardless of the cost, regardless of our sin. It is this grace of God which motivates us and enables us to forgive others.

Guthrie hints at, but does not come out and say, that the Christian life is one of repentance and forgiveness. Yet all the while she keeps coming back to our need to forgive. Jesus is present as the one who helps us do better, but not as our forgiver. This finally leaves us working out our own salvation rather than receiving a salvation based on grace. It is salvation by works. This is not the comfort for the soul in anguish I would expect to find in a Christian book chapter about forgiveness.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 6, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Have a Purpose in Your Pain’”

Chapter 6, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Have a Purpose in Your Pain’” pp. 71-90

John 9:3

One of the first questions we ask in times of suffering is why. We quickly tie suffering and sorrow to a failure on our part or on the part of someone else. Maybe there is a hidden sin. Maybe we didn’t pray right. This is the same pattern shown in John 9 when the disciples were confronted with a man born blind. Guthrie points out on p. 73 that we never have to think we are suffering for our sin. Jesus has already done that - this is the Gospel. So why do we suffer?

Guthrie details several reasons we may suffer: consequences of sin we or others commit, natural results of living in a fallen world, supernatural attack, all are reasons for suffering. Under them all, we realize that God is in control. On p. 78 Guthrie clarifies that God does “allow” suffering but that he is not only passive. In many cases God brings suffering for a purpose. She goes on on p. 79 and following to explain that God ordains evil, but does it through other causes, thus remaining blameless.

The use of Joseph as a deliverer, Job’s faithfulness, and the suffering of Israel and Jesus are adduced as evidence that God brings suffering for good purposes. I question if this is the same as God’s remaining blameless by using instruments of evil. Yet Guthrie’s main point is that God ordains all that happens and uses it for good. He has a purpose.

Guthrie makes a very disturbing statement on p. 84 when she says, “What matters in the end is not that we know what or whom to assign responsibility to. What matters is that we are convinced that God loves us and that his love is not merely sentimental or a commitment to our comfort.” By saying this, Guthrie may as well open the door to any sort of belief, as long as you believe it, it must be right. Does it work for you? What is absent is Jesus’ work on the cross, a definitive work outside of us, accomplishing his purpose, rescuing us from sin and death. This foundation is sadly lacking.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 5, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Keep You Safe’”

Chapter 5, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Keep You Safe’” pp. 55-70

Matthew 10:28

Guthrie recalls times when bad things happen. A friend suffers through painful medical treatments. She and her family have two children who die. God’s promises of protection seem distant or even false. But in Matthew 10 Jesus tells his disciples that the evil ones can only harm their bodies. They can only cause physical harm. This is not exactly comforting to everyone. Yet Jesus promises us that our struggles, and especially our eternity, are of great importance to him.

When we doubt, we can take comfort that, according to John 17:11-15, Jesus prays for us. He is concerned about our eternal soul. This brings us comfort as we realize that our bodies will die, along with countless others.

Guthrie continues to divide the will of the Father and the Son. “God has answered the prayer of Jesus with a resounding yes!” (p. 64). This continued weakness in her theology is troublesome. She also seems to treat the body as something inconsequential or that will pass away. “While Satan may win a battle or two in the life of the believer, he will never win the war against the soul” (p. 64). Historic Christianity, on the other hand, has consistently confessed that the Lord has created us, body and soul, and has redeemed the two together. Death separates the elements temporarily, but in the resurrection we are complete again.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 4, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Save You from Yourself'"

Chapter 4, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Will Save You from Yourself'" (pp. 41-54)

It is not uncommon for us to express strong desires, often desires that are counter to reality and/or God’s Word. We dislike disappointment so much we will go beyond what the Lord has said. In Matthew 16, just after Peter has confessed Jesus as the Christ, he is rebuked by Jesus for his hesitancy to see Jesus go to his death. It is the crucified Jesus who is the savior.

Following Jesus is the lifestyle of dying to our own desires and taking on his.

In this chapter, which is much closer to orthodox Christianity than those before it, Guthrie still flirts with the dangers of self-mediated Christianity. When she removes the specific authority of God’s Word and replaces it with our opinion she leaves us on shaky ground.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 3, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Willing to Heal You Deadliest Disease’”

Chapter 3, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I Am Willing to Heal You Deadliest Disease’” (pp. 23-40)

Mark 1:41

It is often frightening to turn to the Lord and ask for healing. What if we do not receive the answer we want? Guthrie and many others have been hurt by well-meaning people who suggest that if they had prayed better, longer, more fervently, their child would have recovered.

When the leper approached Jesus in Mark 1, he knew his healing was impossible. Yet Jesus touched the untouchable man and healed him.

Guthrie did a survey of Jesus’ healing work. Was it based on faith? Was he primarily healing physical sickness? Why heal some and not all? Finally, John’s testimony pulled the idea together. What John wrote of Jesus’ works is to give us belief and life (John 20:30-31).

Guthrie’s explanation which follows treats sin as a disease which must be eradicated. Untreated, it permeates us and destroys us. The problem with this view is that it minimizes the effects of sin. We are left to turn to Jesus for healing. Guthrie speaks as though people are not dead in sin, but are able to turn to Jesus by their own will. The good news Guthrie gives is a message of self-help. On p. 37 she says we do the turning, the depending, and appropriate Jesus’ promises for ourselves. How is this done? Again it is through a deeply emotive brokenness which Jesus requires so that we will truly be his.

This is a disappointing view of Scripture. At the same time that Guthrie says she has been accused of not believing well enough she says that the solution to our troubles is to believe well enough.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 2, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Heard God Tell Me No’”

Chapter 2, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Heard God Tell Me No’” pp. 11-22

Matthew 26:39

After Guthrie’s daughter died at approximately six months of age, she had difficulty seeing what God could be doing. She read a number of books and was confronted with the idea of God being sad with her. How would the sovereign Lord be sad with her? After all, God could have kept the trouble from happening. The difficulty lies in our desires conflicting with God’s desire. “Jesus ran into this same wall when what he wanted came in conflict with what God wanted” (p. 12).

Guthrie begins an exposition of the NLT version of Hebrews 5:7-9, where we see Jesus crying out to the Father. She bases her understanding of the Gospels on her reading of Hebrews, which runs counter to the orthodox exegesis through the ages. As she does this, she asserts that the one Triune God has wills in conflict with on another. This is an impossible position.

Led by this precedent, Guthrie is left with a God of two wills. The Father wants the Son to suffer. The Son wants the Father to relent. “If anybody ever deserved to have his prayers answered in the affirmative it was Jesus . . . Yet God, through his silence, said no” (p. 17). Jesus dealt with it by trusting God’s purposes.

We likewise need “to overcome our own wants, to push through them to surrender” (p. 18). This is what we do, trusting that God is kind.

Guthrie, in this chapter, has both divided the will of God and has left faith as our work which we must do well enough to please God. This is not a historic Christian view. It lacks the comfort of the Gospel and binds us to a law, a very unkind law indeed. We are left with a God who has no consistent will, a Father who doesn’t get along with the Son, and our only hope as living up to Jesus’ model, which apparently was not successful.

Guthrie, 2009. Chapter 1, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Known Overwhelming Sorrow’”

Guthrie, Nancy. Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2009.

Chapter 1, “Hear Jesus Saying, ‘I, Too, Have Known Overwhelming Sorrow’” pp. 1-10

Matthew 26:38

Jesus is the one who calls us to himself when we are dead. He gives us the faith to trust him. Despite our wandering and confusion, as we commit our lives to Jesus he will change us. Guthrie views this as something which “broke through my religious activity and accumulated Bible knowledge” (p. 2). She needed something, in other words, that was not present in Jesus revealed in Scripture. She needed a special emotive experience. This experience, she says (p. 4), told her Jesus’ heart is broken by sorrow, just as hers was.

Guthrie goes on to describe the sorrow Jesus felt in his last night in the garden (Matthew 26). Because Jesus dealt with these sorrows, he understands our sorrows. This, in our time of sorrow, draws us to Jesus. “It’s in our suffering that we can truly begin to identify with his” (p. 6).

Jesus, who was lonely, sorrowful, and betrayed, can understand what we go through. Knowing that, Jesus is “calling you to a deeper, more real relationship with him than you’ve ever had before” (p. 8).

Guthrie wraps up the chapter with an adaptation of Jesus’ words addressed to the reader, explaining that he will be with us.

Guthrie, Nancy. Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2009.

Guthrie, Nancy. Hearing Jesus Speak into Your Sorrow. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2009.