Psalm 139, Acts 17:22-31, Hebrews 6:9-20, Proverbs 16:1-3
We are again looking at justification as we did last week. How does the freeing, forgiving, healing act of justification speak to meeting our basic emotional needs?
All through scripture, we see how God hems us in by His love and redemption. Psalm 139 says that God knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb. Look for ways that this passage addresses our sanctification, hope, meaning, and significance.
Acts 17 addresses our foundation in Christ, and calls us His offspring. Hebrews 6 describes the covenant Christ made with us and the anchor that covenant provides through the trials (sanctification) of life. Numerous passages in Proverbs state that the answer to humanity’s plans and efforts (search for meaning) is in God (Prov. 16:1-3, 9; 16:9).
So many Scriptures answer our human search for meaning—which Crabb (1977) says involves significance and security—and yet, so many of us fill our time with futile attempts to provide our own answer to these needs. It is the effect of this deep incongruence that often creates the need and the space for counseling. Crabb sums it up nicely when he states that “True significance and security are available only to the Christian, one who is trusting in Christ’s perfect life and substitutionary death as his sole basis of acceptability before a holy God” (p. 71). We cannot guide our clients to this answer if we do not know it deeply ourselves.
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