Let the Shepherd Lead

For a number of years, Redeemer Biblical Counseling Training Institute (RBCTI) has asked me to be one of their instructors training prospective counselors for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselor’s exam. This January, I had the privilege of teaching a course that teaches biblical counselors a basic approach to help people with problems. In an attempt to try  to further refine those notes and encourage others to shepherd the flock of God among us, I decided to begin this series of posts.

To begin with, lets try to understand a basic biblical theology of problems.

• So long as we live in a fallen world, among imperfect people with less than holy desires; we can expect that people will have problems.
• Biblically, we must understand how problems first entered the world. Let’s turn to Genesis 3.
  • Here we find a perfect world, with perfect people, but with choices.
  • God had given them a rule in Genesis 2:16-17 which told them that they could eat from every tree but one.
  • Adam and Eve had a choice, if they obey, they will have no problems in this garden. If they do not obey, they will have problems – specifically death.
  • Satan tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the first verses of chapter 3. Eve entices Adam to eat. These temptations are not a problem until the couple chooses to disobey what they already know to be true.
  • Problems arise as Eve and Adam choose to disregard what they know from God’s Word and choose to do as they please. Adam and Eve’s response to temptation introduces problems.
    • The problem of shame beings as the couple recognizes they are naked (3:7).
    • The problem of fear comes when they hear God and know they have disobeyed him (3:10).
    • The problem of blame arises as the man and woman will not accept responsibility for their sin (3:12-13)
    • When God announces consequences for sin,  the problem of enmity between Satan and people arises in 3:15.
    • The problem of pain and marital friction arise in 3:16.
    • The problem of hard labor arises in 3:17-19.
    • And the problem of death arrives as animals must die for God to make garments to cover and atone for this couple’s sin (3:21).
• Problems come whenever people disregard God’s Word and do as they please. As shepherds we need to recognize that problems arise as a conflict between what God has said and what we inwardly desire.
  • Problems can arise as suffering, when others or circumstances make it more difficult for us to believe and obey God.
    • The serpent introduces suffering into Genesis as he shares his lies and half-truths making it more difficult for Adam and Eve to obey God.
    • Eve introduces a certain kind of suffering to Adam as she entices him to also eat of the fruit; forcing a choice between pleasing God and pleasing his wife.
    • God’s consequences for sin also makes obeying Him more difficult. This forces a choice between the easy path of continued sin or the more difficulty path of repentance and faith. [1]
  • Problems always arise when we sin because we directly choose to disobey what God has said.
    • Eve then Adam disregard what God had told them. They do as they please, despite the consequences He promised.
    • Rather than being an exterior problem, with sin our own inward desires become the problem leading us to disbelieve God or openly rebel against Him.
• Therefore, shepherds must recognize that problems represent the inward spiritual struggle to believe and obey God over against our own flawed thoughts and desires.

In the next post we will expand this basic biblical theology of problems to discover how these problems fall into some general categories that as shepherds we should note.

[1] These consequences made it more difficult to have dominion and be fruitful and multiply which is God’s 1^st Commission in Genesis 1:28.