Opening up the Bible when Pastoring through Difficulties

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”

These words from the opening verse of Psalm 103 ring in my ears. They are the words I read to my family as my dad took his final breath. Words of life that brought hope in the face of death. Words that shone brightly in the darkest of moments. Words that I come back to again and again. God’s Words, written by him, to point us to him when we can’t find the words to say. Faith filled words that meet us at our point of need.

Indeed we are needy people. We face many difficulties, we battle sin, suffering comes at us, yet “His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1v3). How do we interpret all of life through God’s Word? How do we care for one another when we are struggling? How do we see wonderful things in God’s Word when our instinct might be to sort things out ourselves first, and if and only if, we can’t, we turn to God? How do we connect the riches of Scripture to the realities of life? How does the local church capture this vision for care? How do we as church members play our role in ministering to and caring for one another in seasons of difficulty?

This is the territory of biblical counselling. In the rest of this article I want to introduce some foundational aspects of biblical counselling and think about why it is important. I will share my journey into this world and highlight some ongoing partnerships to share biblical counselling resources here in Ireland.

What is biblical counselling? One definition says; ‘Biblical counselling is the process where the Bible, God’s Word, is related individually to a person or persons who are struggling under the weight of personal sin and/or the difficulties with suffering, so that he or she might genuinely change in the inner person to be pleasing to God.’ (Faith Church, Lafayette).

So this means biblical counselling is personal, dynamic, and relevant to all of us as we all struggle with sin and suffering. It provides a way to think about how God’s Word works in our hearts in whatever circumstances we are in. It helps us think about becoming more like Christ and spurs us on to serve, worship, trust and obey him in the details of our everyday.

We may be more familiar with the public proclamation of God’s word eg, a sermon or a talk. Private reading of the Bible captures our times of personal study and reflection. Biblical counselling focuses on the interpersonal. How do we speak God’s words of truth in our conversations. How do we grow in skill and biblical wisdom, biblical counsel in our interactions with others, whether it is a chat over a coffee or in a more formal one to one.

Scripture speaks of the heart as the centre of who we are. Psalm 103 echoed these words, “All that is within me.” Hebrews 4v12 shows us that we need God’s Word to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We need God’s Word, like an X-ray to reveal our hearts before him.

What have you experienced this week? Anger, or impatience? Jealousy or discontent? Some have an ongoing struggle with anxiety or addiction. All of us harbour pride in our hearts. Biblical counselling gives us growing skill and biblical wisdom to speak words of truth in love so that we grow up in every way into Christ (Eph 4v15). Our conversations become the stuff of ministry, as the Word of God meets these deep heart struggles.

In our seasons of difficulty, in our struggles with sin and suffering, we need each other. Our relationships grow in depth as we ask God and each other for help. The local church becomes the focus. Ephesians 4 moulds our thinking, each one has a role to play. The commands of Scripture come alive: love one another, be kind to one another, forgive one another, bear with one another. Biblical counselling is important as it seeks to equip and support the local church to put these commands into practice. Our honest struggle with sin and suffering can be expressed as we each move toward one another in honesty and faith in the local church.

I started studying Biblical Counselling in 2017 when Biblical Counselling UK opened a learning site in Belfast. Biblical Counselling UK formed in 2013 in partnership with CCEF (Christian Counselling Educational Foundation). Over the last 50 years CCEF have been the pioneers of Biblical counselling.Since then I have completed their three Certificates and have the privilege of being a Trainee Tutor on their current online Certificate programme. The riches of Christ, revealed in his Word, has had such a deep and immediate impact on the realities of my own life. I see my sin and my heart struggles like never before. The vitality of Scripture meets these heart struggles as I move towards our compassionate and gracious God. The words of Psalm 103 are just one example of the liveliness of God’s Word meeting me at my point of need.

It has also been a joy to share this rich material with others in Immanuel. To listen, to ask better questions, to pray for and with others and to witness the liveliness of his Word, at work in the hearts of others.

I am also part of a small group of Dublin churches seeking to share this wonderful material with others. What unites our group is that we each have studied Biblical counselling through Biblical Counselling UK or directly with CCEF. ‘One Another’ seminars have happened 3 times since May 2021. Each one has had a different emphasis. One, an ‘Introduction to Biblical counselling’, another on ‘Growing a culture of Care in the local church’ and most recently in January 2022, ‘Introducing Real Change’–a course written by Biblical Counselling UK to grasp the fundamentals of God’s work of change, deep in our hearts through his Word.

As a result of our seminars, we have a growing network of others who are keen to learn more, to care more, to see the power of God’s Word at work in our hearts. It is our desire to see this network grow. We seek to grow in skill to handle God’s Word in a way that spurs people toward trust and obedience no matter what they are facing and to strengthen the local church here in Ireland.

Esther Lynch is married to Kieron. They both serve in Immanuel Church Dublin. Esther has just completed her Biblical counselling training with BCUK, and is currently a trainee tutor for BCUK’s Biblical Counselling Online Certificate Course.