For Reflection/Discussion: What is the biggest tragedy or loss you have experienced? How did you come to understand it? How do you handle pain, significant loss, and serious problems? Alone? With others? With God? Isaiah says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near." What do the phrases "while he may be found" and "while he is near" suggest? Why is seeking, calling on, and praying to God so important? Who are the people you would call on if you found yourself in the midst of a crisis?

For Reflection/Discussion: In what ways are our thoughts unlike God's thoughts? Is it possible to know God's thoughts and ways? If so, how? How is Isaiah 55.7 (Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts) related to Isaiah 55.8 (“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord)? What are some of our thoughts and ways that God does not share? In The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien characterizes despair as moral failure (as in the figure of Denethor). Do you agree? Why or why not?

For Reflection/Discussion: Why are we tempted to put a period where God has placed a comma? Why is it important to remind ourselves that, at any given moment, the story isn't over? How does Isaiah 55:6-13 offer hope to people who are suffering? How is hope like and unlike optimism? What is the basis of Christian hope?