1. Why is Life So Hard Sometimes?
FAQs: Big Questions from Our Hearts and Minds
Why is Life So Hard Sometimes?
Hebrews 12:4–15

2. Memory Verse
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

3. Learning Goals
Explore: Students will understand that God uses hardship to discipline and mature His people for His purposes.
Transform: Students will describe a way in which God has used hardship in their past to grow them.

4. Discussion
Why doesn’t God just make life easy for those who follow Him?
In what areas of your life have you seen God apply discipline to you? How did you interpret it—as punishment or as a means to growth or both?
How does discipline shape and mold us and cause us to rely on God?
If God is not disciplining you, why? Is it because you aren’t in need of discipline, or is it because you have grown cold to His voice? Do you know that you are His child?
What would you say to someone else who is experiencing the discipline of God?

5. Key Study
1. God’s discipline identifies us as His children. Hebrews 12:4–8

6. Key Study
2. God’s loving instruction produces righteousness in our lives. Hebrews 12:9–11

7. Key Study
3. We must persevere through trials without becoming bitter so that others will see God. Hebrews 12:12–15