Stuart Scott - Counseling the Hard Cases

Counseling the Hard Cases changes the conversation about counseling. Friends of biblical counseling will find themselves stretched to grow at every point. Critics of biblical counseling will see long-standing caricatures dissolve. True wisdom comes exquisitely balanced. This book breathes forth the fragrance of such wisdom. I hope all readers share something of my bottom-line response: Father of all mercies, make my life and my counseling embody more love and more truth, more of all good gifts and worthy skills.

David Powlison, faculty member and counselor, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF); editor, The Journal of Biblical Counseling

Counseling the Hard Cases is an excellent example of how to do biblical counseling that is both true to Gods Word and practically relevant to the complex issues behind the fallen human heart. I commend all these competent counselors for giving us tremendous insight into helping people gain much hope and help for their spiritual lives. I especially appreciated the contributors singular commitment to the sufficiency and superiority of Scripture in counseling. May this book be greatly used by counselors, for their counselees, and in the teaching of counseling.

Lance Quinn, pastor, Grace Advance, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California

While many books have argued for the sufficiency of Scripture, few have demonstrated sufficiency by showing what it looks like in real-life problems. Thats why Counseling the Hard Cases will be a valuable resource for both counselors and pastorsit will show that Gods Word is fully adequate to address lifes hardest problems.

Deepak Reju, pastor of biblical counseling and families, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC

Well, Dr. Mack, thats all very nice, but what do you do when people have really serious problems? With one brief statement the woman interviewing me communicated her view about the insufficiency of Scripture in providing help for people who have what she and others would consider hard and complex counseling cases. Regrettably, that womans perspective represents the opinion of many, both Christian and non-Christian. I wish I could have directed her to a book with examples of people receiving help by the skillful and accurate use of Scripture, but, at the time I met her, Counseling the Hard Cases had not yet been written. Im glad it is now available, and I predict that it will be mightily used by our Lord in the strengthening of peoples faith in and use of Gods all-sufficient and superior Word.

Wayne Mack, biblical counselor, author, and trainer ministering in South Africa

Counseling the Hard Cases: True Stories Illustrating the Sufficiency of Gods Resources in Scripture

Copyright 2012, 2015 by Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4336-8579-8

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

(Previously published 2012 in hard cover,
ISBN: 978-1-4336-7222-4, now O.P.)

Dewey Decimal Classification: 253.5

Subject Heading: COUNSELING \ BIBLESTUDY AND TEACHING \ SPIRITUAL HEALING

Unless noted otherwise, Scripture quotations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture citations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible. The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 20 19 18 17 16 15

SB

To all those counselees who humbly sought help,

received Gods grace to change,

and are now being used by Christ to counsel others.

May God bless you.

Foreword

T he biblical counseling movement has long been caricatured by its various critics as shallow, superficial, and largely ineffective for the greater challenges men and women face in this life. Those critics might cite instances of people giving bad or even hurtful advice while claiming to be doing biblical counseling. But authentic biblical counseling is simply biblical wisdom, properly applied by spiritually mature counselors. How could that be hurtful?

When godly people, armed with the confidence that Gods Word is entirely sufficient, prayerfully and skillfully, gently but firmly come alongside those who are confused, lost, hurting, or otherwise struggling with some personal or spiritual dilemma, the Lord is sovereignly disposed to use his Word through such counsel in ways that please him. His Word is the one thing that never returns void (Isa 55:11).

This is why I am happy to commend to you this book: Counseling the Hard Cases: True Stories Illustrating the Sufficiency of Gods Resources in Scripture. Its contributors are unified in their commitment to Scripture as the sufficient mode and method of counseling. That is the very commitment I have sought to maintain for all my years as pastor-teacher here at Grace Community Church. It is likewise the shared commitment of our faculty in training our students at The Masters College and Seminary. Each one of us would say with settled conviction: Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors (Ps 119:24 ESV).

If you want to read firsthand examples of caring, wise, and biblically sound counsel being applied to those who are struggling with the perplexities of living in a fallen world, then read on. The approach to counseling modeled here comes from experienced men and women who believe that Gods Word is totally adequate to handle anything and everything the world, the flesh, and the Devil may throw at the believer. These seasoned counselors areas I amthoroughly convinced that no manmade method of counseling is equal to the 66 books of the Bible in depth, power, or enduring efficacy.

The sufficiency and authority of Scripture has been the central theme of my ministry for more than half a century, and I am profoundly grateful that one of the fundamental principles on which the biblical counseling movement is based is a commitment to that same principle. In the words of Ps 19:711 (ESV):

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

May you profit from this book as you read from competent counselors who take Gods Word seriously. Allow the insights theyve gained from Scripture to shape your own approach to helping people who are hurting.

John MacArthur, pastor-teacher
Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California
President, The Masters College and Seminary

Preface

T his is a book of stories about real peopleall of whom have sought counseling during crisis moments in their lives. In this book youll meet Ashley, Tony, Brian, Sarah, Clark, Mariana, and othersreal people with faces, addresses, lives, and people who love them. Each suffers from significant emotional and spiritual problems. They received some of the most serious diagnoses it is possible to receive in this world: anorexia, bipolar, postpartum depression, and dissociative identity disorder. They struggled with homosexuality, worry, and rage. They sought help from secular, medical, and religious professionals before finally coming to biblical counselors for help. This is not only a book about people with problems; it is also a book about how God uses his Word to guide his people to become instruments of grace in the lives of those with very serious problems, bringing restoration, hope, peace, and healing to them.