WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:02.280 I'm going to invite you to Psalm 73. 00:00:02.380 --> 00:00:04.220 Psalm chapter 73 is where we are together. 00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:07.540 We're spending the month of July going through the book of Psalms. 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.080 Psalms is a wonderful book of the Bible. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:12.200 All the books of the Bible are wonderful books of the Bible. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:16.020 This is God communicating to us the truths that we need to know and how to live it out. 00:00:16.020 --> 00:00:23.240 That's Scripture is this beautiful story of redemption and how God has written for us his story of redemption, that we may know 00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:25.460 him and enjoy him all the days of our life. 00:00:25.520 --> 00:00:32.720 The Christian Walk is all about relationship, and that is our heart's desire for you that you would know God and through that glorify God with your life. 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:34.590 And because of that, others will be blessed. 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:42.460 One of the things that makes the Book of Psalms unique from all the other books of the Bible, when you read the other books of the Bible, you'll note most of them are generalized 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:44.500 by God communicating to us. 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:46.780 The book of Psalms is the opposite of that. 00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:48.620 It's man's response back to God. 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:52.950 It teaches us really how to worship in adversity. 00:00:53.780 --> 00:01:01.040 You know, sometimes you if you come from a religious setting, you'll find oftentimes in religion it's sharing a lot of a lot of laws, a lot of rules and 00:01:01.040 --> 00:01:02.290 what they might call truth. 00:01:03.180 --> 00:01:07.210 They're sharing just this system of knowledge or ideas. 00:01:07.520 --> 00:01:09.520 And that tends to be how religion thinks. 00:01:10.370 --> 00:01:15.690 And in our in our culture today, what we tend to promote within American culture is humanism. 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.080 That the highest ideal that you can appeal to is found within you. 00:01:19.080 --> 00:01:19.880 It's all about you. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:21.560 Just follow whatever your heart says. 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:23.490 What are your feelings telling you? 00:01:23.580 --> 00:01:25.180 And just pursue that with your life. 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:26.980 Whatever you want is what's best. 00:01:27.020 --> 00:01:29.890 And the book of Psalms is neither of those things. 00:01:30.460 --> 00:01:32.650 But it does have certainly theology. 00:01:32.740 --> 00:01:34.520 It's undergirded in theology. 00:01:34.660 --> 00:01:41.680 And it's not just this idea of being driven by emotion, but rather it's meeting us in the turmoil of life and helping us 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.540 figure out how to engage God in the truth of understanding who he is. 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:45.980 Right. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.800 It's this idea of theology and where we're at and how those worlds collide and teaching us to engage God in that. 00:01:51.800 --> 00:01:52.810 How do we how do we worship? 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:54.750 How do we respond to the Lord? 00:01:55.400 --> 00:02:02.480 And in Psalm 73, we're meeting this psalmist named Asaph, who is a director of music during King 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:09.160 David's Day, and he is teaching us how to engage the Lord, especially when we have some unhealthy thinking. 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:17.300 In fact, what He's going to show us is how to discover the strength of the Lord when life is challenging us, when our soul 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:24.960 seems like it's embattled and embittered toward the circumstances we're facing and we're confused and spiraling 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.660 down in adversity. 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:30.100 And we start to, in those moments, have some unhealthy thinking. 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:37.380 How do we discover the strength of the Lord in those moments when we want to when we want to worship the Lord or even to 00:02:37.380 --> 00:02:40.030 meet God where we're at, if God is even real. 00:02:40.140 --> 00:02:46.300 I mean, I think the psalmist gets to that place where he's questioning everything because of what he's enduring. 00:02:46.540 --> 00:02:51.180 How do you discover the strength of the Lord in the adversity of life? 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:54.580 And we're going to go through Psalms 73 to talk about this together. 00:02:54.600 --> 00:03:01.680 I want you to know this psalm is a little bit longer, so I'm not going to be able to go through every verse, but I'm going to hit the highlights and let you see the 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:05.240 big idea the psalmist shares as it relates to the context of scripture. 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:10.610 So I'll tell you what the context is saying that we're that we're discussing as we fly through this Psalm. 00:03:11.060 --> 00:03:15.640 But we're going to identify four points in discovering the strength of the Lord. 00:03:15.660 --> 00:03:22.680 And point number one in your notes, is this an unhealthy belief is destructive to the soul, but 00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:25.180 God welcomes our struggling faith. 00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:28.710 Let me say it one more time, because I know this is the longest point in your notes. 00:03:29.420 --> 00:03:37.060 An unhealthy belief is destructive to the soul, but God welcomes our struggling 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:37.980 faith. 00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:43.520 I would say that's the reason the Lord has come to this world is because we struggle, right? 00:03:43.540 --> 00:03:50.900 We don't have the strength within ourselves to give us eternal life or to reconcile our destroyed relationship 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:52.400 with God because of sin. 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:54.400 That's separated us from him. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:01.540 And so it's God who's pursued us and his truth to share the truth into our lives that we may know him and embrace him and find freedom 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:02.480 in him. 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:04.420 And so God welcomes us in. 00:04:04.420 --> 00:04:06.840 And the struggle of our faith. 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:10.210 And I love the way that Jesus talks about it in the Gospels. 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:17.630 He tells us it's the faith of a mustard seed that moves mountains, meaning that when you think about the idea of a mustard seed, it's very tiny. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:22.690 But it's not about the size of your faith, but the greatness of your God that makes the difference. 00:04:22.760 --> 00:04:29.840 You can have all the faith in the world, but if what you believe in isn't true, and no matter how great you think your faith is, it's not going to save you at the end 00:04:29.840 --> 00:04:31.210 of the day, it won't rescue your life. 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:32.140 It's not going to direct you. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:33.590 It'll lead you to a path of destruction. 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:42.560 But if what little faith you have, you can put it into a great God who's true, who's righteous, who's good, who's just 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.080 who's merciful, gracious, compassionate towards you. 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:48.060 That makes all the difference in the world. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:51.470 And God meets us where we are. 00:04:51.740 --> 00:04:55.280 Unhealthy belief leads to destruction, but God welcomes our struggling faith. 00:04:55.280 --> 00:05:01.780 In fact, you see this play out in the lives of the disciples, both in the beginning of the Gospel of John and the end of the Gospel of John and John. 00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:03.460 Chapter one, verse 46. 00:05:03.700 --> 00:05:09.830 When Jesus is first pursuing his disciples, one of the disciples comes to another disciple named Nathaniel. 00:05:10.380 --> 00:05:12.210 And He and he tells them, We've seen the Messiah. 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.920 And Nathaniel asks this brave question. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.250 I think at the moment, he says, when they're telling the Messiah has come, he says, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:05:21.900 --> 00:05:22.240 Right? 00:05:22.460 --> 00:05:29.620 And, I've always likened that question, I think wrongfully to if we put it in our context today, it would be like me asking, Can anything 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:31.840 good really come out of dushane, right? 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:35.160 Or to Willa or one of those country towns that's you. 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:41.340 That used to be how I think about this passage that when Nathaniel asked that question, can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:05:41.640 --> 00:05:42.060 Right? 00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:44.700 I mean, Dushane, people can't even pronounce their own town, right? 00:05:44.760 --> 00:05:46.360 It's obviously duchesnei, right? 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:48.040 It's not even Dushane. 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:50.250 I mean, can anything good come out of Dushane? 00:05:51.140 --> 00:05:52.540 I'm just kidding you from Dushane. 00:05:52.820 --> 00:05:54.400 We just left camp there. 00:05:54.400 --> 00:05:55.320 That's the only reason I brought it up. 00:05:55.320 --> 00:05:57.240 It's beautiful, Right? 00:05:57.260 --> 00:06:04.040 But Nathaniel is not I don't think he's asking that question because he doesn't believe that good people can live in the town of Nazareth. 00:06:04.340 --> 00:06:11.360 I think he's genuinely asking the question because what he's learned about the Messiah is the Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem, and he's trying to figure out how 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:16.620 in the world can the Messiah come from this area when what I've known about the Messiah isn't that. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:22.720 And so Nathaniel is asking this genuine question in order to discover the truth. 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:31.280 You know, sometimes you may have come from a background where in your faith or whatever tradition you grew up in, where you might have had questions and people have taught 00:06:31.280 --> 00:06:36.560 you, well, you shouldn't ask that because it's showing that you might be lacking some faith. 00:06:36.700 --> 00:06:38.320 And so it's bad to ask questions. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:42.660 And I'll tell you, when it comes to Christianity, that's exactly what we want to welcome here. 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:45.390 You learn when you're hungry. 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:53.300 And so as you encounter a walk with Lord or as you desire a walk with the Lord, I think one of the best things that you can do is ask questions, 00:06:54.140 --> 00:06:55.980 even if it comes from a place of doubt. 00:06:56.760 --> 00:07:04.030 When you get to the end of the Gospel of John, what you find in the life of Thomas, I mean, Thomas has been forever labeled the doubter. 00:07:04.340 --> 00:07:06.380 How would you how would you like that for history? 00:07:06.580 --> 00:07:07.740 The doubting Thomas. 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:08.080 Right. 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:09.230 And you know how that goes. 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:15.810 And John chapter 20 and verse 26 to 28, they come and tell Thomas, Thomas, We've seen Jesus resurrect. 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:17.010 And he's like, Yeah, right. 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.800 Unless I put my finger in those nail holes and in that side that was pierced. 00:07:20.940 --> 00:07:22.000 I'm not believing it. 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:25.560 And eight days later, Jesus shows up and he says, Hey, Thomas, come here. 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:26.170 Let me see your finger. 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:27.320 Right. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.260 And. 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:34.570 And Thomas puts his finger in those places and or at least it gives hint to that's what takes place. 00:07:34.900 --> 00:07:40.830 And Thomas in that moment gives goes from this place of doubting to the greatest confession I think in the gospels. 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:46.280 And John 20 verse 28, he says, My Lord and my God. 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:47.740 In Psalm 73. 00:07:47.820 --> 00:07:55.060 And the reason I bring all this up is because the psalmist in Psalm 73 has some similar questions and concerns, 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:58.690 and maybe we could even say doubts in his walk with the Lord. 00:07:59.820 --> 00:08:04.820 And in Psalm 73, he says it like this Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 00:08:05.300 --> 00:08:07.560 So he's acknowledging the goodness of God. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.400 But then he says, But as for me, my feet have almost stumbled. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.220 My steps have nearly slipped. 00:08:15.140 --> 00:08:19.420 When he's talking about this idea of stumbling, some translations say foothold. 00:08:19.440 --> 00:08:22.720 And what he's saying is, I thought I was walking on secure ground. 00:08:23.100 --> 00:08:26.830 But what I've discovered is the ground that I'm on is starting to feel a little bit shaky. 00:08:26.980 --> 00:08:29.840 In fact, losing your foothold could even be deadly. 00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:36.159 It can be destructive if you think you're walking on a trail along the mountain and all of a sudden you lose your foothold, what are you going to grab a hold of? 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:37.760 You can fall to your death. 00:08:38.260 --> 00:08:41.559 And this is this could be a dangerous and precarious place for him to be. 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:49.020 And this is what he's describing in this passage, this struggle in his life of where this could take 00:08:49.020 --> 00:08:49.800 him. 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:51.200 But can I encourage you? 00:08:53.260 --> 00:08:58.220 When it comes to the concerns or questions that you have, you have a God big enough to handle it. 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:01.840 When it comes to your faith, you should ask questions. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.320 When you have doubts, you should go to the Lord. 00:09:05.420 --> 00:09:12.520 It's better to start with doubt and end in certainty than to start in certainty and end 00:09:12.520 --> 00:09:13.100 in doubt. 00:09:14.420 --> 00:09:18.260 People that are overly confident in a faith but haven't really tested it. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:26.340 When life starts to become a struggle in those moments, you feel like you're slipping and you're looking for something to grab 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:33.460 a hold of because you've just taken things for granted and you haven't really pressed into your faith to find out how secure is this 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:37.090 and can I really rely on this when life becomes adverse? 00:09:38.060 --> 00:09:40.780 And this is where the psalmist is finding himself. 00:09:40.820 --> 00:09:44.470 In fact, he goes on in verse three and he starts to reveal a little bit more of his struggle. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:44.900 Why? 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:50.780 Why he's seeing the goodness of God to Israel, but why all of a sudden he's finding that his own feet stumbling in these moments. 00:09:50.780 --> 00:09:54.120 He sees God to those people and God seems good to those people. 00:09:54.120 --> 00:10:01.480 But to but to Him, He struggles and he looks in verse three and he says, For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 00:10:02.760 --> 00:10:05.630 So he's looking at his own life and he's saying, Here I am facing these challenges. 00:10:05.780 --> 00:10:12.010 But I look at these other people who don't even acknowledge God, and yet their life seems easy. 00:10:13.020 --> 00:10:17.640 And can I tell you, one of the primary ways or reasons I think people walk away from the faith today. 00:10:18.880 --> 00:10:21.860 Is because of adversity. 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:23.500 It's because of bad things. 00:10:24.300 --> 00:10:31.120 People are faced with the challenge of how can a good God exist when bad things happen in this world? 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:35.470 And their conclusion is either God doesn't exist or God is not good. 00:10:36.160 --> 00:10:43.240 And I think the psalmist is on the precipice of this moment where he's looking at his life and he's starting 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:47.980 to falter because he's saying, look, I've been following God all of my life, but things aren't going my way. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.670 And yet I look at people in the world and they're wicked people. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:55.640 And yet I'm very envious of what they have because they seem to be living in a life of prosperity. 00:10:58.140 --> 00:11:03.900 And let me just throw out just a few thoughts to consider, because all of us have to deal with this challenge of evil in this in this world. 00:11:04.780 --> 00:11:12.100 And I've encountered some people who have told me I see bad things in this world, but if God is good and there's bad things and then 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:16.140 there's likely not God, or at least not a good God, therefore I deny it all. 00:11:16.620 --> 00:11:21.340 And then I move on and they act like that's answered the question of what you do with evil. 00:11:21.900 --> 00:11:24.060 And their conclusion is, well, God just doesn't exist. 00:11:24.060 --> 00:11:25.820 And they kind of put a bow tie on it and move on. 00:11:26.100 --> 00:11:33.160 But can I just tell you, if you come to the conclusion because there is evil, there is no God, you still have to deal with 00:11:33.160 --> 00:11:34.250 the idea of evil. 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:42.180 It doesn't answer the question why in the world is there evil then, if there is no God, what are you going to do about that? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.780 The whole reason they've come to this tension they're asking this question is because there's evil. 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:49.110 And so simply to deny God doesn't mean that evil just goes away. 00:11:50.380 --> 00:11:53.000 Everyone has to deal with the question of evil. 00:11:53.020 --> 00:12:00.500 And here's the worst part of that kind of thinking that because evil exists, there must not be a God or he isn't a good God if that 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:01.130 is true. 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:09.160 Not only have you not answered the question of what are you going to do with evil, you've also just declared evil the victorious winner of life. 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:12.120 Evil triumphs over everything. 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:13.740 If there's not a God who is just. 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:16.060 Who rules over it all, evil wins in the end. 00:12:16.060 --> 00:12:20.640 Bad things win in the end because there's nothing to reconcile all the brokenness of this world. 00:12:22.180 --> 00:12:29.340 And so just to try to come to the conclusion that there must not be God, I would say we should likely challenge the question because in 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:35.440 your life, we should we should consider why do you need good to win to begin with? 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:36.770 Why does good even matter? 00:12:37.680 --> 00:12:44.520 Because if there is no God, then really life is meaningless and purposelessness to it and full of purposelessness. 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:44.660 And. 00:12:44.760 --> 00:12:48.880 And so why would you demand that there be good over evil? 00:12:48.880 --> 00:12:51.360 Why does that injustice stir within you? 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:52.380 What put that there? 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:54.660 Why does it matter? 00:12:56.040 --> 00:12:58.040 And why do you go to the movies and want to see? 00:12:59.680 --> 00:13:02.180 Justice over, over evil. 00:13:02.180 --> 00:13:03.680 Why do you want to see the good guy win? 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:12.900 The argument from a theological perspective, from philosophers has been because God has written that in our DNA, 00:13:13.460 --> 00:13:17.200 the reason we have this desire for good is because God has put that good within us. 00:13:17.380 --> 00:13:18.200 That's the very reason. 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:25.500 C.s Lewis argues, that God existed or what brought him to the Lord is because in his life he noticed this 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:31.250 disdain for things that were wrong, things that were unjust things, things that were evil. 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:39.000 And he had this yearning for to taste the good things of life and to experience justice and all 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:40.900 the greatness that life had to offer. 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.010 And he said to himself, Well, how in the world is this possible? 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.580 Lest there be a creator who has written that in me. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.700 And not to mention the idea of good. 00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:56.510 When people look at God and say, I'm going through difficult things, therefore there isn't a God or a God isn't good. 00:13:57.140 --> 00:14:00.260 I think we also assume that we're owed something from God. 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:04.040 And I would just argue, who told you God owed you? 00:14:04.060 --> 00:14:04.160 Good. 00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:07.120 I mean, prove it. 00:14:08.420 --> 00:14:09.520 I'm not I'm not against it. 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:13.980 But sometimes we just simply assume that, well, we're just owed this. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:20.480 And where does that come from and why would you demand it and accuse God if you don't have it? 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.900 Does God, God really owe you that good? 00:14:22.900 --> 00:14:25.560 And this is where the psalmist is dealing with this. 00:14:25.560 --> 00:14:32.740 And he says about his own life that he's envious of the arrogant because he sees the luxury that they have and he 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:33.660 desires it. 00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:38.620 And because of that, he's really blinded by his envy. 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:45.900 Envy is the enemy of joy, and contentment is envy is it 00:14:45.900 --> 00:14:53.400 drains you from energy of living out who God has called you to be because it exhausts your life on trying to be who others 00:14:53.400 --> 00:14:56.460 God has permitted to be or allowed to be. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:03.840 Envy stops you from living your life well, because rather than tilling the ground of your own world, you try to be like someone else 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.960 and you end up cynical and miserable. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:06.730 But here's the reality. 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.080 God didn't create you to be like other people. 00:15:11.760 --> 00:15:14.550 God created you for his own purposes. 00:15:16.540 --> 00:15:22.340 And trying to make you like someone else can completely miss the very purpose for which God has designed you. 00:15:22.380 --> 00:15:29.740 And in this case, the Psalmist has been blinded by his own envy and attempting to be like other people and to take what they have rather than look 00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:33.530 to the Lord and what God has created Him to be. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.480 So point number one, an unhealthy belief is destructive to your soul. 00:15:37.560 --> 00:15:40.120 But God welcomes our struggling faith. 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:43.100 It's okay to come to the Lord and. 00:15:44.180 --> 00:15:48.440 Question In fact, point number two is this challenge your unhealthy thinking? 00:15:49.780 --> 00:15:51.340 Challenge your unhealthy thinking. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:55.590 And this is exactly what the psalmist is doing in writing this psalm. 00:15:56.540 --> 00:16:03.460 He's telling us everywhere he's been in the struggle of life because of this envy and the challenge of adversity that he's faced. 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:10.760 And he goes on in verse 14 or excuse me, verse four, all the way down to verse 16, and he talks about that battle. 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:16.860 He's saying, as I looked at these arrogant people that were wicked that I was envious of, Here's all the things that I saw. 00:16:16.860 --> 00:16:18.520 They weren't even concerned about God. 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:20.740 They had all this luxury in life. 00:16:20.780 --> 00:16:27.220 They were treating other people with ill will and not honoring the image of God in them. 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:29.800 But yet life seemed fine for them. 00:16:29.820 --> 00:16:31.320 And I became envious of that. 00:16:31.660 --> 00:16:37.880 And so he goes through this struggle and then he says in verse 13, he starts to reveal to us why he struggled. 00:16:37.880 --> 00:16:43.580 He says, all in vain, Have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 00:16:45.180 --> 00:16:45.640 All in vain. 00:16:45.660 --> 00:16:48.100 I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 00:16:49.800 --> 00:16:54.380 And in this, he's really telling us what led him to worship the Lord. 00:16:55.160 --> 00:16:56.880 Why did you pursue God to begin with? 00:16:57.880 --> 00:16:58.620 All in vain. 00:16:58.620 --> 00:16:59.160 He's doing this. 00:16:59.160 --> 00:17:03.780 And what he's saying is he never really pursued God for God. 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:12.380 That truthfully, the reason he went after the Lord is because he didn't want God himself, but rather he wanted what He thought 00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:14.140 God would have to owe him. 00:17:15.300 --> 00:17:20.480 He thought in pursuing God that he would actually get the life that the that the wicked and arrogant had. 00:17:20.520 --> 00:17:21.680 He wanted easy street. 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:23.500 He wanted all the wealth and he wanted luxury. 00:17:23.780 --> 00:17:26.040 And he wanted a life just to be a breeze for him. 00:17:26.040 --> 00:17:30.340 And so he thought to himself, if I just pursued God, I would get those things that I want. 00:17:30.360 --> 00:17:37.420 And he started pursuing God and in vain, he found out he did those things to get from God, but he wasn't focusing on the Lord himself, but rather 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:42.200 what God could give to Him in essence, rather than rather than use His life to serve God. 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:44.000 He wanted God to serve him. 00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:51.740 And so when he started to see the results of what it was producing and he was looking at the people of this world, he thought, man, they seem to have exactly what I want, which is a lot easier. 00:17:52.300 --> 00:17:54.500 Life and all this fame, popularity and wealth. 00:17:54.620 --> 00:17:57.040 And so I'm not getting from God what I desire. 00:17:57.300 --> 00:18:01.040 And so this is what brought him to the place of questioning and in this psalm. 00:18:01.040 --> 00:18:04.440 And he's challenging that thinking. 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:12.060 He's challenging his pursuit of understanding and who God is. 00:18:12.100 --> 00:18:13.980 And then he says this in verse 15 and 16. 00:18:13.980 --> 00:18:21.040 He says, If I had said I will speak, thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your 00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:21.500 children. 00:18:22.580 --> 00:18:27.770 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. 00:18:29.380 --> 00:18:37.560 So he's saying in this passage, when he's thinking about this generation, he's saying his life became so toxic that 00:18:37.560 --> 00:18:44.960 if he began to proclaim what his heart was turning toward, it would have been unhealthy for everyone else around him, that 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:51.110 what he would have shared would have been not just toxic for his own soul, but toxic for everybody because it was leading him to a path of destruction. 00:18:51.520 --> 00:18:53.420 It would have led others to a path of destruction. 00:18:53.700 --> 00:18:57.300 It would have betrayed his people and everything that God had done for them. 00:18:57.320 --> 00:19:04.540 And so he was he was walking in this precarious place and realizing there's this knowledge that he had of God and what he saw 00:19:04.540 --> 00:19:08.140 that the Lord would do in his people, but where his own heart was distant from that. 00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:12.790 And if he ever opened his mouth, it was just going to lead God's people down to a path of destruction. 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:15.480 And he himself is a leader in Israel. 00:19:17.840 --> 00:19:19.140 And then he goes on in verse 16. 00:19:20.760 --> 00:19:24.000 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. 00:19:26.360 --> 00:19:27.860 When he was only looking within himself. 00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:35.100 And his pursuit in this world was about what he could get as the center of the universe and all that he desired, and trying to 00:19:35.100 --> 00:19:39.280 understand why bad things were happening as he pursued the vain things of this world. 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:41.590 It was overwhelming. 00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:45.480 And he couldn't figure it out. 00:19:47.620 --> 00:19:48.760 God, it's too much. 00:19:50.600 --> 00:19:52.230 It's wearisome, he says, in this passage. 00:19:55.840 --> 00:19:57.560 You ever been in that place in life? 00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:57.920 Where? 00:19:59.820 --> 00:20:06.780 Enough bad things have happened in a in a row that you turn to God and you start to ask the question, Lord, why? 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:09.960 And you don't understand. 00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:14.380 And you want some answers to help you understand. 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:20.260 But the more you look at it, the more difficult the situation seems. 00:20:21.560 --> 00:20:22.720 And you just worn out. 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:28.150 And you've met the end of you and you don't even know what else you can do. 00:20:29.320 --> 00:20:30.450 God, Why did this happen? 00:20:32.800 --> 00:20:36.800 Why does it look like their lives are so much better than what I have? 00:20:36.820 --> 00:20:39.230 And yet I feel like I'm doing everything right? 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:41.900 Why is this hard? 00:20:43.040 --> 00:20:43.320 God. 00:20:43.380 --> 00:20:44.080 Where are you? 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:47.440 God, are you even real? 00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:50.470 And if you're real, are you even good? 00:20:53.160 --> 00:21:00.320 The psalmist has spent so much time leveraging God for his purpose to serve him for his own 00:21:00.320 --> 00:21:01.380 personal glory. 00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:05.150 And he gets to the end of this place and he is just tired. 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:08.500 Never been there. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:14.410 A psalmist in this passage is teaching us to challenge our thinking. 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:17.260 So that point number three, then we really get to the end of ourselves. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:18.900 And this is what he's sharing with us. 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:22.360 This idea to get a new vantage point through grace and truth. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:27.320 Point number three in your notes, get a new vantage point through grace and truth. 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:34.280 So he says, But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:35.090 And look at this until. 00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:41.320 Until I went into the sanctuary of God. 00:21:43.520 --> 00:21:46.340 Then I discerned their end. 00:21:48.020 --> 00:21:49.510 I love the way he phrases this. 00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:53.760 He doesn't just say until I went to church or I went to the sanctuary. 00:21:54.020 --> 00:21:58.140 He's acknowledging who's who he's pursuing in this moment. 00:21:58.140 --> 00:22:00.260 It's not just about him anymore. 00:22:01.060 --> 00:22:01.580 He's done. 00:22:01.580 --> 00:22:02.240 He's worn out. 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:10.960 In this passage, he goes into the sanctuary of God rather than thinking about God, 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.420 rather than just simply trying to use God. 00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:16.060 He now wants to deal with the Lord. 00:22:16.260 --> 00:22:17.980 And God's going to put some of this into perspective. 00:22:18.520 --> 00:22:22.620 What he was in vanity pursuing in the arrogant and the wicked. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.840 He's starting to see from the vantage point of the Lord what that path really leads to. 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:29.480 He's built up in his mind how easy life would be. 00:22:29.520 --> 00:22:30.800 But now he's starting to get the perspective. 00:22:31.040 --> 00:22:32.610 Does it really lead to that conclusion? 00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:39.560 He sees the end of that, but the reason he starts to see the end of that is because he begins with the Lord himself. 00:22:40.580 --> 00:22:46.060 God help me to see things from your eyes as I approach you into your sanctuary. 00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:53.100 And let me just pose the question for us today, like how if we're going through a difficult situation and we want to discover the strength of 00:22:53.100 --> 00:22:58.800 God in our life as the psalmist is working through in this passage, how do we enter into that sanctuary to begin that journey? 00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:01.560 What does that look for us like for us in the passage of Scripture? 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:09.160 I told you, I think last week or sometime recently, the building that we worship in, 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.900 I mean, it's just a building, right? 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.280 There's nothing special about the location. 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:16.820 The New Testament declares that to us. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:18.980 It's not about a facility, though. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.580 Facilities have an important place. 00:23:20.580 --> 00:23:22.430 It provides a place for God's people to gather. 00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:26.540 That's not what makes the sanctuary in the New Testament. 00:23:26.540 --> 00:23:28.790 The Bible tells us that you've actually become the sanctuary. 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:33.160 And the reason you've become the sanctuary is because of what Jesus has done. 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.040 Who is the ultimate place of getting to know God. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.790 If you want to know the Lord, look at Jesus. 00:23:37.900 --> 00:23:44.920 In fact, over and over in Scripture, it tells us that I know some people show up to church and they think they're a Christian because you show up to 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:45.320 church. 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:48.480 Can I can I just tell you, you're not a Christian because you show up to church. 00:23:48.820 --> 00:23:50.520 You're not a Christian because you do good things. 00:23:51.100 --> 00:23:52.240 That's not what makes you a Christian. 00:23:52.540 --> 00:23:53.920 What makes you a Christian is Jesus. 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:57.740 And your life surrendered to him and what he's done for you. 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:00.850 You can show up to church your entire life and be completely lost. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:02.540 Right. 00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:09.760 But what we find in the idea of the sanctuary and the Old Testament, if they wanted to get near to God, they would go to the temple or 00:24:09.760 --> 00:24:13.980 the tabernacle, because that's where God's presence was to dwell. 00:24:14.100 --> 00:24:15.810 And so if you wanted to get near to God, that's where you went. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:21.220 But when you get to the New Testament, what you discover is God's presence comes among us physically. 00:24:21.600 --> 00:24:25.440 And John 114 it says this and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:26.500 And we have seen his glory. 00:24:27.060 --> 00:24:33.540 That idea of dwelt in the New Testament is the word tabernacled same word in the Old Testament for God's presence. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:40.060 Dwell Jesus tabernacled among us saying If you want to be near the presence of God, come to Jesus and Colossians. 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:42.400 115 He's the image of the invisible God. 00:24:42.460 --> 00:24:43.420 Hebrews one three. 00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:48.160 He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature. 00:24:49.860 --> 00:24:55.010 And so what the Psalmist is starting to say to us is, look, he was going to this place of struggle in his life. 00:24:55.340 --> 00:24:58.210 He couldn't understand why bad things were happening to him if he was doing all the right things. 00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:01.320 Is God good or is there even a God? 00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:04.380 He was wrestling with this in his life until. 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:09.900 Until he stopped using God as a tool. 00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:14.540 And he just sought the goodness of who God was. 00:25:17.040 --> 00:25:17.440 God. 00:25:17.540 --> 00:25:18.960 Let me know you. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:20.480 Are you good? 00:25:20.980 --> 00:25:22.180 Are you God? 00:25:23.080 --> 00:25:25.480 And then he says this in verse 21. 00:25:25.540 --> 00:25:31.840 He goes on and says, When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in my heart. 00:25:33.040 --> 00:25:35.200 I was brutish and ignorant. 00:25:35.560 --> 00:25:36.800 I was like a beast. 00:25:37.080 --> 00:25:37.940 Toward you. 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:40.360 What you're saying is. 00:25:40.360 --> 00:25:45.160 God, my heart was completely just angry towards you. 00:25:46.460 --> 00:25:47.220 Embittered. 00:25:47.300 --> 00:25:48.560 It was vicious, right? 00:25:48.560 --> 00:25:48.800 I was. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:49.550 I was a beast. 00:25:49.580 --> 00:25:51.380 And you pricked my heart in this. 00:25:51.420 --> 00:25:58.520 And I started to I started to realize what was happening, that I had become so self consumed that the focus of life was all 00:25:58.520 --> 00:25:59.290 about me. 00:25:59.340 --> 00:26:04.120 And because it was all about me, I became like a wild animal just trying to dominate the animal kingdom. 00:26:04.780 --> 00:26:07.880 And you think about how the way the animals operate, right? 00:26:08.100 --> 00:26:09.700 My might rules the day. 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:12.140 It's the it's the survival of the fittest. 00:26:12.140 --> 00:26:15.040 And it's about me usurping my authority over you. 00:26:15.100 --> 00:26:16.390 I was just like an animal. 00:26:16.540 --> 00:26:16.900 And. 00:26:16.900 --> 00:26:20.980 And when human beings live life that way, what it entails is a life of destruction. 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:24.500 Because you start to see people just simply as tools to get what you want. 00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:26.000 You'll even treat God that way. 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:34.460 I was nothing more than an animal because I just leveraged the strength that you gave me to serve me for my glory. 00:26:35.260 --> 00:26:41.720 And because of that, it was it was destructive to everything around me because life was all about me. 00:26:45.820 --> 00:26:46.920 Our culture today. 00:26:49.540 --> 00:26:53.450 Our culture today is I think the religion of our day is humanism. 00:26:55.080 --> 00:27:02.200 In 30 years ago, they would they would say if you asked theologians what was the what was the belief of America, they referred to it as therapeutic, 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.400 moral deism, therapeutic moral deism, meaning we want it to be good in order to feel better. 00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:10.210 And we believed in a God, but he was kind of distant. 00:27:10.420 --> 00:27:12.100 We had this therapeutic moral deism. 00:27:12.100 --> 00:27:14.480 We sort of did nice things because it made us feel good. 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:16.040 And there was this God somewhere out there. 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:20.400 But without that personal relationship, humanity's continue to decline. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:23.190 And I would say the religion of today is not even therapeutic. 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:23.960 Moral deism. 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:25.200 We're further from that now. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:31.280 It's humanism, meaning what we desire in life is whatever we want because we're the center of the universe. 00:27:32.080 --> 00:27:34.190 And so whatever makes me happy, that's what I do today. 00:27:34.300 --> 00:27:38.340 Rather than surrender my life to God for His will, I surrender my life to me for my will. 00:27:39.760 --> 00:27:43.120 And if I ask you today, do you think culture is getting better? 00:27:45.560 --> 00:27:47.580 How is that working out for us? 00:27:47.830 --> 00:27:55.160 It's exactly what the psalmist is saying When we slip down that slope of getting further and further from God, what we start to do is elevate ourselves more 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:56.420 and more and make it about us. 00:27:56.860 --> 00:27:59.740 And when we make it about us, we don't use our strength for His glory. 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:01.120 We use our strength for our glory. 00:28:01.180 --> 00:28:03.980 And when we do that, what we what we do is destroy the world around us. 00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:08.560 We treat people like tools to leverage what we want in this world. 00:28:09.980 --> 00:28:13.840 And the psalmist is saying in verse 17, I've discerned the end of that. 00:28:15.520 --> 00:28:16.810 I know where it leads. 00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:24.660 And then the psalmist discovers this in verse 23, as he's been fighting against God, as he's been acting like this 00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:27.000 beast in verse 23, Well, maybe not. 00:28:27.940 --> 00:28:28.880 I don't have verse 23. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:30.070 Oh, there it is. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.060 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. 00:28:33.600 --> 00:28:36.140 You hold my right hand. 00:28:38.320 --> 00:28:40.900 Nevertheless, I am continually with you, God. 00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:41.900 But here's the reason why. 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:42.920 It's not because of me. 00:28:44.360 --> 00:28:47.080 It's because you haven't given up on me. 00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:49.600 God. 00:28:49.600 --> 00:28:52.560 You hold my right hand. 00:28:54.760 --> 00:28:56.040 When Asef looks at God. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:00.400 He finds God is not the one who's fighting against him. 00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:04.200 But rather God is the one who's fighting for him. 00:29:05.760 --> 00:29:06.420 And it's humbling. 00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:13.270 You may face adversity in this life, but what life is learning? 00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:16.420 You never face it without God. 00:29:18.120 --> 00:29:21.520 Yes, there's trouble in this world. 00:29:23.580 --> 00:29:28.420 But God promises his people that he is with us through through all of it. 00:29:29.800 --> 00:29:34.200 You may face adversity and you might have to ask the question, God, where are you in all of this? 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:40.300 Or how do I how do I work through the adversity with what I'm going through in this world? 00:29:40.300 --> 00:29:41.720 Lord, how do I how do I deal with this? 00:29:41.740 --> 00:29:42.460 But what? 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:46.560 The psalmist is learning that the answer can never be you're doing it apart from God. 00:29:48.080 --> 00:29:52.480 In fact, in Psalm 34 and verse 18, it says, God is near the broken hearted. 00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:54.910 God is for the broken hearted. 00:29:55.400 --> 00:29:58.760 And the way that we learn this is through Jesus's own life. 00:30:00.140 --> 00:30:03.120 In our hour of need and our greatest of need. 00:30:03.120 --> 00:30:04.460 God doesn't give up on us. 00:30:04.520 --> 00:30:06.700 He doesn't look at us in our sinfulness and say, You know what? 00:30:06.780 --> 00:30:07.840 Forget you guys. 00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:11.920 But rather he enters in our suffering. 00:30:12.860 --> 00:30:15.980 He becomes like, we are in Isaiah 53. 00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:19.240 It tells us he's a he's a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:23.960 So whatever you go through in this life, the answer can't be. 00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:25.120 And God doesn't care. 00:30:26.080 --> 00:30:32.940 Because what we see in the very nature of Jesus is God cares and God meets us in our brokenness and our hour of need. 00:30:33.460 --> 00:30:34.840 And He helps us. 00:30:35.100 --> 00:30:36.640 He promises life. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:38.200 He promises his presence. 00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:40.160 He promises to walk through us. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.800 He's got compassion for us. 00:30:41.800 --> 00:30:44.600 He even gave his life for us that we could find freedom in him. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.260 And one of the beautiful things about the Lord is. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.160 And God uses hardship. 00:30:52.520 --> 00:30:54.240 As the tool that draws us to him. 00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:57.870 I could tell you if my life had gone easy. 00:30:59.500 --> 00:31:00.940 I probably would not know him. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:10.160 But if I go back and look over my life and if I'm being honest with you, it's when I met the adversity of life that 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:12.240 I sought after God. 00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:16.000 The while may not like the challenges that I go through. 00:31:16.060 --> 00:31:23.260 It is those challenges when I think about the growth of my own spiritual journey that led me to the Lord, to know 00:31:23.260 --> 00:31:25.660 Him and to walk with him. 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:30.760 C.s Lewis says says it like this God whispers to us in our pleasures. 00:31:31.620 --> 00:31:37.600 He speaks to us in our consciousness and He shouts to us in our pain. 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:44.320 The psalmist couldn't figure out all the answers to the adversity he was facing in life. 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:48.100 But what he's discovering is the one he is facing it with. 00:31:49.700 --> 00:31:54.560 Can I tell you one of the books of the Bible that when I first became a Christian, used to drive me crazy? 00:31:56.420 --> 00:31:57.100 Book of job. 00:31:58.300 --> 00:31:59.360 I hated the Book of job. 00:32:00.360 --> 00:32:05.920 I come to job and here's a guy going through difficult things in life, and he was a godly guy going through difficult things. 00:32:06.100 --> 00:32:08.600 And you read that book and you think this is a longer book. 00:32:08.600 --> 00:32:10.040 There's over 40 chapters in Job. 00:32:10.040 --> 00:32:11.500 You're like, All right, I'm going to get to the end. 00:32:11.560 --> 00:32:16.790 I'm going to get a conclusion of why bad things happen to good people and where is God in our suffering? 00:32:16.980 --> 00:32:18.760 And you know what you get when you get to the Book of Job? 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:20.800 You get none of those answers. 00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:23.720 None of those questions get answered. 00:32:23.800 --> 00:32:26.720 I remember first I read through the Book of Job expecting to find those answers. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:30.720 I read the challenges of his life and I got to the end and I'm like, wait a minute, did I am I too stupid? 00:32:30.940 --> 00:32:31.740 Did I not get this? 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.480 I get the none of my questions got answered. 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:35.610 Just this uncertainty. 00:32:35.800 --> 00:32:39.060 And you kind of walk away from that thinking, all right, well, maybe it's just me. 00:32:39.060 --> 00:32:42.320 Maybe if I just hang around this Christian group long enough, I'll start to discover there's an answer. 00:32:42.320 --> 00:32:43.440 I just didn't see it. 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:45.200 I accidentally skimmed that chapter. 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:45.540 Right. 00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:50.400 But, boy, you find out after you read it a few times, you start to realize, no, God never gave him an answer at all. 00:32:51.820 --> 00:32:55.460 God never talked about why Jobe went through, through what he went through. 00:32:55.660 --> 00:32:58.040 All that Jobe got was the greatness of God. 00:32:59.880 --> 00:33:01.240 At the end of the Book of Job. 00:33:01.280 --> 00:33:08.240 What job discovers isn't to the particular answers to what why those things happen to him. 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:11.720 What he what he found at the end of the book is how great God is. 00:33:14.040 --> 00:33:17.080 But having spent time in the Lord now, can I just suggest to you. 00:33:18.320 --> 00:33:19.800 That answer is actually better. 00:33:22.220 --> 00:33:28.060 It's not it's not always helpful to necessarily know the answers as to every reason why. 00:33:30.560 --> 00:33:37.100 Part of the reason is because for us, understanding all the reasons why can be overwhelming. 00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:39.800 In fact, that was God's point to Jobe at the end of the book. 00:33:40.900 --> 00:33:42.280 Jobe, did you create all this? 00:33:42.840 --> 00:33:43.700 Did you make all this? 00:33:43.700 --> 00:33:45.710 Do you even understand how this exists? 00:33:46.800 --> 00:33:52.750 If you can't even understand that, how can I even begin to explain to you all the details of everything that can happen in your life? 00:33:53.360 --> 00:33:59.960 Could you imagine if God revealed to you everything about your life and why the things worked out the way that they did and what his ultimate plan was? 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:02.590 Just to have that kind of information would be overwhelming. 00:34:03.060 --> 00:34:09.440 And just because you have that information doesn't necessarily mean that you've got the strength of the ability to work through it. 00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:10.420 You just have the information. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:13.080 And yet you discover that ultimately in the end, you're still powerless. 00:34:17.179 --> 00:34:18.280 You need something more. 00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:22.650 What if you understood? 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:26.159 It all the understanding why. 00:34:28.139 --> 00:34:30.699 I would suggest it's not as helpful. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:33.380 As the hand of this. 00:34:33.460 --> 00:34:35.710 Good God, who is with you? 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:39.110 And to be to be completely transparent. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:42.730 I don't know if I really want to know all the answers to everything. 00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:44.610 To me, that sounds stressful. 00:34:46.659 --> 00:34:49.739 I would rather know the hand of the one who. 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:51.420 Who will lead me through it. 00:34:52.540 --> 00:34:53.250 And that is good. 00:34:53.460 --> 00:34:54.360 And I can trust him. 00:34:56.219 --> 00:34:56.920 there's this. 00:34:57.120 --> 00:34:57.600 This. 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:01.180 I don't know if it's popular today or not, but I've heard this talked about more frequently. 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.050 This idea of decision fatigue. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:05.500 Ever heard of that decision fatigue? 00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:14.360 I can tell you, as a pastor, there are some days where I go home and I feel like my brain ran a marathon and I get to the end of the day, I'm 00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:17.160 thinking I probably got decision fatigue, right? 00:35:17.160 --> 00:35:20.420 Like I, I love what I do because everything, every day is different. 00:35:21.300 --> 00:35:27.560 And so you get to experience how God works in different facets of people's life, and it brings you to different areas of life that you might be dealing with things. 00:35:27.620 --> 00:35:29.310 And that's all great, wonderful to experience. 00:35:29.900 --> 00:35:35.600 But there are some times in life where you get to the end of the day and you're like, I just I just don't want to answer another question, right? 00:35:35.620 --> 00:35:41.480 And sometimes it's funny that because you're a pastor, people just assume, answers to just random things. 00:35:42.120 --> 00:35:46.740 And so they ask you a question just because you're a pastor that you might know the answer to two things that have nothing to do with ministry. 00:35:47.300 --> 00:35:50.900 It's like you're a pastor, so you should know how to change oil in a car or I don't know what it is. 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:52.030 Just random questions. 00:35:52.040 --> 00:35:53.830 And this is I don't know the answer to that. 00:35:54.560 --> 00:35:55.160 That's not me. 00:35:55.160 --> 00:35:55.920 That's not my cup of tea. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:56.720 That's not what I do. 00:35:57.160 --> 00:35:58.880 Just to know those answers. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:04.200 This past week we were up at kids camp and I wasn't in charge of kids camp, Teen Camp. 00:36:04.200 --> 00:36:05.990 I haven't been in charge of teen camp for years. 00:36:06.060 --> 00:36:07.040 I run the middle school camp. 00:36:07.040 --> 00:36:11.320 But we combine those camps today and the last couple of years we've combined those camps and our youth. 00:36:11.640 --> 00:36:13.230 Pastor Lincoln's in charge of teen camp. 00:36:13.460 --> 00:36:18.700 Can I tell you one of my favorite things about this week to say people would come to me and ask questions, I'd be I would say this. 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:19.790 I don't know. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:20.470 I'm not in charge. 00:36:20.820 --> 00:36:21.350 Go ask Lincoln. 00:36:22.100 --> 00:36:23.380 It was so great. 00:36:24.160 --> 00:36:29.060 It was my as the one thing I look forward to, I would walk through the day and be like, Please, someone ask me a question, right? 00:36:29.100 --> 00:36:30.840 Because just be able to get that kind of answer. 00:36:31.120 --> 00:36:33.020 Just it's so relieving. 00:36:33.100 --> 00:36:36.970 But can you think about the Lord in that context? 00:36:39.340 --> 00:36:42.410 To know all the answers is so much more responsibility. 00:36:44.300 --> 00:36:45.280 It's stressful. 00:36:46.680 --> 00:36:48.200 And you don't even have the power to handle it. 00:36:51.660 --> 00:36:52.840 But if you know the one who does. 00:36:55.080 --> 00:36:56.060 And, he's good. 00:36:57.280 --> 00:36:58.080 And compassionate. 00:36:59.040 --> 00:37:01.520 A merciful and gracious. 00:37:02.620 --> 00:37:08.740 And you've entered into a sanctuary and you've seen him face to face and you've grown and your trust and the goodness of who he is. 00:37:08.740 --> 00:37:11.180 You see a God who's pursued you. 00:37:11.180 --> 00:37:13.760 He's given his life for you. 00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:16.120 Who is for you and not against you. 00:37:16.120 --> 00:37:17.800 Who's going to work all things together for good? 00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:20.100 To those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 00:37:20.160 --> 00:37:21.360 Suddenly you began to realize. 00:37:21.820 --> 00:37:23.230 God, I don't have to know the answers. 00:37:24.520 --> 00:37:25.620 That's what Jobe discovered. 00:37:26.440 --> 00:37:27.310 God, this is hard. 00:37:28.900 --> 00:37:30.150 But I don't have to know the answers. 00:37:30.260 --> 00:37:31.140 And here's the reason why. 00:37:32.620 --> 00:37:33.420 Because you love me. 00:37:35.020 --> 00:37:35.540 And you're forming. 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:39.420 And you're going to walk with me in this. 00:37:40.740 --> 00:37:45.140 It's not about finding your strength, but discovering his strength. 00:37:46.140 --> 00:37:48.100 That's what makes the Psalms so beautiful. 00:37:48.860 --> 00:37:52.860 As in the beginning, you're seeing the psalmist trusting in himself, and he gets to verse 16. 00:37:52.860 --> 00:37:53.700 He says, This is wearisome. 00:37:54.860 --> 00:37:56.280 This is so wearisome, and I don't even understand. 00:37:57.180 --> 00:38:03.600 But then all of a sudden, he goes into the sanctuary and he starts to see not not God for what he wants, but God for who he is. 00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:09.060 And as he sees God for who He is, he says to himself, And God has been holding my hand through this all along. 00:38:10.260 --> 00:38:13.500 This God is for me and this God loves me. 00:38:13.500 --> 00:38:15.520 And I don't have to know the answer to everything. 00:38:15.520 --> 00:38:17.670 I just need to know the one who does. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:19.750 And that is far greater. 00:38:21.740 --> 00:38:23.000 Underneath I can do in myself. 00:38:23.980 --> 00:38:26.320 And so point number four then, is this Reorder your love. 00:38:28.020 --> 00:38:29.420 Reorder your love. 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:35.210 Psalmist goes on and says this whom I have I in heaven but you. 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.820 And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you. 00:38:38.680 --> 00:38:40.180 My flesh and my heart may fail. 00:38:40.240 --> 00:38:40.780 But look at this. 00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:46.240 But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 00:38:47.380 --> 00:38:47.970 He is good. 00:38:49.380 --> 00:38:50.370 And he is with us. 00:38:52.080 --> 00:38:57.000 How in and of myself, there's nothing there that can ultimately fulfill what I desire. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:01.210 But God, my Creator, He knows what I need and He is my portion forever. 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:04.120 He goes on and says, But for me it is good to be near God. 00:39:05.260 --> 00:39:06.420 It's about the Lord. 00:39:06.600 --> 00:39:11.680 I have made the Lord my refuge that I might tell of all your works in the very end. 00:39:11.680 --> 00:39:12.880 Here, He acknowledges a couple of things. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:13.570 God is my refuge. 00:39:13.820 --> 00:39:18.540 So he's saying, when this world feels like it's falling apart, I know the first place I need to go. 00:39:18.780 --> 00:39:22.380 I know where I need to run because all other things will pass away. 00:39:22.460 --> 00:39:24.500 But the thing that will always endure is God. 00:39:24.500 --> 00:39:26.560 And God has promised that I can hide in Him. 00:39:26.580 --> 00:39:32.120 I may not know how he's working these things out, but I know he's good and he promises he will work these things out. 00:39:32.740 --> 00:39:36.860 So it's important for me, rather than figure out the things of this world just to know him. 00:39:37.340 --> 00:39:44.520 The more confident I am in his character, the more secure I am and everything this world will bring towards me, knowing that God, God 00:39:44.520 --> 00:39:45.680 will work it all out. 00:39:45.720 --> 00:39:49.280 And He refers to him as Lord God, which means covenant promise keeping God. 00:39:50.340 --> 00:39:50.900 The Lord God. 00:39:50.900 --> 00:39:54.040 He's the one who fulfills what he promises to me. 00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:56.610 So let me close with this. 00:39:57.160 --> 00:40:00.760 There was a famous story by John Wesley. 00:40:00.780 --> 00:40:05.270 He went and preached in Europe and he left his brother Charles in America. 00:40:05.380 --> 00:40:06.340 And he went and preached in Europe. 00:40:06.500 --> 00:40:07.960 And he came back to America. 00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:12.960 And his brother asked him, Brother Charles and John Wesley founded Methodist Church. 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:19.110 And his brother asked him, he said, how many souls were added to God's family When you were over there preaching? 00:40:19.460 --> 00:40:21.330 How many how many souls came to know Christ? 00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.100 And John Wesley said, none. 00:40:24.700 --> 00:40:26.220 But there were some glorious subtractions. 00:40:28.260 --> 00:40:33.100 And what he was saying he's saying is, look, it's important for people come to know the Lord. 00:40:33.800 --> 00:40:39.340 But sometimes there is such toxicity that in order for people to move forward, you've got to take a step back. 00:40:40.200 --> 00:40:47.280 And John Wesley was saying when he went to church and he preached, he didn't necessarily know if anyone came to know Jesus, but he came to see that there were people that hated them and 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:47.820 hated him. 00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:51.540 And it was that toxicity was preventing the body of Christ from moving forward. 00:40:51.540 --> 00:40:58.560 And I share that with you this morning to say in our lives, there are things that are toxic that hurt our soul from trusting in 00:40:58.560 --> 00:41:05.740 the goodness of who God is and being able to move forward, that it becomes important for us rather than use God like a tool or to become envious of things 00:41:05.740 --> 00:41:11.900 in this world, just to look at the goodness of God, to cut those things out and look at the goodness of who God is. 00:41:13.660 --> 00:41:17.000 Marie Durand was a lady at the age of 19. 00:41:17.060 --> 00:41:25.080 She was a believer in France in the early 1700s, and in 1730 she was thrown into a dungeon, a dungeon because 00:41:25.080 --> 00:41:26.140 of her faith in Christ. 00:41:26.180 --> 00:41:30.940 And she was told, if you do not recant, you will stay here forever. 00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:34.860 She was in that dungeon for 38 years. 00:41:36.300 --> 00:41:37.180 38 years. 00:41:37.180 --> 00:41:38.380 She sat in that dungeon. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:42.040 It wasn't until she was in her later 50s that she was she was freed. 00:41:42.580 --> 00:41:44.890 And the only reason was she was freed is not because she recanted. 00:41:45.160 --> 00:41:47.600 It was because people got tired of keeping her in the dungeon. 00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:50.340 She just they knew she wasn't going to change. 00:41:50.340 --> 00:41:53.840 And on her cell wall, she just wrote this word. 00:41:54.740 --> 00:41:55.180 Resistor. 00:41:56.860 --> 00:41:57.560 Resist her. 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:04.780 This word became a reminder to her of all the temptation that the world had to offer. 00:42:07.120 --> 00:42:09.600 But to know there was this good God who was for her. 00:42:11.240 --> 00:42:18.420 And if Jesus was willing to die for her, she was willing to give her 00:42:18.420 --> 00:42:19.560 life for him. 00:42:21.060 --> 00:42:28.240 Her focus was on necessarily figuring out all the circumstances of life, but to keep her heart pure and 00:42:28.240 --> 00:42:30.140 the goodness of who God was. 00:42:31.040 --> 00:42:38.120 Because when she entered into the preciousness of Christ, yes, she may not have understood everything around her, but she knew 00:42:38.120 --> 00:42:42.540 her God and her God loved her and her God was for her. 00:42:43.620 --> 00:42:50.780 Guys, can I encourage you today, if you're going through difficult things in life, the greatest resource that 00:42:50.780 --> 00:42:57.920 we have is not finding strength within us, but rather finding the strength of the Lord to know who 00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:02.640 he truly is and allow our hearts completely to depend on Him. 00:43:04.100 --> 00:43:11.120 God welcomes your questions, your doubts, your concerns, because the Lord knows the truth of who He is as what brings 00:43:11.120 --> 00:43:12.180 his strength into your life.