Help Me Trust in God’s Sovereign Goodness over My Wearisome Life

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Today's episode marks number 800

00:00:07.200 | in the Ask Pastor John series.

00:00:08.920 | This is incredible.

00:00:09.920 | God has sustained us in our technology,

00:00:12.200 | in our health, and our voices

00:00:14.200 | over these 163 consecutive weeks now.

00:00:18.640 | And I know many of you make the podcast

00:00:20.360 | a part of your daily routine,

00:00:21.820 | and that is very humbling to us.

00:00:23.560 | So thank you for joining us every day

00:00:25.440 | via your podcast app.

00:00:27.360 | And if you're new to the podcast,

00:00:28.960 | you can find and search through

00:00:30.120 | every one of these 800 episodes right now

00:00:32.560 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:00:37.480 | Well, many of those episodes are responses

00:00:39.520 | from you, Pastor John, to listener emails

00:00:42.000 | that come in, like this one today

00:00:43.400 | from a weary podcast listener named Steven.

00:00:46.160 | He writes in to ask this,

00:00:47.600 | "Pastor John, please help this tired preacher

00:00:50.280 | "see the supreme sovereign hand of Christ

00:00:53.540 | "in the monotony of life,

00:00:55.000 | "specifically when the kids are crying

00:00:57.340 | "and bills are stacked up to the ceiling."

00:01:00.100 | Pastor John, how would you encourage Steven?

00:01:02.080 | Oh, Steven, I hear four burdens,

00:01:06.160 | I think maybe five if I read between the lines,

00:01:10.980 | weariness, monotony, crying children,

00:01:15.580 | unpaid bills, and maybe,

00:01:18.660 | since he calls himself a preacher,

00:01:21.020 | a sense of guilt or desperation

00:01:23.660 | that I'm supposed to be a model

00:01:26.780 | of believing and heralding

00:01:28.460 | the all-sufficient truth and grace of God,

00:01:30.260 | and here I am under this cloud.

00:01:33.140 | So there's a financial burden,

00:01:36.420 | there's a fatherly burden,

00:01:38.500 | how do I handle these kids?

00:01:40.520 | There's a physical, mental burden

00:01:42.820 | of tiredness, weariness.

00:01:45.580 | There's a kind of malaise hanging over the life.

00:01:49.100 | Everything looks like it's just the same old stuff

00:01:51.860 | and everything's repeating itself monotonously,

00:01:54.140 | and then there's the sermon,

00:01:56.340 | I've gotta get ready for Sunday.

00:01:58.460 | That feels, I feel it, I feel it.

00:02:02.640 | And interestingly, and hopefully,

00:02:07.020 | Steven asks, specifically,

00:02:10.140 | "Help me see the sovereign hand of Christ."

00:02:15.140 | That's a good request, that's a good request.

00:02:18.540 | So he's in a good place in his bad place.

00:02:21.340 | He could have asked a lot of things

00:02:23.900 | that would have been less hopeful than that.

00:02:26.100 | So Steven, I wanna give you three ways

00:02:31.100 | to see the sovereign hand of God

00:02:34.700 | or the sovereign hand of Christ in your situation.

00:02:39.700 | See his hand in his discipline,

00:02:43.400 | see his hand in his declarations of sovereignty,

00:02:48.400 | and see his hand in his precious promises

00:02:52.980 | made to every one of your five specific situations.

00:02:57.980 | So first, see his hand in discipline.

00:03:04.500 | Hebrews 12, five, "My son," Steven,

00:03:07.880 | "do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

00:03:11.660 | "nor be weary," isn't that interesting,

00:03:13.720 | "nor be weary when reproved by him.

00:03:17.720 | "For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves

00:03:21.440 | "and chastises every son," every son,

00:03:25.280 | not just the bad ones, "every son whom he receives."

00:03:30.280 | This doesn't mean necessarily,

00:03:33.500 | I wanna make sure Steven hears this,

00:03:35.520 | this doesn't mean necessarily that there's a specific sin

00:03:39.520 | which your troubles are disciplining.

00:03:44.260 | According to Hebrews 5, 8,

00:03:47.100 | even Christ learned obedience through suffering,

00:03:52.100 | and he never sinned.

00:03:54.400 | So God may simply be forcing you in this troubled time

00:03:59.400 | to be more reliant, more fully reliant,

00:04:04.340 | more heavily depending on him and his sovereign grace

00:04:10.240 | in your financial and physical straits.

00:04:15.680 | But, but, and I say this cautiously and earnestly,

00:04:19.880 | it is wise in every hardship to search our hearts

00:04:24.880 | and our lives for sins or for acts of carelessness

00:04:29.900 | that may account for God's putting us in this situation.

00:04:34.780 | Is there inordinate spending beyond the unpaid bills

00:04:39.300 | or behind the unpaid bills?

00:04:41.140 | Is there careless financial planning?

00:04:45.260 | Are you living beyond your means?

00:04:47.560 | Is there simple negligence in not putting first things first

00:04:51.900 | and not getting checks written

00:04:53.240 | that need to be written first?

00:04:54.780 | Now, maybe not, maybe not, I don't mean to accuse.

00:04:57.300 | Maybe there's been a crisis

00:04:59.900 | and the money was just all evaporated in a medical bill.

00:05:03.700 | Maybe the church isn't paying a livable wage, I don't know.

00:05:08.180 | But all of those questions, I think,

00:05:10.300 | should be asked in a disciplinary moment

00:05:13.980 | where God our Father has brought us into hard times

00:05:18.540 | for our holiness.

00:05:20.700 | Number two, see God's sovereign hand

00:05:24.100 | in the declarations of his sovereignty over your situation.

00:05:29.100 | We see God's sovereignty mainly in the word of God

00:05:34.540 | declaring God's sovereignty.

00:05:36.780 | So Isaiah 46, "I am God, there is no other.

00:05:39.780 | "I am God, there is none like me."

00:05:42.260 | Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times

00:05:45.460 | things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand

00:05:50.460 | "and I will accomplish all my purpose."

00:05:54.300 | Ephesians 1:11, "He works all things

00:05:57.100 | "according to the counsel of his will."

00:05:59.100 | Proverbs 16, 33, "The lot is cast in the lap.

00:06:02.740 | "Every decision is from the Lord."

00:06:06.300 | Matthew 10, 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

00:06:10.260 | "Not one of them will fall to the ground

00:06:13.180 | "apart from your Father."

00:06:14.700 | James 4, 13, "You ought to say,

00:06:17.660 | "if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that,

00:06:22.660 | "pay our bills, whatever."

00:06:25.420 | Proverbs 19, 21, "Many are the plans of the mind of man,

00:06:29.720 | "but the purpose of the Lord will be established, will stand."

00:06:34.720 | When these kinds of declarations combine

00:06:38.940 | in the human heart with earnest faith

00:06:41.860 | in God's wisdom and goodness, a great stability,

00:06:46.860 | a great endurance is given in the midst of suffering,

00:06:52.780 | even the suffering of monotony.

00:06:56.260 | Lastly, third, see, Stephen, see the sovereign hand of God,

00:07:01.260 | the good, gracious, wise, sovereign hand of God

00:07:07.420 | in his promises to you concerning your specific troubles.

00:07:12.420 | So here they are.

00:07:14.900 | I just look for promises that relate to your five burdens.

00:07:19.860 | Number one, in your weariness, he promises,

00:07:24.640 | "My grace is sufficient for you.

00:07:27.340 | "My power is made perfect in weakness."

00:07:31.540 | He has a purpose for this season of tiredness,

00:07:36.060 | and he will be made glorious in it

00:07:39.180 | as you count on his strength when you don't have your own.

00:07:42.660 | Number two, in the crying of your children, he promises,

00:07:47.660 | "Yes, he does, and you must believe this in your heart,

00:07:50.940 | "even if your heart gets broken by it.

00:07:54.100 | "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

00:07:59.100 | These children, these crying children,

00:08:02.700 | these children who can grow up and break your heart

00:08:05.900 | are a blessing.

00:08:07.740 | Don't judge as the world judges.

00:08:10.220 | Two o'clock in the morning, kid won't sleep.

00:08:12.860 | Don't judge as the world judges.

00:08:15.420 | The world will not call these crying children a blessing.

00:08:19.060 | You will, God does, and this is a matter of faith,

00:08:23.100 | and he promises they are a blessing.

00:08:26.700 | Number three, your financial stress.

00:08:30.060 | "I will supply every need of yours."

00:08:33.700 | Needs, needs?

00:08:35.100 | Yes, I will.

00:08:35.940 | "I will supply every need of yours

00:08:38.060 | "according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

00:08:41.780 | That was the ground of Paul's contentment

00:08:45.380 | when he was brought low, like you have been,

00:08:49.300 | and when he was brought high.

00:08:51.520 | And fourth, your monotony.

00:08:54.740 | I thought a lot about this, 'cause I don't like monotony,

00:08:57.940 | and yet I love monotony.

00:08:59.340 | I love sameness.

00:09:00.340 | I don't like, I wanna be at the study in my desk

00:09:03.500 | with everything exactly the same every time I'm here.

00:09:06.780 | Don't bring anything into my life.

00:09:08.180 | I've got work to do.

00:09:09.180 | I love sameness, but I know what it is.

00:09:12.620 | I know what it is to do a church, do a family,

00:09:15.960 | and feel like, will there be any breakthroughs?

00:09:18.380 | Will there be any fresh days?

00:09:19.780 | Will there be any new thing that comes about?

00:09:22.300 | Now, in Peter's day, there were people

00:09:26.020 | who were mocking the monotony of time

00:09:31.020 | as Christ did not come.

00:09:32.620 | They said, "Where is the promise of his coming?

00:09:35.900 | For ever since the fathers fell asleep,

00:09:39.020 | all things are continuing as they were from the beginning."

00:09:44.020 | Same old, same old, same old, same old,

00:09:47.300 | and there is not gonna be any breakthrough

00:09:49.900 | into this world with a great new day of the second coming.

00:09:53.620 | That's just a lot of mythological pie in the sky.

00:09:58.180 | Monotony, monotony, monotony,

00:10:00.140 | to which Peter answers,

00:10:02.620 | "Do not overlook this one fact, beloved,

00:10:06.500 | that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years."

00:10:10.660 | Translated into your situation, Stephen,

00:10:13.700 | that means God does not count monotonous repetition

00:10:18.460 | the way you do.

00:10:19.540 | He has a perfect plan for you,

00:10:23.060 | and new things, inspiring things, encouraging things,

00:10:26.580 | breakthroughs will come in his time.

00:10:30.900 | Your patience and your endurance are being tested.

00:10:35.900 | Don't fail the test.

00:10:37.700 | Get up, do what needs to be done.

00:10:39.900 | Every day, the breakthroughs will come at his appointed time.

00:10:44.580 | And finally, with regard to preaching,

00:10:46.820 | he promises, "My word will not come back to me empty.

00:10:50.180 | It will accomplish that which I purpose

00:10:52.740 | and succeed in the thing for which I sent it,"

00:10:55.140 | Isaiah 55.

00:10:56.740 | Don't preach your experience.

00:11:00.860 | Preach the meaning of biblical texts.

00:11:03.580 | They stand now, no matter how you feel.

00:11:07.820 | Yes, they do.

00:11:08.780 | Don't claim to be what you're not.

00:11:11.700 | Don't put on any airs.

00:11:13.100 | Admit your weakness,

00:11:14.820 | but never underestimate the power of the word of God.

00:11:17.980 | You may be bored with life.

00:11:19.820 | God is not bored with your life,

00:11:22.100 | and he is infinitely excited

00:11:23.860 | about what he's doing in you and in this church

00:11:26.020 | and in the world.

00:11:27.140 | He's never boring, and his word is not boring.

00:11:30.180 | It is infinitely interesting and infinitely powerful.

00:11:34.180 | So preach it, Stephen.

00:11:36.020 | He will lift these burdens in due time.

00:11:39.780 | - Amen, that is a great word for Stephen and for all of us.

00:11:43.420 | God is not bored with our lives.

00:11:45.100 | He is infinitely excited about what he is doing in us.

00:11:48.300 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:11:50.020 | Well, tomorrow, we return to look at a question

00:11:52.780 | over whether Jesus died on the cross

00:11:55.220 | to make salvation possible,

00:11:57.660 | or did he die on the cross to actually save us?

00:12:00.500 | That is an important watershed question,

00:12:03.900 | and we need to think through it

00:12:04.940 | because it shapes how we understand our salvation

00:12:07.620 | and God's purpose and role in our suffering.

00:12:11.100 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke,

00:12:12.020 | and I'll see you tomorrow on the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:12:14.860 | (upbeat music)

00:12:17.460 | (upbeat music)

00:12:20.060 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Help Me Trust in God’s Sovereign Goodness over My Wearisome Life

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