(upbeat music) - Today we talk with our friend, Jackie Hill Perry. The month of May was a huge one for her. Her second daughter arrived and her second album dropped, "Crescendo", which you just heard. Jackie, thank you for joining us. But first, as we record this, last night we found out that the LA Lakers signed LeBron James, the huge news.

This is big news for you. Why is it such a big news for you? - 'Cause I like LeBron and it was just so sad to see him lose. I just, I don't like, I do not like go to state, like with a passion. - It is certainly sad to see LeBron lose in the finals.

And I think now we can watch him lose before the finals. - You think so? - I do, I do. - I heard Kawhi Leonard might sign. If that happens, I don't see that happening. - Maybe. I don't think any configuration around LeBron can beat the Warriors. But we're not here to talk about LeBron and the Warriors.

No, we are here to talk about @JackieOperi because you are quite gifted on social media. And I followed you for some time, always to great benefit myself. So I wanna talk with you over the next few days about some of your most viral tweets, or the tweets that I've encapsulated, something really profound that I want you to expound on.

And I want you to begin today with this struggle to cling to God, to cling to God when life is easy. You said it like this, quote, "I wonder if with all the sermons and books "on how to hold on to God during suffering, "if there should be just as much, if not more, "on how to stay near God during seasons of ease.

"I've seen more Christians drift from God "when life was a breeze than I have when life was hard." Wow, expand on that truth. - Yeah, I mean, I think personally, I've seen in my life where when I'm going through something, when there are trials and tribulations and difficulties and hardships, I seem to be a lot more attentive to God than I am when life is kind of easy.

And I think I saw it in the scriptures when I was studying for Deuteronomy 5 when I taught at the Gospel Coalition Women's Conference. And in Deuteronomy 8, there was this section where God was telling them how he's bringing them into a good land, a land full of milk and honey, you got water, you don't have manna anymore, like all of this type of stuff.

And then God says, "Take care, "lest you forget the Lord your God "when you enter this good land." And then he says, "When you get there, "don't assume that all the good stuff is yours." And so I think in essence, that's what we're all prone to do is that when we enter into seasons where things seem to be abounding, where there seems to be an abundance, we're not crying a lot, we're not depressed, there's just a lot of joy, everybody's good, your spouse ain't getting on your nerves, your kids are being real obedient, your paycheck is coming in consistently, there's this tendency to just forget about God, to remember that these good gifts are about God, that these good gifts are for God, that these good gifts came from God.

And so I think that's what we do as humans. But even Paul, I feel like he has encouraged me personally when I was reading Philippians 4, I think where he talks about how he's learned to be a based and abound, he's learned to have lack and abundance all because he gets his strength from the Lord.

And I think a lot of times we read that text to say, "Oh, I'm struggling with stuff, I need God's strength." But it's like, no, even when you're not struggling, you need God's strength, because in essence, you are completely and always needy. But when you have a lot of good things going on in your life, I think you forget you're as needy as you are.

And so I think if we keep Jesus before our eyes and see that we always need him, whatever season we are in, then we'll be able to resist the temptation to stray from him when life is all good. - Yeah, really good and helpful. I mean, this seems like the flip side of Psalm 73, I mean, the prosperity gospel, really.

"If my life is a breeze, then God must be happy with me." - Well, no, I think God's kindness is layered. I think God's kindness looks different depending on the season. I think when you look at Jesus, Jesus was the most pleasing thing to God, and his life was really hard.

And so I could never assume that my suffering or the lack thereof is somehow related to God's view of me or affection for me. He is always good, and he always loves me because I am in Christ Jesus and he created me for himself. And so I think if anything, what I've learned about the character of God in my trials is that God, he really wants me to know him, and he's willing to do that by any means necessary.

If that means pain, then he's willing to do that because really in my suffering, that's when I look the most like Jesus because I'm able to see him rightly. - Yeah, so true. There's an urgency we must cling to, especially when life seems easy. That's so helpful, Jackie, thank you very much.

And we're gonna now break for the weekend, and we're gonna return with Jackie on Monday. And until then, you can check out our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn, where you can explore all 1,250 or so of our episodes that we've released. You can scan a list of our most popular ones.

You can read full transcripts, even send us a question of your own. And to get these new episodes delivered to you three times per week, subscribe to the Ask Pastor John podcast in your favorite podcast app. We'll be back on Monday to talk about what God is doing in us during our seasons of waiting.

Don't miss this one. I'm Tony Reinke, have a great weekend. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)