(upbeat music) We have an email from Christina in Norman, Oklahoma today who asks, oh, this is a good question. In our overly digital and connected age, I often feel so overwhelmed with how much global and local suffering I feel both a desire and a Christian obligation to stay informed on, pray for, and be involved in.

Sex trafficking, Syrian refugees, homeless people in my city, the Black Lives and the Blue Lives Matter movements, abortion activism, suffering members of my church, reaching the unreached, and on and on it goes. I wanna pray, but I find it so overwhelming because the prayer list is so long and I wanna act, but I'm paralyzed by how much there is to do.

I truly believe this stems from a lack of deep heart conviction of God's sovereignty. Could you maybe share how you stay balanced and aware in praying and acting for the pain and suffering around the world? And specifically, how does your belief in God's sovereignty in the midst of all this suffering affect the way you live and pray?

What would you say, Pastor John, to Christina? Well, I'm not sure I can say how balanced I stay because I don't, I so totally resonate with this sense of overload from the internet and from news venues about bad news. I mean, I am more impressed with it now than ever.

I mean, I've always been impressed with how much sorrow and pain and bad news there is in the world, but recently, you go down the list of Google News on any topic and it's really bleak. So I get this, I really do, and I have no idea whether I have become the balanced person I need to be, but I can just point to how I fight the battle, and here they are, several steps.

One, accept, I try to accept, and I would encourage Christina to try to accept the goodness of groaning. Ezekiel 9, verse four, "The Lord said to him," to Ezekiel, "Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, "and put a mark on the foreheads of the men "who sigh and groan over the abominations "that are committed in it," which means God is marking them for favor, and they are groaners.

They're not chipper, "Oh, praise God, anyhow," kind of observers of the abominations. They groan over American sinfulness in this culture, and so if she's one of them, I'm saying accept that role and expect to have it until you die. You will groan all the way home, and if you don't, you're not paying attention or you become callous.

Second, realize that only God's shoulders can bear the boulders of global suffering. I don't know whether God expects us to look at every possible piece of news coming from around the world. I doubt it. I don't think it's possible even to see them, and if we could see them, I think only He is capable of managing so much bad news.

Cast your burden, this is Psalm 55, 22, cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved or to be paralyzed, and I think that burden is cast on the Lord because we cannot bear it. We cannot bear it, and then the last thing on this point is 1 Peter 5, 7, "Cast all your anxieties," so not just your burdens, but all your anxieties, "on Him because He cares for you," and then he adds, "Be sober-minded, be watchful.

"Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion "seeking someone to devour." In other words, one of these anxieties that we cast on the Lord is massive supernatural evil. I mean, it's not just little items of news that are coming across the internet. It's a demonic force behind those things, which if we could see it, we would realize that we are a feather before that hurricane, and therefore, we must constantly cast those anxieties on the Lord because He has defeated Satan, and He can handle him quite nicely.

Number three, give thanks for the diversity of the gifting of the body of Christ. If I thought that I had to do everything that God wants His church to do, I would despair. I would be paralyzed. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all possess gifts of healing?

I mean, that's an important one. Like, you may not be able to heal a person that you see needs healing, and somebody else might be able to meet exactly the need that they have, and therefore, you're not called to bear that particular burden, but to be thankful for the body of Christ.

Number four, trust God for the grace to do the good He expects you to do, not others, and then do the good in your path like the good Samaritan. 2 Corinthians 9:8, "God is able to make all grace "abound to you, so that having all sufficiency "in all things at all times, you may abound ," now, how you interpret this next phrase is the difference between despair and joyful hope, "that you may abound in every good work." Does that mean God gives you the grace and the sufficiency at all times, in every way, in every place, to do the good work that a Christian in China is expected to do this afternoon?

No, no, no, every good work there means everyone appointed for you, which is a wonderfully liberating thing. You will never be asked to do a good work for which this verse is not true. Every grace will be there for you to do it. God doesn't intend for you to look at 30 good works.

No, you can only do five today and feel guilty about 25. He absolutely does not want that to be the case. That's why this verse is in the Bible. And so, yes, there will be grace for every good work. Number five, pray big, global prayers that Jesus taught us to pray, including for more workers in the harvest.

Our Father who art in heaven, big prayer number one, hallowed be your name. Big prayer number two, your kingdom come. Big prayer number three, your will be done on earth as in heaven. It's good to pray big, global, general, sweeping prayers, and then pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers.

I mean, we can see specific needs that need to be met. We can only do a fraction. And Jesus says, "Go ahead, ask me, ask me. "I have laborers. "I'll send them, ask me." Number six, regularly pray that God would show you what more you can do. Galatians 6:10, "So then, as we have opportunity," as we have opportunity, kairos in Greek.

I love that word, kairos, a special, particular moment in time that's designed for a good work. "As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, "especially to those who are the household of God." So we pray, Lord, create those opportunities for me, those kairoi, and help me see them and embrace them.

That's how we don't settle into being content with yesterday's grace. Yesterday, you did a good deed, two good deeds, three good deeds. You gave this, you gave that, you did this. You treated this person kindly. That's yesterday. Today, Lord, what's the new opportunity for doing good to people, especially to the household of God?

So we pray, show me, Lord, how to use my money and my time and my energy and my gifts. And lastly, I would say, rest in the sovereignty of God. I am God and there is no other. I am God and there's none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand "and I will accomplish all my purpose." - So good, thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for the wonderfully insightful question, Christina, and for more details about the podcast, to catch up on past episodes, or to subscribe to the audio feed, and even to get your own question to us, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast with longtime author and theologian and pastor, John Piper, I'm your host, Tony Ranke. We'll see you tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)