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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Carol McCracken. We're continuing our lent series

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Speaker 1: God Meets You in the Wilderness, and after a short

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Speaker 1: word from our sponsor, will dive into today's Bible Verse

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Speaker 1: Psalm sixteen eleven. As we continue our Lenten series, God

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Speaker 1: Meets You in the Wilderness, today's passage reminds us of

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Speaker 1: this powerful truth. The wilderness is not the end of

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Speaker 1: the story. So wilderness seasons can feel endless. You pray

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Speaker 1: and the situation doesn't change. You wait and clarity doesn't come.

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Speaker 1: You stay faithful, but the breakthrough hasn't happened. So you

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Speaker 1: start to wonder, is this where my story stops. Maybe

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Speaker 1: the grief never fully lifts. Maybe the relationship doesn't heal,

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Speaker 1: Maybe the dream shifts into something you didn't expect. Maybe

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Speaker 1: faith feels quieter than it once did. I felt that

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Speaker 1: way when my husband took early retirement and we moved south.

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Speaker 1: My son battled some issues that had us walking on eggshells,

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Speaker 1: and every time we felt peace, it would be shattered

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Speaker 1: with the new challenge. This kind of thing's hard on

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Speaker 1: a relationship. Every member of our household saw peace in

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Speaker 1: their own unique way. Some of these ways were very unhealthy, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: and it didn't seem that the season would end. Depression

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Speaker 1: became a way of my life years in fact, and

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Speaker 1: in those moments, it's easy to believe the wilderness is

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Speaker 1: permanent and that this hard chapter is the final chapter.

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Speaker 1: But scripture keeps telling a different story. Again and again.

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Speaker 1: God shows us that the wilderness is never the destination.

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Speaker 1: It's a passage, a place of formation, a season where

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Speaker 1: He draws close and prepares what comes next. Psalm sixteen

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Speaker 1: speaks directly into the tension today's Bible verses Psalm sixteen eleven.

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Speaker 1: You make known to me the path of life. You

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Speaker 1: will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal

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Speaker 1: pleasures at your right hand. Psalm sixteen is attributed to David,

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Speaker 1: who was both a shepherd boy and Israel's king, and

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Speaker 1: David knew the wilderness well literally and spiritually. He's been

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Speaker 1: years running for his life, hiding in caves, living with uncertainty, betrayal,

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Speaker 1: and fear. Even after becoming king, his life was marked

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Speaker 1: by hardship, loss, and deep personal failure. Yet this Psalm

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Speaker 1: isn't a lament, It's a declaration of trust. David speaks

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Speaker 1: with confidence about God's guidance, protection, and presence, and in

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Speaker 1: verses eight through eleven, the tone shifts towards hope, not

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Speaker 1: just for survival, but for joy and life beyond the struggle.

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Speaker 1: Many scholars also see Psalm sixteen as prophetic, pointing forward

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Speaker 1: to Jesus and the resurrection, the ultimate proof that suffering

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Speaker 1: in death are not the end of the story. So

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Speaker 1: this passage really holds two truths at once, David's personal

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Speaker 1: confidence in God and a greater promise filled in Christ.

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Speaker 1: David begins in verse eight, I keep my eyes always

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Speaker 1: on the Lord. Now this is a posture of intentional focus,

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Speaker 1: not because life's easy, but because it isn't. In the wilderness,

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Speaker 1: what we focus on shapes how we endure it. And

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Speaker 1: then he says, with him at my right hand, I

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Speaker 1: will not be shaken. God's present doesn't remove the wilderness,

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Speaker 1: but he stabilizes us in his presence. And then we

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Speaker 1: arrive at verse eleven, you make known to me the

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Speaker 1: path of life. Notice the wording not the easy path,

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Speaker 1: not the fast path, the path of life. God is

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Speaker 1: guiding even when the direction feels unclear. You will fill

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Speaker 1: me with joy in your presence. So joy is not

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Speaker 1: tied to circumstance. Here, it's tied to presence. That means

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Speaker 1: joy can exist even before the wilderness ends, with eternal

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Speaker 1: pleasures at your right hand, he writes. David lifts his

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Speaker 1: eyes beyond the present moment, beyond the struggle, beyond this life.

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Speaker 1: He sees eternity, and that's the turning point. The wilderness

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Speaker 1: feels final when we only look at the moment we're in,

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Speaker 1: But when we lift our eyes to God's larger story,

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Speaker 1: we remember. This chapter is not the conclusion. This Linton

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Speaker 1: series keeps bringing us back to one central truth. God

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Speaker 1: meets us in the wilderness, not just after it. Psalm

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Speaker 1: sixteen reminds us of three anchors when the wilderness feels

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Speaker 1: like it might last forever. First, God's guiding even when

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Speaker 1: the path feels hidden. You make known to me the

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Speaker 1: path of life, he writes. You may not see five

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Speaker 1: steps ahead, but God sees the whole road. Second, joy

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Speaker 1: begins in his presence, not in change circumstances. You fill

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Speaker 1: me with joy in your presence. We don't have to

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Speaker 1: wait for everything to resolve before experiencing hope. And third

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Speaker 1: Eternity reframes the wilderness, this life, this season, this struggle,

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Speaker 1: it's not the full story. God's writing something bigger than

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Speaker 1: what we can see right now. Lent points us straight

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Speaker 1: to this reality. Jesus Us walk through the wilderness. He

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Speaker 1: endured suffering, he went to the cross, and even the cross,

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Speaker 1: it was not the end of the story. Resurrection is coming.

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Speaker 1: If the wilderness feels long right now, here's the question

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Speaker 1: to sit with. Have I started believing this season is

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Speaker 1: the end of my story? Maybe not out loud, but

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Speaker 1: quietly internally. Maybe hope feels thin, maybe joy feels distant,

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Speaker 1: and maybe you're just trying to keep going like I was.

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Speaker 1: Here's your written invitation. Lift your eyes from the wilderness

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Speaker 1: to the presence of God within the wilderness. Not to

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Speaker 1: deny the pain, not to rush the process, but to

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Speaker 1: remember God is still guiding. God is still near, and

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Speaker 1: this season, no matter how heavy, is not the final word.

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Speaker 1: Psalm sixteen reminds us that joy isn't just waiting at

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Speaker 1: the end of the road. It's found in walking with him.

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Speaker 1: The wilderness sure can feel like a dead end, but

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Speaker 1: scripture keeps telling us it's a doorway, a place where

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Speaker 1: God forms us and who he created us to be,

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Speaker 1: a place where we learn to trust, a place where

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Speaker 1: His presence becomes real in ways comfort never could. David

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Speaker 1: believed that Jesus proved it, and we live with that

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Speaker 1: promise because the Cross wasn't the end, the grave wasn't

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Speaker 1: the end, Suffering wasn't the end, and your wilderness is

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Speaker 1: not the end either. God is leading you on the

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Speaker 1: path of life. He's feeling you with joy in his

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Speaker 1: presence even now, and he's writing a story that stretches

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Speaker 1: far beyond this moment. The wilderness is a chapter, and

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Speaker 1: it may be longer than you like. My season of

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Speaker 1: wilderness lasted years. But you know what resurrection is coming.

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Speaker 1: Will you pray with me, Dear Lord in heaven, thank

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Speaker 1: you for who you are, our creator. You know the

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Speaker 1: beginning and the ending. You know exactly why you put

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Speaker 1: us on this earth with unique gifts and skills that

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Speaker 1: we have, and sometimes we just feel stuck and you

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Speaker 1: knew that, and you meet us there. You promise never

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Speaker 1: to leave us, never to forsake us. But sometimes Lord,

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Speaker 1: we just lose focus and we focus on our circumstances

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Speaker 1: instead of you. But you knew it because you created us,

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Speaker 1: and therefore that's why you give reminders and we ask

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Speaker 1: for them to be glaringly apparent, Lord, because we know

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Speaker 1: as humans we're going to lose our way, but you

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Speaker 1: just remind us that no matter what we do, no

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Speaker 1: matter how far we go, you always get us back

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Speaker 1: on the path, just like the shepherd that you are

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Speaker 1: guiding his sheep. Lord, let us be privilege that we're

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Speaker 1: your sheep. Precious name, We pray almen mm hmm