WEBVTT - Pastors' Perspective-10/12/26 0:00:18.869 --> 0:00:22.939 Hey, how's it going? Welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, 0:00:23.030 --> 0:00:26.929 Brian Perez, and it is that hour in the day 0:00:27.110 --> 0:00:29.270 that we open up the phone lines to talk with 0:00:29.270 --> 0:00:31.429 you guys, find out what's going on in your life, 0:00:31.550 --> 0:00:34.509 what you're learning from God's word, what's your question? 0:00:34.774 --> 0:00:39.935 are about God's word. 888-564-6173 is the number to call. 0:00:40.175 --> 0:00:43.165 We also live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram if 0:00:43.165 --> 0:00:45.365 you wanna watch. But if you just wanna listen, that's 0:00:45.364 --> 0:00:48.415 fine too. But we really encourage you to call in 0:00:48.415 --> 0:00:51.174 if you have a question. Don't just, don't just be 0:00:51.174 --> 0:00:54.645 a participant or, uh, what do you call it, uh, uh, 0:00:54.654 --> 0:00:59.874 there when you're sitting watching instead of participating. Armchair. That'll work. 0:00:59.964 --> 0:01:03.025 Armchair something. There's a word I'm thinking of. No, that's something. 0:01:05.150 --> 0:01:09.790 I can't remember. Don't just be a spectator. That's literally 0:01:09.790 --> 0:01:12.369 a participant anyway, that was easy. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:19.398 Sorry guys, um, welcome. 888-564-6173 is our number. We've got 0:01:19.399 --> 0:01:22.320 Char Broderson here today. He's the lead pastor of Calvary 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:26.279 Chapel Costa Mesa, and Mike Chaddock is joining us online. Uh, 0:01:26.359 --> 0:01:29.320 he's the pastor of Image Church in San Juan Capistrano 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.798 here in California. He's not in the studio today. Char 0:01:32.798 --> 0:01:35.398 referred to it as, uh, he's on a satellite, so 0:01:35.399 --> 0:01:39.750 we'll call it a chattalli because it's Mike Chattick. There 0:01:39.750 --> 0:01:42.159 we go. OK, rough crowd today. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:43.359 Sorry. 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.719 Yeah, where's the, where's the canned laughter button? Yes, I've 0:01:48.719 --> 0:01:50.600 got one of those, believe it or not, because I 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.520 use it all the time. I need to. No, 888-564-6173 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.079 is our number. How are you guys doing? How was 0:01:57.079 --> 0:02:00.350 your weekend and all that? Any, anything exciting, Mike? You 0:02:00.350 --> 0:02:04.299 want to go first? Sure, yeah, we survived the great 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.999 Southern California hurricane, so that, that was good. We did 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:08.419 our 0:02:09.210 --> 0:02:12.289 Worship by the lake night in Rancho Santa Margarita Saturday 0:02:12.289 --> 0:02:15.649 night went well, all things considered with, uh, the rain 0:02:15.649 --> 0:02:20.010 and everything and then coming off a beautiful Sunday service, uh, 0:02:20.049 --> 0:02:22.529 bummed can't be there in the studio. Not quite the 0:02:22.529 --> 0:02:24.809 same thing, but glad to be here. Good to see 0:02:24.809 --> 0:02:27.520 you guys. Yeah, good to see you too. Yeah, I got, uh, 0:02:27.570 --> 0:02:32.079 I was invited to a retreat, um, up in Malibu. It's, 0:02:32.130 --> 0:02:34.499 there's a retreat center up there that we use, but, uh, 0:02:34.570 --> 0:02:37.730 facilitated by the Long Beach Church Collective, and they do 0:02:37.730 --> 0:02:38.889 a psalms retreat. 0:02:39.210 --> 0:02:42.400 And it's literally, uh, it's a day and a half long, 0:02:42.559 --> 0:02:44.809 you know, so it's an evening all day and then 0:02:44.809 --> 0:02:48.010 a morning, and the whole thing is just immersed in 0:02:48.010 --> 0:02:52.329 the Psalms. And you know, you walk through confession, then praise, 0:02:52.409 --> 0:02:56.169 lament and precatory, and then hope, and you just kind 0:02:56.169 --> 0:02:58.409 of look at each of these, talk about it a bit, 0:02:58.689 --> 0:03:00.529 the theology of these things, and then what you do 0:03:00.529 --> 0:03:03.290 is you actually write your own psalm under that kind 0:03:03.290 --> 0:03:06.230 of category. Man, it was like one of the most 0:03:07.359 --> 0:03:10.710 just deeply cathartic experiences. I was saying, you know, Mike, 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.109 I think you'll relate to this. Same since the passing 0:03:13.109 --> 0:03:16.510 of my brother-in-law, it's been really hard to articulate my prayers, 0:03:16.590 --> 0:03:18.359 and I just feel like a lot of it's been 0:03:18.359 --> 0:03:19.549 kind of the groanings that 0:03:20.139 --> 0:03:24.850 You know, just can't be articulated. Just the sadness, the grief, 0:03:24.900 --> 0:03:29.650 the anger, and I feel like I finally, you know, 0:03:29.740 --> 0:03:32.329 just through the grace of God's spirit was able to 0:03:32.329 --> 0:03:34.180 tap into some of those things I haven't been able 0:03:34.180 --> 0:03:37.279 to articulate and just talk to God about them and just, 0:03:37.820 --> 0:03:40.499 just a new freedom. And I even felt like on Sunday, 0:03:40.579 --> 0:03:42.689 I just, all of a sudden I'm being able to 0:03:42.689 --> 0:03:46.579 articulate my prayers for people in our congregation, praying over 0:03:46.579 --> 0:03:47.029 them and 0:03:47.359 --> 0:03:50.070 In just real clear ways that I'm asking God to 0:03:50.070 --> 0:03:51.469 meet them and minister to them. So man, 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.010 I just feel so encouraged by that. And then we 0:03:56.010 --> 0:03:58.840 had just, um, you know, we're in the Book of Acts, 0:03:58.850 --> 0:04:01.090 and I just felt like God gave us a very 0:04:01.090 --> 0:04:02.939 specific word about just 0:04:03.730 --> 0:04:06.370 Man, just cultivating the grace of God in our midst, 0:04:06.449 --> 0:04:09.049 the ways that God is already at work and how 0:04:09.049 --> 0:04:11.249 he wants to continue to work. So we talked about 0:04:11.249 --> 0:04:13.960 the grace of God. I defined it as, it's, uh, 0:04:14.169 --> 0:04:16.329 the presence of God, the power of God, the gifts 0:04:16.329 --> 0:04:18.570 of God among the people of God, making us more 0:04:18.570 --> 0:04:21.490 like Jesus, making us more human. And like, where do 0:04:21.490 --> 0:04:25.770 you see that? Like, let's strengthen that. So it's, it 0:04:25.770 --> 0:04:27.529 was a really beautiful weekend for me. 0:04:28.969 --> 0:04:32.609 Nice, nice, and, and we just taught or we did 0:04:32.609 --> 0:04:35.490 like a miniseries at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa the last 0:04:35.490 --> 0:04:37.889 few Sundays in the Psalm, yeah, we did. So don't 0:04:37.889 --> 0:04:39.449 you kind of wish that, oh, I wish I'd gone 0:04:39.448 --> 0:04:43.479 to the retreat first. Yes, it's always like that. It's like, 0:04:43.770 --> 0:04:46.049 you know, you, you teach your sermon on Sunday morning 0:04:46.049 --> 0:04:48.440 and then maybe Monday for me is kind of a 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:50.889 day where I, you know, dip into other books and 0:04:50.889 --> 0:04:52.909 so many times I've like started a new chapter and, 0:04:52.919 --> 0:04:54.089 you know, a book I'm reading I've been like. 0:04:54.609 --> 0:04:58.198 If only I had this for yesterday's sermon. It's perfect, 0:04:58.289 --> 0:05:01.370 you know. Yes, it is what it is. Yep, yep. 0:05:01.799 --> 0:05:03.150 That's what Mondays are for. 0:05:04.979 --> 0:05:12.030 888-564-6173. Call in like Stanley. He's in Huntington Beach, listening 0:05:12.029 --> 0:05:16.828 to K Wave. 888-564-6173 is the number he called. What's 0:05:16.829 --> 0:05:17.789 your question, Stanley? 0:05:18.849 --> 0:05:21.810 Yeah, my question is, John, by the way, thank you 0:05:21.810 --> 0:05:26.848 so much for your serving the Lord. Thank you. And 0:05:26.849 --> 0:05:33.189 also my question is, John 5:14. When the Lord healed 0:05:33.190 --> 0:05:36.650 the paralyzed person, he says, stop sinning. 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:43.078 And my words coming in and I mean for my 0:05:43.079 --> 0:05:47.309 when I checked that there's one person, only two persons, 0:05:47.359 --> 0:05:51.819 wants for him to stop singing and there's one the 0:05:51.919 --> 0:05:56.039 the lady caught in the adultery and he said do 0:05:56.039 --> 0:05:57.139 not live in the. 0:05:57.889 --> 0:06:01.560 Uh, the life save for life. So but this was, 0:06:01.969 --> 0:06:06.770 what is what is mean by stop singing seen before 0:06:06.770 --> 0:06:08.289 that's my question. 0:06:09.719 --> 0:06:11.020 All right, Mike, you wanna start? 0:06:12.799 --> 0:06:16.240 Yeah, that's very interesting. It's obviously kind of scary, right? 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.739 Because it's insinuating that somehow, some way there's a connection 0:06:20.639 --> 0:06:24.400 between this man's infirmity and his sin. I don't think 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.839 he's saying be sinless from this point on, but I 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.299 think he's making a connection that there is some sin 0:06:30.740 --> 0:06:34.029 that in some way or other, whether natural, demonic, whatever 0:06:34.029 --> 0:06:37.559 it is, has brought it on. Now, I think sometimes 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.000 we know that there are sins we do that have 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:41.679 direct and immediate consequences. 0:06:42.049 --> 0:06:44.008 I think we've all experienced that. You can actually say, hey, 0:06:44.049 --> 0:06:47.770 you did this and this followed as a result. But 0:06:47.770 --> 0:06:50.509 lest we get this idea that we live in this 0:06:50.889 --> 0:06:55.729 mechanistic universe where every time we suffer, it must be 0:06:55.729 --> 0:06:58.609 because of my sin, we have not only the Book 0:06:58.609 --> 0:07:01.289 of Job, for example, in the Old Testament, but in 0:07:01.289 --> 0:07:04.410 this very same Gospel, the Gospel of John chapter 9. 0:07:04.818 --> 0:07:07.750 There's the case of the man born blind. And again, the, 0:07:07.878 --> 0:07:11.099 the common belief at the time was sort of a 0:07:11.099 --> 0:07:13.859 mechanistic reaping and sowing where it's 1 to 1 all 0:07:13.859 --> 0:07:15.979 the time. If there's anything bad, you must have sinned, 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.810 that kind of thing. You see that theology in Job's friends, 0:07:18.849 --> 0:07:21.379 of course, but in this case, Jesus said, 0:07:22.289 --> 0:07:26.329 Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but that the 0:07:26.329 --> 0:07:30.370 glory of God may be revealed. So there is a mystery. 0:07:30.470 --> 0:07:34.919 There are times where we're suffering, we're going through pain, illness, loss, 0:07:35.150 --> 0:07:38.569 whatever it is, and it's a mystery. Same thing in Job. I'm, 0:07:38.729 --> 0:07:40.310 I'm studying to preach. 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.160 Job coming up and honestly Job is in a way 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.359 a frustrating book because if you're coming to it for 0:07:47.359 --> 0:07:50.759 an answer to the question why you're gonna find out 0:07:50.759 --> 0:07:53.599 God gives an answer you don't want to a question 0:07:53.599 --> 0:07:56.259 you didn't ask, which is what kind of a world 0:07:56.259 --> 0:07:57.680 do we actually live in? 0:07:58.039 --> 0:08:00.319 And it's a mysterious world and where we have to 0:08:00.319 --> 0:08:03.989 entrust ourselves to a good and all wise creator. And 0:08:03.990 --> 0:08:06.460 at the end of the day, the answer for Job is, 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.020 I am God. And this is enough. And Job never 0:08:10.020 --> 0:08:13.479 actually is privy to what, of course, the narrator informs 0:08:13.479 --> 0:08:15.679 the reader of in the beginning. Well, hey, in the 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:17.629 background here's Satan, and this is going on. Job never 0:08:17.629 --> 0:08:20.419 knows this, never gets this answer. That's how he lives 0:08:20.419 --> 0:08:22.840 his life. And so for some of us, certainly at 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.160 least at times in our lives, if not many times, uh, Char, 0:08:26.229 --> 0:08:26.999 like you brought up. 0:08:27.370 --> 0:08:30.289 Passing of Michael, you know, like, to me, this is an, 0:08:30.370 --> 0:08:33.889 an utter mystery. It, it makes no sense to me. 0:08:33.970 --> 0:08:36.079 And the more I try to make sense out of it, 0:08:36.139 --> 0:08:40.289 the more frustrated I get. It's one of these mysteries 0:08:40.289 --> 0:08:42.489 where I open up my hands and say, God, I 0:08:42.489 --> 0:08:44.610 do not understand, but I committed to you as an 0:08:44.610 --> 0:08:48.800 all wise, all graceful Creator of God, and one day 0:08:49.009 --> 0:08:52.719 he will make clear in eternity what seems wrong in time. 0:08:54.809 --> 0:08:57.559 Yeah, I mean, I, I would just agree. I mean, 0:08:57.569 --> 0:09:00.170 with what Mike was saying, just in the sense of, 0:09:00.328 --> 0:09:03.249 you know, some, you know, I think scripture says, I'm 0:09:03.449 --> 0:09:06.230 trying to remember the exact wording, you know, some sins 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:12.119 are evident and later other, you know, consequences follow. And 0:09:12.119 --> 0:09:14.970 I think Jesus here is identifying, as Mike said, you know, 0:09:15.009 --> 0:09:19.699 that this man's condition seems to be directly correlated with 0:09:19.929 --> 0:09:20.970 his life of sin. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.749 And, and so Jesus is just talking, you know, like, look, 0:09:26.150 --> 0:09:28.479 if you go back to who knows what the consequences 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.629 of that lifestyle would be, right? Like, returned upon you 0:09:31.629 --> 0:09:33.998 for these things. And, and I, you know, I don't 0:09:33.999 --> 0:09:36.189 think it's a, like you were saying, Mike, it's not karma, 0:09:36.239 --> 0:09:40.758 it's not mechanistic in that way. But sin is cancerous. 0:09:40.879 --> 0:09:43.960 That's what it is. It is the deterioration of all 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.069 that is good and holy and pure, uh, the way 0:09:47.069 --> 0:09:48.599 that God made things to be. 0:09:48.754 --> 0:09:52.994 Sin is deteriorating cancer to God's goodness. And so, this 0:09:52.994 --> 0:09:56.285 is just what it does, sin destroys. And so, you know, 0:09:56.444 --> 0:09:58.905 Jesus is giving a direct warning to this man's life. 0:09:59.285 --> 0:10:01.124 You know, you go back to the sin, it's gonna 0:10:01.124 --> 0:10:05.124 destroy you. There will be further consequences to it. So, um, 0:10:05.203 --> 0:10:08.764 of course, we don't know exactly what that was, um, 0:10:09.004 --> 0:10:10.884 but we can understand that, yes, 0:10:11.389 --> 0:10:15.379 Sin in general destroys, it destroys us. It destroys our 0:10:15.379 --> 0:10:18.629 relationship with God, it destroys our relationship with others. This 0:10:18.629 --> 0:10:21.689 is just the nature of it. Stanley, what do you think? 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.369 Oh, OK, uh, OK. Now I, I thought that at 0:10:27.369 --> 0:10:30.139 first I thought that maybe that relate to the Sabbath 0:10:30.889 --> 0:10:35.290 because the Lord, uh, the Jews, Jews talked about why 0:10:35.290 --> 0:10:38.209 you picking up this Jew, uh, pick up your men, 0:10:38.650 --> 0:10:41.009 and Lord told him to do it, but the man 0:10:41.009 --> 0:10:44.449 told me to take it, so maybe this one is 0:10:44.449 --> 0:10:48.710 a trigger, the first trigger for the Jews to using 0:10:48.710 --> 0:10:49.879 it against. 0:10:50.879 --> 0:10:52.040 Lord, because. 0:10:53.059 --> 0:10:56.400 First, he don't know who told him or who killed him. 0:10:57.078 --> 0:11:01.618 But the Jewish told the the the, the, the, the parent, uh, the, 0:11:01.650 --> 0:11:04.128 the paralyzed person said um. 0:11:05.660 --> 0:11:08.790 Who picked uh we we got about who told you 0:11:08.790 --> 0:11:12.650 to do is like pick up the man 7 but 0:11:13.389 --> 0:11:15.850 then even the the he knows. 0:11:16.809 --> 0:11:20.939 To Jews to wander looking for him. He don't appreciate 0:11:20.939 --> 0:11:25.738 the Lord's gratitude to the Lord. He turned around like 0:11:25.739 --> 0:11:30.309 a pursuit against, I mean, try to, uh, through the bus, 0:11:30.780 --> 0:11:33.100 through the Lord in the bus or something. That's what 0:11:33.100 --> 0:11:36.569 I thought. Yeah, yeah, I think you are onto something, Stanley. Uh, 0:11:36.619 --> 0:11:39.369 I don't know if it's directly connected in that way. Um, 0:11:39.660 --> 0:11:44.459 this man does seem to be unmoved by this miraculous 0:11:44.460 --> 0:11:45.379 healing like. 0:11:45.770 --> 0:11:49.210 The the whole conversation's very strange, and if you actually 0:11:49.210 --> 0:11:52.749 contrast it with uh the man born blind, I mean, 0:11:52.850 --> 0:11:55.770 he is like this beautiful witness of what it looks 0:11:55.770 --> 0:11:59.489 like uh to testify, um, to the power that is 0:11:59.489 --> 0:12:01.809 in Jesus' name. I once was blind, but now I see, right? 0:12:01.850 --> 0:12:04.569 It's this incredible testimony that we can all say, man, 0:12:04.650 --> 0:12:06.970 my testimony is something like that, you know, when Jesus 0:12:06.970 --> 0:12:08.889 came into my life. But this man, 0:12:09.499 --> 0:12:13.780 It's different. He seems to be apathetic towards Jesus' offer. 0:12:13.860 --> 0:12:18.720 He seems to be apathetic towards Jesus's healing. There's no positive, um, 0:12:19.379 --> 0:12:21.979 kind of connection. And then when he finds out it's Jesus, 0:12:22.059 --> 0:12:24.498 he just goes and tells the religious leaders, and this 0:12:24.499 --> 0:12:27.679 gets Jesus in trouble for healing someone on the Sabbath. Now, 0:12:27.900 --> 0:12:31.210 I don't think what Jesus is saying here is connected 0:12:31.210 --> 0:12:34.139 directly to that, but I think you are right in 0:12:34.139 --> 0:12:37.469 assessing the situation of the dynamic between this man. 0:12:37.699 --> 0:12:40.550 And Jesus and him getting Jesus in trouble with the 0:12:40.550 --> 0:12:42.229 religious authorities at the time. 0:12:43.780 --> 0:12:45.498 Stanley, thank you so much for your phone call today 0:12:45.499 --> 0:12:51.119 on Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number you can call 0:12:51.340 --> 0:12:53.920 to speak with Char Broderson and Mike Chadtick. Let's go 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:58.259 to Nebraska. Heather watches us there on Facebook. Thank you, Heather, 0:12:58.300 --> 0:13:03.939 for calling 888-564-6173, and hello, we'll wave to Heather there watching. Uh, 0:13:04.020 --> 0:13:04.699 what's your question? 0:13:05.999 --> 0:13:12.980 Um, I'm struggling. Um, um, my, my son, who is 0:13:12.980 --> 0:13:19.238 only 33, has been diagnosed with liver cancer. And I've 0:13:19.239 --> 0:13:22.119 gone through, I, I, you guys were kind of touching 0:13:22.119 --> 0:13:27.259 on that with your conversation earlier. I'm struggling with. 0:13:27.860 --> 0:13:30.900 You know, why God, why my son? 0:13:32.270 --> 0:13:35.319 Why, you know, take me. Mhm. 0:13:36.540 --> 0:13:39.089 Um, and my. 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.139 My friend recommended calling into you guys, um. 0:13:44.499 --> 0:13:48.739 But I, yeah, I'm struggling with that. Like, why God, 0:13:48.900 --> 0:13:51.410 why my son? Yeah. 0:13:52.739 --> 0:13:53.050 Char. 0:13:54.809 --> 0:13:57.759 Yeah, Heather, I'm trying not to cry. No, it's OK 0:13:57.759 --> 0:13:59.970 to be sorry, yeah, you are. 0:14:00.759 --> 0:14:02.878 Just fine as you are, just. 0:14:03.860 --> 0:14:04.949 Yeah, um, 0:14:06.249 --> 0:14:09.489 Heather, I'm, I'm just so sorry. Um, I'm so sorry 0:14:09.489 --> 0:14:13.249 that this, um, is your situation and that this is 0:14:13.249 --> 0:14:16.759 happening to your son, and I believe that that's how 0:14:16.759 --> 0:14:20.090 God feels as well. You know, we live in a 0:14:20.090 --> 0:14:24.309 world that God did not intend. 0:14:25.210 --> 0:14:27.129 And you know, I actually had this moment with my 0:14:27.129 --> 0:14:31.050 son recently where he was kind of grieving some things 0:14:31.050 --> 0:14:32.530 that are happening in his life and I couldn't figure 0:14:32.530 --> 0:14:35.489 out like what was going on. And I think a 0:14:35.489 --> 0:14:38.329 friend helped me just kind of identify this, and I 0:14:38.329 --> 0:14:40.090 just had the moment to say to him, like, 0:14:40.770 --> 0:14:43.410 I'm sorry that your life hasn't turned out the way 0:14:43.410 --> 0:14:46.389 that you wanted it. And I do believe that God 0:14:46.389 --> 0:14:50.249 feels something of that for us as humans. Like that 0:14:50.249 --> 0:14:54.290 he is grieved that the human experience for us so 0:14:54.290 --> 0:14:58.119 far is one of pain and brokenness. It's one of 0:14:58.129 --> 0:15:01.129 cancer and, and early death. It's one where the good 0:15:01.129 --> 0:15:01.689 die young. 0:15:03.170 --> 0:15:06.989 And so I, I, I know that um God our Father. 0:15:07.879 --> 0:15:11.350 Um, feels your pain deeply, and we know that Jesus, 0:15:11.389 --> 0:15:14.489 the Son feels it. He became one of us. He 0:15:15.230 --> 0:15:20.030 subjected himself to all of this, um, to suffer with us, 0:15:20.290 --> 0:15:23.660 to suffer for us, so that he might end all suffering. 0:15:23.749 --> 0:15:24.290 And yet, 0:15:25.619 --> 0:15:27.819 It doesn't change the pain, um. 0:15:28.610 --> 0:15:31.559 It doesn't change the loss in in the moment, right? 0:15:32.850 --> 0:15:37.290 Yeah, I, I, I'm, I'm, I mean, I, I was 0:15:37.290 --> 0:15:41.739 trying to, you know, um, deal with it yesterday, and, 0:15:42.189 --> 0:15:44.239 but I'm still, I'm angry. 0:15:45.170 --> 0:15:48.009 I don't want to be angry at God and I 0:15:48.009 --> 0:15:49.150 wanna find. 0:15:50.119 --> 0:15:51.579 I want to find a way to 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:58.579 Use my belief in the Lord to get us through this, 0:15:58.879 --> 0:16:02.550 and I'm, but I'm struggling. Absolutely, yeah, I mean, Heather, 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.960 I think what you are expressing right now, um, there 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.960 is language in the book of Psalms that, uh, expresses 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:11.379 exactly what you're saying like. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:13.710 I'm angry, but I don't want to be angry because 0:16:13.710 --> 0:16:16.829 I actually believe that God is who he says he is. And, 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.400 you know, we have these psalms of lament that do 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.759 exactly that. They say, God, this is who you say 0:16:21.759 --> 0:16:26.869 you are, and yet, that's not my experience. Where are you? Like, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.119 why do I see the wicked prospering, and yet my 0:16:30.119 --> 0:16:31.960 son has cancer. You know, why? 0:16:32.889 --> 0:16:35.489 Why do the good die young? You know, it's, it's 0:16:35.489 --> 0:16:38.239 struggling with what we know about God in our lived reality, 0:16:38.249 --> 0:16:41.350 and there is, uh, you know, disillusionment there. There is 0:16:41.770 --> 0:16:46.350 anger and frustration and grief and all this to say, 0:16:46.970 --> 0:16:50.129 there's language in the scripture that allows us to bring 0:16:50.129 --> 0:16:53.270 our anger to God, and that he can take it, 0:16:53.689 --> 0:16:57.119 and he actually wants us, uh, to bring it to him. 0:16:57.489 --> 0:16:59.129 And so that we can wrestle with him and he 0:16:59.129 --> 0:17:01.410 can wrestle with us over that, and we can 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.679 See his faithfulness. 0:17:05.770 --> 0:17:09.670 His presence and dare I say, even his goodness through 0:17:09.670 --> 0:17:11.770 the worst things that happen in our lives. 0:17:12.780 --> 0:17:13.138 Mike. 0:17:15.839 --> 0:17:18.159 Yeah, I, I, you know, I don't think any of 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.619 us who, who have faith in Christ. 0:17:22.479 --> 0:17:24.899 Who found the gospel beautiful. 0:17:25.999 --> 0:17:29.359 who've received grace want to be angry with God. 0:17:30.058 --> 0:17:33.388 And I agree. I mean, I prefer that it not 0:17:33.388 --> 0:17:35.868 be the case, but I, I pose this question. 0:17:36.959 --> 0:17:38.239 Can God handle it? 0:17:39.129 --> 0:17:41.208 If and when we do get angry at him. 0:17:42.339 --> 0:17:44.580 And I think the answer of the Psalms is yes. 0:17:45.459 --> 0:17:48.580 And I think one of the dangers is if we 0:17:48.580 --> 0:17:53.040 find ourselves, and again, remember, God has compassion on us. 0:17:53.660 --> 0:17:56.458 We're not like slightly smaller than God. He's just a 0:17:56.459 --> 0:17:59.959 little bit bigger, you know, we pray the prayer, our Father, 0:18:00.469 --> 0:18:02.540 and so maybe we picture him, you know, maybe too 0:18:02.540 --> 0:18:04.659 much like an earthly father. Oh, you know, he's a 0:18:04.660 --> 0:18:07.300 little older than me, maybe a little bigger. Um, our, 0:18:07.379 --> 0:18:08.889 our Heavenly Father is. 0:18:09.540 --> 0:18:12.009 I mean, this is where the lang human language just 0:18:12.009 --> 0:18:15.099 in a sense, it's like it's truthful insofar as it goes, 0:18:15.219 --> 0:18:19.259 but it, it fails really to reveal the full reality 0:18:19.259 --> 0:18:21.099 of who God is as our Father and 0:18:22.388 --> 0:18:27.150 I think when we are angry, we are invited through 0:18:27.150 --> 0:18:31.509 scripture in the Psalms to speak that to God, to 0:18:31.509 --> 0:18:34.520 share that with him, that he can handle it. Remember, 0:18:34.629 --> 0:18:39.388 scripture says he knows our frame. He remembers that we 0:18:39.388 --> 0:18:43.270 are dust. We're, we're fragile, even the toughest of us. 0:18:43.349 --> 0:18:44.650 Picture the toughest person. 0:18:45.420 --> 0:18:47.940 You know, by the way, yeah, I just, I've been 0:18:47.940 --> 0:18:50.530 dealing with a, you know, loss and grief lately, a 0:18:50.530 --> 0:18:54.930 number of friends, memories of people I've lost years ago 0:18:54.930 --> 0:18:57.979 kind of hit me today first probably because it's a Monday. Um, 0:18:58.109 --> 0:19:01.060 but just all of a sudden I'm thinking about all 0:19:01.060 --> 0:19:03.139 of this, and, and I was just kind of overwhelmed, 0:19:03.259 --> 0:19:05.580 you know, because the thing is you lose somebody, that's 0:19:05.580 --> 0:19:09.499 bad enough. And as the years go on, you know, it's, 0:19:09.580 --> 0:19:11.999 you start, you start burying more and more people. 0:19:12.629 --> 0:19:15.430 And that's actually the way of, of this world, life 0:19:15.430 --> 0:19:18.459 under the sun, as the preacher would say in Ecclesiastes, 0:19:18.469 --> 0:19:21.229 and it, you can see how a person can become cynical. 0:19:21.310 --> 0:19:24.670 I totally understand. I don't berate people who've had rough 0:19:24.670 --> 0:19:28.129 lives and they've experienced loss and they're mad at God and, 0:19:28.150 --> 0:19:30.950 and all that like I understand that. I think the 0:19:30.950 --> 0:19:33.749 tragedy is that people believe because they're mad at God, 0:19:33.950 --> 0:19:38.749 because they've experienced loss, that they're outside God's grace and love, 0:19:38.910 --> 0:19:41.290 and I think the psalms invite us to bring. 0:19:41.940 --> 0:19:44.300 Those tears to bring the pain, to bring the anger 0:19:44.300 --> 0:19:48.219 to God. He can handle it. God is big enough. 0:19:48.300 --> 0:19:52.499 His shoulders are big enough to handle our complaint, our 0:19:52.499 --> 0:19:56.280 lament when the psalmist is crying out, Why, oh God, 0:19:56.459 --> 0:19:59.810 why am I drowning in my tears? You know, this is, 0:20:00.099 --> 0:20:02.530 why do you let this happen? Why do the wicked. 0:20:03.219 --> 0:20:07.379 Prosper. Why do the righteous die young? Why, oh God, I, 0:20:07.459 --> 0:20:10.060 I don't think this is unholy language. I think this 0:20:10.060 --> 0:20:14.219 is authentic language. It is holy. It is true. Again, 0:20:14.339 --> 0:20:16.540 whether we should feel that way or not, to some extent, 0:20:16.619 --> 0:20:19.979 I can't control that. I feel how I feel. I'm responding, 0:20:20.379 --> 0:20:22.300 but give it to God. And I, I think in 0:20:22.300 --> 0:20:23.080 a way. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.599 You know, lament is a way of protesting the unrighteousness 0:20:27.599 --> 0:20:30.629 of a fallen world. And so I think, you know, your, 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.229 your language of why God or that I, I don't 0:20:33.229 --> 0:20:35.099 think it's bad in a way. 0:20:35.989 --> 0:20:37.530 I, I think it is appropriate. 0:20:38.190 --> 0:20:40.190 And so I would just encourage you, and by the way, like, 0:20:40.229 --> 0:20:41.988 you know, we're saying, trying to give it to God today, 0:20:42.030 --> 0:20:44.420 and you're going to have to do that every day. 0:20:45.070 --> 0:20:47.709 It's never going to go away. It might change. You'll 0:20:47.709 --> 0:20:51.509 have easier days, harder days. I just, I mean, honestly, 0:20:51.550 --> 0:20:53.509 I wish there was one day, and you know, sometimes 0:20:53.509 --> 0:20:56.219 I hear stories of someone who said, Man, I just 0:20:56.219 --> 0:20:58.869 really prayed and God just took this pain away from me, 0:20:58.950 --> 0:21:00.950 you know, I lost a loved one and all of 0:21:00.950 --> 0:21:01.869 a sudden I feel that. 0:21:02.369 --> 0:21:05.160 I don't know what that's like personally, and to be honest, 0:21:05.249 --> 0:21:09.649 I haven't really seen that, uh, almost ever. Most of 0:21:09.650 --> 0:21:12.369 us were going to bear that, but I actually think, 0:21:12.450 --> 0:21:15.349 you know, what's interesting is I was exploring this idea 0:21:15.349 --> 0:21:19.649 of anthropopathos. There was this Jewish scholar named Abraham Eschel, 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:21.920 and he wrote a book called The Prophets, and he 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.489 actually said that the prophets, if you notice, if you 0:21:25.489 --> 0:21:28.550 read Ezekiel, read Jeremiah, they weren't just given a message, 0:21:28.729 --> 0:21:29.830 they were given a burden. 0:21:30.489 --> 0:21:32.810 They were given a life. They were not only called 0:21:32.810 --> 0:21:35.849 to speak God's word, but to feel God's pain. 0:21:36.660 --> 0:21:39.379 And you actually see that like Jeremiah is just so, 0:21:39.420 --> 0:21:42.300 he's like, I am so weary and burdened. I don't 0:21:42.300 --> 0:21:46.550 want to speak your word anymore. Jeremiah says that, you know, 0:21:46.700 --> 0:21:48.739 like I don't, Jesus, I love you, but I don't 0:21:48.739 --> 0:21:50.820 really know if I'm gonna follow you anymore. This is 0:21:50.820 --> 0:21:54.780 too hard. This is too painful. And it's actually ironically, 0:21:54.820 --> 0:21:57.300 it's not just that God knows how we feel, it's 0:21:57.300 --> 0:22:01.459 through pain and suffering we understand how God feels all 0:22:01.459 --> 0:22:04.989 day long. Jesus said, stretched out my arms to a. 0:22:05.599 --> 0:22:09.759