Welcome back to another edition of our podcast, Struggling Well. And if you heard last week's podcast. if not, I encourage you to listen to it. But if you did hear it, you know, we talked about the struggles that Job had and really the reaction of his wife to those difficult things cuz they all happened to her, too. she lost the kids, she lost the wealth, the prestige, all that stuff. and how we respond to those difficult things. I came across this Twitter feed back when it was Twitter and it wasn't X. In 200 9 by Scotty Ward Smith, who I have great deal of respect for and what he's written and who he is. And he said this, "The gospel is more about growing through hard stuff than getting out of hard stuff." Let me say it again. The gospel is more about growing through hard stuff than getting out of hard stuff. Transformation trumps triumphalism. And so many of us, I think, have bought into this idea of living life in a triumphal kind of way and everything's going to work out and everything's going to be good and particularly if I can get out of hard stuff. But he says it well. It's the gospel is growing through hard stuff. It's more about transformation of who I am than triumphalism of what my life looks like. You want to react to that, babe?
Oh yeah. You know, I have reaction to most things. We are we have the tendency and again we talk around at the table here with Tim and banter back and forth about some realities from scripture and one of the things that hits me is that the culture that we live in and I don't know if it's the American culture or if it's the culture of the times the trends of the times but it's get out of whatever isn't perfect or good. you all know how I feel about exercise. I think I mean, I will never pull a hamstring or get a athletic injury because I don't do any of that stuff, but it's you're, you know, you have weight on you, exercise, go through this diet. Everything is to get away from one thing to get to a place of a better thing. Now, I'm joking when I say about exercise, of course, exercise, eat well, do all that kind of stuff. But we live in this world where I mean the bookstores, the audio app, you name it, are filled with hundreds and hundreds of books that will help you to get out of the slump or the place that you're in to get you to a better place. Now, who doesn't want to be in a better place? Absolutely. But what we miss is when we're in the hard place, what is God saying? What does he possibly want for us in that place?
Yeah. And you take that from our perspective of the world, you take it into the Christian culture and it's there too because you know you can have the life you've always wanted. you can have it all here right now and that to me you know we joke here sometimes that we call our podcast struggling well and why can't we call it something like the prosperous life. I mean
oh that's a good one.
Yeah. Well it ain't going to happen. because it's not true. But I think that's the essence of Scotty Smith's quote which is hard stuff transforms my heart and my life, which is what God is after. He's not after getting me everything I want in this world and in this life here and now. That's going to come in eternity. And yet we so desperately want to find a way to make it all happen now.
Oh, God bless you. Thank you.
yeah, there's that definitely that push. I love Scotty Smith. I've read his devotionals for years. He's also written a devotional book called Everyday Prayers and it's so good. He's written others as well, but that one I've probably read through numerous times, but babe, you need to get rid of that cold. So, let's figure it out.
That's the hard stuff I'm going through.
There you go. whe when in the Psalms the Psalmist speak about God as our shelter and our refuge, that means to me that I've got to be there. I've got to sit in with him as my refuge and as my shelter as opposed to running around scrambling trying to figure out how to make the hurtful stuff go away. And if you know, you listened last week, I was sharing with you guys how I get to this icy point. it's not all bad because when I'm in that place where my heart feels cold, I'm not I'm really not going anywhere. I'm trying to sit with him and I'm wanting to hear from him. My heart isn't necessarily super open, but I'm I haven't gone anywhere. He hasn't gone anywhere. But I think trials, and you mentioned it before, Jimmy, I think trials can do two things. I think they can send us into the refuge that he is, that he becomes our refuge and our strength. Or it can cause us to choose to go another way and decide, I'm going to I never want to feel that again. And so I'm going to manage my life and strategize my life to never feel that awful sadness again.
Yeah. And that the word you just used is I think a key word in managing my life. And if I'm left to manage my life, it is going to be to figure out a way to get out of the hard stuff
to get out of it. Cuz I don't like it. None of us do. I mean, I'm not opposed. If I have a headache, I'm going to take a couple aspirin,
right?
But when We deal with the issues of our lives and the difficulties that we go through. I don't see in scripture anywhere where God exempts his people from going through hard things. And the purpose of it, I believe, is to transform our hearts, to transform who we are, to make us more like Jesus. And it's not to give me what I want now, everything that I want. we've raised our kids. They're now adults, but I can remember back when the girls were younger and they would say they wanted this, they wanted this, they wanted this. And there were times that we said, "No, that's not what's best for you and so we're not going to give that to you." And they didn't react well to that because to their minds, it was, I want these things cuz my life will be better if I have this.
Yeah.
And I think that's the same thing we do on a much broader separation level between us and God in our limited finite thinking. We think life would be better if God gave us all these things.
Yeah.
As opposed to him saying, "No, that's not what's best for you." When it comes to transforming your heart,
you know, looking here at Psalm 91, about God being a refuge and a fortress, just listen to this is what we have, what is offered to us. He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Well, this is beautiful. Here, he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. Here's the key. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. But what we often do is we want to run from that shelter because we really question the goodness of God. We question who he is and what he says he is. We question whether all of the things that describe God and his word, all of his characteristics are real. And I mean I've done it. I've I say that like, "Oh, okay. I've done it. I don't mean it flip like that. I mean, how many times have I said, "Okay, I'm not staying under your wings. I'm going to try and there's got to be a better way of relief because this is taking too long or it hurts too much.
Yeah. And this is the verses that prompted in my mind, Suzi, which I know we have referenced before in earlier podcasts, but then again, I'm not sure you've listened to earlier podcasts, so I'm going to say it again, but Isaiah 43, he says, "When you pass through the waters, not around them, not over them, not in them, through the waters, I'll be with you. through the rivers, you shall not they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. And the verses that surround that in Isaiah 43 are beautiful picture of how God sees us. He says, "I've redeemed you. I've called you by name. You're mine. I'm the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, because you are precious in my eyes." And so when I see the relationship that I have with him, and he allows the difficult things in life to come our way, can I trust and believe? in who he sees me as, how he sees me, that I belong to him, that he's redeemed me, that I'm precious in his eyes, and I go through those hard things because they're going to do a work in my heart. They're going to bring transformation to my heart as opposed to going, get me out of these and give me the life I've always wanted. Now,
and transformation is what our souls yearn for. And to hang in there to, as Psalm 91 goes on to say, he holds me fast in love.
When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. So, that's that place where transformation can take place. That's that place of being under his wings. I Iay I mean, I'm sure we if we had people here, other people, we could say, "What makes you run? What makes you angry at God? What makes you fall away from him?"
Right. And so often, I think it has to do with timing,
you know? Well, you know, throughout the throughout God's word, particularly in the Old Testament, the question that gets repeated often is how long?
Yeah.
How long, oh Lord? How long will you wait? How long will it wait take for me to see your deliverance? And bring that into our world today. I think, you know, we've talked about this, the difficulties this past year has been for us. It's a question I have. How long? How long, God? Because it continues to seem like it there's no end in sight.
And my question then on top of that is okay. So, the how long part I kind of can wrap my head around. It might be a long time, but will you sustain me in the midst of it? Or will I be overwhelmed by my grief and my hurt and my anger and all that? That's where my head goes. I don't know where.
Yeah. And so, I think that brings us back to the psalm you referred to, Psalm 91. And if I can get a picture sometimes for me, and the Psalms do a great job of this other place in scripture, too, of painting a word picture, the usage of a bird sheltering
under their wings. those word pictures, if I can go back and see those in the midst of the difficult things I'm going through, then I find it my heart turning back to him in trust of who he is. So, I hope that this is a help to you as you walk through this week and through life. Have a great week.