Joyce Meyer - Trusting God - Part 3

TOPICS: Trust

Well, thank you so much for joining me today on "Enjoying Everyday Life". I love teaching the word, and I'm glad that you love hearing the word. I've been talking the last couple of days about trusting God. And now, we come down to our final teaching on this subject, at least for now. And one of the biggest questions that people ask, and it's simply this: if God is good, then why do people suffer? And especially if God is good, then why do good people suffer? Seems like sometimes wicked people prosper while good people have trials and tribulations. But the Bible tells us in Psalm 37, "Don't fret yourself over the evildoers, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass".

And you know, I've come to understand something just in the last couple of years that I don't think I really ever understood before, and that is that prosperity, things, money, you know, certainly can be blessings from God, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everything that person's doing is right. Actually, the devil can bless people. If you look back to when Jesus was being tempted in the garden, I mean not the garden. But when he was taken out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil 40 days and 40 nights. One of the temptations was that the devil took him up on a high mountain and showed him all the things that the world had to offer.

And he said, "If you'll bow down and worship me just once, I'll give all this to you, because it's been turned over to me and I'll give it to whoever I want to". So, Adam and Eve gave away their authority in the garden. They gave it to the serpent. So, he can, I mean, there's a lot of wicked people that really have a lot of stuff. And I learned that because I was talking to pastor Jack Hayford, who's gone home to be with the Lord now, about a certain minister that was teaching some things that really weren't right. And I said, "But his ministry is so blessed". And he said, "Natural blessings are not a sign that somebody's doing all the right things".

And so, I think that's good to remember. And having trouble doesn't mean that you're doing the wrong things. The Bible tells us that the righteous will suffer, that we'll be persecuted for our faith, and nobody likes that, but I was sitting in the back and I said, "Why do people suffer"? And Dave said, "Because they need to". I said, "Well, I'll tell 'em you said that, I'm sure they'll like that". But it's actually true, we do need it for several reasons to understand what other people are going through, what it's really like to go through what they go through. And Hebrews 5:8 and 9, to me are wonderful proof of this. It says, "Although he was a son, he learned [active, special] Obedience through what he suffered".

So, how could someone who was never disobedient learn obedience? Well, he learned the practical side of what it costs to go through it. And his completed experience... See, sometimes when you're going through something, it's for no purpose other than just to get experience. I mean, how can I really have empathy with people that are hurting, if my life has just been just one jolly blessing after another, and I've never had any problems? When somebody tells me they were sexually abused as a child, I know what they went through. But if somebody tells me their child died young, I can still have God-given empathy, but I don't know for sure just what it was like because that hasn't happened to me.

And God wants us, when things do happen to us, he wants us to use them to help other people. That's one of the ways that we can smack the devil in the head is take everything that he throws at you, and use it to help somebody else. "And, [his completed experience] Made him perfectly [equipped], and he became the author and the source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed to and obey him". So, I've come to understand the value of experience. And as baby Christians, we don't have that experience.

So, the first thing that anybody wants to know when you go and apply for a job is how much experience do you have? They're really more interested in that than your education. And so, I can underline my whole Bible, and put stars around it, and that doesn't mean I know it. We don't know it until we have to use it and watch it work in our lives. And so, one of the biggest places in the world to trust God is when you or somebody you love or know is going through something that just doesn't seem to make any sense. And I'm not saying that God sends those things. They're works of the enemy. But sometimes God doesn't remove them as fast as we'd like him to, because he gets some benefit out of it.

You know, what did Joseph tell his brothers? "What you meant for harm, God intended for good". God had a plan to use Joseph to save his family from starvation, but he didn't understand why what was happening to him, was happening to him, until he actually finally saw the end of the plan and what God had in mind. And so comments I hear and I'm often expected to answer is: "Does God cause suffering"? "Does God allow suffering"? "Well, if God is sovereign, then why doesn't he stop suffering"? "Why does God allow hunger, abuse, disease, and thousands of other conditions that cause suffering"? "Why do little children suffer with cancer"? "Why did the good sometimes die young"? "Why did I lose my job and all my retirement"? "Why did my child die"?

"Why," can almost drive a person to insanity? I used to be a big "Why" person. "Why God why"? "When God when"? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "I've resolved to know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified". And you know, Paul was a very intelligent man, and I'm sure that he may have started out trying to figure things out too. And so, he made that statement, "I've decided to know nothing but Christ and him crucified". And you can't have faith if you have all the answers. You have to have unanswered questions, in order to have faith, and build up that ability to be able to trust God in the midst of those situations.

Well, if I would tried to answer those questions and others like it, I would have to begin with, "I don't know, but I do know that God is good. So, I choose to focus on what I do know rather than what I don't know". Because for every one bad thing that is happening somewhere, there's thousands of other good things that are happening. But people seem to magnify only the bad. And you know, I was just thinking, and I found this interesting, there's no scripture that promises we will never have pain or difficulty. Can't find one. But there are many scriptures promising redemption and restoration. And that's what's so great. God has restored me from something that was horrible. And only God can do that, and he's worked good out of it.

So how can I really look back and say, "Well, I really wish that wouldn't have happened to me. I could have had a good life if that wouldn't have happened". No, I've got a better life because it did happen. But you have to have a proper attitude toward trials and difficulties and things you don't understand. And if we can just get it out of our head, that we have a right to understand everything. Well, why God why? Well, if it makes you feel better to get in a room and scream, "Why God why"? And pound on pillows, have at it. But also know when you go in there that you may come out without an answer.

Sometimes we can think we've got the right answer. It's something that soothes us, and then we find out we were wrong after all. I spent many of my early years in my relationship with God asking why? And finally had to realize my questions were adversely affecting my relationship with God. If you wanna grow in faith, then somewhere along the line you have to stop asking why and trying to figure everything out. How many of you are "Why" people? I love it when people don't wanna admit to something. I bet if I said, "How many of you want a financial blessing"? You could've got that hand up. You know, all the years that my dad was abusing me, I prayed that God would deliver me, and he didn't.

And I eventually got some answers, but there's still parts of it that I just don't understand, probably never will understand, you know. My mother could've helped the situation, but she was too cowardly to do anything about it. So, I went to other relatives, and they didn't wanna get involved. So, you know, human beings have a lot of power. Because we have free will, we can contribute to some very awful things out of fear and other situations. You know Jesus suffered. He suffered rejection. He suffered abandonment, disappointment with people, injustice, physical pain, feeling that God had forsaken him.

Sometimes we think, "God, where did you go"? And even Jesus on the cross said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me"? He knew in his spirit that he had not been forsaken, but in his humanity, he felt that he had been. But here's what we get from what Jesus went through. "We do not have a high priest who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liabilities to the assaults of temptation, but we have one who has been tempted in every respect, just like we are yet without sinning". So see, now we start to see the "Why". Maybe God didn't tell us "Why" over here.

Well, why, after asking God three times not to make him drink that cup of suffering, did God say no? Well, now we have a high priest who understands everything that we go through. There's nothing you can go through that he hasn't gone through, or hasn't touched him. And he became our high priest. Jesus became our high priest and suffered in all respects, just as we do, so that he might understand our weaknesses and become our faithful high priest. You know, our perspective is gonna be very, very different when we get to heaven. Just imagine what we're gonna, we're gonna go, "How stupid it was for me to worry all that time, or how ridiculous of me".

You know, when job took God to task and started demanding answers, God finally got tired of it and took him on. And if you read the last few chapters of job, it's actually pretty entertaining. Where were you when I did this? And where were you when I did that? You know. It takes a much greater faith to have unanswered questions to things that seem so unjust and unfair, and yet continue trusting in and loving God than it does to have all the answers and no problems. Our goal is to have all the answers and no problems, but you're not gonna get it. Tell you a secret, you're not gonna get it.

Psalm 131, David said, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor are my eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or too wonderful for me". So, what's he saying? You know, some of these things are above me, I'm not even gonna get into 'em. I'm not even gonna try to figure it out. You know, the Bible says that even creation is groaning, waiting for the redemption of the sons and daughters of God. I sometimes feel like I can feel the groaning in the earth today. It's like, I don't know, spring is always like a promise coming true.

You know, everything is so dead in the winter. I've got a bush outside the window where I work out, and I took a picture of it because last winter, everything had come off except one little flower petal, and I thought it was kind of funny because I thought that's the way we are. Man, we hang on. That one was not gonna give up, give it up, it's like, "I'm hanging on". And now, I look out there, it's just two or three months later, and it's all green and got these little white snowballs all over it. And it's like, every spring is like a promise of redemption in our lives. No matter how dead things look, they can be brought back to life, amen? And no matter what you've gone through, you can have joy, you can have peace. No matter how many people have hurt you, there's other people that love you. Don't let yourself get bitter.

We have a promise in Revelation 21:4, that, "God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death will be no more, neither shall there be any anguish (sorrow, or mourning) nor grief nor pain anymore, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away". The Bible doesn't tell us as much about heaven as I would like to know, but it does tell us that there will be no crying, no tears, no pain. We won't need artificial light because Jesus will be our light. It's gonna be an atmosphere of perfect love. Just imagine we're all going to really love each other. Like really love each other. And we're all gonna be perfected. Won't that be nice? We'll get a glorified body. Our calories don't count.

And Paul, he calls the things that he was going through, this light momentary affliction, in 2 Corinthians 4:17. And I mean, this guy was beaten, jailed, starved, you know, everything you can imagine. And he says, "For our light momentary affliction". And it is momentary, because compared to eternity, it's nothing. And I'll tell you, sometimes you think time goes so slowly, but I'll tell you before you know it, your life is gone. I mean, I look at my life and I can't believe that I'm as old as I am. And how many years will I be here? I don't know. I may be mean and live to be a hundred. I don't know. Just to aggravate the devil. But don't waste your days worrying and being upset and trying to figure out things that are beyond you.

John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came that you might have and enjoy your life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)". And it's a decision that you have to make. You can't just hope it happens. You can be joyful on purpose. You can trust God on purpose. "What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in you". Sometimes it's good to look at all the places where David said, "I will". "This is the day the Lord has made: I will rejoice and be glad". We have a will. You ever had a broken heart? You know what? Jesus heals the brokenhearted. We have hope. In Christ, we always have hope. And hope is a confident expectation that something good is about to happen. I love that.

And 1 Peter 1:3 says, "Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By his boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope". I love that. In the Old Testament, it says, "If you become a prisoner of hope, God will give you double anything that you lost". Like I said, there's no scriptures that promise that we'll never have any pain. But there's abundance of scriptures that promise us restoration. Let me just read you a few of these. Isaiah 61:7, "Instead of your former shame you'll have a twofold recompense". That word means a reward. "Instead of dishonor and reproach your people shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double what they forfeited: and everlasting joy shall be theirs".

Everybody say, "I'm gonna get double for my trouble". Joel 2:25, "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts have eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you". Job 42:10, "And the Lord turned the captivity of job and restored his fortunes, and when he prayed for his friends: also, the Lord gave job twice as much as he had before". Focus on these promises, not all your unanswered questions. What about the hope of healing? Anybody ever been sick? I've gone through a lot of physical things in my life, and I'm looking at different people in here that I know some of the physical things that you've gone through, and yet here you are today, just as perky as you can be.

And I've had a lot of healing in my life. I've gone through a lot of things, but God always comes through for me. There may be something else coming, but you get enough experience with God, you get to the point where you're not afraid of those things, because you know that God will eventually work it out for good. Jeremiah 30:17 says, "I will restore health to you". And you know, if you're watching today and you're sick, take this as a promise from God for you.

"'I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds,' says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'this is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!'" Well, God cares, and he wants you and he says, "I will restore health to you". Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me"? There's nothing that you're going through that's too hard for God. "All things are possible with God," and he's faithful, and you can trust him.

It may take longer than you think it should. He's usually not early, but he'll never be late. It may seem to you like he's being late, or like he's asleep in the bottom of the boat during the storm, like with the disciples, but he always knows exactly what's going on. And he's always got you on his mind. And he's got a plan for you. And if you will stick with God, the devil will not win. Amen? Well, thank you for watching today, and I hope that your trust is growing in God, and that the next time you have anything happen that you don't understand, that you will not waste your time trying to figure it out, but you can, instead of saying, "Why God why"? You can say, "God, I trust you. I know you love me, and I trust you". Thank you for being with us today, and we'll see you next time.