TD Jakes - Can God Trust You With Trouble? (02/17/2017)
In this Christmas message, the preacher reflects on the troubled reality of the first Christmas—Mary's unexpected pregnancy, Joseph's doubt, and the messy birth in a stable—teaching that true favor from God often comes wrapped in frustration, confusion, and trials, challenging believers to trust God and endure when life is complicated.
The Real First Christmas: Trouble and Trials
This is the Christmas season. There is no doubt about that but the first Christmas was not filled with shopping malls and carts and long lines and coupons and getting on the internet. It was filled with trouble and tests and trials and I want to ask you, whether you are celebrating or frustrated. Can God trust you with trouble? Take a look at this.
Almost titled this message mother wit because I now realize that it is the remaining nectar of truth that has survived through the struggles of life. It is essence and aroma permeates the soul of the student and stays with you even after your mother wit is gone because her wisdom is the nectar and the composite of what she learned through the adversity and the things of life. You cannot have it at 15. You cannot have mother wit at 20. You cannot have mother wit—it is what is left. It is what works.
A Personal Lesson in Mother Wit
No matter what you tried. Your conclusion, what you come up with and I almost called this mother wit. My wife taught me a lesson. One of the problems that after her surgery she had a herniated disc in two different locations and her left arm and hand were not working properly and she had lost all feeling and sensation in her extremities. She could move it a bit but could not feel anything when she touched it and had problems moving it so we were praying about it and she went in and had the surgery.
All the kids—we have the kind of family when one of us is in trouble, everyone huddles. Huddle. Yeah. If you jump on one of us right now, you really got to be awesome because everyone is going to dive in and ask what happened later. It is old school. Does not happen much now but we huddle. We attack things together and survive things together so when my wife came out of surgery I prayed before she went in and she came out of surgery in the recovery room and the intensive care area.
I Can Feel My Children Again
Anesthesiologist walked out and she is coming out and she came out praising God and thanking God and glorifying God. And once she got herself together and we spent a few moments all the kids came around the bed so all the kids and me are around the bed and this was one of the life lessons I will never forget. I cannot articulate it like she did. All the children around the bed and my wife is weeping and she is just thanking God she has come through the surgery okay and the children are gathered around the bed and she reached out and started touching them on the hand and on the face.
She is just touching all over them and she was crying and she said I can feel my children again. And I mean we had this moment that I know is a moment I will never forget the rest of my life. It is a teaching moment. Not the sort of thing most men would do—had we regained consciousness we would appreciate the support of the family and friends but my wife was touching all the children and I knew she was remembering, touching them before and feeling them in her body in a way she went somewhere I could not go and she was crying. She said oh, I can feel my children. Again and I step back because this was a mother moment. You could not touch it. It was just somewhere else. I was in awe at the bond. I got my feel in though. Put my face out there too. Feel me. I am right here.
Understanding Femininity and Expectation
There are times I have a tendency as a man to be insensitive to certain things related to femininity and she will have to teach me and I become a student. One of those things the whole nexus of giving birth. And wanting to give birth and the whole process is something that I see through a glass darkly. I have never wanted to be pregnant. But there is something inside me living and kicking makes me sick. I just—I cannot see what it is about that your stomach moving around because there is a body in front of you. That is a guy thing but she had to help me understand why that would be wonderful and how your body changes and your attitude changes and there is a bonding that takes place and there is a loving that begins before birth.
There is an excitement there that you know, I was there when you all were born. I was excited. I was for you. I was hoping you come out alright. Cheering you on. Listen to bababhababa here come another one. For those of you that let us you know the contractions is coming. I tell everyone we were having a baby. You know how we do. We having a baby. But that was not true. She was having baby. I was eating the hospital food. Yeah. Yeah. Expectations are everything. They are just, it is amazing when you have this expectation and it is an exciting moment.
Mary's Interrupted Plans
That is why I chose the Virgin Mary to teach today. Because she is having this girl moment and I am going to do a guy's rendition of a girl's moment. Getting ready to get married. You all turn into somebody else when you get married. Ugly women look good when they get married. There is a thing about them. Rose buds pop out and stardust in their eyes and they are running around all over the place. Girl, I am getting married. She is engaged to Joseph planning her wedding.
If you want to make God laugh, tell Him what you got planned. And in the process of planning for this special day with this special person with your special friends an interruption occurs. God will interrupt your plans. He does not care how much money you spent, how long you dreamed, how you envisioned you have everything set up and then when I am 22 and by the time I am 28 and then I will be right here. And you frame it how it is going to go and He will knock it all over the floor.
Favor Wrapped in Frustration
Angel comes in and says Mary you have been highly favored amongst women. That is good. That is good news. Wonderful. I got favor. Favor. Hmm... Yeah. Been highly favored you shall bring forth a son. I planned that. After I get married I am going to have a child. It is going to happen when it is crazy not convenient. I thought you said I was favored? Um... I am going to be like pregnant? Like the first woman with an unexplainable pregnancy? How—um... The Bible says she pondered these things in her heart.
God says stuff that makes you think. He takes you through things that you do not talk about. You ponder them in your heart. Why did I come up the way I came up? Why did I go through what I went through? Why are we relocating? Why am I out of a job after 20 years? I am the only one that has ever asked God why. God does things that are confusing. He does some things that are confusing. There are some things that are unexplainable. He puts your life in crazy ways.
How can you tell this girl she has favor and when I leave you are going to be pregnant and they are going to be looking at you and you are going to be riding back of a donkey with no place to stay. Birth your baby in a barn. How is that favor? If you are not careful we have a tendency to process things. This is good. That is bad. This is good. That is bad. This is a good job. That is a bad job. This is a good house, that is a bad house. This is a good person. That is a bad person.
Life's Paradoxes
As long as you think it will rally about life you will be confused because life is quite paradoxical. If you meet somebody bad you find out they have good qualities. And if you get around somebody that you think is really good and you hang around close enough. Your philosophies are blown away over who is good and bad because sometimes the person you thought was bad and the person you thought was good would not. And you learn not to be so cynical and critical and so conclusive and premature in your understanding to think you know so much. It takes all of your life to figure out life.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should I be happy or cry? I am confused. We, we, we celebrate when they come and cry when they leave but the Bible says that backwards. The Bible said we should cry when they come and celebrate when they leave. Have you ever been crying about something you should have been shouting about? Or shouting about something you should have been crying about and it took you ten years to realize the thing that you cried about brought you the most joy and the thing that you were excited about brought all kinds of hell in your life? I am just saying. I am just saying. I am just saying.
Hold your wisdom for a while because wisdom works slow. Do not be so quick to tell everyone what will be because you might not be as smart as you think you are. You may have misdiagnosed a moment. God said you have been highly favored and right after his exodus, she has to go tell Joseph, um... Honey? Um... I am not going to be able to wear that gown.
Tests Before Triumph
And now you go into the test that comes before triumph and the frustrations that come before favor. Because her boyfriend says, I am out. I am going to walk out quietly. I am done. I am not going to the country club and tell my friends at the golfing tournament that my girlfriend is pregnant with the Holy Ghost. I am out. I am just out. I am just out.
Whenever God does something you do not understand you have a tendency to want to back out. But the real truth of the matter is, life is designed to try your staying power. Your staying power. Are you having been able to stand? Can you stand when you do not understand? When favor wears the clothes of frustration adorned with the jewelry of failure and you question in your own mind, if I am favored, why am I pregnant on the back of a donkey in the hot Palestinian heat looking for a place to stay to give birth to a holy child that ends up born in a dirty place?
The Complicated Birth of Jesus
And so it was the Bible says with the birth of Jesus. It was an oxymoron. Holy Child born in a horrible place. Espoused to a virgin. Joseph is espoused to a virgin who is pregnant by a Ghost. And in the midst of planning for the wedding now we are planning for divorce and now the life has all become discombobulated because it is no longer smooth sailing or predictable. It is not black or white or right or wrong. Up or down. In or out. It is complicated.
If you ever told your life story. Great woman and wonderful woman. It is complicated. I had a good childhood but it is complicated. Well that part right there, um... Well I am strong about most things but—life is complicated. The virgin teaches us how to be consistent when life is complicated. How to be steadfast and abounding in the purpose of God. While you are confused and pondering in your heart what in the world is going on in my life?
And then, when I think about it, I think if you are going to bring your son in the world for the first time, God, why is he not born in a palace? Escorted by angels and an environment like that? Why would you choose the opposite? The messy. Christ the Lord is born in a messy relationship by a couple on the run and a pregnant sweating woman gives birth to a holy child and does not even have any cloths to wrap around him and takes the milk rags with the sour milk expelled from the cows and wraps the milk of the word in the milk of the cows. What you call swaddling cloths were milk rags laying around in the barn and God chose this method to make his entrance.
Favor Does Not Exclude Frustration
And you see, you can have favor. But that does not mean you do not have fear. You can have all the favor you want to but you are going to have some frustration. Do not you sit there for one moment with your pretty self acting like your life was a straight line of unchallenged successes. How dare you sit there beside your little sweet muffin and act like you were always right. I am right and he is wrong.
It is amazing counseling couples they come in your office and they have already decided who is right and wrong so they have predetermined scripts not knowing that everyone thinks they are right. And when you really begin to unravel it, both of them are a little bit right and a little bit wrong. And such is life. It is this complicated situation and the virgin Mary teaches us that you can be, you can have a visitation from an angel and still ride on a donkey. The Holy Ghost can come upon you, and you can still have no place to stay. But that which is within you can be conceived by the Holy Ghost and that which is around you can be demonic and angry and ready to give up and walk out the door and your job, should you choose to accept it is to survive it all.