Trusting God When You Feel Forsaken

“All my close friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned against me.”

JOB 19:19

 

PONDER THIS

Can you trust God when others forsake you? Maybe you’re going through that right now. Has your husband forsaken you? Have your children abandoned you? Has a trusted friend or a business associate turned on you? The devil says, “Yes, let that happen to them. God, they’ll curse You to Your face.” But that wasn’t true for Job.

Perhaps you’re a preacher, and your church has turned on you. Perhaps the pulpit committee that called you to the church now wants you to leave, and the reason is that you’re just preaching the Gospel. Don’t think that if you preach the Gospel, the world’s going to love you. The same world that hated Jesus is going to hate you. You can get in trouble for preaching the Gospel. Sometimes, your closest associates, the people you take counsel with, even in the house of God, will turn against you. You’d better trust God when friends forsake you.

When was a time you felt forsaken by friends?

How is God your ever-present friend, even in the darkest moments?

PRACTICE THIS

Write a list of ways God is a faithful friend and worthy of trust in every season.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Trusting God in the Storm

“Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.” 

JOHN 6:16-17

 

PONDER THIS

It is a shallow theology that says if we’re in the will of God, we’re always going to sail smoothly on the sea of life. We’ll have no sickness, no sorrow, no disappointment, and know no separation. There will be no death in our families. There will be no problems. This is the gospel of cash, Cadillacs, and tranquility, often known as the prosperity gospel. Friend, there’s a Greek word for that, and it’s baloney.

We are going to have difficulty. And the first thing you can say when difficulty comes is that God’s providence is over it all. We are governed by His providence. God’s wonderful plan is in effect, no matter what. In today’s passage, Jesus constrained the disciples to go into a storm. They were in this storm because of the providence of God.

What storms are you currently facing?

How might you trust God’s providence regardless of your circumstances?

PRACTICE THIS

List out truths about God that you can trust even as you face the storms of life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Faith Honors Him Whom It Trusts

No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God. (Romans 4:20)

Oh, how I long for God to be glorified in our pursuit of holiness and love. But God is not glorified unless our pursuit is empowered by faith in his promises.

And the God who revealed himself most fully in Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25), is most glorified when we embrace his promises with joyful firmness because they are bought by the blood of his Son.

God is honored when we are humbled for our feebleness and failure, and when he is trusted for future grace. That’s the point of Romans 4:20 where Paul describes Abraham’s faith, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God.”

He grew strong in his faith, thus giving glory to God. Faith in God’s promises glorifies him as supremely wise and strong and good and trustworthy. So, unless we learn how to live by faith in the promises of God’s future grace, we may perform remarkable religious rigors, but not for God’s glory.

He is glorified when the power to be holy comes through humble faith in future grace.

Martin Luther said, “[Faith] honors him whom it trusts with the most reverent and highest regard, since it considers him truthful and trustworthy.” The trusted Giver gets the glory.

My great desire is that we learn how to live for God’s honor. And that means living by faith in future grace, which, in turn, means battling unbelief in all the ways it rears its head.

John Piper 

Trusting God Through Suffering

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.” JOB 13:15

 

PONDER THIS

There are a lot of people who have a wrong theology of suffering today. They get on television and give this message: “If you get right with God, you’re going to be healthy, and you’re going to be wealthy. It’s cash, comfort, and Cadillacs—you’ll have it all. Oh, by the way, just send me a little money, and you can have it all.” There’s a lot of that going on. Have you noticed that? The idea is that the only reason you suffer is that you’ve done wrong. That you can get everything right, believe in God and have anything you want. There’s just one thing wrong with that philosophy—it’s not true. Some of God’s choicest of saints have suffered, most of all God’s own Son, Jesus.

When have you heard the idea that if you do everything right, God will save you from suffering?

What is tempting about this way of thinking? What is wrong with it?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of biblical examples of righteous people who suffered.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Trusting God with What Matters Most

“Concluding that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he [Abraham] also received him in a figurative sense.” HEBREWS 11:19

 

PONDER THIS

Abraham took Isaac and started up Mount Moriah to offer his son. How was he able to do that? Hebrews 11:19 says he was “concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.” In Abraham’s mind, Isaac was dead for three days. From the day that God said, “Abraham, take him and offer him,” until the day that Abraham got him back, he considered his son dead. In this way, Abraham received Isaac from the dead.

Now, what is the Gospel that you and I preach? Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and was raised again on the third day. (See 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.) God the Father received Jesus back literally. In this, we see that Isaac prefigured Jesus.

How are you encouraged in your faith when you see examples like Isaac, who pointed to the coming work of Jesus?

Why do examples like this matter in our faith and life?

PRACTICE THIS

List any other examples you know from the Old Testament where events or individuals foreshadowed the life of Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When to Stop Asking

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” MATTHEW 7:7

 

PONDER THIS

When should you stop asking, stop seeking, and stop knocking about a particular matter? There are three reasons to stop. Number one, you stop asking when you have what you asked for; when God gives it to you, you don’t have to keep on asking. Number two, you stop asking when, though you don’t have the answer in your hand, you have the answer in your heart. I had a very big prayer that God put in my heart once. But God said, “Now Adrian, you’re asking Me to do something I’m not going to do, but what you really need is this, and I’ve heard your prayer.” I didn’t have what I requested in my hand, but I had it in my heart. Thirdly, you stop asking when God says no. Paul asked God to take away a thorn in the flesh. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Sometimes God simply says no, and we must trust Him.

Is there anything you need to stop asking for?

Is there anything you need to start asking for?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of the most pressing things you pray for regularly. Ask God to show you if He’s already answered in one of the forms we considered today. Respond in obedience to Him.

LWF Dr, Adrian Rogers 

Trusting the God Your Mind Cannot Hold

“To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. ACTS 10:43

 

PONDER THIS

True faith goes beyond evidence and becomes its own best evidence. If you try to figure God out, you will die and go to Hell without having God figured out. Nothing will hold anything beyond its own capacity. In other words, you can’t put two gallons of liquid in a one-gallon jug. Do you think that you can cram God into your mind? Your mind doesn’t have the capacity to contain God. For God to be worth of worship, He must be greater than our mentality. If we could understand God fully and know everything about Him, we wouldn’t need God. The good news is we don’t have to understand Him to know Him.

When I was a little boy, my dad used to go off to work. I didn’t know where he went or what he did, but I knew he was my dad, and I knew him personally, and I loved him. You don’t have to understand how God runs the mighty Universe to put your faith and trust in Him. Someone once asked Mrs. Albert Einstein, “Do you understand the theory of relativity?” She said, “No, but I understand Dr. Einstein.” Even though it is impossible to understand Him fully, by faith you can know the Lord Jesus Christ.

What are some ways you have sought to understand God fully?

How has this brought you frustration or disappointment?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out several things you don’t understand about God. Take time to review this list and thank God that you can know Him, even though you cannot fully comprehend Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

He Knows Your Need

“Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31–32)

Jesus wants his followers to be free from worry. In Matthew 6:25–34, he gives at least seven arguments designed to take away our anxiety. One of them lists food and drink and clothing, and then says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:32).

Jesus must mean that God’s knowing is accompanied by his desiring to meet our need. He is emphasizing we have a Father. And this Father is better than any earthly father.

I have five children. I love to meet their needs. But my knowing falls short of God’s knowing in at least three ways.

First, right now I don’t know where any of my children are. I could guess. They’re in their homes or at work or school, healthy and safe. But they might be lying on a sidewalk with a heart attack.

Second, I don’t know what is in their heart at any given moment. I can guess from time to time. But they may be feeling some fear or hurt or anger or lust or greed or joy or hope. I can’t see their hearts. They don’t even know their own hearts perfectly.

Third, I don’t know their future. Right now they may seem well and steady. But tomorrow some great sorrow may befall them.

This means I can’t be for them a very strong reason not to worry. There are things that may be happening to them now, or may happen tomorrow, that I do not even know about. But it is totally different with their Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven! He knows everything about us, where we are, now and tomorrow, inside and out. He sees every need.

Add to that, his huge eagerness to meet our needs. Remember the “much more” of Matthew 6:30, “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?”

Add to that his complete ability to do what he is eager to do (he feeds billions of birds hourly, around the world, Matthew 6:26).

So join me in trusting the promise of Jesus to meet our needs. That’s what Jesus is calling for when he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

John Piper 

Wipe Your Fears Away

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3)

One possible response to the truth that our anxiety is rooted in unbelief goes like this: “I have to deal with feelings of anxiety almost every day; and so I feel like my faith in God’s grace must be totally inadequate. So I wonder if I can have any assurance of being saved at all.”

My response to this concern is: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy, who doesn’t want you to finish the race, throws mud on your windshield. The fact that you temporarily lose sight of your goal and start to swerve does not mean that you are going to quit the race.

And it certainly doesn’t mean that you are on the wrong racetrack. Otherwise, your competitor — your adversary — wouldn’t bother you at all. What it means is that you should turn on your windshield wipers.

When anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God’s glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked.

At first blow, our belief in God’s promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether, by grace, we set in motion a process of resistance — whether we fight back against the unbelief of anxiety. Will we turn on the windshield wipers?

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike. It tells us how to turn on the windshield wipers.

John Piper 

Our Unspeakable Privilege

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)

One implication of the magnificent name, I AM WHO I AM, is that this infinite, absolute, self-determining God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ.

In John 8:56–58 Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders. He says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Could Jesus have taken any more exalted words upon his lips? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am,” he took up all the majestic truth of the name of God, wrapped it in the humility of servanthood, offered himself to atone for all our rebellion, and made a way for us to see the glory of this infinite, absolute, all-sufficient God — without fear.

In Jesus Christ we who are born of God have the unspeakable privilege of knowing Yahweh as our Father — I AM WHO I AM — the God

who exists

whose personality and power is owing solely to himself

who never changes

from whom all power and energy in the universe flows

and to whom all creation should conform its life.

May those who know the name of God put their trust in him (Psalm 9:10).

John Piper 

Satan Sails a Sinking Ship

“They fought from the heavens; the stars from their courses fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon swept them away, that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength!”

JUDGES 5:20-21

 

PONDER THIS

What does the phrase, “The stars from their courses fought against Sisera” mean? It means the fight was fixed. Sisera did not have a chance because God gave the victory. Sin can’t win and faith can’t fail. The whole Universe is against the person who is against God. All of creation is for God, and all of creation lives in submission to God and His created order.

Don’t ever get the idea that you can sin successfully. Don’t ever get the idea that you can trust in God in vain. God lined the stars up behind Barak. God lined the whole Universe behind him. Satan sails a sinking ship. Satan rules a doomed domain.

As the Psalmist says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7). Believing this transforms how we see success. Success is finding out which way God is moving and joining Him. This changes the way we pursue our dreams and think about the future, and even the way we pray. We stop trying to see things from a perspective of primarily what we want and start to see things considering what He is doing. We go to Him for direction instead of finding our own way.

What does success look like through a God-honoring view?

How have you defined success in the past? How is that different from God’s perspective? What would it look like to pursue godly success in the future?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to God and ask Him to lead you in His success and direction.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Hidden Hand of God

“Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, ‘The Lord be with you!’ And they answered him, ‘The Lord bless you!’ Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’ So the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered and said, ‘It is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.’” RUTH 2:3-6

 

PONDER THIS

God was with Ruth and Naomi in their journey. I want you to see the hand of God in all of this. When did they get back to the land? Just in time for the barley harvest. This is not by accident. The harvest is going on there. And then she goes into the fields to glean, and whose field does she get into? She simply goes to a field, and it’s the field of Boaz, her near kinsman. You can see the hidden hand of God.

And then when she’s there in the field of Boaz, who happens to visit his fields at just that moment? Boaz himself. Ruth had gone through so much. She was broken and bankrupt. She was bruised and beaten. She was cursed and crushed. Did God do all of that out of cruelty? No, as you learn the bigger picture, you see God had a sovereign plan in it all.

When a craftsman works, he sees the big picture from the start. Has it seemed like you’re a nail and a hammer is coming out of somewhere, beating on you? Does it seem like you are a piece of metal, and a file is gnawing and scraping and reducing you? Remember that God holds the nail and the hammer. God holds the metal and the file. It is God who is crafting this story, and He knows what He is doing.

What are some things that have felt like mistakes in your life? How can you see God’s sovereignty when you reflect on those things?

What are the things in your story that are hard to trust God with right now?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and be honest with God about how you are struggling to trust His sovereignty.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

All Honey and No Bees?

“And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

GENESIS 12:8-10

 

PONDER THIS

God tested Abraham several times. God did not test him to make him fall but to reveal some weaknesses and flaws. Our faith will also be tested at times. The famine Abraham encountered was in the land of Canaan, the promised land. He was exactly where God had told him to go. What’s the lesson for us? Sometimes we have the idea that when we serve God, obey God, and live by God, we’re going be free from all testing and trials—there’s going to be all honey and no bees—but that is not true. There are trials and heartaches even in the land of milk and honey.

Many people get married with this idea also. They think it’s all going to be sweet, wonderful, and all romance. Then they face testing and trials, and they wonder what has gone wrong. Maybe nothing has gone wrong. All couples will face challenges. A wise man once asked, “Have you ever thought about what Noah’s Ark must’ve smelled like on the inside? You couldn’t stand the stench on the inside if it weren’t for the storm on the outside.” God’s way is not the absence of the trials but His presence with you in the trials.

What are some things you have gone through that made you question if God was with you?

How does God’s presence with you in the trials of life change how you think, feel, and act during those trials?

PRACTICE THIS

Seek to glorify God by supporting and encouraging a friend who is going through a trying time right now.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Greatest Responsibility in Our Country

“Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”

ROMANS 13:2-4

 

PONDER THIS

We all need to pray for our leaders. You may ask, “Should I pray for my leader if he’s wicked?” You should pray all the more for him. God can change a ruler, God can remove a ruler, and God can overrule a ruler. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

The greatest responsibility in America is not in the White House but in the church house. We’re to pray for our government. Pray for those who are in authority. We often resist this because we want to be the one in charge. We don’t want to pray because we want things done our way, but even our difference of opinion should not stop us in prayer. First Timothy 2:1-2 says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” Repeatedly in Scripture, we are called to trust God, even with leaders. Pray for them and don’t let it change your relationship with Him. This is a small part to play, but it is important to God, and it makes a difference…whether you feel like it or not.

Why is it important to pray for our leaders?

What are some ways you can pray for the leaders in your community, in your country, and in the world?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for the governmental leaders in your area, in your state, and in your country.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Looking at Life Through a Knothole

“. . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” EPHESIANS 1:4-5

 

PONDER THIS

Scripture talks about God having foreknowledge, but sometimes we get confused about that idea because we’re looking at it from a human vantage point. Can you imagine a little boy watching a parade through a knothole? He can’t get over the fence to see the parade, so he watches the parade pass from this limited perspective. But then suppose somebody takes the little guy and says, “Come, son, into my office building up here, and we’ll look over the wall from ten stories.” The little guy can see the parade as it’s forming down here. He can see it as it’s dispersing down here, and he can see everything in between because he has a different vantage point.

We are limited. We’re looking at life through a knothole. Do you understand that? The events pass by, and we experience the waves of emotions as they occur. But God sees it all. God inhabits eternity. God sees the beginning, the middle, and the end. God sees it all at one time.

The reason we often get confused is we try to put God in a box. God is God. We can only see how He works by looking through the knothole. We don’t see as He does, from eternity.

Have you recognized you have a limited perspective compared with God?

How does God’s understanding of eternity help you trust Him? What are some things you don’t understand about God that you need to surrender to Him?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a mentor or trusted friend about the questions you have about God and ask him or her to pray with you for greater trust in Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why Doesn’t God Just Destroy Evil Now?

“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

ROMANS 8:11

 

PONDER THIS

Love is the highest good, but forced love is a contradiction. Forced love is not love at all. In order to love, we must be free to love, to choose to love, and in order to choose to love, we have to be able to choose not to love. So, God gave us the choice. And Adam and Eve chose not to listen to God. They didn’t trust Him; they trusted their way instead. Now, that sinful nature has been passed down to us from generation to generation.

So why doesn’t God just destroy evil? Why doesn’t God just step in, obliterate the devil, and eradicate all sin? Why doesn’t God go into every cancer ward and empty them out? Why doesn’t God take away the curse from nature? Why doesn’t God make it impossible for people to sin? We’re right back to the original question. If God were to destroy evil, God would destroy every opportunity of choice, and if God would destroy every opportunity for choice, then God would destroy every opportunity for love, the highest good. God knows His plan and He is taking care of the problem of evil whether we feel like it or not. He has taken care of it through Christ and will put an end to evil once and for all when Christ returns.

What are some of the evils of the world that challenge you?

How does it encourage you to know God is taking care of the problem of evil? How can you trust Him to take care of the struggles of your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Praise God for resolving the problem of evil perfectly and completely in His timing.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Drop the Anvils

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” MATTHEW 6:25-27

 

PONDER THIS

Many of us believe living the Christian life means doing the best we can with God’s help. The problem is, that isn’t the Christian life. Our Lord does not want a place in your life. He doesn’t want prominence in your life. He demands and deserves preeminence. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Before you tell me it won’t work, I’m going to ask, have you tried it? Don’t tell me it won’t work if you are not a person who has obeyed the Lord. Your Father in Heaven knows what you need. Our Lord is saying, “Seek me, and I’ll take care of all of these things that are bothering you.” God is more than able to take care of the things in your life.

I heard one story about a man who fell through his boat into the muddy river, so he cried “Help!” He went under a second time, came up and yelled, “Help!” He went under the third time and came up and said, “If somebody doesn’t come help me, I’m going to have to drop one of these anvils I’m holding!” I think some of us are like that. We’ve got a load of care under one arm, and a load of care under the other arm, and we’re wondering, “Why am I sinking?” He is ready to take care of every need and worry when you come to Him.

What are some worries you are carrying? How has worry affected you?

What would it look like to seek God in all things, including the things you worry about?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a Christian you look up to, asking how he or she has grown in trust in God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

More Than a Roadmap

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

PROVERBS 3:5-6

 

PONDER THIS

God’s plan for your life is not a road map; it is a relationship. I’m glad God doesn’t just write out a plan, seal it, hand it to us, and say, “This is what you’re going to do the next fifty years.” How boring, or maybe how frightening, that would be. Every time you come into a new situation, acknowledge God in that situation. Say, “Lord, what do You want me to do here?”

There is a wonderful preacher who was extremely gifted in engineering, so he decided, “I am going to be an engineer, make money, and give it to missions.” That would’ve been fine if that’s what God had called him to do. But God had not called him to do that, and in his heart, he knew he was running from God. He got deathly ill, and his father wrote to him, “Tis but one life, will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” God used that to pierce his heart and led him to pray, “Anywhere, anytime, any cost.”

Can you say that? You may be afraid that if you close your eyes and open your mouth, He’ll put something in there you don’t want. If that’s the case, you just really don’t trust Him! As we trust Him, we can be sure He will guide us for good.

Who in your life displays great trust in God?

What are some areas in which you struggle to trust and acknowledge God?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things you hope for the New Year. Submit these before God in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Your Appointment with The Wonderful Counselor

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

MATTHEW 11:28-30

 

PONDER THIS

When people come to me for counsel, I can’t solve their problems. So, I try to lead them to the One who can solve their problems, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t want them dependent upon me; I want them to know Jesus. He is the Counselor. There is wisdom in His name. He became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. (See 1 Corinthians 1:30).

Are you experiencing a problem right now, and don’t know the way out? You don’t know what to do. Every answer seems wrong. I want to recommend my Counselor to you: His name is Jesus.

There is wisdom in His name. He will guide you when you don’t know what to do. He will walk with you when you feel alone. Not only is there wonder and wisdom in His name, but there is worship in that name. All things belong to Him. He made everything. Billions of suns came from His hand when He spoke. Oceans dripped from His fingers. This little planet earth is a speck in the galaxy—just a speck. And yet He made it. If He created all these things, surely His way is better than our way, which has such a limited perspective. We can worship Him, and He will lead us in the way everlasting.

What is something you need God’s counsel about now?

How does God’s sovereignty over all things help you trust Him in the hard situations of life?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage a friend to seek God’s counsel instead of only seeking human advice. Ask the Wonderful Counselor to show you the path you should take and trust in His perfect plan.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Trusting God’s Higher Ways in Dark Days

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” ISAIAH 55:8-9

 

PONDER THIS

How many of you would like the Spirit of glory and God to rest on you? How many of you want a fiery trial? Many of us cringe at the thought of trials. We do not want troubles or hardship, but what if those trials could be the Spirit at work in and through us? Stephen was stoned for the testimony of Jesus Christ, but while he was being stoned, the Bible says that his face shone like the face of an angel. The Spirit of glory and of God was on him. When those three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were in the fiery furnace and the old king looked in there and said, “We only threw three dudes in there. I see four, and ‘the fourth is like the Son of God’” (see Daniel 3:25). The Spirit of glory was there with them.

Now, if your trouble, your heartache, your pain, causes you to know this glory, then for God’s glory, can you not thank God for it?

When we face hardship, there are some things we’ll never know. There are some things that some preachers may never be able to explain to you. Why? Because God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” He can work in ways that don’t make sense to us. He can use things that we could never imagine or never want to happen to bring us back to relying on Him.

What does it look like to trust God in the trials you face?

How have you seen God at work in trials you have faced or witnessed

PRACTICE THIS

Ask a friend to share a testimony about how he or she has seen God at work in a trial.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers