Trusting in God When Life is Hard

Introduction

Well, good morning. Good morning. So wonderful to be with everybody again. So glad to see everyone, I assume, smiling. I’m going to hope that. So many things are so different and yet the same. The things that are different that stand out are, you can guess this one, the masks, a little bit different. It’s an improvement for some. Not so much for others. I’m glad to see everyone, at least as far as we can. Thankful for the great operation that goes on in live streaming service. What a blessing that is. And for all of you who are joining us on the live stream this morning, we love and appreciate you. Thankful to the guys up in the booth who take care of that, whether they’re here or out today, some are.

Thank you for doing so. I think the craziest thing that’s different to me is, and correct me if I’m wrong, Elijah has a girlfriend. Some things just you gotta see to believe. If you’re open with me in your Old Testament, though, to 2 Chronicles chapter 16. We recognize that this world is crazy. This life is forever different. I do think one thing out of 2020, for better or for worse, that has happened, is that the illusion of control in our lives has hopefully forever been shattered. They recognize that God has control and God alone. There’s no one else, no matter how good my life is going, no matter how poorly my life is going, it is not on me. Ultimately, God is in control. Do I have some obligations and choices to make along the way?

Of course. But recognize as long as God is in control and there is free will out there, I am not the master of my fate. Jesus had to die on the cross for my sins to make it possible for me to even understand what faith in God is, to understand and be able to taste those blessings that he offers. But what we find in 2 Chronicles chapter 16 is a good man. In fact, we’re going to look at a passage in 1 Kings 15 in a moment. But in 2 Chronicles chapter 16, we read about a king who’s kind of in one of those gray areas. We don’t like gray areas. We like things to be good, or we like things to be bad. Ace is mostly good, until you read this chapter.

Read with me in verse 1 of 2 Chronicles chapter 16. In the 36th year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben Hadad, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I’m sending to you silver and gold. Go break your covenant with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. And Bihad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Azhan, Dan, Abel, Miami, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Giba and Mizpah. And so we look at all that and we say, well, what’s going on there? You have Asa, king of Judah. And I remember in our Old Testament history, you have Israel to the north, that’s the biggest chunk of God’s people, and you have Judah to the south. And so they’re supposed to work together, even though they’re divided. We are still brothers, we’re still kinsmen, we all go back to Abraham. But they have a problem. And who is the problem? This is important to see.

1. Asa Did Not Rely on the Lord

In verse 1, Baasha, king of Israel, did what? He went up against Judah. So, not a surprise. Every king of Israel was wicked. Every king of Israel refused to do what God asked him to do as a whole. And so Israel is the problem. You know what we like to do when we see a problem? We like to place blame. Let’s be very clear. In 2 Chronicles 16, as this story starts, who is the problem? Israel. However, that does not change the fact that Judah has a response. They have an obligation to respond to this in some way, whether righteous or unrighteous, trusting in God or trying to fix it themselves. And of course, Asa picks option number two. In verse 2, he took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and he sent them to Ben Hadad, king of Syria.

And we say, this is a shrewd political move. Judah is small, their armies are small, Israel’s much bigger, has a much stronger army. So what do you do? You go to third party Syria, you get the biggest bully on the block, and they will protect you. Now, Old Testament history says that works approximately zero percent of the time overall. But Asa’s going to try it. It seems smart, it seems wise, but we left off in verse 7. Read with me there. At that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. We’re not the Ethiopians and the Libyans, a huge army of very many chariots and horsemen.

Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. You see, the problem of Asa was not that he acted as a king, not that he made a political calculation. It’s that verse 7, his calculation came without what primary focus. Will I trust in God to get me through? Now, as we think about our lesson this morning, we want to focus on trusting in God. And trusting in God when life is hard, because we have to realize two important points and caveats of life is that one, it is hard. And number two, what we see in verse 1 is true. There are people who are wronging us who are making it worse all the time. But to dwell on that doesn’t help anything, does it?

How often have you dwelt on something negative and said, you know, this really helped my outlook on life? This brought up my health, this brought up my mental well-being, this brought up everyone around me to be bitter and resentful because life or somebody is coming for me. You see, in Asa’s case, it didn’t matter that Israel was guilty, it mattered that he took a reaction that was inappropriate. He did not respond to God by trusting in him. And then we have to look at, well, why would that be? Because Asa is a good man. In fact, look with me in 1 Kings 15. I think this is important for us. To say, yes, we know we need to trust in God more. Yes, we know there’s people who don’t.

But Asa knew better. In fact, he did better. In 1 Kings 15, look with me there. We’re going to see he did good things, and I say good in the scriptural connotation, that he put God first, at least some of the time. In 1 Kings 15 and verse 9. In the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years. Now notice verse 11. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. This is a good, righteous king who followed a good, righteous model. And yet, verse 13, he also removed Makah’s mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Ashrah, and Asa cut down her image and bird at the brook Khadron.

But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days, and we immediately have a problem. Where do we leave off? Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. And yet in 2 Chronicles 16, this is just not true. God is going to speak to him through Han and I to search, and he doesn’t just do it once. Here’s a spoiler alert for two minutes down the road in our lesson. He does it again. He doesn’t trust in God when life is hard. So we recognize something about this that trust sounds easy. Scholastically, it’s an easy idea. Hey, trust in God. You know when it’s hard to hang on to trust in God?

When I’m the one who has to have the trust. When I’m the one who’s leading the people who are about to get obliterated by the much bigger army. When I’m the one who’s facing the tough diagnosis, how is it possible in verse 14 that he could be wholly true to the Lord all his days and yet be in trouble with God through his messenger Han and I for not trusting in him? That tells us two important lessons. Number one, good righteous people can struggle in trusting the better righteous God. This is a difficult thing. It sounds easy. It may feel easy when times are up, but when things and times are down, it’s a whole lot harder because we find out where our trust is in those moments of difficulty.

But number two, and this is perhaps more instructive and helpful for us. God looks at the whole picture. We have to make sure that we don’t microcosm in on one tiny microscopic moment and say, I’m just lost forever. Or I’m saved forever. But our life is a collection as a whole. Asa is viewed that way by the scripture. We are viewed that way by our God. Don’t get blinded. Don’t let Satan tell you this moment is all there is. If you’re faithful, I love you for it. I appreciate it. Let’s keep up the work. If I’m unfaithful the moment, let’s repent, let’s confess, let’s be better. We can do this. Asa’s heart was true to God, even though he did not rely on God in time of war.

In fact, he doesn’t just stop there. Go back to 2 Chronicles 16 with me, and then we’ll draw some applications in just a few minutes. He did not rely on God in time of war. Let’s remember that he is about to be crushed. Militarily, they have no way of standing up to this army. And yet that wasn’t God’s argument. He didn’t say, hey, your army was small, it’s okay. He explicitly says in verse 8, were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army, with very many chariots and horsemen. And yet, what did God do? He gave you victory because you relied on him. Verse 9 for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards him.

You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this, and Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. So you recognize that not only did he lack trust in God, but frankly, verse 10 doesn’t show a very righteous reaction. Good, righteous King Asa, who followed in the footsteps of David, he made mistakes too, just like, by the way, David did. Just like you and I can. And so as we look then at these texts, we see in verse 9 and 10, he did something foolish, and what was it? He was looking at an insurmountable obstacle, and what did he recognize?

He said, I can’t do this on my own. That’s a good lesson. As Jim said in the announcements, we cannot do this alone. We need help. The problem is, Asa said, This kingdom can help me. And you know what the problem with this kingdom is? They have just as much control over this life as I do. And they may be strong right now, but what did Israel learn in the lesson over and over again? These other nations were like a bruised staff. They would come back and they would cut themselves to save one war, they’d win the, they’d lose the next. And so then, as you consider this, you recognize Asa should learn from this. And yet in verse 11, he did not. In verse 11, the acts of Asa from first to last are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.

In the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the 41st year of his reign. I think it’s important to be realistic about this. It’s always easy to tell someone else, hey, Asa, you should have trusted in God more. Hey, you should be better about your faith. But when I’m the one facing the diagnosis, when I’m the one who’s facing the war, and I’m in charge of all these people who may die. The question isn’t what should I do? The question is what will my heart have already been trained to do. Do I look up or do I look within or to the side?

2. We Don’t Like to Give Up Control

The answer needs to be we need to set our mind on things above. We have to trust in God. So why is this a problem? If Asa is so good, let’s talk about this for a few minutes. Why is it so difficult to fully trust in the Lord? Why is it hard for us when we know God can take care of us? He told Asa, look, you’ve already seen the victory. I can I can overcome these odds. I separated the Red Sea. I did the ten plagues in Egypt. I gave you military victory, even though you did not earn it by your military might. Just rely on God. So why is it so hard for me? I think number one, we don’t like to give up control.

Look at me in Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. We don’t like to let someone else have the wheel. In Genesis chapter 12, look with me there. As you’re turning there, sometimes we’ve talked about this before, I believe, there’s the bumper sticker out there, and it says, God is my co-pilot. There’s a major issue with that because God is not a co-pilot. He is the pilot, or he’s not. We get on the plane and go where God directs us, or we take our own pathway. There is no split control. It’s God or it’s me. And we have to make that choice. In Genesis chapter 12, Abram had a difficult choice. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And we read that and we say, wow, that’s great. God’s going to give him all these blessings. This is a no-brainer. And it is. And then we read Hebrews chapter 11. Look with me there. Hebrews chapter 11. Here is the crux of the matter. Does God promise us great things? Yes. We can benefit from that familial promise. Through the seed of Abraham, all families of the earth will be blessed. That’s Jesus. We can have the forgiveness of our sins, but there’s a catch, you might call it.

And that catches faith. That catches trust. In Hebrews chapter 11, notice exactly what Abraham had to do in verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to go to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. My experience says there’s two types of people in this world. There’s people who like to have everything calculated, and there’s people who like to have nothing calculated. And the funny thing is those two people always find each other and they always get married. And then you have to plan a vacation. Doesn’t it sound fun? For those of you who are planners, raise your hand. Raise your hand if you’re a planner. Okay? You don’t like surprises.

We don’t like to see as we go. That would be me. I’m more of the planner. You’d like to know where we’re going, how long we’re going to be there, how much it’s going to cost, what we’re going to eat when we’re going to be there, what it’s going to smell like when we’re there. We want to know everything. No variables. We want to have it taken care of. And you know what the other people want? Crazy people don’t want any of that. They want surprises. This is hard for us. A lot of people, regardless of if you’re spontaneous or planned, organized, or spur of the moment, we recognize we want to be in charge of our decision making. We don’t want something unexpected to pop up.

Here’s Abraham called to go out to a place not even knowing where he was going. And you say, Well, this is a no-brainer. God told him to do that. Well, here’s some good news. God has told us where we’re going too. He’s promised that he will clear every obstacle we need, but we have to trust him and take the journey. We have to go. And so when we look around and we say that I wouldn’t do it this way, we say, okay, is God the pilot? Or am I? And the choice is do I want to go where God’s offering me? Or do I want to go where I can take myself? And that place is not to be with God. We struggle to give up control because it’s uncomfortable, it’s unnatural.

3. There Are Difficult Times That Come

I think the second reason we struggle to trust in the Lord is there are difficult times that come. Isn’t this exactly Asa’s story? When there was time of war and time of severe disease. Look at me, Matthew chapter 6. You see, Satan knows this. He knows that God has strong people. He has strong followers. Asa seemingly was a strong spiritual leader, which is pretty rare, frankly, in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And yet he got him. And he got him not by saying, Hey, I’m going to make this good man just stop trusting in God for no reason. I’m going to put pressure on him. I’m going to make him feel the weight of his people being under siege. I’m going to make him personally feel the weight of a disease and see where he relies.

See whom he trusts. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? Jesus says, do not worry. It’s interesting. He says, do not worry about your life. Do not be anxious, depending on your translation. And if you notice what he says, do not worry about.

It’s really not the things that I often struggle with. I struggle with worry, and I think some other people in the building here this morning and on the live stream probably struggle with worry. But how many of us are actually that worried about having clothes tomorrow? How many of us are that worried about having a place to live, something to eat? Some of us are. We need to take care of each other as a Christian brotherhood. But for a lot of us, our worries are a lot more high level, as we call them first world problems. And Jesus says, don’t even worry about these basic necessities. But why? As we keep reading in verse 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, oh you of little faith.

Therefore, 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. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Do you see the answer for us is the same as it was for Asa? Asa failed. Time of war, he went to Syria, and God said, You should have trusted in me. Why should Asa have trusted in God, according to Han and I in verse 7 and 8? I’ve already shown you, I will give you the victory. The Libyans were a huge army with very many horsemen and chariots. You should have trusted in me, I will give you victory.

And then here we are with us. And Jesus says, do not be anxious. This is a faith problem. When we worry about the things of this life, that God has already promised what? That he sees us. He knows who you are, he will take care of you, like he does the birds, like he does the grass. And what does verse 33 say? If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added to Jews. Not one, not two. Everything we need, our God will provide. That tells me two critical things. Number one, if you are feeling alone, if you’re feeling by yourself, please know God sees you. If God cares about blades of grass, if God cares about the birds, I tell you, He cares about you.

We are made in Genesis chapter 1. How? In the image of God. He cares for his people, he cares for our souls. Does that mean life is easy? No. Rob had a wonderful talk this morning. And we think about Jesus’ life. If the Son of God in our flesh is tortured, beaten, spat upon, and not followed in many degrees. What would life be like as his follower? Jesus does not promise in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25, hey, don’t worry, life’s going to be easy. He says, do not worry. God will provide for you. And by the way, what’s another reason not to worry? I love this one in verse 27. This is something I have to remember each and every day. Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life.

How many people here, raise your hand, if you have ever once worried about something and it’s consumed you and you’ve said, My life is so much better because of how much I worried about that. My family was having a hard time, but when we all got stressed out, when we all got tired, we all got upset. That made us reach clear thinking decisions. That helped us. It does the opposite. And Jesus knows that. He says, this in the end of verse 30, it’s a faith problem. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. And so what do we do in the meantime? Well, we have to remember that our God is in control. The God who parted the Red Sea, the God who gave victory to Israel, to Israel as a divided kingdom in the southern part, Judah as well.

4. God Alone Knows What We Truly Need

That’s our God. And he will give his people victory. We have to remember that. Times of difficulty will shake our faith. And here’s the other part of that equation. Not only does God know that this can happen, Satan’s counting on it. He wants you to feel alone. He wants you to feel vulnerable and to feel like you have nowhere else to turn but to another person or to another idea of God. He wants you to turn anywhere but to God. Don’t let the devil win. Trust in God whose victory is assured. And the truth is we just think we know what we need. Why is this so hard? Because times of difficulty shake our faith, and we we go inward. We say, What can I do for myself?

What can I do for my family that is best? I’m going to take control of the situation, and we’re going to have this good outcome. And that’s a problem too. God alone knows what we truly need. In 1 Samuel chapter 1, excuse me, chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8. As you look there, the people of Israel were convinced they had the solution to their problem. In the times of the judges, there was this constant back and forth of really sin and then a little bit of repentance, but then sin and then a little bit of repentance. And they just said, you know what? We have the solution. We will be able to have someone who judges us consistently. We will win these battles. We can be like everybody else if we just have a king.

And 1 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.

Now then obey their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. Samuel realizes this is a mistake. You know, the truth is, when I’m going through a hard time, the only person who doesn’t sit seem to see the issue is me. Someone who’s clear-headed on the outside, maybe someone who has more experience, maybe someone who’s seen a life track or life trajectory before, they can look in and say, hey, this is a warning sign. You need to be careful about this. God has all kinds of warning in scriptures. Notice what he does. He tells the people, you say, maybe they just didn’t know. Maybe they didn’t understand. Read with me in verse 10. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him.

He says, verse 11, these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons, he will appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen to run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifty, some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. And you say, This is a king, and he’s going to do what? He’s going to take. It’s going to be mine, it’s going to be his. God is telling the people, if you have a king, he’s going to take kingly apportions.

And then you say, Well, the people surely are going to hear that. They’re going to know what they’re doing is a problem. This isn’t in their best interest spiritually or materially. In verse 19, but the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but there shall be a king over us, that we may be like all the nations that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. This is interesting with that passage in Matthew chapter 6. Jesus has promised if we seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be added to you. But then we notice that’s a certain powerful condition that but seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

If you do this, God will take care of you. The people were being taken care of by God. He was their king. They weren’t rejecting Samuel. What did God say? They were rejecting me from being king over them. He tried to warn him. He said, Do not do this. Don’t go down that road. It will be okay if you trust in me. And they didn’t. And so in verse 22, the Lord said to Samuel, obey their voice and make them a king. And let’s go ahead and foreshadow the end of that story. Who do you think is going to be right? The people of Israel or God? God is right, and God is faithful 100% of the time. And so the question is not, why is it difficult?

5. Take Perspective of This Moment

We know that comes down to me. I don’t want to give up control. I want to know where my life is going. I want to see the end before I start. The problem is that’s not really in our control. So what can we do starting right now? Number one, take perspective of this moment and recognize exactly that, that it is just a moment. Look at me in Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. I think Joseph is a hero of faith. And I just don’t know that we give him enough credit because what he faces is pretty remarkable. In Genesis 37, now he does have a sibling relation problem. I don’t advise anyone to go and say you have a dream where all your family bows down to you.

My family that wouldn’t fly, maybe yours, you know, buyer beware. But in Genesis 37 and verse 23, his brothers have stripped him and thrown him, verse 24, into a pit, where there was no water. He is alone, he is in a pit. And in verse 25, and they sat down to eat, and looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing gum, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, What prophet is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us tell them to the Ishmaelites, and let down our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him.

The Midianite traders passed by, and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. Now imagine that you are advising Joseph. The text does not teach us that Joseph had a problem. But I’m gonna put myself in the pit for a moment. I’m gonna say, I’m gonna have a problem with this. I don’t have a problem that my brothers threw me into a pit. I don’t have a problem that my brothers think they’re being righteous as brothers by selling me into slavery, because killing me would be ridiculous. Selling me into slavery, fine alternative. Now imagine you are in the pit and you look around and you say, I don’t deserve this.

This isn’t fair. This isn’t my fault. What did Joseph do, by the way? That dream was from God. That dream, by the way, was a prophecy that turned out to be correct, as God always is. If I was Joseph, I’d be in the pit saying, Wait a minute, this isn’t fair. God, why are you letting this happen to me? And what would the advice be for Joseph? When he looks around and he sees he’s in the pit, when he’s sold into slavery, knowing Genesis’ story, knowing how Joseph is going to end up second in all of Egypt, what would you tell him? Might you say something like this? Hey, Joseph, just hang on. Just a couple Bible pages, and you’re gonna be in control of Egypt.

You’re gonna be all important. You’re gonna save God’s people, the prophecy is going to be true, and God has a plan for you. And again, one of our hallmarks this morning’s lesson. When is that the easiest to tell? When it’s not aimed at me. When I can look at you and say, hey, just hang on. It’ll be okay. Just give it a few more days, a few more weeks, a few more years. You will see that God can take care of you. And when someone tells me that, it’s very difficult. Do you know why that is? Because I’m the one looking at the pit. And I can’t see anything else. Because I’m blinded by what I don’t have to drink. There’s no water in the pit.

I’m blinded by the fact that I can’t get out. I’m stuck, and then I’m sold into slavery. And you know what? That’s a bad hand. That is not good. That’s not something we desire. That’s not something we would wish or hope for. And it was not Joseph’s fault. And yet he had to deal with it. And to deal with it is not to wallow, not to be bitter. In fact, in chapter 39, it gets even worse. Of course, he rises up to be important in Potiphar’s house, and his wife grabs him. Verse 11, but one day, chapter 39, when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house. She caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me.

But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And what’d she do? Well, in verse 16, then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. She told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. You think about Joseph. He did the right thing. Not just the right thing, not just a good thing. He did the righteous thing. He followed God. He said, I will not sin against my master, I will not sin against my God. And then this woman lies about him, and he ends up in jail where he is forgotten for years.

And what would you tell Joseph again if I was in prison? He’d say, Joseph, just hang on. There’s a plan. God will take care of you. One of the difficulties in our world today is that God doesn’t necessarily work in a way that says, hey, this bad thing happened to me. I’m going to become vice president of the United States. That’s not necessarily the direct line. Maybe it will for some. But for most of us, that’s not going to happen. And so we say, what do we do then? How do we avoid staring at the pit, staring at the prison, staring at what we don’t have rather than what we do? Hebrews chapter 11 has that answer. Look with me there. Do not get fixated on this world.

As Sean led one of my favorite songs before the sermon this morning, this world is not my home. Christians know that. Men and women of faith in the Old Testament, they understood that idea. In Hebrews chapter 11, we have Abraham in verse 8. Sarah comes into the picture in verse 9 and 10. And so as we think about verse 11, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. She looked at a short-term circumstance of difficulty and said, God can make this happen. Together, verse 13, along with Noah, Enoch, and others, these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return, but as it is, they desire a better country. That’s a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. Let’s be really honest for a minute. This is really difficult in 2020. It’s really difficult in our world today to recognize that this isn’t all there is.

This is all we see. We look around and we see a world that we’re used to, that we’re comfortable with, that we want to be comfortable, that has stopped being so convenient. And it’s hard to remember. There is a bigger picture. You often think about some of the classic movies that show death or show what would happen if somebody wasn’t alive. But imagine if we took seriously the parable or the story, depending on how you render it, of the rich man in Lazarus. And we think about what would happen to me if I died today. You know what happens if I think about death, if I think about eternity? Whatever it is that I am upset about really starts to pale in comparison because that is an eternal problem or an eternal blessing versus a tiny temporal physical one.

6. God Alone Brings Victory and Peace

The pit’s bad, but it’s not away from God for all of eternity. The good things, the blessings of life, being second in all of Egypt, that’s a great thing, but it’s not being with God for all of eternity. We have to help each other. Look to Jesus. Look to God who is in control, who can move the mountains. And if we have faith, we can do so too. We have to look past this moment and towards God. And that means recognizing that secondly, God alone brings victory and peace. In Philippians chapter 4, no more encouraging scripture is found. And yet there’s a challenge here. When life is unfair, when it’s hard, when we don’t deserve what’s happening, we have to look at this. Verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I say, rejoice. Let your reasonfulness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Verse 7. That is the peace of God. It will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. There is no other peace. And so when we try to pilot our own plane, when we try to find our own solution, when we try to go to another nation for peace, it won’t be found there. And so I have to stop looking. How many times we look to the same sources for peace, the same sources for comfort, and we realize they’re lacking because they’re not God.

That’s not what he intended. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Our God will take care of you. He cares for you, he loves you. Look to God. And yes, verse 10 through 13 is possible then. And there’s a C word, it’s very important in verse 10. I rejoice the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I’m speaking of being in need, for I’ve learned in whatever situation I am to be, here’s the difficult word, the tough application, content. How can I be content in a year that is constantly trying to make me upset? How can I be content when everything and everyone I love and see is struggling.

In verse 12, Paul says, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him through Christ who strengthens me. We have to realize that God alone has these answers. There is no shortcut, there is no 50-50. There is no I’m mostly with God and just a little bit with me. It is you take God’s pathway. Or we try to do it ourselves. And here’s the terrible news. When we choose to do it by ourselves, there is no hope, there is no relief, there is no peace. But with God, there is all of those things. And so I realized that I didn’t take perspective that moments are just that.

They’re fleeting moments. But eternity is exactly that as well. It is eternal. Look at me, one final passage this morning. The lesson will be yours. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 32. God is powerful, God is great. We need more faith. We need a strong faith. We need to be able to trust in Him no matter what. That’s what Abel did. That’s what Noah did. That’s what Enoch did. That’s what Abraham and Sarah and Moses, all these Old Testament heroes of faith, they did that. They recognize they’re just passing through this world. In verse 32, we recognize God is powerful, and what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouse of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. We look, and we say Hebrews chapter 11, that God is my God. Isn’t God amazing? God can do these miracles. God can do these wonders if I’ll just have faith. But the text doesn’t end there, does it? Some were tortured, refusing to accept release that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They’re sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And recognize God is their God too. God is God when my life is not going the way I want it to.

God is God, and God is good when life is going the way I want it to. And the truth of the matter is, this world is not a proof of God in the sense of my highs and lows. It’s a proof of God and that this world exists. And that by his power and by his spoken world, there is a world. And that by his might and his love I am made in the image of my creator. That means I have value. That means you have value. And that means when we look at each other, we help each other see there’s value there, there’s something worth fighting for, and to fight for this appropriately is to trust in God. And yes, those who struggled, those who gave up everything for their faith.

Conclusion

In verse 39, and all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us. That apart from us they should not be made perfect. And so what do we do then? Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. Run the race of endurance that’s set before us. Looking to Jesus. He’s the founder and perfecter of our faith. I have to take perspective of this eternal life. In a year like this, I hope that if one good thing came out of it, once and for all, the illusion of control is shattered. God alone is in control. And that means two wonderful things. Number one, God who is good, righteous, and holy is in control, and I can trust him.

And number two, when he promises me that he sees me, he cares for me, and salvation is possible, and that peace is there, then it can be mine, because God is faithful to his promises. But I have to look at the big picture. I have to see the eternal one, and not the day, not even the month, not even the year, decade, or lifetime. I have to see my God who is in control from the beginning, the God who was, who is, and is to come. God is the God of past, present, and future, and he is our God. And so the question is only, will I trust in him today? Sometimes it feels like I’m with him, and then all of a sudden there’s this fork in the road, and I want to go here and God takes me here.

If I have done that, recognize that God is good, God is gracious. If you’ll confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He promises that in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. Isn’t that awesome? God cares for you, and if we are doing wrong, he will forgive us if we turn our life around. But also remember, if I’m not a Christian, that peace of God, that’s not possible for me. He’ll guard my hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, which means I have to be in Christ Jesus. You do that by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, confessing as Lord, in control, the Savior and reigning King. Repent of my wrongdoing, be baptized, sharing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, become a new body.

No sin, no worries about this world, because after all, this world is not my home. We’re just passing through. If we can help you in any way, come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.