Rick Warren - The God of My Valleys—Part Three

Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm really glad you're here.

Today.

We're continuing our series from Psalm twenty three called Living

in the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's

goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope

even in difficult season. In today's message, you'll hear the

final part of a message called the God of My Valleys.

Even when I walk through the Valley of the Shadow

of Death, friends, Sooner or later, this shadow is going

to cross your path if it hasn't already, That shadow

of death is going to cross your life. I've lost

a mom and a dad, and a brother, and a son.

And his pastor. I've lost a lot of friends, and.

I've stood at more bedsides in their final moments than.

You would ever want to stand at.

I have seen the Valley of the Shadow Death probably

more than anybody in this room unless you're a nurse.

But it's going to fall across your life. At some time.

That shadow is going to fall across your life. You

know what I've learned in watching that so many times,

I've learned that shadows are often larger than the real thing.

You ever seen a shadow of a truck that was

bigger than a truck? Yeah, shadows are often bigger than

the real thing. The other thing I've learned is that

shadows can't hurt you. You ever been run over by

a shadow of a truck? How'd you handle that? It's

not like a truck. Is there an instream being run

over by a truck and being run over by a

shadow of a truck? Yes, And so it is your

fear of death because you're not ready to meet God.

It is your fear of the shadow of death that

haunts you. Fear is always greater. It's an image without substance.

That's what a shadow is. But here's the most important

thing I've learned about shadow. There cannot be a shadow

without a light. The shadows in your life are the

evidence of the presence of light in your life. If

there was no shadow in your life, there would be

no light. Because there's no light, there's no shadow. Shadows

imply the presence of light.

God is with me.

God is with me. And the way you deal with

shadows of death, or the shadows of despair, or the

shadow of depression, or the shadow or the fear that

you're losing your mind, or the shadow that you're going

to die alone, or the shadow. You name your fear.

How do you deal with the shadow. Here's how you

do it. You turn your back to the shadow and

you look at the light, and all of a sudden,

you don't see the shadow anymore. Every time you get afraid,

you need to look at the light. Jesus said, I

am the light of the world. He who believes in

me shall not walk in darkness. He who believes in

me will not stumble in darkness. I am the light

of the world. The first thing God said when he

created the universe, let there be light. The Bible says

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

When you are scared by the shadows in your life,

you just need to turn around and look at the light.

Stop focusing on the stuff that's scaring you to death,

those bills, those fears, those worries, that stuff that goes

around in your mind, and just get your focus off

your fear and get your focus on the Father. You

look at the light and the shadow can't hurt you.

In fact, you don't even see it. And when you're

going through a tunnel. How do you make it through

a tunnel? You keep your eyes on the light at

the end, and you just keep going. Remember that God

is with me. Shadows can frighten you, but they can't

harm you. Look at this verse on the screen. There's

benefits even in the shadows and Job twelve twenty two.

God uncovers deep things out of darkness. God uncovers deep

things out of darkness, and he brings into light even

black gloom and the shadow of death. I've told you

many times since Matthew died, I learned stuff in his death,

and I've never learned any other way. Spending hours and

hours alone with God for one hundred and twenty two

days after my son died. The stuff I learned in

the value of the shadow of death, I would.

Have not learned any other way.

God uncovers deep things out of darkness, and God says,

just remember you're not going through this by yourself. You

may not be able to see me, but I'm there.

And if you see a shadow, guess what its presence shows.

There's light Isaiah forty three, Verse two. When you go

through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you.

And when you go through rivers of difficulty, you will

not drown. And when you walk through the fires of oppression,

you will not burned up. The flames will not consume you.

I don't know what value you're going through, but the

antidote of Psalm seventy three twenty eight. As for me,

God's presence is all I need. I've made the sovereign

Lord my shelter. And if God is a sovereign lord

of your life, he is your shelter. Not don't anything else.

As for me, God's presence.

Is all I need.

Remember I'm not alone. Number two. Second thing you need

to remember when you're in a struggle and in the valley,

remember that God has a good purpose for my valley.

Remember that God has a good purpose for my valley.

Remember this whole chapter, This whole Psalm is on the

goodness of God. God is a good God. God cannot

do evil. It's impossible for God to do evil. God

can only do good in your life. God has good

plans for your life. And so I remember that even

in the problems, I'm going through the valleys. I'm going

through the valley of conflict or grief or fear, or

failure or whatever that has a good purpose for my

valley Romans five, Verse three.

And top five.

We can even rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering

produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And that kind of hope does not disappoint us. A

lot of kinds of hope in the world are false hope.

This kind of hope does not disappoint us because God

has poured his love into our hearts. God is building

character when you're going through that valley, and that character

is going to outlast everything else. Stephen Curtis Chapman has

just written a new book and it's called Between Heaven

and the Real World, and he discusses all the values

he's been through, including the loss of a child. We're

in a club that nobody wants to be a part of,

and he says this in an interview. Jesus tells us

in this world you will have trouble. It's fact. But

then he says, take heart, because I've overcome the world.

He's saying that there's another story being told that we

don't always see. And frankly, Stephen says, if I didn't

believe that, I'd be an extremely bitter and angry.

Man.

My little girl's death underline and solidified what I knew

and believed, but it made it more real. And when

there was nothing else to hold on to, I heard

myself say, God, I'm going to trust you and worship you.

And it's not because there's an audience watching. I'm going

to bless your name, whether you give or take away. Previously,

to you know, his daughter died from a freak accident. Previously,

I'd gone fifty feet below sea level, and I thought

it was dark down there, but I also learned that.

God was with me.

But now I was pushed one hundred thousand feet below

sea level, where it was darker than I could never imagine,

and I found the same thing was true down there

as well. I remember I'm not alone, and I remember

that God has a good purpose for my valley. Joseah

To fifteen says this.

I love this.

In the New Living Translation, I will transform the Valley

of Trouble into a gateway of hope. Some of you

need that verse. The Valley of Trouble actually is a valley.

It's the Valley of Acre. I didn't have time to

cover it. It's covered both twice in Joshua, and it's

covered in Hoseah. And you're gonna go through the valley

of Acre to the Valley of trouble. And God says,

I will turn the valley of trouble into a valley,

a gateway of hope, a doorway to hope. One translation says,

I'm gonna turn trouble.

Valley into hopeful valley.

Colaussians one to eleven says this God will give you.

God will strengthen you with his own great power so

that you will not give up when troubles come, but

you will be patient. He's not just going to give

you his presence. He's going to give you his power.

So I remember, I remember that I'm not alone. And

I remember that God has a purpose, a good purpose

for the valley I'm in. The third thing I remember

is that the reward will last forever. This is not

the end of the story, friends, and you're going to

be rewarded for being faithful to Christ in the valley

the failure, from the Valley of Fear, from the Valley

of Conflict, the Valley of grief, the value of brokenness,

and the Valley of Trouble, and all the other values

that are in scripture Clausian Tewod Corinth four seventeen. For

our present troubles are quite small.

In relatives to eternity.

Our present troubles are quite small, and they won't last

very long. Yet they are producing in us an eternal

glory which will last forever and is greater than anything

we can imagine. You won't be in heaven one minute,

and you'll be going What was I thinking? Why did

I complain so much? Why did I gripe so much?

Why did I worry when I was going through these

different valleys of life? It was worth it all. I

don't know what value you're going through. Psalm one oh

seven says this up here on the screen. Some were

living in gloom and darkness, like prisoners in chains, suffering

and chains, because they'd rebelled against the commands of all

Mighty God doing You weren't doing what God told you

to do. So you're in a valley and they had

rejected his instructions. As a result, they're worn out from

hard work. But then in their trouble, they called to

the Lord, and he saved them from their distress. He

brought them out of their gloom and darkness. He broke

their chains in peaces, and they now must thank the

Lord for his constant love and for the wonderful things

that he did for them. Now, until we get to Heaven,

we're going to face valleys. Believers have accidents, disappointments, financial problems,

family issues, mental illness, physical illness. We all go through values.

But here is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever.

For a Christian, for follower of Christ, going through the

valley is different from a non believer, not because of

the absence of the shadow, but because of the presence

of the shepherd.

I will be with you.

The Lord is my shepherd, and he gives me his

promise of power and purpose and protection and peace and

his presence. I don't know what kind of value you're

going through. Some of you are in the depth of

the darkest valley, have no doubt about that. But regard

regardless of the type of.

Valley, it's not gonna last.

There is a way out, and you have a shepherd,

but you've got to decide to make him your shepherd.

The Lord is not your shepherd unless you've asked.

Him to be your shepherd.

Unless you've surrendered your life to him, unless you said, God,

I can't make it through this valley without you. When

you do that, the Lord is my shepherd, and I

have everything I need, and he does all these things

for me. Did you notice the change in tents when

we went from verse three to verse four? Verse one,

two and three is how God helps us in the

good times. He leads me, he guides me, He helps me,

He meets so many needs. He makes me lie down

and rest. He provides everything I need. It's it's third person.

He Now we get to the problems and he switches

and he says, I will fear no evil for you

are with me. He didn't say he is with me.

He's not talking to a third person anymore. Nothing makes

the ultimate intimate faster than pain. Now he's not talking

about God out there, he's talking about God in here.

He is become has become you. I'm not going to.

Fear for you. You you are with me, and you

will protect me. We're going to look at that in

another week. So there's one last valley you need to

go through, and it's the valley in Joel three fourteen.

Look up here on the screen.

Multitudes yet ut Yes, multitudes are in the valley of

decision for the day of the Lord is near. In

the valley of decision, you're in it right now. Before

you were even born, God knew that you would be

here listening to me speak, so he could say this

to you. This is your moment of decision. This is

your valley of decision. You're going to decide for me

or against me, because it's going to decide everything else.

In your life. Make the wise choice. That's power heads.

You're in the value of decision. Whether you're listening to

this on the Internet or the radio, or at a

campus or in a small group study, you're in the

valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near.

What are you going to decide? Are you going to decide?

To say, God, I'm going to follow you, not my

plan anymore. I'm going to have you as the manager

of my life, not me anymore. I'm going to have

you as the good shepherd. But you make that decision

right now. Pray this prayer, Dear God. I know that

valleys are part of life, that they're inevitable. I've been

through a lot of them, hills and valleys, highs and lows,

ups and downs, and I know I shouldn't be surprised

when it happens. I know the valleys happen to everybody.

I know that they're unpredictable, that I shouldn't even brag

about the Marrisons. I don't know what the day is

going to bring forth. And Lord, as we've looked at

your word today, I see some of these values valleys

I've been in will probably be in again, the value

of Sidham, where I've tried to run from something, tried

to avoid a battle. I've slipped a fallen, I've gotten stuck,

and I'm in the pits, and I've had a public failure.

And Lord, I've been in that valley of esh call

to the valley of Fear, where I'm got to either

take the risk and move forward or fall back and

retreat and defeat. And Lord, yes, I've been in the

valley of Elau where I've had the conflict and I've

faced the giant problem. And maybe you're facing it right now.

And some of you say, Lord, I'm in the valley

of Baka. I'm all dried up, I'm barren, I'm arid,

I don't feel anything, or I'm weeping and I'm grieving.

I'm in the valley of grief and barrenness. Say, help

me to remember that I'm not alone, that when I

go go through it, you go with me. You'll be

with me. And I'm saying today as a declaration. God's

presence is all I need. I've made the sovereign Lord,

my shelter. Help me to remember that you have a

good purpose for even the bad things that happen in

my life. You turn them around and you use them

for good. God, I'm asking you to transform the valley

of trouble into a gateway of hope.

I want to be a hope dispenser. I want to

be an agent of hope in the world.

And when I start to get fatigued and the tunnel

seems long and the valley seems dark, help me to

remember that the reward will last forever. And their present

troubles are really quite small, and they're not going to

last very long, but they're producing an eternal glory that

will last forever, and it's.

Greater than anything we can imagine.

Jesus Christ, I'm asking you to be my good shepherd.

I take the hands off the wheel of my life.

And I ask you to sit in the driver's seat,

be the director and the manager of my life from

this day forward. I thank you God. I thank you

God that you are not just the God of the mountains.

You're the God of the valleys. You're the God my valleys.

And so I honor you and I want to love

you the rest of my life. In your name, I

pray Amen. You know, if you just prayed that prayer

for the very first time, or you just recommitted your

life to Jesus again today, would you let me know

about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment. So

write me Rick at pastor Rick dot com and say, Rick,

I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life

to Christ. And I'll send you some material that will

help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also

pray for you. God bless you.

Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and

listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you

were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.

Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.

You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,

just a handful of people in our living room. I

also began writing a simple devotional just for the people

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hope and with truth and with peace that comes from

Jesus Christ. Well, you know, that little devotional grew and

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promises to you. You know, if you just spend just

a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,

it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more

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