Rick Warren - Trust God's Timing for Your Life, Even When It Feels Impossible

Right now.

For many different reasons, people have told me they feel damaged, debilitated, deceived, defeated, defensive, dejected.

They feel delayed and demean demoralized, integrated, denied, depleted, depreciated.

They feel depressed, deserted, desperate, despondent, destroyed. They feel disgusted, disillusioned, discouraged,

and disappointed. We all have losses in life. We all

have favors in life. We all have disappointments in life.

How do you recover from the disappointments of life? That's

what I want us to look at today. I want

us to look at what do you do when your

plan doesn't match God's plan? Have you noticed that God

often has different ideas than you do about your life.

Whether you're trying to recover from a disappointment or an experience,

or the disappointment of employment, or an embarrassment or the

disappointment of an expectation.

What do you do?

What should you do when you're disappointed by anything? Well,

what I want to do this weekend is recommend eight

principles from God's word. Seven Actually that will help you

through difficult times. All right, here's what you ought to

do anytime you're disappointed in anything, anytime you have a failure,

anytime you have a loss. Number one, always choose faith

over fear. Always choose faith over fear. When things don't

work out the way you wanted, when your plan is

not God's plan, when you don't understand what's going on,

Always choose faith over fear. You don't panic, you pray,

you don't worry, you worship, You turn your thoughts to

the greatness of God. You know, fear never ever helps,

and worry has never solved any problem anytime. Worry never

solves anything. Now, there are two reasons you shouldn't be fearful.

There's a biblical one and there's actually a historical one. First,

God's commandment to not be afraid is the most repeated

command in the Bible. Did you know that God's command

to not be afraid, to not be fearful, to not

be anxious, to not worry is the most repeated command

in the Bible. There are three hundred and sixty five

fear nots in the Bible. That's one for every day

of the year. God really doesn't want us to be

anxious or fearful. Two Timothy one to seven, God did

not give us a spirit of fear, a spirit that

makes us afraid. But he gave us a spirit of

power and love and self control. So just that reason enough, God,

God says, don't panic in the days ahead while there's

a lot of unsettled factors going on. He says, I

have given you a spirit of power and love and

self control, not a spirit of fear. So in a

time of disappointment or a time of chaos, always choose

faith over fear.

Okay. Number two.

Second thing to do when you're disappointed and when life

seems out of control is this, always trust that God

is in control. Always trust that God is in control.

It may look like chaos from a human viewpoint, but

God is a bigger perspective.

History is his story.

And instead of being afraid of what people might do

in the days that are weeks ahead, the Bible says

we should have a holy fear of God. Now, when

talks about fear in the Bible, it's not talking about panic,

it's talking about reverence. It's the Old English word for fear,

which means reverence for God. And Job twenty five verse too,

it says this God is the one to fear because

God is in control, and he rules the heaven. God

is in control. Now, you either believe that or you don't.

This idea that God is in control of everything and

you're trusting him because He's in control of everything even

when it looks out of control from your viewpoint. The

sovereignty of God is meant to comfort us. It's not

to be used as a club. You say, well, if

God is in control, does that mean we don't have

any choice? The answer is, of course, you have a choice.

God lets us make choices because we're made in his

image and He gave us the capacity to make moral choices.

But our choices are not unlimited. You don't have unlimited choice.

You can't say, for instance, be an opera singer if

God didn't give you that talent. You can only be

what God made you to be. We have a free will,

but it's a limited will, and ultimately God is in

charge of history. Let me show you a Bible verse

that may shock you. Psalm seventy five, verse six and

seven says this for promotion and power come from nowhere

on earth, but only come from God. He promotes one

and deposes another another. God says, I accept responsibility for this.

The New Living translation is God decides who will rise

and who will fall amplified translations. He puts one down

and he lifts another up. God is saying, I'm in

charge here. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. You

don't know what I'm doing. You can't see what I see.

You don't know what I know. Your values aren't my values.

So when you're disappointed, you first always choose faith over fear,

and second you always trust that God is in control.

All right, let's go on number three. The third thing

to do when you're disappointed is be patient. It's not

the end of the story. Be patient because it's not

the end of the story.

You know.

Part of our problem is that we look at things

in a short term perspective. We don't see things from

any eternal's perspective. We're so shortsighted and we're so impatient,

and we think that the most important thing that's ever

happened in the entire history of the world is happening

right now.

It's not.

God has been directing history for thousands of years. In fact,

thousands of years before you and I were ever even born.

He was directing history. You know.

In the Book of Habacco that's a little book by

a guy who was a prophet in Israel in near

the old end of the Old Testament.

In the Book of.

Abaccu, that prophet was watching the decline and the destruction

of his nation. Literally everything was falling apart, and Abacca

cries out in a long complaint to God. And in

Habacca chapter one, verse two, he says, this, how long?

Lord? It's how long question? How long?

How long do I have to keep begging you to

help our nation? How long before you listen?

Do you see what's going on out there? God?

How long before you rescue us from all this violence?

A lot of people have asked that question about our country,

and other countries too, those who are refugees in places

like the Middle East. We're asking how long before you

rescue us from all this violence?

Well?

God actually answers Habaccic in chapter two, and he says this, Habacca,

I know what I'm doing, and I know just the

right timetable for it. And Habacca, you need to trust me.

You need to be patient. This is not the end

of the story. Here's what he said. Tobacco two, verse three.

God says, the things that I plan won't happen right away, slowly, steadily,

surely the time approach, which is when the vision will

be fulfilled.

He says.

If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things

will surely come to pass. Just be patient. They will

not be overdue a single day. They will not be overduced,

he says, Kubacca, trust me when you're saying how long

is this gonna go on?

When are we gonna see the change?

He says, My plans a good plan, and it'll happen,

but it won't be overdue. But it takes some time.

Just be patient. It's not the end of the story. James,

Chapter five, verse seven. He says, Wait patiently, my friends.

You have a hard time being impatient. Wait patiently, my friends,

till the Lord comes. And then he gives us some models.

And think about farmers. Think of how patient of farmers.

Farmers are as they wait for their land to produce.

They wait patiently for different seasons and rain. Now, if

you take notes, I would circle the phrase seasons. Different seasons.

You see, God says that there are seasons in life,

and you know what, you know what I've learned. You

can't skip seasons. You can't go from summer to summer,

to summer to summer without going through winter. So there

are seasons in life, there are seasons in nations. You

need to trust God's timing. You know, the last time

I looked, the promise of Romans eight twenty eight has

has never changed. It's still in force. Romans eight twenty

eight is still going to work. Romans eight twenty eight.

And we know that in all things, not some. We

know that in all things God works for the good

of those who love Him, who've been called according to

His purpose.

Now, not everything is good in life.

Rape isn't good, Racism isn't good, abused isn't good, cancer

isn't good. Not everything in life is good, But God says,

I can use it all for good, even the bad.

I can bring good out of bad. Only God can

do that. Anybody can bring good out of good, but

God can bring good out of the bad.

In my life.

The problem is, friends, we can't see what God sees.

Tewod Corinthians, chapter four, verse eighteen says this, So we

talk up to Christians. We set our eyes not on

what we see, but on what we cannot see, because

what we see will last only a short time, but

what we can't see will last forever. And he's saying

here that as followers of Jesus's disciples, we're called to

focus more on what's going to last forever and not

focused on all the short term stuff. Here's the fourth key.

Don't jump to conclusions when you are going through a

time that God's plan is not your plan and you're disappointed,

or you're discouraged, or you're down in the mouth, or

you're depressed because things aren't going the way you wanted

them to go. When you start to feel discouraged and disappointed,

don't jump to conclusions. So let me give you some

biblical wisdom on what God says. Proverbs twenty five, verse

eight says this a TeV. Don't be too quick to

go to court. Don't be too quick to go to

court about something you have seen, because if another witness

later proves you're wrong.

What are you going to do? Then well, you got mud.

On your face, big disgrace, and you know the rest

of the song. Ecclesiastes twelve twelve says this, be warned.

He's talking to his son. Solomon's telling his son, be warned,

my son that there's no end of opinions ready to

be expressed. Amen, been on social media, Well, you might

want to get off it for a while, okay, because

it's just going to make you upset. Be warned that

there's no end of opinions ready to be expressed and

studying them. Ecclesiastics twelve to twelve says studying them can

go on forever and become very exhausting. Don't jump to conclusions.

Proverbs fourteen fifteen says this. Only fools believe everything they're told.

Message says it this way. The gullible will believe anything,

but the prudence sift and weigh every word. The Bible

says in Proverbs twenty three to twenty three. Get the

facts at any price Proverbs twenty three to twenty three,

So just don't accept what you hear. Don't fact checking

is dead in today's society. Don't just be gullible. Don't

jump to conclusions. Get good sense, the Bible says, hold

on tightly to all the good says you can get.

All right, let me give you a couple more. When

you're going through a tough time, when you feel discouraged you,

when you feel disappointed things didn't go the way you

wanted to do. For lessons to learn Number five, look

for lessons learns. Never never waste a disappointing situation when

your plan wasn't God's plan. Well, things didn't go the

way you want him to go. Learn from it. You know,

God wants us to learn from everything. God wants us

to learn from our fears, our failures, our frustrations. God

even wants us to learn from our sins. Stuff not

to do anymore, Well, don't do that anymore. Deuteronomy eleven

two says, remember today what you've learned about the Lord

through your experiences with him. You're going through experiences right now.

What are you learning about the Lord?

Let me read you of.

Isaiah forty two, verses twenty four and twenty five. The

world for Isaiah at that time was falling apart. The

nation of Israel was it was literally it was being

looted and robbed, and wars and terrorism and famine and

all all kinds of one and economic problem after another.

And in Isaiah forty two, twenty four and twenty five,

Isaiah says this, who gave up our nation.

To the looters? Good question?

Who gave up our nation to the looterers, those people

out there in the street breaking windows.

He said it was the Lord himself.

Oh, it was the Lord himself against whom we send.

We would not live as he wanted us to live,

and we would not obey his teachings as he gave us.

So he made us feel the force of his anger

and suffered the violence, and his anger burned throughout Israel.

But we never knew what was happening, and we learned

nothing from it at all. I don't want that to

be true of our nation or any other nation today.

We learned nothing from it all. All right, let's get

practical about your life. Number six. When you're going through

a disappointing time and when you have people going through

a chaos around you, be empathetic with everybody. That's the

sixth step. When you're going through a tough time that

you're disappointed, you're discourage, you're defeated, you're depressed, be empathetic

with everybody because everybody's having a tough time. You know

what empathy means. Empathy means you use your ears more

than your mouth. You just listen to people. You don't

offer a defense, you don't minimize their hurt. You don't

say yes, but you just listen to their pain. That's empathy.

Romans fifteen, verse two says this, we must bear the

burden listen to this. We must bear the burden of

being considerate of the doubts and fears of others. See,

we always think our fears are very realistic and everybody

else is irrational. We must bear the burden of being

considered of the doubts and fears of others, of those

who feel these things are wrong.

So God says, let us please.

The other fellow, not ourselves, and do what's good for

his good, and thus build him up in the Lord. Okay,

so be empathetic. Finally, the seventh step, and this one

may be the most difficult of all for some of you,

but it's what God tells us to do when we're

disappointed or discouraged or depressed. Number seven, look for things

to be grateful for. Look for things to be grateful.

Say what First? Thessalonians five eighteen says this, do you

want to know God's will? I want to do God's will?

Okay.

First, Tessalonians five eighteen tells us God's will give thanks

in all circumstances for this is God's will for you

in Christ Jesus. That's God's will. You want to know

God's will for your life. Give thanks in all circumstances. Now,

the key to this verse is understanding the word in

It doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances.

That would be dumb.

It says give thanks in all circumstances. There's a lot

of things. You don't have to be thankful. You don't

have to be thankful for chaos. You don't have to

be thankful for bias. You don't have to be thankful

that maybe you were abused growing up. You don't have

to be thankful for all the bad or sin. No, no, no, no.

Doesn't say give thanks for It says give thanks in

all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in

Christ Jesus. But how about personally, be grateful for the

grace of God in your life. All the grace of

God has shown you. Be grateful for the good plan

that God has for your life. Be grateful for the

changes God is making in your life. Be grateful that

Jesus Christ died for you. Be grateful that He is

a home for you in heaven. Now we've been talking

about the here and now, but I want to end

with this last verse Philippians three twenty, which says this, Remember,

our real citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await

a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our real

citizenship in heaven. You know, I think every Christian should

carry a green card because ultimately, your primary loyalty and

primary citizenship is not in whatever country you live or

you're a citizen.

It's in heaven.

And he says, we eagerly wait a savior that's keeping

our eyes on the things that are going to last,

not the things that aren't gonna last. Let me pray

for you. Would you bow your heads? Why don't you

pray with me? Just say this in your heart, Say

Dear God, today I'm choosing faith over fear in all

the things that I'm facing right now, I'm choosing faith

in You over fear, and say, God, I'm choosing to

trust that You're in control of the stuff that seems

out of control in my life. It looks like chaos

to me, but you can see the beginning from the end.

Say Dear God, help me to be patient, realizing that

this is not the end of the story. It's just

a chapter in the book of my life. That you

have a good plan for my life. Thank you for that.

Help me to not jump to conclusions. Help me not

to cry out the sky is falling like chicken little

when you're in control. Help me to remember that other

people around me are hurting.

Just say that.

Help me to remember that other people around me are hurting.

Help me to be empathetic. To use my ears more

than I use my mouth. To use my time to

be a winsome witness for you Lord. Help me to

always remember that my citizenship is ultimately in Heaven and

that can never be taken away from me. You've never

opened your life to Jesus Christ. Say Jesus Christ, make

yourself real SA to me. Come into my life. I

want a friendship with you. I want to know you.

I want to learn to trust you. And today I'm

opening myself to you, Jesus Christ, and I want you

to do whatever you need to do in my life.

I want to follow you and trust you. Please save

me in your name, I pray Amen mm hm