Rick Warren - How to Trust God When Everythings Changing Around You

Now.

There are a lot of changes in life, but I

want to look today at the kind of changes that

you can't control. And of course everybody would agree that

the world is changing. About the only thing you can

predict accurately about the future is this. It's going to change.

Tomorrow will be different than today. We don't know what

it's going to be, but we do know for certain

that change is an inevitable part of life, and nothing

stays the same on this planet.

Everything changes. And God even told.

Us this was going to happen way back in the

first book of the Bible, in Genesis, chapter eight, the

Bible says this in verse twenty two. As long as

the earth remains, it's going to be springtime and harvest,

cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night. In

other words, God instituted change. Things don't stay the same.

It gets hot, it gets cold, it gets summer, it

gets winter. There are seasons in life. Things change day

and night every twenty four hours. Change is inevitable.

Now.

Of course, in the past thirty years here at Saddleback,

I've probably seen more change on a personal level than

than many people have in life, and so I want

to share it today almost like a testimony. Lessons I've

learned on how to not just cope with change, but

how to grow through change, how to be better, how

to grow through it. And I'm talking about the changes

I didn't ask for, I don't like, and I don't want,

and many of you are in them right now. These

are principles I've gleaned from Scripture all throughout Scripture Number one,

look for God in the change. Look for God in

the change that.

You're going through.

Mother Teresa, when she used to be asked, why do

you help the poorest of the poor, she said, because

I see the face of Jesus in the poor, and

I want to help him.

You know she's right.

But what I've discover is you can find the face

of Jesus anywhere if you look close enough, even in

the worst situations, even in something that God created that

has been perverted, if you can look and see the

original intent, you can see the face of Jesus around you.

Jeremiah twenty nine says this verse thirteen. If you look

for me in earnest, God says, you will.

Find me when you seek me.

If you look for me in earnest, you will find

me when you seek me.

Well, you know what our problem is.

When change comes, we look for everything else except the Lord.

We look for a quick fix, We look for an

easy solution, We look for a way out, We look

for comfort, we look for relief. What you need to

look for is the Lord. You need to look for

God when you're in the middle of a problem. You know,

me just going well, you know what's the quick fix?

How do I get out of this? How do I

save my skin? I turn things around? That whole way

is missing the point. You look for the Lord. Don't

seek the comfort, don't seek the relief. Seek the Lord

and you'll get all these other things, the solution, the

answer to the relief, the comfort, the strength, and all

that that you need. You look for God in the change.

Number two, ask God for wisdom. You ask God for

wisdom when you're going through a change that you didn't plan,

you didn't want, you don't like you say, Lord, what

do you want me to do? What do you want

me to do in this situation? You know, Lord, this

didn't work, My plan didn't work out. It's obviously going

the way I intended. So what do you want me

to do? How do you want to redirect me. How

do you want to correct me? How do you want

to inspect me? How do you want to perfect me?

In this situation?

Now?

The reason you need to ask for wisdom is because

in a change, your thinking has to change.

Now follow me on this.

To do what you've never done, you've got to think

like you've never thought. To do what you've never done,

you got to think like you've never thought. Old way

of thinking, stinking thinking, That won't work. You're in a

new situation, a new time, a new relationship, a new energy,

a new development, a new commitment, a new circumstance. What

you've never done, You've got to think in new ways.

So you say, Lord, what do you want me to think?

James one to five says, if you need wisdom, if

you want to know what God wants you to do,

ask him and he'll gladly tell you he will not

resent your asking. And Jesus said, you know you have

not because you asked that.

You need to stop. Say Lord, what do you want

me to do?

In a situation Number three, Listen for God's whisper. Listen

for God's whisper, And you've got to be quiet because

he's not going to s it to you. God speaks

to those who take the time to listen, but you

have to be quiet and you listen. A good example

of this is in First Kings, chapter nineteen. It's the

story of Elijah. Elijah was up on the mountain nursing

his wounds, having a pity party, hiding in a cave,

and God needed to get his attention, and it says

in verse eleven, then the Lord passed by and sent

a furious wind, let's flit the hills and shattered the rocks.

But the Lord was not in the wind.

And then there was an earthquake, but the Lord was

not in the earthquake. And after that there was a fire,

but the Lord was not in the fire. But after

the fire, there was a soft.

Whisper of a voice.

And when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with

his cloak, and he went out and stood it the

entrance of the cave. He knew this was God talking,

And the voice said to him, Elijah, what are you

doing here? Good ever said that to you, what are

you doing here? How'd you ever end up here? I

didn't plan for you to end up here? What are

you doing here? I don't want you here hanging out

in the cave in the mountains, saying, poor me. Everybody

hates me, nobody loves me. I'm gonna go eat worms.

You have a little pity party on yourself. No, God

speaks in the still small voice, in the whisper. So

what you need to do when you're going through change

is you need to slow down your mind. You need

to slow down the RPMs and say, Lord, is there

anything you want to say to me? And you sit

and you just listen, and you be quiet, and you

let your mind slow down, and you read the word

of God, and you talk to him in prayer, and

you stop and you just be quiet.

We need to learn to be We need.

To learn to be still, get quiet, look for God

in the change, Ask God for wisdom, listen for God's whisper.

And number four, the.

Fourth thing I've learned about change is this, don't ask

why but what? Don't ask why but what? What do

I need to learn? That's the question you need to ask.

Don't ask why, that's the question of explanation. Ask what

what do you want me to learn? That's the question

of education. In fact, you might write this down. Every

situation is an education Every situation is an education. It's

an opportunity for you to grow and you'll either grow

better or you'll grow bitter depending on your response. And

what you need to do is don't focus on the circumstance,

Focus on your character. Don't focus on the problem, focus

on your personality. Don't focus on what's going on around you.

Focus on what God wants to do in you. That's

the difference. You've heard me say this many times that Earth,

your time on Earth, is a character development school. God's

number one purpose in your life is to make you

like Christ, to grow you up, to develop true spiritual

maturity character. He doesn't want you to be a spiritual

baby all your life, and so what He does is

he allows circumstances that teach you in the school of

hard knocks. Some things you only learn through difficulty. Some

things you only learn to experience it yourself. And you're

not taking your career to heaven, so that doesn't really

matter to God. You're not taking your cash to heaven.

That doesn't really matter to God. You're not taking your house,

or your clothes, or even your reputation, but you are

taking your character into eternity. What you are, what you became.

You're taking that into eternity with you. Far more interested

is what's happening in you than in what's happening around you?

How is it changing you?

As I told you earlier, pain is a good thing

because pain is a teacher. It teaches us what's wrong

in our lives. It teaches what needs to be changed.

And I can tell you from personal experience. The greatest

lessons I've learned about relationships I've learned from relational pain.

The greatest things lessons I've learned about finances I've learned

from financial pain. The greatest things I've learned about health

I've learned from physical pain.

The things that you're going through.

When you get a pain in any air of your life,

it's say, hey, warning sign, something's out of whack here.

Emotional pain means something's out of whack with your emotions,

and God is saying I want to get your attention.

Don't ask why but what.

God doesn't owe you an explanation for everything that happens

in your life. In fact, you're not going to get it.

If you had an explanation for everything, you wouldn't need

any faith. Some things that happen in your life. You're

never going to understand until you get to heaven. And

when you get to heaven, you go, oh, okay, now

I get the whole picture. I see the beginning to

the end. I see the whole thing. I see what

was happening here. But I will tell you this. If

God has called you to do something and you say, Okay, God,

I know you want me to do this, so I'm

going to go do it, you need to expect opposition.

There's a lot of people that don't like God and

don't want God's work done. So if you try to

do what God wants you to do, I guarantee you

you're going to have opposition. Duh, Satan's going to oppose you. You're

going to have opposition if you try to do the

right thing. So what do we need to learn in life? Well,

there's lots of things we need to learn in character.

One thing we need to learn is contentment. Look at

this next verse Philippians, chapter four. Paul says in verse twelve,

I have learned this secret so that anywhere, at any time,

I am content.

Whoa anywhere?

Anytime he says, I'm content, whether I'm full or hungry,

whether I have too much or too little. I have

the strength to face all conditions by the power Christ

gives me. We like the second part of that verse.

I can do all things to Christ is streaming with me.

We don't like the first part. Learning to be content

with too little or when I'm hungry. We don't like

that part because contentment and character is something you learn.

It doesn't come naturally. I am not by nature content.

You are not by nature content by nature, I naturally

want to take care of my needs.

I'm not thinking about you.

I'm thinking about me, my needs, my hurts, my once.

How am I comfortable? Am I happy? Am I getting

the pleasure I want? What's it all about me? That's

natural for you, that's natural for me. You have to

learn to be content. That's a spiritual development. And that's

why God says, I'm going to use it all to

teach you. Romans five says this verse three and four.

Even in our trials and troubles, these very things will

develop mature character. The trial, the problem, the circumstance, the

change you're going through right now. God wants you to

grow up to develop mature character. Now have you ever

wondered why life is so hard. I mean, let's first

just admit it. Everybody agree life is difficult. We all

agree with that it is not easy. Life is not easy.

It is difficult. God never said it would be easy.

This is not heaven, this is earth. This is the testing,

the school, this is the trial period, the warm up back.

So life is not easy. Wherever there's sin, there's going

to be problems. It's difficult. But why even after I

give my life to the Lord and I'm really trying

to do the right thing.

Why is life such a struggle? Why is that? I'll

tell you why.

Because God wants to change us and we don't want

to change. That's the real reason for all the struggle

in your life. God wants to change you. He wants

to grow you up. He wants you to quit being

a spiritual baby. He wants you to become a godly

man or a godly woman, and we.

Don't want to. We want to do our thing.

We want to be selfish, self centered, we want our plans,

our agenda. We don't want to go with God's plan.

And that's the struggle. Now, since I know that God's

going to use it all for my good, what should

be my response?

Look to the next verse.

The Bible says in First Thessalonians, chapter five down in

verse eighteen, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is

God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Now people say,

I'm in this transition right now. I lost my job,

or I lost my health, or I lost my family,

or I lost this or that.

What is God's will for me right now? There?

It is, this is God's will for you, that you

give thanks in all circumstances. To wait a minute, How

in the world can I give thanks for what's happened

to me?

I didn't say that.

Notice the Bible does not say give thanks for all circumstances,

give thanks in all circumstances, not for in big difference,

it says, in all circumstances, give thanks. I'm not giving

thanks for the circumstance. I'm giving thanks for what else.

I can give you A hundred things to be thankful

for in a circumstance. I can be thankful that God

is in control, that God loves me, it's not changing

his plan for my life, that he will help me out,

He'll give me strength, that He'll use everything for good

in my life. There are all kinds of promises. I

can give you one hundred things to be thankful for

in the situation, not for it, but in it. And

that's how you grow. That's how you grow by learning

to give thanks.

Lord.

I don't like what's going on right now. I'm out

of work, I've got no income, i got a health

problem that's coming up right now, I'm in a marital conflict.

All these things are happening right now. I don't like this,

but I'm going to give thanks in this circumstance because

I know you love me, you care for me, and

all these other things that we can be thankful for.

I'm still breathing, I'm alive.

The fifth thing you need to do when you're facing

a major change is focus on what never changes. Don't

focus on the situation. Focus on what never changes now,

what never changes. Three things God's love, God's promises, God's purpose.

God's love for you is never going to change. God's promises,

His word is always true. God is not a liar.

It's never going to change. God's purpose for your life

is never going to change. These three verses there on

your outline. Jeremiah thirty one, I have loved you with

an everlasting love Psalm thirty three. His plans endure forever,

His purposes last eternally Isaiah forty. The word of God

shall stand forever. God's love, God's truth, God's purposes for

my life are never going to change. That's what you

focus on when things are flying through the air. Number six.

Don't face it alone. Don't face the change alone. Accept

help from others. Now, friends, This is the exact opposite

of human nature. Our tendency when we're in pain is

to pull into a shell. Our tendency when things aren't

going well in our lives we retreat in fear to

our castle. We pull up the drawbridge, fill the moat.

Really the alligators, turn on the electric fence and say,

I don't want to let anybody get near me.

Big mistake.

That's not how you get through the change, and that's

not how you grow.

Through the change.

What you need to do is tell other people what's

happening in your life.

Now.

You don't have to tell everybody, but you need to

tell a few close friends so well. I don't want

anybody else to know that's your problem. Because there's a

word for that. It's called pride. Pride it's ego, it's arrogance.

I don't want anybody else to know what I'm going

through right now.

That's arrogance. That's pride.

The Bible says God resists the proud. You're on the

opposite side of God every time you get full of pride.

But it says God gives grace to the humble. What

you need to get through this difficult time, what you

need to get through this major change in your life

is God's grace. And there's only one way you get

God's grace. Humble yourself. And how do you do that

by sharing your need with somebody else. The Bible commands

you to do that fifty one times. That says love

one another and bear one another's burdens, and care for

one another, pray for one another, share with one another.

You're breaking the laws of God if you're not sharing

your pain with anybody else. Now, you need to get

a couple of Christian friends who will pray for you

and encourage you.

Get in that small group.

You don't even have to share it with the whole group,

maybe just a few people in the group. If you've

got a group of you know, ten people will or more.

But you need people to share it with. The Bible

says this. You probably ought to have this verse memorized

by now. We've dealt with it so many times Ecclesiastes four.

Two are better off than one because if one of

them falls down, the other can help him up. Two

men can resist an attack that would defeat one man alone.

If you go through this crisis by yourself, you're going

to be defeated. You will be defeated. You need other people,

and you're like God wired us in such a way

that we need each other. No man is an island.

No person ever made it on their own. And when

I humble myself and I share what's going on in

my life with some other people and they can pray

for me and encourage me, a burden that is shared

is halved, and a joy that is shared is doubled.

Happens every time. Number seven, this is a real important one.

Become a promise person. Build your life on the promises

of God. There are over seven thousand promises in the

Bible and they're there waiting to be claimed. They're like

blank checks where God says, if you do this, I'll

do this. If you do this, I'll do this. You

need to memorize them, you need to bank on them,

you need to claim them. I have been walking with

the Lord now for almost fifty years, and in those

fifty years I have become a promised person. I build

my life on the promises of God, not the way

things seem, but the way God says they will be.

And when you build your life on those promises, you

can handle enormous levels of stress because you're not looking

at circumstances.

You're looking at the word of God.

One of the great promises of the Bible is the

promise that God says, I'm not going to give up

on you. I'm not finished with you. What I start

in your life I'm going to complete. In Philippians chapter one,

it says this verse six, I am sure of this

and the confident. It's not a hope, not a dream,

not a wish. I'm sure of this that God, who

began this good work in you, will carry it on

until it is finished, until the day of Jesus Christ.

What God starts, he finishes in your life. God did

not bring you this far just to leave you where

you are. The story is not finished. The last chapter

has not been written. You're still in the middle of

the movie. God did not bring you this far just

to leave you where you are. He says, what I've

started in your life, I'm going to complete if you'll.

Let me do it. One Peter five seven. Look at

this verse up here on the screen. You can throw

the whole weight of your.

Anxiety for me. That's a whole weight, that's a lot.

You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him,

for you are his personal concern.

Did you know that? Did you know that?

You are God's personal concern? And he says, you can

take all that stress you're feeling, all that worry, all

that anxiety, all that insecurity, just dump it on me.

Philippians Chapter four talks about and the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds

in Christ Jesus, the peace that passes all understanding. How

would you like to have that kind of peace? I

want that kind of peace in my life, so no

matter what happens, the peace that transcends understand How do

you get that kind of.

Peace in your life? Here's how you get it.

By trusting God in the situations you don't understand When

you trust God in the situations you don't understand, you

get the peace that transcends understanding. When you say to God, God,

I don't get this, I don't like it, I don't

understand it, but I'm going to trust you, then you

get the peace that transcends understanding, because instead of looking

for an explanation.

You get strength.

You get the strength of God, and you live each

day in such a way that you're bound to fail

unless God bails you out, unless God helps you. Trusting

always requires risking. These are verses that I've used in

dealing with change for the last thirty years. One of

my favorites is this one Psalm one twelve seven. The

righteous man does not fear bad news nor live in

dread of what may happen, for he is settled in

his mind that God will take care of him. I

want you to be a godly woman. I want you

to be a godly man, a righteous man, a righteous woman,

so that you don't fear bad news. My happiness doesn't

depend on the stock market, or the job market or

anything else. I don't live in dread of what may happen,

for I've settled in my mind that God is going

to take care of me. Here's the last step, and

it's the most important one of all. When I'm going

through a change I don't like, I tell God I'll

trust him no matter what, even if it's not the

storybook ending, even if it doesn't turn out the way

I want. I'm going to trust God no matter what.

Because God is a good God. He loves me. He

made me, He knows what's best for me. He created me.

He has a plan for my life. Job did this

when Job lost everything in his life and Job thirteen

he says, though.

He God slay me. Yet will I trust him? He said, God, even.

If this is the end of the road, even if

I don't live another day, even if I don't make it, God.

I'm gonna trust you God.

If you decide to take my life right now, if

it's over, if my life is over, I'm still gonna

trust you because I still have Heaven. That's the ultimate

test of faith. Hold everything God gives you with an

open hand. Anything you grab onto is going to kill you.

Anything you grab onto is going to stress you out

because it becomes an idol. Even good things can become

an idol. And the first two commandments are no other

gods before me, and no idols. And anything you grasp

onto and you can't hold it with an open hand

that God has given you is an idol. If God

has given you something in your life and you couldn't

give it up, you don't own it.

It owns you. If God said to.

You, I want you to break up with your boyfriend

and you said I couldn't do that, you don't own it.

He owns you. You need to hold it with an

open hand.

And when God can put one job in your hand,

he could easily put another job in your hand. And

if he turns on one faucet, he can turn off another.

And if he turns off one, he can turn on another.

And if he closes one window, he can open another window.

And he closes one door, he can open another.

You belong to him.

And you come to the point of maturity where you say,

my identity is not in my job, my identity is

not in my relationships, My identity is not in my wealth.

My identity is in you, Jesus Christ, and that can

never be taken from me. Job one one the Lord

gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the

name of the Lord that's power heads. Would you pray this,

Dear God, I realize there's no growth without change, no

change without loss, no loss without grief, and no grief

without pain. But I thank you that in all things

you're working for good in my life. Even when people

have intended to harm me, you meant it for good.

I thank you that the purpose of what I'm going

through right now is to test my faith. So I

want to look for you Lord in the change. I

want to seek you, not a solution, not a quick fix,

not a way out. I want to ask you for wisdom. God,

I need your wisdom. Forgive me for being too busy

and too noisy to hear your whisper. I want to

be quiet. I want to spend time with you on

a daily basis. Read your word, be quiet, listen to you.

Pray.

Lord, help me to stop asking why and to start

asking what do you want me to learn? Help me

to give thanks in all circumstances, not for them, but

in them, because this is your will for me, develop

mature character and me grow me up. Help me to

focus on that which never changes. Your love for me,

your purpose for me, your promises to me, forgive me

for my pride and not willing to share what I'm

going through with others. You've told me you don't want

me to face this alone. Help me to get into

a small group and help me to share with a

few people what's happening in my life so that they

can bear the burdens with me. I want to become

a promised person. I thank you that you who began

work in my life, are going to finish what you start.

That the story is not finished, that what you start

you complete, that you will have the last word, and

your word is good. I want to throw the whole

weight of all my anxiety on you right now. Thank

you that I am your personal concern. I want to

be a godly man. I want to be a godly

woman that is settled in my mind that you're going

to take care of me. Father, I want to say

to you today, no matter what happens, I'm going to

trust you. No matter what the ending is. I'm going

to trust you because you are a good God. You've

never invited Christ in your life. Say Jesus Christ, come

into my life right now and be the manager of

my life.

I want to learn to trust you and love you

in your name. Amen,