Rick Warren - TRUST God in the Storm of Chaos

You know, I've discovered something very profound. Life is hard.

It's often disappointing. And the fact is, life doesn't always

cooperate with my plans. Have you noticed that? In fact,

my plans rarely turn out the way I planned them to.

Things fall apart, things go wrong, people disappoint, plans don't happen.

Even the things we pray for. A lot of things

we pray for things we want them to happen a

certain way and it doesn't end up happening that way.

And our prayers aren't answered the way we want it.

You know, a lot of people after a major loss

or a major failure, they just pull into a shell.

They kind of isolate themselves and they just basically say, okay,

my life's over. And they basically stop living and just

start existing. They're kind of putting in the time and

waiting for it to all end. They're not really living anymore.

On the other hand, there's some people that no matter

what life throws at them, they just get back up

and get right back into the game. They have amazing resilience.

You knock them down, they get back up. You knock

them down, they get back up. You knock them down,

they get back up and do better than they did before.

Paul was a guy like that in the Bible. St.

Paul had amazing resilience. He had an amazing ability to

keep on keeping on when everybody else felt like giving up.

The Bible says this in verse 8 and 9 of

2 Corinthians 4. Paul said, we're pressed on every side

by troubles, but we're not crushed and broken. We're perplexed,

but we don't give up and quit. We're hunted down.

But God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but

we get up again and keep going. Now, where do

you get that kind of resilience? I want that kind

of resilience. I want you to have that kind of resilience.

Where do you get the kind of courage to keep

on going when every bone in your body wants to

give up? Wants to throw in the towel. Says, okay,

I've just been hurt too many times. Forget it. No more.

I'm going to build a wall around my life. The

problem is when you build a wall to keep the

pain out, you also keep the love out. And you

end up existing, not living. This morning, I want us

to look at how do you have the courage to

keep going? And specifically, I want us to look at

what do you do when you feel like giving up?

Now the classic passage on this in the Bible is

the book of Job. Job is the oldest book in

the Bible. You know the story of Job. Job was

the wealthiest man in the world in his day. He

was the most prominent man in the world and he

was the most influential man in the world. And on

one day in a 24 hour period, his entire life

fell completely apart. First place, he lost his entire wealth.

All of his flocks, all of his cattle, all of

his goats, his farms, everything was destroyed in one day.

All of his children were murdered by terrorists the same day.

And also in that same period of time, he contracted

a terribly painful chronic and terminal illness. Now you think

you've had a bad day? I mean, Job had a

PhD in pain. He had a PhD in loss. He

had a PhD in handling a crisis of life. And

I want to tell you that no matter what you

go through, and I'm not downgrading or belittling what you're

going through, it's nothing compared to what Job did in

one 24-hour period. And yet from his life, we learn

some things to do. When you feel like giving up,

when you feel like I don't have the energy to

go one more step, I'm just going to chuck it.

I'm going to give up on my marriage. I'm going

to give up on my job. I'm going to give

up on my dream. I'm going to give up on

my health. It's over. I'm done. Finished. If you'll do

what Job did, you'll make it through. So let's look

at it. Let's get right into it. Six things that

Job did in his life on how to have the

courage to keep going when you feel like giving up.

Number one, when you've had a major loss, the first

thing you need to do is this. Tell God exactly

how you feel. Just vent. Just get it all out.

All that frustration, you just need to tell it to God.

You unload all your feelings. You release all your frustrations.

Maybe you don't realize this, but when you trust God

with your negative emotions, that's actually an act of worship.

In the very first chapter of Job, after everything fell

apart in his life, Job says this, verse 20. Job

stood up, tore his robe in grief, shaved his head,

then he fell to the ground and he worshiped. Now,

what's he doing here? He is physically, visibly expressing his

pain to God. He stands up, he tears his robe.

You gotta be pretty mad to start tearing your own

clothes off. He tore his robe in grief, shaves his head,

that's an act of humility, falls to the ground and worships.

Anytime you go through a major loss in life or

a major disappointment, you're gonna experience four emotions. The first

is anger. Why is this happening to me? Why is

this happening to me? That's the natural reaction, anger. The

second you're gonna have is grief. What have I lost?

What have I lost? The third you're going to have

is shock. What do I do now? I can't believe

this is happening. I just can't believe it. And the

fourth is fear. What's going to happen next? When you

have these four things, anger and grief and shock and fear,

what am I supposed to do with them? You express

them to God. That's the first thing you need to do.

You don't suppress it. You don't repress it. You don't

express it, you know, vomit it on somebody else. You

confess it. You tell God how ticked off you are.

And you know what? Here's a little surprise for you.

God can handle your anger. God can handle your frustration.

He can handle your emotions. You know why God can

handle your emotions? Because he gave them to you. The

only reason you have emotions is because you're made in

the image of God and God is an emotional God.

God has feelings. Did you know that? God has feelings.

The only reason you get sad is because God has sadness.

The only reason you can get angry is because God

gets angry. God gets frustrated. God's patience is tested. God

understands all of these things because God is an emotional

God and God can handle your anger. It's like a

little two-year-old having a temper tantrum beating on the knees

of a parent. A parent can handle that. And God

is bigger than your emotion. So it's okay to tell

God exactly how you feel. And when you've prayed for

a promotion and it didn't happen, And when a loved

one walks out of your life and you've been betrayed

and you've been rejected, when you've been laid off, when

you get the dreaded call, it's cancer. It's okay to

tell God, God, I'm mad, I'm upset, I'm sick, I'm frustrated,

I'm ticked off, I doubt. God can handle your complaints.

He can handle your questions. He can handle your fear.

He can handle your doubt. He can handle your grief

because God It's love for you is bigger than all

your emotions. Now, the thing I love about Job is

he's flat out brutally honest. He doesn't mince around with words.

Job chapter seven, verse 11, Job says, when he'd lost

it all in one day, he says, I can't be quiet.

I'm angry. I'm bitter. I have to speak. In other words,

if I don't speak, I'm going to pop. You see,

when you have negative emotions in your life, if you

swallow your emotions, your stomach keeps score. If you don't

talk it out to God, you're gonna take it out

on your body. And to have all the emotions, like

you just had a major disappointment. You spent all your

money building a business and it went bankrupt. And you go,

wait a minute, I prayed for this and I asked

God to bless it. What's going on here? And you're

angry and you're upset. That's like shaking up a Coke bottle.

If you don't express it to God, It's gonna come

out sideways in some weird behavior six months down the road,

in a compulsion, in an addiction, in an affair, in

some other self-destructive behavior. It will express itself one way

or the other. You need to get it out. So

Job says, I can't be quiet. I'm angry, I'm bitter,

I gotta speak. And if you study the book of Job,

Job starts off with confusion. Why is this happening to me?

And then he goes to complaining. I don't like what's

happening to me. And finally starts making bold accusations of God. God,

you're not a nice God. And God just takes it all.

He handles it. You see, the right response to unexplained

tragedy is not grin and bear it. Some people think

everything that happens goes wrong in your life. You're just

supposed to say, well, praise the Lord. Now, that's insincere.

That's fake. That's phony. That's false. God wants you to

be authentic with him. him. God's not looking for pious platitudes,

but he's honestly interested in your honest struggles with him.

Now I know what I'm gonna tell you next is

gonna shock you. I have three children, and this may

surprise you, but sometimes they question my judgment. Can you

believe that? They question my judgment. Now, my kids never

doubt that I love them. They know I love them.

And they never doubt that I've been on this planet

longer than they have. And they never doubt that I've

had more experience than they have. But sometimes they do

question my wisdom. And you know what? I'd rather have

an honest gut level conversation with them than have them

stuff it. And so would God. God would rather have

you wrestle with him in anger than walk away in

detached apathy. Wrestling is a contact sport. In the Bible,

when Jacob wrestles with God, God doesn't mind that because wrestling,

you're up front. You're in close contact. You're up there together.

God would rather have you voicing your doubts and fears

and being up close to him than walk away angry.

And be the silent person and be apathetic and detached.

Lamentations chapter 2 verse 19 says this. Cry out in

Lamentations 2:19

the night. Pour out your heart like water. Pour it

out like water in prayer to the Lord. When was

the last time you cried out in the night? When

was the last time you poured out your heart like

water to God? You know, in the Bible, there are many,

many examples of godly people who express their frustration to God,

and God handled it. It's okay. God can handle it.

One time, Jeremiah says, God, you deceived me. I think

you lied to me. I think you promised this, but

this happened here. I think you deceived me, God. God

handled it. Naomi one time said, call me bitter because

God has made my life bitter. Now, she got around.

She came around, but... And that moment, that's the way

she felt. One time David said, I've taken the worst

you can hand out, God, and I'm fed up, that's it.

But he always came back. And the same thing with Job.

Although Job questioned God's wisdom and wonders what's going on

and he's spouting off and he's admitting all his frustration,

he's still in the root of his life, trust God.

But that's the first step, you gotta get it out.

Step number two, second thing you do when you feel

like giving up and you need the power and the

courage to keep on is accept help from others. That's

the second thing Job does. You need to accept help

from others because God doesn't intend for you to handle

all the pain or all the loss or all the

stress in your life by yourself. We were wired for

each other. We need each other. We are social beings.

The first thing God said in the Garden of Eden

is it's not good for man to be alone. We're

made to be in relationships. Here's the problem. When you

go through a major disappointment, you don't want to tell

anybody about it. When you go through a major loss,

the natural human reaction is to pull back, to isolate it.

I'll handle it by myself. I don't need anybody else.

You want to keep it a secret. When you've had

a loss, a failure, a mistake... Crisis you typically pull

in and isolate bad idea Bad idea the natural reaction

is withdraw when God says no no you need friends

in your life at that point Job chapter 6 says

Job 6 · chapter mention

this verse 14 when desperate people Give up on God

Almighty their friends at least should stick with them I

Love that verse God says, even if you don't believe

in God, at that point, you still need good friends

to stick with you. A friend walks in when everybody

else walks out. And you need people in your life.

The New International Version says, even a despairing man deserves

the devotion of his friends, even if he forsakes Almighty God.

In other words, there will be times in your life

when you are in so much pain, you go, I

don't even believe in God right now. Okay, you need

to have some friends to say, that's all right. We'll

believe God for you right now. There are going to

be times in your life saying, I don't have any

faith right now. I'm just full of doubt. I don't

have any faith. That's when you need people to go,

that's okay. We will have faith for you. We will

trust God for you in this moment. This is why

you need a small group. Small group is a safety net.

In this church, 32,000 people in this church are in

small groups. I don't worry about them. I worry about

those of you who aren't in a small group because

when the crisis comes, who's gonna pull you through? You see,

you haven't helped anybody else through their crisis, so who's

gonna help you? This is why we need each other.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.11, encourage each other

And give each other strength. Now that's a command. God

commands us to bear each other's burdens. I'm supposed to

help you when you're going through your losses and tough times.

And you're supposed to help me when I go through

my losses and tough times. And that's why we need

small groups. Now I've been in the group I'm in

for many, many years. But I'll be honest with you.

Sometimes I don't want to go to small group. I

don't feel like going to small group. Now, you never

felt that, I know. But sometimes I just go, I

am so tired, I'd like to just lay on the

couch and watch TV tonight. And I don't always feel

like going to group. But you know what? I have

never been to a group that I didn't go, I

got something out of that, I needed that. And usually

when I don't want to go is when I need

it the most. We are to encourage each other. Look

at the next verse. By helping each other with your troubles...

You obey the law of Christ. What is the law

of Christ? It's this, love your neighbor as yourself. That's

the law of Christ. It's mentioned about seven times in

the Bible. We're commanded to help each other. And so

every time you help somebody who's going through their pain,

And they're saying, I'm doubting, I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm upset,

I'm full of fear, I'm crushed. And you say, it's okay,

I will believe God for you, I will help you,

I will lift you up. Then you're fulfilling the law

of Christ. You see, pain is the great equalizer. When

you're in pain, it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor,

you're in pain. Doesn't matter if you're young or old,

you're in pain. Doesn't matter if you're educated or uneducated,

doesn't matter. Pain is the great equalizer. And we are

to help each other through our pain. Tell God exactly

how you feel and accept help from others. Here's the

third thing you need to do. Stop asking why. When

you've gone through that loss, when you've gone through that crisis,

when your prayer hasn't been answered, you stop asking why.

Because it doesn't help and it only prolongs the pain. Now,

This is something we all have to learn. Even Job

had to learn this. Job didn't get it right for

a long time. In fact, Job was full of questions.

In fact, he asked questions for 37 chapters. So he

didn't get it right off the bat. But he did

eventually get it. And eventually he stopped asking. And what

happened is God started asking him some questions. And I'll

tell you about that in a minute. But he's asking

all kinds of questions. Let me give you some of

the questions Job asked. Job chapter 3. Why didn't I

Job 3 · chapter mention

die at birth as I came from the womb? Why

did my mother let me live? Why did she nurse

me at her breast? In other words, here's a guy

in so much pain and in so much despair. He's going,

you know what? It really would have been better if

I hadn't been born. Now you've got to be in

enormous pain to feel that way. But this is the

way Job felt. He said, I rue the day that

I was born. I wish I hadn't been born. God,

why did you let me be born if I was

going to be a part of all of this despair?

It's a legitimate question. In fact, Job asks a lot

of legitimate questions. Look at the next verse, Job 3.20.

Why let people go on living in misery? Good question.

Why give light to those in grief? You see, this

why question, why God, why? Why God, why? Why God, why?

It's human nature. And we all ask it. And the

reason why we all ask it is a misconception because

we think that if we understand the reason behind our pain,

then it'll make the pain easier. Wrong. An explanation doesn't

comfort you. You don't need an explanation. You need strength.

You don't need an explanation. You need a savior. Savior.

You don't need an explanation. You need God. You don't

need an explanation. You need comfort and support. but we

always go looking for the explanation why why why why

why and we ask things like why did that person

walk out in my life why did they betray me

why did they make a promise to me and then

break it why did they walk out why did they

hurt me Why did I lose my job? Why did

I get laid off? Why did my loved one die?

Why did they get ill? Why did I get sick?

Now friends, I have been studying the why question for

37 years. And I'm going to give you my educated,

profound answer. I don't know. And I'm never going to know.

Because I'm not God and you're not God either. And

some things we're just never going to understand until we

get to the other side of death in eternity in heaven.

And then it's all going to become very, very clear.

Only God knows. And if you don't get it right

off the bat, you might as well stop asking why,

because you're simply prolonging the pain. Let me show you

a couple of very important verses. Proverbs 25 verse two

says this, it is God's privilege to conceal things. It

is God's privilege to conceal things. God reveals, but God

also conceals. You see, you wouldn't know anything about God

Except that God reveals himself. God is a God of revelation.

He reveals himself through nature. He reveals himself through circumstances.

He reveals himself through scripture. And the only reason you

know anything about God is because God has chosen to

reveal himself. Otherwise, you wouldn't know anything about him. But

the Bible says God doesn't just reveal. God also conceals.

And sometimes, God intentionally hides his face from us. Why? Why?

So we'll learn to trust him instead of trusting our feelings.

So we'll live by faith rather than feelings. Why didn't

God just make himself known to everybody and make everything

perfectly clear and you see everything from the beginning of

your life to the end in perfect clarity? Because it'd

scare you to death. So God intentionally conceals some things.

And what God has concealed, you're never going to find

out on this side of eternity. So you might as

well relax and stop asking why. You see, God doesn't

owe you an explanation for anything. God doesn't have to

check in with you first before he does something. God

doesn't have to get your permission before he allows things

to happen in life. Is this okay with you? No,

God is God. And we're not always going to understand

what happens. 1 Corinthians 13, verses 9 and 12 says this.

1 Corinthians 13:9

Right now, we only know a little. In other words,

we see in part. We just see partially. Right now,

we see things imperfectly, as in a poor mirror. But then,

in other words, in heaven, we will see everything with

perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete.

But then, in heaven, I will know everything completely. Someday,

it's all gonna be clear. One day, it's all gonna

make sense. One day you're going to see in heaven go, oh,

that's what was happening. That's why God allowed that in

my life. That's why God allowed me to sin. That's

why God allowed that other person to sin against me.

Because he could have stopped me from sinning and he

could have stopped them from sinning, but he didn't. And

the world is broken as a result. And nothing works right.

But some things we're not going to understand until we

get to heaven. In the first place, our brain capacity

isn't big enough. To understand God. Some of the best

advice I got many years ago, my dad said this

to me. He may have read it somewhere, but it's

really stuck with me. He said, son, there's going to

be things in life you don't understand. And they're not

going to make sense. And you're going to have all

kinds of questions. What you need to do is create

a ask God later file in your brain. And you

need to plug those questions there. Because there are going

to be things that just don't make sense. And you

want to go, why God, why? But they aren't going

to be answered now. So you just need to create

a doesn't make sense file. A I don't understand it file.

A God, I'm going to ask you about this later file.

And every time you get one of those unanswerable questions,

you just park it there and you leave it and

you let it go and you get on with your

life and you do the best you can with what

you have for Jesus Christ today. Profound advice. Just park

it in the I don't understand file. You see, sometimes

you pray about something and you want it so badly,

your heart is about to break. You go, God, I've

invested my entire life savings in this business and I

want it to work, but it doesn't work. And sometimes

you say, God, I so badly want to get married,

but it hadn't happened. And God, I have a baby,

but it hasn't happened. And God, and sometimes you want

so badly and you pray about it and you pray

about it and you pray about it and you pray

about it, but you don't get what you want. And

in that moment, you are tempted. To doubt God, to

doubt his promises, and to doubt the efficacy of prayer.

That's normal. Even Job doubted the efficacy of prayer. You say,

he did? Yeah, he did. Look at the next verse.

Job 21, 15. Who is the Almighty, and why should

we obey him? This is a guy in deep pain.

What good is it if we pray He's saying, why God, why? Now,

sometimes you pray and when you don't get what you want,

it feels like God has let you down and you're

disappointed and you make an illogical jump and you say, well,

God just doesn't love me. You're wrong. You're dead wrong.

You will never understand how much God loves you. He

will never love you any more or less than he

does right now. And as I've said many times, you

can't make God stop loving you You can rail at him,

but he's not going to stop loving you because God

is love. And we always get into trouble when we

doubt God's love. What I need to do instead of

asking why is I need to take step four. Trust

God in things I don't understand. That's step four. I

stop asking why because I'm not going to find the

answer now. And I trust God in things I don't understand.

Now the fact is, God always answers prayer. Always, always, always, always,

always answer prayer. He doesn't always answer yes. He doesn't

always answer the way I wish. In fact, there are

hundreds of ways God can answer your prayers besides yes.

Sometimes God answers a prayer with yes. Sometimes God answers

a prayer with no. Sometimes God answers a prayer with

not yet. Sometimes God answers a prayer with wait. Sometimes

God answers a prayer with you got to be kidding me.

Sometimes God answers a prayer with you be the answer.

I mean, go out and you be the answer. I mean,

you say, God, I need a lot of money. God says,

go get a job. God, I want to get married. Well,

get out there and meet some people. God's not going

to drop a man just out of heaven. He might

smash you. Sometimes God says, you be the answer. Sometimes

God says, trust me. You're not going to know on

this one. Just trust me.