Rick Warren - How to Trust God When Everything’s Changing Around You

Now, there are a lot of changes in life, but

I want us 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 8, the Bible says this in verse 22.

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

As long as the earth remains, there'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. There's day and night every 24 hours. Change

is inevitable. Now, of course... In the past 30 years

here at Saddleback, I've probably seen more change on a

personal level than many people have in life. And so

I want to share 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. 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 discovered 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 29 says this, verse 13.

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 don't

be just going, what's the quick fix? How do I

get out of this? How do I save my skin?

How do 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,

the relief, the comfort, the strength and all that that

you need. You look for God and 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 not 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've 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 1.5 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 ask not. You need to stop and say, Lord,

what do you want me to do in this situation?

Number three, listen for God's whisper. Listen for God's whisper.

And you got to be quiet because he's not going

to shout 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 1 Kings chapter 19. It's the story of Elijah.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

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 11,

then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind

that split 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 at the entrance of the cave.

He knew this was God talking. And the voice said

to him, Elijah, what are you doing here? Has God

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 going to 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 still. 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 why. 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

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 through 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. And

so God's far more interested in 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's 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 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 area of your life, it's saying, 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.

Because a lot of people 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 12, I have learned the secret so that

anywhere at any time, I am content. Whoa. 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 through Christ who strengthens 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 wants.

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 5 says this, verse 3 and 4.

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 act.

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 at the next verse.

The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, down in

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

verse 18, 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.

So 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? 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

could give you 100 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 gonna 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 gonna change. God's promises, his word

is always true. God is not a liar. It's never

gonna change. God's purpose for your life is never going

to change. These three verses there on your outline, Jeremiah 31,

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Psalm 33,

his plans endure forever. His purposes last eternally. Isaiah 40,

the word of God shall stand forever. God's love, God's truth,

God's purposes for my life are never gonna 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,

release 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. Say, 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 people. 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. 51 times it 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 got a group of

10 people 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 4, 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 in your life.

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 7,000 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

50 years. And in those 50 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

gonna give up on you. I'm not finished with you.

What I start in your life, I'm gonna complete. In

Philippians chapter one, it says this, verse six. I am

sure of this and I'm 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. 1 Peter 5, 7,

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 that

no matter what happens, the peace that transcends understanding. 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 30 years. One

of my favorites is this one, Psalm 112, 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

gonna 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 in Job 13,

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 gonna 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 say, 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 Jesus Christ.

And that can never be taken from me. Job 121,

the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord. Let's bow our 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, but in them. Because this is your will

for me. Develop mature character in 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 that 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.

If you've never invited Christ in your life, say, Jesus Christ,

come into my life right now. Be the manager of

my life. I want to learn to trust you and

love you. In your name, amen.