Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning, church. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
[00:00:05] My name is Emily. Like Jer said, thank you. And this is student takeover. It's a day where we just get to celebrate what God is doing in this generation.
[00:00:15] I think sometimes what happens is we're kind of shoved away in our rooms and we forget that the same Holy Spirit that's moving in this room is the same Holy Spirit working in our generations upstairs. And so I thank you all so much for being a church that encourages this generation. I wouldn't be studying what I'm studying if it weren't for the opportunities at this church and the way that the Holy Spirit has moved in my life and in this church. So thank you, Christ Church, just for being a place that encourages this generation to step out in their faith. Thank you. And if you.
[00:00:49] And if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to pray over this morning for us.
[00:00:54] Heavenly Father, you are just so good.
[00:00:57] I thank you for this church, your church, your people that we just gather together to want to worship and honor and glorify you. Would today be no different, that you would get the same honor and glory that you do each Sunday. Would we leave this room feeling different? Would we leave this room wanting to glorify and honor you different?
[00:01:19] Lord, you know the hearts of the people that are in this room, and I trust that you will speak to them. Lord, let it not be my words, but you speaking through me.
[00:01:28] Thank you for your word, for your son, and for your spirit. We love you, God. Amen.
[00:01:37] So I go to school at Grand Canyon University, which is out in Phoenix, Arizona. And out there, I have the pleasure of getting to start this ministry with some of my friends. We decided this year I was asked to join on this team where we were going to start a ministry on campus. And I was super excited. And we've been planning and prepping, and we finally got it going. But in the meantime, you become like brothers and sisters, like, you're with each other all the time. And every week we meet to pray for hours and we check in on each other's lives. So these people that I'm on this team with, they feel like my brothers and sisters. And every week we meet on Wednesdays and we'll ask, like, how your week's doing? You know, the casual, like, oh, what did you do week? How are you doing? And there's this one guy on this team who feels like my brother, right every week. His answer is always the same, and it's always, God is good. So I'm Good.
[00:02:25] And the first couple times he said that, I was like, yeah, yeah, right. You're just saying that. That's the Christian answer. You know what I mean? But I was like, amen. Yeah, so true.
[00:02:35] But one week he walked in and his demeanor was different. You know, you can just tell when somebody. Someone's feeling sad or when something seems off about them. And so I finally pushed a little bit further, you know, I said, how are you? And he said, God's good, so I'm good. And in my head I'm like, no, you're not. You know what I mean? No, you're not. You're just saying. And so I said, no. Like, how was your week? Like, what happened this week? And then he proceeded to tell me about this week, that if I would have had, I would have been a train wreck. You know what I mean? I would have not been saying, God's good, so I'm good. He said that he lost his shoes.
[00:03:07] And if you are wondering how that's happened, you've probably never parented a college boy. So he lost his shoes, which I don't know how that's possible either. He also told me that he had only had two hours of sleep in the past three days, which. That alone. Yeah, that again, college boy. All of the parents with college boys understand that. I don't understand that. I need like full nine hours of sleep last night. I was in bed by 9pm Like, I'm going to get my hours of sleep. So, yeah, two hours of sleep. And then he also told me that he had lost someone very close to him in his life. And so he's grieving too.
[00:03:43] And so I thought, you're not good. Then, you know, your answer is simply like, you're not good. And so I asked him, I said, you always say God is good, so I'm good, but you're obviously not good.
[00:03:56] And he said, well, just.
[00:03:58] I don't know, for a while. I think I just said it enough times until maybe I believed it. But I don't think what goes on in my life ever changes if God's good or not, you know, he said, I can experience not good things, but that doesn't mean God stops being good.
[00:04:14] And I thought, man, I immediately assumed he couldn't possibly be good just because of what was going on in his life.
[00:04:23] And I think we all can relate to that feeling. See, I felt this tension rise up in me of, like, you said, God's good and you're good, but are you really good because of what's going on in your life.
[00:04:33] And I think we all feel this tension sometimes, you know? Yeah, I know God is good, but this is happening in my life, and it doesn't feel very good. So is God really good?
[00:04:46] God, I know. I've heard you're good. I've heard people say you're good. I want to believe you're good. And yet these are the things I'm going through. This is what my life looks like. I lost my shoes. I didn't get enough sleep. I lost someone close to me. Maybe you didn't get the job you were hoping for. You're not in the relationship you thought you were going to be in. Maybe you thought you would be getting more money and you're not. And so you're struggling to pay bills. Maybe your family doesn't look the way you wanted it to. Maybe Ohio State lost. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know?
[00:05:17] Yeah. Too soon, probably. Honestly, sorry about that, guys.
[00:05:22] And it just feels like, how can our experiences in life.
[00:05:27] How can we wrestle with our experiences in life? Not feeling good when God says he's good, when you so badly want to believe, or maybe you've heard so many times that God is good.
[00:05:38] And this is a tension that we all wrestle with. And what I think begins to happen is we allow our circumstances dictate how we view God's character. We start to allow the lives we live and the things we've been through or the things we're going through, say and determine who God is.
[00:05:56] And what I mean by that is we're actually going to look at Psalm 73. I think Asaph explains this so well.
[00:06:04] It's an authentic psalm. It's very vulnerable. He's not afraid to ask the big questions. I think we have these questions of, like, God, why am I going through this? Why am I experiencing this? But we feel like we can't ask him. Asaph was this director of music in the temple, so he would have been a leader in the church.
[00:06:23] And he still wrestles with these same questions that we wrestle with.
[00:06:27] See, he starts with this truth, Psalm 73:1. He says, surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
[00:06:37] And he's starting with this truth that he's clinging to. He says, God, I know you're good. You're good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. And for us today, we get to have this truth. I mean, we're not the nation of Israel, but we're God's chosen people.
[00:06:52] First. Peter tells us that because of Jesus. We, the church are his people. So this truth we get to cling to, we get to say God is good to us, to his people, to his church.
[00:07:04] We get to say God is good to those who are pure in heart. And James tells us that pure in heart is just single minded devotion after the Lord. That's all it is. I think sometimes we hear this word purity in heart, and you're like, oh, that can't be me. You know, if you heard what I was thinking when that person cut me off today, not very pure. But don't worry, pure in heart. James tells purity in heart is just chasing after the Lord. Singly. It means that you're not being pulled towards other desires. Your one desire is God alone. Your one devotion is to the Lord. And so this is a truth we get to have too. God is good to his people, to those who seek after him, to those who desire him. God is good to those people. And Asaph continues, God is good.
[00:07:47] But as for me, my feet had almost slipped.
[00:07:52] That's not a usual sentence we would hear. It's not usual that someone would say God is good, but you know what I mean. We would not say that. It feels like he's contradicting himself, but if we listen closely, he's saying, but as for me, my feet almost slipped. He's saying, God is good. But as for me, I almost missed it. I almost missed out on that goodness because I lost sight.
[00:08:16] Asaph is saying that he could have been experiencing this goodness, but he was almost missing it. And he gives us this image of his feet slipping because he wasn't founded on a firm, solid truth. We have this truth that God is good, but when we step outside of that truth and we start to question it and we start to look to the world for answers and when we start to allow our circumstances dictate who God is, but then our feet almost slip. We are no longer founded on this solid truth. We're no longer rooted in the fact that God is good. We're no longer living out of that goodness.
[00:08:48] Asaph's feet almost slipped and he tells us why his feet almost slipped. He goes on for 10 verses to explain why his feet almost slipped. And it's because he was looking at the world around him.
[00:09:02] He was so focused on what was going on in his life and what he was experiencing and the things that other people were going to and the things that felt unfair or uncertain or unjust. And he was saying, God, why would you be doing this if you were good? Why is this happening. If you were good, if you were good, you would have this in my life, I would be getting this.
[00:09:22] And he's saying, God, why? And his feet were slipping because he wasn't founded on this truth that God was good. He wasn't believing it, and he wasn't living out of it.
[00:09:32] I had a friend back in freshman year who she always would go to church with me. And so I just naturally assumed that she believed in God and she loved the Lord. And one day she asked me, em, why would I follow God if there's celebrities who have the big house and they have all the money and they have the family and they get to travel and they seem happy and they're successful and they don't follow God?
[00:09:56] And now I feel like I might have a better answer. But at the time, I was like, youth pastor, come help answer this question. You know, I didn't even know what to say. I didn't know how to go at answering that. And I started to wrestle with this, and I said, you know, God, I'm not saying you're not good. I'm not saying I don't believe in you, but why do these people get to live these lush, luxurious lives that I kind of. I mean, I kind of want to live?
[00:10:21] And they don't believe in you, and it kind of feels like God, is this even fair?
[00:10:27] This is the exact same question Asaph wrestles with. He's saying, God, I am saying yes to you. I want to follow you. I want to believe you're good. I want to live my life for you. And yet when I said yes to you, I thought my life would look good. I thought my life would feel good. I thought that I would get all of these good things. And what we do is we start to base God's goodness off of our idea of goodness.
[00:10:51] When he's the source of goodness, we are not the source of goodness.
[00:10:56] And so we look at our lives and we say, well, if I had this, then I'll be good. Or, once I have this, then I'll be good. If I get that job, once I have enough money, if I'm in that relationship, once my family looks a certain way, then I'll be good, instead of just saying, God, you are good. So then I'm good.
[00:11:14] And Asaph, his feet are slipping away from this truth because he's allowing the circumstances of his life, the things that are going on around him, dictate how he views God's character.
[00:11:27] And there's three ways we do that. There's three ways that we allow our circumstances around us pervert our perception of the Lord.
[00:11:35] Asaph walks through all of these. The first one is that we overlook God's provision.
[00:11:42] We think that what we have isn't enough, and it won't be enough until we have something else.
[00:11:50] And it's all of the ifs and onces that we say in our life.
[00:11:54] Once I retire, then I'll be good, you know, once I can stop working, once I can pay the bills and not have to worry.
[00:12:02] If I get married, then I'll be good. If I'm in a relationship with someone, then I'll know that I'm loved. If I get into this program or know that my career is certain, then it'll be okay. And we can no longer just rest in what God has already provided for us. What Asaph is doing is he's looking at these people's lives and he's saying, I want what they have. I want that money, I want that health, I want that power. I want those people. I want that popularity. Instead of saying, God, look what you've already provided for me, what he's saying is what God has given him isn't enough. The one who created us and redeemed us and saved us and cared for us, what he's given him wasn't enough.
[00:12:39] When we start to compare our lives to other people is when we start to overlook the provision of God.
[00:12:46] When we start to compare our lives, it seals us of all joy and gratitude of what the Lord has already given us in our lives. We overlook the abundance of which God has already given us.
[00:13:01] The next thing we do is we doubt God's purpose.
[00:13:06] What happens is we start to say, well, God, if you're not giving me the things that I need, do you really even know what's best for me and my future?
[00:13:15] Sometimes we even look back and we say, God, how could you have let this happen?
[00:13:20] Do you really even know what's good for me?
[00:13:23] We start to question if God really knows what is going to be good for our lives. We start to doubt the author of our stories.
[00:13:31] We look back and we feel bitter towards the things that didn't go the way we wanted them to go.
[00:13:36] We say, God, why did that happen? How could you have let this happen? It's so easy to point fingers when you need someone to blame. And we usually point the finger at God.
[00:13:47] Asaph calls this the embittered spirit. He says that we feel bitterness towards what happened in the past.
[00:13:55] And Tim Keller actually has this great quote and he says, worry is not believing God will get it right. And bitterness is believing that God got it wrong.
[00:14:06] So what he's saying is we can end up in this cycle where we're bitter towards what happened in the past because we believe God got it wrong. And then we worry about the future because we're worried God's gonna get it wrong again.
[00:14:18] And if we can just be honest with each other, if anyone's gonna get it wrong in my relationship with me and God, it's gonna be me. Okay? You know what I mean? I'm gonna be the one that gets it wrong. He is never going to be the one that gets it wrong. And yet we start to overlook what he's given us and provided us. And we start to doubt his purposes. And we start to say, God, do you really even know what's good for me?
[00:14:41] Because the things in this world wrap our minds so clearly. They become so big that we lose sight of who he is.
[00:14:48] And we say, God, why? How? And we start to distrust his character.
[00:14:56] It's no longer God, you don't know what to provide for me, that's good, or you don't know what to plan for me, that's good. We say, God, are you even good?
[00:15:06] We distrust God's character.
[00:15:10] We feel like we can no longer just trust everything that he's going to do. That's when we are on our slippery ground. That's when our feet are slipping away. Because what's going on in the world and what's going on in our lives and our experiences and our hurt and our pains and our failures and the things that feel unfair and the things that we feel like we deserve and they don't happen to us. We think, God, are you even good?
[00:15:35] And so now we have this tension where Asaph begins with the truth.
[00:15:40] God, I know you're good. I know you're good to your people. I know you're good to the ones who want you and desire you and devote themselves to you.
[00:15:50] And yet I look at my life and I look at what I'm experiencing and my pain and my hurt, and I'm bitter towards what happened, and I'm worried about the future.
[00:15:59] And can I really trust that you're good?
[00:16:02] And we have this tension. And what Asaph walks us through, the rest of the psalm is, where are we resolving this tension? Because the reality is we're human beings, and there's brokenness and evilness in the world, and there's things that happen that shouldn't be happening. And the Things that have happened to us that you don't deserve.
[00:16:22] And there's evilness around us. And so we're going to have those questions and we're going to have those doubts, and we're going to have the days that we're like, really? Are you sure about that, God? Is that really what you wanted to happen? But it's where you go to find resolution. Where do you go to find resolve? Where do you go so that this tension can find rest?
[00:16:43] Asaph says you could go to the world, right? Lots of people do that. Lots of people look for answers. They look for the longing of their soul in the world. And they always come up short. They always come up empty. The world can never fill us. You can drink up as much as the world can give you, and it will still not be enough. Asaph uses this image in verse 10, where he says that people, they swarm to the people, that they desire their lives, they want their lives so badly, and they drink up waters in abundance.
[00:17:15] But it's never enough.
[00:17:18] This question of what are you drinking up in the world? Is what has the hold on your heart? Who or what in your life are you running to to satisfy this tension? And a lot of times it's not even to satisfy the tension. It's just to put it in the back of your mind.
[00:17:33] It's just to set it aside for a second to escape from what These questions are bubbling up inside of you.
[00:17:41] We go to the world and we drink up waters and abundance that will never satisfy our souls. We're looking for truth and for goodness and for purpose and affirmation and love and in the world that will never satisfy us but leave us more broken and thirsty than we were before.
[00:17:57] And Asaph says that you can go to yourself, but just like other human beings are gonna get it wrong, you're gonna get it wrong, too.
[00:18:05] Last year was my first year at school, and I wanted so badly to know what my career was gonna look like. I wanted so badly to know what my future was gonna look like. And I remember praying like, God, I trust you. I know that you have a plan for me, but if you could just give me a blueprint of what you have for my life, that would be great. And I'll stop bugging you about this, you know, I wanted so badly to know what the next 10 steps were going to look like.
[00:18:31] And so was I really trusting in God's plan for me then? Was I really trusting that what he had was going to be good for me?
[00:18:42] When we go to ourselves, we have to understand that we're not going to know.
[00:18:47] During that time when I was praying like, God, please just tell me what my next steps are going to be. Give me the blueprint of my life.
[00:18:54] Something kept playing over and over and over in my head, and it was m.
[00:19:00] You don't know, but God does know.
[00:19:04] And if you would have told me that at the time, if someone would have sat me down and said that to me, I would have been like, psh, nope. Next piece of advice, not using it. Next. And I would have tried to find something else that worked. It didn't feel good. It was like this pride that I had to swallow.
[00:19:17] But church, you don't know everything.
[00:19:20] God knows everything.
[00:19:22] It's such a simple truth, but it's one we don't want to admit. It's such a simple truth, but it's one we so easily forget. Because we start to think that when life doesn't feel good anymore, then maybe God's not really good. We start to think when our life, our perception of good, isn't fitting with what the reality is, then God must not be holding up his end of the deal.
[00:19:44] Where do you go to resolve this tension?
[00:19:48] Asaph says in verse 16. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply until I entered the sanctuary of God.
[00:20:01] Where are you going to resolve this tension? Are you looking out into the world and drinking up the waters that it has? Or are you just struggling with this internally and not willing to admit you don't have all of the answers? Or are you sitting at the feet of God and saying, God, I don't understand it, but I know you do. I don't know why, but I know you have a purpose in it all.
[00:20:23] We can resolve this tension. We can trust in his character, and we can set aside our circumstances and start to look at his character first. Instead of living out whatever your circumstances are, you start to live out of the character of God.
[00:20:37] Instead of allowing your circumstances to dictate who his character is, you allows his character to dictate how you perceive your circumstances.
[00:20:46] And the sanctuary of God is good for us. It does something to our souls that we need. Being in his presence is good for us. We need it. It's what we were designed for. And when Asaph sits at the feet of the Lord, when he sits in his sanctuary, when he spends time with God, when he comes into the sanctuary of God with other believers, he's able to leave differently. He leaves changed. Because this is how the psalm then ends. Starting at verse 23.
[00:21:12] Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. And afterwards you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my poor forever.
[00:21:34] He leaves differently. There's no more God is guiding me. But I also kind of like the way that they're living. There's no more of the looking at the world and allowing that to dictate his circumstances and how he's feeling. He instead says, no, God, I know who you are when I sit at your feet. So I know then how to look and view my circumstances. I know that they don't have a hold on me anymore because you have already been holding my hand the whole time. And so what he says is, we learn that in the presence of God, things actually happen. We first start to reframe our perspective. In the presence of God, we reframe.
[00:22:11] We recognize that our perspective was wrong. Our perspective of the world being so important and the things I have and the possessions I have and the power and the popular. All of that doesn't matter anymore. It's only ever been Him. We reframe our perspective and we recognize that it wasn't that God stopped being good for a season. It's not that God is good until something bad happens. It's not that God was not too good to me when I was little, but now he started being good to me. We recognize that God has always only been good.
[00:22:42] We recognize that it's the same God who created the earth, who made a plan of redemption, who led the Israelites out of slavery, the same God that came down to earth and took a position on the cross for us. The same God who poured His Holy Spirit out on his church. The same God that rests his presence in this room right now has always only been good in the sanctuary of God. In his presence, we reframe our perspective and we say, I'm no longer going to allow these circumstances control who I turn to. I'm no longer going to allow these circumstances dictate how I view my God. No, I know my God is good. In the sanctuary of God, the next thing that happens is we remember when you sit with him, you're able to remember his goodness. You're able to remember his faithfulness to you. In the presence of God, we remember his promises. We remember the things that he's been faithful in and the things that he has promised to come.
[00:23:39] In verse 26 Asaph writes, My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
[00:23:50] Those fears of God not being able to provide for us, we recognize that he's only been the one providing for us. We recognize that he's the portion forever.
[00:23:59] That the things that I'm trying to grab onto in this earth, the things that I feel like might fill me, the things that my soul longs for, of goodness and satisfaction and truth and fulfillment, the things of the jobs and the families and the relationships, those things will never last forever, but God will always last forever. We recognize that he is the strength of our heart and our portion forever. The one thing that will satisfy our souls for eternity, that he's always been providing for us. We remember not only how he's provided for us, but we remember that he's had a purpose and a plan for us from the beginning. We recognize that he's always been with us, holding our hand. And in verse 24, it says, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
[00:24:43] How is the Lord guiding you in his counsel right now?
[00:24:46] Where is he holding your hand and saying, come on, maybe giving you a little tug this way, Come on, He has something for you. I think we convince ourselves that we have seasons where God's using us, and then we become out of season, you know?
[00:25:00] Well, I was a mom. I was called to be a mom. But once my kids move out, then my season with God, I'm over. I don't really have a purpose until the next thing.
[00:25:08] Or we think like I had a purpose here at church. So clearly then I went to college, stopped going to church, and now I don't really have a purpose anymore.
[00:25:16] Or I had a purpose in my family, but then my family moved away or I lost the members, and now I don't have a purpose. We start to question if we have a purpose or if our purpose has gone out of season. If you have breath, God has a purpose for you.
[00:25:32] Everyone in this room, everyone watching online, everyone you might go and sit down with later this week, you can look at their eyes and confidently tell them that the Lord has a purpose for them and he wants to guide them in his counsel. Are you letting him guide you in his counsel?
[00:25:48] And the second part of that verse says, and afterwards you will take me into glory. We have a glory to come.
[00:25:56] When Jesus, he considered his value and worth and honor and glory and riches in heaven, nothing to be held onto or clung to. Instead he took a position on earth as a man and died a humiliating death, all of us, so that we would have a promise of glory to come. Your purpose doesn't just stop here. You have a purpose for all eternity because one day the same hand you hold now will hold it as you go into glory with him.
[00:26:25] The last thing we do in the presence of God is we can reaffirm.
[00:26:29] We can remind ourselves, how easy is it to forget these truths. In the presence of God, we reframe our perspective. We recognize God, you've always been good.
[00:26:39] We remember the ways he's provided for us and had a plan for us and what he's leading us into.
[00:26:44] And we reaffirm that God, I only always wanted you. In verse 25, he says, whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you? What has earth have to offer that you've been desiring besides God alone? What has your soul been looking for and trying to drink up other than the eternal water of Jesus Christ that will never leave you thirsty, that will never lose hope. His gospel will never run dry because it's something we need to be filled with every single day. What does earth have to offer besides Jesus that you've been looking after and seeking after, that has left you continually empty and inattention?
[00:27:25] What does earth have but him alone?
[00:27:30] What is around us that we desire besides Jesus Christ?
[00:27:36] In his presence we can reframe and say, no, God, you've only always been good. We remember that he's been providing for us and that he's had a purpose for us. And we reaffirm that. God, no, you are my one and only thing. In the very words of Jesus as he's sitting with these sisters, Mary and Martha, that Anthony read to us earlier. He says, there's only one thing that is needed.
[00:28:00] Where have you been pulled to two or three or four things?
[00:28:04] Where have you been so worried about? The things you have going on and the things you have to prepare for and the things you have to get set up and the things that didn't go the right way and the things you're worried won't go the right way in the future, the things that you feel like you need besides him alone, he is the only thing. He's the only perfect source of goodness.
[00:28:26] He's the only source of joy, of peace, of firm truth and eternal life.
[00:28:35] It's only been him. He is our one thing.
[00:28:40] And so now we might be thinking, well, how do I go about living this out? You know, how do I get to say God is good So I am good and really believe it. How is it more than just a cliche of me feeling like I need to pretend that I'm good? But no, I know that my God is good. So I know he's providing for me. I know he has a plan for me. I know I have a promise to come, and I know that he's been holding my hand the whole time, so I am good. How do we truly believe that? How do we live that out? Asaph ends the psalm, helping us out a little bit. He says in verse 27, those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you in verse 28. But as for me, it is good to be near God.
[00:29:21] And he kind of slips in this reminder for us.
[00:29:25] There is a day where we will perish. There is a day where we will meet our end on this earth. Our days are numbered. We are not infinite on this earth right now.
[00:29:38] And what he's saying is, are you choosing something that will last eternally, or are you choosing something that will die? Out with you. You CS Lewis has this great idea of eternity, and he talks about it not as an eternity that starts the day you die, because I think we think that way, right? When I die, then eternity starts. Eternity's already begun. Eternity is a perpetuation, a continuation of who you are right now.
[00:30:08] And so what you choose, if it's not eternal, it's eternally worthless.
[00:30:15] So are you clinging to things of this earth, to this world? Are you desiring and drinking up waters of the world that are eternally worthless? Or are you clinging to the thing that you will hold your hand into eternity?
[00:30:31] He goes on in verse 28, but as for me, it is good to be near God. I've made the Sovereign Lord Yahweh my refuge. And I will tell of all your deeds this week. We can actively live this out. We can actively live standing on this firm truth that God is good. So I am good. And we can honestly say it, because we know his character. We know who he says he is. We know he's always going to hold his end of the bargain up.
[00:30:58] We know that even when I'm not good, he is always good. And so how do we live this out? We live it out by one. Like Asaph says, we make the Lord our refuge. He says, I have made the Lord my refuge. Make him your refuge. Make a quiet place for him and protect it. Your refuge is the place that replenishes your soul, that fills you up, that prepares you for the day ahead. Make him your refuge and protect that time with him. Don't just slip it in during the day. Whenever you get a chance, make that time for him. Make him your refuge so you can be filled with the living water of Jesus Christ.
[00:31:33] Make time for him this week. One thing I would challenge you in is in the place of the refuge, a way you can reframe and start to remember the things that God's been doing is you journal it. Write it down. Get a notebook, a sticky note. I don't know, maybe you really like the computer or texting. I don't know. Write it down. Write down the ways that God has moved in your past. Write down the ways that you see God moving right now in your daily life. And write down ways that you would love to see God moving in the future and watch him work over and over again in your life. Write it down.
[00:32:07] Asaph also tells us that, as for me, it is good to be near God. This is the reaffirmation. I don't care what everyone else says. As for me, it's good to be near God. And the more accurate translation of the Hebrew is God's nearness is my good.
[00:32:23] We recognize that God has always been near, that he's always been present. We don't have an aloof God who's like standing off waiting for you to mess up or waiting for you to pick the right thing. Then he'll come hold your hand. He's always been present with you, always guiding you in his counsel.
[00:32:37] His nearness has to be your good. And so what you say is, you affirm that God, there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you alone. It's only always been you, and it's only you that I choose. So regardless of what happens today or tomorrow, regardless what happens with that job or in this family, regardless what happens with that relationship or with that popularity or with this position of power in the regardless of what happens, Jesus, you are my one thing.
[00:33:04] And so we say, and we reaffirm that God, your nearness is my good. And so one way we can do that this week is I want to challenge us in breath prayer. What that looks like is actively throughout your day, you are pulling from the source of living water. And so you breathe in a piece of scripture, and you breathe out the piece of scripture. You can do it for 5 minutes, 10 minutes. They did a study on these nuns who'd done it for 15 years, and it changed the way their brains function, the parts of their brain that do reasoning Their frontal lobe that does the reasoning and focusing and remembering grew.
[00:33:36] And the portion of their brain that was charged of like the fight or flight. The reason some of us have our shoulders up and our jaw clenched and our hands are fidgeting, it decreased. When we meditate on the word of the Lord, we find peace because we're experiencing his living water in and through us.
[00:33:54] So in the presence of God this week through your day, you can do breath, prayer and just say your nearness. God is my good. And you breathe it in and you breathe it out and you breathe it in and you're out until you feel his presence holding your hand.
[00:34:08] And the last thing we do, Asaph says, is I will tell of all your deeds. When is the last time you told someone what God is doing in your life? When is the last time someone asked you, how are you doing? And you said, God is so good to me, you know he's doing this. My life doesn't look the way I thought it would. This kind of went a disaster. I lost my shoes and Ohio State lost. But you know what? God is doing this in my life. When is the last time you shared with someone something good that God is doing?
[00:34:35] This week I challenge you to not only sit and reflect and remember what God's been doing in your life. Not only drawing on this living water and remembering and realizing he's holding your hand all day by breathing and breathing out that his nearness is your goodness, but share it with someone else. Tell them something good that God is doing and watch them leave encouraged. When you look for God's goodness in your life, you experience it more.
[00:34:59] Leave wanting to look and experience the goodness of God.
[00:35:04] And we declare over this church that we are going to be the kind of people that say earth has nothing we desire besides you alone. Jesus, you are our one thing.
[00:35:15] Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for the opportunity of my ability to come up here and speak and for these wonderful people letting me speak way too long. I thank you for you moving through this room and I pray that your words would just rest and be impressed on our hearts. That we would leave change, we would leave looking for your goodness and we would stand on this truth and know that we will always be good because you've only ever been good to us. That our circumstances no longer will dictate how we view you or how we view our lives. But we are truly found in the state of who you are.
[00:35:50] Perfect and purely good. I love you, God, and I pray that your words rest on your heart. None of my words. But only your words would stick with us as we leave this place. Thank you. We love you. And we give you all the glory and honor because you are our one thing. Amen.
