Wearing The Eeyore Hat: How Chaos, Suffering & Hardship Shape Our Faith

Speaker A00:00:12

And so maybe the.The crushing that we're feeling, the.The grief that we're feeling, the brokenness that we're feeling, it's not a judgment from God.It's a pressing in.Pressing.Pressing out all of the things that really matter, aside from what God gives us ultimately.

Speaker B00:00:44

Welcome to the Prodigal Journey, where we celebrate Christ's power through our weakness.And thank you for joining us on this episode.All right, welcome to another episode of the Prodigal Journey.I'm your host, Ben, and my wife dawn is joining me again on another episode.

Speaker A00:01:02

Hello.

Speaker B00:01:03

How are you?

Speaker A00:01:04

I'm good.How are you?

Speaker B00:01:05

I'm doing well.Yeah.On today's episode, we just have some updates to talk about, and we've had a lot happening since the last episode back in April.It's hard to believe it's been that long ago, but there's been a lot happening.

Speaker A00:01:21

There has.And full transparency.I'm not even sure what we talked about back in April.

Speaker B00:01:29

That was the episode we did with Shayla.

Speaker A00:01:32

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B00:01:34

So, yeah, that was a good episode.

Speaker A00:01:36

Yeah.I like her.

Speaker B00:01:38

And it's.It's not that we haven't had content to put out.There's just been a lot happening through this summer, and it was just something that we decided we didn't have the time and energy to also put into putting out episodes.We didn't want to put out episodes that were horrible.

Speaker A00:01:54

Yeah, we've had a lot of content and ideas that we could put out, but to make sure that it was a valuable podcast to listen to.

Speaker B00:02:05

Yeah.And just that made me think of one thing to update people about.Since we haven't dropped an episode since April, there's one new thing we have over at the website is an email subscription list.So maybe you're already subscribed to the podcast through, like, Apple or Spotify or somewhere like that, but you want to make sure you go over to the website and subscribe to our email list, because through that, we will put out updates once we drop new episodes.We've also started doing some blog writing over at the website, and now we've started doing a newsletter every couple of weeks.So you want to make sure you go over to the website, the prodigaljourney.com and sign up with your email for that so you can get updates other than just new episodes that are dropping, but it does include that as well.So that's one thing that we've had change since the last episode in April.So I just wanted to mention that awesome so, yeah, our last episode in April and here we are in November.We actually recorded this episode back in October.Then we realized there were some things we wanted to add or say differently.So here we are a couple weeks after that, redoing the episode again.So.Yeah, yeah, let's just start with an update of where we've been before we jump into the kind of the topic we want to talk about that came out of some of the things we've experienced this summer.Yeah.So it was probably about May, we went on vacation down to Florida to see my son.And your boys were also able to come.So they had an opportunity to all meet each other and do boy things, play video games, swim in the pool.

Speaker A00:03:47

Yeah, I had a lot of.They had a fantastic time I think with each other and.Yeah, it was just.It was a. Enjoyable week together.

Speaker B00:03:58

Yeah.And then shortly after that, within a couple weeks.Yeah, we had nothing but car problems.

Speaker A00:04:04

Yeah.

Speaker B00:04:05

Your car was in a.It was awful small accident, but it ended up.The insurance had to total it because of the.Yeah, I guess it was the damage underneath.

Speaker A00:04:15

Yeah, yeah.So it was just that car.It.My son was in a place where he couldn't get out of the way of some debris that was in the road and he was okay, but he drove over some items and just tore everything underneath.And insurance just.Yeah, they just totaled it.

Speaker B00:04:42

Yeah.And then also during that time, I don't remember the time frame, but sometime shortly before or after that, Mike, 2018 Kia ended up in the shop needing some repairs, some parts I had replaced a couple years ago and the same parts.

Speaker A00:04:59

Yeah.

Speaker B00:05:00

But then it came to come to find out it was actually the engine that needed replaced on a 2018 with 70, 000 miles and that was not good.

Speaker A00:05:11

Yeah.And that was a part time job for you.You were incredibly busy giving being given the run around and trying to make sure that Kia held up their end of the bargain.Which eventually.Eventually they did.But not at first.It was super disappointing at first.

Speaker B00:05:33

Yeah.And then I found out during that time they were in transition of ownership.So it was just.I mean, a lot going on there too.

Speaker A00:05:40

Yeah.

Speaker B00:05:41

Finally their new general manager reached out to me and handled things for me.But yeah.And then we were going to donate the car to your employer at Miracle Hill for them to re.Get it fixed and resell it.And during that whole time it got stolen, which we're not really sure actually happened.And there's a whole story there which could be a different episode.But yeah.Yeah.So it's just been the whole all things car all summer long.Then our garage door broke.We had to fix that.

Speaker A00:06:10

Yeah.So we had to.We basically had to replace all of our.All of our vehicles and our garage door all in a couple months.Yeah.Good times.

Speaker B00:06:21

Yeah.So the theme we kind of thought of during this time, something I have struggled with in the past and still do sometimes, but I think I handled it a little bit better this time around.You could probably attest more to that, but something that came out of these situations for us was just the idea of whether or not things we face, the bad things that happen in our life are a judgment or consequence in our life, or they just come from the brokenness of the world.I think there are certain things that could be in place to say that there might be consequences happening in someone's life due to maybe unconfessed sin or ongoing sin, but that's not specifically what we want to address today.We just want to talk through the idea of why we feel that way maybe sometimes, and how that plays against just the brokenness of our world and where we live today.So, yeah, sometimes it's easy for us to think that bad things happening is some type of judgment or consequence.And maybe you can identify with some of the things that we've experienced through this summer, or maybe it was something completely different, but they've been really very real for us this summer and last couple months.And it kind of started to feel like things were just falling apart for us.It really challenged our faith and where our focus was.And the reason I think we felt that way is because before everything kind of started falling apart, you had sold an investment property that you had before we were married, and we were going to use some of that money to pay off as much debt as we could and be in a better spot.But it also felt like as soon as that had happened, that all these other things were happening that required money.And I know for me in my past, it is very easy, from the way I used to view God, to think, oh, well, we.We have all this money and we're not getting to pay our debt off because of all these things we're having to fix and replace.And so I would have in the past looked at that very much as like, oh, this is some type of judgment or consequence for the things I did 11 or 12 years ago when they're not related at all.

Speaker A00:08:33

Yeah, I think basically the question or the, you know, what we had to journey through in this part of our faith journey was we had to ask ourselves and dig into when things don't go the way we think that they should, does that change our view of God?And if it does, is that a biblical view?

Speaker B00:09:00

Right.How would you say you've kind of grown up in this area and has that changed at all to where you are now?I mean, did you ever have that struggle of thinking that bad things were just some type of judgment or consequence on your life?

Speaker A00:09:17

So I grew up in charismatic, Pentecostal, holiness type churches, denominations.So what I felt like was highlighted more in the denomination that I grew up in was that if, if you did good, God would do good for you.I don't necessarily remember feeling like God was judgmental or just ready to zap me every time I did something wrong.I thought that certainly if, if we did something wrong, we would go to hell.But it was more like in my mind, I felt like hell was just a different part of God.Like God was loving and he wanted to give good things to you.If you did bad, you would just go to hell.So somehow I separated those two in my mind.And that was just my experience from, from growing up in that type of, of church.

Speaker B00:10:19

Did that also bring with it the belief that bad things happen because you didn't have enough faith?

Speaker A00:10:28

Yes.Yeah.So it was like God was very compartmentalized.Um, so we, if we did bad things, we go to hell, and if we didn't have enough faith, then God wouldn't give us good things.But it was, it was more like he was a passive in that area in my mind, and he was just ready to bless us, bless us, bless us with all these good things.If we did good and if we had enough faith, if we prayed enough, if we went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and even like got emotional during the church service.

Speaker B00:11:16

Yeah.It's interesting to me how different denominations can be, but how similar at the same time.Like, I see in some of that.Of what you're saying, some overlap in ways.I grew up in a very conservative fundamentalist Baptist background where they would say some of the same things, but it, it was a different angle and said in a different way.Yeah, that's very interesting.

Speaker A00:11:47

I think, I think for Pentecostal holiness or, or charismatic more.So there is more emphasis on Satan and there's more dialogue around what Satan does and what, like demonic oppression.And so in my mind, maybe that's how I was able to like classify.God is good, Satan is bad.So only Satan does the bad things.God doesn't do the bad.Things.God only does the good things if I do all the good things.

Speaker B00:12:25

Right.That's so interesting.Yeah, we definitely did not focus as much on the spiritual warfare aspect, for sure.

Speaker A00:12:34

Oh, yeah, yeah.We even would like.Would like talk to Satan, like pray against it.Yeah, it was.I'm sure probably someone hearing this who's never experienced is like, what.What are you doing talking to Satan?

Speaker B00:12:50

Yeah.So as we were thinking through this, the passage of Job came to mind and just kind of talking through bad things happening to people and it not be because of some type of judgment or consequence.So we're just going to walk through some of that and what we've learned through some of that.The first part of Job, it tells us very specifically that Job, he was blameless, a man of complete integrity.He feared God and stayed away from evil.He was in fact, the richest person in that entire area.So we see here very clearly from the beginning of Job that from all accounts, he was blameless.He was a man of integrity.It also says he stayed away from evil.So it's.It's setting the stage to show us that Job is a man living a life that is pleasing to God.He's not living a life pursuing sin, but it's not saying that he was perfect, but it is kind of telling us that, you know, he was seeking God.And later on we'll look at some other things that play off of these verses and just how he was living his life.But then we see that Satan comes before God and.And he tells God that the only reason Job has to be blameless in a man of integrity is because God has this wall of protection around him.And I just find this so interesting that I just don't understand, like if Satan was thinking he was some guy somehow going to dupe God or convince God that he was wrong.But we see this conversation happening in the spiritual world as we were just mentioning.

Speaker A00:14:40

Yeah.

Speaker B00:14:41

And so Satan, as he comes before God, he just basically tells God, because of this hedge of protection, you should reach out and take away everything he has.And he will.Surely he will curse you.And God says, okay, but you can't harm him physically.So we see this first interaction on a spiritual level.And God says, okay, I'll allow you to do this, but you can't harm him physically.So at this point, Job has four different messengers come to him.And from my understanding, it's just one after the other with news about things that are happening.He's losing his cattle, his, you know, family, and all these things.He's losing these four messengers come to him and he just loses everything he has.All his possessions, all his children.And what is his response?We're told that he falls to the ground in worship.And as I think through that, I'm like, what would be my response if even one of those messengers came with a message like that?Let alone four back to back?Like, I can't even imagine the weight of that.And it leaves you in a place where you only really have two responses.It leaves you in a place so low that all you can do is look up or you have to keep your head down because of the sheer weight of everything.And I don't necessarily know that both of those types of responses are wrong.And I guess it depends on how long you stay in that position.

Speaker A00:16:30

Yeah, I think that.I don't think it's ever wrong to grieve brokenness.And I don't think that God ever gives us a timeline like, okay, you've grieved this long enough.Let's get up and go.You got things to do.I think he's very patient and kind with us.

Speaker B00:16:56

Yeah, I mean, we see that through the whole book of Job.

Speaker A00:16:59

Yeah.

Speaker B00:17:00

Where he's very patient with Job.He lets Job ask questions.And he never really says anything negative to Job for that.

Speaker A00:17:14

Yeah.

Speaker B00:17:16

Is that where you were going?But here's the crazy thing.Like, just when you.Just when you think it can't get any worse, Satan isn't done yet.So he goes back to God and tells him that, well, of course he didn't curse you because a man will give up everything just to save his own life.So we see another level here of somehow thinking he's going to catch God in something.

Speaker A00:17:47

Yeah.

Speaker B00:17:48

So first he thought Job would curse God because of the hedge of protection.And then when that didn't work, Satan came up with something else and said, oh, well, it's really because he'll give.A man will give up everything just to save his own life.So he says to God, take away his health and surely he will curse you.So then God says, okay, but spare his life.So we see in preceding chapters in the passage that Satan attacks Job's health, and at this point, Job's wife finally tells him to just curse God and die.That would be better.But I think Job's response at this point is something we all struggle with at times.And in verse 10, he says, should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?What do you think about when you.

Speaker A00:18:46

Hear that verse that's an incredible faith that I don't necessarily know I would come to on my own.And it just, it makes me wonder about how Job got there.Like, what was his, what was his life like, what, what was his daily routine like that made him so confident in God?And yeah, it says early on that he would sacrifice continuously, you know, for himself, for his kids, that it seemed like he, he had a, a continuous fateful relationship, communion, some type of dialogue with God.And, and I don't know that that, that just comes from, you know, from out of nothing.Like, just like poof.All of a sudden you're like, oh, hey, when, when something bad happens, your immediate response, your default is to say, oh, you know, God, God is good all the time.You know, God is good.And I think about most recently, I went through some, some health issues where I was in a lot of pain.It was intense pain.And I thought about this quote and I wish I can remember who said it now, but it's, it's something to the fact of there's nothing more jealous for your attention than pain.And think about a time when you've been in pain.That's all you can think about is that specific pain.And yet Job with boils all over his body says, should I, you know, only expect good things from God?Wow, that's some deep faith.

Speaker B00:20:51

Yeah.And I don't feel like his response, I mean, this is one response that we're given a glimpse into.So it's not, again, it's not saying that Job is perfect or has been perfect or always responded perfectly.But yeah, we're given a glimpse into this situation.And I find it interesting that he, he.He does say, should we accept only good things from the hand of God?And I.But I don't necessarily think he's saying that God causes the bad things.I just think he's saying that like, sometimes God allows bad things to happen in his sovereignty.And it doesn't mean that he has created, whereas the author of those bad things.It's just sometimes a test of our faith and where we are in our lives.But I think his response here, it does reveal his heart posture at the, at this time in his life.Responding as someone who has learned that in the hardships is where we learn our dependence on God.But he's also showing that even in the good times, we learn dependence on God.Because when you look through some more of this story, even in the good times with his family, he was showing a dependence on God.He was offering sacrifices for him.And his family.So he was pursuing God.And so that makes me think like, do you think it's easier for us to depend on God in the good times or the hard times?I would say, or maybe, maybe it's not the same for everybody.

Speaker A00:22:37

But yeah, yeah, I would say for myself that in, in good times I'm less likely to be, be fully reliant on God.Like in, in a difficult situation.What am I doing?I'm kind of reverting back to my childhood and I'm trying to, you know, read my Bible more, pray more.Why?To get God to work on my behalf, to, to work the way that I want him to work.Whereas, you know, in good times I, I don't need to, you know, try to manipulate God to do what I want them to do because it's, it's already going that way.And I just say that like, like a natural tendency, right?Like, like the whole goal is to, to try to get out of those natural defaults maybe, you know, ways we grew up mixed with our own personality and characteristics and, and then come to a point where it's about a relationship with him, Come, come good or come bad.

Speaker B00:24:02

Yeah, for sure.And, and the reason I thought of that question is because for me, I'm thinking in my life up to this point, it's definitely been, I've seen both sides of it.So I would say before, when I really struggled with my view of who God was and even before I was saved, bad things were happening.So for me, when those bad things were happening, it was very easy for me not to depend on God because I was blaming God for those bad things instead of facing those things and understanding where they really came from.But I think where I am now in my life, that has flip flopped.And because I have come to the end of myself and seen God change my heart and my life when good things are happening, it's like very easy for me to be like, yeah, I've got, I've got this under control, I don't need God's help, I'm doing everything good, life is good, work is good, and completely forget about God in the day to day things.Whereas now if like bad things are happening, I'm like, yeah, I need to depend on God because I've tried doing it my own way before and failed.So I, I understand more about my weakness in that area.So even though those have flip flopped, it's still bad to not need God in the good times.

Speaker A00:25:39

Yeah, yeah, but I like, I like that you highlighted how you're even in the.The bad times kind of bring you to the end of yourself.And so, you know, that's mark of.That's a mark of repentance in your own life versus.Versus me.I'm trying to manipulate God to do things for me.

Speaker B00:26:04

Yeah.And also I've learned too, that, I mean, I grew up in a background where you.You just didn't ask questions.And if you ask questions about your faith, it somehow made you less of a Christian or that you were doubting God.So I. I feel like that was a complete elite, complete misunderstanding of the purpose we have for asking questions.And God never tells us not to ask questions.And we even see this in Job's story.Like, Job asks a lot of questions before God even says anything to Job.But those questions that he's asking aren't, you know, aren't revealing that he is somehow less spiritual or believes less in God.And I think those wrestling through questions are important to our faith and growing.I don't think it helped either that he faced a lot of criticism from his friends.Yeah, that's.Yeah.I mean, they just tell him that all this probably happened because of some type of sin in his life or his children's lives.But like I mentioned earlier, he regularly made sacrifices for him and his family so that they were right before God.So we know based off of that information that his friends are wrong.

Speaker A00:27:36

Yeah.

Speaker B00:27:36

And that it wasn't because of sin in his life.And then one of the friends, I mean, was even so insensitive.He basically, I mean, he told Job, I forget which verse it is, but one of the friends basically says, hey, Job, God is punishing you far less than you deserve.And I'm sure if we think through situations, we've experienced hardships and pain and suffering of insensitive things people have said.So not only is Job in a place of complete exposure and vulnerability, he's lost everything.He's already, you know, his health is on the rocks, and his friend just kicks him while he's down and says, almost like you should just be grateful God hasn't killed you type thing.I mean, that's what it feels like, almost.

Speaker A00:28:32

Yeah.Have you ever experienced that from someone?

Speaker B00:28:36

Yeah, I can remember times, specific accounts, especially in my first marriage when we went through a miscarriage.Times where people were just very insensitive, whether knowingly or unknowingly.And I guess people sometimes just feel like they have to fill the silence and fill that void with some type of quip Christian saying or verse that's going to somehow automatically change your perspective and where you're at.And I feel like a lot of times people do that because they don't want to sit in the messiness, and they're uncomfortable either with their own messiness or just the messiness of life in general.And they don't know how to sit in that with people.

Speaker A00:29:27

Yeah, yeah.We don't.We don't like to be silent, and we don't like to wait.

Speaker B00:29:36

Can you remember specific instances of people saying insensitive things to you?

Speaker A00:29:44

Oh, yeah.Oh, yeah.Giving me advice and.Yeah, I remember right after.So my first husband actually took his own life.And I remember in the hospital while we were.He didn't complete the suicide, and so he was there for a couple of days while we were going through the process of taking him off life support and getting all of that, all those logistics figured out and the craziness of that.And there was a chaplain that came through, and I didn't know the man, and he said something like, make sure you hydrate.I was like, what?Like, I don't.And.And I don't think he was malicious.I don't.It just.It's like, we just.We want to help people so bad sometimes because we can't help it.And.And I'm like, really, like.Like, I am not even thinking about drinking water right now.

Speaker B00:31:07

Maybe that's why he said that.I mean, not to necessarily justify what it made you feel in that moment, but maybe in his dealings with those types of situations, like, some of the basic daily functions were things that people just forget to do because of where they're at.

Speaker A00:31:27

Oh, of course.

Speaker B00:31:28

But it was not helpful in the moment.

Speaker A00:31:30

Right.It's just.Yeah.It was just so out of left field and nothing about, like, emotionally what was going on.And I mean, hey, if he wanted me to hydrate, he could have brought me a bottle of water.

Speaker B00:31:51

Yeah, Yeah.I mean, to.To turn that into.Instead of a statement of truth that might not be needed in the moment, turn it into an opportunity of service.

Speaker A00:32:11

Yeah.

Speaker B00:32:11

For where that person's at.

Speaker A00:32:13

Yeah.

Speaker B00:32:15

So, yeah.I mean, this whole situation with Job and his story, I mean, we can see that it has nothing to do with any unconfessed sin, and we're clearly told that.And we could speculate all day why God allowed this to happen, all of this to happen to Job, but we would never find the answers.So I think that's important for us to realize.But spending time trying to speculate on why God would allow this to happen.How could a good God do this?We just would miss the entire point.

Speaker A00:32:54

And I think that those are questions we do have to wrestle through.I don't think that, you know, they're all good questions that at some point we have to dig into and figure out where we.Where we fall on that.

Speaker B00:33:13

Yeah, for sure.I mean, because with just the brokenness of this life, bad things happen and good things happen, but neither of those should really waver our realization of our need for dependence on God.And I think that's important to realize that in both.Both types of situations.

Speaker A00:33:32

Yeah.

Speaker B00:33:33

Because God never really answers the question for us.Why do we suffer?

Speaker A00:33:39

Mm.Well, additionally, to kind of go back to.To add on to your previous point, it's.It's awfully dependent on us.Like, God does good things if we do good things.God does bad things if we do bad things.That's awfully man.What.What.What kind of God is that?That.I mean, yeah, it works great when we're doing good things, but, you know, if he's so flippant in the bad times, I don't.I don't necessarily know that I could fully trust that type of God.

Speaker B00:34:18

Yeah, I was just thinking about.I know in the past you've written a couple blog posts on suffering.Is there anything from that that you want to touch on specifically?Just to close out the time before we kind of talk about some application for us or.

Speaker A00:34:36

Yeah.So God, actually, he never answers why we suffer.He.He joins us in the suffering.So Isaiah is.It's one of my favorite books.And go to it here.Isaiah 53, it says, we thought his troubles were a punishment from God.A punishment for his own sins.Talking about Christ here.He.But he was pierced for our rebellion and crushed for our sins.He was beaten so we could be whole.He was whipped so we could be healed.And God is kind of answering why we suffer, but also not in the.In the way that specifically we want.I think what we're asking is, well, God, why didn't it happen exactly like I thought it would?And what he's coming back with is, yes, we do suffer, but this is how I answer the suffering.I provide the ultimate sacrifice so that one day we suffer no more.So I think ultimately what we're seeing here is.Is God not answering, like, our immediate questions.Like, he's.He's way far into the future.You know, like, how does.How does he respond to Job?Like, were you here when, you know, I formed the world?And I don't think he's saying it like, well, were you here?I think he's.I think that, you know, if you go back to the language that, that it was written in, that, that it's, it's a very kind response, like, were you here when I formed the world?It's going to be okay if you can, if you can trust me for eternity, you can trust me for today.We go back to Isaiah 53, and we think about even before Christ was born, Isaiah is foretelling about Christ being an answer to our suffering.

Speaker B00:36:51

Yeah, that's good.So it just makes me think, like, if we will not get answers on why we suffer, I think it challenges us to think, okay, if we, if we're not going to have answers, then how.How are we to live in spite of that and reconciling those together?Because I think that's important for us to think through.How should we live as Christians in spite of the fact that we might not get answers on why we suffer?

Speaker A00:37:25

Yeah.And I think we go back to understanding that we weren't here when the world began.And we can trust a God who, who was.Who says, like, it was God's good plan to crush him, to crush his son and to cause him grief.Like, what.What does that mean?It was God's good plan.When his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants and he will enjoy a long life, and God's good plan will prosper in his hands.And so maybe the, the crushing that we're feeling, the, the grief that we're feeling, the.The brokenness that we're feeling, it's not a judgment from God.It's.It's a pressing in.Pressing, pressing out on all of the things that don't really matter, aside from what God gives us, ultimately.

Speaker B00:38:30

Yeah, for sure.I'm.I'm even now in my mind thinking through some of the things just in the last couple of years and those things, some things that I've suffered through, that we've suffered through.I think it gives us a perspective that we might not have had before.And it puts us in a place to be able to identify with other people.

Speaker A00:38:59

Yeah.

Speaker B00:39:00

In their moments of need.Because, like, I'm specifically thinking of all the suffering my family went through when my sister was going through her abusive marriage and trying to get out of that.And there were times I was asking, okay, God, why are you putting her through this?And so I asked a lot of questions.And as I reflect back on that and some of my own sinful choices that caused suffering to other people.I can see now that.Not necessarily that this is an answer to why that suffering happened, but I do think it's given me a deeper perspective on the fact that if I had not gone through some of those things, I probably.I shouldn't say probably.I guess what I'm trying to say is those things and experiences of suffering helped me better understand other people who have gone through those things.So, like, before we started dating, I truly feel like those things were things God was preparing me for.So that I could better understand the things you've experienced.

Speaker A00:40:16

Yeah.

Speaker B00:40:16

So that I can love you better.And I'm not saying that happens the same for everybody.And that's why I changed what I was saying and when I said this probably prepared me for this because I feel like there's other situations people go through.Maybe they don't experience the same type of suffering, but they can still understand and be empathetic to someone else's suffering.

Speaker A00:40:41

Yeah.

Speaker B00:40:42

So that might not always necessarily be the case, but I do have that perspective looking back to say it has definitely helped me better understand the things you've suffered through.

Speaker A00:40:54

Yeah.And.And certainly as we look back in faith, we say, yes, all things do work together for our good, according, you know, to his purposes.And.But it's not so.It's not so easy to say that in the middle.And.And I'll.And if you get the courage to say that to someone when they're going through something, they might hit you over the head with something.

Speaker B00:41:25

Yeah.

Speaker A00:41:28

But it is true nonetheless.And I think that's what it's.It's all about.I think it's looking back and seeing how he's been faithful.And I think that's how Job was able to respond in the ways that he responded, because he was building that faith day by day and.And just fostering that dependency on God.That God is going to do what God is going to do.And what I need to do is trust in him and his ways.His ways are higher.

Speaker B00:42:09

Yeah.So it really comes down, I feel like, in applying this.I think it's a matter of perspective and believing that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and believing that the stories that we read in scripture, that it's the same God today that he was then.Because I feel like sometimes we can read a story and be.Be like.Well, we can disassociate, like somehow he was a different God in that time.So I think our perspective on that is important because I think when I think through all the events we talked about at the beginning, and it could have been very easy for me to go back to my old way of thinking and just put on that Eeyore hat and be like, yeah, all this money we were going to pay debt off with, it's gone now.And God just didn't want us to have it, and he's taking it.

Speaker A00:43:14

But when, when I look back now and as we were going through, you know, all the car troubles that we went through.Yeah, it was, it was frustrating.It was frustrating, it was annoying, and it was kind of like, good grief, something else we gotta figure out.And now that it's done and settled with, you know, it's.It's so much better.It's so much better.And it's kind of like my hand was forced because the car that I had that, that was totaled, like, it got me from point A to point B, but it was over a decade old.And it's seen better days and not necessarily always reliable.And so I think sometimes with this specific situation I'm talking about, God was just kind of, you know, allowing some pressing to happen.And, and now I have a much better vehicle to drive around in.I. I save gas mileage.You know, I travel for work, so my gas mileage is a whole lot better.I don't pay as much in, in fuel costs.And, and I probably would still be in that 2012 Mazda running around just thinking, you know, oh, my way is better, my way is better.But in that, in that struggle of our car problems, man, we got something so much better.And even the garage door, our garage door was.The motor was probably like at least 20 years old.And the one we have now is so much better.We could only program, like one clicker.

Speaker B00:45:13

Yeah.

Speaker A00:45:13

At a time.And now.And now we can, like, do it with our phone.You know, we can.We get a notification like when.Oh, hey, the, the garage door went up and so, you know, we're able to be, you know, text my son, like, hey, did you come over to our house today?Yeah, it's so much better his way.

Speaker B00:45:34

And that's, that's what's so interesting about it, is sometimes we can get so stuck on the thing we had that was taken.And God is like, patiently in his way as his children trying to show us.But don't you see that what I'm giving you in place of that is better?And sometimes we get so stuck on why did you take this from me or why did this happen?Instead of seeing that, hey, it might not always be the case.But in our situations that happened, those things that replaced the things that broke were better.

Speaker A00:46:16

Yeah.

Speaker B00:46:17

And, and yeah.So for me, like, I might not have done it perfectly, but I feel like shifting my focus from thinking that God was taking that money from us, seeing it as God's provision and in protection and not judgment.Yeah, because he forsue.Foresaw.Foresaw.

Speaker A00:46:39

Yes.

Speaker B00:46:39

I almost said for sue, he foresaw those things that were going to happen.And he, he said, well, there is a way to provide for those things.And he did.So I think that was important for me in thinking through that.But even like, it makes me think of, okay, maybe what if we didn't have that opportunity to have that money in front of us to help fix the things we needed to, Would we have responded the same way and would we still have trusted God to provide even if it was a different way?So I think those are important things to think through in our responses is to ask the questions, how are you responding to the bad things that happen in your life?And do you see them as an opportunity to grow in your faith, or do you see them as a judgment or some type of consequence?Just something for us to think through.And I think that's a good place to stop.This episode.The dogs are getting hungry and trying to eat the microphones.So thanks for joining us.Tune in next time on the next episode.Thanks for tuning in to the Prodigal Journey, where we celebrate Christ's power through our weakness.This podcast is available on all major platforms, so be sure you go and subscribe or leave us a review.Also, if you'd like to reach out, you can reach me, ben@theprodigaljourney.com that's Ben@theprodigaljourney dot com Tune in next time to the Prodigal Journey.The commercials at the beginning of the podcast are pre generated by the audio hosting site and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Journey Podcast Network.

Speaker A00:48:43

Sam.