Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 123

00:00:00.220 Hello, hello. Happy Monday. Welcome to Relatable. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

00:00:06.300 So today we're going to talk about a question that I got on Instagram in my Instagram messages

00:00:11.340 asking if God will give us more than we can bear. Now, if you are a Christian, you've

00:00:17.680 probably heard this debated before, or at least you've heard this phrase that God will

00:00:22.700 not give you more than you can bear, that whatever you face is something that you can

00:00:27.480 handle because God brought it into your life. Now, there have been a lot of people who have

00:00:33.240 just refuted this, who have said, no, that's not true. God will definitely give you more

00:00:39.740 than you can bear. And that's just a fact of life, that there are always going to be things

00:00:45.360 that you cannot bear, but he's going to help you through it. Now, I want to say that I agree

00:00:53.400 with both. I agree with both that God will not give you more than you can bear, but I

00:01:00.260 am going to add an addition onto that. I'm going to add a caveat to that, or I'm just

00:01:04.180 going to change one word to make this statement true. God will not give a Christian more than

00:01:10.140 she can bear. God will not give a Christian more than she can bear because the Christian

00:01:15.040 by nature is filled with the Holy Spirit who by the nature of being God can bear absolutely

00:01:20.840 anything. So because the Christian by nature is filled with the Holy Spirit, who by nature

00:01:27.440 is God and can therefore bear anything, the Christian can also bear anything. This does

00:01:34.460 not mean that everything is going to turn out as planned. This does not mean that you are

00:01:38.200 going to succeed at everything at which you wish to succeed. This does not mean that you

00:01:42.440 will always win. This does not mean that you'll always have it easy or that you'll always get

00:01:46.140 vindication against that person that did something bad to you. It doesn't mean that you will be

00:01:52.400 physically, tangibly rewarded for your struggle in this life. It just means that you can bear

00:01:58.220 it, that you can live through this, whatever the struggle, whatever the affliction is without

00:02:04.280 forsaking your faith. That even to the point of death, in the face of torture, in the face of

00:02:10.980 persecution, in the face of martyrdom, that you can endure this with the strength of Christ,

00:02:17.400 which every Christian has. This is one of the rare times when Philippians 4.13 is completely

00:02:23.520 appropriate and actually used in the right way, that I can do all things through Christ who

00:02:29.780 strengthens me. The text actually says through him who strengthens me, but it is through Christ who

00:02:34.600 strengthens me. This verse, we know if you've been in the church for any amount of time, you know

00:02:39.780 that this verse is used and abused in our culture. It has been for decades to mean like winning a

00:02:46.300 soccer game or getting a promotion or accomplishing things that are not promised to us by scripture.

00:02:51.520 But if we back up from this verse and we actually look at the context, which we know from our reading

00:02:57.100 the Bible episode is always important when we're reading scripture. When we look at the context of the

00:03:01.200 verse, we can see exactly what all things actually means. And it doesn't mean winning a soccer game or

00:03:07.660 doing the things that you just want to do in this life. So here's the second half of verse 11 and

00:03:12.440 verse 12 in Philippians 4. For I, this is Paul speaking, God speaking through Paul. This is Paul

00:03:18.840 writing for, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I

00:03:25.660 know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger,

00:03:33.140 abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So let's just pause for a second

00:03:41.180 and look at that first phrase. The whole thing is stunning when you really think about it and all

00:03:46.280 the anxiety and the discontent that we have in this life. But this first phrase, I have learned in

00:03:52.740 whatever situation I am to be content, whatever situation, whatever situation, any and all

00:04:00.880 situations he is to be content. He says, uh, you might think, Paul, you don't know what I'm going

00:04:07.460 through. Uh, you don't know what's on my plate. Paul didn't live today. There's no way that he knows

00:04:11.820 my, my stress. He, he doesn't know what I'm going through right now. You have no idea all the stuff

00:04:18.100 that I have to handle all the things that refuse to fall into place. I cannot be content in this

00:04:22.740 situation. You might be thinking, this is the one situation that no one gets that no one can relate

00:04:27.960 to. Not even God saw this coming. You might be thinking, you might be thinking, okay, I promise

00:04:32.320 that I'll be content once this happens or once this is taken care of, or when I've reached this point,

00:04:37.340 but right now I can't be content. But let, let us look at the context of this. Uh, Paul is writing

00:04:44.740 this letter to Philippi from prison. Okay. He's writing this from prison. This was written only

00:04:49.920 a few years before he was actually martyred in Rome. And in the first chapter, he recognized that

00:04:54.580 his death was probably imminent. So here's chapter one of Philippians verses 20 through 21. As it is my

00:05:00.660 eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always,

00:05:07.800 Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death for to me, he says to live is Christ

00:05:14.720 and to die is gain. So when Paul says in chapter four of Philippians to be content in all things,

00:05:22.040 when Paul says that he can do and endure all things through Christ who strengthens him,

00:05:27.860 he is literally talking about the worst possible situation that if I were to guess, I would say

00:05:33.560 that you probably haven't been through. He's talking about the worst possible situation that a human

00:05:38.660 being could be put in, which is facing torment, which is facing imprisonment and execution, particularly

00:05:43.480 for his faith and for sharing the gospel. So even in this dank cell of prison, Paul says that he is

00:05:49.560 content in all things. He says in verses 11 through 12, in any, in every circumstance, I have learned

00:05:57.100 the secret. I love that. It's the secret. It's the trick. It's the, the one ingredient that he knows

00:06:03.260 will help him and help him endure when he faces, when he faces either plenty or hunger,

00:06:09.120 when he faces abundance or need. And that is Christ. I can do all things. He says through him

00:06:15.880 who strengthens me. Why? Because Paul views his life through the lens of the eternal rather than

00:06:23.120 the temporal life to him, he says is sharing the gospel. When he says for to me, to live is Christ

00:06:30.220 and to die is gain. He says life to him is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, but death to him is being

00:06:36.240 with Christ. That's it. That's his purpose. So whether he dies or whether he lives his purpose

00:06:40.760 and his being and his joy and his contentment is Christ and Christ does not change. He's the same

00:06:46.640 yesterday, today, and forever. So if you've got your contentment and your peace and your endurance

00:06:50.980 based on that, you're going to be okay, whether you live or die. So whether in life or in death,

00:06:56.080 Paul's goal, he is saying his prize, his focus is on Jesus Christ. And that is why he has the strength

00:07:02.300 to endure all things, plenty and hunger, abundance and need. So that is why he can face certain death

00:07:09.040 with the assurance that it's all going to be okay. And when, uh, and that he has no reason to despair,

00:07:14.760 uh, he has no reason for discontentment. Uh, and the same is true for us. We may be uncomfortable.

00:07:20.140 We may be in anguish, uh, but we are content as Christians with the peace of Christ, knowing that

00:07:26.780 he has equipped us to endure this very thing. Uh, Romans one 35 through 39 says this,

00:07:32.520 who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or

00:07:38.000 famine or nakedness or danger or sword. As it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the

00:07:44.080 day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors

00:07:50.360 through him who loved us for. I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things

00:07:56.240 present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will

00:08:02.040 be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So did you hear that?

00:08:07.860 Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. There is not a single thing that we endure in this

00:08:11.840 life that can actually separate us from the love of Christ. The love of Christ, as we see also in

00:08:17.820 Philippians is the source of the Christian strength. It is the source of our peace, uh, that Jesus loved us

00:08:23.740 so much that he chose to die for us, uh, to die for his chosen ones, to take us and to call us his own

00:08:29.380 while we were yet his enemies, while we were yet sinners. That is the strength that we need to endure

00:08:34.720 what is set before us. It is that truth that steadies us, that keep us, uh, anchored among, uh, life's waves.

00:08:42.780 So how powerful is this love of Christ? How grand is this love of Christ that we draw our strength

00:08:49.160 from? Uh, Ephesians three says it is so deep that it actually surpasses knowledge. Like we don't even

00:08:54.580 get it. Like our finite minds can't even sit down and think, okay, how much does Christ love us? Like

00:08:59.980 I can sit down and think about how much my husband loves me or how much I love my husband. And yes,

00:09:05.080 that love can be overwhelming. Or I can think about how much I love my daughter that I'm about to give

00:09:10.180 birth to. And that is an amazing sacrificial, uh, unconditional kind of love, but I can wrap my

00:09:16.740 mind around it. I can look tangibly at all the ways that my husband loves me and I can understand what

00:09:22.140 that looks like. But in Ephesians three that we're about to read, uh, it says that we can't even

00:09:27.360 comprehend it. We cannot even sit down and think about, wow, God loves me and even, uh, be able to

00:09:33.200 comprehend a fraction of what that actually means. Uh, Ephesians three, 14 through 21 says this

00:09:39.280 for this reason, this is Paul, uh, writing to the church at Ephesus, uh, for this reason,

00:09:44.860 I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I love that

00:09:49.900 line that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power

00:09:55.540 through his spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that

00:10:02.280 you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints,

00:10:07.960 what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that

00:10:13.100 surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And then he goes on to

00:10:20.080 say, of course, this wonderful line now to him, that's to God who is able to do far more abundantly

00:10:26.340 than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church

00:10:32.180 and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. So time and again,

00:10:38.240 throughout the epistles, particularly here in this passage in Ephesians, we see Jesus's love

00:10:43.120 intertwined with the idea of power, with the idea of motivation, with endurance, with perseverance.

00:10:49.320 It is the aim that we seek as well as the strength to seek. It is the prize before us that we chase after

00:10:56.020 and the force behind us actually pushing us forward. Jesus's love is not just salvation,

00:11:01.520 though it is that. It's not just comfort, though it is that. It's not just peace, though it is that.

00:11:06.120 It is also power. Second Corinthians 5.14 says,

00:11:11.060 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all,

00:11:17.140 therefore all have died. For the love of Christ controls us. Why? Because we know the gospel,

00:11:23.980 because we know that he died for us, and therefore we've died to ourselves. The love of Christ controls

00:11:29.280 us. It takes hold of our minds and our bodies and defines our every move. Other translations say

00:11:36.540 that the love of Christ compels us, which is kind of the same thing. It moves us forward. It is the

00:11:41.860 driving force behind all that we do. So the Bible is clear. Christians can endure all things. Why?

00:11:49.100 Because the love of Jesus Christ and the grace that God has shown us by giving us

00:11:54.120 this love. And in this love and grace, he has invited us to share in his suffering so that we

00:12:00.180 may also share in his glory. As Romans 8 says, Romans 8, 16 through 18, the spirit himself bears

00:12:08.200 witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow

00:12:13.840 heirs with Christ provided, we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in him.

00:12:19.740 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that

00:12:24.940 is to be revealed to us. That means, and this is just crazy, but comforting for the Christian to know

00:12:31.800 that our suffering was planned. This thing that we feel like is unbearable, the struggle that we have,

00:12:36.960 or this loss that we're dealing with, this rejection that we're facing, it was actually planned.

00:12:41.600 God is sovereign over that. It is not a detour away from God's purpose, but is in itself a part

00:12:46.820 of God's purpose. So hard times, this thing that we are bearing is not a signal of God's absence or

00:12:53.860 evidence of his inability to help you. They are a predestined part of the believer's life that God is

00:13:01.140 using intentionally, purposely, and specifically for your good and for his glory. 2 Corinthians 4, 17 says,

00:13:08.840 for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all

00:13:14.400 comparison. As we talked about in the biblical suffering episode, and I would encourage you to

00:13:19.600 go back and listen to the biblical suffering episode, the things that you are going through

00:13:24.700 are not just happening to you. They're not just happening. They're not just coincidental.

00:13:29.020 They are, if you are a Christian, preparing something for you. That is a gracious comfort that

00:13:34.140 Christians alone get to take part in, that it is preparing something for us eternally, not just in

00:13:41.360 this life necessarily, but in the next life definitely. It's doing something. It's not just

00:13:46.400 bad luck. It's not just misfortune. In the life of misfortune, I think that's how I meant to say that,

00:13:52.320 in the life of the believer, all that you endure is doing something. It is preparing something eternal,

00:13:59.080 so it is worth it. That verse also says that our affliction, no matter what it is on this earth,

00:14:06.940 is light and momentary. It's light and momentary compared to the glory that we're going to have.

00:14:11.520 That means that you can bear it as a Christian. You can. No matter what it is, it is doable for you.

00:14:18.060 It is doable. It is go-through-able. You are able to withstand it without compromising your faith.

00:14:23.420 You are able to do the thing that is before you without doubting God's power and purpose. You are

00:14:28.920 able to hold fast because of the love of Christ that has been given to you, that has been assured

00:14:35.320 in you by the presence of the Holy Spirit. One of my favorite verses of all time is Joshua 23, 8,

00:14:41.500 which says, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. Another

00:14:46.980 version says, but you are to hold fast to the Lord your God as you have until now. You are to cling

00:14:53.580 to him. You are to hold fast to him. That is your responsibility in the midst of tumult. That is the

00:14:59.100 responsibility in the midst of what you feel is an unbearable child, to hold fast to the Lord who has

00:15:04.800 promised to strengthen you. This means that we are to tether ourselves to the promises of God, the

00:15:12.120 assurance of the hope of glory, of the love of Jesus Christ, which enables us to indeed

00:15:16.820 bear all things. God also promises to equip us, to ready us, to prepare us for all that we face in

00:15:24.920 this life. He knows that we will suffer. He planned it. He knows that we will go through hardship. He

00:15:30.000 purposed it. He knows that we will face persecution. He prophesied that. He knows that we will receive

00:15:36.980 unfair criticism, that lies will be spread about us, that we will face rejection and imprisonment and

00:15:44.140 torture and, and martyrdom. And he was gracious enough to give us the love of Christ to get us

00:15:50.320 through it, to be our prize and to be our power. And that at the end of it, we get to enjoy and share in

00:15:56.660 his glory. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to do that. We didn't earn that. We don't have any

00:16:01.260 merit that says we deserve to take a part in that glory because we're really good, because we're really

00:16:07.260 strong, because we're really righteous. No, he reconciled us to himself while we were yet sinners,

00:16:11.960 while we were his enemies, while as Ephesians 2, we were dead in our sin. He chose us in him before

00:16:17.360 the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1 says. Second Corinthians 9, 8 says, and God is able to make

00:16:23.800 all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every

00:16:31.540 good work. In case you wondered if your circumstance is covered by the word of God and his promises,

00:16:37.100 to sustain you. Let me just read that again, because I'm pretty sure that this makes this

00:16:42.620 clear. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things

00:16:50.140 at all times, you may be able to abound in every good work. Sufficiency, all, every. I don't think

00:17:00.060 that you need to doubt whether or not God has you, whether or not you as a Christian can bear this. You

00:17:05.200 can. He doesn't, he does not, uh, offer any confusion about that. He offers absolute clarity

00:17:11.000 and how gracious of him to do that, to know that we're going to go through things that our faith is

00:17:14.920 going to be tested, that Satan, just like he did in the garden, garden of Eden is going to say,

00:17:19.140 but did God really say, uh, Satan, just as he did to Jesus in the wilderness is going to twist God's

00:17:24.460 word. When we are struggling, when we are suffering, when we are facing metaphorical or, uh, literal hunger

00:17:31.420 and thirst and torment, uh, that Satan is going to twist God's word to make us believe that God

00:17:36.180 is not faithful. But because God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all sufficiency

00:17:42.680 and all things at all times, we may, uh, abound in every good work. We have the strength, uh, through

00:17:48.240 Christ to persevere in that, to say, no, I don't have to give up my faith. I don't have to compromise

00:17:53.580 here. God has equipped me. Uh, second Corinthians 12, nine through 10, you're probably familiar with

00:17:59.040 this passage, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect

00:18:04.740 in weakness. So his power is sanctified in our weakness, not in our strength, but our weakness.

00:18:11.320 Therefore I, Paul is saying, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the

00:18:18.400 power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses, with

00:18:25.480 insults, with hardships, with persecutions and calamities for when I am weak, then I am

00:18:31.680 strong. There is no other religion that offers strength for your weakness, that offers strength

00:18:36.800 for your vulnerability. When you are completely inept, when you are completely inadequate, when

00:18:41.880 you are completely incompetent and unqualified, Christ says, I'm enough for you. And this is

00:18:47.160 precisely why, as we've talked about before, there's a podcast episode titled, uh, you are

00:18:52.120 not enough. Uh, that's precisely why the lie that you are enough is so damaging and why Christians

00:18:59.460 shouldn't buy into it. Why we should not take comfort in this myth that you are enough, because

00:19:04.780 the Bible is completely clear that we are not, that we are weak, that we are susceptible to

00:19:09.340 temptation, that if left to our own devices, we're not going to endure. We are going to completely

00:19:14.800 give up. We're going to completely surrender to Satan. We're going to be completely deceived.

00:19:19.020 The Bible says, no, you are weak, but when you are weak, God is strong. When you are faithless,

00:19:23.940 God is faithful. He has the ability to uphold you and you rejoice in your weakness, knowing that the

00:19:29.440 power of Christ in your weakness is going to rest upon you. So we rejoice in the liberation of

00:19:34.180 knowing that we're not enough. And we reject the myth of self-sufficiency and realize that Christ

00:19:38.700 died so that we could be insufficient and he could be sufficient on our behalf. Um, again, in this

00:19:44.820 context of, uh, of verse 10 in second Corinthians 12, I am content with weaknesses, insults,

00:19:52.080 hardships, persecutions, and calamities. We see Paul saying that he is content. He is okay. He's at

00:19:58.580 peace. He's steady. Even in the midst of the worst possible circumstances, he's, he's fine. He knows

00:20:03.480 it's going to be all right. This stuff he knows is light and it's momentary compared to the glory that

00:20:08.680 he's going to experience one day, uh, to live for him is to share Christ. He knows to die with him

00:20:14.040 or to die for him is, uh, to be with Christ. So he knows that nothing can separate him from the love

00:20:19.620 of Christ. And he knows that it is the love of Christ that controls, that compels, and that comforts

00:20:25.200 him. And that is true for us as well. I get so many questions every week about, um, how do, how do I

00:20:33.100 endure the insults and the persecution that I feel like I'm getting particularly in this conversation

00:20:38.120 about abortion? Or, uh, I believe in biblical marriage, or I believe that by the Bible is the

00:20:43.440 word of God. I am a traditional Christian. And how do I confront these people who say that I'm being

00:20:48.680 hateful, who say that I'm a bigot? Uh, well, Paul says that he has dealt with a lot of this and he says

00:20:56.820 in, in his weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and in calamities, he's okay that

00:21:03.960 he's content in this because he knows in that weakness that he is strong. We are going to be

00:21:09.440 facing, I would say, an increase of persecution in our lifetimes and in our children's lifetimes.

00:21:15.480 And what we can rejoice in is that God's got us and that we were made for such a time as this.

00:21:21.760 A lot of people say, well, should I have children or should I, you know, keep my family line going

00:21:27.200 because of all of the terrible things that are happening in the world? Shouldn't I be scared? And

00:21:31.320 shouldn't I spare my children from the horrible things that are going to happen to our country

00:21:37.540 when God's wrath finally falls on us for killing our babies in the womb, whatever it is. But I truly

00:21:43.860 believe that God places people on the timeline of eternity when they are supposed to be there.

00:21:51.480 I believe that you were created for this generation at this point in history for a specific reason,

00:21:58.960 that we know that he plots where we are going to live. He plots how long we are going to live.

00:22:05.120 He plots what our purpose is going to be. Ephesians 2 says that God prepares the good works that we do

00:22:10.780 beforehand that we would walk in them. He is sovereign over when you were born, over the circumstances in

00:22:17.580 which you were born. And he has a purpose for you as a Christian to bring his kingdom here on earth

00:22:23.700 and to share the gospel and to love those around you. And if you were made in this time,

00:22:29.820 you were made for this time. So as scary as it might be, and trust me, I look at the future of

00:22:35.320 this country and I get worried. I get anxious. I get scared. I think about what this is going to be

00:22:40.200 like for my daughter and how hard it's going to be to teach my daughter things that I didn't even have

00:22:45.060 to be taught growing up. Very basic things like the difference between men and women that right and

00:22:52.040 wrong actually exist. All of these things that I'm just worried she is going to be indoctrinated with

00:22:58.120 from an early age in a way that I don't agree with. I do worry about that. But then I remember

00:23:03.420 that, wow, if I was put on earth at this scary of a time when up seems to be down, right seems to be

00:23:11.300 wrong and vice versa. I know that God is going to equip me. I know that this is going to be something

00:23:17.220 that I can bear. He would not have put me here if he didn't have a purpose. Now, that's not to say

00:23:22.760 that God needs us. God can accomplish anything that he wants to accomplish without any of us.

00:23:27.660 But he chooses vessels to be used for his own glory, to share the gospel, to spread the honor of his name.

00:23:35.460 And so when we start to think, I just can't bear the calamity and the depravity that's going

00:23:41.240 on in this world. I just don't think that I can do it anymore. You can. He would not have put you

00:23:47.540 here if he was not going to equip you to do the very thing that he is calling you to do.

00:23:52.780 So we can look to God's word as comfort and as a reminder that the love of Christ that you have

00:24:00.740 in you is the same love of Christ that Paul had in him, that he was able to face martyrdom with

00:24:06.700 bravery, with courage, with the assurance that knowing that if he died, he was going to be with Christ.

00:24:10.560 Okay, so what can man do to you? That's another question that Romans 8 asks. What can man do to

00:24:15.220 you? It is God who justifies who is to condemn. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

00:24:20.000 That's the same assurance that we have today. It is the same Holy Spirit. It is the same love of

00:24:24.020 Christ. It is the same death and resurrection power that we have in us to face the things that are

00:24:30.000 before us. Yes, it is scary. And of course, it's scary knowing that Christians are enduring

00:24:34.980 persecution. Of course, it is scary knowing the things that are to come and being unsure of our

00:24:40.260 future and seeing so many people, so many people thwart the word of God for their own selfish

00:24:46.840 purposes. However, however, like I said, you were made for this time and God through the power of

00:24:55.400 Christ is going to give us the tools to not only be able to get through it, but to make an impact for

00:25:01.780 his kingdom with the power of the Holy Spirit. I often have to remind myself that in addition to

00:25:07.980 all the passages that we just read that assure us of struggle, that assure us of suffering, that assure

00:25:13.120 us of persecution and assure us that we can bear all of these things through Christ. I also have to

00:25:19.140 remember that when Jesus said, don't be anxious about anything or don't worry about tomorrow because

00:25:24.700 God's got you, that nothing happens outside of God's sovereignty, that he knew what we were going

00:25:29.780 through. Like, I have to remember that God is not thrown off by either our personal situation or

00:25:35.260 political situation or national situation. He's not thrown off by that. He does not get up off of his

00:25:41.360 throne in fear that we've messed everything up. There is not a thing that happens in this universe

00:25:47.600 outside of God's sovereign will. He is always in control. And so when Jesus told us not to worry,

00:25:55.400 it's so easy for us to say, well, if you really knew what we were going through, if Jesus really

00:26:01.120 knew then what life today would look like, either my personal life or just in general on a larger scale,

00:26:07.760 then there's no way he would have told us not to worry. We have every reason to worry, but he did

00:26:11.380 because he's the God of the universe and he authored all things. He is suspended in the eternal now. He is not

00:26:16.420 at all limited by time and space the way that we are. He is just as present today as he is a thousand

00:26:23.660 years ago, as he is a thousand years from now. He knows exactly when he's coming back and he has

00:26:28.240 a perfectly timed plan for all of it. And our hope that we cling to, the knowledge that we have,

00:26:35.140 the assurance that we have, is that Jesus is coming back. That all the things that we want to be made

00:26:40.600 right are going to be made right. All the things that we want to be rectified are going to be rectified.

00:26:44.420 Everything that we want vindicated is going to be vindicated. And our job is not to be anxious,

00:26:51.920 is not to worry, to not to wonder if we can bear this small thing or this big thing, no matter what

00:26:57.500 it is, whether it's debt or death, whether you are dealing with some kind of serious rejection or

00:27:04.440 whether you're just dealing with some kind of small criticism. Our job is not to worry or be anxious

00:27:09.960 about these things. And I'm talking to myself chiefly. And that our job is to not be worried

00:27:14.840 about these things, but to understand that God's got us. And our goal is to glorify Christ and to be

00:27:20.480 obedient to him. That's the only thing that he's called us to do and to trust that he is in absolute

00:27:26.240 control. And that is why, yes, the Christian can bear all things, that there is absolutely nothing that

00:27:33.440 comes into our life. As difficult as this is to recognize that we cannot bear, um, that we cannot

00:27:40.400 bear without the power, with the power of Christ, uh, that we don't have to compromise on our faith.

00:27:45.340 We don't have to compromise on the gospel that we know for sure that we can take, uh, whatever comes

00:27:53.140 our way. So that's all I have today. I hope that you guys enjoy the podcast. Of course, if you've got

00:27:59.300 any questions at all, um, please always feel free to let me know. It's Allie at the conservative

00:28:04.600 millennial blog.com. You can also message me on Instagram. I don't see all of your messages. I try

00:28:10.100 to respond. Um, but I don't always get to, but I love reading your messages. So feel free to keep

00:28:17.120 sending them to me and hopefully I will be able to get to your question. I'm more likely to see it if

00:28:21.860 you email me though, because I get fewer emails than I do Instagram messages. If you love this podcast,

00:28:27.020 feel free to leave a five-star review on iTunes. It helps me out a lot. And I read them and they

00:28:31.280 mean a lot to me. And the thing that I love most is when I see someone say, and this is probably the

00:28:36.820 most common thing that I see when I see someone say, I feel like I'm talking to a friend. That's

00:28:41.340 exactly, that's exactly what I want because, and it's not just some, some facade that I put up to

00:28:46.400 make you feel a certain way. I truly feel like you guys are my friends. Like I feel like we are having

00:28:50.740 a conversation and I feel like we are learning these things together. I had someone messaged me last

00:28:55.200 week saying, Oh, I didn't want to listen to this particular episode because I knew I would be

00:28:58.940 convicted by what you said. And I'm like, girl, I am convicted every time I prepare. Um, every time

00:29:05.640 I prepare my episodes realizing, okay, this is something that I am having a hard time believing.

00:29:12.000 And I always try to be honest about that. I always try to say, okay, if this is something that I'm

00:29:15.900 struggling with, or this is something that I've doubted, then I always try to, you know, be upfront and

00:29:20.800 say, you know, I'm struggling with this too. So you guys know that I'm never coming from a place

00:29:25.040 of perfection ever, but always coming from a place of learning and reliance on the word of God.

00:29:31.320 That's what we always go back to is not my feelings and not my opinions, but reliance on the word of

00:29:36.300 God. And you and I, as friends, as I truly feel like we are friends and family, we're learning this

00:29:42.220 stuff together. I love when you guys message me and say, okay, you said this, but did you think about

00:29:47.000 this? Or did you think about this passage? Or what do you make of this? I am never offended by that.

00:29:52.700 I'm never going to get defensive about that. If you bring in the word of God to talk about a

00:29:59.460 particular theological subject, I'm always going to welcome that. I don't care about being right.

00:30:03.440 I care about God's word being right and us submitting to that together. So thank you again

00:30:08.560 for all of those nice reviews and for saying that you feel like you're my friend, because I feel like

00:30:13.140 you're my friend too. And I love doing this podcast with you guys. Be on the lookout for the next

00:30:18.080 episode, which of course is on Wednesday, where we cover something in the news or culture or

00:30:24.700 something. If you have any suggestions for that, if there's something you really want me to cover,

00:30:28.040 feel free to message me and let me know. I'll see you guys then.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 10, 2019

Ep 123 ｜ Unbearable？

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