Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - April 06, 2020


Ep 234 ｜ Mobsters, Self-Love, & Blaming God


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

181.71327

Word Count

5,564

Sentence Count

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 hey guys welcome to relatable i hope everyone had a great weekend today we are going to do a kind of
00:00:07.480 theology monday so what i'm going to do is i'm going to tell you a couple things we did over
00:00:11.460 the weekend i'm going to draw some pertinent lessons out of that some things that i want us
00:00:16.360 to think about that do have to do with everything that's going on but it's not specifically
00:00:21.520 coronavirus related then we are going to end with what i think is a very important discussion on the
00:00:28.540 sovereignty of god because i've seen some bad theology floating around on social media some of
00:00:33.480 you might have seen this too and i want to correct it by going to what the word of god actually says
00:00:39.780 about god's character rather than all of these misinterpretations and mischaracterizations that
00:00:44.840 we unfortunately see on instagram especially in times of crisis wednesday i'm going to give you
00:00:51.260 a more of a news update i know so many of us are over coronavirus right now and the last thing i
00:00:56.880 want to do is to fill your mind with things that you've already heard or things that bog you down
00:01:01.160 this episode today is so important because it seeks to reorient you if you are in a place of fear
00:01:07.240 confusion or anxiety to remind you of what is true and hopefully give you some food for thought to
00:01:12.780 continue um in your thinking and analysis about everything that's going on right now wednesday more of
00:01:20.020 a news update some of the reactions that have been happening and how it shapes our culture
00:01:23.820 friday i plan to do a full episode on toxic mommy culture which you guys have been asking me to do
00:01:29.280 it is rampant right now on social media so i plan to do that on friday kind of already have it planned
00:01:35.700 out but today like i said very important episode about um about the various aspects of this that we can
00:01:44.460 analyze from a biblical perspective and then of course rightly looking at the sovereignty of god and how
00:01:50.880 we explain all of that in the midst of a pandemic let me go ahead and start this podcast so this
00:01:58.380 weekend we didn't do a whole lot uh we did for the first time eat out so we got takeout we got tacos
00:02:07.180 and i was really excited about that we have not gotten takeout any kind of restaurant drive-through food
00:02:13.340 anything like that in over three weeks which is big for us because i would say at least once a week we
00:02:20.060 would order favor or uber eats or something like that on the weekends like we just like to get
00:02:26.560 tacos or fajitas or something like that as you can tell we really like tex-mex and we haven't done it
00:02:32.740 for the past few weeks just because one we've been trying to save money you never know what the future
00:02:38.320 holds we have not wanted to go out and we haven't wanted to risk there being any kind of you know
00:02:46.600 virus on our food or on the packaging but finally we were like you know what it's been a few weeks
00:02:52.440 we really don't want to cook we don't want to clean dishes again so let's order some tacos so
00:02:58.060 this is this this was my thinking when i finally was like okay yes not eating out has been good for
00:03:05.040 the budget it's been good for the waistline but tacos are good for the soul and eventually you just
00:03:12.220 got to break down and do what's good for the soul so we ate tacos chips queso and by the way i don't
00:03:17.760 know if you know this but just to give you guys a heads up friend to friend this is how apparently
00:03:22.540 i saw it on a youtube video so it has to be true apparently how you sanitize everything when you get
00:03:31.380 takeout is uh you get your food you take it out of the packaging you put it on plates you throw all of
00:03:38.780 the packaging away and you either wear gloves or you wash your hands later and then you put
00:03:43.820 the food in the microwave i don't know you microwave it for 30 seconds a minute however long i'm not
00:03:50.360 really sure about that maybe you need to look that up and then you take it out of the microwave and you
00:03:54.620 make sure that you wash your hands and then you sanitize where any of the packaging was so that
00:04:00.860 apparently is what you do to make sure that you don't get the rona while you are supporting all of
00:04:07.160 your favorite restaurants so we did that and then we watched goodfellas and i know some of you out
00:04:12.560 there like how have you not seen this movie that literally came out 30 years ago this year and it's
00:04:18.260 a classic and it's one of those movies that everyone talks about i don't know but it was also one of
00:04:23.280 those movies that as i was watching it i was like i've seen this before but i don't know when and i
00:04:28.240 don't know why my husband hadn't seen it before and i wouldn't have watched it by myself so i'm not sure
00:04:32.880 my husband i'm not sure if he would be okay with me telling you this but he actually was not a fan
00:04:38.620 of the movie i thought it was good um i really like 80s and 90s movies just a little fun fact about
00:04:45.100 ali i will watch pretty much any 80s and 90s movie that is somewhat reputable i like to watch movies
00:04:52.420 that people have talked about and movies that they consider classics just to basically said say that i
00:04:59.080 have seen it and this was one of those movies wasn't my favorite movie ever but now i can say
00:05:02.820 for sure that i've seen it and i'm glad that i did because i learned some things in watching it that
00:05:07.540 we are going to talk about that's pertinent to what we're going through today so some thoughts that
00:05:12.320 i had about goodfellas now if you haven't seen goodfellas this is still going to be pertinent to you
00:05:16.440 and we're even going to tie tie it into uh the tiger king conversation that we had on wednesday
00:05:21.280 if you haven't listened to tiger king in the end times episode from last wednesday you should go do that
00:05:26.360 this is kind of building on that conversation a little bit so if you've watched goodfellas if
00:05:31.640 you've watched the sopranos any of these mobster movies uh you know that the common characteristic
00:05:37.340 in all of these characters in these movies is ego every decision they make is based on their ego
00:05:44.900 they want to be seen as loyal or industrious or cunning but ultimately their ego is what is driving
00:05:52.340 them their ego overtakes all other qualities they might be striving for always leads to their
00:05:57.520 demise in some way every single character in every single mobster movie or tv show this is true of um
00:06:04.300 and in so doing and letting their ego drive them they go down this uh mobster path of corruption
00:06:11.560 that virtually ends their life or literally ends their life and all of the people that are left in their
00:06:18.140 wake are just collateral damage that's true of tiger king i mean it's like a redneck
00:06:22.080 mob what's tiger king and these zoo keepers or these wildlife collectors are in it is like a
00:06:30.940 redneck mom and they are doing the same thing that tony soprano the people in goodfellas did they are
00:06:36.120 letting their ego drive their lives and drive what they do and in the end is not just corruption but
00:06:42.580 their own demise now most of us i'm going to go so far as to say uh all of us are not mobsters we are not
00:06:50.380 weaving some complicated web of extortion if i do have a mobster listening to this podcast you're not
00:06:56.200 in my target demographic but i'm really glad that you're here but many of us are in our own
00:07:01.640 seemingly innocuous ways inflating our own egos at the expense of our own good and the good of those
00:07:09.860 around us and that's what i was thinking when i was watching goodfellas just how
00:07:13.000 ego is constantly looking to be seen constantly defensive constantly be uh there it's constantly
00:07:20.000 looking for attention and to get that next thing that makes it feel better that uh makes it get
00:07:27.320 bigger whatever it is and all of us are the exact same way even if we are not mobsters uh we are told
00:07:35.260 by these self-love promoting influencers and authors that we should be building up our ego in the same way
00:07:42.800 that every person who has been driven by ego to commit a crime has now the end results typically
00:07:48.360 aren't the same but they are in another sense just as devastating so glennon doyle has an entire book
00:07:54.260 about women becoming full of themselves people ask me what i think about uh brene brown all the time i
00:07:59.560 think brene brown has the same message as glennon doyle and rachel hollis and all of these self-love
00:08:06.340 people that sounds inspiring but is focused on the elevation of the ego the elevation of the self
00:08:12.680 and it's cloaked in humility it's cloaked in innocence but it is much the same message that
00:08:18.660 you hear from crude rap songs and crude mobster movies that life is all about you and you need to
00:08:25.000 do what builds you up and makes you happy uh these self-love influencers wrongly try to convince us that
00:08:31.780 the higher we think of ourselves the higher self-esteem we have uh the less problems the fewer problems that
00:08:38.240 we'll have that if we place ourselves in the center of our own universe and think of ourselves more
00:08:42.880 highly i will have the confidence to build the lives of our dreams heal from our past traumas
00:08:48.480 and we will finally be at peace and be satisfied i mean think about tiger king the redneck mobster
00:08:54.640 i mean he literally one he calls himself the tiger king and he had that throne if you've seen the
00:09:00.380 documentary he had that throne that he sat on because he wanted so badly to be the ruler of his
00:09:05.680 universe and to be the center of his own life well we laugh at that and we say okay obviously that
00:09:10.980 didn't end up well for joe exotic but we are being fed the same message to call ourselves queens to call
00:09:17.120 ourselves the ruler of our universe to have people around us and ourselves bow down to us to put our
00:09:22.840 needs and wants in front of other people uh we are told that if we do these things if we boost our ego
00:09:30.460 if we are full of ourselves if we put ourselves first then we will be happy but if that were true
00:09:37.100 if that were true uh the secular world would be a lot happier would be a lot more at peace than they
00:09:43.420 actually are the fact is is that christless messages no matter how inspiring they may sound
00:09:50.060 are always ultimately empty and are going to lead us into a cycle of more confusion and more hurt they may
00:09:57.260 pump us up for a little while uh they may help us chase our goals like we might lose the weight we
00:10:03.020 might organize our closet we might do the things that we set out to do uh with the help of these self
00:10:08.460 uh self-love and self-help uh authors but they ultimately lead to our demise because they can't
00:10:14.300 satisfy and they can't save we see very extreme demonstrations of that in these mobster movies and
00:10:21.500 ridiculous documentaries like tiger king putting yourself first being full of yourself doing what you want to do
00:10:26.860 uh obviously it helped them for a little while and it led to our demise but it has the same trajectory
00:10:33.500 and the same pattern in our own lives even if the inner results aren't exactly the same it ultimately
00:10:39.580 builds a life that hurts us and hurts those that we love and one thing that we're seeing in this pandemic
00:10:46.380 is the absolute absurdity of the self-love culture in times of crisis because guess what we don't have time
00:10:53.340 right now to figure out how to love ourselves before we love other people like most of us don't
00:10:58.860 have time for non-stop self-care right now or even a little bit of self-care right now whatever that
00:11:03.980 looks like most of us don't have the luxury of just doing what makes us happy we can't put ourselves
00:11:10.780 first right now and if we did other people would suffer we are not the center of our universe we are very
00:11:15.980 small right now so we see the absolute vitality of putting the needs of other people before ourselves
00:11:22.620 i mean think about who are our heroes right now in this crisis the people putting themselves first or
00:11:28.620 the people putting themselves last the people who for example hoard supplies to try to make a buck off
00:11:35.020 them or the people who are selflessly giving their time giving their money and risking their health
00:11:40.780 their health and lives to save and help others who do we admire right now the grocery store clerks
00:11:46.940 the nurses the homeschool parents all selflessly serving those who need it or the people who are
00:11:52.860 just focused on self-love and doing what makes them happy and self-care the people going outside because
00:11:59.500 they don't care how it affects other people all of a sudden in the pandemic selfishness is condemned
00:12:06.460 before we were talking about how great it was for people to just do what they want to do and to have
00:12:11.180 good vibes now all of a sudden we're expecting people to sacrifice maybe we should have backed
00:12:16.460 up and been encouraging self-sacrifice and consideration of other people a long time ago
00:12:21.260 rather than telling people to place themselves at the center of their universe so one again another
00:12:26.860 silver lining that we're seeing in this pandemic is that people are reminded of the importance of
00:12:31.180 selflessness and not putting yourself first and considering the needs and the wants of other
00:12:36.540 people even before yourselves uh these messages that we heard before this for a long time very
00:12:43.180 pervasively hey just focus on you right now cut all the toxic people out of your life all the people
00:12:48.220 that are burdens and uh burdensome just do what makes you happy all of those right now sound really
00:12:53.900 tone deaf don't they like they sound really vapid that's because they are not just now but all the time
00:13:00.940 because there are messages that do not deliver on their promise any life philosophy that is about
00:13:07.180 inflating your ego serving yourself will always fail you maybe and hopefully not as drastically as it
00:13:13.660 failed tony soprano or joe exotic but it will fail you it will end friendships it will hurt your marriage
00:13:20.300 that is why god gives us an opposite directive don't put yourself first he says put me first he says put
00:13:28.700 others before yourself count others as more significant than yourself philippians 2 says don't be
00:13:34.060 so concerned with what you want and need i will take care of you god promises us you care for those
00:13:39.740 that i've placed in your life who need it don't inflate your ego defeat your ego don't worry about
00:13:45.020 loving yourself more you already have an innate drive to take care of yourself and meet your needs focus
00:13:49.820 on loving me god says and loving those around you don't make much of yourself forget yourself
00:13:55.500 what the world needs right now contrary to what glennon doyle's new book says is not women who are
00:14:02.780 full of themselves but women and men who forget themselves who are on the front line of this pandemic
00:14:10.140 uh characterized not by self-love and self-esteem but self-forgetfulness christians are called to
00:14:18.700 self-forgetfulness not self-obsession not self-fulfillment not self-deprecation or self-loathing
00:14:24.860 but self-forgetfulness uh there are two quotes that are that i've just put together to read together
00:14:30.700 from c.s lewis's mere christianity that i think work well with what we're saying according to christian
00:14:37.180 teachers the essential vice the utmost evil is pride on chastity anger greed drunkenness and all that
00:14:44.620 are mere flea bites in comparison it was through pride that the devil became the devil pride leads
00:14:50.940 to every other vice it is the complete anti-god state of mind the christians are right it is pride
00:14:59.020 which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began and
00:15:06.380 man that is so true in all of our lives like think about every fight that you've gotten in
00:15:14.700 think about all the times that your feelings have been unnecessarily hurt think about all of the harsh
00:15:19.660 words that you have said that later you regret think about uh all of the conflicts that you see going
00:15:26.300 around not just in your life and and in your community but on a greater scale so much of them
00:15:32.700 have their foundations and pride and yet we are hearing from a large community of people
00:15:37.820 online and uh in books that pride is actually a virtue rather than a vice but i'm telling you
00:15:44.700 just as it did for joe exotic and all the characters and good fellas it doesn't lead to a satisfying life
00:15:52.700 and one thing like i said that this pandemic is revealing to us is just how empty these messages
00:15:57.900 attempting to inflate the ego are how shallow and misleading they are how unsatisfying and unadmirable
00:16:04.300 they are um all of that came from me telling you what we did this weekend watching good fellas uh
00:16:10.780 but another thing we did since my husband is so sad not to have sports to watch right now we watched
00:16:18.780 the masters the masters golf tournaments we we both like golf he likes golf more than i do but
00:16:24.060 i do enjoy watching golf i'll really watch and enjoy any sport but i actually understand golf more
00:16:30.220 than i do football for example so i enjoy watching golf we watched the masters tournaments from 2010
00:16:36.700 and 2004 he's a big phil mickelson fan on saturday so that's super exciting but one thing that i was
00:16:42.860 thinking about so just drawing some more lessons out of our very non-eventful weekend for us uh one thing
00:16:48.060 that i was thinking about as we were watching is that it's funny to watch something like that at that
00:16:52.620 that at that moment was so important to the people who were involved so anxiety inducing not knowing
00:16:58.780 who is going to win what the next shot is going to look like the players and audience anticipating
00:17:03.820 every move and us sitting there knowing exactly what's about to happen my husband even remembering
00:17:08.860 some of the shots that were hit and of course this is true of every replay you watch every book you
00:17:13.420 reread every piece of history that you study the participants and the characters or players
00:17:18.620 are in the moment you're outside of it and even though you might feel their excitement you're not
00:17:23.020 worried about the outcome because you know what's going to happen um and as we were watching these
00:17:27.900 tournaments i was reminded that everything we currently feel uh and fear and worry about right now
00:17:36.300 will pass we will one day be looking back on it like we were watching the 2010 masters we will someday
00:17:44.140 and get on the other side of this and say i had no idea what was going on but looking back from the
00:17:49.340 outside i can see that it worked out maybe not how we wanted it to maybe not as easily or as quickly
00:17:55.580 as we would have liked but this will end this is just a season i know it feels indefinite and honestly
00:18:02.780 i don't know how long it's going to last we keep getting conflicting reports i don't know what this
00:18:06.940 quarantine is going to look like or what the results going to be or what troubles we have ahead but it's not
00:18:12.300 going to last forever the phrase that you have heard people say a dozen times a week it seems like
00:18:19.100 on the news and on social media this too shall pass is true it is absolutely true it will but we as
00:18:26.620 christians don't just take comfort in the fact that time is passing that one day we will look back on
00:18:32.620 this and be able to read the shots and know who's going to win to go along with our analogy
00:18:39.100 um we're not just going to be able to say yeah that time passed and we got out of that season we
00:18:45.020 can take comfort not just in thinking about the future but in knowing that right now as i've
00:18:50.780 reminded us so many times that god is actively working he is actively doing he's actively using
00:18:56.460 actively bringing himself glory and bringing all things together for our good as romans 8 28 says that
00:19:02.860 he is doing something even when we can't see it even when we're not sure even when it feels as if
00:19:08.780 things are falling apart around us we know that he is holding things together and uh just like we
00:19:15.580 weren't anxious when we were watching the masters god is not anxious watching this unfold because
00:19:22.220 he is outside of it he knows what's going to happen and even more than that he is in control of all of
00:19:27.340 it um and i want to get into a note on how people are avoiding that fact that people are avoiding god's
00:19:37.900 control and they are spinning it into a theological misconception that has a lot of dangerous
00:19:43.740 implications so right now as we've talked about it's a time that is ripe for conspiracy theories and
00:19:52.220 false prophecies which neither of which glorify the lord uh but they're also an opportunity these
00:19:58.620 crazy chaotic times for bad theology in general um i have seen a refrain that i see almost every time
00:20:05.980 terror uh terror strikes or we get into some kind of bad situation and it is don't blame god for this
00:20:14.380 this is not god's fault um i saw a meme that was created i assume by an atheist
00:20:22.380 that uh it was funny from their perspective i mean i kind of laughed even though it's terribly
00:20:27.340 blasphemous but it was a picture of jesus looking at the earth and it said here's some coronavirus i
00:20:32.540 love you so much lol obviously making fun of the idea that you know we serve a good god why would a
00:20:38.380 good god send coronavirus and there were a lot of well-meaning christians in the comments saying no
00:20:43.340 this isn't god's fault this is not his will and my reaction to that is uh how is it that
00:20:51.660 atheists understand god's character better than professing christians god does not need you to
00:21:00.140 let him off the hook god doesn't need to be excused or justified or covered for or explained he doesn't
00:21:08.300 need to be made simpler for the unbeliever he doesn't need to be more accommodating to the atheist he
00:21:14.060 doesn't need to be made softer for the agnostic he is sovereign he is in control if not even a sparrow
00:21:21.580 falls out of the sky without his permission which is what the bible says then you can bet a pandemic
00:21:26.140 doesn't escape his will either uh there are things that god actively causes and then there are things
00:21:33.180 that god permits but there is nothing that god does not have the power to stop what is far more
00:21:41.020 terrifying to me than a god who is in complete control is a god who is not i would rather have a
00:21:49.260 completely sovereign god who i don't understand than a limited weak god who fits nicely inside my own
00:21:56.460 mental box i don't want to worship a powerless god i don't want to bow down to a god who's limited by my
00:22:03.500 own comprehension or who follows my self-contrived dictates of what's good and what's bad i want to
00:22:10.380 worship the god of isaiah 55 whose ways are not my ways whose thoughts are not my thoughts let's read
00:22:16.780 that isaiah 55 8-10 for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the
00:22:22.780 lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
00:22:28.540 than your thoughts for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return and do not
00:22:33.820 return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread
00:22:38.700 to the eater so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it
00:22:44.540 shall accomplish that which i purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which i sent it this is true of
00:22:50.460 all god does and all god allows jeremiah 32 17 says our lord god it is you who have made the heavens
00:22:58.780 and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm nothing is too hard for you job 42
00:23:06.380 2 one of my favorite verses i know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be
00:23:13.340 thwarted so we don't know whether god purposely sent this virus to call us to repentance to
00:23:20.220 display judgment to show mercy to those he wanted to take out of the world or whether he simply
00:23:26.060 has allowed this virus to occur but either way it didn't just slip through the cracks god didn't sit
00:23:32.860 back and say oh i can't believe i allowed this to happen i've said this a million times i'll probably
00:23:38.460 say it a million more god is not surprised uh his power is not restrained our our roles and our
00:23:46.220 responsibilities might be suspended but his aren't we are quarantined but god is not we are contained
00:23:53.020 but god is not he is not wondering if we are going to figure this out he is not thrown off he's not
00:23:58.540 taking it back and it doesn't matter whether or not a non-believer thinks god is a meaning for
00:24:02.540 coronavirus we know the truth that beyond our finite weak understanding god is good he is faithful he is
00:24:10.220 loving he is compassionate and he is totally and completely sovereign um i've said this many times
00:24:17.580 to explain god's sovereignty but it is uh it's important to i think understand the quandary that
00:24:25.580 unbelievers think that we are in and that they are in we have a hard time all of us as humans but
00:24:32.220 especially non-believers not starting from the premise of the word of god being inerrant and god being
00:24:36.780 true uh have a hard time understanding how god can be these three things at the same time so good
00:24:43.180 powerful and seen how can god be totally good completely capable and wholly aware of everything
00:24:49.580 that's going on the non-believers contention is that god can only be two of these things and the
00:24:55.180 logic of that goes like this if god is all good and all powerful then he must not see all the bad that's
00:25:01.340 going on or else he'd do something about it if god does see everything that goes on and he is good
00:25:07.260 he must not be all powerful he must not be able to stop it or else he would do something about the
00:25:13.500 bad stuff he would stop the bad stuff from happening or if god is all powerful and he does see everything
00:25:19.740 then he must not be good because if he were he would stop these bad things from happening so this is
00:25:26.300 the quandary that non-believers pose and unfortunately professing christians try to
00:25:31.580 wiggle their way out of by diminishing one of these three attributes by saying it's not god's god's fault
00:25:38.380 which is diminishing the attribute of power they are well-meaning christians trying to square this
00:25:45.740 circle uh trying to fix this quandary by saying okay yes god is good god is all-knowing but he's not
00:25:52.540 responsible for the bad things that happen satan is is the typical answer but this is bad theology
00:25:59.580 even atheists understand that this is bad theology satan does have power but never outside of god's
00:26:06.380 permission we read that in job so we as christians we start with the premise that god is who he says he is
00:26:13.420 which is good powerful and all-knowing and through that filter we see all that happens all that we don't
00:26:20.460 understand will ultimately be for his glory and the good of those who love him which is what the bible
00:26:26.700 says like he told him back he is doing something that we would not believe if he told us it is not
00:26:33.340 our job to let god off the hook or to make him more chewable for atheists uh let the word of god stand
00:26:40.380 let god's character stand don't downplay god don't water him down don't apologize for him he is enough he's
00:26:47.180 the only being in the entire universe uh who can actually claim that he is exactly who he says he is
00:26:54.060 and no less and he is exactly what he says we need and no less than that and either you introduce
00:27:01.180 people to this god in all his complexity in all his sovereignty or you introduce them to a figment of
00:27:08.220 your imagination a weak wizard with limited power i don't want to worship a weak wizard with limited power do you
00:27:15.180 because a god that is limited by our understanding of what he should and shouldn't do isn't a god that
00:27:21.500 can save the real biblical triune god can and will save and the great news is is that he won't allow
00:27:29.740 evil to go unpunished just because evil happens under god's sovereign watch does not mean that he is
00:27:36.860 ignoring it that he likes it that it pleases him it might be all under his grand sovereign will but it is
00:27:43.260 not a part of his moral will he does not desire it and he will still punish it just because he allows
00:27:49.740 and sometimes even causes pain doesn't mean that he does not care about it on the contrary god is a god
00:27:57.100 of vengeance and he will pay back evil what it is due he will defeat the wicked forever no act no word
00:28:05.100 of evil escapes his attention or his judgment as psalm 37 12 through 15 i love psalm 37 i highly
00:28:12.140 encourage you to read it if you need comfort a reminder of who god is and what he will do as
00:28:18.380 psalm 37 12 through 15 says this the wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him
00:28:24.460 but the lord laughs at the wicked for he sees that his day is coming the wicked draw the sword and bend
00:28:30.540 their bows to bring down the poor and needy to slay those whose way is upright their sword shall enter
00:28:36.540 their own heart and their bows shall be broken romans 12 19 says beloved never avenge yourselves but
00:28:44.220 leave it to the wrath of god for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord so
00:28:51.580 no evil will go unpaid for god promises us that and about our pain and all of the pain that christians
00:29:01.660 are enduring scripture says this the lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed
00:29:07.260 in spirit psalm 34 18 and even beyond that uh one day all sadness will be completely eradicated
00:29:15.100 revolution of revolution revelation 21 4 says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death
00:29:22.540 shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have
00:29:28.540 passed away yes we have a sovereign god we also have a redemptive god who is powerful enough right now
00:29:37.580 to be in control of everything that's going on that means he is powerful enough to save to the uttermost
00:29:43.180 and to save ultimately that is why we don't have to let god off the hook because god in all of his
00:29:50.620 complex complexity and all of his character that we do not understand doesn't need to be
00:29:58.300 diminished it's unnecessary and this is why theology matters this is why reading god's word matters
00:30:05.420 because it affects not just our mentality in a crisis but our mentality also affects what we do
00:30:11.900 god doesn't want us to be afraid he doesn't want us to be anxious he doesn't want us to think that he
00:30:16.940 is not in control he is in control now and forever and we can trust in that okay that's my episode for
00:30:24.060 today i will be back here on wednesday and i will see you guys then