How God Gets You Through Life's Most Difficult Times

you know shakeups are a normal part of life in a broken world we do not live in heaven in heaven everything's perfect everything's done great there are no tears no Sorrows no suffering but on Earth everything is broken because of sin every relationship is broken every body is broken uh uh we don't have healthy Minds the weather's broken the economy is broken and so we shouldn't expect things to be perfect here on Earth and and when something bad happens in your life and instead of going why me you might want to say why not me

I live here on Earth and we're not this is not heaven that's coming later uh and so there are going to be sufferings there are going to be trials and don't be surprised by it Jesus said it like this John 16:33 Jesus said in this world you might experience difficulties oh that's not what he said in this world you what Circle that will now if Jesus said it you can count on it you will have problems in life you are going to face adversity you are going to have times where your world is tossed upside

down and everything is shaking and baking and flying and you don't know which way is up in this world you will experience difficulties Jesus promised that but he said take heart I have conquered the world he said I've told you this so that in trusting me you will be unshakable and deeply at peace Jesus warned us that adversity is going to be a part of life don't let it blow you away don't be surprised don't be shocked uh uh but you need to be unshakable uh I'm telling you so you won't cave in Proverbs 20:3

says this sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways and every one of you could give a testimony on that verse sometimes it takes a pain painful experience to make us change our ways sometimes God has to light a fire on you so you become une easy you become uncomfortable it gets hot I mean even Aristotle said we cannot learn without pain some things as I said you learned by being burned it's like when the prodical son he didn't change until he hit bottom and everything's going great he's living it up

his life but when he hits bottom he runs out of friends money and food now he goes H he came to a sense is maybe this isn't the way I should be living God shakes things up to direct us in a new direction we rarely think about the direction of Our Lives when things are going good when your life's going good you got it on cruise control you're not even thinking about your goals you're not even thinking about God you're not thinking about anything but cruise control this is fun I'm in the driver's seat right

now but all of a sudden you have a traffic jam or car accident all of a sudden it gets your attention and God gets our attention many times and he changes the Direction one of the values of pressure and problems and crisis in your life is it forces you to think about stuff you wouldn't normally think about on your own you want to just live in denial and you would just like to take that part of your life that needs changing and just forget it and go on with your life and go well just isolate

that over here I'll compartmentalize it and and that'll be just fine but it doesn't work now when David's life fell apart he wrote this Psalm 119 ver 59 I have thought about my life probably didn't even think about it till the problem came I've thought about my life and I've directed my feet back to your written instructions what's that that's the Bible your written instructions he says I'm redirecting my life now that I got problems God you got my attention what is a problem in your life that you're pretending isn't a problem what's the big

problem the big elephant in your life in your marriage and your relationship that you just for well it's not a problem I know we got that there but we've had it in this relationship all this time no it's still a problem and God will use difficulty to correct you inspect you and redirect you if he needs to we would rarely change unless we had problems uh we postpone difficult decisions we put it off I mean if you had a disease that didn't hurt you you'd never go to the doctor about it you just let it

keep taking over your life until you die pain gets your attention we ignore illnesses if they didn't hurt so God uses problems to prod us and to poke us and to push us and to prompt us and he uses things to direct us write this down question where is this problem leading me you want to ask yourself you want to get the most out of your problems where is this problem leading me problems never uh leave you where they found you you know Jonah God told Jonah to go East to Nineveh we talked about this

the other week and he didn't want to go there he's racially Prejudice so he went to Spain Tarsus headed that direction went as far west as he could and God arranged a custommade problem a custommade fish swallowed him up and sometimes you get swallowed up by a big problem but when it spits you out you're headed in the right direction and sometimes you're going this way and a problem swallows you up when it spits you out you're going the right direction God uses problems to direct us sometimes God shakes things up to protect us did

you know that sometimes pain protects you from something worse that you're going through a problem but it's actually preventing you from a bigger problem it's keeping you from greater harm uh you know you might have wanted a certain job at a certain business and it didn't happen and God was protecting you because he knew that there was a relationship there that was going to mess you up and he kept you out of that situation um sometimes a problem is a blessing in disguise uh honestly there will be times you have problems when you did the

right thing not the wrong thing not every problem is because you did something wrong sometimes you have a problem because you did the right thing I mean I I remember one time there's a guy here at Saddleback who good business friend of mine and he was asked to do on a corporation something very unethical and he said sorry I just can't do it I'm I'm a follower of Jesus Christ I I cannot be unethical in that area and they fired him and he lost his pension and he lost his job and he he lost his

you know all of that uh and it looked bad but uh you know about a month later the SEC hauled that entire Corporation into court and they're all in jail now and he's not and he's going well thank God okay the problem was getting fired the bigger problem was going to jail for 20 years which is the worst problem yeah sometimes God you he did the right thing and he had a problem he lost his job but it's saved him maybe getting fired might be the best thing to happen to you CU it keeps you

from a real problem job 36:16 God LED you away from danger God often does this and you don't even realize it God has led you away from danger giving you Freedom problems are the preparation for success and it really comes down to a matter of faith will you trust God do you remember the story of of uh uh Jose in the Bible you know he had this Vision that one day he'd be a great leader and literally for the first 40 Years of his life everything went wrong he's betrayed by his brothers he's sold into

slavery he's taken down to Egypt he gets a job as a slave in a in a boss's home uh the woman the wife of the boss is attracted to him she comes onto him offers herself to him he refuses he said I have integrity I'm not going to have an affair with my boss's wife and so she feels spurn she accuses him him rap and he's put in prison for the rest of his life for a crime he never committed everything's gone wrong in his life but it's exactly where God wanted him and a series

of circumstances the second half of his life is like this and he ends up second in command helping Pharaoh save the most powerful nation of that time you don't know sometimes God is protecting you with a problem in your life and and when it was all over Joseph said to his brothers who had betrayed him generous 50:20 you intended to harm me but God intended it for good now there are people in your life there are people in this world who intend to harm you not everybody's nice in this world there are evil people there

are mean people there are people who don't like you cuz you're a Christian or because of a moral stance or an ethical decision you've made because you won't go with the flow and won't you know party with the with the crowd and and they they think you're too good or they think you're self-righteous and they misjudge you and on and and they want to bring you down they mean it for bad but God means it for good and God is bigger than your enemies God is bigger than your critics God Is Bigger than the people

who put you down you intended to harm me but God intended for good sometimes God shakes things up just to protect you it's kind of like a fever when you get a fever and you feel really bad fever is not the problem friend fever is just a symptom the fever is telling you something worse is going on in your body and if you didn't have the fever you wouldn't get the help you know you know a fever warns you of an infection that needs to be dealt with and sometimes a small pain can alert you

to a a life-threatening disease now this goes true with your emotions too sometimes you're feeling really bad and you're feeling really really bad and you're down and you're depressed and you're discouraged and and and you got all these bad negative feelings and and you're praying and go God take away the feelings he doesn't take away the feelings you're going why don't you take away the feelings God said cuz the feelings aren't your problem the problem is what you're thinking about is causing those feelings you got to stop believing the lies and when you stop believing

the lies about you the lies about me and the lies about other people you're going to feel better I'm not going to take away the feelings the feelings are telling you that your thinking is stinking you need a check up from the neck up you know you got to get your your thoughts right I remember when we were doing the 23rd psalm series and I read about how shepherds in the Middle East will sometimes intentionally break a leg of a healthy sheep why because that sheep is prone to wander and it'll wander off and and

in order to protect that sheep from wolves and bears and other Predators they will break the leg of the sheep and the Sheep walks with the lamp so it doesn't wander off and if God has to break your leg to keep you from wandering off and getting in a worse problem he will he loves you that much now it's no fun to hurt hurt somebody you love but just like a surgeon will cut you to heal you God will break you to save you if that's what it takes sometimes God May do that to you

you see those things that you think are disappointments disappointments are his appointments dis appointments are actually his appointments God has appointed them and there's a reason behind it for your own good now sometimes God removes a harmful person in your life and it breaks your heart don't run after him some of you that's all you need to hear you just need to hear your p Pastor say that sometimes there's a harmful person in your life but you're you're addicted to them and God will remove them from your life don't run after them God has shake

things shaking things up to protect you so ask this question question number four how could this problem protect me how could this problem be protecting me what's being prevented what could be worse in my life than what's than this problem well there are a lot of things that could be worse all right number five the fifth way that God shakes things up in your life or and and and the fifth reason uh for shaking things up in your life is not to correct me or inspect me or direct me but God uses things and problems

to perfect me to make you more like Jesus Christ to grow your character to grow you up Margaret Carlson years ago wrote a book called Grace grows best in winter you know it's possible to grow during the bright fair weather times but growth is faster and deeper often during your darkest days like when you lose a child and that's where you grow you grow deep I could read you thousands of letters that have been written to me over the last 36 years from people who say you know I grew more Pastor Rick through that separation

I grew more Pastor Rick through that unemployment through that illness through that tragedy through that loss through that storm than I ever would have grown if things were going good in my life pain is the high cost of growth if you want to grow up you want to be mature there is no way to do it without pain pain is the cost of growing up you can't grow up on Easy Street a and and see we want the product without the process it is a cliche but it is true there is no gain without pain

there is no maturity without growing pains and the very thing that discourages you is the very thing that God is using to develop you when you learn this you're going to you're going to be unshakable in life like Daniel was we're going to see all these things in his life the things that discourage you are actually the things that God wants to use to develop you and there is a reward coming 1 Peter 5:10 the Bible says this after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace who calls you to share his

eternal glory God's going to share his glory with you in Union with Christ will himself perfect you Circle that will perfect you and give you firmness and strength and a sure Foundation why because you're not taking your car or your cash or your career or your clothes or your China to Heaven you're taking your character God is not interested in making your life easy on this Earth he's interested in growing your character the easy part comes for eternity you're in school right now you're in school and in school God says there are Eternal rewards coming

and I'm going to perfect you so knowing that God can even use the bad things in my life to inspect me to direct me to correct me and to even perfect me what should be my response Romans chapter 5 tells us we can Rejoice we can Rejoice we can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know it's perspective that they're good for us we run into problems and trials we know they're good for us they help us learn to be patient and patience develops strength of character boom in us and helps us

trust God more each time we use it so here's the fifth question how can I grow from this problem you see the bottom line your problems are not your problems all those things that you think are your problems they're they're not your problems your problems are not your problems your real problems are how you choose to respond to your problems and if you respond to them in a way where you trust God and you praise God and you thank God and you you you maintain your integrity and you don't give up and you don't give

in and you do the things that we'll see Daniel do in 70 years of his life you're just going to get promoted and promoted and promoted and promoted and promoted into eternity how can I grow from this problem and those problems you think you've got right now really when do problems really become problems when do your problems really become real problems well my problem becomes a real problem when I lose my perspective my problem becomes a real problem when uh I give up an important values and I just say forget it I'm not I'm not

going to waste time anymore I give up and giv up in person our problem becomes a real problem when you lose your sense of humor your problem becomes a real problem when you start feeling sorry for yourself and have a pity party your problem becomes a real problem when you get bitter and you start blaming everybody else for your unhappiness now it's problem that's the real problem so God is saying and we're going to see these this is an index to uh to uh Daniel's life he's saying don't be don't be surprised when you have

adversity in the world you will have tribulation Jesus said uh realize that I can use it five different ways okay I I can I can inspect you and I I can correct you and I can direct you and I can protect you and I can perfect you I can use all these different ways uh in what's going on in your life uh and so what's the third suggestion here it is finally trust God for what I don't understand when there's a problem in my life I go this one does not make sense I don't get

it I don't see the Perfection I don't see the inspection I don't see the correction I don't see the protection I don't see the perfection uh I this problem does not make sense then I trust God for what I don't understand knowing that he has my best interest in heart last two verses Proverbs 20:24 since the Lord is directing our steps why try to understand everything that happens along the way hello some of us need to memorize that and tattoo it on our arm okay if you ever you're going to get a tattoo get that

verse right there okay since the Lord is directing our steps why try to understand everything that happens along the way it's foolish you trying to understand God's ways like an ant trying to understand the internet you don't have the brain capacity God is God and you're not so what do you do when you don't understand you trust last verse proverbs 35 and 6 trust the Lord with all your heart doesn't say intellect heart trust the Lord with all your heart don't depend on your own understanding honor the Lord in everything you do and he will

give you what's the word sucess Circle that success I want you to be a success in life God wants you to be a success in life as your pastor as your spiritual coach it is my goal my job my role to help you succeed in every area of the life that God has given you I want you to be a success not just survive when times are tough not just survive in a hostile culture to Christians but to thrive and actually get promoted and have greater influence and be used by God an amazing way let

me close with a little self-evaluation why don't you ask these questions to God in your mind here's the first one just say uh Lord are you using these problems to inspect me you know the ones I'm going through right now are you using these problems to inspect me if so what does it reveal about my life is there a weakness is there a misplaced priority in my life is there someplace I've compromised the truth and you're trying to show it to me and then say Lord are you using this problem to correct me if so

what do you want me to learn I'm not going to ask why why is this happening to me I'm going to ask what what do you want me to learn what do you want me to know Lord are you using this problem not just to inspect or correct are you using this problem to direct me if so what's the direction what do you want me to change what's the new Direction where where do you want me headed Lord are you using this problem to protect me did that thing not happen because you knew something that

I didn't know and I was walking into a bigger trap a bigger problem a bigger Fiasco a bigger difficulty and you protected me if so Lord then I I'm just going to tell you I trust you I I I know that you know best thank you for protecting me and God I want you to protect me and when there's something that I want that would be bad for me don't let me have it I want your will more than my will and then say Lord are you are you using this problem to perfect me you

see God's at work in your life even when you don't recognize it or even understand it God is work in your life is not dependent upon you understanding it so I want you to pray this prayer very simply say dear God I I want to trust you with all my heart just say it in your mind I trust you with all my heart not my anal uh I'm not going to depend on my own understanding and God I want to honor you in everything I do work home anywhere else and if I trust you and

I don't depend on my own understanding and I honor you and everything I do you've promised to give me success and I'm going to believe that teach me through the life of Daniel in these weeks ahead Jesus Christ I want to trust you with all of my life as best I know how and I'm doing it today in your name I pray amen