Welcome And The Big Questions

Hello my friends and welcome to Everyday God for Your Everyday with Kathy, a space where we'll discuss real practical ways for life with God, especially for those days when life is hard, complicated, and messy. How do we apply biblical principles such as God's love, mercy, grace, and wisdom to our daily grind? Well, join me each week as we do just that together. So wherever you may find yourself today, please know that you are seen, held, accepted, loved, and never alone. So let's get to it. Hello and welcome to another episode of Everyday God for Your Every Day. I am Kathy, your host. So on tonight's episode, we're going to continue our conversation on accepting God's authority and God's will in our lives. I know that I had a fairly lengthy episode dealing with this subject matter, but I felt, and I do felt that it was pressed upon my heart to kind of continue the conversation and maybe go a different direction and answer or attempt to answer two questions that have been asked of me this past week. So last episode, we explored God's sovereignty and providence working in concert to ensure that his will is ultimately accomplished, right? And we discussed how challenging that concept can be for most of us to wrap our heads around. The idea of what is what's predetermined and how does that work with free will. And in addition to that, I really also wanted to talk about on this episode how accepting God's authority and will in our lives impact our ability to have joy, to be joyful. And also how that works in terms of our faith. How do those things connect? Let's talk about the questions that have come up. One was if all of it is predetermined, why does any of it matter? So do I really have choice? If it's already decided, anyways, who cares? Why am I, you know, why does any of this matter? Very good question. Second question was specific to lost souls, like those folks that we care about, that we love, that we desperately want to see saved, that we want to see them have a relationship with God, we want to see them accept Christ as their savior. And we know that in scripture, every person saved is already written in the book of life. So there is a number that God knows already. So I was asked, wow, you know, that's a struggle for some of us. Like if we love someone and we are really battling and we're praying, and we're like, well, if God already knows who's going to be saved, what does any of what I'm doing matter? Complicated, but I would say more nuanced question. So let's start first. Like, it's important to take the time to understand exactly what is being asked before we can even attempt to intelligently respond. So to answer the first question, which is if it's already predetermined, why does any of it matter? Well, I think that we often mistaken predetermined and what is foreknown, you know, previous knowledge of, meaning that God already knows because God is a supreme being, right? So there's a distinction between those two. According to Cambridge Dictionary, yes, I did go there with you, um, predetermined means decided already, arranged at an earlier time. Like it's it's already arranged, it's already pre-decided. And to foreknow means to have previous knowledge of. So I believe that there are absolutely events in our lives that are predetermined by God. But I also know that there's a dynamic and there's interwoven in that are just things that we do because we have free will, decisions that we make, choices that we make, are actions that God already knows what we're going to do because, again, he is the supreme being. He is, he knows the end from the beginning. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. So God already knows all of this. Nothing that we do, again, is surprising to God. So what are give me an example, Kathy, of what you mean by predetermined events? Well, the birth, life, and crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, our salvation, or more specifically, the means by which all men are saved. Jesus Christ. That was predetermined. Because let's think about it, from the very beginning of the Bible, the Old Testament, it speaks to Christ, it points to Christ. So that was predetermined. His the fact that he would come on earth, that he would, his mother would be, his life, his ministry, and ultimately his crucifixion, and then the blessed resurrection. That was predetermined by God. The end of time is predetermined by God. Scripture tells us that, that only the Father knows. God knows when the end will come. So those are predetermined things. Example of something that would be not necessarily predetermined or not predetermined, but that God would already know. Well, God already knew that I would be on really like this, I don't know, 10th or 15th attempt of recording this episode. God knew some of the decisions and the choices that I would struggle with when I was a child. God knew that I would end up being, you know, sexually abused, molested as a child. God knew that my father wouldn't be around. God knew that I would, you know, suffer from physical abuse. God knew those things. But in his infinite wisdom and the fact that he is abounding in grace, he works within all of that. He works like his providence is working within all of those predetermined events and free will of man and the choices that we're going to make, he works it all out to bring about the predetermined order of things. And I know that that's a very hard one to grapple with. You know, as I was preparing for these last few episodes, not just this one, you know, I've had to think about like especially that other question of why does it matter if God already knows the souls that are going to be saved? Why does what I do matter? Especially as it pertains to the people we love. And even as it pertains to the awful things, the terrible things that happened to us. You know, I mentioned the fact that God knew that I was going to be sexually abused and God knew that, you know, my father wouldn't be in my life. But God didn't choose to stop, you know, those things from happening. He didn't intervene in the way that most of us would think, would define or would want. I would say would want an intervention. Because I think most of the time when we say, well, why doesn't God do something? Or why doesn't God intervene? What we actually mean is, why doesn't God do what I want him to do, which is either not let this thing happen or get me out of the suffering that I'm in or get me out of the struggle. Well, let me explain something as someone who loves God, loves God with everything that I have. I love God. And let me explain why I love God. I love God because He first loved me. I love God because God has been the best thing in my life. He has been the best thing in my life. He is the best thing in my life. He will always be the very best thing in my life. And I am also speaking from the perspective of someone who's had awful things, terrible things happen to them. I've had my innocence in many ways marred by things that people did to me. I didn't have an earthly father. I questioned a lot about myself, my self-worth, my value, my identity. Like there, there's tons of crap that came from my father's absence. And so many of us can sit and say, well, why didn't your God intervene? Well, I can't tell you specifically why, because I again I've said it before. I don't know the mind of God. None of us do. But I can tell you, as I've told you the last episode, best thing that ever happened to me, or best gift, I should say, best gift, best thing that ever happened to me, salvation. Yes, my God is the best thing that ever happened to me. But the best gift my earthly father ever gave me was being absent in my life because of the relationship that that enabled me to have with my heavenly father. The tenderness, the ways that my struggles and the things that have happened to me, the ways that they that God has helped to form me and to inform who I am and how I interact and engage with people, I am grateful for that. I am grateful for it. It's easy to sit and say, well, if okay, you know what? Let me take a step back. I don't want to say and I'm gonna talk about the fact that sometimes we can be dismissive. I can be dismissive, or I can immediately get in the, you know, on the defensive because I want to, I want to defend God because I and I want to defend him, not because God needs me or anyone to defend him. Believe me, he defends us. He doesn't need me to defend him. But sometimes as Christ followers, as Christians, we get on the defensive when people question God or his goodness, and we want to stop the conversation or we immediately get, you know, not so friendly and not so gracious. Because it's either one, we're defending our position, which is, you know, none of us want to be wrong. I don't want anybody questioning the fact that I've chosen to be a Christ follower and that I have faith. You know, sometimes we're really busy not defending God so much, but defending our position. And that in itself, not so great. But then there's the other part. I love God. I know how good He's been to me. And I want people to experience that. I want people to see it. And when people question it, or I feel like you're coming for my God, for lack of a better word, or you're not understanding or you're accusing him, I do, I'll get offended. And and it's, I'll say, speaking for myself, it comes from a place of if I could only help you to see how good this God is. And maybe it doesn't come across in a great way. And maybe it's not the more the most gracious way of defending my position. Sometimes it's a little bit probably too passionate. It can come across a little bit, you know, a little aggressive. But that's it. Because here's here's here's the deal. I get it. How it is a very hard thing to talk about or to sometimes respond when someone says, How do you reconcile your very good God with all of the stuff that's happening, with all of the terrible, evil, violent, just horrendous things that that go on in the world? How do you reconcile? Why doesn't your God, if he's so sovereign, why doesn't he intervene? Well, we we talked about, you know, that a little bit about mine, because I don't know. I can't tell you why God chooses to intervene in some things and sometimes he doesn't intervene in the way that we imagine he intervenes. But I do know that God is working all the time, all the time behind the scenes, doing things that none of us see, none of us know, and none of us can understand. Intervention, oftentimes, when we say intervention or why doesn't God intervene, we mean why doesn't God stop what is happening. Well, let me ask you a question. If God starts stopping everything that he deems, by the way, not necessarily you or I, because that's the thing about accepting God's authority and his sovereignty and his rulership, is that it is dependent upon what God defines as good. And what I mean by that is God doesn't see that a child being raped or a child being violated or a woman being violated as good. But God does have a much different perspective than us and being able to see what he is going to do and the good that's gonna come from that and what he's gonna work out of that. So there are times that we struggle and we go through things, as I talked about the story of Joseph. There was a greater good that was gonna come from it. So many of us would have said, God should have intervened. But then when tons of people died, if millions of people had died because Joseph was not there to make the decisions that he he was able to make to save many lives, what would we have said? Then why didn't God intervene then? So sometimes we have to think about it like what where does it, where does it stop? Like, where do you want the intervention to stop? I can tell you that there's a lot of us that talk about like we want God to intervene and we want God to stop certain things, but we don't want God to stop us from acting in a way that might hurt someone else if we feel that what we're doing is in our best interest. See, God, sometimes I think that we we talk about God and we talk about his authority and we talk about his sovereignty and his rulership, but I'm gonna talk to you about like the responsibility that sometimes comes with being sovereign. Like the responsibility that God has is for all of us. Do you know that in the Bible it says that he makes the rain fall on those who are righteous and those who are not righteous? The sun shines on those who are righteous and those who are not. Meaning, by righteous and unrighteous means those who are saved and those who are not. Meaning God's favor falls on all of us. There are those people that I would tell God, I don't know, that I don't think they should get any of your favor. But God is the creator of the entire universe. He is sovereign over all, not over some. I know that oftentimes, and if you know me, if you're my friend, you would have heard me say that I often think that I am God's favorite child because he makes us all feel that way, that we are his favorites. And I talk about God like my God. Sometimes I'm uber selfish about that. Thank God for grace. And I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, you belong to everybody else too. But ooh, ooh, God is my God. But God is all of our gods. He is. I mean, what I mean by that is even those who don't accept who God is and they don't have a relationship with him, or they might be atheists and they they think, well, God doesn't even exist to them, he's still their God. Because if I believe that God is who he says he is, and I do, that he is the ruler of the universe, he is the creator of all things, he makes everything happen. That means even the atheist who wakes up every morning, who breathes, who doesn't believe that God exists, even the one who blasphemes, who says awful things about God, disrespects him, they still get God's favor every day when they wake up and they breathe. They still get God's favor because the sun is shining on them. They still get God's favor because they are alive. And I think that we sometimes forget that. I struggle. I do. I struggle when I see people suffering. I struggle, especially when I hear of children being sexually exploited, abused, assaulted. I struggle with that. But then, but God, I remember that sexual abuse is not the end. Rape is not the end. Absentee father is not the end. Being neglected is not the end. Being abandoned is not the end of your story. My pastor a long time ago said, don't put a period where God put a comma. And thank God that in my life I've stopped putting periods where God has put a comma, meaning that the awful things that happened to us are not the end of our story. God is the writer of that story. He is the author of our story. He is the one that determines what great things are gonna come from us because he's already prepared those things for us. So I, that question, why does it matter if there's a predetermined number of folks who are already saved? So why are we trying to save everybody else? Firstly, let's all uh concede to one thing we can't save nobody. Only Jesus can. But I will say that my job is not to know who God says is going to be saved and who is not. My job is just to share how good he is and to share the gospel and to live a life that glorifies him and that others might look and be attracted to that light and say, oh, you know, kind of like from Harry Met Sally, I want to have what she's having. That's my job. And I think sometimes we have to leave certain things to God. We have to leave what everything else to God and only take up the cross or the assignment that we have been given. My job is not to know the entire plan. My job is just to have a willing spirit and to be obedient. And God does the rest. The outcome is up to him, everything else is up to him. In that regard, we need to be like farmers. We need to plant the seed, we need to water it and do what it is that we're supposed to do. And then everything else that happens underneath the soil, that is God. The harvest is up to God. Our job is to plant the seed. Our job is to be that testimony. Our job is to give him all the glory. Our job is not to keep our testimonies to ourselves. Our job is not to be selfish. Our job is to love others the way that God has loved us. Our job is just simply to give God everything and let him do what only he can do. And I think sometimes we just get so bogged down with the details that we're trying to understand everything. And listen, I can't stress or emphasize this enough. In our attempts to even try to walk out our faith, we must first concede that we cannot, nor should it be our aim in life to understand God's ways and what he does and why he does it. It is not our business. Again, our job is to have a willing heart and obey, and the rest is his. I think sometimes for many of us, having, you know, some meaningful understanding of what God is doing in our lives, I need to understand that I can't do it any other way. I gotta understand what it is that God is doing. It's like a non-negotiable. If I can't understand it, I can't believe in this God. Well, that's your choice. But I'm gonna ask a rhetorical question. Are we looking really to understand what God is doing? Or is it more that we're looking to approve what God is doing? Because let's face it, even if you understood what God was doing, right? Even if you, let's say you didn't like it, let's say it involves suffering. By the way, a lot of times when we are trying to understand what God is doing, it's because it involves suffering. Because how How many of us when we're on the mountaintop, when God is like, I mean, it's like blessings are raining down on us, blessings upon blessings. How many of us are trying to stand on that mountaintop and under, God, I don't understand why I'm getting all this money. God, I don't understand why I got this promotion that I didn't deserve. God, I don't understand why all my bills are paid. None of us are trying to understand that. But when we're trying to understand what God is doing, it is oftentimes when it's a circumstance or a situation or a season that we do not like. So again, to ask, is it really that we're looking to understand what God is doing, or is it that we are looking to approve what God is doing? So let's be clear about something. Even if you understood what God was doing, whether you agreed with it or not is not going to change anything. It doesn't lessen the suffering, it doesn't shorten the process. So again, I think we often lean into this idea of understanding because we think that somehow, if I understood, then I could approve what's going on. Let's be clear about something. Our approval is not a prerequisite of testing trials or tribulations. They're not. They are certainly not a prerequisite of what God has decided to do in our lives. Period. End of discussion. That might be a little harsh, but that's exactly it. I mean, that's that's what it is. That's accepting God's authority in your life. Suffering doesn't wait for our approval before it happens to us. So, family, I just I want us to really be clear. Like when we're spending our time and spinning our wheels and you know, ruminating on, oh, I wish I understood and why, why? Let's be clear about what we're really trying to do. It's all trying to control something. At the end of the day, we have to be willing to trust God at His Word. We have to be willing to trust His character without understanding and without needing to like what He's doing or approve what He's doing, because that's faith. You know, Hebrews 11, verse 1 and 2 say, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. Think about that. It is confidence in what we hope for. I mean, that in itself is a paradox, is it not? To have confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see. I mean, y'all can't see it, but I'm scratching my head. Because how does one have confidence? So let's think about the whole concept of confidence, right? I am confident in something. It means I can be okay. I'm confident right now that I'm recording this podcast. Do you know why? Because I am sitting in front of my mic. I am seeing my track and I'm seeing the word, like the frequency that's being like that's going across the screen. I don't know the exact, you know, technical word for it. That that's how I know because I'm seeing it, right? If I'm confident about something, it's typically I had this conversation with my friend, and she was like, I'm like, she's like, well, when you're confident about something, you don't really care about other people's opinions. Yeah, that's right. If I'm confident about what I'm doing, if it's something that I'm really good at, I don't really care for people's opinions. Sometimes I can be wrong, but most of the time, hey, it is what it is. But yes, when you're confident, so confident is I know, right? Confidence is I know. I see I know. I have a deep knowledge of like it, that's what confidence is and what we hope for. Huh. And then Romans 8, verses 24 and 25 says, For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. So confidence, deep knowledge, right? And what we hope for. Paradox. And Romans is telling us who who hopes for what they already have. But faith says that I'm going to be confident in what I hope for. And it also says that I have assurance about what I do not see. That's why we are called as children of God to live by faith and not by sight. That's why. Because the way of the world, the way of the flesh, is to live by sight. Scripture even tells us that man judges the outside, but God judges the inside. That's why scripture tells us keep your eyes on things unseen and not on things that are seen. It is important that as we commit and as we take this step to do life with God, to do this, you know, this concept of everyday God for you every day, that we understand you can't do that if ultimately you don't know who God is, or better yet, you are not willing to accept who he says he is and accept his authority over your life. You know, the kingdom of God is often referred to as an upside-down kingdom. And the more I study, the more I do life with God, the more I spend time with him, I understand. It's like it really does, it's like flipping everything that we've been conditioned to believe, or the way that our natural mind works, that the kingdom of God works differently. You know, whoever wants to be first will be last. Whoever is last will be first, that we are to love our enemies, that we, in order to live, we must give up our lives, and those who hold on to their lives will lose it. So it's it's this concept of like the best way for you to see, the best way for you to see is to not see. It is to not see with your natural eyes, but to see with your spiritual eyes, to ask God to help you see in the spiritual realm. And the way to do that is to walk by faith. God in his ways are too vast for us to package or explain away. This big God, listen, he's too big. He's and and and I'm gonna say something. I could not, other people could not, we could not live and have joy and hope and all of that we have if we did not believe that our God was bigger than everything else. Because I'm telling you right now, this world as it exists is enough to make anybody throw in the towel if you don't, if you don't have God, at least for me. That's how I see it. It's important that we judge ourselves correctly within the vastness of God's kingdom. When my life gets overwhelming, it is when I attempt to take the wheel from God. It is when I'm attempting to take control, I'm attempting to understand, I'm attempting to, and again, going back to the whole concept of understanding really has everything to do with trying to control. And I think that as I as I really tried to figure out, okay, God, what do you want me to talk about on this podcast? I mean, I think I've hammered this idea or this concept of accepting your authority and your will. I don't know what else to say. And this theme of joy all throughout this week has just been at the forefront of everything. And it's been like joy. And I'm like, Lord, okay, I'm help me to connect this joy and accepting your authority. And especially considering, Lord, that I've talked about how, you know, sometimes it means accepting your authority when things are not going so great. And God said both things can be true. And so I'm gonna go back to what I said that accepting our place or judging correctly, humbly, the role we play within this story, God's story, within the universe, and being able to do so, and the ability to have joy is because we're able to live knowing that everything is in his hands. What do I mean by that? Things may not work out the way that I want them to work out, but because I go back to who does God say he is? God says that he is the Alpha, the Omega, he is the great I am, he is my heavenly father. He says that he will never leave nor forsake me. And who does he say about me that I am his beloved? God is holy, God is perfect. He cannot, because he is holy and perfect, it means that he is sinless. He doesn't have a sinful nature the way that we do. God is sinless, he is incapable of sinning, which means he is incapable of lying, which means he is incapable of hurting me, which means he is incapable of betraying me, which means he is incapable of letting me down. So when I go back to that and I cannot understand what is going on around me, or I am scared or I am anxious, I can hold on to who God is. And knowing that God is not going to betray me, He because He cannot, because He cannot betray His own character, he can't deny Himself and He is perfect, He is sinless, He is holy. So therefore, that means that I can doubt myself, I can doubt even what I see, I can doubt the enemy, I can doubt the world, I can doubt everything around me. Even if I doubt God, God Himself is bigger than my doubts because God Himself cannot let me down. God Himself cannot lose. So that's that's the accepting of God's authority in our lives. It's that I can be joyful even in moments where I experience sorrow because I know that this God, this holy God, this loving God, this gracious God has me. And that is the fork in the road for many of us. We have to make the decision of number one, who does God say he is and do you believe it? So that's what it comes down to. Who does God say he is and do you believe it? And if you do, the next step is you got to accept his authority over your life. Then once you accept his authority over your life, then hey, I mean, I'm accepting his authority over my life, which means I'm accepting his will for my life, even if it's contrary to what I want. And then it's just, I'm gonna tell you, and we'll go into that the next episode. But if we then are accepting all of these things, it's it's much easier to accept others. And because you understand who you are in the universe, you understand how flawed you are, and that all of us at the end of the day are flawed and all of us are sinful. And yes, there are awful people in the world, awful, evil people in the world, but God is bigger than them. God is bigger than them, and God has already predetermined my end. My victory is already mine because God has already done it. There's a quote that my um friend sent me by Max Lucato. It says, Your goal is not to know every detail of the future, your goal is to hold the hand of the one who does and never, ever lets go. And that's it, guys. We're not gonna understand. That's not our goal. Our aim is not to understand or to know every detail of our future or what the plan is. Our aim and our goal is just to hold on to God, hold his hand, because he's never gonna let us go, is to keep seeking him. Romans 11, 33 says, and I'm reading from the NIV Bible, oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. 49 years old, I have lived through awfulness, and I have had like I've had valley moments and I have had mountaintop moments. And my God has been, he's the God of the valley and he's the God of the mountains. I trust God, I trust him fully, and I am grateful that I can live and trust God and know that I am not responsible for other people's souls, that I'm not responsible to figure things out on my own, that God has all of that. The only thing he asked me to do is just be willing, just be willing and obedient. So even in that, I just keep seeking him. I just keep seeking his face, I just keep talking to him, I just keep looking for him and trusting that where I need to be, he will get me there. Because that's a promise he's made. And God's promises are yes and amen, meaning you can bank on them, you can count on God. So we're wrapping up the accepting of his authority and will in our lives. And so terrible things happen. We live in a fallen world. I do believe that God does intervene in many, many situations. I actually think he intervenes in all of these things. We just don't see the intervention, or maybe the intervention is not how we would want it to be. I trust that God knows better. I trust that God is working when I cannot see it, when I cannot feel it, when I don't understand it, when I don't like it, and when I don't agree. But I'm still gonna obey. I'm still going to do it because I have no one else in heaven but him. And a life without God is just not, it's a non-negotiable for me. A life without Jesus is non-negotiable for me. I'm all in and I cannot imagine anything else. It is the best thing that I could ever hope for anyone, and it has been exceedingly abundantly more than I could ever hope, ask, or imagine. So thank you for joining me on this episode and let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you for being so gracious. Thank you for being the wonderful God that you are. Thank you, Lord, for working on our behalf when we don't, when we don't see it, when we don't feel it. You are always working, you're always doing and intervening in ways that we don't understand and may not define as intervention. Father, I pray for every person listening. Lord, that you would work in their lives, that you would draw them closer to you, that Father, for those that are asking questions because they're seeking, may they encounter grace from your church. If they are seeking and just wondering, like, God, I'm still trying to reconcile this world and your good nature. Lord, I hope that this has helped. And if it hasn't, Lord, I pray that you will provide them an opportunity and another voice and someone else who will be able to listen, one who will be patient, one who will be kind and compassionate, and use the opportunity to show who you are. Father God, I pray for those who just are seeking and now are saying, Lord, I just, I just want you to intervene in my life. I need you to come in and I need you to do what only you can do. I pray for them, Lord. I pray that you would save them, Lord, that you would rescue them, that you would come into their lives, Lord, that they would know you, that they would grow ever so closely with you. Father God, I thank you for our Jesus. I thank you that He is the way, the truth, and the life. I thank you that you made a way for us to be reconciled back to you, that salvation is not something that we need to earn. Salvation is not something that we need to work for, but it has already been graciously given and that we just need to accept it. Father God, I pray for every person listening. I pray for their circumstances, I pray for their situations, I pray for their hearts, I pray for them, Lord. Lord, I thank you. I thank you for this time together. And I thank you that you're continuing to do what you need to do for us, Lord. Thank you for establishing our steps. And I thank you, Lord, that we can hold on to the promise that where we need to be, Lord, that you will get us there. It is in the holy and mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Thank you and see you guys next time.