Stories: Seeing God's Hand In It All

Many times we find that faith is trusting god before we can even interpret the circumstances. But I want you guys to hear this. Christianity is not faith in a perfect storyline. It is faith in a perfect savior. So remember this, the season you would erase, god will redeem. This the failure that you regret, god will restore. And the waiting that you resent, god's gonna use it. You may not see his hand clearly right now. That is that is difficult. You may not see it right now, but scripture tells us that his hand has never left you. His hand has never left your story at any point in time. [01:01:08] (46 seconds)  #TrustBeforeClarity

As believers, we find ourselves believing that once we get our act together, once we are good and we got all of our stuff intact, then we can grow closer to God. But what we hear from the gospel is the opposite. What we hear from the gospel is that mercy meets us in weakness, not after it. The mindset that scripture challenged us to have is this. When weakness shows up in our life, mercy makes itself known to us. When burdens weigh heavy on our hearts and our shoulders, mercy then lifts it off. And when we feel unsettled or insecure in our lives, mercy is there to hold us close like a father. [00:50:06] (46 seconds)  #MercyMeetsWeakness

Some questions we tend to ask as as we look at ourselves is especially things that we're going through is like, why did this happen? We have that victim mindset that can really, really bring us down and really take us away from God. We may also say, where was God in that season? Or we can say, why does my story feel unfinished, or why does it feel confusing? But what we fail to realize is that scripture does not promise us a simple story. It promises us a sovereign author. [00:40:20] (31 seconds)  #SovereignAuthor

Jesus commands us just to come to him. He doesn't say, hey, I see what you're doing. Can we can we take care of this first and then come over and I got some stuff to tell you? No. No. No. He says, I see you in what you're in now, Whether you are actively in sin or whether you are just enduring trials and suffering right now, he goes, no. No. No. I don't want this to be gone first. I want it now. I want you now. He commands us. He never tells us to come whole or fixed. [00:48:22] (27 seconds)  #ComeAsYouAre

Our story is a part of that cosmic redemption story, and nowhere do we see this clearly displayed more than anything than the cross itself because the the cross proves that god redeems every story, every single one. The cross at the face value when we just look at it, when we just see what the imagery of the cross is, we see injustice. We see failure. We see silence. We see defeat. But, guys, Jesus was able to take something that is so brutal and so heartbreaking and just absolutely devastating, and he was able to take it and form it into redemption. [00:56:47] (43 seconds)  #CrossRedeemsAll

Because like I said, your story is not the center. Your story is not ultimate. Christ is, and that's the beauty of it all. Because in this, if God is present in our broken chapters, if cross if Christ invites us to come as we are today, if every season is formation, if our story finds meaning inside Christ's greater story, and if the cross proves that God can redeem the most devastating scene and what looks like defeat if he can redeem it, that simply means this. Every single one of our stories has hope. Can't lose sight of that. Every single one of us has hope in our story. [00:58:12] (50 seconds)  #HopeInChristStory

The passage never says in there, everything is good. What it does say is that God works all things towards his redemptive purpose and his will alone. You're not being punished in the season that you're in. I want you guys to know that. The season you're in is not a punishment. Instead, you are being formed. We don't wanna feel crushed by the weight that's on our shoulders. Instead, we wanna look to God because you're being shaped in his perfect image. [00:53:10] (32 seconds)  #FormedNotPunished

For us to believe that god is present at all times, we have to trust in him. And we hear that a lot in church. We hear, yeah, trust in God. Yeah. Just trust in God. Look to God. Trust in God. And there is truth in that. Don't get me wrong. There is truth in that, and we need to. But sometimes we we don't take it at full value of what trusting God is. Trusting God is not just optimism about circumstances. Trusting God is a settled confidence in the character of God when circumstances still remain unclear. [00:41:50] (29 seconds)  #TrustHisCharacter