Don't Waste Your Distress: Face It and Trust Christ

Sep 06, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When the Pipe Bursts: Distress as an Invitation

A cracked pipe floods the room – hot water scalding, control slipping. Distress exposes our limits, that moment when clenched fists prove powerless. Like Martha grieving Lazarus, raw honesty becomes sacred ground. This inner alarm reminds us we’re human, designed to need more than our own strength. Let the gushing waters point you beyond quick fixes to the One who holds the flood. [27:20]

“I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way.”
(Psalm 142:1-3, NIV)

Reflection: Where is life “gushing” beyond your control this week? How might your frustration become an honest prayer instead of a hidden battle?

Day 2: “If You Had Been Here”: Grief with Fingertips on His Chest

Martha meets Jesus dusty from the road, her accusation raw: “You could’ve stopped this.” Her fingers might’ve brushed his tunic as she named her ache. Distress doesn’t sanitize language – it demands the guts to say “This hurts” while still standing in His presence. God invites our unfiltered anger, our why’s, our hot tears. A broken pipe or a broken heart – both are safe in hands that bore nails. [34:05]

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
(John 11:21-22, NIV)

Reflection: What raw emotion have you been editing before God? How would voicing it – even shouting it – shift your posture toward Him today?

Day 3: The Wrench Still in Your Hand: When Fixing Fails

The channel locks felt right – until they made things worse. Distress tempts us to frantic action: another self-help book, another budget spreadsheet, another tense conversation. Martha could’ve busied herself with burial spices, but she kept returning to Jesus. What broken tool are you white-knuckling? The pause to say “I can’t” becomes the space where resurrection whispers. [30:28]

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’”
(John 11:25-26, NIV)

Reflection: What practical solution have you over-relied on? How might releasing it (even briefly) open you to Christ’s “I AM” in this struggle?

Day 4: Blisters from Holding On: When Surrender Scorches

The scalding pipe couldn’t be held forever – sometimes faith means unclenching. Martha’s confession “I believe” came while death’s stench still hung in the air. Distress trains us to trust the Person more than the outcome. Like a child releasing a splinter to a parent’s tweezers, we learn: healing often hurts before it helps. What’s blistering your soul by clinging? [53:22]

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
(John 11:27, NIV)

Reflection: What situation have you been gripping like a hot pipe? What would it look like to open your hands – even slightly – toward Christ today?

Day 5: Comfort’s Quiet Idolatry: Choosing Dependence Daily

Insulation from pain often insulates us from God. The pastor’s warning lingers: a padded life risks worshipping convenience. Martha’s crisis forced her to the road to meet Jesus – but we needn’t wait for disaster. Small obediences (forgiveness, generosity, hard conversations) keep our dependence muscles strong. Distress will come. Will you recognize the Guide because you’ve walked with Him in calmer valleys? [56:05]

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV)

Reflection: Where does your daily routine insulate you from needing God? What one “unnecessary” act of faith could you take this week to stay limber in dependence?

Sermon Summary

Distress is what happens inside when life brings something too big to fix, control, or change. Stress presses in from the outside, but distress exposes the inner turmoil that says, “This is out of my control.” The broken pipe and gushing hot water picture that helpless feeling: hands trying to hold back what cannot be held back, with no easy fix in sight.

Martha stands in that kind of distress in John 11. Martha’s brother Lazarus is dying, Jesus is called, Jesus delays, and Lazarus dies before Jesus arrives. Martha does not hide in the house or act like everything is fine. Martha goes straight to Jesus with honest grief and disappointment: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Distress often gets numbed instead of faced. Chemical escape, constant noise, binge watching, overworking, hobbies, and denial can all become ways to avoid the pain that is saying something important. Pain is not proof of weakness. Pain is evidence of humanity. Human beings bear God’s image, are loved by God, and were never designed to be self-sufficient.

Distress works like an internal alarm system. God can use that alarm to show that help is needed outside of self. Martha faces her grief honestly, and Martha also keeps bringing it to Jesus. Her words hold a real tension: “If you had been here,” and yet, “even now.” Disappointment does not make Martha walk away. Confusion about God’s timing does not stop Martha from asking.

Jesus does not merely give Martha an answer about the future resurrection. Jesus gives Martha himself: “I am the resurrection and the life.” Delays can feel like denials, but Christ may be doing a deeper work than simply removing the trouble. God sometimes does heart surgery before God works through a person, because God first intends to work in that person.

Faith does not mean understanding everything God is doing. Faith means trusting who God is when his ways do not make sense. Jesus does not always remove distress immediately, but Jesus gives himself in the middle of it. Letting go of what cannot be controlled and running to Jesus becomes the posture of faith.

Comfort can also become an idol when life is arranged to avoid every need for dependence on God. Seasons of peace can become places to step into costly obedience, difficult conversations, generosity, service, and faith-filled risks. The goal is not a life with no distress. The goal is becoming a person who knows where to go when distress comes.

Key Takeaways

1. Face distress without pretending everything is fine. Martha does not bury her disappointment under polite religious words. Her honesty before Jesus shows that grief, anger, and confusion can be brought into God’s presence rather than managed in isolation. Distress becomes spiritually useful when it is named instead of numbed. [34:05]
2. Keep bringing the hard thing to Jesus. Martha’s “even now” keeps a small but real door open in the middle of loss. Persistent prayer is not a way to control God or force a certain outcome. Persistent prayer grows dependence on God when circumstances remain painfully unresolved. [42:30]
3. Trust Christ when answers stay unclear. Jesus answers Martha’s crisis by revealing himself as the resurrection and the life. Faith rests not in having the whole picture, but in knowing the character of the One who holds it. God’s delays may become an invitation to deeper intimacy rather than proof of divine absence. [45:56]
4. Let go and run to Jesus. The broken pipe shows the exhaustion of trying to hold back what cannot be controlled. Faith opens clenched hands and stops treating personal effort as the final answer. Christ meets people not after they master the crisis, but as they bring their helplessness to him. [53:22]
5. Do not make comfort the highest value. Peaceful seasons can quietly train self-reliance when comfort becomes the main goal. Obedience that costs time, money, convenience, or reputation teaches the heart to depend on God before a crisis arrives. Spiritual strength grows through deliberate faithfulness, not by always playing it safe.

## [60:36]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[24:51] - What Distress Feels Like
[25:49] - The Broken Pipe Story
[28:51] - Where Distress Comes From
[30:28] - Don’t Waste Your Distress
[31:12] - Martha Meets Jesus
[33:37] - Face Distress Honestly
[39:53] - Keep Bringing It to God
[45:10] - I Am the Resurrection and Life
[48:45] - Trust Christ in the Middle
[53:22] - Let Go and Run to Jesus
[54:24] - Choose Dependence Before Crisis
[58:49] - What Distress Reveals
[60:36] - Don’t Make Comfort an Idol
[61:07] - Knowing Where to Go

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

John 11:17–27
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” [32:25]

Psalm 142:2
I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. [39:28]

James 4:14
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Observation questions

What two statements does Martha make to Jesus in John 11:21–22, and what tension do those statements reveal?
What does Martha say she believes about Jesus after He says, “I am the resurrection and the life”? [50:05]
What are some specific ways people try to avoid or numb distress instead of facing it honestly? [35:07]
How is distress compared to an internal alarm system, and what does that alarm reveal people need? [38:27]

Interpretation questions

Martha tells Jesus, “If you had been here,” but she also says, “even now.” How can both disappointment with God’s timing and continued trust in God exist in the same person? [41:21]
Jesus does not first explain why He delayed; He reveals that He is “the resurrection and the life.” Why is knowing who Jesus is more important than receiving an immediate explanation for suffering? [45:10]
Psalm 142:2 speaks about pouring out a complaint before God. What makes honest complaint different from turning away from God or refusing to trust Him?
If a person keeps praying for a situation that does not change, how can that prayer grow dependence on God without becoming an attempt to control God? [44:23]

Application questions

What is one distressing situation in your life that you may be trying to manage, hide, or numb rather than honestly bring before God? What would it look like to name it plainly in prayer this week? [39:05]
When you feel disappointed by God’s timing, do you tend to keep talking to Him or quietly pull away from Him? What might an honest “even now” prayer sound like for your situation? [42:30]
Is there something you are holding onto tightly because you feel responsible to fix or control it? What could “letting go and running to Jesus” look like in one practical step? [53:47]
What does your distress tend to reveal about you—fear, anger, a desire for control, trust in money, or something else? How can that revelation lead you toward Christ instead of shame? [58:49]
Is there a habit of escape—constant noise, overworking, entertainment, substances, isolation, or something else—that makes it harder to face what is happening inside? What is one healthier response you could practice when distress rises? [35:40]
If life feels relatively peaceful right now, where might comfort be keeping you from dependence on God? Is there a difficult conversation, act of generosity, place of service, or faith-filled step of obedience God may be inviting you into? [56:23]
Jesus does not always remove distress immediately, but He gives Himself in the middle of it. What would it look like this week to seek Jesus Himself, not only the change you want in your circumstances? [52:18]

Sermon Clips

59s

#LetDistressReveal

“Regardless where it comes from, there's inner turmoil. There's things in us at different times, and, we all encounter those types of things. And so, when distress happens, this is what I want to talk to you about today. When distress is happening in you, we have a choice. We can waste our distress or we can let our distress show us something. So here's our main point. This is the thing I want you to take with you, when we get done here in a few minutes and and you head home, when you head into your Labor Day tomorrow and then the work week after that, I want you to take this with you and it's this. Don't waste your distress. Let it reveal who you are and what you need. Don't waste it. Let it show you something. Let it reveal to you something important.”

49s

#TrustWhenYouDontUnderstand

“And what we learned is that faith does not mean I understand everything that God is doing, because a lot of times we don't know what God is doing. If you've been in faith for a while, you you recognize that. Maybe if you're new, you wouldn't. But it doesn't mean I understand everything God is doing. Faith means I trust who God is when I don't understand what he's doing. I'm gonna trust him. I'm like, oh. And I've had some things even this week happen in the life of the church. I'm like, what is this about? You know, what is that about? And I don't know. I don't know. But I trust God. I trust that he's gonna show me. He's gonna guide me and give me the wisdom to do the things that I need to do. So the point is that is not that trusting Jesus necessarily removes the distress. Oh, if I just trust Jesus, then I won't have distress.”

52s

#DelaysNotDenials

“So sometimes when we feel unheard or unanswered, Jesus is actually doing something deeper than that issue or that problem that we have. He's he's doing something more important. He's revealing who he is. He's he's giving us a glimpse of his glory, of his greatness. Okay? So what if the delays of God are not denials? What if he's not denying you? He's delaying because he's he's doing something else. It's an invitation to intimacy. What if it's that? What if this path you're on in your distress isn't it's an invitation to intimacy? What if Jesus cares more about shaping our faith in the middle of the trial than simply removing the trouble?”

60s

#GodWithUsInDistress

“She's actually in the middle of the distress. Her brother has died, and she is dealing with that, and there's grief with that. Okay? Now later, he does get risen by Jesus, so that's cool. But in the middle of this right here, that has not happened, and so that is still here. So it's not that Jesus always removes every bit of distress that we have, but here's what he does do. He doesn't always remove the distress, but he gives himself to us in the distress. He's there with us in the distress. We have a resource. We have the tools, if you will, to overcome what we're facing. Okay? So sometimes the deepest work God does in our distress is not changing our circumstances. It's changing us. It's changing who we are. It's helping us understand who we are and that we need Jesus in our lives. So,”

34s

#DontMakeComfortAnIdol

“And if you're not in distress right now, don't waste your season of peace. You're in a season of peace. That's great. That's a wonderful thing. Don't make comfort your highest value. That's idolatry, actually. That is if comfort is your highest thing, that is idol worship. Don't now enjoy time like tomorrow. We'll have some time down. I'm sure a few people here will it's okay, but don't make that your highest value. Look for places where God is inviting you to trust him.”

24s

#OpenHandsTrustJesus

“You can invite him into his in your life. You don't have to understand everything he's doing, but you can trust who he is. You can decide to say, you know what? I'm one point of view here, and it's an important one, but I need another point of view, and it's you, Jesus. I'm trusting your point of view on these things. And you open up your hands. So don't waste your distress.”

36s

#DistressIsYourAlarm

“And so think of that distress. It's like an internal alarm system. Like in your house, if there's smoke in the house, what happens? Beep beep. Or sometimes it beeps when the batteries are bad. Isn't that annoying? But when they're smoking your house, it's like beep beep. It's like, we gotta get out of the house. There's this fire or something like that. We need to move. And this is an internal it's saying, you can't do this. God put it there. He designed it there. He's trying to help you to realize you need help outside of yourself.”

39s

#ReceiveChristNow

“And here, brother, pastor Jim and I and pastor Brian and the other leaders in this church, Heather, we're all convinced of this. We all believe this. You need Christ. You absolutely need Christ. You cannot face the difficulties in this world on your own. You need the one who says, I am the resurrection and the life. And you can do that. You can receive that right now, right where you're at. You can just, in your own mind, like, look up to the Lord and say, Lord, I admit I'm in distress. I need you, and I receive you. Come into my life.”

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