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You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, a daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Studio.
We're here for another great conversation with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. And if you're listening for the very first time today, we want to welcome you to the Clearview Today family. Text today, T-O-D-A-Y-252-429-6069. We want to hear from you.
How is the show impacting you, your ministry, your church? Text today, T-O-D-A-Y-252-429-6069. Dr. Shah, welcome to the studio today. Man, I'm excited to be here.
It's another day, welcome. Another great continuation of the conversation surrounding who God is. Yeah. I mean, that seems like such a simple, basic question. Who is God?
Well, you know, I mean, he's the God of God. He's God. Of course, he's God. But there's so much more wrapped up in that that as we explore, as we feel like we're peeling back layers to who God is, and it just deepens our faith and it deepens our understanding of the word of God and what the Christian life truly looks like. And every Christian wants to, I genuinely think that everybody who's truly saved has a desire to get to know God.
It's just, how do I start? Yeah. Someone who is so completely different from me, where do I even begin? Yeah. Well, just know that there are things in us that reflect who God is.
And then there are things in us that cannot reflect who God is because God is other than us. And this is one of those categories where you have to go. I am not self-sufficient. Yeah. And we talked about that with our very first one with holiness.
We wanted to, this is just kind of a peek behind the screen, but we wanted to start with the ones that are different from us. Because typically people go, God is love, God is forgiven, God is caring. Because those are things that I can understand those because I have a. Yeah, I can be those things. Yeah, I can map that onto my experience.
But then we started with God is holy. And it's like, oh, wow. I'm not no, I'm not holy. God is eternal. Yeah.
But God is self-sufficient. What does that mean, Doctor Shaw?
Well, when we say God is self-sufficient, it means He does not need anything to exist. He does not need any body. He is independent. Creation tells us about it. Creation depends on him.
We depend on him. And it's because God is fundamentally Different from the creation. And, you know, we are by nature dependent beings. And that's why it's hard for us to understand. It's like, what does God need?
I mean, where did He come from?
Sorry, you you're trying to ask a question. That we understand why you're asking it because that's who you are. You came from something. He doesn't. Right.
You know, it's funny because I think as human beings, we spend a lot of our time trying to feel in control, trying to feel powerful. And then you can always make the argument: well, like, well, you still need food, you still need water, you still need oxygen and all that stuff. And yeah, that's true, but like, even something as simple as the power going out. When the power goes out. I lose all of my I'm like the world's worst.
Like, I'm not a man at that point. You just walk around lost. Like, what do I do? What do I do now? Bad days are a reminder that we are not in control.
Good days, like, if life is going great, the weather is great, things have worked out, extra money in the bank, everybody's behaving. You're like, oh, okay, I'm good. I'm good. You know what? The things, the decisions that I've made have really come back to me.
Well done, me. Thank goodness I made those decisions. Good me. And aren't you grateful I made those decisions? You're welcome, everyone.
I'm looking directly at my family. Just to let you know, yeah, you got to come back in for that. We have to check. We have to test one more test. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Well, I was having a good time. I think you've seen something. What? Yeah, in control anymore, are you? Yeah, life comes to a screeching halt in those moments.
Oh, yeah. I mean, I hate to bring that up, but that's when we realize that, wait, so I I cannot control my own health now?
So, I can eat right, I can exercise, I can do it, and then all of a sudden something happens. See, those are unfortunately the moments that we realize: oh, I'm not in control. That's right. Or family relationships when they begin to go sour for some reason, which you did not expect. All of a sudden, you're like, What?
How? What? I can fix this. And then when it's unfixable, at least in the moment, you go. Man I thought I thought I could fix that.
Yeah. No, I can't. Yeah. That's when we realize how small we are. And we all need the reminder.
once in a while. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like it, but I I think we need it. Yeah.
You definitely need it because there's times in life where, again, I think there are people on, there are people online, there are people in your life who want you to develop that sense of control, right? Like that's what the whole, like all of this is, like you said, do right, eat right, get yourself in order, improve yourself. All that stuff is great, but it's so that you feel powerful and feel like you're in control. In control, yeah. But then there's moments in life, even with something as simple as getting into a car, getting into onto a plane, where you realize, I you have to sign over your control.
I mean, a plane more so than a car. A car, you're at least behind the wheel. Maybe you're in the passenger seat, but a plane. I can't control any part of this. But even the car.
I mean, you could be driving perfectly like you're supposed to. you you came to a nice complete stop at the red light. And then the dude behind you plows into you because he's looking at Facebook. Yeah. The list of things that I'm not in control of.
Is infinitely longer than I can ask control. Yeah, you and I are not self-sufficient. That's right. And I want to address this a little bit further. Because if you are a believer, which I think many people who are listening, watching are, The fact that you think you are in control.
Or you mistakenly think you are in control, usually manifests itself. and how much time you spend in God's Word. Mm. How much time you spend in prayer. Because spending time in God's Word, spending time in prayer, Is a recognition that there is someone higher than me.
In fact, If someone infinitely higher than me, Who is in control? It's a submissive act. It's a submissive act. So how much time are you spending in prayer? How much time are you spending?
In the word of God. And I talk to ministry people right now. I mean, we can be so much in ministry and doing this and doing that, and not spending time in prayer. And we start feeling like I'm controlling my surroundings, I'm controlling my destiny, my future, everything. And then you find out very quickly either in your head or in your circumstances, That you are not in control, and that can be very unnerving.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to talk to the people? Because I think I've fallen into this trap before where that happens, and then I'm like, okay. I gotta buckle down.
I gotta get right. I've got to start doing this and becoming this. But it's still an attempt to seize control. There's no submission to say, God, I should have given this to you in the first place. It really requires a coming to grips with the fact that.
God is God and you're not. And it's by His grace He not only made you, but He sustained you and He saved you, and now He has put His Spirit in you. And that every moment that you live in this world is for him, and by him, and through him. It's it's all him. And so Mm.
when we stop praying with that kind of a dependence. It's indicative that you have become you know, even mistakenly, self-sufficient.
So it's not just checking the Bible, I prayed this morning. I've been praying. I read my Bible. Yeah, but If you did it just so you can feel like I've done that.
Now I should have control.
Okay, God?
Okay, all right. It's not like that. You're still operating in the same mindset of being self-sufficient because I've input the prayer. I've done my time reading the Bible.
So that means I get to do this. Yeah, I put the money in the slot machine. Right. Yeah, God's not a vending machine. Then, then that, let's just talk about the arcade.
Those of you who remember that, you get into these cars, these driving things. Before you put the coin in, it just like the wheel just turns like this. Moment you put the coin in, right, or two or three coins, all of a sudden the wheel sort of like locks up on you, locks up on you, and then you can feel the vibration. Uh-huh. If that's what you feel God is like, N you need to you need to wake up.
Yeah. Yeah. Because God is not a slot machine that you drop the coins and say, okay, God the steering wheel. No, it's really understanding God. I am not in control.
You are. And it's only by your grace that you have given me a mind, you've given me strength, you've given me the connection, the resources I have to do anything. But ultimately, God is you, and it's only you, all in all. And so. Like like it happened to me recently, you know, we were we were on a on a trip And two nights in a row, I mean, three o'clock in the morning, I'm wide awake.
I'm like Maybe it was a bed. I don't know. It could have been. And I'm like, my thoughts were running: I got to do this, I got to do that, this, and the other. And then I think it's the Holy Spirit.
who said, Why don't you use this time to sp to pray? And at first, I was like, oh, yeah, but I got to wake up in the morning because we have a big day planned. We're gonna go here, here, here, here, here. It's the one she's prey. Pray.
And so I began praying. Start start praying for me and Nicole. Then for our children, each of them, and their their spouses, the ones who are married, And then for each of our people in the team, by name, by family, by children. And then that and and I was sort of going in and out of sleep. But I began to pray for our leadership at Clearview.
I began to pray for our church body. I began to pray for. our impact in the community, our impact in the academic world. Through Truth Network, through Pray.com, some of those people who Who have greatly helped us and enabled us to do what we're doing today. That's right.
I began to pray for them. And it was not just a prayer like a checklist. God, would you bless them? And the thank you, Lord. Thank you.
I don't like those thank you prayers, by the way. What are you thanking God for? Right. I was like, okay. What what what do you want?
Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. I'm ready to bless you. Do you have anything you want to ask?
I'm asking what you want. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay.
Okay.
There's a lot of Christians listening to the radio like, what? I'm not supposed to thank God. You're not supposed to thank God. Thank him once, but then get to the point. That's right.
Ask him for what you want. If you want God to bless that person or that son, that daughter, or resolve that. That Conflict? or heal that Body Or or Save that soul. Let's get to the point.
Yeah. The reason we say that, if you haven't listened to previous episodes of the show, is because a lot of times when we thank God, we don't really mean it. We're not thinking. We just think that's how we're spiller. It's just a template prayer that you've memorized.
You think that's how you decide it. Yeah, you think that's how you post to open a prayer.
So that's what we do. And so you end up thanking God without even really meaning it. And just in the end, we just tack on a bless everybody. There you go. No, that's not.
So I spend a lot, I mean, an hour, hour and a half, both nights. and just praying and kind of in and out of sleep. But every time I would wake up, I would just go back to praying. And it was amazing. I was going to the next person on the list and I had slept for twenty minutes in between.
And then sort of by five, five thirty, I kind of fell asleep. But I I say all that to say It it It helped me get things back in perspective. Yeah. That illustration you gave of God being the like car in the arcade, I think resonated with me because I have definitely treated God like that. Where it's like, I'm going to really pray and start reading my Bible because there's a big project I need God to see me through.
Yeah. So I'm putting, and you know, you don't intend it maliciously, but that's what you're doing. You're putting the coin in and you're saying, all right, just get me. I know this ride's only going to last a few minutes, but get me through to the end. Let me come in first place and then we'll go back to our normal until I need to put the coin in again.
I have certainly fallen into that practice and that line of thinking too. And it makes me, it makes me much more sympathetic to the Israelites, to God's people in the Old Testament, because that's every pagan religion ever. Like you input the sacrifice and you get something from the God. You adhere to the tenets of whatever religion it is, and the deity will bless you. It's input-output religious thinking.
And our God doesn't work that way. He's our heavenly Father who loves us and wants to bless us, but it's not like a transactional thing. Because you dress it up as submission, but it's not submission. All right, God, you're the boss. You're the boss.
I get it. If you're being honest, just keep me honest. Yeah, yeah. If you're being honest, I mean, because you're no, you're fine. If you're being honest, what you're really after is like, God, I want this thing, so I'm going to give you my obedience.
Yeah, people do that. People will do that in your life, especially if you're in leadership. They'll be like, you're the boss. You're the grand poo-pa. I need this from you.
So I'll say whatever it takes to get you to give me this thing because that's the result is what I'm after. And we're lying to ourselves if we think we don't do that to God. It's pride. It's a relationship. That's right.
It's a relationship, and not just a relationship like we're buds or like we're family, but a relationship where you understand. That this person is the source of my existence. This person genuinely cares for me, cares for me enough to give his son to die on the cross for me. This person has a plan for my life. This person wants to actively help me.
And prayer is the way to do that. You know, if you don't spend time in that kind of a genuine prayer, Then it's because you have become self-sufficient, or you are checking the box so that you can be self-sufficient, and both of those things are wrong. Yeah, and you need to rectify that. Is it fair to say that people who kind of fall into this false sense of self-sufficiency, is there a pride issue here, pride, or like thinking that I control things, I'm the one who's captaining the ship, I manifest my own destiny? Is that a pride issue, or is there something deeper going on?
Because I bet you a lot of people who don't read the Bible will argue that and they'll be like, Well, no, no, no, no, I'm just busy, I want to read, I'm not proud, I'm just. I'm just super busy. Yeah, because we Bottom line, we don't trust God. Yeah. We don't trust God.
We we we feel like, Yeah, you made me and you gave your son for me. But right now, the way things are going, I gotta take charge of business here. I gotta take care of business because I don't think I don't think you're coming through. That's right. But I don't want to make you mad either.
Yeah, there it is. You do your thing up in the cosmos, and I'll handle the stuff going on. I will not be rude to you because I know you can strike me dead. But at the same time, I need to do what I need to do. There's so many Christians tuning in right now.
They're like, this dude is reading my mind. There's somewhere in the Bible that God says God helps those who help themselves. Yeah. He doesn't know. That's not in the Bible.
Somebody's listening to this and like, my toes. They're stepping on the bottom. They're going to Google again. They're going to Google. All over my toes.
You're lucky to see the Bible. Yeah, you're lucky we don't have access to your Google search history because I know for a fact y'all are Google.
Someone's looking that up right now. Oh, go on. It's really not there. 1 Corinthians 8, 2. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
There you go. Memorize that verse. Let that be your memory verse for this week. No, I think what we're saying here, and I hope people really get the heart of this. We're laughing, but because we make the same mistake made that same mistake of thinking.
That I just need to get things done. And then. When we get disillusioned. When fear comes in, when doubts come in, when hopelessness comes in, when. you know, our thoughts begin to take over.
And it's nothing but chaos. That's when we go, oh my goodness, we have a choice. Either we can allow those thoughts to take us over a cliff Or we can turn to God and cry out, like Peter, as he was sinking, Lord, save me. And prayer is that way of saying God. Only you can pull me out of these waves and help me to walk on the waves.
That's right. You know, that's a powerful. Powerful, I guess, illustration of how we should be. Because when Peter was on the waves, he was not in control, right? But looking down, he began to sink.
That's a great illustration, I think, for people, especially people who are being successful. I mean, imagine the bragging rights Peter could have had. Like, I walked on water. The only guy who stepped out. The only human being other than Jesus Christ, but the only non-divine human being in history to walk on water.
But you're right. He has zero control over it. And I think so also with us. Like, we've said this already, but we fool ourselves into thinking our accomplishments are some great thing. That we can take credit for.
The very fact that you can do the things that you do, the very fact that you have the abilities and the knowledge that you've accumulated and the breath in your lungs to be able to accomplish what you do, that's all God. Yeah. You know, some of our listeners and viewers are probably wondering: what does it have to do with getting to know God? True. What we're doing over here is helping you and helping us Remember that we're not God.
were not self-sufficient. Only God is. And so the cure other than Turning to God in prayer is having a correct And a biblical understanding of who God is.
So Let's get back to this for a moment. There are two kinds of attributes. When it comes to studying the nature of God, two kinds. One is known as the incommunicable attribute. This one are those that God does not share or communicate with us and then communicable, which is the ones he does share with us.
Okay.
God is the only one who is self sufficient. Who does not need anybody who is independent?
Okay.
Acts chapter seventeen talks about that. Paul At Areopagus, he said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing Him I proclaim to you. God who made the world and everything in it. Since He is the Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything.
Since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. God? Doesn't need anything. We need God. Of course we need other things.
But bottom line, we need God. That's right. But God Himself does not need anything. Creation declares that. All things were created through him and for him.
Creation depends on God.
Okay.
God is fundamentally different from his creation. The Trinity is perfect. Fellowship Love communication. It's perfect. Yeah.
But we are dependent. If there's someone bigger than You?
Okay.
then you're dependent. God is the one bigger than us. And so. Well, we are by nature dependent beings. God is not.
So, I just want us to not forget why we're discussing all this about sufficiency and insufficiency, because we're trying to tell you. When it comes to communicable incommunicable attributes. God is sufficient is incommunicable.
Okay.
We cannot. Take that attribute. I was going to ask a clarifying question, but you just answered it. The incommunicable, the ones that God does not share with us. I was going to ask, like the ones that we have in common or the ones share with us like He reveals to us.
Right. Shares with us. Like holiness. In a sense, it is communicable because he wants us to be holy. Right.
Be holy as I'm holy. As I'm holy. Loving, yes. we can be loving to our children. All right.
And then there are other attributes as well that we can see. But then there are things like sufficiency. You will never be sufficient, self-sufficient. Yeah, he does not want us to be eternal. He does not want us to be immortal.
We cannot. We cannot be. Justice? Yes, communicable. He's a just God.
He wants us to be just. But Sufficiency? How can you be sufficient? We always say that, you know, I'm self-sufficient, I just want to be self-sufficient. Sell sufficient.
Maybe you're talking about Maybe you need to clarify. Yeah. Try to be a little more specific. Self-sufficient in what? Having a little retirement money?
Self-sufficient means having enough food in your pantry for a couple of months. What do you mean by self-sufficient? Because ultimately, you and I are not self-sufficient, we are dependent beings.
Okay, we are dependent. You are dependent. Yeah. We are by nature dependent beings.
So now that we've drawn this divide between God and us, you know, how do we how do we bring that back down to us? Because this is still a self-sufficient being, and yet he cares for us, right?
So, number one, remember that. Just because we are dependent does not mean that we are meaningless. Hmm, that's a good clarification. Right? He cares about us.
We have meaning, we have purpose. Of course, it's derived. But It is there, right? Yeah. Means I'm not just this this particle hovering around this energy source that is God.
That I don't matter, and you don't matter, and none of us matter.
Sometimes even Christians say dumb things. Yeah. And they will say things like that: like, man, none of us matter, none of us. No, He made you special. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Each of us is a unique person made in the image of God for a for a div divine purpose. Ultimately, of course, to come to Christ, but also then to live for Him. Because that's another point here about self-sufficiency. It does not mean that we are purposeless, He delights in us. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I 100% have heard Christians use language like that.
Like, if you and I never existed, God wouldn't have lost anything. God would be perfect. And yes, of course, that's true. God doesn't need us. Right?
We're talking about him being self-sufficient, but God does delight in us. Absolutely. We are his beloved children. I mean, let's not say things the Bible doesn't say. Or ignore things the Bible does.
He says that we're fearfully and wonderfully made. Yeah, I think about all the people who do this in an effort to, I guess, appear humble or to appear like, you know, we're just putting God on the pedestal where he belongs. That's great, but he also doesn't need us to do that. He doesn't need us to. To lower ourselves, like you said, lower than what the Bible actually says about us.
Let's just go back to thinking about. Like a football game, right? It's time to kick the goal, field goal. And you're like, man, kicking the goal.
Okay, I'm here, 20-yard line or whatever. I'm just gonna kick it. Like crazy. Because it's a goal. Might might as well kick it as hard.
and you kick it like super hard, but it goes in the wrong direction. But it's not a field goal. You just lost points. That's right. So, also here.
Yes, God is sufficient. You're not. You are dependent on God, but that does not make you meaningless and purposeless. One of the things that you said a long time ago, you've said it on the show before, but it really helped me after I had kids: imagine saying the things that you say to God. Imagine your kids saying that to you.
Yeah. Like if my son, if any one of my sons came up to me and was like, I just want you to know that without. You? I'm nothing. And I understand that.
I know that I'm worthless. You're the one who's worthy, not me. I'm nothing. And I understand that. That would break my heart.
Talk about yourself that way. If my kids said that to me, that would break my heart. But we say that to God, and we think God wants to hear it. And we, who are sinful human fathers, I mean, if it if it breaks our heart for our kids to say that. I mean, how much more does God perfectly love us and want us to walk in the truth that He's created us for?
Yeah, absolutely. I think that has been a great marker for me to stop saying a lot of the silly things that I say about God because I think He wants to hear it. Because, Dr. Shaw, we started this whole series off. With the proposition that how you act reveals what you think about God and vice versa.
So, what do I think about God?
Well, I think he's a tyrant in the clouds who has to be pacified. That's what people do, and we don't say that. But that's how we treat him. And then in his eyes, I don't matter. That's how we treat him.
But if you believe that way, that you are just a number to be forgotten, die and be forgotten, live for God, and then die and be forgotten, you have some religion, but it's not biblical faith. This is not the Judeo-Christian faith. This is not coming from the Bible. This is something completely. Foreign because when you read the Bible, He delights in that person.
He delights in each and every one of us. That's right. Dr. Shaw, God is self-sufficient. We are not.
What does that mean for our listeners and our viewers today who are Clocking into work, or who are finishing that online exam, or who are doing another load of laundry to try to maintain the housework. What does that mean for them today? I would say: remember to look to God, to lean upon Him. Being single. You know, knowing that God is sufficient, you're not, and you depend on Him is not just some obligation.
This is a privilege. to lean upon him, to draw your strength from him, to draw your peace from him, to draw your vision, your focus from him, is something that we have the privilege of having.
So look at it that way. It's like, man, I get to I have a I have a big issue here, or I have this tangled web here, or I have this confusion, or this doubt, or this fear here. I can play with it, struggle with it, be buried under it. Or I can just turn to Jesus. I can call upon my Heavenly Father and ask Him to help.
And he will untangle this, or he will turn it into a beautiful sweater. I don't know. Or he will fix this problem in a way that I didn't even imagine and take us to another height. I just have to submit to him and trust him and call upon him to help. It's crazy how it comes full circle because there's a peace that comes in when you accept that you're not in control.
Yeah. And you begin to see results. And you begin to see results. That's the most amazing thing. This is not just prayer so that I can say, hey, yes, I have a deep relationship with God and a deep faith in God, brother.
I tell you what, as I'm going through the fire, here's what happens. Many situations you see the fires being quenched, yeah, and something beautiful begins to start growing, and you go, Wait, how did that happen?
Well, didn't you pray? That's right. Okay, it happened. Amen. You'll start seeing results.
That's right. That's a beautiful reminder for us. Lean on God, pray, and watch what God will do. That's right. And it can happen to you.
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