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Now let's jump in. If you're listening to this right now, chances are you struggle with fear, anxiety, stress, worry. But the good news is there's an antidote, and it's God's sovereignty. God's in control, and here's what that means for you coming up right now on the Clear Vee Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.
Abadan Shah, the 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 got a great conversation on the books for you guys today right here with our host, Dr.
Abadan Shah. Dr. Shah, welcome. It's good to see you. It's good to see you too.
And if good to see you guys as well, it's good for you to be listening to us and we want to hear from you. Text today, T-O-D-A-Y to 252-429-6069. It's going to get you into our text family, our Abadan Shah family, and it's going to help us to keep you up to date with all the things that God is doing through our ministry and in your ministry as well. That's right. You know, with so many things going on in the world, Dr.
Shah, I think it was a wise philosopher, a Mr. Randy Newman, who said, you got problems. I got them too. But there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. We stick together.
We can see it through. Because you got a friend in me. No, but seriously, like this problem, a lot of times I think Christians, and maybe you can talk about this from a pastoral or a counselor standpoint. Yeah. People got problems.
They got stressed, they're worried, and you tell them something like God's in control. And instead of calming them down, it just stresses them out more. But you know, it's very simple. You can hire somebody to do that. And if you have struggled like that, Pastor did that, he was struggling with worry, stress, anxiety, you name it.
I mean, he was just fed up with it. And he said, Okay, I'm just going to hire somebody. And so he hired somebody. And the next day, you know, one of his other pastor friends saw him and said, Man, you look so relieved. You look like you don't have a care in the world.
He said, How did you do that? He said, Very simple. I hired somebody. He said, Hired somebody to do all your care and worry for you. He said, Absolutely.
So, man, how much do you pay them? $50,000 a day. Holy moly! I think I would take that. $50,000 a day.
He said, Well, you don't have that kind of money.
So that's his worry. Yeah. I don't have to care about that. Oh, I can owe you to. Yeah, collecting it is going to be his problem.
Man, if only it was that easy. If only. But it's not. I mean, all of us have different worries. All of us have different cares and anxiety that plague us.
And there's ebbs and flows too. Like there are some seasons where we're a little more anxious than others based on what's going on in life. But the point is, we all, no matter where you find yourself, we all deal with this. The anecdote to worry and we're going to d discuss this today's topic Is the sovereignty of God.
Now, sometimes people apply the sovereignty of God in areas. Related to doctrine that really don't apply, but then there is a legitimate place for the sovereignty of God. you know, undiminished. Unabated, strongly we have to believe in the sovereignty of God, that everything that happens comes about because either God directly causes it. Or he consciously allows it.
It's so funny. And when I say funny, it's really kind of sad, but it's funny on the same hand how there are Christians maybe listening to this show right now. would rather rely on some journal. or some fidget cube. or some meditation app.
To handle their worry and their stress. And when you tell them that God is sovereign, you don't have to worry. It doesn't change their thought one item. They will shell out money for all of that other junk. Absolutely.
And it's a shame because it's a simple doctrine. It goes all the way back to the oldest book in the Bible, which is the book of Job. Of course, the oldest narrative would be Genesis. But the oldest book written is Job. At least that's what most scholars believe.
And in Job chapter 42, verse 1, Job answers the Lord and he says this. He says, I know that you can do everything. I think that's more about the Omnipotence of God. But then the second line is about the sovereignty of God. He says, and that no purpose of yours No purpose of yours can be withheld from you.
So Because Job truly believed that, Everything that was happening to him was because Ultimately, God was in control.
So it was not that Satan was sovereign, but God was sovereign in his life. Yeah. And it's funny because there are people in this world today who can't stand the fact that someone else is sovereign over them, even if it's God. Do you think that's a Western problem? Do you think that's just a human problem?
It's a human problem. Absolutely a human problem. East, west, north, south, there are people who cannot come to grips with that fact that God is sovereign. People deal with their anxieties and their worries in a variety of ways, but it often feels like Acknowledging that God is sovereign makes us uncomfortable because we have to relinquish control. We've got to hand over the steering wheel.
We've got to hand over the reins to someone else. And we are. I say comfortable, we're really not, but we feel like we're most comfortable when we're the ones in the driveway. We're reluctant to let anybody else. Hold the reins of our lives.
Well, we know God is sovereign, right? We know it, but it's there's a detachment. Like, he's sovereign over there, though. Like, he's sovereign in everybody else's life, or he's sovereign in big things, he's sovereign in the maintaining of the galaxies and the solar systems, and he doesn't, he doesn't care, or you know, he's too big to deal with the minor things in my life. Right.
I think we relegate God's sovereignty to just make sure he gets the credit at the end of the day. I'm going to work for this promotion, I'm going to work for this project, I'm going to get it. Hey, to God be the glory. Thank you for that one, big guy. And that's about as much as deep as God's sovereignty goes.
But how do we really, as Christians, need to think about his sovereignty in our lives? Romans 11:36 reminds us. For of him and through him And to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen. And I think that sums up In one line, what sovereignty of God really means.
Of Him means He's coming from Him, through Him means He's coming because of Him. And through his power, through his wisdom, through his control over the world, and to him are all things, means they're all coming back to him.
So they're not just going out of him like a centrifugal force, but it's also a centripetal force where it's coming back to him. You know, that's like the objects are moving towards the center, that's centripetal. Centrifugal is objects moving away from the center. God is both the centripetal and centrifugal. Force, I guess you can say, but he's much more than force.
Right. Yeah. He's a person. Yeah. You know, we think about God's sovereignty, and like you said, Ryan, and the big things and like the maintaining of the universe.
But for someone who's listening to this today and they're stressed out, they've got something going on, so like this one thing that they're trying to get off their mind, and you tell them that God is sovereign. It's a theological truth, but it's not real to me in my day-to-day life. How do you encourage a person like that?
Well, just look at what's happening in your life, everything. Is under God's control.
Now, God is not a puppet master. He doesn't pull the strings of our lives. We do have. The free will to make decisions. We make choices every day.
But. In the overall picture, you have to remember that our decisions Okay, God is involved in them. Our day to day decisions in theology is called antimony. Antinomy is like parallel truths that run side by side and do not appear to cross each other.
So antinomy like If I get to choose, then how much is God in control? And if He's really in control, why do I need to choose? You know, we think like that. But these are parallel truths that run side by side. They don't have to collide against each other.
They're they're like Two tracks of on of a railroad, they they work perfectly well and the train moves forward.
So God is completely sovereign, yet you have a choice.
So God knows where he is going. He has many different ways to get there. You can either join him or get in the way or get run over. He will accomplish his will through you. or around you Or over you or by you or in spite of you.
Yeah. So you make a choice. How do you want to be Involved in what God is doing. I would like to be part of God's plan. Absolutely.
That's chilling to think about. God's going to accomplish His plan. He wants to accomplish it through you, but He will, He will accomplish it in spite of you. And one of the things, yeah, and one of the things that you've said in the past, Dr. Shah, is like, you know, you're never going to stop God from getting to where He wants to go.
But at the end of that process, what are people going to say about you? You know, and during 2020, when we were writing, 30 days. 30 days through a crisis. Yeah, that was one of the big things. I think it's actually on the back of that book.
It is. What are people going to say about you when this is over? What did God say? I mean, maybe you can talk about 2020 or just some other thing in your life, but what. made God put that thought in your mind?
You know, I preached on this uh series on getting to know God back in 2008. 2008 did not Even remotely, I mean, I would love to say I sort of had an idea, but I did not have an idea that 12 years later. In 2020, that this this statement right here will become My motto for how to deal with the pandemic. You will not and cannot stop God from getting where He wants to go. The only thing you need to ask yourself is what will you look like once he arrives?
Wow. Once he arrives, I mean, he's going to get to his. to his destination in every situation. What will you look like? And as one of my friends asked me, you know, what do you want people to say about you when all this is over?
It's just Different way of saying the same thing. Yeah. And No matter what you choose, it will be the one that he sovereignly planned to use.
So I want to make sure everything I do would be to cooperate with him. Not as someone He has to reluctantly drag in this process, but as someone who is joyfully, joyfully submitting to God's. Leadership in my life.
Well, I love that you brought up Job at the beginning of this because, you know, for those of us who stated here, Job is a very special book of the Bible, not just because, you know, it's a wonderful story. It's a wonderful account of a man who is obedient and faithful to God, but because of your sermon series, Dr. Shaw, and then, you know, the writing of the play that we had here at Clearview. Job. It's profoundly accessible to us.
And it stays in the forefront of my mind, this man who stepped up and displayed faithfulness when people around him were either pointing at the finger at him or telling him to turn his back on God. Job remained faithful and he understood that the things that happened in his life came through God's hand. That's a difficult truth to swallow. Yeah, I think there's tons of people, at least here at Clearview, and hopefully by extension, through the Clearview Today show, because we walked through Job. We did.
We walked through the entire book right here on the show, and you can go back and listen to that if you're new to the show. But I think for me, we've talked about this a little bit. Job was really instrumental in reopening my eyes to what our mission. Or, really, our motto is at Clearviews to make Christ visible, right? Because Job didn't say, you know, I really want to make sure that I do all these things right and please God so I can get my family back and get my wealth back.
It was at the end of it, the end goal was, I shall see him. I shall see God. And It just was very personal to me because making Christ visible.
Well, I've been saying that for 13-something years. Yeah. But all of a sudden, now it's brand new. All of a sudden, now it's. It's Suddenly important.
And not important in that it wasn't before. But you know what I mean? It wasn't ever not real to me, but it's realer now than it was. Yeah, there's an opening of the eyes, whereas before I've been told this is important. You need to think this is important.
Job sort of. Was that moment? I don't know if it was like a moment where it was never important, but it was like, I get it. I see now. Cause I want to see God.
I want my kids to see God. And so I think for someone listening to this, you know. How do you see God?
Well, you listen to a series like this where you get to know him. We tell you more about him. And then you start to see that sovereignty show up in your life in those hardships rather than just hearing a radio show about it and say, okay, I'll try. Yeah. This is not to take away your free will.
You absolutely have the free will. It's really like two parallel rails on a railroad track. God's sovereignty is there, but you have a responsibility. And the sooner you recognize that God's sovereign will is good, this is not something we reluctantly have to accept. It's not fate.
This is something beautiful, wonderful. It's not just going towards this. This dead end where nothing and no one comes out of it. It just comes, everything just kind of evaporates. No, this is going towards something very beautiful that God has prepared.
We're headed towards that. I want to cooperate. God wants us to cooperate with Him, God wants us to submit. To his sovereign will to enjoy the process, to enjoy the journey. That's what God wants us to do.
And so in our decisions, recognize the sovereignty of God, Choose to do things that will build His kingdom And align yourself with his will. And and see Not only that you will come to the end that God wants you to come to, but also what else God has in store as you're coming to that goal, reaching people. Showing the love of Christ, fulfilling his purpose in your life, all those things. Dr. Shah, I'm thinking about people who are, maybe have grown up in America, grown up in sort of the Western world, and this idea of submitting to a will that is not yours is an abrasive concept.
When it hits the ear, we tend to rail against that. Do you find it's harder for people in the Western world to get behind this idea than it maybe would be for somebody who lives in an Eastern culture? Or is this a humanity problem? It is a humanity problem. Absolutely humanity problem.
Yeah, in the West, it's manifested readily. Like you can see it.
Okay. It's very obvious that people in the West are so. Independence-minded and freedom-minded, my freedom, my independence.
So, yeah, you can see that. More clearly, but does not mean it doesn't exist in other parts of the world. In fact, it exists and it is so ingrained. And they have built an entire system to reject The real true God's sovereign plan because they have created a system, and it has it is so well insulated. That nothing and no one can penetrate.
The idea of a living, true triune God who is in control of their lives, who has brought the plan of salvation to them, who wants them to get to know him. They have. They have so created a system And it's so insulated that nothing penetrates.
Now, of course, people do get saved one at a time, but it's not penetrating the culture. Right. So. Yes, in the West? You can readily see people say, I'm not submitting to anybody, man, I'm my own person.
they will say it. In the East, They are daily bowing to gods or towards the East and whether Hindus or Muslims are. Buddhists, which are really atheists.
So they're s they are so called worshipping. But they're worshiping according to their own gods of their own creation. They rather have the God they can control. Wow. Yeah, we've talked about this on the show before, too, but when it comes to prayer.
Does it matter if I pray like God's where does God's sovereignty and my prayers overlap each other? Because if there's nothing I can do to stop God's will, if I'm praying against it, or if I'm praying for something else that may not be in God's will, Do my prayers actually make a difference? Does God teach me the right thing to pray? Is there some sort of Venn diagram where his sovereignty and my prayers come together? Great question.
I just finished up this series to the book of James, and in this series I Had a message in James chapter 5. It talks about prayer. You know, it says, yet you do not. I'm sorry, James chapter 5. Four mentions prayer too, but James chapter five really talks about prayer.
But in chapter four it says, Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask what you don't receive because you ask amiss.
So you can spend on your own self. But in James chapter five, it it goes to a different level. It here now it's talking about how to have a persistent and intentional prayer life. And that is something that I focused on last time, where James says You know, confess your trespasses to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective Fervent prayer of a righteous man, you can say righteous woman, avails much.
Earlier in verse 15, and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. People often wonder, it's like Okay. Prayer of Faith Is the burden on me? Yeah. Is the burden on me that I need to exercise faith?
And if I don't exercise faith, that the answer will not come? Yeah. Or Is the burden on God? That God will do what God wants to do, because many times prayers are not answered.
So how would I answer that? On one hand, I will maintain the sovereignty of God. Yes, God's will is going to be done. I would also say that God's will is always the best. It's, you know, like we say, it is what you would want for your life if you had sense enough to want it.
That's God's will. It is so good, it is so wonderful. But on the other hand, God also says, just like here in James chapter 5, and the prayer of faith. We'll save the sick. means you got to exercise Fate.
Right? And in chapter one, when it talks about wisdom, it also talks about. Let him ask, but with no doubting, because a man who doubts is double minded, unstable in all his ways.
So there is a faith element required on our part. And I think about Holden. Holden has been, he went through a little that Holden is our middle kid. He went through a period where he was kind of sick, right? And we were like staying up late at night waiting for, you know, for him to wake up and be sick.
And I remember the nights that Ellie would stay up. And it was this thing where it's like, she's not going unless he calls her name. Like, she's not going to go in there and just keep him up and check on him and stuff. But every time he called, she went. You know what I mean?
And so I think about, like, I've been thinking about that lately. Like, do I have that kind of faith in God that I'm going to just call on him right now, even if it's small, because I know he's going to come?
Sometimes, but then sometimes not.
Sometimes I don't pray with that kind of faith. Yeah. What I tell people is: be careful, maintain the sovereignty of God. But you do your part in exercising faith in that sovereign God. If you don't, then prayer will become perfunctory.
Perfunctory means you're praying, but it's just a Yeah. a ritual where it really don't m doesn't mean anything. Yeah. And then we use cliches like, well, prayer doesn't change circumstance, it changes me. You know, things like that.
Or we attach that little statement. According to your will. Lord, we want you to heal this person according to your will. And God doesn't tell us to do that. Right.
You know, yes, we need to pray according to his will. But here we're talking about in moral situations, in ethical situations. There are no morals and ethics involved. When it comes to asking for God to heal Your son Holden. It was simply God.
He's our son. We want him. That's right. We want to see him grow up and have a life, and we want to enjoy. The gift that you've given to us and holding.
It was not a moral and ethical issue. Yeah, no, there's no bargaining. There's no like, Lord, if you know, whatever you're going to do, we just want to be part of it. We want to be submissive to your plan. It was like, no, whatever happens, I need my son to be okay.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So God's okay with doing that. Mm-hmm.
And so I think a lot of times people are confusing. Maybe it's our nomenclature, maybe it is. Our misunderstanding of theology, I don't know what it is. But yes, God is sovereign. And his will would be done.
And yes, his will is always good. It's what you will want if you have the sense enough to want it. On the other hand, you are to pray with faith and intense prayer. The effectual fervent means man you have to wrestle. You have to pray as if you're you're hanging on the side of the cliff and that's the only that grip of that person or that plant or that rock you know you're hanging on to, that's the only thing.
That's how you have to pray for that. and and pray with fate. Means this is not just I hope it works out. No, God. I know it will work out.
Yeah. And that's what God wants for us. There is no clash between God's sovereignty? and his command to us to ask what you will. But ask in faith.
Understanding that can transform the way that you pray. It can transform the way that you even think about prayer. I mean, we tend to tack that on, like according to your will, or God, if it's in your plan, because we want to give God an out in case, what if he says no? What if he doesn't come through the way that we want him to? Yeah, sometimes I think people say that.
It's not because they're really wanting to align themselves with the will of God. I think some people are, don't get me wrong, some people are.
Some people are like, I just don't know how to pray here. Or, I want this, but I want to make sure this is also what God wants. And I want to respect them and say, yes, you are. very noble for thinking like that. But then there are many.
many people who attached the Father, would you heal this person? Oh, Father, would you help us to pay this bill? Father, would you open this door for my son or my daughter? Or Lord, bless them here. They're really.
According to your will. I think that add that little according to your will phrase Just to give God an out. Yeah, oh yeah, 100%. But if that prayer is not answered, If that child is not healed, if that job doesn't come through, if that marriage is not reconciled. then we can say, Oh, it was according to God's will.
and giving God A little back door open for him to kind of duck out.
So we can protect his reputation. His reputation, like a guy, he didn't have to. What do you mean? And that's his will sometimes.
Sometimes it may not be.
Sometimes God wants to heal, but your faith is not there. Hold those two things in tandem. Don't make them fight against each other. That's right. And there's no discrepancy between, like you said, Dr.
Shah, there's no discrepancy between God's sovereignty and our prayer life. But what about our culpability? What about our sin? You know, I think of one of the examples as the crucifixion. God's will was that Jesus be crucified.
And yet, the people who crucified him are still culpable for killing the Son of God. I mean, Peter said that in Acts 4:27. For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. And yet Herod and Punch Punches Pilot We were responsible for crucifying him.
What if they were here? What if they were here? Or what if they were there and they heard that and they say, But I was carrying out the will of God. That's what you sent me to do. I didn't do wrong.
I actually did right. Yeah, no. No, you have a choice. Jesus Himself said that about Judas Iscariot. Yeah.
The Son of Man indeed goes, but woe to the person through whom he goes. Means I'm come to die. But you, Judas, had a choice. You did not have to take me. Betray me.
Now you say, Well, who would have betrayed him? I don't know. Woe to that person. Woe to that person who would. Or somebody had to, so Judas did it.
No, it doesn't work like that. He was absolutely 100% responsible for betraying Jesus. That's right. Those two things can be true at the same time. God is sovereign, and we are responsible.
Yes. We like to, see, I think we like to take that blame. I know we're running out of time, but we like to take that blame off of us because God's sovereignty, God's sovereignty actually. Is sort of a cop-out for us.
Well, listen, we've been blame shifting since Genesis 3. I mean, that was the first MO when we were confronted with Sin shift the blame real quick off of us. Yeah, aren't you in charge? Aren't you the one that's? I think you made this woman and you made this serpent.
So it's not technically my fault. We've been doing that since the beginning. There's lots and lots of scenarios and what-ifs that we can cover, Dr. Sean. I'm sure people are going to text into the show with their own, but how does this help us?
How does this help the person who's driving to work right now, dreading that meeting, dreading that phone call, dreading that confrontation, that email, whatever it is? How does God's sovereignty help them? I would tell you to submit yourself to the good. loving, holy Infinite Wise God. and trust him.
Ask for what you need. Ask for healing. Ask for reconciliation. Ask for a need to be provided. Ask for a hurdle to be removed.
Ask for what you need. But then also know this As Romans 8.28 tells us, And we know. And we know that all things work together for good. to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
So, if you're following Jesus Christ, if he is. You're God, your king. God is going to work all things together for good.
So step out with that hope. Hope it's not just, I hope it works out. It says rock solid assurance. Step out with that assurance. Step out with that confidence.
Step out with faith. Step out with expectation that God is doing something powerful. And step out with the understanding that ultimately it is Jesus who will be glorified through that situation. And he will. Amen.
I hope that's an encouragement to you who are listening or watching at home that God is sovereign and we are responsible. Step out in faith. Ask your Heavenly Father for the things that you need, the things that are on your heart, and see what God will do. How would your prayer life change if you prayed like you believed God would answer? You know, the whole purpose of this show is to give you a clearer image.
of the word of God or of the person of God as well. You know, you have this idea of God, this caricature, and maybe it's blurry. Clearview Today exists to give you a clear view of exactly who it is that you're dealing with, this God who loves you. And so we want you to be able to stay in touch with us. You can do that by following all the links in the description below.
You can become one of our monthly sponsors. You can click support the show. But no matter what you do, just know that God loves you and He's brought you here to this day, this episode, for a reason. That's right. We love you guys.
We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
