Thursday, December 28th | Perspective & Providence

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That's it. Let's start the show. All right, you guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online with your friends and your family. Leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify. Absolutely nothing less than five stars.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today, also coming from Psalm 103, like yesterday, today is verse 15. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him. You've got a very brief window of time on this earth to do what God has called you to do. And we waste so much of it trying to do things in our own power, do things the way we would have done, do things that are going to give me a pleasant life, instead of saying, listen, God's mercy is everlasting. That's what I want for my life, everlasting mercy. I want to make sure that I'm walking with Jesus Christ every single day because my success, my money, my talents, my time, my relationships, one day they're all going to be nothing.

You hear people say that and it's completely true. But it's not pointless because God's mercy is everlasting. That's what I'm seeking for myself. Yeah, that's what we should be focused on. So often our temptation is to focus on the temporary and not focus on the things that are eternal. We get sidetracked often as people and we focus on the things that are immediate, focus on things that are urgent. And not that we should neglect those things, but we should keep them in the proper perspective. That's right.

Today is Thursday and you know what that means. Time for some advice that no one needed. Who needed it? You didn't need it. I didn't need it. You didn't need it.

But here we are. Nobody needed this advice at all. This is the segment of our show where we just give you some practical life advice and it's usually terrible.

But it's advice that no one needed. And David, you said you had some good advice for the listeners today. Yesterday, I'm not going to lie, you went on sort of a deranged... A tirade. A tirade.

A warpath. Did you end up eating the McRib Deluxe yesterday? No. Okay. I won't. He bought one.

You're not going to do it. He bought one and threw it away in front of the McDonald's employee. He stomped on it.

As a statement. He said, here's what I think of your McRib Deluxe and he like... Printed out a Polaroid picture and mailed that to corporate.

Yeah, he did a rib for dance on the McRib Deluxe. Alright, I'm going to give you another shot. Because lately you've been saying some wild stuff on the podcast and you know the fellas over at the Truth Network have been emailing saying, hey, get this guy off the mic. But I said, Mr. Epperson, sir, this guy, he's a staple of the show, so I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Tread lightly.

Give me some advice that no one needed. Okay. Are you a busy bachelor with a booming career and a bustling schedule? No.

I love the alliteration, but no. Here is what you need. Here's what you need. Wash your clothes. Great, great advice in the sentence there. Throw the clothes in the dryer. Love that too. That's the logical next step.

Dryer sheet. Love that. Alright. Hit go. Sure. It spins. Yep, yep.

Give it however long it takes, maybe an hour and 30 minutes. I don't actually know. Because I fall asleep while it happens. Sure. That's it.

We have one... Wait a minute, wait a minute. That's it. Yeah, that's it. We have a smart dryer that sends... What do you mean that's it? You're done. You have to fold the clothes.

You have to fold the clothes and hang them up. Oh, no, no, no. See, here's the thing. Here's the thing. You're a busy bachelor with a booming schedule. Okay. Remember?

And a bustling career. Don't forget that one. That was a great intro, by the way. Here's what you do. You get out of bed. Don't make it. Go downstairs.

Don't make the bed? Go downstairs. Open your dryer.

Sure. Grab your clothes. Uh-huh. Do you know the dryer becomes your closet?

Closet dryer. I'm getting an email. This is crazy because this is prerecorded, but I'm getting an email from the Truth Network.

We're about to lose our slot. That's funny because I just got a text from David's mother. Uh-huh. She's not happy.

Truth Network. She's not happy, Dave. I want you guys to hear me out, okay? Okay.

When you do this, not only do you have a closet for storage, you have clothes, you have all that convenience right there, also you need a shirt that's wrinkly to be ironed. Hit go. Huh?

Hit go. Hit go on the dryer and it'll get the wrinkles out of your shirt? Yeah. The heat. What?

Yeah. A dryer's not going to iron your shirt for you? It gets it unwrinkly.

Is that true? I mean, yes, but it doesn't stay unwrinkled. The dryer will unwrinkle your shirt?

It depends on the kind of shirt, but yeah. Yeah. It depends on what you're doing.

Using the dryer as a closet is not good advice, which I guess is the point of the segment. It works well. No. My life has been bad.

Bad? So it doesn't work well. And here, let's circle back to the advice no one needed portion. This is advice you didn't need. Yeah, because I feel like most of the people listening to this are married or cohabitating with their spouse. Hold on. Are not busy bachelors with a bustling schedule and booming career.

Yeah, they don't have time to listen to Christian talk radio. So I didn't think this through. You didn't think this through. And now I'm getting heret. Yep. Here we go. Incoming call.

Stu Epperson himself. Hello, sir. Yes.

Oh, yes. We're going to have to cut to a commercial break because this went completely off the rails. So we need, we need a voice of reason here to counteract, to wash this taste out of our mouths. I'm done. Visit us online at Clearveetodayshow.com.

We'll be back after this. Elizabeth, my darling bride, what would you say is the most beneficial thing you could do for yourself in the morning? Probably drink an entire pot of coffee when sitting.

I'd say that's a close second. No, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start every morning with a daily devotional. Only be one to talk about. Well, as it turns out, we have two. Right now you can unlock the power of daily inspiration, wisdom and spiritual growth in our devotional series, 30 days through a crisis and 30 days to a new beginning written by our pastor, Dr. Abaddon Shah and his wife, Nicole, the 30 days devotional series is designed to reveal new biblical truths every single day.

That's right. And every day is a new revelation to guide you on your Christian journey toward a more meaningful and purposeful life. You can pick up your copy today from our website, that's ClearviewBC.org, or you can grab both books on Amazon, Apple Books and Audible.

That's 30 days through a crisis and 30 days to a new beginning by Abaddon and Nicole Shaw. And don't forget, these are only the first two in an expanding devotional series. So keep your eyes peeled for future installments. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right, and we're coming at you live once again from the Clear View Today studio here in North Carolina with Dr. Abaddon Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism.

Dr. Shah, I gotta say, I'm loving that jacket vest. You like this? I see. Very nice. Yeah, I can always take it out and... And reverse it? Yeah, I think you said that before.

Let me ask you this, because this is something I think the people are kind of claiming to know. Okay. Decided to put it on this morning. Okay. Did you get it out of your closet or out of your dryer? Closet of course.

Well, see, here's what I'm wanting to know is because why can't the two be one and the same? Oh, I remember this conversation. I know where this is going.

We took this off, Mike. I'm thinking if you're just living... What was it? The bachelor life. You had like a poem with it.

It was like the... So I said, are you a busy bachelor with a bustling schedule and a booming career? Yeah. If so, use your dryer as a closet. Use your dryer as your closet.

Now, I know that Nicole is sort of the... It's terrible. It's like all crumpled up and is ready to go.

Yeah. Just like wrinkled and just wrinkled all the mess. I wouldn't hire him. I was about to say, I don't know how... Well, I've already hired him. I don't know how booming your career is going to be when you're showing your laundry. Maybe not hire him to do your laundry. Yeah. Well, so I know Nicole's sort of the laundry, I guess, chief at the house, but you are pretty particular about what goes in what closet and where you find the stuff. Oh, yes, of course.

Like you don't want to go to the dryer. No. Who says that? Who said that it's good to do that? He's on the show. It's someone in this room and someone who's not at this table, nor do they live with you.

I'm not going to be a snitch or anything, but it's somebody over there. I think Nicholas... He's doing the head nod thing at Nicholas. Nicholas doesn't even have a mic, so he's not... So just blatant falsehood at this point.

Yeah. We're lying on the Clearview Today show. I think this is the first lie we've ever told. Oh, it's not a lie. It was David.

It was David. All right. You don't have to like, you know, you can just throw your clothes in there. You don't have to like make them inside out and all that stuff. Also the same guy who's like, in order to save time, sleep in the clothes you're going to wear the next day.

For Easter Sunday, go ahead and sleep in your finely pressed suit so that you can get up at four in the morning. Same. Same.

Just same guy. Yeah. It's sad. It's sad.

You know why? It's got real... Like I've given up energy. It's got Eeyore energy. Huh? Oh, gosh. Remember Eeyore? Have you given up, man? Oh, Father. I'm not saying you have.

I'll just use my dryer as my closet, I guess. It's giving. You know what it's giving means? You know what it's giving means. It's giving. It's giving Eeyore.

It's giving seasonal affective disorder. Tonight, I'm going to clean my house and just have a picture to put in the podcast. There you go. Here, better yet, why don't you just install curtain rods in your dryer? That way when you're done tumbling, just hang them up right there. In the dryer.

Yeah, in the dryer. Perfectly fine. I'm going to take this energy into the new year.

Sure. That's what I'm saying. Well, and a lot of people do that. A lot of people just have that kind of ho-hum energy.

We joked about Boxing Day right after Christmas, kind of that old baller. But that's the mindset that people go into the new year. It's like, I've got to start doing this. I've got to do better in the gym. I've got to eat better. And it's just sort of like this drudgery as they greet January the 1st. Yeah. How is your confidence?

I mean, that's the question. How is your confidence about the future? Many, many times when I pray with people, whether it's in the hospital or somebody about to go off, join the army or go away to college or just something else in life, I will always end that prayer with them, God, I pray that you would give them faith, hope, and confidence. Faith, hope, and confidence. Faith in the sense of know that God is able.

Hope means know that a better day is coming. Confidence so you can start living with that assurance. So I always say that faith, hope, confidence. And I think the way that you framed that is perfect because so many times we hear the word confidence and you think about confidence in yourself or in confidence in your abilities or your prowess in business.

I can do this. Exactly. Sort of this like mustering, I'm able to do this. But what you said, Dr. Jha, is confidence in God and confidence in how God can work in your life and in the future. He is sovereign. He is completely in charge. He is in control. There is not a single thing that has happened, whether in the history of this world or beyond time that God had to sort of, you know, just be disheveled and try to figure things out.

Let me go back to the drawing board and see if I can get this right, because it's messed up. Right. Nothing. God is sovereign. He's in control. He knew about Adam and Eve. He knew about the sin that came in this world. He knew everything. So he is in charge.

Right. And that to me is a sovereignty of God. And even bringing the sovereignty with regard to salvation, that God also picked people up. Who's going to save and who's going to send to hell?

Now you're going off the trail. So when we talk about the sovereignty of God, the right view of the sovereignty of God will give you the right perspective on your past, and it'll give you the confidence to face whatever lies ahead and win, W-I-N, win. And I think that's what people need to hear, especially going into 2024, because it's almost like when you start setting New Year's resolutions or New Year's gold, you take account of everything that went wrong. It's like you're starting the year off with negativity, all the unfortunate events, all the like how fate dealt them a bad hand this year. You're taking stock of all the negative and just taking that into the new year. It becomes very reactionary.

Yes. Like these are all the bad things that have happened, and how do I avoid them in this upcoming year? But it's like you said, with the right perspective on God's sovereignty, we see that faith and that confidence take us through to the beginning of January. There are two passages in the Bible that I would say they kind of are polar opposites. One is coming from the Old Testament, and the other one is coming from the New Testament. One is coming from a man who is a patriarch of the family of Abraham. Another one is coming from the patriarch of our faith, of Christianity.

One is Jacob, the other is Paul. Now Jacob says, and this is Genesis 42, 36, Jacob, their father said to them, this is when Benjamin was also going to be taken back to Egypt and all this stuff, Joseph was trying to bring them to a point, bring his brothers to a point of repentance, kind of the way God deals with us. That's what Joseph is doing, and when Jacob heard that, instead of saying, God, I know you're in control, I know you're sovereign, you're working something together for good. Instead listen to what he says, Genesis 42, 36, and Jacob, their father said to them, you have bereaved me, Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin?

All these things are against me. You can hear the hopelessness in his life. That's a low point, because he's completely operating under the assumption that Joseph is gone.

He will never see him again. Simeon, gone, and now he's losing his youngest, Benjamin, and I can totally see from our perspective, it's a completely valid complaint. I've lost three sons now, I'm hopeless, I'm giving up, and in our perspective, and I love the way that you phrased that earlier, to see it from God's perspective, because to me, I'm like, yeah, that's completely valid, I would be doing the same thing. But it's like you said, God, this is an opportunity to display faith.

Right, right. And then talk about the other polar opposite, which is Romans 8, 28, where Paul, more than likely, he is sitting in a Roman prison in Ephesus, waiting for some trial, waiting to be thrown out there among the lions, he talks about how to face lions. We don't know for sure what's going on. And then he says in Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Paul had, if anybody in the New Testament, Paul had every reason to sort of complain, to gripe, to be down about his situation and about the future, and yet he gives us a verse like this. Yeah, and it kind of begs that question, which one am I going to be this 2024, am I going to be the Jacob where I list all the bad things, and we're really good at making lists. We can list all the things that we do that are unappreciated, all the things that have happened to us, all the ways that people wronged us, but am I going to do that, or am I going to be like Paul and say, I know that all things, including this, are going to work together for good?

That's right. Now listen to what Jacob said, and we have to go to the Hebrew for this. The word for bereave is shekel, which means childless. Jacob is making a very drastic statement there, if you think about it. Of course, his son is gone, has been gone for some time, and Benjamin and Joseph were the only sons from Rachel, the wife, he really wanted to marry, and then Joseph mysteriously died or so Jacob thought, and now Benjamin has to go away, but you made me childless? There are still 10 children in front of him, standing around the bedside listening to him say this. So you have made me childless?

Ouch, Dad, thanks a lot. So y'all are fine, but you're not the ones I want. How many of us have done that in a moment of anguish or grief or just being overwhelmed with stress and frustration and hurt?

Have you ever said things like that? Oh yeah. It's over. It's done.

Might as well. You ruined my whole life. Exactly. My life is over. There's no way out of this. There's no hope. I mean, I said that a lot in my teenage years, but even now, now it's at the point where I've kind of given up in my spirit.

I just want to make this problem seem as overwhelming to everyone else as possible. So all these things are against me. So in some ways he had every reason to say that because he had been through a lot. I mean, think about Jacob's life.

He had to run away from home. Often people say Jacob was a swindler and he was a cheat and all that. No, Jacob wanted the greater life. Jacob wanted to be the one through whom the promised one would come. That's why he was fighting for the birthright, not just for a little more sheep and goats or camels. He wanted to have a part in the coming of the promised one.

How do you know that? I mean, he's the man who wrestled with God and won. That's a huge statement.

What does that mean? To wrestle with God and prevail. Often people say, well, he lost. No, he prevailed. That's Israel and that his name was changed to Israel. So he was not a swindler. He wanted the birthright because he knew that Esau didn't care. He was willing to marry Canaanite women.

He was doing whatever. And Canaanite women, don't think of them as just riffraff. They probably came from some high quality homes.

They probably came with a lot of land and money and education. So he was sort of kind of moving up in the refined society. So here you have a rugged man, man of the field, man of society, a good businessman, a fighter.

I mean, he's got it all. And yet he did not want the promise of God. And Jacob fought for it, got it. And then, of course, Esau was angry, wanted to kill Jacob. Jacob had to run for his life. So I mean, for doing good, he messed up. In a sense, I mean, we've got to thank Jacob in heaven. Hey, thank you for not letting Esau mess things up.

Thank you for caring enough about God's plan to do what you did and then have to go on, like run for your life. And I mean, a lot of our messages are so upside down. It's like, well, you know, Jacob deceived his brother. He was a deceiver. It's like, no, show me a passage where the Bible says Jacob did something wrong.

Yeah. It's like God allowed that plan to go through because he saw that greater good. He saw that it was going to work together. And then when he went to work for his Uncle Laban and wanted to marry Rachel, Uncle Laban tricked him into working seven years, imagine, on your wedding night, being given the wrong wife.

Surprise! The reality of that moment doesn't really hit as hard because it's a story, quote, unquote. But imagine, literally imagine waking up to the wrong wife. So I read this story.

Elizabeth has an older sister and I love my sister-in-law dearly. But I just imagine like that context, like waking up and like, this is not the woman that I was looking forward to. This is complicated things. It's not like you gave me somebody else, some other home or somebody who works on a farm or a slave girl, whatever.

No, you gave me her sister. Yeah. And then try to act like it's normal. It's like, what is this? Like, oh, what? This is our custom. We have to do this.

This is our custom. Yeah. What? You couldn't let me know before now. Why am I hearing about it now for the first time the morning after? It's like, I thought, I don't, I don't, I just thought this was what you would be upset about. Yeah.

I'm not sure where the misunderstanding is. It's been four years and you can have the other dog too. Yeah, that's fun. Laban. Laban is the deceiver. Yeah.

Jacob. That's insane. And people even take that out of context. They're like, see, he got what he, what he deserved. He got a taste of his own medicine.

It's like, that's not at all comparable, even in the slightest. Right. And then other things happened, you know, fast forward a few years, Jacob's sons killed the men of Shechem out of revenge.

I mean, they did a horrible thing because, you know, revenge over their sister Dinah or Dina. So Jacob's words in Genesis 34 to 30 were, you have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land. Obnoxious. That's bad.

You don't want to be there. No. My man is really going through it. Yeah. And then of course the whole, then he lost his wife and then of course lost Joseph and now Simeon and now Benjamin.

I mean, he is like having a nervous breakdown here. Yeah. It makes that, it makes that whole, you've, what was it?

You've bereaved me. All these things are against me. When you take a look at it, it really, it does kind of pin him in more of a sympathetic way.

Yeah. But if you really pay attention to the biblical narrative, God had given him plenty of signs and assurances to tell him that he was with him. He didn't have to say that.

So let's look at some of those assurances. When Jacob was fleeing from his brother, he had a special vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. It was a reminder that God was with him right in Bethel. Then when Laban was cheating Jacob, he had a special visit from God warning him and calling him to head back to the land of his family. When Jacob was afraid to face his brother Esau, he had a personal visit from the pre-incarnate Jesus. That's where he wrestled and won.

Right. And he prevailed and he received a new name. Then when Jacob was afraid of his, of the repercussions of his sons killing the people of Shechem, the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around him, them, and they did not pursue them. I mean, these people could have slaughtered them in a matter of minutes, but God put such fear on them because the line of the promised one was coming through this, this group, Jacob, Judah, and down the line.

So God protected them. So all these things were for him. And yet in that moment, he said in front of his sons, all these things are against me. I mean, what a poor lesson he taught his children.

Yeah. That could have been a great moment for him to say, all these things have happened, but God is still faithful. Look at God, look at God, how God has blessed our family. Look at how God has taken care of us.

Look at how God has been with us every step of the way. And he just kind of drops the ball here. Yeah. He was a pity partier.

Yeah. He was a pity partier. Even in front of Pharaoh, you know, Pharaoh says, hey, you're the dad of this guy right here. Ooh, man, you raised a good son.

Long and hard have been the days of my life. You get in front of the Pharaoh himself and he's still griping. You can see Pharaoh just like dead silence. He's looking, well, the pyramids, have you seen the pyramids?

Jacob has Eeyore energy. Can we just say that? Take a look at this convenient distraction. He's like, what is this guy doing long and hard have been the days? Pharaoh's like, change the subject. How do I change the subject?

Move on quickly. I was hoping to have a deep conversation about what, how do you raise such great sons? Well, for every, for the son that's successful, I have 13 losers, or what are they? Eleven.

Eleven. I mean, you're having to try to have this deep conversation with somebody about the goodness of God and how, how God has taken care of you, how God has provided for you. And they just, just spiritual tank in the conversation. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay to a certain extent because Paul does talk about our glory in my infirmities, our glory in my tribulation. And if you do talk about the rough times in your life, no one, no one here is saying, don't talk about your pain and sorrow and suffering.

It's okay. Right. But make sure you keep glorifying God in what you're saying. Don't just talk about how horrible life has been. Say it, but then bring out, but you know what, God has been so good because this happened and that happened.

Right. And even if nothing has happened, God is still good. Think about Jacob's own son, like how he said, what he said to his brothers. He was like, um, you, what you meant for evil, you know, God meant for good. And it's a, it's a great illustration of the son succeeding where the father failed. That's right.

That's right. And Joseph had every reason to complain. I mean, think about his brother selling him into slavery to, to their own cousins, right? The Midianites, the Ishmaelites, and then being forgotten and then being falsely accused for his wife and then being forgotten in the prison.

I mean, all of these things, he, he had every reason to say that, but he doesn't. Yeah. Right. That's right. So don't be a Jacob, be a Joseph and even more be a Paul.

That's right. How do we, in the time that we have left, how do we, how can we practically move to that mindset? I want us to really focus on the sovereignty of God. God is in control no matter what's happening. Good days, bad days, great things are happening, or man, I cannot believe. I was hoping this wouldn't happen and it's happened.

It's has happened. No, God is still good. I've been through some crazy things this past year in my life, but at, at the end of the day, I have to tell myself and I have to tell God, God, you are absolutely good. You're not responsible for this. You allowed it and you're going to work all things together for good.

Whether I see it or not. That's right. You're still good.

That's right. And you're worthy to be praised. You're worthy to be loved and you don't owe me a thing. You're wonderful.

You've done it all. So you have to choose to praise God than to curse those who have caused you pain and you have choose. You have to choose to proclaim. It's a will. It's all in the will. It's in the will. Praise is in the will, not in the emotions, not in how I'm feeling.

It's in the will. Your feelings can go up and down with your sugar levels. That's true. Right? Yeah. If your blood sugar is down, blood sugar is up, but that's not how you decide, right?

That's exactly right. So helpful for us, especially as we're right here on the cusp of 2024, if this was helpful to you guys in framing your perspective as you start the new year, write in and let us know 252-5825028 or you can visit us online at clearevutodayshow.com. You can partner with us financially on that same website, scroll to the bottom, click donate now and become part of our Clearevu Today Show family. Also want to remind you to head over to Mighty Muscadine and visit MightyMuscadine.com and check out the line of products they have there. Great for you, great for your wellness as you head into the new year. Use the promo code today, that's T-O-D-A-Y for a great discount on your purchase and as well as taking a portion of those proceeds and sending them right back here to the Clearevu Today Show.

Tell me what's coming up tomorrow. We are closing in on 2024 super fast and one of our goals is we want to be more and more and more like Christ. What I really mean by that is I want Christ to be an example of the ideal version of myself. You know what I mean? I want Him to be the picture or the caricature of what I want my ideal version to be.

Doesn't work like that at all. We have to actually truly understand that Christ is not like us. We have to abandon what's in us to be more like Him and not in the opposite way we're at.

We can't just take all of His good attributes, copy and paste them over to me. So good. Can't wait for that. Love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clearevu Today. Bye.