Learning About God’s Mercy

Hey friends, here the latest episode of my podcast, Refocus with Jim Daley. Virginia Prodon shares about an assassination plot against her in Romania and sharing Christ with her enemies.

Visit refocuswithjimdaley.com. I've realized God is not a computer program. I used to think if I'm good, if I do this, this, this, this, he's obligated to do this, this, this and this for me. That's not it.

He actually has a personality. Well, I wonder if you've ever thought about God that way. We've got more insights and some provocative thoughts along the way from radio personality and author Brandt Hansen for you. Thanks for joining us for Focus on the Family. Your host is Focus President Jim Daley. John, this is a great message about God's grace and mercy and the fact that we can trust him to care for us.

And I know it will be a blessing to you today. Brandt Hansen is best known for his quirky and offbeat radio show, which airs on many of these stations. And he also hosts a podcast called the Brandt and Sherry Oddcast. And that's with his friend and producer Sherry Lynn. Here now is Brandt Hansen speaking at a conference hosted by our Boundless team, which is our outreach to young adults. And we're picking up as Brandt introduces himself to the audience.

Here he is on today's Focus on the Family. I talk about the fact that I have something called Asperger's syndrome. How many people have Asperger's in here? Anyone? Yes.

You are my people. There's something, just to explain what it is, because it is helpful, I don't use body language right. Like some people pick up on cues. I guess normal humans pick up on cues, body language and stuff. I use the wrong ones.

My wife has been really helpful with this. She's explained to me, Brandt, don't stand like this. I'm like, why not? I don't understand because my favorite person on Star Trek Next Generation stands like this.

Data. She said don't stand like that because normal people, apparently this is true, normal people don't evenly displace their weight like that. Like I'm thinking this is the most efficient use of both of my legs. And she said you're a lot more approachable, Brandt, if you don't stand like that. If you bend your leg just a little bit like this and then do this. And then I say what up? And she said that people approach and sure enough it works. So people like me now. And it's all because of this little move. So I have all sorts of little quirks and things. But what I have seen is that while being an aspie, that's what we call ourselves, can be painful in middle school, for instance, and in high school as well. What I have seen is that God takes your weaknesses and He uses them to His glory. Like He looks good as a result of them. He changes you in other areas because of your weaknesses. I've seen it over and over and I've seen it my own life too.

And I went to the University of Illinois and while I was there, I was like in a reporting class and I had this really hardcore professor who was a former White House correspondent for CBS News and all this stuff. And anyway, I'm driving home from some friends and this whole huge class building on campus is engulfed in flames. I mean, a giant, huge fireball into the sky. There's no fire engines. There's no police. There's no nobody there. It's just a huge burning building.

Nothing. I'm like, oh, I'll cover this. I'll get some extra credit. So I drove home, which was like two blocks away. And then I was like, okay, I need a pencil. I need some paper. I'm going to go cover this story.

This is totally true, by the way. And I grabbed a pencil and I ran out the door and I went the back way so I wouldn't, you know, I'd get there faster and I went through the bushes and stuff. And as I'm getting there, this building's like in flames and I see, oh, the fire and the police are getting there now. So I just decided I don't want to get in their way because I'm not that kind of person. So I just decided I'd lurk in the bushes and watch. How come you guys are so quick to put this together? Seriously.

Yeah. So anyway, about 10 minutes later, I'm in the back of the squad car. And they're like, so why did you set fire to this thing? I'm like, I didn't set fire to it. I'm covering it. That's why I got my pencil here. You're covering it, so you brought a pencil. Where's your paper? I forgot paper.

But seriously. So they went home and they took all my clothes and I was their suspect for arson. And I went in the next day to my professor and I'm like, did you ever get to the scene of a crime so fast that they arrested you for it?

He literally left the room to go laugh in the hallway. So I became a youth pastor. And one thing about… I really enjoyed youth ministry.

It was weird because I'm not that social, but I really did enjoy it. And I was always like, okay guys, let's talk about prayer. Prayer is where it's at. You got to pray, pray, pray. It's all about prayer. Really, the whole Christian life is about prayer. Okay. And then the next month, you know what? It's all about giving to the poor.

That's what the whole Christian life is going to be. Give, give, give. Okay.

Mission strips. Okay. It's giving.

Okay. No, it's about worship. It's really all about worship. It's all about worship. And I finally had a kid, a really smart kid. He said one day, he's like, hey, can you help me with something?

Because we've got all this stuff we're supposed to be doing. Can you like put it in some logical way so I can keep track of how I'm doing with God? And so I actually made a chart.

I made this for my youth group. I'm like, okay. All right.

I figured it all out. There's eight areas. If you get all these areas going, then God's going to be, you know, now you're doing all right.

Now you're doing good. Just keep these eight areas going. You got to attend church, evangelize, obviously that's core.

Okay. Bible study, duh. It's all about Bible study. And ministry, you've got to be in a ministry group, duh.

Hello. Also tithing, obviously. Mission strips. I mean, come on.

Small groups. So if you're doing enough small groups and you're praying enough and you're going to church and you're evangelizing and you're doing Bible study and you're probably going to minister and you're tithing, you're probably doing okay with God. And the kids are like, oh, good, finally, I got a pie chart. I finally understand what this relationship with God looks like thanks to this chart that you've made for us with your computer.

So I spent like 40 hours making that thing, my entire work week at church. I regret this so much. I honestly do. This is a lie. This is a lie. God is better than this.

I want the one thing to be. If I could just tell you one thing that I have learned, and believe me, I was raised in church. I knew all about church stuff.

I could talk a great game. I never really understood how good God was. I'm still beginning to understand it, but I'm just beginning. He's way better than I thought because I thought He was about this. And I thought I would please Him if I was doing enough of these eight things.

He's much better than this. One of the things, as a dad, I've seen my kids grow up, is trying to impress on them that, yeah, there's things I want them to do, but my love isn't dependent on it. Their status as my child doesn't change based on their behavior.

It doesn't change. I told them a story, and by the way, this is the world's worst bedtime story. If you have kids, don't tell them this story. It's actually in a book called The Severe Mercy by Sheldon von Auken, who is a friend of C.S.

Lewis. It's about two dogs, and I want to tell you this too. So, you can be kids here. It's bedtime. These two dogs, and it's Snowball and Gypsy, and they live in the country, and it's like one of those idyllic dog settings where they get hills to run around on, and they get streams to jump over, and they get to do all sorts of cool dog stuff, and they're made up of a bunch of dogs. They're made up of cool dog stuff, and their master is really good to them, really good. What he demands of them is when he calls, dinner, Snowball, Gypsy, it's dinner time. When he calls them, they've got to come right then. That's what he demands of them. And of course they do. It's a great existence to be a dog.

It's great out there. Sunshine, flowers, dandelions, stuff to do. And one day, a rabbit ran across Gypsy's path, right as the master was calling for them to come inside, and she was like, oh, I'd like to chase after this rabbit. She didn't. She held off, resisted the temptation, ran in, but she was thinking about it. And the next day it happened again. And this time she thought, I'd like to chase after the rabbit. So she did. And it changed things with the master because the master didn't trust her.

He was very disappointed. She came in with her tail between her legs. She came in late for dinner, but it was kind of exciting. So the next time it happened, it was a little bit easier for her to go out and chase after that rabbit. And pretty soon, I'm telling my kids this, Gypsy's on a leash. She can't romp like she used to.

She can't be trusted. So now her master's got her on a leash. And you know what, kids, one day he took them out into the country to take them for a walk, the master did, and he got them out of the car near the woods. And Gypsy's like, oh, I can get loose, freedom. And she darted out of that car, and she raced into the woods, and she ran, and she ran, and she ran, and she could hear a master calling, Gypsy, Gypsy, Gypsy, Gypsy, until she couldn't hear him anymore. And then she was lost. And the sun went down, and she was cold. And the master was so disappointed, but he got Snowball back, and he put Snowball in the car, and he drove away. Gypsy lived in the woods, and she had puppies.

Her fur was matted, and she was a mess. But she lived in the woods, and she had puppies, and she told the puppies about the master. She told them stories about this good master, and so they heard stories. But then they grew up, and it was just stories to them. And they sort of told their puppies, and those puppies grew up, and then their puppies didn't even know the master anymore.

And that's the end of the story. And the reason I told my kids this, I'm actually glad I did because they remember it, but I want them to remember, you know, the master's really good. Even if we've forgotten it, even if we've gotten away from him, or we've made choices to deviate from him, he's actually good. He gives us freedom to walk away from him. Jesus does that with everybody. It's remarkable.

Remarkable. One guy told him no. Jesus said you need to… He asked him a question. Jesus said, well, here's what you need to do.

And the guy's like, no, I'm not doing that. And it says Jesus watched him walk off and loved him. But He gives us freedom, and you can walk away. But He's good. It doesn't make him bad that people have walked away.

He's really good. What changed my heart on this since I've been 30 years old is I've realized God is not an iMac. He is not a MacBook. He is not a computer program. I used to think if I'm good, if I do this, this, this, this, He's obligated to do this, this, this, and this for me.

That's not Him. He actually has a personality. We think of Him as these precepts, like we relate to priests. God loves everyone.

You know what? He does love everyone, but He doesn't look at us the same. Some people have a certain relationship with Him that others don't. What I mean by that, widows, the rejected, people scorned, the poor, the fatherless, the people without a home, it's clear throughout the Bible these people have a special relationship with God that other people don't have. He has an agenda for the world.

He identifies with certain people, not everybody the same. You're listening to Brant Hansen on Focus on the Family and let me encourage you to get a copy of Brant's book, Blessed Are the Misfits. It really is a wonderful book and we'll send it out to you when you make a donation of any amount to the Ministry of Focus today. We'll also include a free audio download of Brant's message with some extra content that you're not hearing today, so donate and request those at focusonthefamily.com slash broadcast or call 800 the letter A and the word family, 800-232-6459. Let's return now to more from Brant Hansen.

I'm affluent. He doesn't look at me the same way as he does other people. I love this about him. I finally realized he's actually got a personality. He has things that he cares about.

He has values and they're not necessarily mine, but I love his values and he's changing my heart, hopefully, to see what his are and align with him. Something happened. They sent me.

It was a radio thing. I was supposed to go to Israel to visit a hospital and then they were like, uh, no, we can't go there. We need you to go to Afghanistan. So I show up in Afghanistan at a cure hospital. I'm working for them now.

I'm so sold on them. Look at this picture. They told me I was doing kangaroo duty.

Like, can you do kangaroo duty? I'm like… Apparently, newborns and preemies need human contact. I didn't know anything about it, but they had me take care of a baby for a couple of hours and just hold her. She was one pound, two ounces. And her name is Zechariah.

And I got to sit there and ruminate and think about her, and they just need skin contact because they're in this ICU. She's an Afghan female, highest infant mortality rate in the world, highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Women are abused. They are considered property.

They have the lowest status of anyone in the world. I'm convinced of it. And here's an Afghan female who's a pound. And I was holding this baby and I'm thinking, is it true that God is such a God that He aligns Himself with this girl more so than other people?

Is it fair? I don't know, but I love it. I love that.

He identifies Himself with the underdog. This is what's so amazing. He actually says this. I've read this on the air on my Christian radio show. There's lots of stuff I can read directly out of the Bible. People will call me and argue with me about it.

Christian people, they'll out-Bible me. They think, like, that's not in there. Yeah, it is.

This is one of them. It's from Proverbs chapter 19. If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord and He will repay you.

He identifies so strongly. If you're giving to the poor, God says you're giving to me. And what's so interesting about this, think about this with your life. Most people at this age, not terribly wealthy, but at some point you start to accrue a little bit more money. Where do I put it?

Where do I invest? God says if you help the poor, you give to them, you're lending to Him, He will repay you. I am not making that up. And I don't know how He's going to repay you or exactly what form that takes, but it's a hundred percent return rate. You can actually trust Him. Oh, by the way, Jesus said if you've done something to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you've done it to me. He identifies with the least of these, with the dispossessed, with the lonely, with the widow, with the hurting, with the lost. He identifies with them.

He becomes one with them. Here's another picture of that baby I just wanted to show you, just to give you an idea of how small she was. That's a newborn diaper. By the way, I met her a few years ago, and I went back last year, and she survived. She actually had internal surgery before this picture was taken. And they thought she had about a five percent rate of survival, and I got to meet and play with her.

She's a toddler. I thought that was so sweet. I just thought that was the neatest thing, like, I can't believe this. It's amazing that God would identify Himself with that. For me, I love that. I don't want to just relate to precepts.

His personality is such that He values this scrap of human life that has no power, no status, no money, isn't famous, and God identifies with that. To me, that's good news. If it's a God about your performance, how you're doing, are you keeping the eight pie chart things good, are you doing a good job with that? That's not good news to me.

This is good news. Can you ever relax? Can you ever actually enjoy God?

A friend of mine told me this a few weeks ago. He's like, Brant, I think… you know what I think God's looking for? I think He just wants a spiritual people that He can spend time with. Like, remember the Israelites? He built a tent among them.

This is a ragtag group of people. He built a tent. I want to live among you, He said. He loves us. He wants you. I've seen Him be good to me. I keep thinking, too, I keep thinking, like, God's been so good to me, I keep thinking the other shoe's going to drop.

I don't know if you can relate to this at all. I feel like, okay, yeah, I've been blessed, but when does the big hammer drop where I pay the price for being a sinner? Because I still am, deeply, a sinner.

When does He get even with me? And I was walking the dogs the other day, and for some reason, a song popped into my head from being a kid in church. And the song goes, it's from Psalms, I think Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days, all the days of my life.

And I never thought it was a great song. Like, that's in the Bible. His mercy is going to follow you the rest of your days. Do you understand that? No other shoes dropping?

He's actually good. I found the most unbelievable Scripture, and you guys might be familiar with this, but there's a Scripture where Jesus says, don't let your heart be troubled. I'm going to prepare a place for you. If it weren't so, I would tell you. Okay, so maybe you're familiar with that. It's in John. I think it's John 14 or something like that. Well, what you don't know probably, because this chapter starts that way. The preceding chapter, John 13, the story is He's talking to Peter at the Last Supper. He's at the Last Supper, and Peter is saying, oh, I'll always be with you, Jesus.

I'll always be right there with you. And Jesus says, no, you're going to betray me three times before the cock crows tonight. You're going to betray me three times. And the chapter ends, and then the next chapter starts. But don't let your heart be troubled.

I'm going to go prepare a place for you. If it weren't so, I would tell you. We don't put those two things together because somebody stupidly put a chapter break in there.

And who knows why? So I'd never put those two things together. Understand what He's saying. Do you realize how radical this is in your life? I'll be with you forever. You're going to betray me, but don't let your heart be troubled. I'm going to go prepare a place for you. And I'm thinking, as Brant Hansen's sinner, could I hear Jesus actually say, I know, but don't let your heart be troubled. I'm going to prepare a place for you.

I'm thinking, Brant Hansen, fake. When's somebody going to find me out that I'm a sinner, my mind is not where it should be, I get to speak in front of people, I can look like a Christian, like a really, he's got it figured out kind of guy. When is the other shoe going to drop? And Jesus is saying, I know, but don't let your heart be troubled.

I'm going to prepare a place for you. He wants us. Do you realize that? Fake person thinking their shoe is going to drop. You know, He's actually really good.

You know, He actually really, truly wants you. Another reason I love God, this little girl, she was in surgery in Afghanistan. I was in the OR watching this girl be knit back together. She had a cleft palate, but it's just a little teeny kid. And I was asking the doctor, Dr. Hashimi, what happens to her if she doesn't get this surgery? Well, she'll never have any status. She'll never go to school. She'll never have a future. She'll never have what every Afghan girl wants desperately.

She'll never have a wedding. And I thought, wow, that's amazing. And Christians paid to have her surgery done. And as he was doing his last suture on this little girl, Dr. Hashimi said, he took the last suture and he cut it off and he goes, and now there will be a wedding. I'm like, if that's the way God is, I love that God. In fact, we do serve a God who loves weddings, loves them, promises everyone a big one, a big one.

In fact, any wedding we have now is just a shadow. If you have one, great. If you don't, great. You're going to have a big one in one day.

All the ones we have now are just a shadow of what's going to happen. He loves weddings. The God I believe in loves little girls. The God I believe in identifies with them.

You can actually trust Him. I'll tell you one more story and then I'll be done. When my girl was young, I have a little boy too, but they were both little, and we lived in Houston at the time. They had this big rodeo. It seemed like they were always having a rodeo, but they have this big rodeo.

It's Texas. So we put them in the back seat of our car in their little seats and you buckle them in. It's this gigantic hassle. And you put them in there, and we were driving all over town, and I knew we were going to the rodeo at the Astrodome, but we had like 10 errands first. And so we're going here, we're going there, we're parking here, we're going back over here, back to the grocery store, get out, I go in and out and in and out. And then I got on the freeway and then there's lights behind me from a police car. I'm like, oh man, I didn't realize I was speeding.

There's this strange guy comes to the door and then, you know, he gives Daddy a ticket and Daddy's got a ticket. And then I start driving again. And about 10 minutes later, we're on the freeway. And remember, we've made 10 stops.

There's been lights, there's been police, there's been all this stuff. And I hear this voice coming from the back seat. And my daughter says, hey Dad.

She's tiny. I'm like, what? I'm looking in the rearview mirror. Where are we going? Oh, I forgot to tell her where we're going. We're going to the rodeo. We're going to the rodeo.

They have horsies, lots of horses. Oh, good, good, good, good, good. And it dawned on me, why in the world was she not thinking the whole time, where are we going? Where are we going? What the heck's going on? Park here, park there, go here, go here, the police, all that stuff.

Why is she not panicked about this? I'm buckled in. I cannot move. I'm going here. I'm going there. I'm going over here. I'm going over here. I'm going over here. There's funny lights.

There's a police officer. My dad's upset. We're going here.

We're going there. And then it dawned on me why she wasn't panicked by this. It's because she knows who the driver is, and she knows he loves her.

Right? Well, to me, if you know who the driver is and you know he loves you, why worry? There's something about humility, actually trusting. Look, do you believe God's in control of your life or not? Are you ever going to relax and actually believe that? Or is it constantly chafing for position to accomplish something, to impress somebody?

Who cares? Can you ever just enjoy Him and realize just how good He is? And the work's done. The work's done. And from here, see what happens.

But He's good. Let's pray, and I'll be done. God, I don't know if I expressed things right, but I pray that You would align our hearts with Yours. Father, forgive us for thinking we can impress You with the things we do.

Or that it's about obligating You to do something for us if we're good. God, I want to just give that up forever. Thank You for being so good that You've accomplished what needs accomplished, and it's done.

It's finished. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Yes, Brandt Hansen on today's episode of Focus on the Family. And, boy, Jim, it's hard to live the way that Brandt was sharing about, to relax and trust God and just enjoy God's goodness. It really is, Jon. And I think there's something about our culture, especially in North America, maybe the U.S.

I don't want to speak for Canada, but it pushes us into a lifestyle of always striving for that next thing, the next promotion, the next purchase, the next upgrade. And that's not what God wants for us. If you're in a time of life that is difficult, perhaps you're suffering and you really can't see God's goodness in your life, give us a call. We would be honored to listen to you, to pray with you, and provide you with some insight and advice from a biblical perspective. And if you'd like to receive a call back from a counselor, we can make that happen as well. We want to be here for you.

Right. And our number is 800-A-FAMILY, 800-232-6459. And if you appreciated Brandt's message today, I'd highly recommend his book called Blessed Are the Misfits. It's written for introverts like Brandt who struggle to fit in with the typical American church culture, which often seems to be full of enthusiastic extroverts. Get a copy from us here at Focus on the Family as you partner with us in ministry. We'd be happy to send the book to you for a donation of any amount, and we'll include a free audio download of Brandt's entire presentation with extra content.

And our number is 800-A-FAMILY, or follow the link in the episode notes to donate to the work of Focus on the Family and request your copy of Blessed Are the Misfits. Next time, Gil and Brenda Stewart share the challenges of remarriage. We pretty much laid it right out at the very beginning because the beginning of the relationship was, is trust and honesty. If we can't have that, we had a handshake at our second time out and said, if we can't have that, nice knowing you.

See you. On behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for listening today to this Focus on the Family podcast. Take a moment please, leave a rating for us in your podcast app and share this episode with a friend, won't you? That really helps us spread the word and increase the impact of what we do. I'm John Fuller, inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. Your marriage can be redeemed, even if the fights seem constant, even if there's been an affair, even if you haven't felt close in years, no matter how deep the wounds are, you can take a step toward healing them with a hope restored marriage intensive. Our biblically based counseling will help you find the root of your problems and face challenges together. We'll talk with you, pray with you and help you find out which program will work best. Call us at 1-866-875-2915.