Finding God When You Need Him Most - Experiencing God When You Feel Like a Nobody, Going Nowhere, Part 2

You may have read or heard that God created you as an individual, that you're custom-made, that you're one of a kind, and that He's got a great plan for your life.

But you may not know how to tap into it. If you want a sneak preview of what that plan is, then don't go away. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. I'm Dave Druey, and we're in the middle of Chip's series, Finding God When You Need Him Most. Today, he shares the second half of his message, Experiencing God When You Feel Like a Nobody Going Nowhere, with an encouraging truth. No matter how we think of ourselves, God values us deeply and genuinely loves us for who we are.

Well, let's learn more about that as we join Chip for his talk in Psalm chapter 139. Let me ask you a question. When's the last time you got up in the morning? I'll give you time to at least throw the comb through your hair, if you have hair. Brush your teeth, if you have teeth. Smile right in the mirror, hands on your hips. Look in the mirror and say, wow, what have you created, God?

That is awesome. Boy, do I like me. I'm the only one in the whole world. I'm unique.

I'm wonderful. Just this height, just this personality, just this eye color, just this bone structure. God, thank you for making me different than everyone else. When's the last time that remotely came to your mind?

If never is the thought coming through your mind, you're probably typical. You want to know the mirrors that we look at? You want to know how this really works?

In fact, this will make David so angry because it happened in his day too. Here's the mirrors that women look at because they do most of the shopping, hope not all. They're going through the supermarket and there in the library of great literature at the checkout counter is Globe, Star, Inquire, People Magazine, and Cosmopolitan. What's on the front of those magazines?

Us and fitness are getting up there too. Pretty people. Less than one percent of the population. Rumors have it that one percent takes injections to look like the top one percent of that one percent. And the women of our day walk by that, walk by the commercials, walk by a world inundated to tell them outward beauty makes you someone.

It's a lie. They buy it, we buy it. Do you realize the huge percentage of Christians that don't really like themselves, that spend most of our energy wishing we were like someone else? So we figure out ways to do it. And it's, you know, it's almost classic.

You almost wish you could come from Mars and come down and kind of look at the world. This group of people thinks you have to drive this kind of car, wear these kind of clothes, wear your hair this way, and shop there. That's in. There's this other group and they think, oh no, that's preppy, uncool, and materialistic. So they buy real baggy stuff, shop here, shop here, shop here, call themselves rebels, and all look alike. How do rebels all look alike? This group says you have to live over here and do that.

This group says, no, you have to live over here and do that. And the mirror that we look in is the world system, the cosmos, the Bible calls it. You know who's the ruler of the world system? The great liar.

And you know what his goal is? His goal is to help you look in the mirror every day and not like what you see and try and be someone else. Because until you like you because you're made by God in his image and you bring something unique to the table, you'll spend all your life frittering, frittering, frittering it away trying to be something that you aren't. And spending endless hours, endless money, endless time to be acceptable to them. I still haven't found them.

Have you? Who are they? What they think, you know, they don't exist. And so we mindlessly buy what we don't need, dye, color, inject, reframe, work out, trying to be a somebody when you're already a somebody. The person that counts the most looks at you and I'm telling you from his word, you are precious in his sight. You are awesome.

Now I don't mean to make light and I push that kind of to the extreme because I wanted you to see it. I understand that you can grow up in a home and people tell you you're a nobody forever. It's hard to shake that. You can be abused, you can go through rough relationships, you can be through difficult times and you can live in a world system where everyone's telling you if you don't look like that, if you don't have these kind of smarts, if you can't do this and if you can't do that, you are a nobody. And I understand there's a massive world system knocking on your door saying you are a nothing, you are nothing, you are nothing and chip at one hour a week saying, hey, you know, God's word says you really are someone.

It's not working. I've watched my wife decide to take this passage as truth and memorize and think and ponder and read and begin to believe that she's precious in God's sight. I married a very shy person who did not like themselves very much at all and I thought how could, you know, eyes of the holder, but I thought she was winsome, funny, beautiful, attractive, but that wasn't her mental picture. And I've watched her like a flower bloom with the hard work of renewing her mind with scripture and understanding that she is precious in God's sight.

And ladies, it can happen to you and men, it can happen to us and you matter. This isn't the kind of thing that you change after hearing a 40-minute sermon. This is the kind of thing where you get some tools and you begin to think rightly and you begin a journey and this year, this time next year, you won't see yourself the same.

And the year after that, it'll be more different. Now, I have a confession to make as she reviewed all those cards having the ridiculously good self-image that I've always had. No, I learned, I got more sophisticated and I learned to mask on my insecurities and I figured out which hoops people wanted you to jump through and so I just did them. And being a workaholic, setting goals, I did decent at jumping through the right hoops. It's a facade.

It's just a facade. So 20 years ago, when she starts reviewing these verses about who she really is, you know, just to be a helpful husband, I'd sit on the couch in the morning at night and I'd review them with her. And I realized my defense mechanisms were a little more sophisticated so my insecurities and poor self-image didn't show up but I had as many, if not more, problems than her. And so for 20 years, I've been working on it. And I want you to know that the Word of God will transform your life and that Romans 12 2 is true and it's real but it's not easy. Do not be conformed or molded to this world but be transformed, metamorphosized by the renewing of your mind that your life or your lifestyle could demonstrate, prove, or test that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. And so I've really, I've pounded on this one a little bit because ultimately you are not going to be precious in God's sight in your heart and your mind. You won't be awesome in his sight unless you believe what the Bible says is true instead of what the world says is true. And until you do, you're a slave and it breaks the heart of God.

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get right back to Chip's message, Experiencing God When You Feel Like a Nobody Going Nowhere. But before we do, Chip's with me in studio and Chip, just now you were talking about the importance of believing the truth of the Bible above all else. But that's a lot easier said than done nowadays because of the constant attacks on truth.

Well Dave, that's right. The fact of the matter is truth is rare in a world of lies. And people who've been fed a steady diet of lies have no appetite for truth. The generation coming up is being taught that it's offensive to believe that evil is evil and good is good. The notion of absolute truth isn't even on the radar of people who've been brainwashed that all opinions and all viewpoints are equally valid. Yet we know that the truth of God's Word is where we find the answers. And Living on the Edge is on a mission to equip people, including our children and our grandchildren, with the unchanging, life-transforming truth of God's Word.

Here's my question. Will you join us? Right now is a great time to partner with us because every gift you give, now through December 31st, will be matched dollar for dollar. Would you pray and then go to livingontheedge.org?

And would you join us today with a financial gift? Well if this is something you are passionate about, visit livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003 to make a gift. Your support will help us create tools and resources for parents, grandparents, and pastors to effectively disciple this next generation. And as Chip said, every gift we receive up until midnight on December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. That number again is 888-333-6003 or go to livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap donate. Well with that, let's get back to today's program as Chip shares the next truth we need to remember when we feel like a nobody going nowhere. Fourth, you need to understand God has a plan just for you.

Is that exciting? Not only are you wanted, not only are you understood, not only are you awesome in His sight, but He's got a plan for you. Now it's a plan not for somebody else, it's not a generic plan, it's a specific plan just for you. When He created all the universe in His infinite wisdom, He has a plan. Now you don't have to follow the plan.

You can stiff arm God. You can say, look, I know you know all things. I know you're orchestrating this for your divine purposes.

I know that you love me, you died for me, you care for me, you have all power, and you can produce good things. And if you're a good God, all your plans must be good. But you can say, but I'd rather do my own plan, my own way, trust my limited knowledge, do my own thing, but at least I get to stay in control.

It's called pride. God has a plan that you don't have to cooperate with, but it's a lot better if you do. Notice what it says, verse 16, second half, all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Is that wild? All the days, God knows the day you're going to be born, He knows the day you'll die. Is it fatalism? Not at all. Do your choices matter inside that?

Completely. You are a free choosing agent, but He knows what your choices will be. All the days ordained for you before one of them came to be, He knows the beginning from the end. And yet in His sovereignty, every choice you make, every decision you make matters and has significance. How precious to me are your thoughts, He goes on to say, oh God, how vast is the sum of them. He not only has a plan for you, but thousands of times each day, your name and picture and photo ID pops up on the divine mind of the eternal God. And because He is infinite, He loses no energy to have a thousand thoughts moment by moment about every person in this room and all over the globe simultaneously. See, He's not a bigger one of us.

He's a totally other. And so the psalmist says, rightfully so. This is a rendering. It's mine. Whoa. I mean, that's all my, let's get what you get here.

Whoa. You mean you created all that there is and there's all these people. How precious to me are your thoughts. You mean you're thinking about me. Yeah. You're orchestrating my life. You're highly involved. You care.

I'm wanted. Yeah. Isn't that amazing?

Were I to count them, in fact, they would outnumber the grains of sand. And now He says the plan doesn't just involve the now. It's not just this life.

Notice the next phrase. When I awake, I am still with you. God's plan for you begins in this life. Then you die. And when you awake, resurrection.

He says, I'm still with you. God has an eternal plan for your life that begins for some, maybe today. You are, you can fill this in, indispensable to God. Now, theologically, that's not correct.

Okay. If God never made you, if you never existed, if human beings were never existed, if He never created anything in the Godhead, He is self-sufficient. He needs by needs, like actual needs, nothing or no one. But He created you, made you and me the object of His affection. And so in His divine plan, you're indispensable.

In other words, His plan factors in every single person in this room and His plan for the universe and for your life. And they're intermeshed. Let me give you a quick picture because at this point, your body language is telling me, you know, Chip, I was tracking with you on that He knows me. And that felt pretty good. And on the part about being wanted, it was really hard. But okay, I'll by faith, He really wants me and He's pursuing me. And on the part that He made me, that was refreshing, but you threw my categories off and I'm still back there.

To think that I'm really awesome in God's sight. You know, I can't stand my own sight right now, so I must have a little work to do. But now you're telling me that I'm really indispensable.

I mean, I don't feel indispensable in my little network, let alone to the God of the universe. Let me give you a quick picture that will help. I am not a handyman. It's well recorded. So I did this project. I was fixing something in our home. And I turned this half-hour project into a two-hour project, which is my gift. And I put all this stuff together and, you know, put it together and you sort of get it to work. And so I did it, did it, did it.

Now I'm ready. And I got the whole thing back together. I got the part. I've got it completely done.

I've got it completely done. And all I need is one small screw. Now, not this long, this long. Not a different kind of threads, only this kind of thread. One small screw. I'm going to tell you one of the most frustrating days of my whole life, I lost the screw. I mean, I'm not a handyman.

I'm doing this in some noble gesture to tell my wife that I love her. And I don't understand why it means that anyway, but I'm one screw away. I'm going nuts. And I can't find it. And I've spent two hours. And then I realized that's how a lot of us are. We think, I don't, I must not matter. How much did that one small screw impact the entire appliance?

It doesn't work without it. And you know what? God's infinite plan, his loving plan for this planet, for his church, for doing things in your family, for doing things where you work, to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. And those of you that have kids, for those of you that are single, you know what? Every single part matters. You matter. You must find your spiritual gift. You must find where and how to get connected in his body. You must put into play the you he created to be a vessel to love and to care for other people. If you don't, will God get it done? Of course he will. You're not going to shanghai the plans of the eternal God. But will he do it in the way he originally intended?

No. Because you're indispensable and that you are a part of his plan. There's a couple problems there and let me highlight them.

The first one is some of you haven't signed on. In other words, you haven't invited Christ to be the savior of your life to say, I would like your plan to be accomplished in me. God is never pushy. He's a gentleman.

He's sensitive. He has high regard. He has so much regard for your will and your choices that you can say no to God, no to God, no to God, no to God. And he even created a plan where you can say no to him for eternity. You don't have to be with him. You don't have to follow his plan.

But that comes out of his respect for you. But to have him be a part of the plan where he orchestrates this knowing, being wanted, your design in a way that brings you incredible joy and fruitfulness in the life of others and brings glory to him, you start by asking Jesus to forgive you for your sin, to be your savior, to come into your life. And he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone, regardless of background, wherever you've been, if anyone hears my voice and will open the door of their heart and their life, he says, I will come into them and fellowship with them and he with me. Have you ever done that?

Have you ever done that? See, all these things are true, but we have a responsibility. It's to respond by faith and ask Christ to be our savior and then tell him, now, I want you to be the CEO of my life. I want you to be the chairman of the board. I want you to be my master.

I want you to be my king. I want you to call the shots because I am a smart Christian. And what I've thought is I can either do it my way, but if you are all knowing, all powerful, good, loving, compassionate, and you already have a plan, I'd like to follow that plan because your plan would be a whole lot better than my plan because of who you are versus who I am.

Here's the catch. And so even when it doesn't feel like it's a good plan by faith, I follow what your word says, prompted by the Holy Spirit in the unity of the fellowship of believers. And I'm going to do it your way. And I understand there's seasons of sowing and seasons of reaping and understand that it may not feel good all the time. And I understand that my allegiance is to you and that I will look back and I will see.

Everyone will have their 1988 to 1990 times when you feel like a nobody going nowhere, but you can't bail out of the process. In fact, David in the final point will make a very drastic, drastic response. He's going to say that God has this for everyone and each person needs to respond. But what he's also going to say is that there is a cosmic conflict at war in the world and at war in your heart to keep you from experiencing a God who knows you and understands you. To keep you from experiencing how much he wants you and is pursuing you. To keep you from experiencing to keep you from experiencing how precious and awesome there's a cosmic conflict going on to keep you from that, to keep children from hearing about it, for keep relationships not what God wants them to be.

And so people say, if it feels good, do it. And they break all the boundaries, all the commands of God. You know, when people do that, it always ends in death and destruction because people don't want to do it God's way. He's got a great plan, but it's not always popular.

It's not always politically correct, but it's divine and it's good. And so when David begins to see these great truths that the Spirit of God has revealed, now in verses 19 to 24, he's going to respond with a prayer, but he's going to respond with a prayer that when you first read it, you're going to say, whoa, man, this guy's really going off. God's really going off. He's going to respond with a prayer that feels very angry.

It's not, it's not piety. It's going to be a prayer of zeal. What is going to step back and say is all these forces are working. I'm getting on God's side. I want to do it God's way. He's affirming his loyal covenant love to Yahweh. And he's doing it from a Jewish mindset in the time.

Follow along. He's going to tell us God's world is warped with wickedness. And so there's a battle. God, if only you would slay the wicked, oh God. He said, all these things I've just talked about, they'd work, except there's people working against them.

Away from me, you bloodthirsty man. He was thinking the people that are evil, the people that just bring death and destruction, the people that pour chemicals into rivers, and they don't care how many kids get cancer. They just care how much money they get. The people that orchestrate tribes, warring against tribes and take all the money that the United Nations or relief groups give to those countries.

They go in there and butcher them. He's talking about those kind of people and he's mad about it. He says, they speak of you with evil intent and your adversaries.

They misuse your name. Do not I hate those who hate you? That's loyalty. I'm on your team. Oh Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?

That's loyalty. I have nothing but hatred for them. I count them my enemies. Now we read that through our New Testament eyes and our kind of sugar-coated Christianity. Oh, how terrible.

How terrible. I got news for you. You ought to hate some things that are evil. And I know, you know, hate the evil, but not the evil doer.

But you know all over the globe, there are bloodthirsty people. People that are abusing kids. People that are killing tens of thousands as we speak.

People that rob the food out of mouths for money, and children will die of starvation. I'll tell you what, God is against them. And you know what?

We need to be against them as well. Doesn't make good kind of nice lovey-dovey Christianity teaching, but it's biblical. But lest you get pious, lest you think this is a holier than thou, this is a loyalty to God's purposes and saying I'm willing to pay the price. Look at verse 23 and 24. David starts not with somebody else, he starts with himself. David says, hey, this is not I'm better than, this is God. We're in a battle and I want to be on your team.

But here's where the battle starts. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts, literally my misgiving thoughts, my failures.

And see if there be any offensive way, literally it's a way of pain in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Do you hear what he's praying? He's saying, God, I haven't arrived. God, I know now that you know me and understand me. God, I'm grasping that you really want me, that you're pursuing me.

I'm precious and awesome and you have a plan just for me. So God, I want you to search my heart. I know that I can't experience this unless I'm following the everlasting way.

Did you notice the contrast? Instead of the other way, the way of pain. Let me ask you, which way are you following?

You are a somebody. If you're a Christian, you're going somewhere. But you have a choice to make. Experiencing God when you feel like a nobody means you turn to him with all your heart.

You ask the penetrating questions. And you say, God, I surrender my agenda to you and I today choose to believe that I'm wanted, I choose to believe that I'm understood, I choose to believe that I'm precious in your sight, and I choose to believe that you have a plan for my life. I'm indispensable. Now, God, I choose today by faith to follow you with all my heart.

You show me what that looks like. And you will never ever be a nobody going nowhere. You will experience being a somebody. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. Will it be rewarding? Yes.

Will it bring glory to God? Yes. Will it be probably involving some hard, painful, early decisions?

Yes. What's the alternative? Where are you going with your life? Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Experiencing God When You Feel Like a Nobody Going Nowhere, from his series, Finding God When You Need Him Most. Are you wrestling with an unexpected crisis right now? Or trying to come to terms with a wrong done to you?

Whatever the struggle is, you're really desperate for help. In this series, Chip highlights a few meaningful psalms that can help us move from merely knowing about God to understanding his power and presence. Discover the ways God deeply cares about us, no matter what we're facing. If you've missed any part of this series, let me encourage you to check out the Chip Ingram app.

Well, Chip's with me in studio again. And Chip, I don't know if you know this, but we constantly hear from people who are deeply impacted by the Bible teaching of this ministry, whether they listen on our app, the radio, podcasting app, or on our YouTube channel. On our app, the radio, podcasts, or Sirius XM, Living on the Edge is Touching Lives. So take a minute, if you would, and share what really drives you in this ministry. Dave, I love to teach God's Word, and I love to bring some other young, dynamic teachers to teach God's Word. But at the heart of Living on the Edge is discipleship. You know, I was discipled by a bricklayer who met with me personally, taught me to study the Bible, put it into practice, share my faith, and actually learn the great doctrines of the church. What we see has happened in America and around the world is we've been able to get people excited about Jesus and come to Christ as the Savior, but we haven't seen people walk in his lordship.

And it's simply because many don't know how. And so Living on the Edge is committed to deepening their relationship with Jesus and eliminating the discipleship deficit here in America and around the world. Because a mature, godly, loving Christian is dynamic.

They're like a fragrant aroma that the sweet smell of the life of God that Jesus brings and is available to whosoever would believe. That's God's heart, and that's our heart. All of our resources, our small groups, our training, it's really geared around helping people mature, and that requires a significant amount of money. And right now in December, right up to the 31st, there's never been a better time to give to Living on the Edge. Every dollar you give will be matched dollar for dollar. Would you go to livingonthedge.org, our website, right now, and give whatever God shows you to give. And we will use your gift to make a difference to help Christians really live like Christians. Well, as you can hear, our heart is to disciple and teach Christians what it means to authentically walk with God. So if you believe in that mission too, let me encourage you to partner with us financially by going to livingonthedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. And now's a perfect time because every gift we receive until midnight on December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. That number again is 888-333-6003, or go to livingonthedge.org. App listeners, tap donate.

We'll hear again as Chip with his application. As we close today's program, I ended with a pretty strong challenge that said, you got to take the bull by the horns and you have to address this issue in your life. We all have seasons. Everybody has some times where you feel like a nobody going nowhere. And some people end up little by little creating a world where they're the victim and they talk about what happened in the past and where they've been and the raw deal they got and who walked out on them and the unfortunate circumstance and the job that they lost.

You know what? It's a fallen world and really bad, difficult, unfair things happen to everyone. The only issue you can control and I can control is our response to those. Now, how are you responding? When things go bad, when they're difficult, when we start inwardly focused, we get a victim mentality and then I feel like a nobody going nowhere. And then I begin to isolate myself and then my perspective gets narrow and I begin to lose sight of how valuable I am to God and that he actually has a purpose for me and a purpose in what I've been through. And so I'm going to give you a little checklist here, okay?

And this is sort of rubber meets the road. If you really want to turn from a victim to a victor, if you want to have some friends, if you want to be connected, if you want to have life and purpose, number one, own the responsibility for your own life. No one's going to change it.

God wants to help you but you need to draw near to him and his promise is he'll draw near to you. Number two, you can't do it alone. It's impossible.

Trying hard doesn't work. Trusting deeply does. Trust comes from truth. Truth comes from the Bible. You have to get in God's Word. You got to read it. It'll give you hope.

David said, if your word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. And so you need the truth but you need the truth then in community. You need people in your life. And you know some of you are listening to me and you're thinking, you know, I used to go to church, used to go to a Bible study or I'm kind of disconnected or I go to a church or maybe it's a big church or I sit in the back. You have to move forward and take some initiative. Yes, you're going to risk rejection but look at your life now.

How's that working for you? So you take some steps into the truth and into community. In fact, try this one. Look around and ask yourself, is there someone in my relational network that really needs a friend? So go be a friend and see if God doesn't reveal his great love for you in the process. That's a great reminder, Chip. And let me say here at Living on the Edge, we really believe in the power of community. And one of the best ways we can encourage that is by providing small group resources. Go to livingontheedge.org and click on the store button to learn more. Whether you want to build a stronger marriage, better understand God's character or biblically respond to our changing culture, we have something for you. Again, to learn more about any of our small group studies, go to livingontheedge.org and click the store button. Or you can call us at 888-333-6003. Let us help you build some life changing community today. Well, until next time, for everyone here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.