Strength in your Struggles (Dr. Evans)

Sometimes life just gets tired and you'll get up and go with gotten up in God. Dr. Tony Evans says even when it feels like you've got nothing left, God's right there with a message. What he wants to do is let you know I am there with you and what you're going through. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative.

Everybody knows that exercise builds strength, but Dr. Evans says there's an even better kind of strength we get when we do less, not more. In today's message, delivered back in February 2020, just weeks after his wife's passing, he explains how we can find strength in times of life's toughest struggles. My husband, my niece, my father in November, my wife in December, and so it's been one thing after another, so much, so many tears, so many unanswered questions, one thing after another, and many of you know what it is to have one thing after another, to struggle with the pain of life's realities that are inescapable, and if you've not been here yet, keep living, because life has a way of throwing curveballs.

The unexpected, sometimes you even get hit by the pitch. God's people were struggling in Isaiah 40. They were struggling bad as this chapter prophesied the Babylonian captivity, and it speaks about their struggle, and they ask in verse 20, 27, or they say, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice do me escapes the notice of my God. What they're asking is, God, what's going on? God, where are you? Don't you see my pain? And while we could all be spiritual and pretend we never think that way, there are those times in our lives when God seems to be conspicuously absent, unlocatable.

This is what they were facing. Where are you, God, when my world is falling apart, when God speaks into their situation? He does not speak scientifically, technologically, academically, or philosophically. He speaks theologically, because he raises the issue in verse 28, do you not know?

Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary and tired? His understanding is inscrutable. He says, when your world is real, this is not the time to run from him.

This is the time to run to him. He says, do you not know? And then he throws out theological concepts. He is everlasting.

His understanding is inscrutable. And he's creator. Everlasting, omnipotent, omniscience. All-knowing, all-powerful, and eternal. You must retreat to the character of God in the crisis of life regardless of the emotion in the circumstances.

Let me serve notice on you right now. God is hard to understand. Sometimes he will explain. Sometimes he will give you reasons.

Other times, he will hold it close to the vest, either for a time or for all time. You can ask God a question, but you can't question God. Now, what's the difference? To ask him a question is to say, God, would you help me to understand that? To question God is to challenge him. Your children can ask you a question, but that's different than your children challenging you. It is up to him what he will explain and what he will refuse to explain. And if he refuses to explain it, it's because it is sovereign knowledge. It's best for us not to know it.

We answer some questions by our children and others we don't bother to answer because they wouldn't understand it, appreciate it, or benefit from it. Maybe not then, maybe never. These people are in crisis. And in this chapter, a chapter worth reading over and over, a chapter I've had to read as I've wrestled with these months of one thing after another. Let me just read a few verses from chapter 40, verse 18. He says, to whom will you liken me? A low view of God in a crisis means the crisis will control and own you.

A high view of God in the crisis means that the crisis has no longer the last word. Do not settle for the creation. Don't go looking at the stars for your horoscope.

He says, I made those stars. They don't dictate your future. I dictate your future. He says, I want you to recognize me even in the crisis of life. But we live in a day of the dumbing down of God. He says, empower us, empower us, but not a God who can dictate to us.

We live in a day where if I give you your two hours, you ought to be happy, God. And so when the world caves in and we're not used to dealing with the character of this God, we got all these blame games on God. And I had to remind myself, He is God when times are down. He is God when babies are born. And He is still God when mates are deceased. He has to be still God in both scenarios for you to make it through any scenario. He must be God.

And treated and respected as such. And so He says, do you not know? In this chapter, He says, I run the nations.

The nations are like a drop in the bucket. And the rulers, I control them like a speck of dust. So there's only one God and He's not applying for the job. And so when life caves in, as it has for me these 17 months for my family over this past year, and I've had to, true confession, wrestle with God.

These were my questions. Is my way hidden from the Lord? I've had to wrestle with God. I've had to retreat to what I know about Him. In spite of the circumstances I face. You don't deny the circumstances but they don't have the last word.

It seems like the hits keep coming and you can barely catch your breath. The Evans family knows what this is like. And in their collaborative book, Divine Disruption, Dr. Evans and his children pull back the curtain on their recent faith-shaking experiences to provide biblical wisdom and practical encouragement for how to deal with the hard, unexpected things we all face sooner or later.

Honest observations and insights can help provide answers you may find yourself searching for today or at some time in the future. We'd like to send you a copy of Divine Disruption today as our gift. And thanks for your donation to help continue the work of this ministry. And as an added bonus, we'll even include all seven full-length messages from Tony's current series, Living with Loss. This insightful collection of audio messages will minister to your heart during a time of personal loss and can help you find the best path forward. Just get in touch with us today to make the arrangements. We'll get the book and audio messages on CD or digital download into your hands right away. Online, go to tonyevans.org or give us a call 24-7 at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that information for you after part two of today's message and this.

Coming to theaters this November. I'm here in Bethany, the place where Lazarus was raised from the dead. I'm here in the place where it's believed was the tomb from which he walked when Jesus raised him from the dead.

Dr. Tony Evans brings the New Testament Gospels to life as he visits the locations of Jesus' earthly ministry, connecting them to their significance for humankind today. What do you think has died in your life? Maybe hope has died. Your relationships have died. Maybe your dreams have died. Guess what? Jesus is still the resurrection.

He can take things that are dead and bring them back to life again. November 15th, 16th, and 17th. Travel with Dr. Tony Evans on a life-changing, eye-opening journey with Jesus.

Find theaters, showtimes, and learn more at tonyevans.org. So what do you do? Is anybody here right now where life has caved in on you recently? A lot of you. What do you do?

How do you move in this scenario? He tells you. He helps you out. He says at the beginning of verse 31, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. The Hebrew word for weight is very picturesque because the word weight means to plait the hair. When women or men plait the hair, they intertwine sections of hair so that they are tied together in a tight way. When you straighten your hair, it's loose and hanging down. When you plait your hair, it has been tightly tied together so that it is no longer subject to the blowing wind because it has been tightened together by plait.

It was used of a rope where the strands were intertwined to make a stronger rope. So when he says, wait on the Lord, he's not talking about passively sitting down doing nothing. He's talking about plaiting your life, intertwining all of your life so that everything is wrapped and intertwined with him, so that there isn't church and the rest of my week. It's, God, I got started on Sunday morning, but my stuff is so messed up. My situation is so deep, I'm going to plait my circumstances, plait my decisions, plait my goals, and intertwine them with you Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and back again on Sunday. I'm not going to just straighten my hair on Sunday and let stuff blow it all week long. I'm going to plait this thing so that it is no longer subject to the circumstances. I am going to wrap up, tie up, and tangle up my life because when things get bad enough, the problem won't leave you alone. I mean, I wake up in the middle of the night.

I break out in tears two and three times or four times throughout the day. I see a picture. It throws me off.

I hear a reference. It throws me off. So I don't need what happened on Sunday. I need to be tied up with the God I met on Sunday all week long. The way you wait on the Lord is a hookup that you don't want to be disconnected from. How do you know that you're waiting on God this way?

Because the majority of your time you spend in worshiping, not complaining. Psalm 130 verses 5 and 6 says, you wait on the Lord with his word. If you're hurting today and life has collapsed, you read Isaiah 40. You read Psalm 42.

You read the Psalms are a great thing because it has so many different scenarios, but you go over, God, remind me of who you are. I need your character. I need your presence. I'm looking to you.

I'm wrapped up in you because my circumstances have wrapped me up. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 25 and 26 talks about how good it is to wait on God for his divine intervention, however he chooses to do that. And by the way, it's sometimes difficult to decide to go to God when you're in it. See, some folks want to get close to God because they're in a crisis.

The idea is to get close to God before you hit the crisis so you're already prepared for the crisis when it hit. Because Sister Evans was already close to God, she could cry out to him. She could see him. She could praise him even though life was ebbing from her body.

She didn't have to find him. They were already hooked up and planted when life fell apart. What will God do in your questions? Not questioning, but questions. He says those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. New strength. That means strength you don't currently have. And when God gives new strength, you'll see it in one of three ways. He tells you in verse 31, they will mount up with wings like eagles.

The first way that God gives new strength is his divine intervention. When an eagle kicks out an eaglet the first time, a baby eagle, it's trying to learn to fly. Usually the first time it can't fly because it doesn't know yet how to fly.

So it's just flailing trying to make it. But what the eagle will do when it sees the eaglet falling and it's not going to make it, the eagle swoops down, opens its wings, and catches the eaglet on the wing and lifts it back up to the nest. One way God gives you new strength is by swooping into your situation, grabbing you, and lifting you out of it. It's when God supernaturally intervenes and blows your mind by turning something around, by switching something, by reversing something. And that's when you get your praise on. That's when you say, isn't God good all the time? All the time God is good.

Because he came out of nowhere and with eagle's wings lifted you out of it. That's one way that God gives new strength. There's a second way God gives new strength.

They will run and not get tired. God gives new strength when he doesn't swoop down and take you out of it, he lets you run through it. He says, you're going to run. If you focus on me, even though you're running, I will give you a second wind so you can go further with this situation, further with this pain, further with this problem than you thought you could go, because I'm going to give you a second wind. Then there's a third way he gives you new strength.

It says, and they will walk and not become weary. The first way is he swoops down and just takes you out of it. The second way, he doesn't swoop down, he lets you go through the process of running, but he gives you the ability to keep going. The third way, you can no longer run. He says, they are walking.

They're walking on the third way. You see, sometimes life gets so hard you can't run and you've been left to walk. The first way is God's divine intervention. The second way is God's enablement to keep going.

But the third way, when you can't run anymore because you are now too tired, you're left to walk. That's divine encouragement. That's when God doesn't change the situation, he changes you in the problem. He doesn't turn it around like you prayed, but he does something in you that that no longer matters. He'll bring a person in your life to give you an encouraging word. He'll bring a song on the radio to inspire you. There'll be a sermon that you thought was prepared with only you in mind. That's when all he's doing is just encouraging you. Nothing has changed except you. Because sometimes God puts us in a position to accept something he doesn't intend to change.

And so all you can do is walk because your running ability is over. But in all three ways, he's given new strength. You know, I would love to say he only does the eagle thing, but that's not true. There are plenty of times he doesn't swoop down and just switch it overnight. I would love to say that, boy, he's going to give you something to focus on. So he's going to get you through and you're going to have the wind to run. But sometimes life just gets tired and you'll get up and go.

It's gotten up and gone. But what he wants to do is let you know I am there with you and what you're going through. They that wait upon the Lord will get new strength. And so I say to you today, and I say to me, don't you give up. Run to him, not from him in the crises of life.

Something I have to remind myself to do every day now. To run to him. Because I got to tell you, he didn't swoop down and do what I asked him to do.

And we ran through every option available to man to fix it. And so I'm walking. I'm walking.

We're walking. But in all three, he gives me strength. Dr. Tony Evans with his personal observations on God's sustaining power through life's most difficult times.

He'll come back with a closing story in just a moment. But first, I wanted to remind you of the special package of resources that can provide you with insight and encouragement during times of life's biggest struggles. It begins with all seven full-length audio messages from Tony's current series, Living with Loss, including material we won't have time to present on the air. In addition, we've added the Evans family's brand new collaborative book, Divine Disruption, holding onto faith when life breaks your heart. Together, these heartfelt resources can help sustain your emotional well-being and help heal the pain of personal loss. For a limited time, we can send this special Living with Loss package to you as our way of saying thanks when you reach out and make a contribution to help continue Tony's ministry here and around the world. Just visit tonyevans.org to make your donation and request this special package. If it's easier, you can also call us at 1-800-800-3222, and one of our friendly team members will assist with your resource request.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. There comes a time in each of our lives when God somehow disappoints us. How should we respond when it feels as though that's happened? Well, Dr. Evans explores that tomorrow as he takes an intimate look at how to cope with loss. Be sure to be back with us for that. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.