Worry, Faith, and the Words of Jesus

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live.

This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you today. Do you struggle with worry? Is this something you have wrestled with? Are you having late night conversations with the ceiling fan kind of thing in your life and you're looking at finances, you're looking at health, you're looking at job situation, you're looking at whatever, politics, doesn't matter.

Whatever you're looking at does it cause you to fret? Decades ago, I got the bad news from my wife's surgery. She had a surgeon that she had gotten an infection in her back after a particularly difficult back surgery.

He came up to the room to see me. I was waiting in her room. She had gone down for surgery. I was waiting in her room and he said, look, she's got an infection and she's going to need to be here for three months.

I would go in every couple of days and do a wash, what they call a washout, irrigated out and resew it and do it again several days until we are sure that this infection is out of her body. So it's going to be about three months. And I just looked at the wall. I'm standing there. I can see that moment in time still today.

It's fresh in my mind. I was thinking about our children at home, their school, my job and Gracie's in the hospital and everything else is going on. And I said, I can't do this for three months. I wasn't saying it to him. I was just saying it to the wall.

And I felt his hand on my shoulder. The surgeon said, you're not going to do it for three months. You're going to do it for 24 hours.

You're going to do it for today. And then he added that passage from Matthew 634, tomorrow will worry about itself. And up to that point, I knew that scripture, but I had not had it applied to my life in the way that it was getting ready to be. And I had to learn that in a much different capacity.

And that was one of several three plus month stays that we've had in the hospital currently still here in this four plus month stay. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Do we believe that? Do we believe Jesus when he said, therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself each day has enough trouble of its own?

Before we answer whether or not we believe that, do you think it's worth our time to go back one verse prior to that? To understand what the therefore is, therefore. When Jesus said, therefore, don't worry about tomorrow. Okay, well, what is the therefore?

Therefore. And the verse before that says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, and then we get do not worry about tomorrow, but then hold on. It says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Okay, well, what is the but therefore? That's in verse 33. Go back to verse 32 for the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. The Gentiles seek after what things?

31 Therefore, do not be anxious. What shall we eat? What should we drink?

What should we wear? Wait a minute. There's another there for what's that there for? Well, you go back to verse 30.

But if God so close the grass of the field, but if you notice there's another but there, it says, but if God so does this, okay, well, what do you mean, but, but, but, but what? Go back to 29. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. One of these what?

Go back to 28. Are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spend. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory. All right. Are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. Is that where he started the thought process? We went from clothing lilies to tomorrow will take care of itself.

Where did this thought process that Jesus was outlining come from? And you go back even one more and it says, and which of you being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Okay. Now we've gone from adding an hour to clothing to being anxious. What shall we eat or drink?

And then don't worry about tomorrow. Well, where did this all start from? And if you go back to Matthew six, you could see this whole discourse that Jesus set up. We started with the Lord's prayer, teaching us how to pray and then saying, you know, don't lay up treasures here on earth.

There's more going on here. The eyes, the lamp of the body. If your eyes healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eyes bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. You remember that discourse. And then he says, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore, verse 25, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink or about your body or what you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air. Then he goes through this whole lengthy series of things about harvesting food, clothing, drink, everything that we spend our time fretting on. And Jesus said, you don't have to worry about this. If you're seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. And so I ask you, Christian, what do you believe? Do we believe this?

And if we believe this, why do we worry? And so when I sat there in that hospital room and that surgeon said to me, tomorrow will take care of itself. Now, he wasn't saying seek ye first the kingdom of God. He took that one verse and gave it to me. And I appreciate that scripture never returns void. I get that. But the proper way to do that, to exegete that is to go back and look at the whole passage.

Jesus is laying it all out of how we're to live as Christians. That is absolutely in contradiction to our American culture, which says we've got to do this. We've got to do this. We've got to do this. We've got to plan for this. We've got to have a five year plan. Let me tell you something.

I've been in the hospital for four and a half months. You can't have a five year plan when you're dealing with what I'm dealing with. I can't have a five week plan.

In reality, I can't even have a five hour plan. But what does scripture say about our plans? And what does scripture say about his plans? And what does it say about worry? What are we worrying about? I understand we get afraid of these things and they're fear worthy.

My wife just had her 98th surgery. These are not insignificant things. And this is the human condition. Mark Twain said, I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. We imagine things. We live in the wreckage of our future. Corey 10 Boon says, worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. But go back to what Jesus himself said. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

Now look at this. He's got the flowers. He's got the birds. He's got the clothing. He's got the harvest. He's got it all. And he's got you too. He's got me. He's got my wife in the hospital. He's got her. He's there.

None of this caught him by surprise. And if we, I heard a quote the other day, if we could hear Jesus praying to the father on our behalf in the next room, how would we deal with life today differently? And somebody said, well, I'd bust through the drywall to go over there and grab a hold of Jesus and say, help me, help me, help me. I thought that was pretty good.

But, but you get the point. You have a great savior who is praying for you. You have a father who's got you, who's got you.

Sorry, that's my southern accent that comes through. Who's got you? No, he's got you and he does have you. You know the scripture that says the effective fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much. Now we tend to think about that on a human level, but I think about that on a savior level because who is righteous? Christ, it's his righteousness and he is fervently praying for you and me. Fervently praying without ceasing. You think his prayers are effective? Does that give you comfort? Does that strengthen you?

Does that equip you? I got to tell you about these last four months in the hospital. This has been ever present on my mind to think about this. Christian, what do you believe?

Am I worried about certain things? My father used to ask, are you looking at it from man's point of view? Are you looking at it from God's point of view? Is this the way God talks about this? Is this the way you fret about this? Does that resonate with you today?

Does that lift your eyes a little higher? Let's talk about this a little bit more when we come back from the break. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Truth Talk Live. If you want to weigh in, it's 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-348-7884. We'll be right back. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. 866-34-TRUTH.

866-348-7884. We're talking about worry today, which is something, I mean, you cannot turn on the news and avoid seeing somebody worrying about something. They're fretting about something, particularly cable news. I mean, the angst on cable news is a bit alarming. I don't know how they do it without just guzzling Pepto Bismol. Try turning off the news for 24 hours and see how your temperament changes. But they are vested. That's how they make a living is keeping their audience amped up.

And it takes an enormous amount of concentration to not get sucked into that. Oh, what are we going to do about this? Well, Trump said this or this person did this or Biden did this or everybody's fretting about something. But what about the church? You remember last week I said the church has a responsibility to speak with a prophetic voice into the state, the secular world. And when I say prophetic voice, a lot of people misinterpret that and think I'm talking about, you know, speaking with prophecy and saying this is going to happen here and here. All we have to do is speak with the scripture. Say that's the prophetic voice that God has provided us the scriptures to say what his decree is and all we have to do is say it, declare it, pronounce it. We're not responsible for results. We're not responsible for other people believing it, but we are responsible to say it and to speak truth into this.

Not my truth, not your truth, his truth because he is truth. That's it. Period.

It's not complex. It's very direct, very distilled down to. But first, before we can say it to our culture, before we can say it to the state, before we can say it to the media, we have to be able to say it to ourselves. And if we are consumed with worry, how can we speak the confidence and the boldness of the gospel if we're double minded?

If we're fretting, fretting, fretting, oh, Lord, how can we do this with calmness and assurance? And I go back to what happened in the hospital room with my wife when this wound opened up. I mean, it was graphic, 10 to 12 inches, 4 inches wide on your entire thigh.

It's called dehist, that's the word, medical term, dehist. And I helped her sit up. The surgeon had taken the sutures out and left.

Gracie was laying down and after she left, I helped her sit up and that's when it just opened up. Now, for those of you surgeons and nurses in this audience, you may not get worked up about that sort of thing. I studied music.

OK, so let me just clearly communicate to you. I was reminded vividly of why I'm not a surgeon, but my wife needed me to help her stay calm in this thing and not fret. And I grabbed her hand and she was breathing very hard and she was really struggling.

It was on the verge of panic. And I said, don't look down, just look at me. And then I started singing with her. In my life, Lord, be glorified, be glorified. And she started singing with me. Now, I have a team of nurses and then surgical residents came in there. I mean, there were a lot of people in there. And Gracie starts singing on her own then.

In my leg, Lord, be glorified today. That's extraordinary, isn't it? I was stunned. They were stunned.

They couldn't believe it. They didn't stop working, but they couldn't believe it, that she wasn't screaming. She wasn't panicking. She wasn't yelling and she wasn't anything. She was asking God to be glorified in her leg. And it was laid open.

This is what the scripture speaks to for us as believers, that we can exhibit this to the point of the world marveling at that level of calmness and clarity and focus in the midst of hardship. She wasn't thinking about tomorrow. I promise you, she was not thinking about the next day. She wasn't thinking about our taxes. She wasn't thinking about what are we going to get at the grocery store.

She wasn't thinking about anything. Her leg was laid open and she was saying, God be glorified in this. This is not unique to my wife. This is available to all of us. It is available to every one of us who put our hope and our faith and trust in Christ. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were singing hymns while in prison after being beaten. This wasn't around midnight for us. It was about eight thirty in the morning. But Gracie was singing a hymn while her leg was laid open. And that's on top of being in the hospital for months.

And the medical teams all around her marveled at this. Why? Well, they hadn't seen that before.

That's the first reason. But that is not what you normally expect for something like this. They expect people to panic and people to freak out and people to scream and rage and despair and all these kinds of things. They do not expect people to glorify God and ask him to be glorified in it. Yet this is what we are called to do as believers. It is so mind boggling to the world.

It cannot process this. Jesus said, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. The world says you are at peace when you have everything you want or think you want.

Jesus says you have me. Even in horrific circumstances. So this worrying that affects us and I have struggled with this for a lifetime. I may struggle with this for the rest of my life, but that's the point of the body of Christ is that we keep affirming this in one another.

We keep saying it back to one another. And this is not something I ever graduate from. This is something I reinforce every single day. I have to.

It's life itself. I'm frustrated here in Denver because I don't have a piano and I'm a pianist and I practice all the time. And I'm a little bit worried about my chops when I get back home, but I have to deal with that when I deal with that. But I remember the quote from Tchaikovsky who said the great Russian composer and pianist. And he said, if I don't practice, if I skip one day, I'll know it. If I skip two days of practice, my public knows it. And if I skip three days of practice, the world knows it. If he is saying that about his skill as a pianist, what is what is the the natural correlation to us as believers? If we skip one day of trusting God with our finances, with our health, with our job, with our marriages, with our relationships. If we skip two days, if we skip three days. Do you see the parallel? Do you see the do you see the precept here of the concept of what we as Christians are called upon to model? And we cannot do this in a vacuum.

We can't just squint our eyes real tight and say, oh, OK, this is how we do it. I'm not going to worry. I'm not going to worry.

I'm not going to worry. No, we anchor ourselves in the truth of the gospel. Do you not think that Jesus was hungry when Satan tempted him with bread? Turn these stones into bread. Do you not think he was hungry? He'd been fasting for 40 days. He was hungry. He felt he had a felt need. And how did he respond with the word of God? How do you and I respond then with the word of God?

What does it say? And some right now that are listening to me right now are going through some pretty brutal things. I get it. I understand it.

We are too. So I say to you, Christian, what do you believe? What does the word of God teach? What does it say? It says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things. Bread, clothing, fields of the harvest, all these things.

The birds neither sow nor reap. All these things. And more than we could ever imagine will be added to us. Will it come the way we want it? The way we demand it? Will it come when we want it?

Not that I've seen. You've heard the saying that God is never late and I've often when praying said, Lord, you are choosing to ignore some great opportunities to be early. But he's God all by himself and I choose to trust him. Will you? 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. This is Peter Rosenberger and this is Truth Talk Live and we will be right back. Truth Talk Live! You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Music Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger and I am very glad to be with you.

You can find out more at PeterRosenberger.com. If you want to be a part of the program today we're talking about worry. And we're talking about the impact it has on us and the number to call if you want to join in.

866-34-TRUTH, that's 866-348-7884. My mother told me this a while back and it was such an impression on me. She and dad were going through some challenges in their journey. They were married for 66 years. Dad is with the Lord now and that happened last year. But as they were getting close to the end and dad had Parkinson's and mom was struggling. And dad looked at her and said it's going to be okay. And she looked at him and she said how do you know this? He looked at her and he said very calmly because I know God. And she said immediately settled her down because it reminded her of a greater truth. And the ultimate assurance that we have. And I thought what a profound legacy to leave. Saying such a statement because I know God.

Oh God our help in ages past. Our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home. I'll quote that hymn for the rest of my life, Isaac Watts. It's one of those great defining statements that we can say to ourselves. I want to be able to say that to myself.

How about you? Can you say that? I know God. And by the way a great story on Isaac Watts. Who was basically the author of the American hymnal there for many years. The Protestant hymnal. He authored so many great hymns. Of course, Oh God our help in ages past. Alas and did my Savior bleed, when I survey the wondrous cross, joy to the world.

Jesus shall reign wherever the sun. I mean the man was prolific. And the Psalter, I mean the hymnal that was used during the early part of our country was written by Watts.

He literally compiled the hymnal. And there was a great story about a Presbyterian minister named Joseph Campbell. And he was from Rhode Island. And during the Revolutionary War and the conflict that was going on all there in the New England states. Colonies at the time I guess. He was a minister and his wife, I believe it was his child, but certainly his wife was killed.

When British troops or Tories or somebody shot into their home and killed her. And he was then, he left what he was doing and became a chaplain embedded in the Continental Army. Which by the way the Continental Army was established. Chaplains were established in the Continental Army before there was a country. That's how long that we have had military chaplains. And he was a chaplain embedded there with the troops. And at one point they ran out of wadding paper for their muskets. And Campbell, Reverend Campbell, he ran into a church. They came upon his troops, his regiment that he was with. And he ran in there and he came out with a hymnal holding it high up in the air to use the paper for wadding paper.

The pages of the hymnal. He said, give them Watts boys. And I thought that was such a great statement.

Give them Watts boys. One of my favorite stories. And there was such a, yes we're using the paper for wadding. But you're also anchoring yourself in these great hymns of the faith. And Isaac Watts was certainly a titan when it came to hymn writing. But we remind ourselves of these things that we do know God. The problem is, I have found for me is that I have theological amnesia. I have gospel amnesia.

I've got to be reminded of it over and over. I remember I was talking to a pastor one time and I said to him, every sermon needs to reflect the gospel. We need to remind of the gospel. Everyone preaches it constantly. And he said, well I'm comfortable knowing the gospel.

And I looked at him and I said, I'm not. I've got to be reminded every single day. I have gospel amnesia. And I think that's where worry takes root when we are not focused on the things of God. And we let our eyes lower down. I go back in this, I've been going through the book of Acts and I go back in this story of Paul and Silas.

You know the backdrop. They had gone to Philippi in Macedonia and they were preaching. And as they were going around there was this slave girl that followed them. And she was possessed by a spirit of divination. And she had owners that gained a lot by her, quote unquote, fortune telling. And she was going around and sneering at Paul and Silas.

These men are the servants of the most high God who proclaim to you the way of salvation. But she was not saying this in a way of honoring and giving praise to God. She was saying it in a very demonic, sneering way. And finally Paul just got greatly annoyed. He turned around and he just said, look, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

And it came out that very hour. And the owners saw this and they were like, you know, we've lost our money maker here. And so they dragged Paul and Silas to the marketplace and said, hey these guys are causing all kinds of problems. And the crowd jumped on them and tore their clothes. Sometimes they would strip them naked but in this particular case I would imagine it was to expose their backs because they started beating on them with rods. They were just lashing into them. And I don't know how many beatings they got.

I'm sure it was pretty rough. And then they took them into the prison and put them in stocks. And they took them deep inside the prison, not just to the outside, into the inner, maybe even underground. And they put them in stocks, not the kind of stocks that were just to hold them immobile but the kind that actually caused them even more pain. I mean they were in great distress. But then you look and see them singing around midnight that night and a great earthquake came and they were set free. And then this jailer had, he saw that the prisoners under his watch, you know, I mean this had happened. The doors were flung open. He assumed they'd all escaped.

It's probably pretty dark. He doesn't know what's going on. And so he's going to kill himself because he knows that his life is forfeit. And just as he was about to kill himself, verse 28, one of the greatest words in the entire Bible, but, but, all is going this way, but, but God, but God stepped in.

And in this particular case it says, but Paul cried with a loud voice because Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and he said, do not harm yourself. We're all here. He didn't go anywhere. He could have left, but he didn't. He stayed right there, recognizing that God had work for him to do. But, and God and the people of God intervene in these situations under the supervision of God, intervene in what could have been a disaster for this man in a couple more seconds than he would have taken his life. And he would have died not knowing Christ as his savior. And the jailer called for lights and he rushed into the darkness. Paul's yelling this out from the darkness.

And he fell down and he said, you know, what do I got to do to be saved? When we think about worry, when we are in a situation that is incredibly uncomfortable and quite frankly fearful, they were in the dark, they were beaten, they couldn't even get wound care. I have, I'm here at the hospital and I have wound care people show up almost instantly, anytime there's any kind of wound going on with Gracie and they're coming in all the time to put stuff on dress, the bandages, all kinds of stuff.

There's so much care going on for her. These guys were beaten and they had none of that. Not one ounce of care. And they were, you know, they were dirty, they were bloody, they were tired, they were hurting, you know, probably a very nasty smelling place and they were singing hymns. They didn't seem to be worried enough to stop singing hymns. They didn't have an account of saying, oh God, what are we going to do? They just praised God. They prayed and they sang. And then the earthquake came and they were set free, but they didn't go anywhere. They just stayed right there. And the jailer didn't know because it was dark. There's not electric lights in there. That place was just a pit. And they said, don't kill yourself. Don't hurt yourself.

We're here. And he runs in there and says, you know, what do I got to do to be saved? I'm not totally sure. He wasn't just thinking of his own skin. Maybe he was thinking of eternity.

I don't know. It sounds like he was. And Paul and Silas right then and there believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved at you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them in the same hour that night and washed their wounds. They didn't get their wounds washed until well after midnight. They had been beaten during the day. They had gone eight, nine, 10 hours, possibly with just bloody wounds. And they were bruised and they were hurting and they were smelly and it was just awful.

And here's this guy now washing their wounds. It's an exceptional story and an account of tremendous faith that God is who he says he is. Is there any doubt in your mind that Paul knew God?

He certainly knows him perfectly now. As my father said to my mother, because I know God. That's where the confidence comes in.

And that's what I aspire to. I got to tell you, during these four and a half months here in the hospital, my faith is quelled at times. This has been a grind for us and we're no stranger to grinds.

I mean, we've been doing it for four decades, but this has been a grind. And I look at Gracie and I sometimes wonder, Lord, are you sure you know what you're doing? And my father's words come back to me, I know God. And I am reminded of these things because my worry is foolish in the presence of an Almighty God. But I see through a glass darkly and it's hard for me to see that sometimes.

Maybe that's where you are today. And that's why we go back to the text and we see the evidence thereof and we remind one another to build one another up. Do not be anxious about anything, Paul later wrote, but in everything give thanks. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, don't let your heart be troubled. Don't worry about this.

Don't worry about tomorrow. It's hard for us to do that. But that's yet, that is what we are commanded to do. And scripture gives us evidence of why. We are to walk by faith, not by sight. Paul and Silas were literally in a dark cave, if you will, underground, most likely. There was nothing to see. I don't even know how he knew the jailer was going to kill himself.

But he did and he stopped him because Paul knew God. And I want to as well. This is Peter Roseburger. This is Truth Talk Live 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH. We'll be right back. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is people so glad to be with you. 866-34-TRUTH if you want to be a part of the program.

866-348-7884. Glad to be with you. We're talking about worry. That slow, gnawing fear that God's not paying attention. You know what I'm talking about. You feel it. We've been there. This is the human condition. But what if the very things that seem the most ridiculous, the stuff that makes absolutely no earthly sense, are where God does His best work?

What do you think? And I go back to what I've been dealing with here for the last four and a half months. We came here to this hospital for two surgeries. That was over four months ago. She's now had eleven, which brings her to ninety-eight. Yes, ninety-eight.

In her lifetime. And I was talking to my mother this morning about this. My mother's a pretty wise lady. And she said, she pondered on it for a little bit, she said, you know, this is so ridiculous it has to be God. This is so ridiculous.

This is so ridiculous. It has to be God. And she wasn't trying to make a joke. She was really making a confession. And I don't mean confess like you confess your sins. A confession's like being a part of a confessing church where you have a creed that you confess with your mouth. Like what it says in scripture, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess. And that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's what she was saying.

It was a statement of faith. Because when something else doesn't make sense, that's when you need to stop for a moment. Well, I need to.

I don't know about you need to, but I need to. And say, you know, what's God doing here? And God, have you ever noticed the habit of showing up in the absurd? Have you ever noticed that? All of a sudden you realize, oh, this is what he's doing.

And it makes no sense. I mean, think about Moses at the Red Sea. And I love that in the Ten Commandments with Yul Brynner playing Pharaoh.

And they see all the Israelites camped out at the Red Sea. And Yul Brynner, as only Yul Brynner could say, Moses is God. He's not a very good general. You know, it's my best Yul Brynner. So let it be written.

So let it be done. But he said he's not a very good general because it was absurd. There was no exit. But he didn't understand God. You remember the story of Naaman. He had leprosy. And his servant had heard about Elisha. And he went to him and said, hey, hey, can you help him out? And he got an audience with him. And Elisha said, tell him to go down and wash seven. And Naaman was furious about it. And his servant said, hey, look, I know it sounds ridiculous. But if he'd given you something hard to do, you would have done it. This is something simple. Just go down and wash seven times.

What's it going to hurt? So he went down there and of course he was healed after the seventh time. And a whale. It's so ridiculous.

But here we are. You know who mentioned Jonah more than anybody else? Jesus. And then you think about Mary. Angel Pearson, you're going to have a baby. The son of God. And Mary's like, I'm a virgin.

How's this going? I'm not going to have a baby. It's ridiculous to the human mind. But what does scripture say about that? About the foolishness of man versus the foolishness of God.

Because we talk about that. We see that in scripture. And we realize that man is trying to put on to God what we think makes sense. 1 Corinthians 1.25, For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And I don't know what Paul meant when he said the weakness of God is, because I don't think it was hyperbole.

But basically, don't even try to put our understanding of this. You know, I saw a picture the other day of a Model T car. And it was on the road parked next to a Tesla Cybertruck. One hundred years of technology separated those two vehicles.

One hundred years. Now you think about it. A Model T next to a Cybertruck. You ever ridden in a Cybertruck? I've ridden one.

My nephew has one. And actually it drove me on a dirt road in Montana and it's driving down the road. It's an amazing vehicle. It's a stunning piece of technology. Far different than a Model T. Now, imagine then us and the things of God.

What our understanding is versus... That's just a Model T next to a Cybertruck. But think about the things of God that are so much more than we could imagine. And yet we worry.

I do. I don't know about you, but I worry. I fret over these things because it's so ridiculous.

And then my mother stopped me cold. Sometimes when we see things that are so ridiculous, it must be God. You remember when all the people got bitten in the Israelite camps by the snakes because they were disobedient and God told Moses to fashion a bronze snake and put it on a pole and hold it up?

And anybody that looked to that would be healed? Well, they were also told not to make idols or make graven images. And Moses is doing this out of just pure obedience. It doesn't even make sense.

It's ridiculous. And yet that's how God did it. The people marching around the city of Jericho. Go out every day and just march around it.

Every day you march around it seven times and then you yell. And the walls came tumbling down. David. He went to kill Goliath and Saul put on his armor. It didn't even fit him. David said, I can't go out there like this.

I'm going to go out there just as I am. In the power and strength of the Lord, not with Saul's armor. It's ridiculous to send a little shepherd boy out there with a sling. And if you'll notice, Goliath was insulted by that. He said, this is ridiculous.

This is crazy. But he didn't know God. You and I do. It doesn't make any sense when I look at this journey that my wife has had. That she's even alive.

How do you live through something what she's gone through? Only God. So what does that say about our worry? What does that say about the way things? And when we challenge ourselves to say, you know what, I'm not going to worry about this. I'm going to trust Him in this. We're not trusting like idiots. We're not saying, you know, I'm just going to trust God and it's going to be all right.

It's going to be all right. Now that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about we're anchoring ourselves in the eternal promises of God. In the internal promises of God. That's where that peace comes in. That peace that passes all understanding. And until you've experienced it, it's hard to describe it.

It's hard to really. But if you have experienced that peace in the midst of things that are so ridiculous that they have to be of God, then you'll know what I'm talking about. And I think this is where we turn our attention.

Remember the great hymn by Helen Lemuel? You know, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glorious grace. Are we looking to Him? Or are we like Elisha's servant who is dismayed when he sees all the Assyrians out there, and Elisha, praise the Lord, just opened his eyes. And then his eyes were opened and he saw the entire host of heaven. Or this massive host from heaven. I don't know if it was the entire one, but it was pretty big. He wasn't freaking out anymore.

Do you think there's one that we just cannot see? And our freaking out is wasted time. Wasted time.

If you knew the answer was already on the way, would you freak out? And I would suggest you know that you wouldn't. We're called to live that way. It is difficult to do. It's contrary to everything in us. It is contrary to our nature, our sin nature. And I hate to say this, but the way we are wired as human beings because of sin is that we automatically don't trust God.

That's our default. In fact, you go back and look at the garden. Why do you think that they succumbed to temptation? Because they didn't trust God.

They wanted what they wanted, when they wanted it, demanded to know it. And look at the result. And we're all there. We were all there doing it. People said, well, I wasn't in the garden. Well, you weren't at the cross either. Because you talk about the ultimate absurdity, the ultimate ridiculousness that our Savior would be executed on the cross. Can you imagine what that must have sounded like to the first century Jews there when they were hearing that this, when Peter got upset, said this is Jesus that you crucified.

And can you imagine the ridiculousness of what they were hearing that it had to be God? And that's why when we are tempted to worry, when we are tempted to fret, and that's, for me, that's daily. That's hourly. You know that old hymn, I need the every hour? I put that on my CD, Songs for the Caregiver. And people ask, you know, why did you put that on there?

I guess it's because they haven't written one that says I need the every minute. But that's the, that's what we are called to do is to redirect our eyes, lift up our heads. And that is Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger, PeterRosenberger.com. Would you go out, take a look, sign up for our e-letter, enjoy what I got out there for you, and I look forward to seeing you next week. Don't worry. He's king. We'll see you next time.