Where was God in the flood?

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Where was God. in the flood.

Now what's the Christian's response? to the tragedy um As today we mourn with Texas, lost lives, homes, destroyed families, right? The floodwaters rose and the question rose, especially among the ungodly.

Well, where's God? Where was God? And Romans 12, 15 tells us we mourn. with those who mourn and we acknowledge that, oh my goodness, this is unthinkable, especially when it's little girls at a Christian camp that are the you know among the most numerous. Of course, I'm here with my good friend and somebody who I knew was on top of it.

I I got a call Saturday. Robbie, are you aware of what's going on in Texas? And Always a heart. For These kinds of things, Dr. Day the Word Carson with me.

And so. Like you were saying right before the show, Doc, every atheist is. trying to point out to all the Christians out there Yeah. Where is your God? And if God is so loving, why would He allow such a thing to happen?

And we have to wrestle with these questions. And I'm glad to be with you today to talk about this subject as we talk with our listeners because. We talk about being prepared for tragedy. How do you get ready for those bad storms?

Well, how do you prepare your heart for tragedy? Because all of us are going to have some moments in our life where something's going to happen that's so unexpected and so unreal. Right. How could God allow this to happen? I've been with a parent whose baby was born, still born.

Wait a minute. Nine months of everything per perfect and the moment the baby is born, is born stillborn? God, what are you doing? And and then my mom dies on Mother's Day. Sudden heart attack.

God, what are you doing? And then we have these kind of tragedies, the storms, like the Job components. Right. And so, as you're listening, you know, maybe you had somebody ask that question of you, and God gave you an answer. Like, you didn't know what you were going to say under the circumstances, and all of a sudden, something came out of your mouth, and you went, Ooh.

That came from God. That came from the Holy Spirit. Or maybe it's a question you yourself are struggling with or something. We would love to talk with you. And the number to call is 866-348-7884.

That's 866-348-7884. If you have a question, a comment. But there's always the stories of the heroes, right, Doc? Yes. I guess these camp Directors were a big part of what happened, right?

Well, yeah, some of these camp directors lost their lives because it wasn't just one camp that was affected, multiple camps located on this river. And the stories that are coming out of people who gave their life to help someone else keep their life. And then the Coast Guard, you know, there was that Coast Guard, 100, I believe it was 168 people he was able to rescue. Wow. I mean, yeah, there's story after story of the heroes.

If it hadn't been for the quick action of a lot of people, we're looking at a whole lot more that would have died here. Because, you know, the suddenness. Of the raising of the water. I mean, one person was saying they looked at the river at 2:30, no big deal. It's coming up a little bit, no problem.

3:30, all of a sudden, we're running for our lives. That's how nature can be. And so, the good news is we know from Psalm 34:18 that the Lord is near. You want to know where He is? He's near to the brokenhearted, and He saves the crushed in spirit.

And I have a dear friend. a very dear, dear friend of mine that right now has been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and told he doesn't have much time, as you might imagine. And we were out Saturday at the time you were making that call. out on out fishing actually with him. And he was telling me, Robbie, it's been the absolute worst of times, but it's been the best of times.

I have never felt God like I have felt in this season. I have never sensed his comfort. I had no idea How amazing God was. Before this time in my life, you survived. I can't even begin to tell you.

Um How amazing this has been, not just Yeah. His experience with God personally, but he said, God coming through everybody that I know. Like the love that is poured out on me that clearly also came from God is just amazing. And of course, all these people in Texas are right now, you're hearing these stories because God not only works, obviously, clearly, He's got a special grace for those people that are going through these things. And You know, but he also sends messengers.

So we got Michael is in Winston-Salem. I bet this is a Michael I know. Anyway, it is a Michael, you know. How are you guys doing today? If not for God himself, Michael's wick.

So, yeah, it is, you know, and I want to give you guys credit for taking on this subject because it is not an easy subject to tackle. But at the same time, I think the atheists. or jumping all over this. Yeah. You know, they are, and you know, they're saying, How could a loving God let such things happen?

But honestly, you know, at times. You know, that's a question that that Comes up against us. Yes. And it may have come from Satan directly to us, but however it came, there it is. There's the question.

And so. You know, as as We're thinking about it, and people are calling in at 866-348-7884. What say you, Michael? Whoa. You know, I think if anybody comes to you and they if they have an answer for everything, and if they tell you, I know exactly why this happened in Texas and this is why God did it, I would say don't walk, but run.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are the next thing that I would say is this: I want to quote 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 19 through 26. It says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, We are of all men the most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man for since by man came death.

By man came also the resurrection of the dead. And so when I read that, Robbie, I realize that as Christians, This is not where our hope is in this life. And I want to remind the listeners right now that those young girls who died in Camp Mystic, if they believed in Jesus Christ, they are in heaven right now. And they are rejoicing with the angels. They are rejoicing with God.

They are rejoicing with Jesus right now. And instead of saying, Why did this happen? they're singing praise the lord praise the lord i mean we've all had we've all we've all been faced with these questions in our lives My wife, when she was a young girl, she had a dream that somebody close in her family died. And when she was seventeen years old, her mother was diagnosed with glioblastoma. and she died about six months about nine months later.

And she still asks to this day, well, why did that happen? And she finally said, I don't know why that happened. She said, but I know that God is good. You know, I've been a Christian guy for a number of years, and I would post all these Bible verses and all this other stuff, and I was walking with the Lord, and then one day. My wife came to me and she says, I no longer want to be married.

Well, how do I deal with that? I don't know, but I know that when tough times come to me. I praise the Lord. And you know, I had an older lady, I was in Asheville one time, and she said that when praises go up, Blessings come down. And I know when the devil still sometimes, he tries to get me frustrated.

He tries to get me angry. He tries to get me depressed. He tries to get me to doubt God. But when I start to praise the Lord and when I thank God for the good things that He's given me, I believe that the devil hates that. That's awesome, Michael.

Well, we appreciate your call, my friend. You have. An amazing day, and we'll look forward to, if not for God, coming up Saturday at 12 o'clock, right, in the non-WTRU. And the rest, like you, what do you what did God give you to say under these circumstances? Or maybe in your own situation?

866-348-7884. Where's God in the flood? We'll be right back. Truth talk lie You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

Today's question. Difficult. Where was God in the flood? As in response to the tragedy, as we mourn with those in Texas and we pray for those in Texas, you know, there's that question. Also, there's the question of what's your response.

In other words, what can we do to help? You know, what can we do to when people come to us with that difficult question? You know, where was God in the flood? And as these things wrestle around in your soul, what say you? What do you say to that person?

What do you think is helpful? What's not helpful? 866, the number to call in and share, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. I was telling Dr. Carson during the break, I interviewed Alex McFarlane, one of the first interviews I ever did with him.

He talked about how on 9-11 he felt called immediately. The second he saw what happened to go to New York City. And I don't know if he got a flight or how he got there, but he got to there. I don't think he flew. But he got there.

He got there because he told me. He said I was there. And I was like, okay, you got there.

So. And he said Okay. He was witnessing to all these people that had this very question, you can imagine, and all walking around Times Square, and this one man came from Ground Zero, who he said was an atheist. Yeah. And he said, all of you are saying, where was God?

He said, let me tell you, if God wasn't here, every day would be like this. Every day would be like this. And if you really think about that from a Christian's perspective, yeah, take God out of the equation. A lot worse than 9-11. A lot, a lot worse.

So it's some things to ponder, things to. to um really because like Mike was talking about, his wife has those questions. My my wife has those questions. People with a heart say, how can all these things be going on? And so this is where the scripture is like, we really need God to talk and he speaks these very things.

And he tells us that One of his big components with us is being there for the brokenhearted.

So while he he sees these things happening, he is going to come alongside. And Psalms 34, 18. Is a go-to verse, there's no question. But there's also Psalms 147, verse 3, where he heals the brokenhearted and he binds up their wounds. And as you were talking there, Robin, you made a statement about what would you say to a person?

One of the things that we need to know when tragedies are happening, many times. They don't need us to say anything. They just need us to listen. Had a situation at Liberty years ago where a mother. and a son are killed in a car wreck.

Um Horrendous. She was a professor at Liberty. He was a student at a Christian school. And he has a brother. And a father He has the the wife has a husband and a son.

That's now left. And my wife and I, Donita, we sat at his home with the father and the brother. And I don't think I talked for about two minutes out of two hours. They just needed to talk through it and some of the best counseling That people will be doing through this tragedy and others that come is just providing that listening ear. greater than my listing year.

Is God's listening ear. God hears the cry of the brokenhearted and um. For those, whether you're in Texas listening to this, or whether you right now going through, like Mike's wife, whatever you may be going through. God is a listening God. Yeah, that's beautiful.

And you may be thinking something that you would say. Please do. Please call us. 866 or that you wouldn't say. Like, I like that.

Be quiet. 866-348-7884. Again, doing other interviews and different things I've done on the radio has taught me so many things that I don't want to ever forget. One of the things I remember is this missionary told me that was in.

some horrific country. It was it was kind of like the Darfur, only worse. Like there was just genocide all over the place. And he went in and he was offering food and water to the people that had not had any for weeks and they were literally dying of starvation. People were there he said we needed more body bags than we needed anything else.

That's how much the death and degradation was everywhere. And he said when we were standing there offering people food and water, the first thing they wanted They wanted to tell us What happened? Yeah. They wanted to share their story. Yes.

More than they needed food, more than they needed water. more than they needed anything in the way of their words. What they needed No. was to share their story. That's powerful stuff.

We got Susan is in South Carolina. Susan, you're on Truth Talk Live. Thanks for calling. Hey guys, I just make a comment and then I want your thoughts, honey. As horrific as the situation in Texas is, Gosh has already warned people That we need to be training our children to study in the word.

We need to be teaching others, reaching out and discipling.

so that when these circumstances happened, People aren't left without a hope. They do go to heaven to be with Christ. And God, in his sense, is being merciful because he's taking the ones that he knows. are already saved. But sometimes you need a a visual warning to To have it make sense that this is what you need to be doing.

You need to be turning to God so that if this were to happen to you, you'd already have. a Savior who would pull you out.

So That's just my comment and I wonder what you guys think about that. Oh, I think it's absolutely beautiful that there is an element of the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. You know, shock and awe is what Elijah used on Mount Carmel, right? Yeah, and I mean, everybody says it's hard. God is judgmental, he's evil almost.

And he's not. He's looking out for people and sometimes they're just not getting it by listening. They have to see it. And as hard as that is, It's still merciful. This is a perfect time for Scripture says, Train your children, parents, you know, t bring them up in the ways of the Lord.

And if you're not doing that, now would be a great time to start because just like those parents, You think your kid's safe going to a Christian camp, but That alone doesn't protect them. Oh, no. This would be a good time for the the chocolate chip cookie plan, Doc, um, as as we have Susan, because I think she'll like that. Yeah. Um, I I want to say, Susan, that Mm-hmm.

Wife comes with a deadline. We begin to understand that as we Grow, life comes with some kind of unexpected deadline. We know that about ourselves, but we have to be reminded it's also for everybody else. We don't know when their life's going to end.

So, when do we share the gospel with them? And these become that reminder: every soul needs to be hearing the gospel with the urgency. And then there's a component that. As we do train up our children. All things work for good to those who love him.

Well, All things don't work immediately. And one of the analogies I like to use is that of a chocolate chip cookie. I've worked with many people going through tragedy. I've been in a home with a family that their son had been killed in a car wreck. And I said to the mom, I said, What I want you to do is get me the ingredients right now for a chocolate chip cookie.

Let's make a chocolate chip cookie. And she thought I was kind of weird, but I said, Please, please do what I ask. And so she did. And I said, Now, um, Why don't you just start eating the baking soda? Why don't you eat the salt?

And she's like, no. And so here we've got all these ingredients. then make a chocolate chip cookie. but by themselves. Nobody wants to eat it.

That you don't want the baking soda by itself. You don't want the salt by itself. You don't want even that chocolate by itself. What you want is this mixed together and then baked. There's the heat.

And so, how God takes a trial is he takes and bakes it together. And in the long run, it works for our good and his glory. Romans 8:28. Sweet. And then waiting for God.

I grieve for those Terrence. I can't imagine going through that. Oh, yeah. Thank you for that. I didn't even know that they did something right.

Yeah, we got to go to a break, Susan. I'm sorry. Thank you so much for your call. God bless. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Where was God in the flood today? And what's your... Christians response to tragedies like this. We would love your view, your comments. Maybe your story.

866-348. The number to call in. 866-348. Seven, eight, eight, four is You know, it's it's A very, very, very difficult thing, however. Um It's times like this, as my friend pointed out, that was going through cancer that.

We become needy. Yeah. And if we're needy out loud, and we're needy out loud to God. Um then we can enter into our relationship with him and in a most profound way that honestly, as I went through cancer myself and other things, never did I grow as I did through those suffering times to experience love that totally blew my mind. Yeah.

People get to put their spiritual gifts into action. Um God gets to reveal components of himself. Uh Mary and Martha. are going to lose a brother, And they're heartbroken. heart wrenched.

Jesus didn't show up. All of a sudden, Jesus is talking to Martha. And um If you'd have been here. You could have healed him.

Well, she knew what Jesus could do. Jesus said.

Well I'm going to show you I can do something else. I can raise him from the dead. I'm the resurrection in life. And there are things that we go through in life that, okay, we knew something about God at a certain level, but all of a sudden, because of a trial, we would use that word, tragedy. We get Aim.

Whole new understanding of who God is. I got that. three weeks after my mom died on May 14, 1989, God revealed things to me about his great comfort that I didn't really want. But he revealed it to me.

so that I could re share it with others. And that's one of the things God's at work. One thing's for sure right now, whatever the tragedy is, down in Texas, God's at work right now. He's working in so many people's lives in different ways.

Now, we can turn on God. We can turn away from God. But the hope right now is that we will be turning to God. And that's our prayer for the people in Texas right now more than anything. Turn to God.

He's the one that offers the greatest comfort and healing. Yeah, we would love to hear your thoughts. 866-348-7884. You know, you face this in your own life, I'm sure. Ah.

What are your answers? What are your thoughts? What's the scripture? What's your go-to scripture? 866-348-7884-866-348-7884.

As we talked a lot before the show about Job, it's exactly right. I before this, I knew about you, God, but now I know you. I knew about you. But now I know you. Or at some level I knew a About certain aspects of God.

Maybe even I knew God before, but after this, it's a different relationship. And that's certainly part of it. Um But I also was thinking about it, as Michael mentioned it earlier, that a lot of those little girls were saved.

Well, a lot of those little girls were not even of the age of accountability that they would be with Jesus. And that's comforting. There's no doubt to some extent. We got Mike is in Dayton, Ohio, different Mike. The Daytonian himself.

How am I? Thanks. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Um I went through a tragic thing when I was about 14 years old.

We went through a tornado. Um as a family. Um The tornado uh literally took took away our town. And trying to make a long story short, the tornado went Right over top of us. Um Uh my mom w was p We were running from the tornado in a car and we got into the ditch and my Father said, Get in the ditch and I followed my father into the ditch.

My dad held us into the ditch and the tornado went over top of us and we were saved. Before that, my dad was reading the Bible on on the On the couch. And across the screen, It said takeover, um, you know, uh Xenia take cover. My dad opened the curtains up and there was a giant tornado. And this was before our family was Getting to know Christ.

I mean, this is, you know, we were, you know, this is when the rubber met the road. And So let me get the straight mic to back up a minute here now. Your dad's on the couch. Reading the Bible. He flips open the curtains.

How did you get outside to get in the ditch? Did you go outside? No. No, we all jumped in a Volkswagen bug. My dad said: get in the car, get in the car.

We ran around the house opening my dad ran around the house opening up the windows. And by opening up the windows, it You know, that was what they told you to do. And then my dad looked back and he says, Oh, we can't. This is, we can't stay here. We need to get in the car.

So, I was the last one in the car, and I dove into the Volkswagen bug. sideways and my feet are sticking out. And the car door is hitting my legs, like doink, doink, doink, you know. And then we're pulling out of the gar out of the out of the driveway and we're going down the street. And this was a new development, so they were developing.

new homes, and so that's where there were this came involved. And so I get up out of the car and I look up, and I'm seeing cows flying through the air. I'm seeing houses destroyed. I'm seeing. A lot of things.

That is unbelievable. And my mom is Please, Lord, save us. Please, Lord, save us all the whole way through. Um, my and we're we're pulling around to my aunt's house, and my aunt's house is with down the street. And my aunt's house said, you know, uh, oh my gosh, The tornado is going to hit my aunt's house.

And my mom said, in Jesus' name, do not hit the did, please, Lord, don't hit that house. And the and the tornado literally went around the house like, oh my gosh And me and my dad and everybody said, Did you see that? It's unbelievable, right? And then my mom said, Well, it's coming towards us, so we need to get going, you know And so we drove a little bit farther down the street. And my dad's seen this ditch.

and we drove up to the ditch and the tornado is coming towards us, and I'm the last one out of the c out of the car. And my family's in the ditch, and my dad's in the ditch, and he got them in the ditch, and the tornado's coming towards us, and I'm doing a Peter Pan. I I'm flying in the air almost. My feet are off the ground. My dad comes running over to me and pulls me down to the ground.

We combat crawl over to the ditch. And And he pulls us into the ditch and and he pulls me into the ditch and we get into the ditch and he puts his hand in the in a hole in this culvert, which is a sewer line, and another hole on the other side, and this di and this tornado goes flying over top of us. I look up and I see the sun. I'm looking through the tornado and I'm seeing the sun. I'm like, holy mackerel.

My dad said, get your head down. He slams my head down. into the disc. That's the only ti time I got hurt. And then he slammed my head down and my busted my head and I'm like and then the tornado goes over us and there's straw over top of us.

There's everything all over us. God saved us. And to this day, God saved us. And we didn't know Christ at the time. We did not know Christ at the time.

All our whole family didn't. We were praising God and taking straw off of our off of our Bodies Because the straw was just pelted all over us. And we look up. And we see the Volkswagen bug above up there is still there. And we couldn't believe it.

Oh my gosh, God saved our car. And And we drove down the street to our house, and we come over the hill, and everything was demolished. Everything was demolished around us. we come over to the hill and there is our house. It's still standing.

And my mom said, Praise God. Praise God. And we were praising God the whole way through this storm. And we looked down, I can see my aunt's house from my house to this house, and every house around us was gone. I mean, we're talking the driveway gone, not just a little bit gone, but a lot gone.

And uh, you know, And Ever since that day, I always wondered, why did God let that happen?

Well, I don't think I'd be the Christian I am. Because of that storm. And the and what we went through. Right. And that sounds like you know.

Wow. Yeah. I've never, yeah. You never heard a story from me. I know.

I'm sorry. No, no, no, don't be sorry. That's. That's but I've certainly heard of the tornado that hit Zena. There were There were how many people were killed in that, Michael?

Yeah. Yeah, there was uh only 14 or 15 people. Miraculously. Um I remember there was a bar on every corner in Zenya. I mean, there was a bar everywhere in in Xenia.

I mean, there there was this, there, that. Xenia wasn't uh a godly uh city. And then after that, there's uh if you go through Xenia today, there's a church on every corner. And it's amazing. And and the parking lots are full.

And uh, and you know, and it's a fear of the Lord is a, I mean, they would you see that power? It's like, oh, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's something, Michael. Thank you for your call. As always, that's quite compelling. Oh, my goodness, God bless.

How about you? 866-348-7884. Your story or your thoughts, your comments? 866-348-7884. That's a.

Man, you can tell That was trauma. And that's what you were talking about for somebody went 20 miles down the river in Texas.

Someone got a trauma of expecting sudden death any minute. And right now, we do. We've got the stories that are heart-wrenching of those that have died. They're still looking for bodies. But on the other hand, they're the people who did survive.

But they've survived um In such a dramatic way, this this is it's gonna be It will take many years for them to work through this. And part of a prayer is that God will bring the healing to their hearts, not just those that lost a loved one. But Those who survived it, what they need. And we'll talk after the break what our first responders need as we pray for them. We'll be right back with your calls, 866-348-7884-866-34TRUT.

We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Where Was God in the flood? As we mourn with Texas, the lives lost, the homes destroyed, families shaken. Undoubtedly, as Dr.

Carson was talking about, You know, one of the things that we're honored to do, right, is intercede for these families, but also for the first responders who, you know, I saw a tragic picture of one first responder. Maybe you saw it on Facebook, too. It says, we were trained for this kind of thing, but when it's children. It's a different way. And you are finding these bodies, right?

And and The trauma, as you talked about, that it's one thing to talk about death. Here we are, you know. fifteen hundred miles away and don't seemingly be But I remember all too well last fall, and some of my good, good, good friends I knew were right in the middle of the floods out of Helene. And man, I'm like, where's Ricky? I can't get up with him on the phone.

And oh my goodness. And you can imagine not just the parents that lost, but the parents who were desperately wondering if their child was involved. I can't even, it's unthinkable, right? Yeah. But you had a quote that's in your Bible in the book of Job that I think everybody should hear because this is a great.

Comment. You don't know whether you wrote it as something or you got it from a sermon, but there it is right there in your Bible in Job. Yeah. Um. Job If you know the book of Job and the test he goes through, the quote is, It's a test we all hope we pay us.

but we hope we never have to take. I don't want to have to deal with Job's trials and pain and agony. I don't want to lose a child and I don't want to lose my belongings. But I do hope if it happens I'll pass the test. And when you go to James chapter 1, that's been brought up.

There is the most ridiculous statement. I have that in my Bible. I write weird things in my Bible. This is ridiculous. Count it all joy.

When you win the Super Bowl, no, when you encounter various trials, and that word, various polka-dotted different sizes, count it all joy. And I'm like, God, no, I'm not going to count it joy when I get a flat tire in the pouring down rain. And I'm certainly not ready to count it joy when I found out my child, as many parents are finding out that they had drowned in this horrific flood. But yet, God says the reason you can count it all joy is because it's going to be through the trial your faith life will be revealed. I love that about James 1:3.

I was telling you it brings out the faith life. And speaking of the faith life, this may not seem relevant at first, but believe me, it's completely relevant as I unpack it. I had interviewed a rabbi out of Jerusalem, Chaim Eisen, this morning on a new show I'm working on. And he was talking about in Genesis chapter three, when he said you got three culprits That were involved in how man fell. And he said.

How many of them were cursed? And I knew better than to answer that question. I knew he was going to answer it. And he said, just one, the serpent. He said, Adam and Eve had their punishments, and the ground was cursed as a result of Adam.

But You know, as far as the curse, he says, but look at the curse. That the serpent or the snake got and the curse was that he would be on his belly and he would eat dust all the days of his life. There's the curse. And he said, Here's why that's such a horrible curse. It's studied by many rabbis over there.

This is their tradition. And it makes perfect sense to me. He says, Here's the curse. He said, If you're on your belly, I bet you're going to see all the dust you can find. And you don't have any need for God because all the dust you could, if that's what you eat, you're going to eat that.

Then you don't have any need to pray for rain. You don't have any need to pray for mercy. In other words, here's all the mercy. And it was as if God was saying here, take your dust and get out. You will have no need of me from now on.

And so there will be no prayers. for rain or for anything else from you. That you you it one of the worst things that could possibly happen to you Is for you not to have anything that went on in your life where you had a need for God. That's what a curse that would be, that you would never reach out and ask. You would never be needy out loud.

And as I thought more and more about that, it does relate completely to James 1. You know, from a standpoint of like, I know in my own life, as I have been through various trials, Again, not Losing compassion, believe me, that's a huge issue. But from my own standpoint, my own personal walk, oh my goodness, thank goodness I had needs. Thank goodness they were desperate needs that took me to my knees, that rocked my world like Michael's tornado or other horrible things, right? Yeah.

And all of a sudden, you now find yourself. desperate for God. Calling on God, and He uses our trials. to develop our testimony. And I like to look at my own life again.

How am I going to respond to their tragedy?

Okay, not why, God, but how, God. How will you shape my story to share your story? We go back to Susan, raising up children to understand, to know the Lord early. And then, as you do face these different things, how will God shape your story to share his story?

Well, When you've come through these difficulties, All of a sudden, all you're able to do is brag on God. No, God got me through cancer. Yes, I have wonderful doctors. But God brought those doctors into my life. That's part of the story.

Part of the cookie. He was working when I didn't even know I needed him to be working. There were connections being made. long before I had cancer, that all of a sudden because of that connection, I'm getting connected to a certain doctor who knows how to handle a certain cancer in a very special way. And all I could do is go, way to go, God.

Right. And the other part that you mentioned, Second Corinthians. Um you know one four is is that how many people that had similar situations have you comforted as a result? Like God was at work knowing that you would be in a position, and I can't even think of how many people God's given me the honor to pray for that had cancer or, you know, that that to pray with, to befriend, to walk with through the process. Uh of even You know, one of the things I happened through that process is I was told, get your things in order, you don't have long to go.

Um and I'm talking about hours, not days. Um You know, yeah, and so I knew what it was like to face that particular statement. When I had the brain abscess, that's what they pretty much told me. And so. When, twice in my life, twice in my life, both with really, really good friends, the wife came to me and said, Robbie, would you go tell Vic?

The doctor says he has hours to live. Robbie, would you go tell Johnny? And these are the two that I told. Robbie, would you mind? Because I don't want him to hear it from a doctor, I want him to hear it from you.

Because we know it'll come with compassion or whatever. God gave me words. Mm-hmm. In that situation that that blow me away to this day because I I I knew as soon as I told them both, they got this look in their eye. Like Here your life is over in the next few hours.

What did it all mean? Hmm. And again, God was at work in my life that I would have an opportunity with both of these, that it actually was the end of their lives. Um that that Again, that intimacy that God was in there. God was He wasn't he was With the brokenhearted.

He was with the crushed in spirit, and he will be. in all those moments of all our lives. And the beautiful thing of our God. is he is at work. He is.

He's not absent. He wasn't absent the other night when the rains were pouring down, and he's not absent right now. He's available. Draw near to the Lord. He will draw near to you.

And to those who are going through a tragedy, even those in Texas, the bereavement, feeling robbed. You call on him. you turn to him and Check out Psalms 147.3, my friends. He heals the brokenhearted. He binds up their wounds.

And that word binds, you showed me this, Roby, from Genesis 22. It literally means he saddles. The first time it was ever used, it was used of Abraham saddling his donkey. The idea that God will saddle your heart with comfort. And I don't know how many people I've now shared that with as they go through all kinds of different pains.

Allow God. To saddle your heart with his grace and comfort and peace and love. Yeah, as Isaiah would quote it in Isaiah 61, the same thing as Jesus' mission was to bind up the brokenhearted. And part of the way that I love what you brought out is sometimes just to listen. Mm-hmm.

It's often, um obviously, people need to share their story. And It's a kind thing to be a real comforter that just listens, right? Today we talk about the answers to why God. And there are times for those kinds of sermons, James 1. But when you get into the situation, Now's not the time to be preaching to someone in Texas.

Here's what you need to know about God. Listen to them. Listen, pray for them, and God's going to see us through. Because that's the kind of God he is. Oh, he will be there.

He will be there. Thank you so much, Velis. Thank you for the wonderful call today. We're so grateful for our audience here at Truth Talk Live. And we will look forward to seeing you next time, same time, same station, actually.

Thanks. Truth talk lie