How God Handles Hardships

Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Well, good afternoon.

I'm Duane Carson. I have a ministry called Date the Word, and you can find that ministry at www.datetheword.com. You can go to your app store, download the Date the Word app, and if you do so, you would be able to see January the 28th has verses for this date, like Colossians 1-28. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. I think Colossians 1-28 was a ministry mission statement for the apostle Paul and for anyone involved in any type of ministry.

It's all about him. Him we preach, and we warn every man and teach every man in wisdom so that they can be presented before Christ Jesus perfect. 1 Samuel 1-28. For every parent, here's the verse. From the moment your child is born, Hannah said, Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord, so they worship the Lord there.

What an example. I have four children, and I use this as my example of, from God's hand to my hand, I now present my children back to his hand. And today, just reminding all of you parents, your children, you ought to have the mindset they belong to God.

You're training them for his use, and they belong to him. Be a zebedee and say, Lord, I want you to take my children and use them for your glory. Then there's another really great verse out of Luke 1-28. And having come in, the angel said to Mary, Joyce, highly favorite one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women. He was getting ready to tell Mary, you're going to be the mother of the Messiah. And what a greeting to let her know the Lord is with you. All this is to say, Date the Word has verses for every date. These verses can be used for a birthday.

I've got a really good friend down in Florida. It's his birthday today. And I sent him these verses. And then to his grandmother, I said, you have lived out 1 Samuel 1-28. You put him, the moment he was born, the parents, you placed him in the Lord's hand and the Lord has used him greatly. If you want to know what your birthday verse is during this program at any time, you can call in at 1-866-348-7884. And I'll tell you your birthday verse and be glad to do so.

Today, I wanted to talk to you and get your thoughts on a situation that happens quite often where we find ourselves facing hardships. And the reason this word hardship comes up, I was reading my regular Bible reading for the year and I'm in Exodus now. And yesterday as I was reading Exodus chapter 18, if you recall the book of Exodus, Moses is going to get God's people out of Egypt. And it starts off with God working on Moses and then Moses goes back to Egypt and he's going to take on Pharaoh and there's going to come the great deliverance and they're going to head out and they're going to start heading to the promised land. And as they're doing so, Moses is going to stop by to visit his father-in-law Jethro. And in Exodus 18, it says that Moses stopped to see his father-in-law and, you know, just naturally they asked each other how it was going. Well, Exodus 18, Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake. And then this statement, all the hardships that had come upon them on the way and how the Lord delivered them. And I just found myself being captivated with that verse yesterday because here's Moses telling his father-in-law.

Can you picture this? He's got back to his father-in-law's home and hey, father-in-law, I just want you to know, wow, God has been at work. Oh, you wouldn't believe what he did to Pharaoh.

You wouldn't believe what he did to the Egyptians. And then he says, and we've had some tough days. We've had some hardships, but then he comes right back and he says, I want you to know the Lord delivered us. Uh, can you picture that conversation taking place in a tent? Um, I'm just wondering, maybe you've got a story about a hardship that the Lord has, has, has taken you through and delivered, but you want to share, here's what I had to face and here's what God did for me.

I mean, you, you think about it. What are some of the hardships that you and I face? Well, we face physical hardships and we face relational hardships.

Uh, you know, sometimes there's just rejection and, uh, we've done everything we can, uh, to build a relationship and then we're rejected. Um, uh, vocational here you're trying to do your best job, but your best just isn't cutting it. Uh, there's, there's sometimes the hardship of potential layoffs. Uh, you are laid off sometimes.

Yes, you get fired there. And that leads to them financial hardships. Um, uh, how are we going to make it? How are we going to make it when there's not enough money to make it to the end of the month?

Uh, spiritual hardships. Um, I want you to give us a call at 866-348-7884. And we're going to talk about how God delivers us through our hardships. Give us a call with your thoughts on this. We'll be right back. This is truth talk live.

This is the truth network. Welcome back to truth talk live I'm Duane Carson and we're talking today about facing hardships and, uh, we've got a caller on the line. Uh, Jeremy, are you there?

Hey Jeremy, are you there? How's it going? Good. How are you?

I'm wonderful brother. Good to hear your voice. Yes, sir.

We're talking about hardships and what can you tell us about facing some hardships and how God's working in your life? Yes, sir. Well, as you know, uh, I resigned from my pastorship at the end of the divide. And, uh, of course that was a tough time. You know, I had a lot of supporters, but I also had a lot of enemies. And, uh, as time went by, I had a big, hairy, audacious goal as Dr.

Follow. I used to stay the church. Uh, there was a church that I really felt called to really wanted to pastor. It was here in the area.

I'd be with all my friends and it's what my flesh wanted, you know? And, uh, I don't know if I mentioned this to you or not, but someone from my last church called them and badmouthed me. And I went from being their number two candidate that they were about to bring in to, they wanted nothing to do with me. And, uh, I was really, really mad about that in my flesh for quite a while. And uh, God used a friend, you know, my wife had talked to me, other friends had talked to me, but God used a different friend to talk to me. And he said, Jeremy, you just need to stop watching all the programming from your last church. You need to not listen to anything, anybody's saying, and you just need to pray, you know, for God to let you get over this situation. You know, and I, I came across these verses that I know we're all familiar with first Peter five, seven and eight.

Yes. I love when you put them together, you know, it's just casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you. But then it's just be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom you may devour. And God just hit me right there, man, and said, just let it go.

I've got something better for you. And as you know, just this past weekend, it seems like everything's coming together. So God is good. God is good.

Um, his timing is perfect timing. Um, as, as Moses was telling his father-in-law about the hardships of the journey, I think about a pastor's journey many times that, uh, they're going to find themselves between the rock and a hard place. And that's where Moses was when they were standing at the red sea.

And, uh, it looks like there's no way forward. And yet the power of God. And then you find yourself all of a sudden being attacked by the Amlicites and, and, uh, you need God's incredible protection.

And, and you gave a great reminder there. One of the reasons we cast our cares upon the Lord is because, uh, Satan is at work and he wants to discourage us and he wants us to become, um, deflated, uh, with who God is and what God's trying to do with us. And, um, uh, JC penny, uh, JC penny was a man that was just consumed with worry. And, and what you just said, first Peter five seven became one of his major verses. And he understood that God would take care of him. And, um, uh, all of a sudden he wasn't worrying anymore and he regained his health. And next thing you know, we've got this great American company called JC penny because he quit worrying and started trusting God. He went from a horrible hardship to seeing God do great things through him. I think that's, what's happening with you, Jeremy, uh, you're going through a hardship, but God is opening new doors for you to go back after that big old be hag.

That's exactly right. Now we feel a real peace at the church. We feel like we've been called to here and now we're just waiting on a vote and we've got a real good feeling about that vote. Uh, tell our listeners, what is it like to cast your cares on the Lord?

What, how did you go about doing that? Well, you know, we as Christians, you know, we're always in prayer and a spirit of prayer. I think about the Sloan is five 17, you know, pray without ceasing, but you know, that verse is really about a spirit of prayer and it's one thing to pray, but it's another thing to be in the proper spirit of prayer. And that's releasing everything that's a burden, releasing everything that is a hardship in your life and just allowing God to truly take the wheel. We know he's always in control.

He's always sovereign, but at the same time we are responsible for the way in which we interact with God and our spirit needs to be in the right place. My spirit wasn't in the right place. And you know, everyone around me at the time, you know, when that was going on could tell I was just, I was mad.

I was very frustrated. Uh, you know, I felt like that was a church God had called me to. And when that was taken from me by an enemy, you know, it was hard to let go.

Yeah. Well, when we cast all our cares, we find out he cares and then he redirects our steps and the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Uh, Jeremy, thanks for you for calling in today, uh, enhancing our thinking about hardships and, and pastors go through them just like people in the pew and, uh, eyes have to be on the Lord. And so we wish you the best with your next move.

Always. I love you, DC. Hey, thanks, Jeremy.

Love you too. Hey, we got Jamal. Hey, Jamal, how are you today? Hey, Dr. Carson. How are you doing today, sir?

I'm good. Talking about hardships and how the Lord delivers us through those hardships. What can you tell us? Uh, well, uh, it's a somewhat of a long story and I know I can't tell it all. So I'll try to condense it. And I, and I'm going to tell you real quickly, we're going to be going to a break here in just a second. So we'll get you started, but I also want our listeners to know for some of you, this will be, uh, the end of our program today. Uh, for some, some of our stations, this truth talk live is a 30 minute program. And for others, we're going to keep right on going. Um, we did go up to five o'clock. So, uh, Jamal, go ahead and get us started here.

Uh, a hardship you face, but how God delivered. All right. And then thank you for that.

Uh, Dr. Carson at, uh, Wednesday in the word, which is, uh, for those that don't know, it's immense bubbles. So that happens at every dairy on North Carolina starts at eight o'clock AM. I go there frequently. So I highly recommend you all go there. Absolutely.

Yes, sir. During one of the Bible studies, I got a little emotional because they were talking about, uh, fellowship and, and all that. I bring that up because my father passed going on five years ago and we had a kind of off and on relationship. But when I got older, we became close. So when he passed, I felt like one of our best friends passed. And, um, then I had to deal with all of his affairs and all that.

Then money became an issue. Uh, so I hear the music, so I'll, I'll pause. Okay. Well, I've heard this story. So listeners, you're going to want to come back to hear how God worked in Jamal's life. Um, he is such a gracious God and, uh, he knows our hardships and he knows how to help us. This is truth talk live and you can call it. This is the truth network.

Welcome back to truth talk live. How has God helped you through a hardship? That's the question of the hour. Uh, how has God helped you through a hardship? Moses was telling Jethro about how God delivered him and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. Yes, there were hardships, but God delivered them. What an afternoon discussion that must have been between Moses and Jethro as he retold the great things God had done, even though they were facing hardships. Uh, again, I'm Dwayne Carson with date the word and, uh, we want to hear your story.

A one eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. You give us a call. We've got Jamal on the line right now and Jamal, uh, pick up your story there. Uh, you were telling how dealing with some difficulty, but also tell us how God saw you through it.

I didn't know. Thank you again, Dr Carson for letting me on. So to pick back up quickly, um, me and my father became close and, uh, he was, uh, a good friend after we started becoming close. So once he passed, um, that was difficult. And then I had to handle his, his business and all of his affairs and whatnot and money became an issue. So when your father passes and then one of your close friends who's the same person passes, we both know a good friend that's in the same situation.

And then when businesses is an issue and money is an issue, it's like an avalanche effect. And I was kind of trying to bear that weight on my own and had it not been for the Lord and for good Christian brothers and sisters, I would not have made it and not making it means I probably would have, uh, you know, just walked away from it all probably would have broke down all of that. But, um, one of the scriptures that I remember that got me through is, um, uh, what, what is it?

Um, God did not give us a spirit of fear. That's right. Second Timothy one seven.

There you go. He said, be strong and courageous for I'm always with you. Um, so this was my firm belief and how he got me to that point. I had faith that he would get me through it and he did. Um, every time when I thought it was going to be the last straw, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. So for, for my story, for anybody else who's going through it, the scriptures do not lie. God did not take you through, or he's got to not take you to this point to leave you where you are. He took you to this to get you through and to make you better. And also it might be a benefit for somebody else. Yes, absolutely.

Jamal. Um, thank you for sharing and being transparent. Uh, you know, the Israelites as they were coming out of Egypt, uh, found themselves without water one time and they just start screaming, why did you bring us to this place to die? We would have been better off back in Egypt. And, and you know what you just said, it's so true. We are tempted at times to go back. I, you know, I had it better as a lost person. And then that is nothing but a lie.

That is so wrong. No, we, we don't want to turn on God and we should not turn away from God. It's moments like this. We've got to turn to God and that's what you did. And thank you for your testimony. And, and brother, we love you. We thank God for you. Take care.

God bless. Hey, we've got, uh, Justin on the line here. Hi Justin. Where are you calling from? I'm calling from Haddonfield, New Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia.

Oh, Philadelphia, home of the, hopefully the super bowl champs Eagles. I'm just letting you know who I'm pulling for. Justin, uh, we're talking today about how God helps us through our hardships. And I, I suspect you might have a story for us.

Oh, absolutely. I can tell you that I was very blessed when I was in high school. I was invited to the white house to meet president Bush. And then subsequent, I was able to meet the queen of England.

I went to Liberty university, I think is the greatest school in the country. And I graduated with a law degree and an MBA in six years. I had my whole life, everything seemed perfect. And then one day in my legal career, I realized that I had something going on mentally. And there's so many people, pastor, that struggle with mental health that need help. And it's a shame that they can't find help and they can't find it through medications. They can't find it through therapists that care, but you can find it through the Lord. I had everything lined up for me, but at one point I hated God, but this verse helped me so much.

It says Psalm 34, 18, the Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. And one day I just said to myself, I'm tired of the pity party. I'm tired of acting like I can't be everything God wants me to be. If he could use Moses in his eighties with a list, surely he can continue on. And now I've written 11 books.

I have five offices helping people navigate elder law issues around our area. And I've won top 100 attorney. I've won all these awards, but it's all to God's glory because it's all about mindset. He knew that day would break me down. He knew that day would come that I would be crushed. He knew there would be a day that I didn't even want to live anymore. But if he had not taken me through the Valley, I would never appreciate this mountaintop that he shared with me now and helping people.

And now I have a whole team that I train up and loving seniors and the elderly. Wow, Justin, what a story. Crushed, broken. Talk about a hardship.

And yes, we not only have physical hardships, we have emotional hardships. And Satan is working on our mind. He wants to continually tell us what we are not. He loves to call God a liar.

If God loved you, he would never allow you to be going through this. And yet you turned your eyes to the Lord and said, Lord, help me. I get I get the picture. Sometimes you may have been like Peter walking on the water. What a moment. But all of a sudden you start sinking. There's winds and there's waves. And then you cry out, Lord, help me.

And there he was back up walking on the water. And that's kind of God's giving you an incredible ministry now that's like walking on water. You you're helping people.

You're helping your company. I know you got a tremendous love for the people you work with, but then you also have people who are in tough situations need to figure out their wills and making sure all those legal documents are taken care of. You know, sometimes it's hard to die.

That's right. And I've seen so many ways people die. I've seen a monk pass away. I had a Princeton atheist pass away.

I've had just every religion you could think of or no religion at all. And they all die of the same spirit that they wish they had spent more time cultivating some meaning in life. And it's so amazing because there's been times at bedside where I'm able to share the gospel with people right before they pass away. And it's funny when we think of sharing the gospel, we always think of that as being the pastor's role. But no, you can be a lawyer and share the gospel.

The only reason the gospel ends at the end of the earth is because we believe that only preachers do that. We need to support the churches, support our preachers and nurses share the gospel at the bedside. Doctors share the gospel at the bedside. Lawyers, all of us, we all need to let the love, let the light be in us. We're supposed to shine as light in the workplace. I'm working on a thing right now called witnessing while working.

And I love what you just said there. Wherever we are, we are there for potentially divine appointments. And I think about how the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1 12, the things that have happened unto him have happened for the furtherance of the gospel.

And you find yourself needing to go to a hospital because someone that you know is passing and you're their lawyer. But also you realize I'm here to help them know Jesus so that the moment they do die, they go into the presence of the Lord. Hey, you may have a story of how God helped you with a hardship, like God helped Justin 1 86634 87884.

Hey, give us a call. We want to hear how God worked in your life. We're thinking about how God works for the Israelites from Exodus 18. When we look at why does bad things happen to good people? I want you to know God has numerous purposes behind it. And one of those great purposes could be just to have you at the right place with the right person to give the right message.

That's Philippians 1 12. We're going to take a quick break. This is Truth Talk Live. And Justin, if you could hang on, we'll come back and talk a little bit more in this last segment.

Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson and today is 1 28. And I hope you'll think about Colossians 1 28. You want more information on Date the Word, go to www.datetheword.com.

That's our website. You can download the app and you can get a daily devotion for the date. Whatever that date is, you can get a daily devotion right there and connect today's date to God's Word. We're talking today here on Truth Talk Live about how God helped us through a hardship. And Exodus 18, Moses is bragging on God. He's not complaining as he's talking to his father-in-law. He's just telling the truth.

Life has hard moments. But he also is able to tell his father-in-law how God delivered them. And we've got Justin on the line.

Justin's calling from New Jersey. And Justin, as you went through this difficulty, you found yourself coming out of it and then you started writing different books. And tell our listeners how they might be able to get one of your books or get all ten of them, and love it of them.

Yeah, they're free online. Just go to Scott, S-C-O-T-T, ElderLaw.com. It can help you navigate all the issues in aging, dementia, Parkinson's, cancers, learning about options to pay for care. People are running out of money. I believe in taking the knowledge God put in me and giving it away to bless people.

And then for some other people, they want me to help them. I want you to give that website one more time, a little bit slower so our listeners can get it. Write it down, okay? Sure. It's Scott, S-C-O-T-T, Elder, E-L-D-E-R, Law, L-A-W dot com. Scott Elder Law dot com. You can download all the books for free.

There's hundreds of articles there. Any issue you're faced with because we're seeing so many people aging in the population and they don't have the resources and that's what God called me to that. I remember the night where I was like, I know being a preacher is not what I'm supposed to be doing and there's only a handful of us in the country that do what I do, but my job is to be an evangelist to change how we age in this country and I love it. And I thank God that he took me all the way to a point that I didn't even want to live all the way back up that mountaintop one step at a time, trusting in him and the old him, trust and obey for there's no other way.

That's it, Justin. Oh, I've got to believe you have encouraged our listeners today and yes, I'm part of that older generation. We baby boomers. We are filling up the nursing homes and the truth of the matter is, right Justin, man is appointed once to die, then comes the judgment and every one of us needs to be ready. This older generation needs to be paying attention to Solomon's words and Ecclesiastes.

We've tried everything under the sun to find satisfaction, but the fear of the Lord, Proverbs 19, 23, the fear of the Lord brings satisfaction and Solomon said, this is what the real meaning of life is, to fear God and keep his commandments, to trust God and obey him. Justin, thank you for your call today. Greatly appreciate it. Thanks for having me. You're a blessing to so many.

You're a blessing also. You take care there in New Jersey. We're going to go to Mike. Hi Mike, where are you calling from today? I'm calling from Dayton.

This is Mike from Dayton. Hey, I've been reading right along with what you're reading about Moses and him and I thought it was interesting to hear God or Moses call the Israelites stiff necks. Yes. Oh my gosh, you know, hard to lead, that's what that means. And that really hit my heart a little bit and I says, God, am I hard to lead? Or when I go through troubles like they were? And then I needed to let God lead me out of the troubles and not be a stiff neck and let God and not try to do it my way, but let God do it God's way. And that's what led my heart to say today.

That's a tremendous word Mike. When I teach, and I'm going to say it also, in practicing confession, in practicing confession and teaching this to people, I use the illustration of being in the shower and going from head to toe. And I start off with, it's always starting with the eyes. For some reason you start with the eyes. Lord, is there anything unclean about my eyes? And then is there anything unclean with my ears? Lord, is there anything unclean with my mouth? Anything unclean with my mind? Anything unclean with my hands, my feet, my heart, head to toe? And what you just said became part of my confession because I read the same thing years ago about being stiff necked and I had to ask, Lord, am I being stiff necked?

Is my neck unclean? Do I need to repent of I'm not willing to go the way you want me to go? I'm not willing to sing the song Have Their Own Way, Lord. I want my way.

And you bring up a great point that some of the things that the children of Israel got themselves in trouble with were they were a stiff necked people. That's so funny. Sorry. It's a blessing to listen to God and Moses and read that through the whole year and just understanding what God goes through with people like me. And me.

God, please help me. I'm not perfect and God loves me enough to make me perfect. One of his great descriptions is he's a shepherd. That means we're sheep. And sheep are just flat out stubborn sometimes. And dumb.

Yes. And so here being dumb, we go to the place, we have no business going. We're trying to eat what we're not supposed to eat. And he's trying to stop us and yet we're resisting. Maybe we've got to get back to truly practicing, Lord, have your own way in me.

And let him be the potter. We become soft clay. Amen. Well, Mike, thanks for your call today. You're Dayton, Ohio, right? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Congratulations to the Buckeyes up there. Oh, that was so much fun to watch.

Yes. National champions. I hope we don't have to change the playoff format again until they win again. But, boy, it was good to see. And the testimonies of those football players over and over there, they've been exalting the Lord. And I love that. I did, too. That was awesome. That really was.

And it's fun watching football when Christians are bold enough to claim the word of God. You know what I mean? Claim that I'm a Christian. Yes, using their platform. Yes. Amen.

And we need to use our platform as well. Like you said in the past, you know, don't miss the opportunity to say something. Hey, my God loves me, you know, I mean, and he loves you, too.

So, you know, it's hard to do that. The devil tells you don't do that. But when you're bold enough to do that, you feel so good in your heart. And God will bless you every day because of it. There's so many positives that come when we open our mouths to share the gospel with someone. Because even if they reject us, persecute us, God says blessed are those who persecute you.

Blessed when you're persecuted. So you can't lose because the greatest thing that could happen is they'll get saved. And to help someone go from being lost to save, from blind to seeing, to no longer be headed to hell but be headed to heaven, there is no greater joy. And I think that many times God takes us into places of hardship.

I find myself asking the question, Mike, on Philippians 1.12. Paul said the things that have happened unto me have happened for the furtherance of the gospel. Did something happen to me today to put me in a place to be around somebody that needs to know about the Lord Jesus Christ? So whatever that hardship is, that's good because I'm at the right place to help somebody know the good news. Yeah, a lot of people come to you because they're in hardship. And knowing how to minister them in hardship is a gift from God and listening to God and helping them get through that, you know what I mean? And then that way you can share the gospel with them because you're ministering their hardship. And they needed this or they needed that and you helped them and then they're willing to listen to God because you helped them through the hardship. Well, Mike, thanks for your call. Listeners, thank you for listening today. Know this, God helps his people through hardships and may you today turn to him, cling to him and watch him turn your trials into a phenomenal testimony. This is Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson. Have a wonderful evening.