Welcome back to another edition of Struggling Well, this podcast that we made the decision a few years ago to start and we still do. And if you could get insight into all that goes on before we actually push the start button to record it would be it would blow your mind probably. it life's unpredictable. That's a fair way to put it, I think.
and in the last year there have been a number of major catastrophic events that have hit the news. That doesn't include the issues of individual people like us and like you that have happened in our lives and it's just a hard thing to figure out all the reasoning why and how we survive it all. and when we go to God's word, I think there are some overriding principles that are true. It doesn't necessarily answer the questions that we have most often, which is why we've just recently had an event in Texas where catastrophic flooding took the lives of many many people. And so, you know, you look at that and you try to understand what's going on. And I think sometimes our desire to get a answer to a question like why is probably the wrong answer the wrong question.
You know, I that's all true. we were listing out Tim was helping us list out some of the catastrophic events and in September of 2024 was Helen January began the wildfires in California. There have been multiple plane crashes small and large. There have been the flooding has in Texas for Camp Mystic is something that will be on our hearts for a long time. But all these events, these catastrophic events, like you said, Jimmy, they bring us to that question of why. And so when I go there, I like to look at people who have lived before me and see what their responses have been to catastrophic things. And I you all know, I've said it many times, I love Spurgeon. he was not a perfect man, a perfect theologian, a perfect pastor. He was none of those things, but he was a man who sought after God continually. And I want to talk a little bit about what he dealt with. Jimmy, you probably know more about this, too, but he tell our listeners about what happened to him when he was in his early 20s. as a pastor.
Well, they you know, his the crowds that he drew were huge, thousands of people. And he was in the this one hall and somebody decided to yell out fire as a prank. And it created a pandemonium in that hall that people lost their lives. And
it rendered Spurgeon unable to preach for a number of weeks. he battled with depression. One of the things he battled with was depression. and it just kind of exacerbated the whole issue that he was facing there.
He had he also had health issues. when that happened, he had just been newly married. Shortly after that, he had twin sons. I mean, he had, you know, he was pastor pastoring this large congregation, but he struggled with anxiety and depression. And according to some, he had a weight issue, but he had some health struggles as well. And I'm bringing that up not you might think, well, what difference does that make to today? But we don't have to look far back. we can look at examples today as well. But people of faith have struggled just like we do. And while it feels like events that happen are more intense now than they were, I don't know if that's true. Maybe it is. But we do know this that we hear about it immediately. And so that makes it front and center for us right away, but Spurgeon had to wrestle and there are a lot of people, a lot of men and women that have loved God with their whole hearts that wrestled with the question of why Mother Teresa who was a woman who gave up her life to serve people in need throughout the world but in India I think was it India that she was? Yeah. And if you read her autobiography or I think it was somebody had written a biography of her. They had found her journals and saw that she wrestled with the same questions that we wrestle with. So there's really nothing new under the sun. It's just that our wrestling seems to be more apparent. We are certainly a culture now where we say a lot more about what we feel than back in days past. But one of the things that Spurgeon said was and this I don't know when he wrote this But this was from a book that someone wrote called Spurgeon's Sorrows. He said, "God did not promise to give us desires our desires for wealth, health, immunity from trials, pains, or from dying in this life. But what God did promise is to be with us, to weep with us, to celebrate with us, to help us, to strengthen us, to never let us go, and to outlast every evil and terrible thing with us. His love, his purpose, is and his goodness will never quit and no foul thing will ever overcome them. So that's from a man who endured many many trials and if you read any biographies of anyone who followed Christ with their whole heart, you'll read the same thing that people have struggled throughout their lifetime and have wrestled with that question of why. but let me pose a question to us. Is it okay if I go here to this?
Go. Go. Okay.
I don't know where you're going, but go.
Okay. Well, you never do though, babe. And it makes it interesting to say the least. And then I like to look across our studio, which is our kitchen table, and see Tim kind of snickering to himself because he also knows that you never know where I'm going. But a question kind of prompted me when the whole idea of why. I started thinking what did we expect when we came to Christ, what were we expecting? I know as a young woman accepting Christ when I was 16, my expectation at that point was that I knew I needed forgiveness from sin. and I was discipled early on. So I got a lot of foundational truths early on in my Christian experience. But I think a lot of us, most of us are expecting God to act in a certain way. what kind of God do we want do we want a God who answers our wishes? do we want a God who asks us what we think should be done? What kind of God do we want? And so we I think that's a question we need to wrestle with. What do you think, babe, about that? I'm catching you, I know, offguard because you got that deer in the headlights look, but
because I didn't know where you were going.
Well, here it's right here. I wrote it down.
You wrote it down. That's good. you know, expectations are different for me. I grew up This is my expectation growing up because of the kind of church I grew up in, which was a performance-based church. My belief was that as you grew in this relationship with God, that it was going to be a very linear thing, a plus b equals c, 1 plus 1 equals 2. And that as the Christian life would be you get more and more of a command of what God expected from you and you did it, then life would turn out a certain way. And so life became very manage God became very manageable and I have found that to be anything but that
in my life.
Yeah.
but that's what I grew up. So my expectations were that as I grew in Christ I you know I accepted Jesus when I was seven. Well now I'm 71 by now I certainly should have figured it all out and have it all managed and have it all under control as long as I did the right things.
And so it that was what I thought God would be like and that's who how I thought my relationship with him would go.
It's so interesting because what we're looking for and why we I don't know I don't know why people come to Christ. I mean I know he pursues them and if they have a real relationship with him and the spirit of God is within them then I believe that the spirit will teach them and guide them excuse me in all wisdom. But I think that we have this idea that and you said it well that if we do certain things then God is obligated to respond to in a certain way. what is it? Psalm 88 where Asaf. Is that Asafs psalm? No. What is it? Okay, let's go to it. Let's going to hear some flipping of pages. Psalm 88 is probably of one of the most depressing Psalms when he says no it wasn't. It was the descendants of Kora. and they say, "Oh Lord of God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you by night. Hear my prayer. Listen to my cry. My Life is full of troubles and death draws near. I'm as good as dead like a strong man with no strength left. And he goes on and on and it ends with this phrase, darkness is my closest friend. So the psalmist, all of them experience that place of like, God, where are you? What are you doing? Asking that question. wanting God to respond in a certain way. And I think when I look back on my life, If someone is ill, I expect God to heal them. Can God heal them? Absolutely. If there is a tragedy of some kind, I expect God to answer it according to the way I have determined what is right. Now, I think what's interesting is, and Jimmy, you and I were talking about this earlier, God doesn't usually answer the question why.
No, he doesn't. And I think it's he here's the reality, and we'll leave you all with this week. God is not looking for consultants. he's the God of this universe who is the creator who sits on his throne but yet is intimately involved in each of our lives. And he promises to walk with us every single day. He does not promise us that life will work out in all of its fullness and all of its glory here on this earth in this lifetime. That is something that will be there in eternity. And the question I think we want you to wrestle with beyond the why is he enough for who and just who he is? Can you trust him and is he enough to walk every single day with you and meet the needs of your heart? As you think about that, we hope you have a great week.