Welcome to another episode of Struggling Well, and believe me, we have been struggling As we have been preparing to do this podcast, we've invited Tim Briggs to join us again this morning. Felt like he added so much last week. we've been continuing to talk about the whole concept and the whole problem with pain and the struggles that we see and how do we deal with them and what part does God have? Where is God? Is he, you know, is he in control? Does he allow what I mean? We have just been going having a really good conversation. Tim has recently in his church at his church steadfast been speaking from the book of Ruth. and as he has said it's a beautiful book also a hard book. I just want to hear what these guys think and maybe I'll add something or maybe I'll just leave the room. I can't decide. But we have excuse me we have looked at on the macro level as we did last week of the huge catastrophic events that have occurred. But in our personal worlds All three of us, we've had micro levels of catastrophes, either ourselves or people that we love. And so the question is, where's God? what's going on here? How do we guide people and lead people through these difficult times?
All right. So, we're going to look at this idea of the sovereignty of God, Tim, which it sounds like it's this neat concept and but it's not. I think when we think of him, sovereign. He is paramount over everything. Paramount and supreme. There's no no higher authority. But in all of that, does that come down to every little decision that I make in my life? He's controlling it, or where does my ability to choose, which is part of what he has given mankind the ability to do. Where does that come into play?
So, when you looked at Ruth with your congregation recently, you came across some interesting thoughts.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if I have any answers today.
Well, that's the end of our podcast.
Thanks for joining us. no, I to answer to try to answer that question. thinking about Naomi in the book of Ruth, if you've read that story before, it's a beautiful story, but it starts off hard.
it's the time of Judges. There was no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. It's a famine. Ruth's husband dies. I'm sorry. Naomi's husband dies. her two sons die. and she says at the end of chapter 1, don't call me Naomi, which means pleasant one. Call me Mara, which means bitter.
She's bitter. And as I wrestled with that this past week, I thought, you know, she's the way that she speaks and she thinks, she's not wrong in this sense. God is there. It's very clear. She believes in God. He's somehow over this. He's somehow responsible. Again, we could talk about the language of does he control it? Does he allow it? Does he work through it? But he's somehow responsible
and he's brought all of this pain to her doorstep and she says, "Call me bitter." And so the question is, So God God's there. He's somehow responsible. What do we make of that?
And I wonder if she thought about Joseph at all.
Yeah.
A foreigner, strange land, vulnerable just like her, imprisoned, time of a famine. He says to his brothers at the end of his whole ordeal, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. So There seems to be a missing piece that she forgot
in Ruth one, but it is a tricky thing trying to reconcile all of these pieces together.
Yeah. And I think sometimes then we tend to use language that somehow softens it in our mind. So like did God cause it? Well, that feels harsh. well, he allowed it. Well, that makes it maybe a little bit more palatable to our ears, but it still raises that question of Is there any point in time that God has ever lost control of what's going on in this world? What's going on in our individual lives? And as I look at the sovereignty of God, I would say he's never out of control. He's always on his throne. He is the supreme authority because he's God. And while it's difficult for us because we live in a day and age, I think, where we want to control everything, it's difficult for us to then re wrestle with that in a way that allows him to hold the role that only he can hold which is he is the supreme authority in this world because he created this world. He sustains this world and ultimately he will deliver this world but it leaves us with those kinds of questions. it's not just this generation that's dealt with this either.
So you've got a song that you came across written by a man
who has written who I recognize his name because he's written many many songs and he I think there's some good words in this.
Yeah. As I was prepping for Ruth chapter 1, I came across this old hymn called God Moves in a Mysterious Way by William Kalper. It's from the 1700s. He's written dozens, maybe more of hymns that you've probably heard of. And I just love the lyrics. And I appreciated the lyrics even more as I read about his life. He struggled with depression. He was a lifelong bachelor and he really struggled with that. This man knew a lot of pain
in his own life. And just listen to some of these lyrics as he wrestles with his own pain and the sovereignty of God. He says, "Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. God's purposes will ripen fast on folding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
And you know, for us as believers, we know that to be true because we know the story of the cross. I mean, the cross on the outside looks like a frowning providence, right? It's this horrible death machine that somehow is a symbol of our faith.
But behind the cross is the favor of God.
And so we look at things in a different way. As one theologian said, you know, thinking about our hope in the gospel, our bad things will turn out to be used for good and the best things are yet to come.
And so we know that in the midst of our suffering and somehow God's in the midst of all of it.
The thing that you that was in that hymn and also just been rattling around my head is. So, we see the suffering and the tragedy as did the author of that hymn at that moment in time in his life. It was overwhelming. And for us, as we're in the midst of our different stories, macro or micro, we see it in that time. I'm wondering if we need to have the faith and trust to see that God has a purpose. And that word is again overused, but it's true. There is nothing that God does or that happens that he is unaware of that doesn't point us to something. So the road that you're on, let's say it's you as an individual and you're in the midst of difficulty and suffering that pathway is not just you're not just walking around in circles. God has something he's taking you to grow you to have you become more like his son and then eventually I will be with him in eternity. So there's along the way of the path of pain and suffering. It's not just a circular thing. It's a directional thing.
Yeah. And I think you said it, Suzi. I God's purpose in all of my life is to make me conform me more to the image of his son. So everything that goes on in my life is with that purpose in mind. to conform me to the image of his son so that I might be a testimony, a bright light to the world around me. This is one of those things that for Christ followers, this is a hard subject to try to understand and wrap our minds around. To the unsaved world, to those of your friends who don't know Christ, this is going to feel impossible. I just wrestle with the fact that we need to get a grasp on the fact that God is the creator, the sustainer, the giver of life. And I ultimately have to trust him even when I don't understand these things.
And so sovereignty and is a nice word. It comes with a wrestling in my mind to admit to the fact that God is the one who's in control and I'm not.
Thank you so much for joining us and we just encourage you to keep on wrestling and struggling well.