Now What? Part One: How You See It By Remy Diederich

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1 Now What? Part One: How You See It By Remy Diederich Outline 1. Instead of facing the reality of our hardships, we prefer to deny them. 2. Six words that describe our sense of loss: > displaced > disconnected > disillusioned > disoriented > depressed > doubt 3. In a broken world, there WILL be loss. 4. You can't always change your circumstances but you can change your perspective. 5. The psalmist (102) turned his eyes from his trouble to God on the throne. Going Deeper: Use the following questions for personal reflection and/or to discuss with family, friends and small group. 1. Describe a time in the past when you were stuck in a hard place and there was nothing you could do. 2. How did you handle it? How did it turn out. 3. What are the six words that often describe our sense of loss? Which of them could you relate to when you were stuck (or maybe now, if you are currently stuck). 4. Remy said that many of us struggle with suffering because we don t have a theology for suffering. What does that mean? Do you have a theology (view of God) to get you through the hard times? 5. In Numbers 11:1-10, the people complained. In Psalm 102, the writer lamented. What s the difference? 6. Read Psalm 102. Does this lament express how you feel/have felt? 7. How does the writer of this psalm change his perspective even though he can t change his circumstances? 8. How can you change your perspective in situations that you can t change? Message People often ask me how I determine my sermon topics. The answer is that they come through observation and prayer. I keep asking God to show me what to speak about and then I look and listen for what stands out to me. It might come from the Bible, or a book I read, or a conversation I have, or just a passing thought. But something catches my attention and if I think it s relevant and helpful in our walk with God, it usually develops into a sermon series. 1

2 The series I m starting today came from listening to people. Over the past month I ve had so many people talk to me about a situation in their life that has no solution. Some are sad about it, some are mad about it. Many are depressed, and most are confused...not knowing what to do. And the truth is...there is nothing they can do. I mean, what do you do when the doctor says, I m sorry, your tumor is malignant, or, There is nothing we can do? Or your wife says, I want a divorce...i m leaving you today? Or your teenager calls and says, I ve been arrested, or I m pregnant? Or your boss says, Your job has been eliminated? Or the court says, you no longer have custody of your children? These are NOW WHAT situations and there is no magic pill you can take, or secret prayer you can pray, that will change these circumstances. There is no wand I can wave over you, or moondust I can sprinkle on you, to take them away. So...now what? Welcome to your new normal. So often in church, we present things in a way that looks all nice and wrinkle free. We like to tell the story about David fighting Goliath, but leave out the 20 years that King Saul tried to kill David by chasing him through the mountains and valleys of Israel. Or we tell the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, but we fail to mention that Moses lived in obscurity for 40 years in the desert. You see, we like to talk about the resurrection but not the crucifixion. Just compare the attendances numbers on Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Maybe you ve heard people say: Just turn your life over to Jesus and he ll solve all your problems. Right? But the Bible doesn t say that. In fact, Jesus told us that we will face trouble in this world. And the Apostle Paul...the guy who wrote half of the New Testament...said: I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 2 Corinthians 12:8 and he never did. God allowed that thorn to remain. But we forget that about Paul. My point is: instead of facing the reality of hardship, we often prefer to deny it. We use our faith to gloss over the pain in life rather than confront it. As I said last month, when we have no theology of suffering, we are unprepared for hardship. When trouble comes our way we are surprised, offended, and disillusioned. In my book, Return from Exile, I mention six words that often describe us in the face of a NOW WHAT moment. Displaced: In other words...how did I get here? I feel like someone picked me up from the good life I was living and dropped me in a foreign land. I didn t see this coming. 2

3 Disconnected - the minute hardship strikes it s so easy to feel like a leper, which means you suddenly feel different. No one is like you. And because no one is like you, you feel like no one wants to be with you, and so you distance yourself from your friends and family. I see this a lot. When bad things happen, instead of people coming to church for support they often isolate and fall away from church. Disillusioned: This means God didn t do what you thought he would do. You were under the illusion that God would protect you in a bubble and when the bubble burst, you were DIS-illusioned and you didn t know how to handle it. Disoriented: This means you are thrown off balance. You don t feel like the person you used to be able to do the things you used to do. There s a loss of identity. Depressed - you become convinced that life will never be good again. Doubt - Life isn t black and white any more. It used to be so easy: life was neatly compartmentalized into good and bad. Right and wrong. Black and white. But now everything is gray. Life isn t as clear. You feel vulnerable and fear what might happen next. A NOW WHAT situation rocks your world. It can be very emotional. But this is what I want you to know...bad things happen to good people...all the time.. It shouldn t be a surprise. If you haven t faced a significant hardship in your life, consider yourself blessed, but you will...count on it. The reason I m so sure of this is because we live in a broken world. And in a broken world there will be loss. There will be relationships that fail. You will lose loved ones unexpectedly. Your health will fail you in some way at some time. There will be roadblocks to your plans and dreams and you need to know how to be prepared emotionally and spiritually when it happens. Aren t you glad you came to church today? I m not trying to depress you. I m trying to prepare you because too many people are sent into a tailspin, turn bitter, and fall away from God when bad things happen. The essence of a life of faith isn t about how to live on the mountaintop but how to walk through the valleys of life and still experience peace and joy, as well as inspire others. This is what I want to talk about over the next few weeks. You see, you can t always change your circumstances, but you CAN change your perspective. You can reframe and refocus the picture that you ve been given. And that s what the life of faith is all about. We see things differently. Paul said that we walk by faith and not by sight. NOW WHAT situations can be the catalyst for God to do his deepest work in you. But they can also be what causes you to crash and burn. It s up to you. How you respond to hardship 3

4 determines if you will be a VICTIM of your circumstances or someone who OVERCOMES your circumstances. Wouldn t you like to be the kind of person that shines in the face of adversity and loss instead of crumbles? That s the kind of person God wants you to become. That s the kind of person I want to help you to be. So, what DO you do when there is nothing you can do? There are many things we try to do that aren t helpful. We attempt to wheel and deal and outsmart our circumstances. But sometimes DOING something takes us deeper into trouble, doesn t it? Our schemes and manipulations end up prolonging our agony. One of the things we do is complain. It s simple, but it gives us a little sense of gaining back control of our life. I want to take us back into the story of the Israelites for a minute to look at how they complained. You know, sometimes people don t read the Bible, especially the OT, because they think it s outdated and irrelevant. I mean, how can stories that are so old help us in the 21st century? But I think the age of the stories is what gives them power because we are no different today than we were 3500 years ago. These stories help us to observe the human condition, get an objective perspective, and learn spiritual principles that we can apply to our lives today. That s exactly why God gave us a book full of stories. Now if you don t know the Old Testament, one big story is when God s people were slaves in Egypt. God called a man, by the name of Moses, to bring them out of their bondage and take them to Israel, the Promised Land. They made it out of Egypt, but they were afraid to enter Israel because they heard that there were giants living in the land. Rather than trust God, they chose the easy way and ended up wandering around the desert for 40 years. That was their NOW WHAT situation. They were out of Egypt, but Now What? The desert wasn t that much better. At first there wasn t enough food, so they complained to God and God worked a miracle. Every morning, when the dew dried off the ground, it left a crumbly substance called manna that they could eat. At first they were amazed and grateful. But after eating manna for a few months, it got old and so they complained again. Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused....the rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!...the LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. Numbers 11:1-10 4

5 They were sick of manna and wanted to go back to Egypt. And in the same way, we often get sick of the life we face every day: You are sick of being single and seeing all your friends get married. You are sick of your bad marriage and your spouse not wanting to work on it. You are sick of your dead-end job. You are sick of never having enough money. You are sick of your health never improving. Come February, we ll all be sick of one more cold and cloudy day. Be careful. Don t allow yourself to reduce your entire existence to what s not working. You see, with the benefit of hindsight we know that even though the Israelites rejected God s plan, and wandered in the desert, God used the desert to shape them into his people. It was in the desert that God gave them the Ten Commandments. It was in the desert that he had them build the tabernacle where God came to live in their midst. And it was in the desert that they developed their identity as God s representatives to the world. While they were complaining about the manna, God was creating a people. It s too bad they didn t appreciate what was happening at the time. But that s true for us too. God is at work, even while we complain. But his work would go much quicker if we worked with him and not against him I want to suggest that, even though you can t change your circumstances, you can change the way you think about your circumstances. You can shift the focus and believe that God is up to something good. Let me take us to a psalm that shows us how to do that: Psalm 102. We don t know who the writer is. It simply says that it was: A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the LORD. The writer was sick of his situation and he described it in vivid detail. Not only was he suffering, but the city of Jerusalem was suffering and he let God know how he felt with a lament. But before he started his lament, listen to how he approached God: Hear my prayer, LORD; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. Psalm 102:1,2 He didn t whine about his situation. He respectfully asked God to listen to his lament. And then he said:...my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. Psalm 102:3 5

6 He seemed to be experiencing some physical pain and he didn t feel like he has many days left. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. Psalm 102:4 He also experienced emotional pain. He was worn down. He was tired of dealing with the same thing over and over. In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. Psalm 102:5-7 He spoke about his sense of isolation and the destruction that surrounded him. Not only was he ruined, but he was in a city that lay in ruin. He didn t see any reason for hope. Nothing was going to change. Then he said: All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. Psalm 102:8 The people in our lives often don t help. They say stupid things, insensitive things. They may not even be aware of what they are saying, but it still hurts. For example, maybe they complain about their kids keeping them awake at night, when you would love to have that problem because you struggle with infertility. Or people boast about their dream vacation when you don t have enough money to go to the movies. Or maybe they criticize you for something that you can t help. I heard about a woman who took her autistic child to a restaurant a rare event because the child was prone to outbursts. But she thought she d take the chance. Well, as she feared, her son was out of control and a man came over to the table and said, Lady, if you can t control your kid then find someone who can. These kind of encounters are so hurtful and we grow weary of them. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside. Psalm 102:9,10 The writer was overcome. He was consumed by his trouble. You know, when bad things happen, and the circumstances don t change, it s hard not to connect the dots and assume that God is against you that he s washed his hands of you. You think that God is either angry, or on a lunch break, or just doesn t care. The writer concludes by saying: My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass. Psalm 102:11 This is how he felt, and you may feel the same way. I don t think this is complaining. This is a lament, which is simply reporting to God how you feel and that s fair. But how you respond to your pain is critical. 6

7 How you respond not only reveals your heart condition but predicts the path you will take. You can take the path of bitterness. Or you can take the path of faith. Listen to how the psalmist responds: But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever... Psalm 102:12 To be seated means that God isn t worried. He s not pacing around heaven, rubbing his hands, wondering what he should do. He s in control. He s got a plan that can t be shaken by any evil that is happening on earth. Now, the word but is a powerful word. It implies a pivot a 180 degree turn. But means there is an exception to everything was just said. And so, even though our writer has poured out his hurt and doubt about God he says...but... BUT YOU LORD...sit enthroned forever. I love this response because he didn t ask God why he was suffering. He didn t complain to God about his suffering. He didn t mention that was unfair. There was no, Why Me? pity party. He accepts the fact that he IS suffering. Suffering is not unusual. In fact, it s the norm. I m sure he had seen lots of suffering in his day. So he wasn t looking for answers or explanations. But what he did here was to reframe his situation. He said, Okay God, I ve told you how I feel. But the universe doesn t revolve around me. It revolves around you. So in spite of how I feel, I m going to take my eyes off of my situation and put them on your situation and YOU God, are seated on the throne today, and tomorrow and forever. My situation will change but not yours, because you are God and I am not. The psalmist goes on to say that God has a reputation for always coming through...that s why he said, Your renown endures through all generations. Psalm 102:12 The Israelites had story after story of how God came through for his people. So the writer was confident that even though he FELT abandoned, he was NOT abandoned. God was still good. And because of that reputation he knew God would take action. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Psalm 102:12-17 The writer is convinced that God will move...maybe not in his lifetime. But he will move. This psalm is written as an example for us. We all experience the same pain and isolation as our writer in one form or another. We all come to a place where we FEEL like God has 7

8 abandoned us or that our life will never be good again. Like I said, if you haven t yet...wait for it. The day will come. But how we feel rarely reflects what is true. And so the psalmist shows us how to change our perspective. When we can t change our circumstances, he shows us how to change our perspective from focusing on our pain to focusing on God s greatness and compassion. This is what true worship is about. We are self-centered people. I don t think the people of faith in the Bible would recognize American faith today. The average believer wants a god that will make them happy. They want a god that offers them all the blessings of heaven with no sacrifice. But that s self-worship. If we want to be true worshippers we need to learn how to shift our focus off of ourselves and onto God. Isn t that what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, Not my will, but Your will be done? He was modeling for us how to handle a NOW WHAT situation. God always deserves our worship even when times are bad. Job put it like this: Though he slay me, yet I will trust him. Job 13:15. There s much more I have to say. But this is where I want us to start the conversation. Let s put our eyes on God. Let s remember that he is on the throne. He is at the center of the universe. Not us. 8