How to Have Peace When Life Feels Out of Control | Isaiah 26:1-15

Show Notes

Episode 807: 
In this episode, Chris and Jeff delve into Isaiah chapter 26, which speaks of God's peace and the importance of trusting in Him. They highlight key verses that emphasize the connection between trust, obedience, and peace. The hosts reflect on their own experiences and the significance of acknowledging God's role in providing peace during challenging times.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. My name is Chris and I'm Jeff. Yes, that's our names, and we are here together and. We're the founder of them. People have been calling us those names for like just about our whole lot. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah that's true. And was your first name always Jeff? Yeah? Okay, yeah, so you said a different last name, h middle name. Different middle and the last night. I thought you had a name changed when you got adopted. I did my last name changed? Oh, but your first name didn't change. No, huh it's sound of a gun. I for some reason I thought you were something else anywaything else? You are? Ye? Really something else? Yeah? I've always been Christopher A. We talked about this last night at a small group. I was supposed to be Jonathan Edward and then I was born on Palm Sunday, crept into Palm Sunday after midnight, and my wife and my mom, who was Catholic, I thought of Saint Christopher and she's like, oh, Palm Sunday. So she changed to the Christopher, but she liked the name John still because I was supposed to be Jonathan, and so it's Christopher John. Oh wow, good for you, buddy. Well, hey, it does mean you know, like it little or it means christ like yeah right, christ like yeah. So yeah, it's a good name. I love it. Yes, it's how I think of you. Oh look at you, Chris. I set that up, didn't I. Yes. So today we're in the middle of a series. Well, you know, this week of the whole series is God's Promises, but each week has a theme, and this week is God's Peace. Yes, and so we talked about that yesterday. Today we're going to do Isaiah chapter twenty six. But before we do that, we have a segment and we just actually did a whole week on this. But this is a stump the past. The response to our stump the pastor week has been really great, has it? Yeah? Oh yeah, people, really we've gotten a ton of responses and then a whole bunch of new questions as a result of it. Okay, but yeah, it's it's really been good. So I think we should do it more often, okay, or or do a whole day every once in a while where it's just all yeah, stumped pastor take a break. Yeah, I think people like asking questions. Yeah yeah, and then you're so approachable and understandable you're trying to meet. Yeah yeah, So okay. All right, wey let me go ahead and read this stump the pastor. It says, if God already knows everything about us, what we do, and by the way, this is by D. D. S hy Dd. If God knows everything about us, what we do, what decisions we will make, and how we will live lives, how they will evolve, and when and how we die, how does prayer fit? For example, if someone dies young though an unexpected illness or death, or have a serious injury or accident or tragedy, for example, are all these things already determined? Predetermined? Excuse me predetermined? Such as a young person who dies at a young age from cancer. Is our death, circumstance, circumstances already predetermined? And if so, can prayer really help in these types of circumstances death, time, and circumstances already determined? Wow? Yeah right, that covers a lot well. And so think about that playing out in the scenario. So, so your mom is sick perhaps, right, something like this mother in law. Or whatever, or if someone dies young expected illness or death or. Yeah, someone don't matter who is, matter who it is, Yes, okay, let's just let's make him young, Jeff. Well, well, no, both of her for instances are. Okay, okay, okay. So there's a young person with cancer and they're on the bed and then we pray. And her question is, what does prayer matter if everybody's death is absolutely decided and determined? Yeah? Right, because because all we really have to do is just say, well, God, if this is her time or his time, then it's his or her time. Yeah right, So why would prayer change things? That's what that's her question. So I think this question comes up every few questions when people ask that they want to know about God's sovereignty. They want to know about if God's already decided all these things, then why does prayer matter? Or does that mean my life is prescripted? Or do I have a choice? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, this is kind of a hint at am I really part of the matrix? Right? Right? That's kind of the thing. Do I am I really an autonomous person? Am I really making my own decisions, or if it's already predetermined, then you know what's the point, and then it kind of will ultimately lead to doesn't this make God a monster if he's already decided that some little kid's going to die of cancer and that's what he wants. Yeah, I mean, well that that could definitely be a connect to dots. Right. Well, I've known lots of people who struggle with faith because their belief system is that everything that happens God made it happen, right, And so follow with me here just a little bit on this one. God set up the natural universe with natural laws. Right, If you step off the roof of a building, gravity's going to pull you under the ground, right, So natural laws like that. Unless, yeah, unless you had wings and could fly, so you have a jet packed Superman, yeah if you can. Yeah, yeah, okay. Sorry, I shouldn't done it. Yeah, go ahead, But natural laws are in place, yes, right, gravity exists, motion, all those things. Then, and God made it perfect. In the Book of Genesis, this is what the Bible says. He made it perfect. He looked at it, he said it was very good. He put Adam and Eve the first people in this perfect environment. Everything is great. But when we sinned. We just read this last week in the Book of Romans. All of creation now is broken. All of creation groans. That's when disease happened. That there was no cancer when God made it. Humanity broke the universe. Our DNA change, our DNA change everything, the DNA of the earth, of everything change right like earthquakes, tsunami, everything, the weeds of the ground. So so now disease exists. These are natural, They're part of the natural universe. And it happens you have these combinations of DNA things, or you have these combinations of genes, you have these, you have certain susceptibilities to certain things. And the Bible does say it's appointed and the man wants to die. And after this the judgment, So all of humanity has an appointment with death. We will all die someday. Life's one hundred percent terminal Hebrew Hebrews, Hebrews. But if, if, if we pray, God promises to intervene. The Book of James says, the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. Right, so it changes or or or it changes the trajectory of the happenings in the universe. If God chooses to intervene. But when we pray, what we're asking is for God to intervene in the natural world. We're asking God to do the supernatural thing in the natural world. So God didn't have to predetermine you will die of cancer. We're all dying because of the curse of sin, right right, Cancer may be the way. Does God know that that's coming in your life? God knows all things, certainly, but God's not the one creating those things, making those things happen. So then when we pray, it's natural cancer happened. We pray and ask God to intervene, and we're asking God to do something supernatural. Super just means outside of or beyond the natural, right over top of that's really the better word, over top of the natural. And so this is what a miracle is. A miracle is supernatural. So you and I live all day every day in the natural world, and then natural things happen. And when we pray, God does supernatural things, He overcomes the natural. That's what's happening. So God isn't predetermining all the horrible things that would happen in life. Those are all part of the curse. They just naturally happen now because nature is broken. And then we ask God to supernaturally intervene, and he changes things, so prayer matters. And it's all like we read yesterday, when we pray in Jesus name, when we're praying in alliance with what Jesus is already saying is the mission. Right, when we're praying in in agreement with God's will, then he will step in and intervene. Yeah, so and then and then. So that's the complex answer. I think you're going to give a more practical answer. Yeah, Well, what I was going to say is that it is a conundrum because God does know all things, right, so you know, if we do. Have knowing a thing and causing a thing or two different things. Yes, for sure. But but what I'm saying is like, like, does God know when we're going to die regardless of whether or not he chooses to intervene? You know, did he know? Did he know that he was going to intervene? Right? Like if if my predetermined time was here and then and then he decided to supernaturally extend it, did he know that? Of course he knew that, right. So it's just it's one of these mind boggling type things where God foreknos That's what the Bible says. Yeah, I think God knows all the options. He knew he would and wouldn't. He knew that it would happen and that it wouldn't happen. He knew that you would and that you would not. Because of the possibilities of all the combinations. Doctor Strange sees fourteen million different options. Yeah, yeah, me, do we win? He won? He sees both sides. Yeah, he sees the potential of all of those things. But I can tell you this, God said, get out of the way, Moses. I'm going to wipe out the people of Israel because they're so evil, and I'll keep my promise through you. And Moses begs God not to do it, and the Bible says God changed his mind. I know that when God sent the prophet to Isaiah to Hezekiah, he says, you're going to die soon. Get your house ready, And Hezekiah goes on his bed and begins to weep and cry plead the God, saying, I feel like I have more mission and I'm going to make sure I lean into to you and I'm going to lead the people well and God changed his mind and extended his life by fifteen years. Right. So God has this natural thing, he knows what's going to happen. He also has the ability to change his mind or to change course. And Jesus said, knock, asked for bread, Hey, go away. That's my choice, that's my decision. And he says, but because of the man's consistency, he got up, changed his mind, gave him bread. He said, so pray this way, and so, yeah, it definitely does. No. I was going to say, oh, yeah, I'm sorry, ahead, No, I was just going to say. The difference between like Calvinism and Arminiism Arminianism is Calvinism technically believes that God chooses us to be saved, that. All things are predetermined, all things are predetermined, right. This is the predetermined idea that like, hey, it's really not up to us. We choose only in response to God's initiation, right, And whereas Arminianism would say it's up to us that God's will is for everyone to be saved, and then you know, we could either choose. In other words, God foreknos, of course, but God doesn't force, right, God doesn't force, it's it's still our choice to either choose or reject. And then the health the healthy balance between those two because both are you know, both have biblical backings. You know, you can make the argument for both, but that, but the healthy balance of those things are. God does forekno and gives us a choice, right, He knows all things. And then then we uh we we you know, God initiates we respond because of our choice, right, right. So uh, I was going to say with regard to God changing his mind, which is a thing I know. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I know that that. The Bible talks about the fact that he he can never break his will, he can never break his word, all those kinds of things. So I'm saying about changing his mind with Hezekiah. I don't think he was playing around with Hezekiah, spooking him in order to get him to pray, right. I think he was genuinely going to unless I intervene, you're gonna die on this day. And then when he prayed, God, would you intervene? God chose to intervene in that moment, and it changed the trajectory of the nation of Israel. It changed the trajectory of Hezekiah's life because God decided, you know what, I do have more work I can have you do. You're surrendered to me. Your surrender matters. I'm going to go ahead and give you an extra fifteen years. And so God's really looking at your heart, He's looking at the intent. He's also looking at what his will and his plan is and what he's trying to achieve in the world around us and how we fit into that. And so when we're just asking God, would you intervene for me so that I can just, you know, keep consuming and doing I don't know what God's what the benefit to God would be for that or even in his kingdom. But when you're saying, God, would you intervene? Would you step in because of this, this is what I know I need to do, or this is what I feel like you're calling me to do for you to get the glory we see God on a regular basis, Moses appealed to God's glory. Has Akia appealed to God's glory? God stepped in and altered his path. So to wrap up the question, if a person who's young is on their deathbed, so to speak, Should I pray? And does it matter? The answer is yes and. Yes, yes, the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, right, is what James tells us. Yes, yeah, so keep praying. Let's try that intervenes. Besides that, Jesus told us to pray. That's right, right, over and over again. Well good, well, hey, we are in Isaiah and talking about prayer. Most of the songs in the Bible are prayers. There there's a transition. They are prayers to God, right, And so here we are in the Book of Isaiah. Twenty four, twenty six, and twenty seven are sometimes called the Apocalypse of Isaiah, and it's a he shifts out of his other prophecies, and now he's looking not just to Israel, but he's looking to a day when the entire world will come under judgment and then how God will deal with the wicked verses, how God will deal with his people. And so when you start reading in chapter twenty six, there's this song of praise to God and he's leading the people singing about how good God is to God's people, and he says, in that day everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song. Our city is strong. We are surrounded by the walls of God's salvation. Open the gates to all who are righteous, Allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, All whose thoughts are fixed on you, trust in the Lord always. For the Lord God is the eternal rock. He humbles the proud, and he brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed tramplet underfoot, and the needy walk all over it. But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws. Our heart's desire is to glorify your name. In the night I search for you, and in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord's majesty. Oh Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fists. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed and let your fire consume your enemies. Lord, you will grant us peace. All we have accomplished is really from you, O Lord, our God. Others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship. Those we served before are dead and gone. They departed, Their departed spirits will never return. You attacked them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten. Oh Lord, you have made our nation great. Yes, you have made us great. You have extended our borders, and we give you the glory. Then it goes on from there about the restoration of Israel things, But in this passage he's talking about how God steps in and intervenes, how God is their strength and protection, their wall, and how God tears down the mighty and the proud, but he gives grace and strength to the humble. And I love it. I love this passage. Yeah, that's great. And again the theme this week is peace, and so verse number three and then also in verse number twelve, both of those mentioned peace. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you, and he says, trusting the Lord always. And then in verse nomber twelve it says, Lord, you will grant us peace. All we have accomplished is really from you. Do you think Isaiah was from down south? Why is what you say fix it? Because he's fixed, because our thoughts are fixed on you. That's a Southern thing. Yeah, well he didn't say fixing. Fixing. Yeah, I'm fixing to do that. When I live down in Texas, everybody's fixing to do something. Yea, yeah, yeah, we're fixing to go fishing, We're fixing to go to Turkey live. I live in Atlanta for ten years, ten and a halfe and uh yeah, I love saying fixing. Fixing. Fixing is a good word. Yeah yeah. And then I came up here and every once in a while I'll say, hey, are you fixing to go up there? But I'll say it to people who are used to hearing it. So like Trey was this from Louisiana. He's always fixing to do something. And so I'll say hey, are you fixing to do that? And He'll just look at me and without even thinking, yeah, you know, and I'm so, I'm like, oh, I could use that with so. So the two words that I think are super utilitarian from down South are y'all. Y'all is phenomenal because it covers so many different things. Oh yeah, and then fixing that that's the other really good one. Yeah, and big old, big old is a good one too, like a big old truck and a big old boat. Such a good By the way, sorry to go on this on this rant, but there was a comedian that said, uh. The one word is uh. It's supposed to be did you eat yet? But yeah, yeah, and dude, that that's a thing yet, and he says not. He says, you now, y'all too. I ye. So anyways he's saying here, whether he's Southern or not, I don't know. But Isaiah says that God's going to keep them in perfect peace, all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. And then he says, trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal rock. And so he promises to give us perfect peace when we are totally dialed into him, and we talked yesterday. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Here it's the same, right, This is the promise. This is the commitment that they're making here. We're trusting in the Lord, your eternal rock. Our thoughts are committed to you. And then they start talking about following God's way. He says, Lord, you will grant us peace. All we have accomplished is really from you. So it's giving God the glory, giving God the focus, spending time focused on him and his word. And there's a good lesson in here for us because as there are times and seasons of our lives, maybe even long seasons where we don't experience peace. So he just said, hey, we used to serve other people and they're dead and gone, they'll never come back, and now we only serve you. And you have made us an independent, great nation and you're restoring us and we acknowledge you. And so we're in a season of peace. And I think what's important is we have to acknowledge that there are times where God does deliver us, and we should acknowledge the fact that we're experiencing more peace in our lives. It's a gratitude thing, right, I mean, think about all the different, you know, times where it's like I got to quit this job, I got to get out of here, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta do something about this. And then all of a sudden, somehow, some way, God moves you on and then all of a sudden, this next season of your life is so much better. It's so great to read this and be reminded, like we should say, God, thank you for giving us peace, thank you for restoring the you know, the the I mean, think about it. I could, even in my own life. I can think of so many people who my son who was like, I gotta get this situation fixed, and then and all of a sudden, and in this case, he changed companies and when he did, he's like, oh Dad, it's so much better. You know. It's like, yeah, God brought that opportunity to you almost miraculously, you know. And so it's acknowledged the fact that God did that for you, and thank God that he uh, you know, gives us peace. Because the human body is is quite an excuse me, quite a thing, isn't it. Yeah. I mean, think about anxiety, think about stress. What can that do to you? I actually think like I was. I was. I did not have gray for a very long time, and then there was a time in my life where I went through an incredible season of stress, and all of a sudden, my body went great. It was just like, and I think that bodies do that right, and it's just in it's stress, and I think that anxiety overcomes us. Uh. We just had small group lasts night and somebody talked about how you know. They said, gee, anxiety just has a hold of me and it affects me physically. And you know, my heart goes out to that because I'm thinking, man, you know, we got to pray for God's peace, and when God gives it to us, let's acknowledge the fact that he gives us relief. All glory goes dawn. Yeah. The gratitude is such an engine behind good things happening in the rest of your life. It's it's so important. Whenever I find what I think is like a key verse or a key phrase in a passage, I start digging around to try to figure out because usually it'll somewhere in the context it's going to especially if it's a principle that is applicable to us, it's usually going to expose that. So when he says you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you, Verse eight says Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws, our heart's desires to glow your name. So he defines what does it mean to trust? It's not just warm fuzzies. Yeah, it's obedience, right, it's obedience. So I'm meditating on you. What am I meditating on? David says in Someone nineteen, It's meditating on God's word day and night is what gives him freedom, it's what guides him. It's what it shows him the path to walk when it's dark and he doesn't know what's going on. You know, I do a lot of hunting, and you know, I wind up, I wind up being out in the woods quite a bit. And I was telling you about this. I showed you a video. I got surrounded by coyotes a couple nights ago. They're about twenty coyotes around me, and they were howling, and they killed a deer like one hundred. My daughter Tory is definitely afraid of coyote's oh huh. And if she listens to this, she will have anxiety that I just talked about from what you're talking about. But so they killed the deer out in the field just maybe one hundred and fiftywo hundred yards away from me, And you can hear it. It's crazy. It lasts like a half an hour and it's completely dark, and I'm trying to figure out what do I do. You know, I didn't have a pistol with me or anything. I'm bowhunting, and so finally I just wait until I hear the noise heading away from me. I only had two Holy Christ, yeah, I had two arrows in a pocket knife. So there's that. But I get down. I climb down out of my tree, and at first I thought, I'm going to walk out without my light. I don't want to bring attention, and it's scary. You got the coyotes howling all around you, and it's kind of scary to walk out in the dark. And then I thought they can smell me from like a mile away, and this is stupid. So I turned my light on, and I had so much more confidence with my light on. Yeah. Right, So I also remembered, oh, I got a handheld so I had a head lamp. It's really bright. And then I remembered, oh, I got a handheld flashlight in my backpack, so I took it out of my backpack. Next thing, you know, everyone, I'm looking. As soon as the light it would expose the darkness. I was fine, like like, I felt like okay. I could see eyes in the woods. They were clearly, they were deer, and the coyotes just kept moving away from me. But there was so much anxiety walking in the dark, even though I've walked that path one hundred times. There's so much anxiety walking in the dark. But with the light on, all of a sudden, there's so much more peace, and because you can see what's coming. And this is what David. When you connect this passage to David talking in Someone nineteen, your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Right, he talks about meditating in God's word day and night, all these things. And then this is what Isaiah is saying here a couple hundred years later. Isaiah is saying, listen, you give us perfect peace when we trust in you. And the way we prove we trust in you, it's the fact that we're constantly meditating on your words. Not only that, but we're obeying your words. Right, that we show our trust by obeying your words and our heart's desire to glorify your name. And in that context, thank God says let me just pour out all the peace you need. Yeah, Luke six's forty six. You know where Jesus says, why do you call me lord? Lord? And do not do the things that I say? It's probably one of the most convicting questions. Yeah, maybe in the whole Bible. I really don't think that there's something that is I mean, think about that statement making him lord. It's a lordship issue, right, So it's sort of encompasses king king, right, it sort of encompasses everything, right, So it's one of those that's the reason why it's the most convicting question because there's other convicting questions in the Bible, but this is all encompassing about our entire lives. It could just sum up everything. And so Jesus is looking at some of his followers face to face, and he says, why do you call me lord? Like, do you mean it right? Because you're calling me lord, but you're not doing what I'm saying. Why do you call me lord? Lord? And you don't do what I say? And then and then of course he talks about obedience, right, and so you know, and again it's not about obeying because we have to, and it's not about being under the weight of the of the law of precepts. It's about understanding that God gives us either commandments or invitations. I always say it this way. Every commandment that God gives to obey him or every invitation that he gives us to follow him, Right, those are sort of the same things, but they're always given for two reasons. Number one, for his glory and for our benefit. Every single time, every single time, it's always for his glory, that's his endgame, and then for our benefit. So we have to understand that obedience isn't just like, you know, I really really really want to do this, but I guess I got to do that. This is fun, and this isn't fun. And on the surface, some of those things are absolutely true. But in the end, what we understand is is that we have a God who loves us, who knows what's best for us, who wants what's best for us, wants us to experience a life to the full and fulfillment and purpose and love and blessings. And so that's why we obey, Right, we obey because we know those things so well, Hey, that is our time. So there was a great talk, So we will see you hopefully tomorrow, on the Bible Guys,