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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Today, with sadness, we wrap up this not alone series as we have been reminded of of God's promises. Over the the past several weeks, we have been reminded that we're not alone, that God meets us in our weakness, that he remains near in our uncertainty. He's promised to continue to work within us. And this final message is is not really about adding something new, but really about learning how to live with trust in what God has promised as we try to draw near to him as his work inside us continues. And so, most of life is lived without clear resolution.
John Gunter:Have ever thought about that? I'd love clarity on everything that I decide and everything I desire. Is it the right thing? Is it the wrong thing? Am I going down the right path, wrong path?
John Gunter:All of those things. And for a lot of life, you are left without clear resolution and have unanswered questions. We have incomplete chains and an ongoing struggle, and so this morning, our our main scripture is gonna be from Psalm one thirty one, and it does not try to resolve these tensions or questions or concerns. Instead, it gives us a picture of what faithful trust looks like when God is present in our lives. And so, let's begin there this morning from Psalm one thirty one and verse one.
John Gunter:Oh Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. This is, as we read, a psalm of David, and David names here in this verse what he has let go of. He's let go of pride, and ambition, and a need a need to manage what actually belongs to God.
John Gunter:A good reminder to us not to try to control everything, to feel like we are running everything in our life. Often, again, when things are going well, we feel like, well, I should get the credit for this. Something goes bad, then we go to God. If it's going well, I'm just gonna take care of it, and thank you thank you, Lord, that I'm I'm so good. Right?
John Gunter:But this verse confronts our our tendency to to believe that faith requires control, that faith requires understanding or even certainty. But David's posture is not a passive one, but is a trusting one. That is not a a hands off, I have nothing to do with anything, but it is the realization and the the idea that I trust God, I'm going to let him work. Can you do that a little more in your life? I need to trust God more and allow him to work.
John Gunter:And hopefully, through this series, what you have heard is that all of God's promises to be with you, you don't do anything alone. God is with you. God desires to work within you and change you from the inside. And so, we ought to let him do that as as David speaks here. From Proverbs 20 in verse 24, we read, a man's steps are from the Lord, how then can man understand his way?
John Gunter:And I think we understand that. Right? You ever tried to understand God and the way things work out? You ever tried to understand that? Because I have a lot of solutions for the Lord, don't you?
John Gunter:God, I know that it ought to work out this way in this time, this manner. You've been there? And if it doesn't work out that way, then I'm left with confusion, and and what do what do I do? But again, if I want to trust God, I need to understand that he is God, and there's no point in my life where I'm gonna go, oh, I know exactly how God is going to choose to work this out. How many of you would testify this morning that probably 99.9% of the time, God does not work the way you think he should.
John Gunter:Amen. Does it work out? It does. Not in the way, maybe even sometimes we would even desire. But God is God because he works things all for the good of those.
John Gunter:Right? All for us because we trust him. Not that not that because we're good or because we've worked out the timing, it's because he is God and he can work all of that out. Yes. And so that should be our desire to draw close to him in this.
John Gunter:Faith begins when we stop grasping for what was never ours to carry, and that is control. That I have to control this. We got any control freaks in here? Yeah. Might as well know ourself.
John Gunter:Right? Might as well understand that's my tendency. I have a tendency to control and try to because if you can speak that out loud, then you will at least understand, okay, this is this is my first action. It's probably going to be to try to control this. So the next time that comes up, you might give yourself a little pause and go, wait, wait, wait.
John Gunter:Also need to trust in God. I also need to give this to him because whatever measure of control I think I have, I don't really have. But God does because he is God. Continuing on in Psalm one thirty one in in verse two, David says this, but I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. And again, this is a picture of trust.
John Gunter:This is a learned trust, not an innocence in the sense of a child, but this is a learned trust that I am in the safety of someone who loves me. I am in the care of someone who wants the best for me. Again, it might not look exactly the way I want it to look, but I am, again, in this trusting relationship. This rest or this trust is not the absence of desire or even struggle, but the presence of confidence that God is near. And I hope that's what you've heard throughout this series, is that God is near, and as we understand that, we can learn to rely and trust in him as we go out through our life.
John Gunter:In Matthew 11 verses twenty eight and twenty nine, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Anybody need some rest today? Some of us already have it on our schedule for the afternoon. This is not just talking about physical rest, though I think if you give the mental things to God, you will experience better physical rest. This is, I understand that God can take care of this.
John Gunter:Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. It is heavy upon you, and God promises, I will give you rest. Yet, those of us who admit to being controlling, we keep trying to control it, and carry it, and do all the things that just make it heavier. And God says, give it to me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
John Gunter:And we read that this morning knowing that a lot of us starting this afternoon after the sermon are gonna forget this and gonna try to control. Give it to God, you will find rest for your soul. Again, not not the idea of passivity that I don't you know, I don't have anything to do with this. Just an understanding that, God, I trust you. I see how much you love me, I see what you have done for me, and God, I trust you, and in that trust, I can give those things to God.
John Gunter:Back when I went through the resting series, think that's the biggest pushback I got is that I encourage some of you to even take naps on Sunday. That's my if you're new here, that's my thing. I'm gonna take a nap this afternoon. I I I need to do that. I'm kind of borderline introvert extrovert.
John Gunter:I'm right on right in the middle, and so I love being with people, but you guys tire me out. The social interaction, I've got to recharge in a way that Scott probably doesn't have to recharge because he's an extrovert, and he's gonna love to talk. With me, I've gotta I've gotta get that social battery back up, I need to go rest. And and oftentimes, what when we think about rest, we we have guilt. Well, you know, then I'm lazy.
John Gunter:Well, a lot of times, what that's that's about is not actual laziness, it is this feeling that if I don't keep going, things are not gonna happen and everything's gonna crumble without me. But the truth is, a lot of times it's because our faith is in ourselves and not in God. And as you lay down to rest, you actually say, God, I understand. You can take care of this. So I have given you all permission to rest today.
John Gunter:So if if your wife or your husband says anything at all, you say talk to the preacher. Go find rest for your souls, and we do that by having trust in God and knowing that he can handle it. David does not command Israel to calm themselves. He invites them here in just a second. He invites them to hope because he has learned to trust.
John Gunter:David is writing this in a way that says, learn from me. We are all going to learn hard lessons in life. But isn't it a valuable thing when you can learn the hard lesson from somebody else's going through it rather than your own? And so that's what he's saying. Learn from me.
John Gunter:I have learned to put my trust in God. And so personal faith, personal faith that you have within yourself becomes a communal witness because David is saying, look at me. Was David's life perfect? Say no. David's life was a mess for a lot of it.
John Gunter:But the thing the reason that David could be called a man after God's own heart is because when confronted with those ways that he had moved away, he was convicted. He said, you know, I can't live without being close to God. Don't don't take your holy spirit from me, God. I need it. And that is a man who has humbled himself, that understands I'm not in control, but God is and he can handle it, and to have a desire that I want that in my life no matter what.
John Gunter:In Psalm one thirty one, in the final verse of that psalm, which is verse three, David says, O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. And that sounds wonderful until you're unable to put it into practice. That again, this idea of I hope in myself, I wouldn't say that, but my actions show that I have complete faith and trust, not in God, but in what I can accomplish. And the way that will limit you is is when you try to do something, you you realize, I don't have control of this. A lot of times for me, that has been the moments in life where something physical has gone wrong.
John Gunter:Health has gone wrong. I remember when Evan was 10 old, we air flighted him from Hot Springs, Arkansas. His o two saturation was eighty two five I think it was 82. And we we flew him like 30 miles. And by the way, that cost about $40 if you'd like to do that this afternoon.
John Gunter:Still paying on that. But sitting in that hospital room, everything becomes very clear on whether or not I am in control. Have you been there? Because all of a sudden, is very clear, all that control I thought I had, and I was, oh, everything's cruising. Yeah.
John Gunter:I've got none. I'm not even able to to really help in in what he's doing, and if you don't know, they put 10 old in cribs that are about this tall and really small bars in between. It looks like you're you're viewing an animal at the zoo. And to see the little boy shaking on it and wanting out, and I'm just singing singing songs to him, it crushed my heart. But in that scenario, I knew very clearly that my trust, my hope does not need to be in John Gunter, it needs to be in our Lord because he can handle it.
John Gunter:I can't. Whether it turned out good or whether it turned out bad, he can handle it, not me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Again, one more time, this is not passive, I have nothing to do with this. It is I am walking, and God is with me every step of the way.
John Gunter:Trust in him. From Psalm 62, For God alone my soul waits in silence, From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. If I could have one thing happen today, it would be that we walk out of here thinking about this verse.
John Gunter:From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken because you trust in him. This is not an I'm invincible thing because I'm good. This is no matter what happens in my life, good, bad, indifferent, God is there. He can handle it.
John Gunter:Put your trust in him. And I believe hope does not rush God as much as we are conditioned. I I still get upset if if I don't order from somewhere like Amazon, and I order something and it takes five business days to get here, I am tapping my toe and wondering what in the world has gone wrong because I want what I want right now. Yes. That goes for the stuff I buy or the decisions I make.
John Gunter:I'd like to make a decision and know Is this right or wrong? Let me change. Let me continue. But life doesn't work that way, does it? We continue to put our trust in God because we don't have the answers to all the questions.
John Gunter:We don't rush God because of our trust, we wait with God, knowing that God and his timing is going to take care of us. And my favorite verse for this is Psalm forty six ten. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Be still, still yourself, give your burdens to him, be still, trust in him, know that he is God.
John Gunter:Amen, church. We are not alone. God meets us in our weakness. He remains near in our uncertainty. He promises to continue to work within us to change us from the inside.
John Gunter:And so this morning, I encourage you to rest in the promises of God. We're gonna have a time of invitation, and we'd love to pray with We'd love to encourage you. We'd love to if you'd like to be a part of this church, we'd like to encourage you in that and get you plugged in to draw you close to God. If you haven't begun that walk with him, now's the time to declare your faith in Jesus, to be baptized into his name, and begin that walk with him this morning. But as we do that, in everything that we do, can we put our trust in what God has for Amen.
John Gunter:Let's stand and stand this morning.