When I was a child in Africa I was fascinated with insects. We had no toys or pets, so I made pets out of insects. I made a glass ant-farm to observe how ant communities lived. I had several pet bumble bees and would fly them every day for exercise by tying a long thread to a leg and letting the bumble bee fly in circles. After getting stung a few times I switched to flying beetles, but I loved bugs of all sorts.

One day in my fourth grade I decided that I would raise butterflies. So I gathered several huge fuzzy caterpillars and put them into a screened box and fed them leaves every day. After several days the caterpillars attached themselves to the box and spun a cocoon around themselves. I waited for days until I began to wonder if they had died. When I had almost given up and was going to cut them open to see what had happened, I noticed one of the cocoons was vibrating and moving. So I waited and watched. I forget how many hours that butterfly struggled to get out of the cocoon, but I was convinced that it was never going to make it. I felt sorry for it. It's wings were caught in what seemed to be a hopeless trap. So I thought I would help it. I cut the remnants of the cocoon open to help the butterfly escape. I did the same for another cocoon until someone told me that butterflies will never fly if you help them. And sure enough, the butterflies that had had the difficulty removed never flew and those that struggled till I felt sorry for them flew beautifully.

That's the way God designed our lives as well. When we avoid all distress (as some of you tend to do), we never grow. We often look on distress as something that should be removed from our lives. That's why some people avoid getting involved in the Abortion Abolitionist movement. It just seems too stressful. But difficulties are not bad for us. What brings the ulcers to our stomachs often is our own subjective response to the difficulties, not the difficulties themselves. What one person finds distressing another person handles with no problems. And from this passage I want to show you three things that can hugely help to remove anxiety, worry, and parlyzing fear from your life. God wants us to think properly, secondly to pray properly, and thirdly to act properly. And this is not simply theory for me. I grew up as a very fearful and shy person, but when God transformed me in those three areas, it removed my anxieties and gave me renewed boldness - a boldness that is absolutely needed if we are to carry forward the abolitionist movement in Nebraska that this weekend's conference was devoted to. So the Lord led me to interrupt my series in Deuteronomy to preach this sermon today. It's not directly related to Abolitionism, but it does show the way forward for those who find it too stressful to get involved.

To cope with stress and worry we must adjust our praying, our thinking and our actions (as commanded in Philippians 4:6-9)

Right Thinking

In the passage I just read from Exodus 14, we see that God deliberately put the Israelites into a very difficult situation. He did not remove the stress. Instead, he taught them how to think differently about His providence. And how we think profoundly affects our emotional well-being. Let me illustrate. My father told me that when he and his brothers were children they almost stepped right into a large nest of poisonous snakes just swarming over each other - sort of like the picture you see in your outline. They quickly walked away from that spot and were talking about the snakes when my uncle felt something going up his leg. He said that he let out a yell and jumped four feet. All that had happened was that one of his brothers had lightly run a stick along the outside seam of his pants. Sticks are harmless, but uncle Art wasn't thinking about sticks. When he felt that movement, all he was thinking about was those snakes. Our thinking has a great deal to do with how we handle circumstances.

Some people lose their appetite completely if you talk about disgusting things while they are eating. I can't understand it, but it happens! In one way or another our thinking has a powerful affect on how we feel.

Reminding yourself that God will never give you more than you can handle.

So getting into our text, the first thing that helped Moses was the realization that God will never give His people more difficulty than they can handle. We're going to back up a bit. Look at Exodus 13:17. "Then it came to pass, when Pharoah had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; [Let me stop there for a moment. God could have led them straight into Canaan by a much shorter route - the route along the coast known as the Via Maris, which goes straight up the coast to Gaza. Instead, He chose to take them on a long detour, and in the second half of verse 17 He gives the reason: "for God said, 'Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.'" The Via Maris (the shorter way) would have led them through Philistine territory, and the Philistines were very skilled at war - and were currently on an expansionist campaign. History shows that they were being very aggressive. So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. It says, "And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt."

So the first thing that Moses was convinced of was that God would never allow them to face more difficulty than what they could handle. And is this not the promise that God gives to us in 1 Corinthians 10:13? Yes, it is. That verse says, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." We can praise the Lord that He will never give us more than we can handle. Now there are stressful situations out there that you may not be able to handle right now, just as Israel was not able to handle this one at this stage in their history. But the point is that you don't need to focus on potential stresses. God has promised to keep you from the ones that He knows will be too difficult for you to handle right now. Paul said that no temptation has overtaken you except the ones that He will provide a way of escape from. The key word is, "has overtaken you."

When I was in fifth grade I used to spend hours worrying about whether I would deny Jesus if persecutors caught me and started torturing me for hours. I was very fearful. But Jesus said, "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt 6:34). God has given you the grace to handle today's troubles, not tomorrow's troubles. You need to have confidence that just as God kept Israel from this trouble until they were ready for it, He will also keep you from more than you can bear. So first of all, you need to realize that there is no sense in worrying about troubles that you can't plan for today and can’t work on today. Worrying about future troubles that may or may not happen is a waste of energy and leads to stress. When we start worrying, it is useful to divide a page into two parts and write down in one column the responsibilities that are ours – things that we can do something about, including realistic planning for the future. Planning is a responsibility. So I am not saying, don't plan for the future. Planning belongs in the column of our responsibilities. In the other column write down the things that are God’s responsibilities - things that you can't really do much about. I can almost guarantee you that everything you worry about is in God’s column. And it is sometimes helpful to daily repent of the times that you worry about God’s responsibilities and to repeatedly give those to Him. Tell God, “I’m not going to focus on things over which I have no power. I give each of those to You.” In the Prolife movement, too many people look at total abolition as an impossibility and it makes them compromise on things that are on their side of the sheet. Whether God will abolish abortion soon or not is on His side of the sheet. But our responsibilities cannot be compromised because we think that God won't take care of what's on His side of the sheet. Right?

Reminding yourself that it is God’s will for us to be faced with difficulties. Difficulties are not a sign that the situation is out of control or that God doesn’t care. Instead, we see here that God is sovereign (in total control).

A second area where our thinking must be straight is the realization that it is God's will for us to be afflicted. Ouch! Ok, I know that this truth may make you more stressed initially. But think about it. If it is not God’s will for us to suffer, and yet we still suffer for His name’s sake, then that means that things are out of God’s control. *That’s a scary thought!” It means that God's desires are not being accomplished. That means that this problem is not working together for my good. It means that I have real reason to fear what is happening. It is only when I am convinced that God brings stress into my life for my good, that I can calm my heart and trust God. I want you to notice that in this passage God is deliberately putting the Israelites into a controlled yet stressful situation. Notice the instructions God gives in chapter 14, verses 1-4.

Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharoah will say of the children of Israel, "They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.' Then I will harden Pharoah's heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

God put them into a position where they would be hemmed in on all sides by the mountains and the sea. The point is that God put them into a place where there would be no obvious way of escape. From a military standpoint, this was the most foolish thing that Israel could have done. They were going into a box with no apparent door. But God put them there because he didn't want Israel trying to escape from the distress and thus failing to learn their lesson. They had to deal with it. It was God’s will for them to face this distress.

Moses gets the point. He knows that God is in control and that he didn’t need to worry. But all that Israel did in verses 11-12 was to wish that they didn't have that distress. They complained. They grumbled. That's our normal response to stress isn't it? We don’t want to take on a ministry that God has called us to do because it might cost us too much; we might have to make too many sacrifices; it might place too much stress upon us. Well, God made sure that Israel could not run. They were forced to face the stress. We need to realize that God is more interested in our holiness than He is in our comfort. Christ did not promise His followers a life of ease. Following Christ sometimes means losing our loved ones - as happened to Erika Kirk. Sometimes it means losing our own lives. Sometimes it means that people will slander us. But we must get rid of the notion that outward stress is an option. You are never going to make forward progress with your anxieties if you keep holding to that mythology. God has not promised to get rid of all stress in your life. What is an option is the inner feeling of being stressed out. But picking up your cross and following Jesus is not an option. In Luke 14:27, Jesus said, "whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Picking up your cross is not an option, so take this point seriously. It is God's will for you to sometimes face stress. And if you don't expect stress, you are much more likely to feel stressed when it happens.

A third area of thinking is to meditate on the promises of God.

A third area of thinking is to meditate on the promises God has made that He will be with you and to provide for you in the midst of your stresses. Moses helps the Israelites to do just that in verses 13-14. He gives them a promise from God. He says, "Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today." Meditating upon the promises of God has a power to ease the stress in our hearts. We can meditate on His promised presence; His promised angels (wow! that's a cool promise!); His promised wisdom; His promised grace. And we might think, “But these Israelites didn’t have that promise earlier.” Well - that's not entirely true. Even before Moses gave these words, the people could have come to the same conclusion. God had several times promised to bring them safely out of Egypt and to take them all the way to Canaan. They weren't there yet, so simple logic says that either God is a liar or He will help me through this mess. He had already shown that He could handle the Egyptians. And we need to claim God's promises repeatedly when we are tempted to go crazy. Meditation on the promises of God is a powerful tool for dealing with anxiety. And I highly encourage you to start memorizing those key passages of Scripture so that you can instantly use them when a stressful situation arises, or so that you can meditate upon them even when you are in bed - a place where I used to worry.

A fourth area of thinking that helped Moses was to think about God’s faithfulness in the past.

A fourth area of thinking that helped Moses was to think about God’s faithfulness in the past. After all, God had never failed them yet. I have had weeks when I have wondered if I would ever make it through that week. And when the inner tension starts building I am greatly helped by reminding myself that God has always come through for me in the past. These people should have remembered that God had already shown that He was able to handle Pharoah. He had, after all, just finished handling Pharoah with ten plagues, the plundering of the Egyptians, and a marvelous Exodus out of Egypt. When you meditate on God's power demonstrated in your past life, it can give you faith and confidence for the future. Some people keep a diary for that precise reason. They write down God's significant dealings in their lives, and they remind themselves by reading their diaries of those past providences. Or you can read great biographies of other saints from the past. And actually, the history books of the Bible help to serve that purpose.

Moses was convinced of God’s total sovereignty.

Another area of right thinking is that we need to be convinced of God's total sovereignty [in other words, His total control over all of life]. Some people talk about God's sovereignty in terms of general governance of planet earth, but they say that God has no control over the wills and thoughts of the people that we are worried about. But what does Proverbs 21:1 say? It says, "The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the channels of water; He turns it wherever He wishes." And if God can do that with a king, He can do that with others. Over and over in the book of Exodus God says that He hardened the heart of Pharoah, or He turned the heart of Pharoah, or he made the Egyptians look upon the Israelites with favor so that they give them gold and jewels etc. Look at chapter 14:4: "Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart, so that he will pursue them." In other words, God was in control of Pharaoh's desire to chase them. Look at verse 8: "And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharoah." Those verses do not deny that Pharaoh freely willed to do what his depraved nature desired. When we speak of the bondage of the will, we mean that an unregenerate man's will cannot act contrary to his depraved nature. His will is bound by his depravity. But the point is that man’s will does freely act consistent with that depraved nature. According to chapter 8:15 Pharaoh hardened his own heart. He was still responsible for his own hard heart, even though God was also sovereign over it. You see, this is the amazing thing: God can so overrule the evil plans of evil men that their very actions are used for our good. When Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt, he told his brothers "you meant evil against me [in other words, they were responsible for their wicked plans to sell him into slavery. But the text goes on to say,]; but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20). What's the "it"? The “it” is evil thing that his brothers had planned against Joseph. God influenced their free will to bring that stress into Joseph's life to accomplish God's purposes. God did not lose control when Tyler James Robinson killed Charlie Kirk. Scripture indicates that God can providentially control even the attitudes of large groups and mobs. Look at Exodus 12:36. It says, "And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians." God somehow motivated those Egyptians to want to give gold, silver, and all kinds of things to these Israelites. And in terms of Pharaoh's armies hemming in these Israelites at the sea, there can be no question about the fact that God intended this stressful situation to arise. And in order to bring it about, He had to be able to control the hearts, the thinking, and the will of evil men. If God is not in total control, then I cannot be absolutely certain that all things truly will work together for my good - as He has promised. Many of our stresses we experience are inflicted by evil people and if you have doubts about God's sovereignty over them, you will not be as equipped to handle stress as you should be. And I highly recommend that you read A. W. Pink’s book, The Sovereignty of God. It’s an amazing book. Confidence in God's providential guidance is a tremendously stabilizing tool. Calvinism is an incredibly practical doctrine. And I'm giving these tips to help you to handle your anxieties.

Moses was confident that God loved Israel and cared for Israel.

A sixth thing that we must be convinced of is that God loves us and cares for us. Now, the stressful situation may not seem like God cares for us, but He does. Look at verse 13: "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today." Look at verse 14: "The LORD will fight for you." It was not just that God was sovereign, but that He was sovereign on their behalf. And over and over in this book God talks of His incredible love for His people. In verses 11-12 the people speak as if God doesn't care. Really!? No!!! He had shown His care over and over again in the earlier chapters. We are tempted to think that God doesn’t care when things don’t go right. But Moses knew differently, and it positively affected his reaction to stress. If you want a really encouraging sermon on God's providential control of the tiniest details of life - including the plans and actions of an unbelievably depraved king Darius and Haman, listen to my overview sermon on the book of Esther.¹ It's very encouraging. Man's depravity does not stop the total freedom of God's will and God's plans. The way many Arminians speak of man's free will, they act as if God's will is bound and frustrated by man’s will. What??!! That's crazy. And that doctrine will lead to inner stress.

Reminding ourselves of God’s wisdom.

Next, reminding ourselves of God's wisdom is another real help in this area. God speaks repeatedly of His plans for Israel, and His timing for Israel. Israel would have to face war later, but chapter 13 said that the warfare could only come when Israel was ready. They weren't ready yet, so God was not going to let them face war yet. That shows wisdom. In chapter 14:4 God lets Moses know that he anticipates every move of the evil one. There are no mistakes in God's plan. And we are seeing that with Charlie Kirk's assassination. Demons probably thought that they had silenced Charlie. They were probably dancing over his grave. But we are now seeing that his assassination has hugely backfired on Satan's kingdom. Thousands are now open to the Gospel in a way that they had not been before. There are far more who are listening to Charlie Kirk's previous messages than ever before. In the Gospels we see the leaders of Israel strategizing on how to embarrass Jesus with questions. Each time it backfired. Then they tried to kill Jesus. And even that backfired and guaranteed Satan's total defeat. So even though it may sometimes seem like things are out of control, we can trust God's wise control of everything. So meditating on God's wisdom is a huge help.

And I’ve spent most of my time in this sermon on our thinking because often when we worry it is because our mind has become our enemy. We are not thinking rightly. We must discipline the mind to stop thinking negatively and to begin thinking by faith. And I've got several copies with me of a handout that shows you how to put off negative thinking. If you struggle with anxiety, please ask me for a copy after the service. It's a very practical handout. So thinking rightly is the first major solution to anxiety.

Right Praying

A second solution is to pray properly. In Philippians 4 Paul tells the church to do the same three things in coping with anxiety. Paul calls upon them to pray rightly, think rightly and act rightly. This area of prayer was a second area where Israel failed in this chapter.

They did pray, and that was a good start. Look at 14:10: "And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out, to the LORD." Now before we focus on what Israel has done wrong in their prayer, it is wise to point out that they did at least cry out to God. When we face the stress of deadlines or angry people or difficult days at work it is far more natural to scramble frantically with our own resources and to forget to pray to God. What is the first thing that gets neglected in your schedule when you have a long heavy day? Is it prayer? Be honest with yourselves. It is often prayer that is chucked, isn't it? At least Israel got this right.

But it's not enough to pray. These Israelites were not helped in their anxieties when they prayed because they did not pray rightly. Paul said, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." The Israelites in Exodus had no peace because 1) they didn’t pray in everything – they only prayed in times of trouble. 2) Secondly, they lacked peace because they did not pray in faith. As soon as they finished praying, they acted as if God was not going to answer. 3) Third, they lacked peace because they did not pray with thankful hearts. Look at the first words out of their mouths after praying. Verse 11: "Then they said to Moses, 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?'" They are praying to be delivered and they expect to die. What kind of a prayer is that??? There is no faith. James tells us, "but let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." When you pray for something that God has promised [and His promises are a key], go forth in the confidence that you have it. God has not promised to help you cross the Red Sea, so you cannot cross the Red Sea in faith. That would be presumption because He has not given you that promise. But God has given many other promises that you can claim. And you need to start familiarizing yourselves with those promises so that you can claim them in faith.

Second, that passage in Philippians tells us that if we want God’s peace to guard our hearts, we need to be thankful when we pray. Thanksgiving is one expression of faith. Well, these Israelites had no thanksgiving. They cry out saying, "Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." Lack of thankfulness and stress go hand in hand.

Be thankful for what God has done in the past, be thankful that God has even trusted you with this stressful situation, and be thankful that you can trust God with your unknown future. If these Israelites had begun to thank God for His awesome deliveries already shown, they would have gotten up from prayer encouraged with what an awesome God they served. If they had thanked God for the victory to come, God would have honored them with that peace that guards our hearts in Christ Jesus. Thanksgiving has a powerful affect upon you emotionally. It really does. Try it. Filling your prayer time with thanksgiving drives away grumbling, bitterness, and doubt - all three of which kill faith. Thanksgiving drives discontent and fear from the heart. I've experienced this over and over again. Because thanksgiving was lacking in their hearts, chapter 15 devotes an entire chapter to thanksgiving - a song that Israel was to memorize. When our attitudes to God are not right we are more prone to feeling stressed.

Right Action.

So there needs to be right thinking, right praying and thirdly there needs to be right action. Sometimes we are supposed to feel stressed out because we are not taking the actions we should be taking. To use a silly illustration - if a University student refuses to study for an exam, he shouldn’t complain about stress on exam day. He has not done his responsibilities. He's not acted rightly to prepare. Don't ask God to bail you out if you have not done any study.

Well, back to our text, we see this missing component. Moses is convinced that God is going to do something. He has faith, but he misses out on the action that God has already commanded. After encouraging Israel, Moses prays to God and God gives a rather strange reply in verse 15. "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.'" What's forward? Nothing but water. So why did Moses receive this rebuke? They couldn't go forward, could they??? They are right on the edge of the Red Sea, right? Well, earlier God had told Moses to follow wherever the glory cloud went. And when Israel got to the sea, the glory cloud continued to go out before them over the sea. It was out there over the water. They were to follow the glory cloud into the water. They were supposed to go forward. It would be a later generation that would have the waters of the Jordan River parted when their feet touched the water. It could have happened here. It could have. The glory cloud was already moving ahead of them on the water, showing them the way forward.

In any case, God condescends to their weakness here because they seem to fear the Egyptians more than anything else. And I praise God that He so frequently condescends to our weaknesses and our lack of faith. Praise God! Look at verses 19-20.

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them." So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel.

The point is, that when the Egyptians were first seen in hot pursuit, God was indicating the way out was forward. This gives added significance to the Lord's words to Moses, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." The only way forward was into the water, and so God was challenging them with the obedience of faith.

When dealing with anxiety Paul told the Philippians to pray rightly, think rightly and then says, "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." God does not promise to give His peace so that we can obey. It is as we obey that He often gives that peace. The next generation of Israelites learned this so well. They adjusted well to enormous stresses because they were willing to give instant obedience to the Lord. God honors that. In fact, the next generation had far more stresses than this generation did, but they were not stressed out. Why? They had learned to walk by faith.

So the point is that you need to move forward into what God is calling you to do despite your fears. I used to be a very fearful person and the Lord taught me in my late teenage years to go forth in obedience even if I thought I was going to die because of fear. It was my brother John who taught me a lot of that. I felt like he was persecuting me, but no, he was prodding me into the obedience of faith. He taught me to obey even if the world laughed at me. He taught me to obey even if I thought I was going to die of fright. And over and over it was as I went forward in obedience despite my fears, that God's supernatural peace invaded my heart. It was so cool! Let me tell you something. Courage is not the lack of fear. It is the willingness to go forward despite fear and danger. And as you do that, you lose your fears because God's supernatural peace supernaturally invades your heart. Let me read that part of Philippians 4 again: "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." It is as you move forward in obedience to His Word that His peace is given.

Go forward despite your weakness. After all, you are not responsible for parting the metaphorical Red Sea, or ending abortion, or defeating the enemy. Those are things only God can do. They are not your responsibilities; they are God's. Your part is to press for what God has commanded and then to trust the all powerful God to do the impossible. When the whole church begins to do this, we are going to see amazing changes in America. 1 John says, "everyone who is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith." When we walk in the obedience of faith we can conquer our fears and weaknesses. Too many prolifers compromise on what they are willing to do because calling for abolition seems impossible. So instead, they ask government to limit abortion to a certain week of gestation. They think calling for abolition of abortion seems impossible. Well, of course it seems impossible; almost everything God calls us to do seems impossible. The question is not, "Is this possible for me?" The question is, "Has God called for the action?" And if He has, we need to pursue it in faith.

So the bottom line is that when stresses come, think rightly, pray rightly and do your responsibilities. Don’t focus on God’s responsibilities. That's for God to focus on. Do what God has commanded you to do.

God brings good out of stressful situations.

But let me end this sermon by quickly explaining what God produces in our lives as a result of putting us into controlled but stressful situations. Someone once said that Christians are like tea bags. They are only useful when they are put into hot water. I like that image. Think of the stresses in your lives as God's providential hot water that is designed to bring the best out of the teabag of your life. And there is much good that God can bring out of our lives through our afflictions - through our hot water. The great scientist Lord Kelvin once wrote, "When you are face-to-face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery." And I say, "Amen!" That's got to be our mindset. Everybody told Charlie Kirk that what he was trying to achieve was impossible. He didn't worry about what was possible. He sought to obey God. And God has done some amazing things through his weakness.

In this chapter the Israelites discovered God's power & love in a whole new way; in a way they would never have discovered if they had not come through this trouble. They discovered God's total victory. After the Egyptians followed them into the parted sea bed, God drowned them. Verse 28 says of the Egyptians, "Not so much as one of them remained." In verse 31 it says that they discovered what a glorious God they served and they feared Him and believed Him. In chapter 15 they discovered the incredible joy that can only come as you see God's power made perfect in our weakness. If you want to discover a boring relationship with God then ask Him to remove all difficulty. I'm not being clever here. That is true. If you want to discover a boring relationship with God then ask Him to remove all difficulty. But if you want to enter into the power of Christ’s resurrection life, then ask God to manifest His power and grace as you willingly face stress in your weakness.

I understand that golf balls were first manufactured with a smooth surface. Then it was discovered that after a ball had been roughed up a bit through constant usage, you could get more distance from the ball. So they started manufacturing golf balls with pre-made dimples. We may not like getting roughed up. We may not like distress, but we go much further with those distresses than without them. Psalm 119 says, "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word...It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your statutes." (vv. 67, 71). Can you see that? Pray that God would give you the same attitude as that Psalmist had. Let me read that again. Psalm 119 says, "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word...It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your statutes."

Now, let me make one caveat. Everything I have said is only true for those who are already Christians. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you too may face distress and danger and pain. But God has not promised that all things will work together for your good. Not at all. In fact, there is much for you to legitimately worry about. You do not know what tragedy you may face tomorrow. You do not know what terrors will befall you in hell after you die. It is only those who put their trust in Jesus Christ who can find peace in the face of disaster. It is only those who put their faith in Jesus Christ who can be guaranteed that all things work together for their good. And it is only those who put their faith in Jesus Christ who can have the confidence that even when they die, they will spend eternity with incredible joy in the presence of God. If you do not know Jesus, I urge you to trust Him. Being related to believing parents will not save you. Some of you kids are just hanging on to your parent’s coattails. That will not save you. I can tell by the some of you kids worship that Jesus has not taken up residence. You don’t have his supernatural joy. Each person must personally repent of their independence and sin and put their trust in Jesus. Trust Jesus alone for your salvation for time and for eternity. And having trusted Him, I urge you to then pick up your cross and to follow Him. Only then will you have security, peace, and joy. Amen.