0011 The Nature of God

What happens when life doesn’t make sense… and you start questioning not just your circumstances—but God Himself?

In this episode of the Spiritual Strategies Podcast, Brittany and Eric take on two of the most difficult and honest questions believers and non-believers alike wrestle with:

Why does God allow suffering?
And why believe in God at all?

Rather than avoiding these questions, they lean into them.

Through real-life experiences, biblical truth, and thoughtful conversation, Brittany and Eric unpack the deeper reality behind pain, suffering, and the nature of God’s character. Many people assume that if God is good, life should be free from hardship—but Scripture reveals something very different.

Suffering doesn’t mean God is absent.
 And “being a good person” isn’t the full story of what we were created for.

This episode challenges common assumptions and brings clarity to questions that often go unspoken. From hospital rooms to personal testimonies, the conversation explores how pain can either push us away from God—or draw us closer to Him.

Together, Brittany and Eric discuss:

• Why suffering does not originate from God—and what Scripture actually reveals
 • The difference between questioning God’s character and understanding the brokenness of the world
 • How faith operates in the middle of pain—not outside of it
 • Why trying to define “good” on our own terms leads us away from truth
 • The danger of postponing a relationship with God until “later”
 • How salvation is not a negotiation after death—but an invitation during life
 • What it means to respond to suffering spiritually instead of just emotionally or intellectually
 • How believers can step into painful situations and bring faith, peace, and hope to others

This episode also introduces a powerful perspective:
 Sometimes the goal isn’t to fully understand suffering—but to respond to it correctly.

If you’ve ever asked, “God, where are You?”
 Or wondered if living a “good life” is enough—this conversation will meet you right where you are.

Because the nature of God isn’t revealed in the absence of suffering…
 it’s revealed in how He meets us in the middle of it.

Join Brittany and Eric as they explore how truth, faith, and relationship with God reshape the way we view pain, purpose, and eternity. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Have you ever looked at something painful, something that didn't make sense, and thought, God, where are you in this? I know I've had that happen a lot of times to myself, but maybe even deeper than that, what's the point in believing in God at all? If life's still gonna hurt and I could just try to be a good person, anyways. What is the point? Today we're answering these two real questions. And Eric, the title of this podcast is The Nature of God, but it's really composed of two subtopics, suffering and forgiveness. Why is it so important that Christians don't just avoid these questions, but actually wrestle with them?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Oh gosh. Good morning. Good morning. Uh I was hoping you would come at me with something light and frothy and easy, but uh these are deep. These are deep topics and and they're very legitimate. Um and and sometimes we just wait until the moment there's an unfortunate death in the family, or there's something that happens medically. Uh, there's just a number of things that provoke people to start questioning um the relationship with the Lord and his um availability and his attitude and his um his just his character. The very character of God is questioned. And so uh yeah, it's I I would say that if they if people can get a handle on this, then they can respond with more ease and peace and um and um and a sense of of trust in the Lord when these moments come. So you can either wait until the a disaster hits, or we can try to deal with these things in advance. So I'm hoping through our conversation that we can help people prepare for these moments um uh in advance.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Right. So the point of wrestling with these questions is essentially just to get closer to God because He wants to give you the answers, He wants to let you deep dive and find out for yourself. So let's kind of start with the first question. So to clarify, these are two questions that we had sent in to us. So the first question we have here is why does God let good people suffer or die? Oh my goodness, Eric, the amount of times that I have been in hospital rooms, around friends who have lost babies, around so many horrific situations. And I feel like this is the first question that everyone starts to ask.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yes, my goodness. And on the one hand, Bernie, we we want to have great compassion. Um you know, I'm reminded of Jesus Himself. And believe me, you and I are not Jesus, but Jesus himself was challenged on his compassion when the uh disciples and he were crossing the Sea of Galilee and that vicious storm came up. And this his people said, Do you not care that we perish? And if we just take that one question, they weren't asking him, could he help, take care of the boat? Or it was, do you not care that we perish? And and that's the same question that's being asked by these uh good friends of yours who are suffering in and have in the past. Does God not care that I'm suffering? And it's an understandable question. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Well, there's a little, there's just like a little nugget, I feel like, that's left in that question. And it's that the question assumes that God is directly controlling everything that happens, including suffering.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yes. Yes, that's that's exactly where I was at it, but thank you. Um, and it's it starts with challenging his compassion. And the the the the situation is that when when when we look at this from the very very beginning in Genesis, um he set it up where there would be no suffering, there would be no death, there'd be no sin. There would be just a warm, great relationship where where heaven and earth were overlapping, and that was the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, uh the first man sinned by violating the one instruction that he had do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

And unfortunately, uh Eve did first, and then Adam followed, but he was the one that had the instruction. And he invited, in doing so, he invited sin and death into the world, and and he he gave the title deed, if I can use that phrase, to the earth over to God's enemy, to Satan. And in doing so, the very premise of the question, why does God allow suffering, unfortunately is a mistake, because it's not God that allows the suffering. It's it's the enemy, it's Lucifer, it's Satan that permits the suffering and and revels in it. And and so God offers uh the opposite. He offers care and compassion, but now he says, You need to come to me. As many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God. So as the key is, are we receiving the Lord or are we first questioning him? So God is not the author of suffering, but he brings a peace that passes all understanding when we seek him, when we trust him, when we express our faith toward him. I don't want to be too overly spiritual, but there is a method, if you will, that that that gets us relief from this awful pain that it is a that occurs. So um I hope that's a beginning of an answer for.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, through my own personal experiences, I remember vividly going through some significant amount of suffering in my life and just trying to figure out why. Like, why? God, why, why, why is this happening? I don't understand. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it was like he spoke to me and was like, what other way were you gonna look up?

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

And that was like a smack to my face of like, you're right, I was so busy in my life and doing everything and taking care of everything and being there for everyone that I didn't have God in any place in my life where he should have been. And it kind of felt like he was like, hey, let me get your attention, let me show out in some miracles here, let me show you why I'm here to help you.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Okay, but once again, he didn't cause the suffering. He's not an author of suffering, he's an author of life. And but this is fine-tuning, but when suffering occurs, when pain and and these awful things occur, when this misery comes, he's standing to the side saying, I'm available, but I didn't cause this. But now that it has happened, please turn to me. Don't turn to self-pity, uh, don't turn to blame, don't turn to some counterfeit way of of of relieving suffering, alcohol, drugs, etc., etc. Because those are counterfeit answers to the moment that you're in. Turn to me. And that's that's that's what again, I know that it's it's it's fine-tuning, but once again, he didn't cause the issue, but he is there to relieve the suffering if you'll turn to him.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Right. The Bible is very clear, you know, in John 10 10, we read out the New King James Version here, but in John 10 10 it says the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Yes. I have come that may they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

unknown 8:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

He told us exactly where the negative aspects come from.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Look, absolutely. The thief is the author of confusion, the author of death, the author of everything evil. And he, you know, he even came to the cross. I know that you and I have talked about this. He came to the cross in in the spirit realm and with the title deed to all of our souls to say you were their last hope. And I'm and I've got the title deed. And Jesus, the Bible says he pulled that out of his hand, and which is the writ that was against us. That's a legal term, W-R-I-T writ, and he covered it in his blood. And so it's unreadable now. So there's no more title deed to our lives. So when you go into the courts of heaven, uh there's there's nothing that's against us. In fact, Jesus is holding up the his his hands with the nail prints in them, say, I already paid this the price for any sin that's being um she or he is accused of. And so now um the case dismissed. You know, as I've said, double jeopardy attaches. There's no there's no other uh accusations that can be brought against us. So again, gee the Lord is not the author of suffering, nor is Jesus. But but when it occurs, it's up to us to respond effectively and appropriately and to turn to the Lord and say, I know you didn't cause this, but I'm coming to you uh for your compassion, for your love. Okay, not in an in an accusatory manner. Again, the disciples on that boat, do you not care that we perish? Okay, and and they would so there's nothing different. Here's two thousand years later, and we're we're asking the same questions that they asked at that time. And Jesus saying, Where's your faith? Now he asked that in a challenging way uh to the um to disciples. And when the centurion said, You don't have to come to my house to f to heal my servant, just say the word, for I too am a man under authority. And Jesus turned to his boys and said, Do you are you listening to this? I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. So Jesus equated that with faith, and that is the currency of heaven. That's how heaven, quote, does business with us on earth. And we we need to bring faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And so those are the things that are required in a moment. You'd said earlier that you were in hospital rooms and you've been with friends who are suffering, and I'm sure it's very tragic moments. And so at that point, the only thing that we have that's legitimate to offer is faith. And as we've talked about on this podcast, um, faith can be borrowed, if you will. You can lend somebody your faith. You can offer to supply them with faith. And at that point, then Jesus looks at that, at your faith and says, You know what I'm gonna do, Brittany? I'm gonna heal this person. I'm gonna give peace to this person because of the level of your faith. So here we go now. Now it's getting deep. Because at the moment you go into that hospital room and one of your friends is suffering deeply, you could say, I can tell that you are struggling to find God in this moment. And they'll say, You're absolutely right. Say, okay, I have an abundant belief in the Lord. And it's, and I'd like to to, if you will, lend you some of my faith. I'd like to pray for you using my faith to to help you overcome the pain and agony of this moment. And so what it does is her suffering, his suffering, whoever it is that you're going to a hospital room or to their home, they are struggling deeply. And you're there, and that suffering is a chance for you to offer your cooperation, your faith, and to have them see how much you trust the Lord. And then that could be a source of great relief for them at that moment. So think about that sometimes the suffering when it occurs, again, the Lord didn't cause it, but he's looking to us to supply the the needs for that individual and help them overcome the issues that they're facing.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, if there's anything I found out about suffering, is that suffering is a very good teacher. It's either going to teach you to run to God and to be able to have the peace that surpasses all understanding, or it teaches you that you could possibly figure it out on your own and you try to go down all these long paths that absolutely get you nowhere. But it could be the greatest teacher if used properly. So we're living in a world, obviously, that's not fully restored yet. And if God is good and the enemy is the source of destruction, how should we understand suffering? Why?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Like maybe we don't need to understand it. We just need to respond to it because understand pulls it down into the intellectual, into the mental, into the into the analytical. And we got to be careful that we don't try to take a moment like that and get too analytical about it. I think that's when we we invite someone of great faith like yourself into the room to um to help us overcome that. Again, uh I've talked about a gentleman that I knew that was going in for heart surgery the next day, uh, and he was a man in his 30s, had a couple of kids, and he's you know, he just was he was I called him and I said, How are you doing? What's how you know, are you okay? He said, Well, to be to be honest with you, I'm I'm fearful uh over tomorrow's operation. And I said, Okay, well, I have an abundance of faith, and what I'd like to do is to say to you, I think I can lend it to you. I you can borrow my faith. And and uh so together we can get through tomorrow's surgery. Would it be okay if I lent you my faith? Would you be willing to receive it? Notice the key factor there. It's one thing for me to lend, it's one thing for me to offer, it's another thing for the man to receive. Jesus did that with people. What would you have me do? Oh, Lord, that I might regain my sight, Lord that I might walk. He didn't, I mean, it's so obvious. I used to say, Isn't it obvious? The guy's blind. Isn't it obvious the man can't walk? Why are you tormenting him by asking him those questions? And in fact, the uh I I know it now what the reason was. He wanted the man to admit a need, that he needed a spiritual intervention. And so it's a two-way street. We offer, but they receive. So when you go into that hospital room and someone is suffering, and again, we're not blaming God for the source of it, but we're we're saying God sent me into that hospital room to offer a spiritual solution to a terrible tragic situation. Okay. So I just want to caution that we don't get analytical about understanding, quote unquote, uh, the reason behind it.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

And it's it's not that's nearly relieving. Um, I think a lot of people think that if suffering is present, then God must be absent.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

But there is no if suffering this or that. Suffering just means that the world is still broken. Yes, that he hasn't come back yet. That's really the only answer to suffering.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yes, but he has a response in that moment, either for the person themselves, if they if they can muster the faith, or he will activate a person like you to go into that hospital room and say, Let me pray for you. Can I can I can I lend you some of my faith? Okay. And then when they say yes, I promise you there will be a sense of peace that comes into that hospital room, regardless of the circumstance. It doesn't take away the devastating nature of what happened. I'm not taking that away. But I am saying instead of trying to deal with it intellectually or even emotionally, because those are both fuel tanks that can get emptied very quickly. But what happens is we go spiritual. And what is the spiritual fuel supply? Grace.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Grace.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Okay, grace. And there's a it's a superabundant fuel fuel supply, if you don't mind me using the analogy of fuel and faith is like currency. It just helps us to understand better because we deal with that every day in everyday terms. But grace is like a fuel supply. And instead of it running out like I gotta put gas in my car every so often, it it is it never runs out. It it's just there, it's a it's available to us ongoing. And the Lord is is uh He He's very generous in the fact that it's it's a continuous fuel supply if we're if we'll accept it. So it's um this is powerful stuff. I'm really glad you asked that question. Again, not to minimize the suffering that people have and the agony, but to but to say there are solutions and responses. And I would hope that somebody listening to this would say, you know, uh I know somebody who's going through this right now, and you're telling me that I can have answers. Yeah, you don't have to be some graduate from a divinity school or a senior pastor and a mega church, you don't have to do that. You can just walk into a hospital room. You can just go into someone's living room and say, I'm here uh as an agent, an ambassador of God to uh to help you meet and and to come alongside you in a tragic moment.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

You know what I love about God is just processing all this through is that he didn't step away from suffering. You know, when this happened in the Garden of Eden, when Adam ate the fruit, he could have easily said, you know what? This just ain't working out for me. I don't like this. You can have them. I'll go do my own thing. But he didn't. He's quite literally stepped into the world. And I I love this verse in Isaiah 53, 3, where it shows just how much he stepped into our world. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. And it just goes to show us like he came in and took on absolutely everything, and then had enough nerve to come back through in John 16, 33 and say, These things I've spoken into you that in me you may have peace. What? In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Not only did he say, I'm not walking away from you, he said, I'm doubling down on you. I'm coming down. I'm gonna give you everything I have, I'm gonna give you my son, I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna take over this world, and I want you with me so badly that I'm willing to give up what I love the most, and I'm gonna encourage you through the process. I don't know anybody in this world that can do that all the time 24-7 and just be there for us.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

My goodness. My goodness. Okay. Work it.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I'm just shocked. They're just I feel like a lot of times in life we're humans, right? And if somebody does this wrong or somebody hurts us or or offends us, we are very quick to be able to cut them off or to be like, you know, whatever, I'll leave them alone, or I'm not talking to them. And it's like the more we hurt God to a certain extent, he runs after us. We are that lost sheep that he really is going, hey, I see you being crazy over there, and I'm still coming for you in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

That's right. He'll leave the 99 sheep to come after the one.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

He didn't promise his life without suffering, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

No, he didn't. But in fact, he said, in the world you will have tribulation.

unknown 20:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

He didn't even negotiate it. He's you will have tribulation. Again, he didn't cause this, but he's saying, um, but be of good cheer. Wait a minute, be happy, be joyful, because why? I've overcome the world. He's brought solutions that overcome this. Now, again, it's more than we can cover in just one podcast, but uh in one conversation, but be of good cheer. Good grief. That's a lot to ask.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Right for here. So come come on and suffer. And while you're suffering, be happy about it, because I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Well, not happy about it. Be happy, not about it, but be content because what? Because and he's changing the topic, because I've overcome that. I've overcome the world. I'm not here to minimize or trivialize what you're going through, but I'm also asking you not to dwell on it and not to blame. You see, that it's nuanced, Brittany. It's nuanced. That's why I love our podcast, is called Passages, Biblical Passages. Passages because we're we're willing to take the time to kind of carve through. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. We go through these scriptures and we see that this word of God is the word is the is the sword of the spirit. It really has such merit. And I'm excited, and I know we're excited about parsing through these words and just so we don't take them in a direction that makes sense logic to us, but we we want to go in the direction that they were intended. So amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Man, but you know what I find is interesting is that even in the midst of suffering, there's another thing that I see here. He promises victory in the middle of it. He says, Hey, I I get it. I know that you're suffering. You're gonna go through this, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. Like right in the middle of your suffering. It's like a friend that comes to you and gives you really good, encouraging advice in the middle of your storm. It's like, hey, it's okay. It's gonna be fine. We're gonna make it through. There's a rainbow in the end.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

I just love that about him. But you know, suffering doesn't mean that God is absent, but it kind of raises another question then. Why believe in God at all? This is our other question we had. Can't can't I just live a good life, Eric? Come on.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

That is the other question. There's a false premise in there. Good in whose eyes. Okay, that's fine. That's my question. Good in whose eyes.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

It does sound logical on the surface. It does sound like, you know, I'll just live a good life, I'll figure it out, but there's a different, there's that deeper issue there.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

It is. And there's um it's very subjective. What I like about the Lord is he's he's objective. He's got a he's got uh um definitions, he's got principles, he's got ways that he deals with us and the ways that he's connected. He's he's asked us to to be uh aware of his principles, go into all the world and uh and make disciples of the nations, teaching them what everything I've taught you. Well, again, uh it's not just about good and bad or right and wrong, because that sends people back into the tree of uh to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What we want to do is is say, Lord, what are your principles here? What's the wisdom that you've taught? And then after I've got wisdom, I get understanding. So wisdom is thinking in God's terms, but understanding is the application of God's principles. So I I would again, I don't I could easily be accused of being too picky on words. I get accused of that from time to time anyway. Oh, Eric, you're so precise about words. God is precise about words. And then next time when we meet, we're gonna talk about Psalm 1 when he says walk and stand and sit, just three verbs that are in the beginning of Psalm 1. Why is why use three? Because he's precise. There's meaning behind that. And again, I don't make this stuff up, uh, but I'm I'm willing to stop and say, why did you choose to use these different words? Uh you know, I just want to what you you know, Philip says, just show us the Father and it'll be sufficient for us. Have I been with you so long, Philip, and you still don't know me? So when it comes, uh you know uh, you know, Jesus was he was he he said, If I if you could just have faith of a mustard seed, you could speak into this mountain, be thou removed. And so he he was precise. When when the um when the enemy came to him to tempt him with the three temptations in Matthew, okay, he brought scripture that was applicable, applicable in the moment. So, in terms of a person asking, why can't I just lead a good life and then be forgiven when I get to heaven, pal, you ain't going to heaven. Okay. You know, unfortunately, your sin has pre-condemned you. And so there's Romans 3.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, no, but we need to get we need to get past that and be and receive the Lord and be and be washed with the water of the Word so that we're we're cleansed from our old life. Okay, and that we have different ways of thinking and operating in this um in this new realm. So anyway, go ahead. So you had a thought there.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, I think God doesn't forget to remind us in Romans 3 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It's a quick reminder to go, hey, by the way, uh, just to let you know, you don't have this all figured out.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

And when your spirit is re-animated by the Holy Spirit, what here's here's something subtle. You want to do the will of God. You know, that's where Jesus said, I I just I have no will of mine. I only do that which I see my father doing. Okay, and he's encouraging other people to do the same. Fully submitted to the will of his father. And so this is this is the difference between people who just want to lead a good life, quote unquote, and then be forgiven for it all at the end. Sorry, it just doesn't operate that way. So it all blew up when when again, and back in the garden, when Adam sinned, he just ate from one tree on plan on the whole planet. Couldn't you avoid that? Couldn't you stay away from that? And he believed a lie which was spoken by God's sworn enemy, Satan, and that rebellious act severed man's relationship with God. But God in his infinite mercy constructed a method for us to to get reconnected with him. And now when we do, um when we do, when we receive Jesus, and then he sends the Holy Spirit to act as an inner interface between our spirit and heaven to carry heaven's messages back into our heart and to carry our thoughts and our needs and our desires and our worship and our uh honor of him back up into heaven. And uh God is after them. He's a king, he's not a governor or mayor or president, he's a king, and he he hands out favor, he dispenses favor. That's one of the rights of kings uh to do that. So uh we we just um we just want to be careful here. He has dominion, okay? And and that's what it said back in the garden. Let let them let us make man in our own image and let them have dominion. Uh uh he he gave us authority, he he yielded that. But again, Adam blew it. We gotta get reconnected back to the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Right. And it's pretty dangerous to try and define good on our own terms. We're reminded in Isaiah 64, 6, but we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leap, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. He's quick to remind us that our good is not an actual good.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

True enough. And salvation is free. There's no price that you have to pay. It's it's submission, it's yielding of pride, it's yield yielding of your rights, and you put them on the altar and you say, Lord, I've tried it my way. It just didn't work. You know, I mean, I don't know about you, Brittany, but I tried it my way.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I've tried everything my way, none of it works.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

All right, then you know, there's kind of a follow-up though to uh this question of being able to kind of get right with God later, if you say, you know, a lot of people talk about on their deathbed, but some people talk about kind of after death too, but that's just simply not how scripture presents it. I know that um in Hebrews 9.27, it says, and it is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment. So when people have this thought process of, you know, I can just talk to God when I die and I can get right then. That's a hard pass, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Yeah, absolutely. And and besides that, why are you so sure that you're even gonna want to do that, be or even capable of doing that? You you might be in pain or you might have an anger, just as you said a minute ago about suffering. Uh that you may be going through something that would cause you to doubt. Uh, why would God allow this, even though you're trying to get close to Him, there's something pushing you away, and then boom, you're you have no more chance to go through that process. It's too risky, it's just not worth it. Let's get it right now. Let's yield now and say, Lord, uh, I want to, I I want to put all my rights on the altar, and I want to ask you to reanimate my life and my thinking and my heart. And uh want to be connected to you, and I want to know uh what can I do to serve you, and uh, I want to be in relationship with you, and I want to I want to learn to love you. I just educate me, brings and bring people into my life that will uh that will teach me and bring me closer to you. And the Lord is faithful, he will bring community around you if you ask for it, and even something we call a a a discipler or a spiritual father or somebody that will mentor you and teach you. Um don't expect to have to learn it all yourself. He is looking for us to become more mature uh in not just mature in our thinking and in our our body growth, but also mature in our wisdom and in our a relationship with with the Lord in heaven himself.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Right. Salvation, it's not it's not able to be a negotiation after death. It's really an invitation during life.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

And believing in God really, it's not about avoiding hell. It's about being too restored to what you were created for, because everything that we were created for was taken away when he ate the fruit when he ate the fruit and when we were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. So being saved, having salvation, being able to live through this life and tell others, it is essentially restoring us to what he originally created us for. In John 1 12, it says, you know, he gave them the right to become the children of God. That right was because he died. This was our right. Seek ye first the kingdom of God in Matthew 6 33. He tells us what to do.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Yes. Well, you are prepared to uh to provide us the scriptures that we were needed. I love it. Thank you. Very encouraging. So two questions we've asked today, one about suffering and one about forgiveness. Uh, and when do we seek forgiveness for who we are and our independence and our self-righteousness? Um, so both are very important questions. And you start off by saying, why is it important for believers to get this handled now? And frankly, the second question is about unbelievers, frankly. The first one could be about either one suffering, but the second one's about unbelievers saying, Why can't I just wait, wait, wait, and then get it all handled to the end. I want to lead a good life. Wait a minute. It's a false it's just sorry, it's a false premise that we're even going to lead a good life. We're gonna lead a um a self-protective life. We're gonna lead a uh a life that is uh self-referential. It's gonna be it's gonna look out for my interests, it's gonna be hedonistic, it's it's um relativistic. But that that's when the Lord is saying, can you just give that up? I got something much better in store for you. And again, this was me, you know, when we talked about my background and everything. I I just had this um independent streak for a long time and believed that the man is fundamentally alone in the universe.

unknown 34:21

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

And so now I recognize no man is fundamentally connected to the Lord if if he yields, I should say. He's he's not doesn't start off that way, but if he uh seeks the Lord, seek first the kingdom of God, as you just said, and his righteousness and all these things will be added, the very things that we want in this good life, they'll be added, but on God's terms, not our own. So uh Wow, I appreciate you asking these deep questions.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Yeah, these two questions are very much connected. You know, if suffering makes you question God, but your independence makes you think you don't need him, both can really pull you away from the truth. Um, you know, so today I just I want to leave you all with this. Which question have you wrestled with more? We've all wrestled with these questions. What have you wrestled with more? Have you been questioning God because of pain, because of things that have gone wrong in your life, because of suffering? Have you been avoiding him because you feel like you don't need him, maybe? And what would change if you actually leaned into him instead of pulling away? You know, this week I encourage you to look at your suffering, look at your situations and circumstances that come up as something that you can lean into God for, something you can look up and see what he's actually there for this week, instead of being so deeply wounded by what this world gives us.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Amen.

unknown 35:43

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Okay.