Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: In the discipline of despair, when that hour comes, when no one's comfort will be enough, God will speak to you. The spirit of God will be upon you.

David J.: This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J. Thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible.

Are you watching what's happening but wondering what it means? Every day brings new headlines, but not always real answers. In Happening Now, Pastor Jack Hibbs breaks it all down through the lens of scripture—clear, direct, grounded in truth. From global events to cultural shifts, you'll see what the others miss and why it matters. Watch the latest episode now at jackhibbs.com.

On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues in his series called Disciplines of Life, in a message titled "Disciplines of Despair." In our journey to develop a lifestyle that's usable by God, despair can sometimes overtake us. But when all seems lost, we can cry out to God, who can save us.

Our deep discouragement or hopelessness can actually be used by God to grow us spiritually. Despair drives us toward Jesus. When we realize that we can't fix things on our own, it creates a dependency on the Lord instead of ourselves.

Today, Pastor Jack teaches us that despair can deepen our faith, it can make prayer more heartfelt and genuine, and it can remind us that God has not abandoned us, but he's right there in our suffering. Now, with his message called "Disciplines of Despair," here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I want you to put this picture in your mind. Storms are great things to watch as long as you're safe. This is a famous picture; you guys have all seen this before. Go ahead and leave it up. I have always asked this question: Did that man know in the doorway that that wave was coming?

What if the door was on the other side of that lighthouse? By the way, that lighthouse, I don't know where it is, but I've seen other pictures of it—it's pretty far out in the ocean. I don't even know how they built the thing. There's a man standing there with the door open with the raging ocean around that lighthouse. Storms are awesome if you're in a safe place.

I remember a couple of years ago, we were all out at the river with some friends here from this church. We're having a great time; our kids are with us, our dogs are out there, and we're goofing off. This big storm rolls across the desert. We're watching it. Wow.

We're all acting tough. Yeah, it's a great storm. Boy, that's going to be a big storm. Look at that lightning! Look at that flash! Where it is just rumbling and shaking. That storm, you know it's kind of freaky looking when it comes over your head, and the clouds are going like this over your head. It's okay; we're all right.

All of a sudden, right over our heads, kaboom! The flash and the boom at the exact same time. You can feel the static electricity. The hair goes woo! The only smart one in the group was Jeff's golden retriever. She took off screaming and went right through the screen door into the house. We just stood out there and actually we didn't act tough. When that happened, we all screamed like little schoolgirls and started running. But you're not supposed to know that part.

What compelled Peter to leave the safety of that boat in the midst of a storm? To him, it had become obvious that being with Jesus was better than being in the boat with the guys. I want to know why. I may be wrong, but I don't think it was this moment of heroic faith-filled action in Peter's life. I think Peter realized, "Wait a minute, if that's you, Lord, call me out."

They had already been primed by the storm. The storm had tossed them up and down. They were already terrified. Maybe your storms are terrifying you. Then they thought, "We saw a ghost!" You think this terrible thing in my life is bringing me to the brink of life. I'm almost done with it.

Something's going on with Peter, and it's a big deal. So much so that in the blackness of the night, he's going to step out onto the open water. That's not normal. I believe that Peter thought, and Peter was thinking as the others, that they were lost—that this was our moment. But Peter made a great, great move. He'd rather be near Jesus than just hang around with a bunch of guys going down.

That's the key tonight. In the midst of your despair, will you run to Jesus? I don't feel like running. Well then, listen, you're not in despair enough. It's like my mama used to say. She'd say, "It's time to eat." "I'm not hungry." "Well, if you don't eat now, you're not going to eat at all." Then a few hours later, "I'm hungry."

My mom was such a tender-hearted thing, and I would abuse her terribly. She'd say, "What do you want to eat?" She would make this offer: "Well, you can have this, and you can have this." "I don't want that. I don't want that." Do you know kids like that? They do that too. "I don't want that." "Do you want this?" "No, I don't want that." Then my dad would say, "Then you're not hungry." Dads are great; he's the voice of wisdom. "You're not hungry! Because if you're hungry, you'll eat snails if you're hungry."

"Oh, I need Jesus." Do you now? Because there's a great, great danger of really, truly wanting Jesus in the midst of your storm versus having the kind of Jesus that you just add onto the other routines of your life. Jesus is not a module that you add onto your life. He's the eternal God that you come to with your face down on the ground, and you're laid out before him asking for forgiveness and for rescuing. "Lord, rescue me!"

The storms of our lives as Christians, as much as we wouldn't want to admit this, they are unavoidable storms. They're difficult, and they're all necessary for the believer because none of us learn much about God on only sunshiny days.

In verse 29, it's amazing. Look at verse 29. It says Jesus said to him, "Come." When Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Jesus is teaching right here that he knows exactly what's about to happen. "Come on, Peter." Why would Peter do this? What would be the point of this walking on water? I think he's going to Jesus at any cost. He goes to Jesus at any cost.

How does this translate into Peter's life? I thought about some things regarding what about Peter. Understand this in Psalm 77:1. The Bible says, "I cried out to God with my voice." Christian tonight, non-Christian tonight, atheist, cult member in that group—listen, this is a universal answer to your soul. "I cried out to God with my voice." Why don't you call out to the God of the Bible tonight with your voice?

"To God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing. My soul refused to be comforted." Have you ever been there, when nobody can comfort you? People can stroke your head, or pat you on the back, or hold you, and it's not good enough. Have you ever been in that depth of grief, or peril, or hurt? When mankind—when your friends, family—when their comfort can't do it.

Is that you tonight? Are you in that situation? Eventually, everyone in life will come to that moment. Everyone. Believer and non-believer. But for us who are Christians, we've got his ear to cry out to. We stretch out our hands all night long to him, and we refuse to be comforted by anyone else or anything else.

Do you know what that's like? Listen, in the moment of difficulty. Have you been fired, or laid off, or whatever the situation is? There comes a time when you're really serious that no one can do. You've got to get alone. You say, "Well, Jack, I've got great friends." Fantastic. Get away from them. There's a time when you can only learn what God is speaking to you when you're alone, walking on the water when it's only Jesus who can reach out and touch you.

You're going to need to remember. You say, "I don't know what you're talking about." Just remember tonight: in the discipline of despair when that hour comes, when no one's comfort will be enough, God will speak to you. The spirit of God will be upon you.

It's amazing to me the Bible teaches us that his eyes wander to and fro throughout all of the earth, to look for those that he might show himself mighty on their behalf. You say, "Well, that's a verse for the believer." Of course it's a verse for the believer, but I also believe because it's his nature that some woman tonight in Tibet who's crying out saying, "Is there a God in heaven?" Do you think he's going to skim over her?

Do you think somebody in Indonesia tonight is saying, "Wait a minute, I think we've been sold a lie; there's got to be a real eternal God in heaven." Do you think God will jump, leap over that person? No way. He's waiting. He's listening for that cry.

There are clouds and storms that surround us, and I think most of us might be like the 11 who were in the boat preferring the safety of the boat temporarily rather than the uncertainty of stepping out onto the sea. Think about it. "Well, I'm just going to stay in the boat." The dangerous part is that makes sense. Doesn't it make sense to stay in the boat? Boats are made for water.

"Peter, stay in the boat." The counselors could have said, "Peter, are you nuts? Look, we think we saw a ghost. We're not sure. You even said yourself, Peter: 'If it's you, Lord.' You're not even sure. Stay in the boat." There could have been 11 guys counseling him, "Stay in the boat!" But there was something going on in Peter, and he thought it would be better to be with Jesus in the uncertainty of the water.

Have you not realized that in the uncertainty of human life it's best to be with Jesus? No, stay in the boat. Just stay in the house. Shut the curtains, lock the door. Stay in the house. No, you know what? Regarding our God, sometimes it's safer to get out into the battle, or to go up on top of the roof, than to stay in the house—than to play it safe. That's a dangerous thing, to play it safe. As awesome as it was for Peter to walk on the water, there's no real lesson in that water walk of his. It was only found in the fact that he was sinking.

I want that to be encouragement to you tonight who have been swallowed up by despair because, listen, God is there. He's powerful. That moment—I don't quite understand it—but when you're depressed, or despondent, or down, or in the pit of despair, I know you don't feel like God's listening.

I know that you feel like he's abandoned you, and yet the exact opposite is true. You've got two thrones, as it were, alongside your head. You've got the throne of your emotions screaming at you, and you've got the throne of God whispering in a still, small voice to you. We're going like this and we're thrashing out like we're going crazy, we're going to go down. The Lord is saying, "Trust in me, trust in me." Then you just eventually, I would think, you get tired of screaming and yelling, and you hear him saying, "Just trust in me."

It's that still, small voice. I love the fact that when I read the Old Testament, I read the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's never yelling, he's never screaming. Even on Mount Carmel with Elijah, there's no screaming going on. All of the lunatic prophets of Baal are cutting themselves, screaming, yelling, punching each other out, going nuts.

There's Elijah looking at his sundial, "When is this going to end? These guys, jeez." They're all like that. Elijah says, "Sit down. Hey God, why don't you show them who's God: Baal or Yahweh?" Fire comes down from heaven. Wow. You don't have to yell when your God's real. I mean, I yell because I get all excited about the fact that my God's real, but I don't have to yell to prove that my God's real.

In Psalm 61, I love this psalm. I think you do too. Psalm 61:1 says, "Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed." Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower—think of that lighthouse we saw a moment ago—from the enemy.

I will abide in your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of your wings. That word "overwhelmed" in Hebrew is to be shrouded or ensconced. It means to be wrapped up. In what? In fear. In despair. When my heart's overwhelmed, what do I do? You cry out to God. Sometimes there's no other place to go in all the world, and yet it's the best place to go, and that is to cry out to him.

It's funny how people think. People who have a relationship with the Lord say, "Well, let's pray. Let's just pray." People who are religious and don't have a relationship with God, when they hear that you're praying, they say, "Oh, is it that bad? Oh my goodness, it must be horrible. They've called a prayer meeting at their house. Oh my goodness." Isn't that funny? "It's so bad they're praying."

It's best to pray before you get overwhelmed. But if you're overwhelmed tonight, pray. Call out to him. I don't even know what to say. Cry. I'm wondering maybe if not some of my most effective prayers, and yours perhaps, have been when we cannot even form words, and you just cry and your lip just babbles. You grieve and you groan, and you just—with inarticulate utterances—"Oh God!" in your grief you're crying out. The Lord says, "I know. I hear that. I got you. I understand." Even when you, in that moment of grief or in that moment of pain, you just sigh. God hears that. He interprets that. Isn't that bizarre that he would interpret that? He knows the grief of your soul.

To be overwhelmed is to be brought to the place that's translated also of being completely emptied out. Emptiness. Having nothing left. When we pray, have we prayed this prayer: "Lord, empty me out. Pour me out and fill me up with you"? Christian, we're asking the Lord: "Bring me to that point when there's nothing of me left." John the Baptist prayed that prayer. He said, "I must decrease that he might increase." That's what the Christian wants to do. That's what we want to see happen.

In a totally different event, yet it's on the water—it's in Mark chapter 4—it's a pretty cool event. You know it. Jesus was in the boat with them in that particular storm. This one is—it's amazing to me that he didn't get up and just scold them.

But in Mark 4:36, it says, "Now when it had happened, they left the multitude, they took him along in the boat." Look at that; they took him along like they have a raft. "Let's get in the boat, but this time we're taking Jesus." It's like they're carrying him like they've got to—"Let's tie Jesus around our neck so we don't sink." They took him with them along in the boat as he was. Another little boat was also with him.

I would not have wanted to be in the other little boats; I want to be in Jesus's boat. A great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. They awoke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Then he arose and rebuked the wind. By the way, the word in Greek is he rebuked it like he would rebuke a demon. He said to it in Greek, "Be muzzled." Pretty bizarre, huh? And said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Jesus said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" He was in the boat, and their word to him was, "Don't you care if we perish?"

I know none of us would have ever accused God to his face of not caring about our storm. But they did. "Don't you care, God?" Jesus's word is "peace" to that storm, and he says, "Why are you so afraid?"

Listen, when we are fearful, when we are filled with phobia, we are not believing in him and we're not trusting him. You say, "Jack, don't say that; now you're scaring me and I've got bigger phobias." No, listen, I want you to realize that your phobias are like a house of cards.

Listen, understand the nature of God. God the Son is in the boat; he's sleeping. He's 100 percent human being, 100 percent God. But in what's called the Kenosis, he poured out or set aside his divine attributes. He could have picked them up at any moment. That's the power, that's the word meekness. Jesus could at any moment called up backup or changed the scene like this, but he didn't.

Kenosis. He's in the boat sleeping. He didn't say, "Father, just have me go to sleep," or "You guys sail the boat, I'm going to go to sleep. I'm God, I'm not going to wake up because I know we're going to get to the other side." No. This was Jesus the human, sleeping, knowing that the end of his life had not yet come because his father had a plan. He was not going to drown in the ocean; he was going to die on the cross.

You say, "Well, he knew that. I don't know that." This you know: that the day that you die is the day God has appointed, if you're asleep or not, if you're in a boat or not. If you sit in your house with your curtains drawn, afraid, you're just being robbed by the devil in fear. Though you may be going to heaven, you are sterile and you don't need to have that. You're filled with despair. It doesn't need to happen.

Secondly, mark this: despair opens us up to his ways. Only those who are sinking in their storms can feel his mighty hand. This is a strange paradox in the Christian's life. When we cry out to God, listen, it's a strange thing. Peter says, "Lord, save me!"

By the way, that's a great lesson. Is that a powerful prayer? Is it articulate? Is it effective? Did God answer it? So make your prayer short. Amen! Anybody who prays long in public does not pray long in private. That's a fact. Some people come to prayer meetings and I tell you what, I interrupt them. I shut them down. If you're in a public prayer meeting and some guy's praying for ten minutes, do you know what he's doing? He's making up for lost time. It means he doesn't pray at home.

"Lord, save me!" The Bible says when you come and speak to the Lord, let your words be few. Peter: "Lord, save me!" Jesus said, "Okay." Maybe God doesn't answer our prayer sometimes because we're still talking about it. The Lord's going, "Okay, uh-huh... get to the point!" Despair opens us up to his ways.

David J.: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called "Disciplines of Despair." Thanks for being with us today. This message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Disciplines of Life. It's a series highlighting the disciplines of a Christ-follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others. We'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

I love the book of the month. Pastor Jack, it's *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers?* written by your friend Erwin Lutzer. It's a great book, isn't it?

Jack Hibbs: It is a great book, and just the title alone is going to make it a bestseller because who cannot relate to this? Powerful.

David J.: For someone who's been praying for a long time and hasn't really seen an answer that they want, for that matter, how does this book encourage them to keep going?

Jack Hibbs: First of all, just because we pray doesn't mean it's a prayer that should be answered. We don't always know how we ought to pray; scripture makes that very clear. We do know that Jesus said in John 15:7 that if we pray the scriptures, really if his word abides in us, we can ask God.

So, just because we pray doesn't mean we're asking the right thing, and Dr. Lutzer will point this out in the book. What we want to do when we pray is to have our will come under the authority of God's will. That's what prayer does. Prayer is not a Christmas list. It is the transformation of our will coming in alignment with God's will.

This is a great book for people to get that answered: "Why isn't the prayer—I've been praying to win the lottery for 30 years and the lottery I have not won it yet? Why isn't God answering my prayer?" Well, because God loves you, my friend. That's why he's not answering your prayer.

David J.: So if somebody's faith has taken a hit because they feel like God hasn't answered them, how could this book help rebuild their trust in God?

Jack Hibbs: It's going to point them to the scriptures. That's where they need to realize, "Wait a minute, I've been blaming God for not performing for me. Wait, he loves me. Father knows best."

In fact, over time we can all agree, and friend, listen up if that's your question: over time we often realize, "I'm so glad God did not answer my prayer request. I was off on that." So, getting back into the word of God, and this book will help you do that, will cause you to trust God again because, listen, God's trustworthy, period. It's our emotions that got us sideways in this area, not his theology. He's true.

David J.: *Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers?* by Dr. Erwin Lutzer is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/realradio.

Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you'd like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what's going on with this ministry. And please, if you're ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills; we'd love to see you there in person.

It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com—that's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.