Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today on Telling the Truth, Jill Briscoe shares how God draws you to himself through suffering. That's coming up in just a moment, but first, when life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning his concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured he cares for you and is in control of all things?

We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times. In Weathering the Storms of Life, Jill teaches from the Gospel of Mark, examining the disciples' experience in a sudden storm to address the issues of suffering and faith, challenging you to examine your belief in God in the midst of trouble.

Her teaching and the scripture cards will encourage you as you discover how you can be sure of God's love for you and his control over every circumstance, no matter how sudden, severe, or unexpected. Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Jill with her message, Weathering the Storms of Life.

Jill Briscoe: Where is your faith? Well, we're going to address that subject right now from Mark's Gospel, chapter 4. We're going to talk about what happens when we're hit with the storms and squalls of life. How well do we do? Do we meet them with faith and fortitude, or do we meet them with doubt and unbelief? And even though I've been a Christian a long, long time, I'm still working on my faith response to trouble when it comes. And storms and squalls are different.

You know, a storm you can see it coming. The sky gets darker and you can batten down the hatches and you can get a little bit of support from people. You can say, "Well, I need to get some supplies in and I need to be ready," and you get some warning. But a squall is something that comes out of nowhere. It's unexpected. It's unannounced. It's unacceptable. It's unfair, so we think so often. And you say, "Why this? Why now? Why here? Where are you, God?"

And God asks us for a faith response to storms. Now, it's good to ask the text questions and to find out what's happening here. And so we're just going to ask it: Where was this? When was this? Why was this? And who was this? That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples... it was evening, it was getting dark. Things always seem worse in the dark, don't they? It was after the crowd control, the exhaustion of dealing with people. And crowds are exhausting.

If your job was to control those crowds for Jesus and to line up all the sick people and care for all the babies and mothers and all the things that needed doing as Jesus became so popular so quickly, you'd be exhausted. And they were exhausted. And you have to look a little bit before and you have to look a little bit after to see that squall after squall after squall after squall, a line of squalls was in the plan of God for the disciples. And squalls are in the plan of God.

We live in a period called life after the fall with a sinful nature. And Jesus deliberately prayed in the upper room in John 17, "Leave them here, Lord. Leave them here. Can't come home yet out of the squalls. No squalls in heaven. Not yet. But keep them from the evil one. Keep them from doubt. Keep them from drowning in unbelief. Keep them from the evil one because the evil one, the devil, wants to take us down. He wants to drown us. He wants to swamp us with the things that happen in life. The events that bring with them squalls of fear, panic."

Well, the disciples had been under prolonged stress. They'd only just begun. Jesus had picked his team. You know how neat it is when you get picked and how horrible it is when you don't? Or you get unpicked and you get moved off a team and somebody else gets your place? That's hard. Well, 12 men, 12 ordinary men—fishermen, tax collectors, ordinary people—had been picked for Jesus' team. And they were up about that. As the kids say, they were pumped about that.

But around the corner of that choosing, as Jesus picked those 12 men to be his helpers and his disciples and his apostles, came the first squall. And as Jesus began his ministry and the crowds began to hear that if they had somebody dying of some terrible disease or they had somebody that was a leper living outside the city walls and they could get their loved one close to this holy man he might get healed, you can imagine what happened. And the Pharisees heard about it.

And the Pharisees' team from Jerusalem came to face off with Jesus' team. And when they watched and saw what was happening, even the miracles, they said, "He's possessed. He's doing this by the power of Satan." Terrible thing for the disciples. I mean, these were their leaders. These were the big boys from Jerusalem. They didn't think that following Jesus was going to mean that they'd be in trouble with the big boys. And now they're calling Jesus Satan? The great Satan?

It didn't feel good. And they began to think, "Oh, following Jesus isn't all fun and games. It isn't going to be a garden of roses." So behind them they had that experience, and then on the heels of that, they didn't have time to eat, it said. They didn't have time to sleep. They didn't have time to do anything. And they were hungry and they were tired. And on the heels of that, Jesus' mother Mary and the brothers came and said, "You'd better come home, Jesus. We heard about what you're doing to yourself. No time to eat, no time to look after yourself."

And they tried to take him home, it says, by force. Put him in constraints. That's what you do for mad people. You tie them up and take them home until they're well again. "He's unbalanced," they said. And suddenly the disciples are saying, "Hey, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Our families aren't understanding." All of them had left perhaps children, most of them children, probably they were all married, wives and children. And here their families began to object to the fact that they were with Jesus.

And that's a squall. That's a squall. Some of the kids have told me that once they put their trust in faith in Christ and tried to share it with their wonderful family, their wonderful family didn't really understand. And they tried to take them back by force, as it were, and say, "This isn't the way you grew up. This isn't what we taught you." That's a squall. And we have to face these things as they come in life. So not only were the squalls behind them, there were squalls ahead of them.

Of course, they didn't know that, but enough to say that Jesus knew. And Jesus knew around the corner of this event, this squall, there was a madman waiting, possessed by legions of demons. And the disciples would be in Gentile, pig-eating country in a culture... that's a storm. Going into another culture, trying to adjust, trying to understand, trying to deal with your prejudices. And they would be met by a madman chained in a graveyard who would snap chains by the power of the devil, and they would come face to face with evil as they had never known it.

That's a squall. And if you read a little further on, you'll see squall after squall after squall. Now in the middle there was miracles, miracles, miracles, but there were squalls, squalls, squalls. And you know something? That's life. And you can waste the energy you need to deal with the present squall by praying, "Don't let there be another squall," which is what most of us spend our time and energy in prayer doing. And that's a waste of your time and energy.

Because that's life. And Jesus has said, "In the world you will have squalls. In the world you will have troubles." But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. And so what was this? And where was this? It was in a familiar place. They were feeling sort of homesick. Peter was back on his beloved lake. That was good. But he knew that through the storm, even though it was dark, his little house was waiting and maybe his children.

And he'd been used to going fishing and going home at night and having their little arms round his neck and his wife and his family gather round. And now they were so near and yet so far, and they couldn't go home. Homesickness is a squall. All sorts of squalls in life. I was thinking about the kids when their boyfriend drops them, goes out with their best friend. That's a squall. When they don't get picked for the team, when they fail the exam, or when their parents stop loving each other. That's a squall. That's a squall.

And we big people. The devil doesn't get to us when we've lost weight, when we've had a good night's sleep, when we're up on our Bible reading and we've prayed up. He waits until we're exhausted, fit to be tied, under huge duress in a job change, which is where they were, with all the stress that that involves, and he says, "Aha! Now." And he kicks us when we're down. So where was this and when was this? It was at the start of their relationship with Jesus. It was after a period of intense stress in a familiar place.

It was feeling inadequate, homesick, panicked. It was late in the evening. It was getting dark and would be darker. But what is this? Very dangerous situation. A grave situation, if you wish. Excuse the pun. And they came to Jesus and they said, "Don't you care? We're drowning." Listen to that. It wasn't that they didn't believe he was there. They could see him sleeping on a pillow. And that's what blew them away. What's he doing sleeping on a pillow?

Doesn't he know we're in trouble? Doesn't he know we're petrified? Doesn't he know we're frightened? Doesn't he know we're in danger? Doesn't he care? And it isn't that people don't believe he isn't there; it's that they don't believe he cares. "If he doesn't stop the storm, he doesn't care," our reasoning goes. "If he cared, he'd get up and stop the storm." So what's he doing sleeping on a pillow? And I have found as the squalls hit my life and I'm swamped and I'm drowning, that I have to be very, very careful and disciplined with what I am thinking about God at that point.

And I have to affirm on my knees, "I know you're aware and I know you care." Otherwise, I might be like the disciples and say, "Don't you care?" And the theory is, if he stopped the storm, I'd know he'd care. And if he doesn't stop the storm, he doesn't care. Not true. So what is this? It's a test. It's only a test. It's the sudden, unexpected, unannounced, unexplained, unfair, not here, not now, not this that hits us from the side.

It's a furious squall and it is carried by an event. In this case, it was a natural event. It was a wind. It was a squall on a lake that was typical of Galilee. And it came out of nowhere. And sometimes people experience a flood or an earthquake or a natural disaster. And along with that, the squall of fear and apprehension of anger at God. "Why did he let this hit my house? Doesn't he care? Doesn't he know I love him? Doesn't he know I serve him? So why did the tornado jump over that man's house and hit mine?" etc., etc.

Reminds me of Job. I wrote a book about Job once called Out of the Storm and into His Arms. And in the first chapter of Job, he has a day of squalls. It had to be a Monday. That's what the book was called originally, because it all happened on a day. So it had to be a Monday, I reckoned. What happened? He lost his wealth. He did lose his health in the next chapter. He lost his sheep and his goats and his servants who were murdered by Sabeans, cattle thieves.

And then he lost his 10 children. Now, he lost his goats and his sheep and his camels because thieves stole them. That he could understand, for the sinfulness of man does that stuff. And he lost his servants to the sword because the guerrilla people came and killed them all, carried off his wealth. And that he could understand. Tell me what human beings are capable of doing to human beings. That's understandable.

But listen. His 10 kids were in a house having a party. And how did they die? An act of God. A tornado came out of the wilderness, collapsed the house, and they were all killed. That's the dilemma of Job. That's what the book's all about. This incoherent suffering that hit him. All his children gone. Not by a cruel, evil man, but by an act of God. "Don't you care? Are you there?" he did ask that as well. "It isn't fair."

All those things happened to Job and he was nearly swamped. He was drowning. His faith was drowning. But at the end of those squalls and at the end of his experience he said, "You know something? I heard all about God, but now I see him and know him, and know him in a way I never knew him before. And my faith is strengthened." And so why is this? To strengthen our faith. Don't you hate that? I hate that.

Something happens and you know and people come up to me and say, "You're going to write about this?" "I don't want to write about it," I say. "I just want it to stop." "You're going to speak about this?" "I don't want to speak about it. I just want the storm to stop." But I know that what I learn can be helped to others, for the comfort that I receive, as Corinthians says, is intended to comfort others.

And you notice in this passage, there were also other little boats with them. And when Jesus calmed the storm and said, "Stop it," and it stopped, it was calm for all the other people around, for the other little boats. And that's what's intended. That what happens in our vessel, in our boat, as Jesus calms us down and helps us accept the unacceptable sometimes and says, "Now you respond rightly to me. Where is your faith?"

And as we tremblingly say, "Help thou mine unbelief" and try to trust him, then the other little boats are the recipients of the blessing that we are receiving from God.

Guest (Male): Now let's chat with Jill about some important points you can take away from today's message. Jill, you mentioned today that in the storms of life, it's important to be very careful and disciplined about what we think about God. How does that play out in your life?

Jill Briscoe: Well, of course, the marvelous picture that we're thinking about is the storm at sea and Jesus coming and the disciples thinking he's a ghost. When you're in the middle of a storm, God can look like a ghost: unfamiliar, rather frightening. We can mistake the things our soul sees when we're under duress as God in a form we don't recognize, and we get frightened. It can skew our concepts of who God is when the storm comes.

And so we have to be very sure that we know who God is. How are we going to know that? Tell the truth. Find out from the Bible. Look in the scriptures. Then when the storm comes, you know he's not a ghost: without substance, strange, scary, frightening, neither good nor evil. We know God isn't like that because we know what we know what we know because we have been bathed in the truth.

The more you know your Bible when the storm hits, the better you're going to handle it, the more comfort you're going to find, the more strength you're going to get. And through the spirit and the word, you're going to know what to do in the impossible storm. However impossible the storm is, however big it is, you're going to know.

God promises, "If you know me, then you'll know the doctrine. If you know me, you'll know what's right. If you know me, then you'll know what to say. If you know me, you'll know how to act." And in the book of Philippians, he says, "Whatever happens, stand firm. Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a way worthy of the children of God." So there's all sorts of help in this wonderful book, the Bible.

Guest (Male): Jill, what would you say to someone today who is really questioning why God allows bad things to happen to good people?

Jill Briscoe: Well, I always start off by, if I have a chance and I can have somebody alone in my home over a cup of coffee or somewhere quiet, sometimes I just read the story of the crucifixion. I mean, if you wonder why bad things happen to good people, look at the cross. If Jesus hadn't died on the cross, I don't think I'd have anything to say or anything to believe about why bad things happen to good people.

Something pretty bad happened to the most perfect man that ever lived, God's own son or God himself. And so what you have to do first is realize that's why he came. He came to walk in our sandals, to live in our homes, to eat our food, to be part of a family, to live in a country where under Roman occupation people were crucified daily along the walks of life. Terrible situation, terrible time.

And yet this God of ours came at our lowest point, most dangerous, difficult place to live. And so things were happening to good people, quote "good people," daily in Jesus' life. And he came to say there is going to be one day an end to all of this. New heavens, new earth, glory, wherein dwells righteousness. But we're not there yet, we're on the way.

And so somebody who really questions why God lets bad things happen to good people, a good place to start is to look at the cross and say, it's a mystery, it's difficult, but you need to wrestle with this. Why did he come? Why did he let people torture him when he had the power to stop them? Why did he stay on the cross when he had the power to come down? Why did he?

It was something to do with suffering. It was something to do with death that the Bible mysteriously says he overcame. He did death in. Death died in a sense with all its power because Christ let bad things happen to a good person, to himself. It's a mystery, needs wrestling with. The Bible has answers for it. Again, come back to the truth, know your Bible, know where to go for the answers.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today here on Telling the Truth. We pray today's message has helped you to experience life in all its fullness through Jesus Christ. We have a message from a listener named Julie: "Thank you, Telling the Truth family, for your recent additional messages, poems, and videos. They've been viewed, shared, and so much appreciated. You have reached out and reminded us of the living hope we have in our risen savior. It's been wonderful to share social distancing hugs through your encouraging words."

When life's storms suddenly come your way, how do you respond? Do you doubt God's presence, questioning his concern for you? Or do you see storms as part of God's plan for your life and rest assured he cares for you and is in control of all things? We want to help you trust in God's care and control in all the storms you face by sending you Jill Briscoe's message, Weathering the Storms of Life, as well as a set of 12 beautifully designed scripture cards to encourage you in troubled times.

Weathering the Storms of Life and the set of 12 scripture cards are our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give today. 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thank you for being with us today. We hope you'll join us again as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's word. Experience life next time on Telling the Truth.