Live Free with Josh Howerton - Choose Character Over Comfort | Ep. 225 | Friday, December 15, 2023

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Sometimes becoming good doesn’t feel very good, but suffering can connect our pain to God’s Word. Seeking comfort from anyone or anything other than God will only be a temporary fix. God’s Word is a priceless treasure because it teaches us the truth of our very good God, the eternal comfort He offers and how much He loves us. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's daily drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. This Christmas, we want to invite you and your family to join us for our candlelight services on December 22nd through 24th at any of our six locations. or for church online. For more information, visit latepoint.com. Church slash daily drive. And now, let's dive in to today's devotional.

Hey, happy Friday, everybody. Thanks for tuning in to the Daily Drive. I'm Mike Bro, and I am so excited about next week. Man, I love the Christmas season, and I love talking about Jesus, and that's what we're going to do all next week. So even though your routine may look a little different in the coming days, I think if you'll just take a few minutes each day to hang with us here,

God might prepare your heart for the season and beyond. Now, we acknowledge at the beginning of this week that the Christmas season can be hard on some of us. And in fact, life in general can be very hard. So we've been spending some time talking about how God can bring so much good out of tough times. We've been hanging in a promise from Romans 828 that says that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And then while our definition of good may look like, you know, perpetual sunshine puppies and Christmas cookies, God's definition of good is whatever enables you and me to look more like Jesus. And we've been learning that God can take hard things, painful things, tragic things, and do so, really good things on the inside of us.

We talked about how God cares more about our character than our comfort. Although he absolutely does comfort us in our pain, he is much more concerned with you and me becoming good. than just feeling good. And sometimes becoming good doesn't feel all that good. But what he's doing in us through all the hard stuff is making us more and more like Jesus, who is the very definition of good. We talked about how suffering draws us into deeper dependence upon God

and how it can expose some counterfeit gods in our lives, pretenders that really can't do anything about our situation, that end up just wrecking not building our character. We talked about how it can also serve as a wake-up call that draws us into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We talked about how suffering can produce deeper levels of gratitude and joy and how it has a way of expanding our hearts to our other people who are going through hard stuff too. And we find ourselves extending the same kind of comfort that God has given us.

And all of these things we've been talking about are deep things, lasting things, eternal things, good things that God can and will do in us. And there are so many ways that God uses suffering to produce good things. but let me just give you one more today. Suffering can connect our pain to God's word. Suffering can connect our pain to God's word, God's truth, God's wisdom. You know, we say at the top of this podcast every episode, when the word, not the world, it becomes the majority of your week,

your life begins to change. And you know what? It does. I like what Richard Baxter writes. He says, suffering so unbolts the door of the heart that the word has an easier entrance. Man, that's been true for me. When my heart has felt broken and I've been honest with those feelings, God's light has a way of finding its way through the cracks

and bringing me comfort, peace, and perspective. You know, I've heard it said that you should never seek comfort while ignoring truth. Well, when people are going through tough times, they'll sometimes go to those, you know, substitute gods, they'll grab a bottle of bourbon or painkillers or smoke a joint or eat a whole cheesecake, buy out Amazon, binge watch porn, or go thrill-seeking, all in an attempt to escape the pain without seeking reality. And I hope that you know that that is never a good plan. That always just complicates your life.

When you try to soothe only your feelings without bothering to think deeply about truth, you're just asking to be manipulated. Now you should not ignore your feelings, and God really does care about your feelings and can touch you deeply in your emotional core and he wants to. But unless your feelings have a solid foundation on which to land, that any kind of quick emotional fixes won't sustain you over the long haul. But when you have a worldview that's grounded in the truth of God's character and the truth of God's word,

it will not only bring comfort to your feelings, but it will allow you to hang tough and build your whole life on a rock-solid foundation that cannot be shaken. Okay, players, the double jeopardy category is the Bible. The answer is the longest chapter in the Bible. Sorry, your time is up. What is Psalm 119? Yeah, Psalm 119 has 176 verses, and in almost every one of those, the song letter connects God's word to our suffering. So let me just read all 176 verses.

I'm just kidding. Let me just check out a few of these, like verse 25. I lie in the dust, revive me by your word. Verse 28, I weep with sorrow and encourage me by your words. Verse 50, your promise revives me. It comforts me in all my trouble. I used to wander off until you disciplined me, but now I closely follow your word. 71.

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your word. 92. If your instructions hadn't sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. 107. I have suffered much, O Lord, restore my life again as you promise. 143. As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands. 153.

look upon my suffering and rescue me for I have not forgotten your instructions over and over and over are pain connected with God's word. I know of another place to go like God's word it will give you so many promises through the pain. Like Psalm 23 verse 4, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff that comfort me. Psalm 27, the Lord is my light. He's my south. So why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger. So why should I tremble?

Verse 10 of Psalm 27, Even if my father and mother abandoned me, the Lord will hold me close. God says this in Isaiah 43, too, when you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression,

you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. Psalm 168, I know the Lord is always with me I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 1 Peter 4.19, so if you find life difficult because you're doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he's doing, and he'll keep on doing it. Romans 832, since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, when he also

give us everything else, Hebrews 13.5, for God has said, I will never fail you, I will never abandon you. And just one more. Romans 8, 28, and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So whatever you're going through right now, know that God is at work in the dark. He is with you, he is for you, he is in you, and he's weaving all those tough things together for his glory and your ultimate good. You know, when we consider the best and worst things that have ever happened to us in life,

we often see a pretty amazing overlap. So let me just give you a pre-Christmas homework assignment today. Take a piece of paper and fold it in the half. On the top half, write down some of the best things that ever happened to you in your life. Then on the bottom half, write down some of the worst things. Then unfold the paper and see how they might overlap. I know all kinds of people who will say, The things I thought were the absolute worst, things I thought I would never recover from,

things that happen because of my own poor choices, or things that this sometimes unfair life just dumped on me, are now in terms of my own character development and the impact for good that it's had on other people, man, they've turned out to be the best. I mean, it's pretty incredible. You see, God is both sovereign and loving, and our lists are pretty convincing proof that while evil, pain, and suffering are not good, God can still use them to accomplish surprisingly good stuff in your life. I hope you know God loves you so much. I pray every day that you would be able to grasp how high, how wide,

how long, how deep as love is for you. I pray that you would begin to trust his heart, to relax in his higher ways, his better wisdom, to surrender to the potter's touch as he takes whatever light throws at you to shape you, to mold you, to become more like Jesus. And man, if that could happen. If that could happen, now that would be very, very good. Have a great weekend.

See you back on Monday. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share. this podcast to help get the word out. For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point,

visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe. Church slash daily drive.