Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series
Speaker 1: from Psalm twenty three called living in the Goodness of God.
Speaker 1: It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where
Speaker 1: you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. Okay,
Speaker 1: and now here's part two of a message called is
Speaker 1: God really good all the time?
Speaker 2: How does God grow faith and trust in your life?
Speaker 2: The exact same way a child learns to trust a parent.
Speaker 2: It's the exact same process. There's a very famous circle
Speaker 2: called the Circle of Security on how children learn to
Speaker 2: trust their parents. You had to go through the circle
Speaker 2: thousands and probably tens of thousands of times growing up.
Speaker 2: Let me show you too, the circle of security. This
Speaker 2: is how parents teach their children to trust them. First
Speaker 2: is the child recognizes an unmet need. I'm at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the stairs. I got to get to the top.
Speaker 2: I can't get there. I need help, So the child
Speaker 2: Step one recognizes an unmet need. Step two is the
Speaker 2: child expresses that need, usually by crying or yelling because
Speaker 2: they don't have words yet, but they let you know
Speaker 2: that my diaper is soiled, or I'm hungry or I'm
Speaker 2: bored in the crib and i can't get out, and
Speaker 2: they let you know they have a need. And step
Speaker 2: two they express a need. Step three is the parent
Speaker 2: meets that need. They pull you out of the crib,
Speaker 2: they change your diaper, they feed you, they soothe you,
Speaker 2: they do whatever you need because your need is not
Speaker 2: being met, and the parent meets the need. And the
Speaker 2: result of the parent meeting the need is Number four
Speaker 2: is that the child learns to trust the parent. Now
Speaker 2: that circle right there, You personally went through that circle
Speaker 2: maybe one hundred thousand times growing up, and you figure
Speaker 2: it out. When I cry, I get mom's attention or
Speaker 2: dad's attention. When I complain about a need, it it's met.
Speaker 2: And every time that need was met in your life,
Speaker 2: you learn to trust your mom or your dad or
Speaker 2: whoever more. Now that cycle is the exact same way
Speaker 2: God teaches you to trust him. You have an unmet
Speaker 2: need in your life, you express that unmet need to God.
Speaker 2: God meets that need, and you learn to trust him more.
Speaker 2: And you do it again and again and again. If
Speaker 2: you're not expressing your needs to God, you're not growing
Speaker 2: in trust, because that's the only way you learn. The
Speaker 2: reason I can trust God the way I do today
Speaker 2: is because He's met millions of needs in my life
Speaker 2: when I've asked, and I know he's reliable, he can
Speaker 2: be counted on. And so if you're not praying prayers
Speaker 2: of request, this is why God says, I want you
Speaker 2: to ask, because he knows it's the way you learn
Speaker 2: to trust him. It's the exact same way God teaches you.
Speaker 2: So if you're not asking God to meet your needs
Speaker 2: through prayer, you're not growing learning to trust him. So
Speaker 2: how long has it been since you said something like
Speaker 2: this to God? God? I know you're a good God. God,
Speaker 2: I know you want to meet my needs. You've told
Speaker 2: me over and over to meet my needs. Well, here's one,
Speaker 2: and you tell him about your upset stomach or anything.
Speaker 2: There's nothing too big or too small. It's big enough
Speaker 2: to worry about, it's big enough to pray about, and
Speaker 2: worry won't solve it, but prayer will. And you ask
Speaker 2: God and then you wait patiently for God's timing to
Speaker 2: deliver it. God rarely gives you the answer immediately, rarely
Speaker 2: because he wants to test your faith. God is not
Speaker 2: a vending machine where you put in a prayer, you
Speaker 2: pull the plug, and you instantly get it. If God
Speaker 2: gave you everything instantly, you'd be incredibly self centered, incredibly selfish.
Speaker 2: And so God wants to give it to you, but
Speaker 2: he's going to wait a while while you are learning
Speaker 2: to grow, you're learning to trust. You See, every child
Speaker 2: has to learn the difference we know and not yet.
Speaker 2: They're not the same thing. Immaturity means when I tell
Speaker 2: you can we go to Disneyland? Yes, but not yet,
Speaker 2: and you get mad. It didn't mean know. A delay
Speaker 2: is not a denial. That's maturity when you understand that
Speaker 2: it is a delay in a denial. And so God
Speaker 2: won't always give it to you immediately. He wants you
Speaker 2: to wait. Now, here's what Jesus said Luke, chapter eleven.
Speaker 2: If you, as imperfect parents, know how to give good gifts,
Speaker 2: there's that word good again, the goodness of God. If
Speaker 2: you use imperfect parents know how to give good gifts
Speaker 2: to your own children, how much more well your heavenly Father,
Speaker 2: who by the way, is perfect, will give good gifts
Speaker 2: to those who asked him. You have not because you
Speaker 2: asked not. I'm embarrassed to tell you this story, but
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell anyway because it makes a good
Speaker 2: point that even pastors often forget the goodness of God
Speaker 2: and don't ask. A week ago, on a Friday, I
Speaker 2: lost my cell phone. Now that's extremely important to me
Speaker 2: because I get hundreds of emails a day and also
Speaker 2: text messages, and every day that I don't have it,
Speaker 2: those things are piling up and go, hey, Rick must
Speaker 2: not care about me, and you know they're thinking all
Speaker 2: kinds of bad thoughts. And so when I lost it,
Speaker 2: that was the day that I came down with kind
Speaker 2: of a stomach flu, which is why a pastor Tom
Speaker 2: spoke last weekend for me. By the way, didn't he
Speaker 2: do an incredible job? Man? Thank you Tom. That has
Speaker 2: a great message. I was sitting at home in bed
Speaker 2: taking notes and thinking, now, three years from today, I'm
Speaker 2: going to preach that, and I'll think I taught it.
Speaker 2: It was a great message, and I so I was sick,
Speaker 2: so I didn't look for it Saturday or Sunday. On Monday,
Speaker 2: I was feel a little bit better, so I got up.
Speaker 2: I tore the house apart. I mean I literally spent
Speaker 2: hours pulling up every cushion on sofas and looking behind
Speaker 2: this and that, and I literally spent several hours trying
Speaker 2: to find my phone. Could not find it. So I
Speaker 2: go out to my car. I tear my car apart.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like I got a magnifying glass looking
Speaker 2: for it. Cannot find my phone. The next day, I
Speaker 2: was feeling a little bit better. I went into the
Speaker 2: office and I looked all tore the office apart looking
Speaker 2: for it everywhere. I had staff members looking for my
Speaker 2: phone trying to find it. On Wednesday, I went and
Speaker 2: I tore it all up again, went through the house.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe I just missed it, and so I
Speaker 2: did it again in my house and my car and
Speaker 2: my office, and I could not find it. So on
Speaker 2: Thursday go, I can't go without a phone. I've got
Speaker 2: all these messages coming in. So my son Josh loan
Speaker 2: me a phone he didn't wasn't using, and I went
Speaker 2: and I got it turned so I could at least,
Speaker 2: you know, communicate people. Did that in the evening about
Speaker 2: eight pm that evening. Well, Kay was gone all this
Speaker 2: last week. She was speaking in Washington, d C. And
Speaker 2: she spoke to a Congressional Committee on Mental Health and
Speaker 2: she spoke to the presidents of all the Christian universities
Speaker 2: and their wives, and she had a number of speaking
Speaker 2: engagements in DC. So she was gone for five days.
Speaker 2: When Kay's not home, I stay up all night and
Speaker 2: I just study. And so every night I was going
Speaker 2: getting by on like two hours of sleep. And a
Speaker 2: Thursday night, about four o'clock in the morning, I had
Speaker 2: gone down to get something to eat and I was
Speaker 2: going back up to study some morning, and so I'm
Speaker 2: walking back upstairs and I was thinking about this message
Speaker 2: about the goodness of God and how God says the
Speaker 2: way I proved my goodness is for you to ask.
Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, the Lord just said to me, Rick,
Speaker 2: have you considered asking me where the phone is? Oh? No,
Speaker 2: I had not even prayed this thing. I hadn't even
Speaker 2: prayed about it. I said, God, I'm so sorry. You
Speaker 2: are a good God, and I need to repent. And
Speaker 2: you know, God, I know you're a good God. So
Speaker 2: show me where that phone is now, I said, Now, Lord,
Speaker 2: I'm going to get ready to go to bed here
Speaker 2: in about you know, fifteen minutes, and if you want
Speaker 2: to reveal it to me in a dream, then I'll
Speaker 2: wake up and I'll know where it is. You know, oftentimes,
Speaker 2: you know, we don't want to just ask God. We
Speaker 2: want to give him the way to deliver it. I go.
Speaker 2: God said, look, Rick, you don't have to tell me
Speaker 2: how to deliver it. I'll figure this out. You don't
Speaker 2: need to recommend you know where, Just just trust me.
Speaker 2: So I said, Lord, this is not a big deal
Speaker 2: in this grand scope of things. It's just a phone.
Speaker 2: But you're a good God, and you this is something
Speaker 2: that means a lot to me. And so I'm asking you,
Speaker 2: because you're a good God, to show me where that
Speaker 2: phone is because I can't find it. And I said, now, Lord,
Speaker 2: you know me, it's not going to shut by shaking
Speaker 2: my faith if you don't answer this. Some prayers get answered,
Speaker 2: some the way we want. Some of them don't. I
Speaker 2: don't know why. When we get to heaven we'll understand that. All.
Speaker 2: I just know God has said to ask. So I said, Lord,
Speaker 2: if you choose not to reveal this to me, you
Speaker 2: know that's not going to shake my faith one bit.
Speaker 2: I know you're a good God. But because you're a
Speaker 2: good God, I really would like to know where that is.
Speaker 2: So I went upstairs, and I saw some dirty dishes
Speaker 2: in my study, and I thought I should take those
Speaker 2: down and wash them and get it all cleaned up.
Speaker 2: Four K gets back, and as I was walking back down,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I got a inkling to play
Speaker 2: the piano. At four o'clock in the morning. I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, I'd like to sit down and just play
Speaker 2: the piano. And they relaxed me a little bit. So
Speaker 2: K has this beautiful piano, and I sat on I
Speaker 2: started playing. I start playing a little tune there, and
Speaker 2: I goes, hey, that's pretty good. I should record that
Speaker 2: and give it to John and Stephanie and our worship team,
Speaker 2: because maybe they could put some words to it. And
Speaker 2: so I often will get a phone and then I'll
Speaker 2: turn the recorder on and record that little thing and
Speaker 2: then send it to him. But the phone that Josh
Speaker 2: had loaned me is upstairs. So I was getting ready
Speaker 2: to get up and go upstairs, and as I got up,
Speaker 2: I looked over and right next to the metronome on
Speaker 2: the piano, on that black piano was a black phone.
Speaker 2: Now this is less than five minutes after I'd prayed
Speaker 2: that prayer. Five minutes, not five minutes has happened. I
Speaker 2: started laughing and crying at the same time. You are
Speaker 2: too good man, you are, and I'm laughing and I'm crying,
Speaker 2: and well, God, you just show me your goodness one
Speaker 2: more time. God did in five minutes what I couldn't
Speaker 2: do in five days. You have not because you asked not.
Speaker 2: And the reason you're not asking is you don't really
Speaker 2: think God's that good. You don't think he's interested in
Speaker 2: the details of your life. But the Bible says He
Speaker 2: has every hair on your head numbered, and he knows
Speaker 2: how many fell out in the sink this morning. God
Speaker 2: knows the details of your life better than you do.
Speaker 2: Did God know where my phone was? Yes? Who put
Speaker 2: it in my mind to gover and sit down and
Speaker 2: play the piano? God did? God did? And so we
Speaker 2: miss out on so much. Now that you say, well,
Speaker 2: I don't really want to bother God, you're not bothering God.
Speaker 2: He's the one who set this thing up. He knows
Speaker 2: you're going to trust him more. When you ask, he
Speaker 2: meets the need, and then you trust him more. Here's
Speaker 2: what the Bible says, Hebrews chapter four. Let us come
Speaker 2: boldly to the throne of our good and gracious God. Boldly.
Speaker 2: God is good. God is gracious, so we can come boldly.
Speaker 2: Then we will receive his mercy and will find the
Speaker 2: grace to help us when we need it. Now, what's
Speaker 2: God's motivation in answering your prayers? Well, David tells us
Speaker 2: the next verse Psalm sixty six, Answer me, Oh Lord,
Speaker 2: out of the goodness of your love. Everything God does
Speaker 2: for you, through you, to you, and in you, he
Speaker 2: does because He is a good God. God's goodness to you, listen,
Speaker 2: is not based on your goodness. It's based on his goodness.
Speaker 2: God's goodness to you isn't based on how good you are.
Speaker 2: God is good to bad people. They get to breathe
Speaker 2: the same air we do, they get to live, they
Speaker 2: get to ignore God, but He's still good to them.
Speaker 2: God's goodness isn't based on your goodness. Think, well, I
Speaker 2: got to be better than God will answer my prayer. No,
Speaker 2: God's goodness is based on his goodness. Now there's a
Speaker 2: third negative consequence that happens when you forget how good
Speaker 2: God really is, and it's this, I stop trusting God
Speaker 2: in difficult times. You see, if you were more aware
Speaker 2: of how good God really is. This would be automatic
Speaker 2: to you. Every time you had a need, you'd automatically
Speaker 2: talk to God about it. It'd be natural. You wouldn't
Speaker 2: try to solve it yourself first. You'd go to God first.
Speaker 2: You'd ask God for so, God, I need some help here,
Speaker 2: I need a job, I need this, I need that,
Speaker 2: whatever it is, and you just go to God instantly.
Speaker 2: It'd be your first choice, not your last result resort.
Speaker 2: Look at these verses Psal, I'm sixteen one or two.
Speaker 2: Protect me God, because I trust in you. You are
Speaker 2: my Lord, and every good thing I have comes from you.
Speaker 2: Don't ever forget that. Romans five, verse eight, Paul says,
Speaker 2: you know we can have joy even in our troubles,
Speaker 2: even when things are going wrong. We can have joy
Speaker 2: in our troubles. Why because we know that these troubles
Speaker 2: are good for us, producing patience and character and hope.
Speaker 2: Even in the bad time. God is good even in
Speaker 2: the bad times. God has a good purpose, has a
Speaker 2: good plan, has a good reason. And so even in
Speaker 2: the difficult times, I go, God, You're a good God,
Speaker 2: because I know You're going to use this to produce
Speaker 2: character and patience and hope in my life. And in
Speaker 2: Romans eight twenty eight. And we know that in everything,
Speaker 2: not some things, not the good things. We know that
Speaker 2: in everything God works for the good circle that for
Speaker 2: the good, not for the bad, for the good of
Speaker 2: those who love Him and are called according to His
Speaker 2: good purpose. So even when times are tough, I know
Speaker 2: God's good and I know he has a good purpose,
Speaker 2: a good plan, and he's working it all out for good.
Speaker 2: Not everything that happens in your life is good. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of bad. But God can take even the
Speaker 2: bad and then bring good out of it, and that
Speaker 2: builds trust in Him. Now there's one other negative consequence.
Speaker 2: When you forget how good God really is to you
Speaker 2: and you just forget it, you start claiming credit for
Speaker 2: things that God did that you didn't do. He did
Speaker 2: it through you. You stop asking God for help, you
Speaker 2: stop trusting God in difficult times. And the fourth thing
Speaker 2: that happens when you forget God's goodness, I do it,
Speaker 2: you do it is I become pessimistic about the future.
Speaker 2: When you forget how good God really is, you become
Speaker 2: pessimistic about the future. You lose hope, because hope is
Speaker 2: based on the goodness of God. If God isn't good,
Speaker 2: there is no hope. David tells us this and Psalm
Speaker 2: twenty seven the connection between hope and the goodness of God,
Speaker 2: and in verse thirteen and fourteen he says this, I
Speaker 2: would have despaired, said, I would have been desperate. I
Speaker 2: would have been in total despair unless I had believed
Speaker 2: that I'd see the goodness there. It is the goodness
Speaker 2: of the Lord, the land of the Living. He goes, Man,
Speaker 2: there would be no hope if God was not a
Speaker 2: good God. We're up a creek without a paddle. I
Speaker 2: would have been in despair. But he did know that
Speaker 2: God was a good God, so he says, instead, instead,
Speaker 2: I thought, wait for the Lord. I don't see the
Speaker 2: answer right now. I'm going to wait for the Lord.
Speaker 2: Be strong, let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for
Speaker 2: the Lord, he says. Don't get in a hurry. God
Speaker 2: is a good God. You've made the request. Now wait,
Speaker 2: do you ever do this orre Do you get in
Speaker 2: so much of a hurry you don't have time for
Speaker 2: God to give the answer. When there's something you want
Speaker 2: to buy and it's really important, do you give God
Speaker 2: an opportunity to give it to you first. No, I
Speaker 2: don't even think about that. I go out and put
Speaker 2: it on a credit card. I buy something I want
Speaker 2: with money I don't have, and then you're in debt.
Speaker 2: Have you ever on like a big purchase? Said the
Speaker 2: Lord before I buy this, and I'm gonna give you
Speaker 2: a chance to give it to me. Do you want
Speaker 2: to give this to me? I tell you that happens.
Speaker 2: I've had it happen many times in my life. When
Speaker 2: you get into hurry, God, I really want to get married,
Speaker 2: but I'm not gonna wait on you to provide the person.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go out and find the nearest beating heart.
Speaker 2: And then you regret that one the rest of your
Speaker 2: life because you got in a hurry. You did not wait,
Speaker 2: You did not trust the goodness of God. Most of
Speaker 2: your problems in life come from your inability to delay gratification.
Speaker 2: And I want it right now. That's called being immature.
Speaker 2: That's what babies say. I want it now, not later.
Speaker 2: I want it now. That's immaturity. And so I become
Speaker 2: pessimistic about the future, he says, I would have despaired. Listen,
Speaker 2: if you are fighting depression these days, if you are
Speaker 2: fighting discouragement these days, if you're fighting doubt these days,
Speaker 2: if you're fighting despair, let me tell you to do
Speaker 2: two things. Number One, start focusing on all the ways
Speaker 2: that God has been good to you. Get your eyes
Speaker 2: off the problems and get your eyes on all the
Speaker 2: things God has done for you. Make a list, count
Speaker 2: your blessings, write them down. Make a list of all
Speaker 2: the ways God is good in your life and focus
Speaker 2: on that. And number two, don't miss any of the
Speaker 2: next nine weeks in this series.
Speaker 1: Wow, some powerful words from Pastor rig today. Well, this
Speaker 1: is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast.
Speaker 1: This is letters from our listeners and now here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Hi. Everybody. Today, I want to share a very powerful
Speaker 2: letter from a listener named Michael. Michael experienced terrible trauma
Speaker 2: as a child, but he says that Daily Hope is
Speaker 2: helping him overcome his past and now he's looking to
Speaker 2: the future with his kids. Let me read you just
Speaker 2: a little bit of Michael's story. Dear Pastor Rick, you
Speaker 2: and Daily Hope have brought God into my life and
Speaker 2: it has saved me. I am a twenty nine year
Speaker 2: old father of five children, and I try my hardest
Speaker 2: to teach my children to know God and to love
Speaker 2: Jesus and how to pray. And I do my best
Speaker 2: to be a good example and be worthy of all
Speaker 2: the good gifts that God has given to me. But
Speaker 2: you know, because of my childhood and the insecurities and
Speaker 2: abandonment issues that were created in my life from years
Speaker 2: of mental abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, and yes, even
Speaker 2: sexual abuse, I've always had a hard time I'm trusting God.
Speaker 2: I woke up every day feeling unworthy, and I suffered
Speaker 2: from feelings of anxiety and depression, and I felt like
Speaker 2: God couldn't possibly love me because no one else had
Speaker 2: ever loved me. And I carried that pain inside of
Speaker 2: me for so long, craving for a close, better intimate
Speaker 2: relationship with God. Now listening to Daily Hope has helped
Speaker 2: me achieve that and more. I'm not only better, but
Speaker 2: I'm now better for everybody else around me. Spreading all
Speaker 2: that I've learned and the good news of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I know God better than ever and I now have
Speaker 2: more faith than I ever knew possible because I feel
Speaker 2: His love. Thank you so much. Daily Hope does such
Speaker 2: a great work in the name of Jesus, and I
Speaker 2: will forever be in your debt for bringing the fire
Speaker 2: of faith into my heart and helping me know God.
Speaker 2: I love you, and I hope you continue to bring
Speaker 2: change in the world through the message of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: You know, Michael, I absolutely love how you're teaching your
Speaker 2: five kids to know Jesus that is a real man,
Speaker 2: a real dad, a real father. It's so important to
Speaker 2: pass it on to the next generation, and I'm encouraged
Speaker 2: the daily Hope is helping you with the trauma of
Speaker 2: all your past and helping you work through those issues
Speaker 2: and keeping you growing in the love of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: You know, stories like the one you wrote to me
Speaker 2: are what keep me going. It's why we do this
Speaker 2: change lives now. I want to pray for you. I
Speaker 2: want to pray, Dear Lord, pour out your love on Michael.
Speaker 2: Help him to sense your love so that he never
Speaker 2: doubts it. Pour out your blessing and your peace on
Speaker 2: his family. I pray that they will continue to grow
Speaker 2: in their faith and that they will experience the peace
Speaker 2: that passes understanding as they fall. God, I want to
Speaker 2: thank you for his faithfulness in Jesus name. I pray Amen.
Speaker 2: You know, if God is blessing you through Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: Would you share your story with me? Write me rickatpastorrick
Speaker 2: dot com.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial
Speaker 1: support