Standing Through Suffering: Finding Divine Strength When Life Tries to Break You

[00:00] to me, you just find a way to stand.

[00:03] You just do. It is so hard, but you find

[00:06] a way to stand. And going through

[00:09] scripture

[00:11] heavily,

[00:12] the two moments that have stuck out to

[00:15] me through all of this with regard to

[00:17] standing,

[00:20] one where you're standing in suffering,

[00:23] and then one where you're standing

[00:25] against the wickedness of the devil.

[00:30] And the the most beautiful depiction

[00:35] of standing in the suffering

[00:38] for me was in John chapter 19 verse 25

[00:43] where you have Mary the mother of Jesus

[00:47] standing at the foot of the cross.

[00:54] She just watched the most unjust

[00:58] violence take place against the love,

[01:05] love of her life, love of our life.

[01:09] And what did she do?

[01:12] She didn't scream.

[01:15] [snorts] She didn't accuse. She didn't

[01:17] try to explain God. She wasn't pulling

[01:19] her hair out. She wasn't. She just

[01:22] stood.

[01:25] She had her friends next to her.

[01:28] But she stood

[01:31] with with composure

[01:33] and divine power

[01:36] of patience.

[01:38] And

[01:40] it's so when you trust in the Lord,

[01:45] you have [snorts] no idea what you can

[01:46] bear until you're tried.

[01:51] And in [snorts] those moments, you just

[01:54] know that his grace is sufficient

[01:55] because you can feel it.

[01:58] [snorts] You can deeply feel it.

[02:01] And um

[02:03] [snorts]

[02:04] the part where you're standing

[02:08] against the wickedness of the devil,

[02:12] it's really interesting because it's in

[02:13] Ephesians 6. And what I find so

[02:16] fascinating,

[02:17] I was always obsessed with Ephesians 5

[02:20] because it talks about marriage and um

[02:23] it's really interesting that Ephesians 5

[02:25] talks about the proper order of marriage

[02:28] and love

[02:30] and then Ephesians 6

[02:34] prepares you for the warfare.

[02:37] So if you have an Ephesians 5 marriage,

[02:40] you better read Ephesians 6.

[02:44] because the Lord's going to use your

[02:46] marriage in ways that will blow your

[02:48] mind.

[02:49] And

[02:52] what stuck out to me,

[02:54] what's so powerful about Ephesians 6

[02:58] verses 10-18 is that Paul was very

[03:02] intentional about using the word stand

[03:05] twice.

[03:07] The first time you stand is your choice

[03:11] because you decided to put on the full

[03:13] armor of God. You did.

[03:17] As feeble of an attempt that it was, you

[03:20] put it on.

[03:22] But then

[03:24] in verse 14,

[03:28] after you're standing your ground, it

[03:30] says, "Stand firm then."

[03:34] And he's emphasizing the perseverance,

[03:37] but he's also emphasizing that

[03:43] you have to

[03:45] know that your strength can only take

[03:47] you so far. My grandma used to say,

[03:50] "Your running legs can only take you so

[03:52] far. Jesus does the rest."

[03:55] But when you stand firm,

[03:58] that's not you. That's God's strength.

[04:02] You stood the first time,

[04:05] ready for battle, bracing yourself.

[04:09] God says, "Just stand firm."

[04:12] And I'll never forget getting off of Air

[04:15] Force 2

[04:17] and I looked at Usha and I said, "I have

[04:20] no idea how I'm going to do this."

[04:23] And I know that I've I've shared this

[04:24] story before, but I want to share it

[04:26] with you again because if any of you

[04:27] guys are going through a really hard

[04:28] time in your life, [snorts]

[04:30] it was the most practical

[04:34] response that anyone could give.

[04:37] And I loved it. And she said, "You know

[04:40] when you're on an airplane

[04:43] flying with your kids

[04:45] and there's 15 minutes left on this

[04:48] plane ride and your kids are losing

[04:51] their mind. I mean, toys are flying

[04:53] everywhere. Passengers are looking at

[04:56] you like, "Why are you a terrible

[04:57] parent?" You're trying so hard to

[04:59] negotiate with this little human that

[05:01] has negotiation on lock because they

[05:04] just It's always why no why, no. And

[05:08] she's like, "And then the plane lands

[05:13] and you survived those 15 minutes

[05:16] and then the next 15 minutes and then

[05:19] the next

[05:21] And

[05:24] to me, when I stood watching my

[05:27] husband's casket

[05:30] get taken off that plane,

[05:35] she held my hand. I had one of our other

[05:37] family friends with us

[05:40] and we just stood and you just do it.

[05:45] You just do it and you stand

[05:48] and

[05:51] I say all this because the way that God

[05:53] has carried me is the way that he wants

[05:55] to carry you through your trial, through

[05:59] your life.

[06:01] My cross is mine to carry. You have your

[06:04] own.

[06:06] It's your your own cross to bear. One is

[06:09] not better or worse than the other. It's

[06:10] just different.

[06:13] Life is different for all of us. But

[06:16] what we profoundly share in common is

[06:17] that we are all operating within one of

[06:22] it's just our world is so broken. Our

[06:25] world is so evil. Our world is so dark.

[06:28] And we're all touched by confusion.

[06:30] We're all touched by disappointment.

[06:31] We're all touched by loss. We all suffer

[06:34] in different ways that are personal.

[06:38] But what I want to remind you of is that

[06:43] yeah, this world like

[06:46] you might feel as if it is going to

[06:48] break you,

[06:52] but

[06:53] Jesus already broke himself for us.