My Story, My Song | God Is Love, Part 2

0:01 Hey, everybody. Andy here. Welcome to Your Move, where we help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generosity of our listeners. So if you have been positively impacted by this podcast, would you consider supporting Your Move with a tax-deductible donation? To give, just visit yourmove.is slash give. That's yourmove.is forward slash give. Thanks for considering. And now back to the show.

0:35 So I'm a huge country music fan. Now, a lot of people don't understand country music, and I get that. I have a dear, dear friend who, the other day we were talking about this, and he said, my daughter called me, and she had just gone through a really, really difficult breakup, like really painful. She said, Dad, I finally understand country music. So here's the question as we get started. Do you have a song? Don't say it out loud. or aren't there some songs that have stamped a season of your life? When you hear that song, boom, it just takes you back. It just conjures up some sort of memory, right? How about this? It's kind of embarrassing, but just to kind of get us all in the game. Anybody, again, don't raise your hand or elbow anybody. This is for those of you who are married, currently married, or you're engaged, or you're in a serious relationship and you're moving toward, you know, I do, and you know, forever and ever.

1:27 Do you have a song that, When you hear that song, it takes you back to a previous relationship. Yeah, me neither. I don't have any of those, absolutely. Okay, so the point is for most of us today, most of us today, nobody believe that, most of us today, music is entertainment, okay? This is music entertainment. But in ancient times, it was a little bit different. In ancient times, music was a very important community. It was a big important part of the community because it was a part of a community's culture. It was linked closely to their culture music actually fostered community, that children and adults all sang the same songs, and they didn't have any musical accompaniment for the most part. They sang these songs that reminded them of their past, of their history, and they sang them together, and they danced together, and the dances had to do with their community, and had to do with their culture, and had to do with their history, and it underscored everything that they held in common. Similar a little bit to a fight song at a college football stadium, or even a national anthem, but for our purposes, from the very beginning of time, music has always been a part of worship.

2:32 Even in ancient times, it was a part of ancient worship because music is its own thing. It's not even a thing, but because it creates a sense of transcendence, people believed and still believe, I experienced this, that music kind of connects us with the divine. It's like kind of where heaven and earth comes together a little bit. It heightens our sense of awe. And again, that's true now because music is emotional. and lyrics, and you know this, lyrics that convey truth, even if it's not religious truth, but lyrics that convey truth put to emotionally arranged and performed music, and you know this, it's very, very powerful. Now in the Hebrew scripture, and you probably know this, in the Hebrew scripture, or we call it our Old Testament attached to our New Testament, in Hebrew scripture, there's an entire section devoted to song lyrics, right? In the English Bible, we call it the book of Psalms. The word Psalms comes from, it's a derivative of English,

3:27 that means songs sung with a harp. The Hebrew term behind the Greek term refers to sacred songs or sacred music. So every generation has psalmists, men and women who put religious words to music and those words are sung and it helps reinforce a belief system or what people believe specifically about God. So every generation there are psalmists, songwriters, hymnists, worship leaders or people who would write it's called worship music. So here's what we're gonna do for the next few weeks. For the next few weeks, we're going to, big seminary word here, we're going to exegete, that is pick apart, pry apart, take apart, look in depth at some of the songs that we sing. And the reason we're gonna do this for the next few weeks is I have run out of sermon ideas.

4:21 And jokes, I've used that before. No, that's not why we're gonna do this. Here's why we're gonna do this, because thoughtful, thoughtful song lyrics are abbreviated sermons. In other words, there are sermons embedded in every single worship song that we sing. And so what I wanna do for the next few weeks and what we're gonna do is we're gonna highlight a few that I don't want you to miss. And granted, I didn't do a survey. These are just songs that I picked out. And I'm gonna begin selfishly with a song that we sing from time to time and have been singing for quite some time that means a lot to me. And I'm gonna tell you why this song gets to me then we're gonna look at the lyrics together. Because of my role and because of what I do as a preacher specifically, and every pastor or preacher feels this to some degree, I think we should all feel it to a great degree. It just weighs heavy on me because I live, and Sandra and I talk about this all the time, I live with the constant pressure to have everything figured out, everything.

5:23 And not just for me. I live with the pressure to have everything in the world and life and God and all of it figured out for you. I don't wanna get life wrong. I don't want you to get life wrong. I don't wanna get Jesus wrong. I don't wanna get the Bible wrong. I don't want you to get Jesus wrong or you get the Bible wrong. And I certainly don't wanna lead you wrong. And I wanna be very clear when I get up here and talk. But at the same time, I don't want to ever have a false sense of certainty and communicate a false sense of certainty to you because that's not authentic honest, but at the same time, I don't wanna get up here and be ambiguous and like, good luck, God bless, do the best you can, see you next week, all right? We're not gonna do that either. So I live with this pressure and there's so much I don't know and there's so much I don't understand and there's so much I want to know. I'm such a student, I'm just such a student.

6:16 And there are things I feel like I ought to know. So for me, this song is like a prayer, especially the verses and the refrain toward the end. So here's the song we're gonna talk about for the next few minutes. Bigger Than I Thought by Sean Curran, Natalie Sims and Alan Swoop. And it begins like this. Many of you know many of these lyrics and this is why it's like a prayer to me. Here's how it begins. Speak to me when the silence steals my voice.

6:47 there are so many times in my life, and I bet yours as well if you're a Christian, where it's time to pray, but you don't wanna say anything. It's like, you don't need to hear from me. I need to hear from you. Please speak to me because I don't know what to say. And I don't even wanna talk. I need to hear from you because the silence, your silence, God, It's just left me with nothing to say because I need it coming this way, not going that way. You understand that. You understand me. You understand that. I don't have to explain the situation to you. You know my sense of desperation. And then this, come to me. It's like, I need to hear from you. But come to me in the valley of unknowns. If you're 30 years of age or older, you've been in a valley of unknown.

7:41 And if you haven't been in one yet, just wait. And I don't wish it on you, but there are times in our lives, and I love this imagery, the Valley of Unknowns. The Valley of Unknowns is, it's a valley and it curves ahead and I can't see around the corner. It's too narrow to see around the corner and it's too high to get up on top of the mountain and gain perspective. I'm just in the Valley of Unknown. And my only option is somehow to keep moving forward, hoping and praying that I'm moving in the right direction and hoping and praying that God's gonna meet me in the middle of it and hoping and praying that I get it right and I get it right for me, for my family and the people that I'm responsible for. But here's what's so powerful. The authors of the New Testament in particular were so honest about this. This is very comforting to me. This verse I'm gonna show you is very comforting to me. The apostle Paul, the apostle Paul admits, the apostle Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus The apostle Paul knew Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

8:40 The apostle Paul wrote about, is responsible for almost half the New Testament. So this is not, you know, this was, he's not like a casual Christian. He's the first church planter. And yet listen to what he acknowledges. This is so encouraging to me. He says, and he's talking to first century Christians, Greek Christians in Corinth. He says, for now, in this age, at this time, for now, we only see a reflection as in a mirror. It's like, no, I get a perfect reflection. But back in those days, they didn't have mirrors like we have mirrors for the most part. They use polished brass. So everything, most people didn't even know what they look like. And in polished brass, it's all distorted. You get an idea, you get kind of a vague image. He says, right now, as we look into the future and as we try to sort all these things out, he's talking about it in his letter to them, he's like, right now, we just see a reflection.

9:35 Everything's a bit distorted, but then, then, as in later, but unfortunately later than we want. He says, then we're going to understand. Then we're going to see face to face. Then it's all going to become clear. And then I love this. He says, now I know in part, this helps me so much as a pastor and as just as a Christian. It's like, okay, Paul, if you only knew in part and like you were like there within years of the resurrection of Jesus, you knew all the characters you met, the mother of Jesus, you knew the brother of Jesus, the brothers of Jesus, you only know in part, I guess I have to be content with only knowing in part. And so do you, and that is okay. And that's a reminder I need every single day. Now I know in part, but then he says, it's not like there aren't answers, it's not like it doesn't make sense somewhere, I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

10:37 So even Paul's like, I don't know, but here's what Paul would say to you and to me. He says, we don't know all we wanna know, but we know enough to trust and we know enough to keep moving forward. And that's enough. Sometimes I don't feel like it's enough. Second verse, so powerful. Second verse, I believe, I believe, okay, God, it's not like I've jettisoned all my belief, even with all the questions and all the doubts and all the fears. I haven't been to church in a long time. But God, okay, deep down inside, I believe, but help my unbelief. It's a fragile belief. It's not complete. There's so many questions. There's so many experiences. And this line comes directly from a story about Jesus. Matthew records it and Mark records it. I'm gonna show you a few verses from Mark's account of this. Here's kind of what happened.

11:33 comes to Jesus and he brings his son. We're guessing from the story, his son is at least 12, 15, maybe older, years old. And he brings the son to Jesus. And the son has been experiencing seizures since he was a child, since he was very little from the very beginning, we discover. And because of the way they viewed the world, he was convinced it was because of an evil spirit. And of course, in those days, they understood a broken wrist. They understood a cut, you know, they understood an infection, what was happening in the brain, so of course, because of cause and effect and everything is a cause, and they didn't understand causation and correlation. So, so many diseases, they just chalked up to evil spirits, and maybe they were actually evil spirits, or maybe they just misdiagnosed, it doesn't matter. This father is so concerned about his son, and he believes that his son, since childhood, has been invaded by an evil spirit.

12:26 And the text says that they brought him and the boy to Jesus. and when the dad saw Jesus, immediately the spirit threw his son into a convulsion. So he begins to have one of these seizures right there in front of everybody. And the text says that Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And then the father goes on to describe to Jesus, Jesus, this evil spirit has tried to kill my son over and over. my son's life. We can't leave him alone. He can never be alone. It's constant. It's all the time. We're at the end of ourselves. And he pleads with Jesus. He says, but if you can, if you can, if you can do anything, please take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if I can, if I can.

13:27 And then he says, all things, all things are possible to him who believes. And immediately the boy's father, if he wasn't already on his knees, the boy's father cries out, I do believe, I do believe, Jesus, I do believe. But then he looks at his son on the ground. and there's been years of this. There's been years of unanswered prayers. There's been years of trips to the temple making sacrifices, trying to get God's attention. I do believe, I do believe, and then this honesty, this is where the song lyric comes from. I do believe, but help my unbelief. I wanna believe, I used to believe, used to make sense to me, but I can't reconcile this with the God who says that God loves me and loves my son and the honesty and the vulnerability. It's amazing. And we've all been there. In fact, you're there maybe right now. In fact, you can't believe I'm talking about this because you are so there. You're all by yourself today, watching at home or with a few friends or maybe sitting in church, but surrounded by people, but you feel so alone. Where is God? And I'm trying to believe

14:49 to faith. I believe, but help my unbelief. And you understand that too. You understand my struggle. You understand why I'm hanging on by a thread and I don't want to cut the thread, but I'm at the end of myself. You understand why it's so hard for me to trust you. And here's the great thing about this story and others in the New Testament. Jesus doesn't chastise the man. He doesn't say, look, you go away and when you finally get your faith up to the level it needs to be, then you come back because you've gotta have more faith than you currently have for me to do what you want me to do. That is not how the world works. And it so irritates me when people blame other people for the fact that God didn't answer their prayer because they didn't have enough faith. The issue is not how much faith you have, the issue is the object of your faith. Jesus made this clear over and over and over. And Jesus was the object of that man's faith.

15:44 and Jesus healed his son. I believe, but help my unbelief. That's a prayer some of you need to pray. That's a prayer some of you have prayed and didn't know the words to put to it. And then it goes on, help me reach. It's so powerful. And help me reach the faith that's underneath. This is such a powerful image. In other words, if you grew up in church and you grew up with childlike faith and you believed all the Bible stories all kind of made sense and mommy and daddy were there, your grandparents were there and then life started, right? And suddenly, oh, not suddenly, but over time, your childlike faith began to be crushed under the burden of adulthood, smothered by the issues of life. There was just too much hurt and more and more and more. Your faith just got buried deeper and deeper and deeper. Unanswered prayer, the busyness of life, betrayal, loss, grief, divorce, abandonment. But deep down,

16:44 that's why you're here, that's why you're watching, that's why you're listening, that's why you're giving church a second chance, that's why you're giving God a second chance. But life has just about crushed all the belief out of you. Help me reach, help me reach the faith that's underneath. It's there, but it is so small. And I, God, I need you to help me to reach back to find my faith again. And you understand that as well. You understand me. You understand me.

17:14 the chorus. Since I don't have all the answers, since I can't figure it all out, since our faith wobbles at times, what are we to do? Our best approach, the lyricists tell us this, and the authors of the New Testament tell us, our best approach is to do what Peter instructs us to do. Peter, who failed over and over and over. Peter, who Jesus put in charge of the whole thing. Peter, who had so many questions and so many personal issues. And Peter writes a letter to first century Christians and he addresses this. I'm gonna tell you what Peter says before I tell you what the lyrics of the song say. Here's what Peter says. Peter reaches into a psalm, a song from his Bible, his Old Testament. And he contextualizes it in the conversation he's having or in the letter that he's writing to first century Christians.

18:06 He says, here's what to do. You humble yourselves under God's mighty hand. And we're like, okay, that sounds like church talk. Tell me what to do. He says, okay, let me get practical. Pulling from the Psalms. You cast your cares. You cast all of your cares on him. Not because he's gonna sort it all out the way you want him to or give you all the answers you're looking for. You cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. So here's the chorus of the song. We've sung it so many times.

18:42 hey, I need you to come to me in the valley of unknown. I need you to speak to me. The silence has stolen my voice. So I throw, this is what the song says. So I throw all my cares before you. I'm casting all my cares on you. I throw all my cares before you, my doubts and my fears, because I've got them. You've got them. My doubts and fears don't intimidate you. They don't scare you. They don't scare you off. You're not looking for perfect faith. You are looking for humility. or the man or the woman or the teenager or the student or the senior adult that says, I don't know anymore. I don't even know what to believe. He says, cast your cares on me. In other words, this is when we say, God, I am backing up the care truck and I'm dumping it all on you because I can't fix him. I can't fix me. I can't change him. I can't even change me. I can't change the circumstances.

19:34 I can't heal it. I can't manage it. I can't bring about an outcome that I want. And here's the great news. I've told you this before. Hopefully you know this, that when you back up the care truck and you dump it on your heavenly father, you do not have to be polite. You don't have to hold back your emotion, your frustration, or your anger. If you read the Psalms, the song lyrics of David, he oftentimes is not polite with God. It's like he's mad at God and he put it to music and sang it to God. There are worship songs and Psalms we would never sing in church. It's like, wow, this guy, and he's a counselor, right? And he wrote part of what's in the Bible. Why?

20:12 his transparency, it's so much that we can identify with. When Mary and Martha, you remember the scene, John 11, Lazarus dies, supposedly Jesus loves Lazarus. In fact, when they told Jesus that Lazarus had died, they didn't even use his name. The servant said, the one you love is dead, or the one, excuse me, the one you love is sick. They knew who he was talking about. Jesus doesn't show up, misses the funeral, gets there. Mary and Martha see him coming. No, here he's coming. Go out to meet him on the road. Remember this scene? They're not polite with Jesus. Basically, they say, Jesus, our brother is dead because of you. It is your fault. Our brother died. And Jesus does not chastise them. It's like he's modeling it. You just bring it. You bring it. You bring it. He understood. So I throw all my cares before you. My doubts and fears, they do not scare you and they don't scare you off. You're bigger than I thought you were. You're bigger than I thought.

21:07 Now, if you haven't been paying attention, pay attention right here. This is so important. This is why Jesus instructed us to pray the way he instructed us to pray. If all of your prayers begin with, dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, you need to do a reboot on your prayers. Jesus said, when you pray, here's how you are to pray. Our Father in heaven, great is your name. Pause. Our Father in heaven, you are big and you are bigger than I thought you were. Our Father in heaven, you are the one and true great God. So let me establish who I'm talking to before I bring you what is so big to me that suddenly got small in light of who I am addressing. We begin by recognizing who we're addressing because our cares seem so big until we place them beside the God who's bigger than we thought.

22:04 And when we recognize at the beginning of our prayers who we're addressing, it's the context we need to understand that he can be trusted, to understand who has invited me to cast my cares on him, that he can, in fact, handle all of that. and then here's the line that gets me every time. Sometimes I can't even sing this one as much as I like this song. You're bigger than I thought you were. You're bigger than I thought. I stop all negotiations.

22:39 This is my go-to if I'm not careful. I stop all, God, you know, I have to preach on Sunday. Okay, these people deserve an answer. I need an answer. God doesn't go for that. It's like, we don't negotiate. negotiate with you. I love you, but I don't have to negotiate. I don't want you to come to me to negotiate, right? So this is when we come to God and say, you're bigger than I thought. Who am I, minuscule me, to negotiate with the author and the creator of all that exists? Are you kidding? There's no negotiating. So I'm just going to stop all negotiating, all negotiations with the God of all creation. I'm not here to bargain. I'm not here to convince. I don't have to understand I don't have to get all the answers I want. I'm willing to go away without answers.

23:29 I'm not here to negotiate, I'm just here to cast all my cares on you because I know and believe that you care for me. Your will be done, I trust you. After all, you are bigger than I thought you were. You're so much bigger. And then in the song, this is where we all

23:49 Take a deep breath and exhale, recenter. Okay, I think I'm figuring this out. I think I'm getting to where I need to be. And then these words, I will rest in the Father's hands and leave the rest in the Father's hands. I can't. You can. Take it. I'm done. I will rest in the Father's hands and leave the rest in the Father's hands. Every morning, every evening, I've done all I can do. The rest is up to you. The outcome is up to you.

24:38 This is what it looks like to follow your Savior. When I was working on this message, I actually called Sean Curran, who wrote many of these lyrics. And he made a statement in our conversation I wanted to share with you. but again, he was the one behind many of these lyrics. He says this, Andy, he said, I'm convinced that wrestling leads to surrender. And when he said that, and I wrote it down, typed it out on my phone, my thought was, but I want wrestling to lead to answers.

25:12 I want answers. God wants surrender. When God has surrender, that's when God has me exactly where he wants me, and it's exactly where he wants you as well. So let's make this our daily declaration as Jesus followers. I will rest in the Father's hands and leave the rest in the Father's hands. And one last thing and we're done. If this strikes you as way too passive, I understand that. But here's what I've learned in all of these years of following Jesus.

25:47 What are your options? And let me tell you what your options are. worry, striving, driving people crazy, and at the end, still no answers. We wrestle our way to surrender. We trust God with answers. If this is too passive for you, just remember this. The apostle Peter, the apostle Paul, and Jesus of Nazareth, 2,000 years ago, they lived. 2,000 years later, we're still quoting them. 2,000 years after you pass away, no one will know that you existed. This is not too passive. This is the way of things, and this is the way of God. And this song and the texts that are woven into it are an invitation for you to do all you can do to ask, to seek, and to knock.

26:46 and then trust and breathe and wait and follow. So thanks for listening. But before you go, I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who supports Your Move financially. It's the generosity of our listeners that makes this podcast possible. So if you have found this content helpful, we would like to invite you to make a tax-deductible donation to Your Move. You just visit yourmove.is forward slash give. That's yourmove.is slash give. Thanks for considering, and make sure you join us next week on Your Move.