Tranquil Words for Troubled Hearts │ Msg 13/14

6:02 The message of the morning is designed for you who have heart trouble. And I don't want you to misunderstand that, so let me clarify it. I'm not referring to the kind of trouble that can be corrected by a glycerin pill under your tongue or a surgical performance. Not referring to trouble that affects things like disease on that organ in your chest. I'm referring perhaps to what could be called a troubled heart. There's a difference. You can have a very healthy physical heart, but be in serious trouble in your heart. I have this morning made a careful study of the congregation, at least from another perspective.

7:03 Bill suggested this morning that we sit on the other side. It's remarkable how when you sit in another seat, how different things are. I want to welcome those of you that haven't been here for these last nine or ten months, that you've been here but I haven't seen you. Everything has been from this side. You know, I have not seen one person that really looks troubled. That's commendable.

7:30 It might be a mask that you're wearing. That's okay. We all have to wear them at times. But I commend you for singing and being a part of the congregation that looked as though you were enjoying and listening intently as you are now. But sometime I wish I had the ability of the mild mannered newspaper reporter who named Clark Kent could jump out of a phone booth and suddenly with great x-ray vision see down into souls. I think I might see some heart trouble, right? Behind some smiles is a set of teeth, right? And deep within some souls that look very placid and tranquil are some troubled hearts.

8:28 Actually, I have really half a message. John 14 and Exodus 14 were written together, at least as I see it right now. One gives you the principles and the other gives you the illustration. One gives you the facts that relate to the whole area of handling troubled hearts. The other gives you a project to work through as the people of Israel cross that Red Sea. I've heard of it all through my Christian life, but I've really not seen some things that God has shown me. Now, with that in mind, let's ask ourselves to begin with the question of why are hearts troubled? Why do we have troubled hearts?

9:22 Turn to John 14 and put your finger on two verses because Jesus gives a command that seems identical. Verse 1 and verse 27. John 14, verse 1 and verse 27. Both include commands and the commands appear to be identical. Let not your heart be troubled. And then verse 27, let not your heart be troubled. That's a command. And if you could read it in the text in which John first wrote it, the Greek text, it would read almost the same. Let it not be troubled, your heart. The difference is you could tell that the your is plural.

10:20 Let not y'all's heart be troubled. That's what he's saying. That's as literal as I can make it. If you're from southern Israel, you'd understand that kind of a rendering. Let not y'all's heart be troubled. That's what he's saying to a group of disciples and to a group of people gathered here today. This is written for you. You don't come to read over the shoulder of some disciple. you come to get something for your life or you should and the very first thing you get is a long index finger up against your nose saying stop being troubled if you're like me you probably would prefer to have a little insight before you take a rebuke like that. Let's get some insight. And before you write anything down, just give me a couple of minutes in chapter 13 to show you the reasons their hearts were troubled. And then I'll share with you three thoughts that trouble our hearts today. Look at verse 33, 1333. Little children, I am with you a little while longer.

11:45 That was referring to his death. So his disciples, he says this, I'm with you a little while longer, meaning I'm going to die. And then he said, you shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews, where I'm going, you cannot come. Now I say to you also Not only is he going to die They're going to be deserted They are not going to be able to go with him Not only is he going They're staying Got it? That causes trouble in the heart He's leaving through death We're staying We can't go Now remember Peter who heard those words asked the Lord look where are you going and why can't we go?

12:44 If it's loyalty I'll lay down my life for you. That's verse 37. And then Jesus came back and said look you lay down your life for me. Verse 38. I say to you a cock shall not crow till you deny me three times. Watch it Peter. you're getting a little unrealistic in your zeal there as a matter of fact it's only a few hours before you're going to be denying that you know me that's disobedience but that's reality now find in these two verses three thoughts that trouble our hearts today and they're right here They're in the context of chapter 14. The first thought is this. Death is near. Now, this is the whole area of disease, sickness, affliction, death, either in ourselves or somebody we love very much.

13:46 You really love somebody. You cannot be indifferent if death is haunting their steps. that brings trouble so first that causes a troubled heart thoughts of death second and I get it from verse 33 where they were going to be deserted second daily problems that bring pressure their problem of the moment was how are we going to go on he's going to be gone We're going to stay. He's been our stability. Now he's leaving and we can't go. Now your daily problem might be far removed from desertion. It might be that very area, however. People who go through divorce say more than any other pain is the pain of rejection, the pain of desertion, the pain of being not wanted.

14:52 So maybe that's one of the pressures you're suffering from. Some of you are in school. You're facing the deadlines of assignment or exam. Some of you are teaching. You're facing the responsibility of the overwhelming task of preparing yourself for that assignment. That's a daily problem. Some of you are under financial duress. I had a young man call me yesterday afternoon. He just didn't know where to go. He'd come to the end financially. And I asked about his parents. He said, you know, my dad for the last 20 years or so has been in six figures in his annual income.

15:37 But he said he could hardly make his bills last year. Maybe that's in your business. Your employment is hanging on by a very thin wire. Whatever may be your daily problem, it can create real trouble in the heart. Theirs was desertion, feelings of being left as orphans. Yours may be similar or much different from that, but that can cause trouble. Now, there's a third reason. The third reason would be, I have disobeyed, or I am sinful. The whole area of disobedience Peter's would be denial. Maybe you've recently denied the Lord. Perhaps you have failed to live according to the biblical standard. You know it, but you haven't produced.

16:34 Maybe you've gotten mixed up in some nasty moral situation. And you're living in the throes of that right now. the way of the transgressor is hard and you're undergoing the time of trouble. You know what? I've studied those three areas and I have come to realize that each one produces its own realm of worry. Death produces fear. Disease and the nearness of death creates a fearful condition in the heart. Daily problems produce anxiety, frustration, the inability to cope. and the whole area of disobedience produces guilt, fear, frustration, guilt. The whole gamut of humanity seems to crush upon us.

17:40 Now stop and think about your life. More than likely, the thing that you're worried about this very moment falls under one of those three categories right now. Thank you. I want to lift your thoughts if you will allow the Spirit of God, and I mean that genuinely, if you will allow the Spirit of God to take the word of truth and make it real to you. I want to lift you from the horizontal vice, the clamps of horizontal perspective and let you view it from the vertical. To begin with, I want to share with you some of the truths that will quieten your heart. Then I want to close with some techniques that I have begun to apply myself that will strengthen your heart.

18:39 Especially do I direct these words to those of you that are given to worry. I've discovered that there are novices and then there are people who've earned their Ph.D. in the realm of worry. If you've really gotten your PhD in it, then you know how to refer to it as concerned, disturbed. Interested is a very subtle word. I'm interested in that. You know, what you mean is you're eating your heart out, but you're covering up for it. Now, if you've really become a worrier, and a person who's really a worrier is somebody who worries when he doesn't have anything to worry about, that's the ultimate. If you're somewhere between just the basic and that ultimate, I'm speaking with you in mind. You need some truths to quieten you.

19:25 Try verse 1 on for size. Chapter 14, verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. Two commands. Believe in God. Believe in me. Here it is. A personal faith in a personal Lord brings personal relief. Jesus told those disciples with their long faces, Men, believe in me. You've trusted the Lord for eternal life. Trust him for temporal life. You've counted on me for your eternal security. Count on me for your daily needs. Trust in me.

20:23 Two commands. Believe, believe. You see, the Lord even had John write them in a tense that suggests keep on believing. I'm leaving. That's reality. You're staying. That's reality. Believe in me. I know what I'm doing.

20:47 To believe in someone, to believe in something, is to rely on that one or that thing. You relied on that pew where you sat this morning to hold you up. I didn't notice as I looked out of the glass over here for a couple of seconds, anybody making a deep examination of the pew. You just were so glad to find a spot you plopped right down in it. You just relied on it, didn't you? You counted on it to hold you up.

21:21 You're probably not very anxious that it's going to hold you up through the rest of the service. you probably have every reason in the world to believe it's going to do that. You're relying on it to keep on holding you up. Spiritually speaking, that's what belief is. Lord, I trusted you to save me, and now I'm trusting you right now to deliver me through this. I've come to the Red Sea experience, and I'm going to trust you to get me through. Either you build a bridge or you open the sea, or I'm going to drown. Now, will you get me through? I'm going to trust you. You know, one of the best examples of trust and belief in all the Bible is in the life of a man who trusted God to give him and his wife a little baby.

22:09 He said, that doesn't sound very profound. I trusted God for that, and I've got four or five of those. But you weren't 99, and your wife wasn't 90. If you were, you belong in Guinness Book of World Records, frankly. Abraham was, actually, he was 100. And Sarah was 91. The Bible says her womb was dead. And that means what it says. Absolutely unable to reproduce, to hold and carry a child, but she did. Think of it. 91 years old expecting your first child the Bible says in Romans chapter 4 that Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform do you hear that?

23:16 he staggered not at the promise what was the promise? You're going to have a baby. Lord, I'm a hundred. You're going to have a baby. Have at it, Lord. I'm going to trust you for that baby. You know, they named that little baby laughter.

23:36 It's cock. Isaac means laughter. It was so hilarious to Sarah when she heard it. She just laughed out loud. Lord says, okay, I'm going to have you name that baby. laughter I think it's the most exciting thing to trust God in impossible circumstances and watch him bridge the gap. Some of you have yet to go through on the bridge of trust, given to panic. You just haven't yet said, Lord, I'm going to trust you. well that's the first principle now it'll quieten your troubled heart it really will here's another one verses two and three in my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so i would have told you for i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.

24:50 Look at the verbs. I go. I will come again. I will receive you to myself. What's it saying? Well, it's saying that the Lord is going to leave. While he's gone, he's going to be engaged in a construction project. And when he finishes, he's going to come back and take us to be in that new project called heaven. Now, let me give you the principle and then we'll talk about it. Here it is. While preparing a place for us, the Lord is preparing us for that place. Two construction projects. Not only is he building heaven, he's building you, child of God.

25:46 And part of the construction project includes affliction, hardship, death, pain, and even failure. And crushing even that.

26:10 You see, our Lord has a product in mind in leaving this earth. His product is related to a heavenly abode. And his product is related to an earthly person. You, child of God.

26:31 Alan Redpath put it well. The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment. But the making of a saint, it's the task of a lifetime. It takes a lifetime to build you, converted soul, into a prepared saint. It includes pain, includes hardship. By the way, before I go any further, let me have you notice in verse 2, in my father's house not many mansions. Okay? The word doesn't mean mansions.

27:10 Liddell and Scott, one of the better lexicons in the Greek, prefer to render this apartments. Can you believe that? Some of you longing to get out of your apartment, you have to look forward to an apartment. It means a place to live. That's what it means. That's all it means. You see, when you really love somebody, you don't care where it is. You live in a cave. You can live in some cardboard dump. And you really are happy with that person, really. That place doesn't hang as important in your mind. heaven is not only a place it's going to a person it's meeting him face to face and knowing him intimately as you've never known him before and he says there'll be room for you there it's the idea of a room a place to live but the real beautiful part of heaven is is a person no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying, no more death. The former things are passed away as he ushers in this new place. Unlimited, unconditional worship, praise, adoration. But in the process, he's preparing you for that place and it takes some hardship to get you ready. Now, he said to his men, now you know where I'm going. Thomas said, no, we don't.

28:52 That's verse five. We don't know the way. We don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? Thomas didn't know. He was honest Thomas. He wasn't doubting. He was honest. He said, we don't know where you're going. He honestly didn't know. So the Lord said to him that historic statement, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. Christianity has often been criticized because it is bigoted and narrow and rigid. No, it's just as Jesus said it. If a human being on earth wants to go to the Father in heaven, he's got to go one way through Jesus Christ. Without him, there is no going. Without the life, there is no living. Without the truth, there's no knowing. It must be through Jesus Christ. If you're planning on heaven as your eternal abode, there's one way to get there, and that's through the cross, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this created another question in Philip's mind.

30:01 Philip heard him speak of the father and he said now how does the father relate to you in all of this that's down in verse eight Lord show us the father and it'll satisfy us Philip is just he is so real I just can't believe him you know he's like we are Lord says I'll provide this for you hey Lord I'll tell you what just give me a little bit of it right now and I'll believe you for a whole lot later on. Lord, just show us the Father and we won't have any more questions. And then the Lord Jesus, in a muted rebuke, came back to Philip and he said, Have I been with you so long and yet you've not come to know me, Philip? Ah. He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, show us the Father?

30:54 You're looking at God in the flesh. Now the principle is in verse 10. Do you not believe that I am in the Father? And do you not believe the Father is in me? Why, the words that I say to you, I don't speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works.

31:19 Ah, there it is. Principle number three. The sovereign hand of God is at work in your life. Do you have a troubled heart? Mark at least underline in verse 10, The Father abiding in me does his works. What a tremendous thought.

31:46 Jesus, God in the flesh, said, when I speak, it's the Father who's speaking through me. When I do a deed, the Father is doing a deed through me. So the Lord says to us, the same thing, the Father abiding in you is doing his works. I have a good friend, I call every once in a while and ask him how he's doing. He said, well, sovereignty of God. God's at work. He's taking charge. He's in control. He knows what he's doing. that includes pain. By the way, that will revolutionize periods of pain in your life. The poet knew it. Pain knocked upon my door and said that she had come to stay and though I wouldn't welcome her but bade her go away, she entered in and like my own shade, she followed after me.

32:44 And from her stabbing, stinging sword, not a moment was I free. And then one day another knocked most gently at my door. I said, no, pain is here. There's not room for more. Then I heard his tender voice, it's I, be not afraid. And from the day he entered in, oh, the difference he has made. Let me say to you that the concept that is stretching across prosperous America these days is that when I have pleasure, God is in it. But when I have pain, he's displeased. Not necessarily. Who are we to think that we deserve constant pleasure? That's one lesson God's begun to teach me these days.

33:42 who am I to think that because I'm the child of God, it won't include pain? Job said, God knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the command of his lips. I have valued the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. And he said that when his body was covered with boils. Let's go. The Father is at work in you. Last evening I was in a room in our home and trying to put together some final thoughts. My youngest daughter, who's been sick the last few days, crept in the room and sat down in the corner and stared at me. There's no way that you can study when Colleen stares at you. And in her bottom eyelids were little tears. She was hurting. I said, honey, are you in pain? She said, yes, sir. And I had just gone into some of this passage and I said to her, honey, have you thanked God in your sickness? She said, no, sir. How can you?

35:07 I said well it really isn't easy then I thought well I'll try another approach honey do you want to thank God for your sickness no way was her answer absolutely not we really encourage reality in our home we don't cover it all I thought as she said that she learned that from her daddy because that's my concept. That's my weakness. I don't want to hurt. I don't want to be in pain. I tell the Lord he can teach me a whole lot more when things are going well than when things aren't going well. He hasn't heard me yet, but I keep telling him that, and that's not true. I learn a lot better when he denies me of things. Like the song, Thanks for prayers that thou hast answered.

36:00 Thanks for what thou dost deny. Thanks for storms that I have withered. Thanks for all thou dost supply. Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure. Thanks for comfort in despair. Thanks for grace that none can measure. And thanks for love beyond compare. Thanks for pain. Thanks for storms. Thanks for those despairing moments. Yeah, because his sovereign hand's at work.

36:50 I want to assure you that in the midst of your trouble, whatever it may be, if you will live in the truth of God's sovereign hand at work, it will literally revolutionize your whole mental attitude toward life. Revolutionize it. And it's not a cop-out. Don't be afraid of it. It's designed to be a comfort. He is at work.

37:20 Now this introduced a fourth principle. Let's review quickly. Personal faith in a personal God brings personal relief. While preparing for us a place, he's preparing us for a place. The sovereign hand of God is at work in your life. Verse 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also. And look at what he adds. Greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. Fantastic verses, huh?

38:15 But we have misread them. You know how we read them? We read these verses to say, whatever you want, I'll give you. Just name it. So you walk out of this place, sit down in your 1937 pickup. You think, man, it's about time I get a new car. So you say, God, I'd like a Mercedes waiting for me in the driveway when I get home. So you drive home, turn the corner, and there's your driveway. not a blessed thing in sight but concrete so you wonder what kind of a god is that said i could ask anything and he'd give it to me or you know you you're you're pressed financially and you think as you walk out the door lord i'd like to have a financial windfall just dump it on me anywhere you please i'll be happy to take it preferably all at once and you say to him i'm ready i'm asking that and I'm waiting for it. Nothing happens. The first rolls around, you don't have your money.

39:31 The 15th comes, you still don't. See the problem? There are some times we need to give thanks for what we don't get. Years ago, I was dating a girl whose mother was convinced I should marry her daughter. And maybe some of you guys have had that experience and boy this mother-in-law to be was some kind of woman and she said to me, oh Charles I'm just praying that God will make you my son-in-law. You ever thank God for unanswered prayer? Man, oh man, I have so many times been so grateful God said no to that woman. Oh, wow. But, you know, it's good for a mother-in-law. Some got years ago, but today, that's another ball of wax. See, to the shallow thinking Christian, God is sort of the Aladdin's lamp. And when the Christian says, Lord, I want this, then Christ sort of comes out as a genie and just sort of floats around waiting for your beck and call and he'd say go over there and he give me that he gives it to you that's not the way it works

40:50 i am convinced one of the most profound and i might add subjects of greatest ignorance on our part is prayer Look at what this verse says. He says you're to ask in my name, verse 13. In my name, verse 14. Verse 13, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Now we're ready for the principle. Here it is. Greater things occur When we pray in Jesus' name For the Father to be glorified Now there is a prayer worth asking In my name For the glory of the Father You'll do greater things Let me add a couple of thoughts along this line What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?

41:59 It's more than just tacking on, Lord, in Jesus' name I ask this. I think that's a good pattern, but it's more than that. When someone goes in someone else's name, they go in their place. When I ask something in the name of Jesus, I'm asking it as if in the place of Jesus. What would he ask? Where was he when he said that? facing the cross. The crumbling of a kingdom in the minds of the humans around him. The things that we would call a failure. He was facing that and he said, in my place, willing to save. Bring it all down in crumbles. Bring it all down in a crushing experience. That the Father may be glorified.

42:54 I'll tell you, we are to ask anything, but it is to be for the glory of the Father. That'll absolutely change your prayer life. You prayed recently for something? Did you ask for the Father to be glorified? Say, Lord, I want this only if it will glorify the Father. That's my single motive.

43:22 Even if it's the cross. You know what the greater things are? What could be greater than healing the sick or raising the dead or giving sight to the blind? I think changes within. Some of those that were healed and given sight and whatever, when the time of Jesus' death came, they weren't to be found. They'd defected already. But greater things occur when they occur within. The greater things that you will accomplish in your life and others are those changes within.

43:55 Count on the Father to do that. Ask Him for the glory of the Father. Now, the fifth principle is you're not alone. You have an inner helper. He's mentioned in verse 16. I will ask the Father, He will give you another helper, that He may be with you forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world can't receive. He abides with you and will be in you. Okay, that's fifth. You're not alone. You have an inward helper. That's the Holy Spirit.

44:33 Listen carefully. The most devastating, demoralizing, paralyzing thought you can entertain when your heart is troubled is I'm all alone. Isn't that true? That's the first step toward gross self-pity. I'm all alone and the next step is nobody cares.

45:07 Christian, here today, if you were to come to my office for counsel, the very best counsel we can give you when you say, I feel all alone, is no, you are never alone. You have been given the Holy Spirit. When you came to know Christ, he came to live inside you. The very word helper means one called alongside to help. Wherever you are, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, whenever, wherever, hospital room, mission compound in your home at this church with a sick child facing death standing by a fresh grave you have an inner helper and he has been called alongside to do a work of comfort like nobody else can do he will be in you it says here and ever since the day of pentecost in the first century, that's where he's resided. You're not alone, even though you may feel like it sometime.

46:21 Now there's one more, one more principle that is so helpful. Verse 19, verse 20. After a little while, the world will behold me. No more. That means he's leaving. But you will behold me because I live, you shall live also. In that day, now in your case, that would be the day of salvation. You shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you. To them, it was a reference to the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came in full power and indwelt every believer. Recorded there in the book of Acts chapter 2. Here's the sixth. Your life is inseparably linked to the Lord Jesus Christ.

47:13 Not only do you have double security, you have a double indwellment. The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ himself. Now, he's not going to let something happen to him that's insignificant or unimportant. Because he's within you. His reputation is at stake. He's not going to lose it.

47:38 He's going to keep it. You remember the words of Bill Gaither's, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. You know, they were taken from verse 19. Because I live, said Jesus, you can face tomorrow. you shall live also because he lives all fear is gone because i know and he goes right on to describe how god has a purpose a plan reason for living christian one of the ways to quieten your heart is just to realize that jesus christ dwells within you and he is there wherever that trial may take you. And the Comforter is there to help you.

48:35 Now. I think we need a couple of three very simple techniques to put it into operation. If you're like me, you sort of like a step-by-step process of how to. Here they are. See in verse 21, three words. He who has, he who keeps, he who loves, has, keeps, loves. Here are the techniques. Number one, when you really know the truth, fear is removed. Just knowing the truth helps remove fear. The most fearful, superstitious people on earth are those that are ignorant.

49:35 They don't know. People who fear death are ignorant of death. People who fear God are ignorant of God. People who fear the future are ignorant of prophecy. People who fear their sin are ignorant of forgiveness. When you really know the truth, fear is removed. Here's the second one. When you really apply your knowledge, anxiety is reduced.

50:08 It's remarkable what it does. When print leaves the page and implants itself in the heart, you no longer are studying John 14 you're studying life whose truths are written in your heart it does nothing for you to write down a whole list of things on a piece of paper if that paper is folded up stuffed in a bible or in a notebook quickly to be forgotten truths are written to live not just to learn. Now third, when you really love the Lord,

50:44 guilt is released. That's what verse 23 is all about. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. There we have it. You really know the truth. Fear is removed. When you really apply your knowledge, anxiety is reduced. You really love the Lord. Guilt is released. Notice on the back of your chart this morning, I mean the back of your outline. See that chart? Hasn't got a thing in the world to do with the message. You know why? Because God gave a whole different message after I, on Monday, worked up that chart. Let me tell you the difference.

51:41 Even preachers go through it sometimes. Humanly speaking, this has been the hardest thanksgiving of my life. On Monday, my oldest boy got sick with a beta strep germ that sent his fever up to 104.5. On Tuesday, my wife caught it and stayed really in bed for about three days. Highest fever I've ever known her to have. On Wednesday, my oldest daughter got it. And she and her mom started to barf together through the last couple of three days around the house. And then on Thursday, my youngest daughter got it. Happy Thanksgiving, huh? The only one left around our house were the two ornery ones, Chucky and me.

52:31 And you know, the worst thing is, I fixed the turkey! It just looked like a buzzard, you know, when I got that thing in there. It was just terrible. Well, let me tell you something. I have come to realize that God's word is going to become real to me if it takes the loss of health, the loss of what I call the best holiday in the year, if it takes the poor weather. Remember Thursday morning? the whole scene god was riveting driving his truth into my life where i was to say thanks for the pain thanks for the loss of pleasure thanks for the removal of the things i've always considered essential for there to be a good thanksgiving thanks for everything to be reduced to zero that you might be the focal point of my thanksgiving.

53:43 Let me tell you something. For the first time in my life, he was. Nothing else was around to bring pleasure but the Lord. And do you know something? I really believe it was my happiest thanksgiving. I'm most joyful. One by one, God takes them from us, all the things we value most, till we're empty-handed.

54:20 Every glittering toy is lost, and we walk Earth's highways grieving in our rags and poverty, until we hear his voice inviting, lift those empty hands to me. And so I turned my hands toward heaven, and he filled them with a store of his own transcendent riches until they could contain no more.

54:50 And at last I comprehended with my stupid mind and dull that God cannot pour his riches into hands already full. Lord, it's so important to us this morning as your children. Not so much to find relief, but to learn the lessons you're trying to teach.