Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Why God’s Protection Still Hurts

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Why God’s Protection Still Hurts · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to ask Pastor John with longtime author and
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John Piper. As some of you know, we launched
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  Speaker 1: our next Generation vision to aggressively spread great joy in
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  Speaker 1: a big God to the next generation. We did that
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  Speaker 1: this year, this fiscal year, and to accomplish it, we
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  Speaker 1: the distribution of our resources far and wide, all of
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  Speaker 1: it free of charge. And as we end our fiscal
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  Speaker 1: year here in just a couple of days, please consider
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  Speaker 1: joining us by giving a monthly or a one time
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  Speaker 1: gift to help offset the cost of free for thousands.
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  Speaker 1: And if you already give, if you already support us,
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  Speaker 1: thank you very much for your partnership with us. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: you open your Bible in the morning. Maybe you're reading
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  Speaker 1: the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan with us this year. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you're doing so. And if you do, you just
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  Speaker 1: met a huge promise from God right there in black
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  Speaker 1: and white on the page. It said that you you Christian,
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  Speaker 1: you will be kept from all evil. We just read
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  Speaker 1: it yesterday and some one twenty one. I hope you
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  Speaker 1: saw it. I hope you underlined it, because it's a
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  Speaker 1: huge promise, and it's a huge promise you should claim.
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  Speaker 1: But then you'll look around. You will see Christians who
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  Speaker 1: are sick believers experiencing serious accidents. You will see tragedies
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  Speaker 1: in the lives of the friends that you have at church,
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  Speaker 1: and you will see the ways that Christians have been
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  Speaker 1: sinned against the math does that up? We are not
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  Speaker 1: kept from all evil? Today? I asked Pastor John why
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  Speaker 1: God's protection still hurts? And will we dealt with murder
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  Speaker 1: last time? Pastor John? So we are freshly aware of
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  Speaker 1: the darkness of this sinful world. Here's today's question from
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  Speaker 1: an anonymous listener, Pastor John, Hello, can you explain Some
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  Speaker 1: one twenty one to me? It boldly declares to us
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  Speaker 1: that we have God's protective care. He who keeps you
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  Speaker 1: will not slumber. The Lord will keep you from all evil.
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  Speaker 1: He will keep your life. That's in verses three and seven.
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  Speaker 1: Yet many believe are still experience suffering danger and hardships.
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  Speaker 1: Does the Lord is your keeper? The sun shall not
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  Speaker 1: strike you by day, nor the moon by night, and
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  Speaker 1: verses five and six. Does that mean we will never
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  Speaker 1: face harm or loss? Or does this Psalm offer deeper assurances.
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  Speaker 2: It's really good to return to this issue repeatedly because
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  Speaker 2: we all love the Psalms. We love them. My wife
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  Speaker 2: would rather read Psalms than any of the book in
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  Speaker 2: the Bible. They are so full of practical wrestlings with
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  Speaker 2: real life issues that we all deal with. We love
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  Speaker 2: the Psalms, and yet all of us pause and ponder
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  Speaker 2: when we come to the seemingly absolute promises that God
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  Speaker 2: won't let anything bad happen to us. So even though
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  Speaker 2: we have dealt with this issue on this podcast repeatedly,
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  Speaker 2: we've never dealt with someone twenty one that I can
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  Speaker 2: that I can see. We've dealt with some ninety one
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  Speaker 2: that has the amazing statement that the arrow that flies
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  Speaker 2: by day will not come near you. And we talked
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  Speaker 2: about why did Elizabeth Elliott name the biography of her
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  Speaker 2: murdered husband in the Shadow of the Almighty, which is
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  Speaker 2: the first verse of Psalm ninety one, when in fact
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  Speaker 2: he did get hit by one of those arrows or
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  Speaker 2: a spear that would not come near him according to
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  Speaker 2: Psal ninety one. But was she thinking and we wrestled
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  Speaker 2: with that was That was episode sixteen ninety two, And
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  Speaker 2: we dealt with Psalm thirty four to twenty, which says
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  Speaker 2: that God keeps all his bones, not one of them
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  Speaker 2: is broken. And I was reciting that Texas the little
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  Speaker 2: boy eight feet front of me had a cast on
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  Speaker 2: his arm. I had to walk right up to him
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  Speaker 2: and say, oh, hey, young man. That was episode eighteen
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  Speaker 2: eighty five, say curious, what did he say to that kid?
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  Speaker 2: And we looked at Someone three, which says that God
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  Speaker 2: heals all your diseases? Really how when that was episode
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  Speaker 2: twenty one forty eight. So we've been there and now
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  Speaker 2: I'm really happy to do this again and think through
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  Speaker 2: it again. And I think there are some remarkable clues
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  Speaker 2: in Someone twenty one. What about this song? I love
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  Speaker 2: this song. I've memorized it and re memorized it. It
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  Speaker 2: has a very special place in our family. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I used to travel a lot more than I do now.
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  Speaker 2: So Noela and I have set a lot of goodbyes
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of hellos. I'm gone, I'm back, which
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  Speaker 2: is a paraphrase of Someone twenty one. God, I'm back,
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  Speaker 2: And I want to say in most of those farewells.
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  Speaker 2: I think most of them we quoted this psalm. We
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  Speaker 2: laid hold on this psalm. The Lord will keep your
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  Speaker 2: going out and your coming in from this time forth
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  Speaker 2: and forevermore so, what do know all? And I mean,
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  Speaker 2: what are we banking on when we say that In
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  Speaker 2: the middle of the psalm he says the sun will
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  Speaker 2: not strike you by day or the moon by night.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will
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  Speaker 2: keep your life, He will keep you from all evil.
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  Speaker 2: What does that mean? Does it mean that if you
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  Speaker 2: truly believe in, if you truly obey God, you'll never
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  Speaker 2: suffer anything hurtful? And now we know from the Psalms themselves,
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  Speaker 2: not to somewhere else but the Psalms. And we know
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  Speaker 2: from the New Testament that's not true. It's not true
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  Speaker 2: about God, and it's not what the psalm writers believed
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  Speaker 2: was true. The psalmist can say, and Paul quotes this
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  Speaker 2: in Romans eight. This is Psalm forty four. We are
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  Speaker 2: being killed all day long. We are counted as sheep
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  Speaker 2: to be slaughtered. That's from the Psalms, not just Romans eight.
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  Speaker 2: That's Psalm forty four twenty two. And besides that, the
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  Speaker 2: psalmists are always in some kind of suffering and pain
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  Speaker 2: and affliction, and over and over again it comes out.
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  Speaker 2: So I think what Psalm one one means when it
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  Speaker 2: says the Lord will keep you from all evil is
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  Speaker 2: that when evil befalls you, God will keep you from
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  Speaker 2: its condemning, destroying effects. That's what I think it means.
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  Speaker 2: God will use his power to keep evil from touching
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  Speaker 2: you in a thousand ways. Now, yes he has. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I've come home. I'm still alive, and I just got
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  Speaker 2: platinum status from Delta because not because I earned it,
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  Speaker 2: but because I got so close. They felt sorry for
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  Speaker 2: me because I'm a million miler. Something Delta did exactly right. Wow,
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  Speaker 2: at any rate, no crashes, no crashes for a million miles.
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  Speaker 2: And then when it seems wise to God, he will
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  Speaker 2: let evil touch you, but he will protect you from it,
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  Speaker 2: that is, from its destructive effects. And finally, he will
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  Speaker 2: bring you to an eternal experience where you will never
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  Speaker 2: taste that evil of any kind again. Now here's some
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  Speaker 2: clues in the psalm itself that suggests we should read
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  Speaker 2: it that way. Verse eight says that the Lord will
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  Speaker 2: keep us forevermore. He will keep us forevermore. We know
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  Speaker 2: that this psalm reaches beyond death, which means that when
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  Speaker 2: death happens, and it will and that's gonna be a
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  Speaker 2: painful thing. God has not let this psalm fall to
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  Speaker 2: the ground. He already says, you're gonna make it beyond death,
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  Speaker 2: so you're gonna go through death, and he won't let
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  Speaker 2: any evil touch you through death, so he will keep
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  Speaker 2: you from all evil. Does not mean he'll keep you
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  Speaker 2: from death. It means he will keep you through death
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  Speaker 2: so that death will not have its condemning, destructive effect,
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  Speaker 2: and you will come out into eternal life where this
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  Speaker 2: this song will have its perfect fulfillment. And there's a
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  Speaker 2: confirmation of this that we're on the right track when
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  Speaker 2: we think that way, because if you read in Revelation
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  Speaker 2: seven sixteen the description of the Age to come, it
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  Speaker 2: goes like this. This is Yes seven sixteen relation. They
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  Speaker 2: shall hunger known neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not
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  Speaker 2: strike them. Now that's a quote from Psalm one twenty one,
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  Speaker 2: verse six, the sun will not strike you by day.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, that verse is going to have its
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  Speaker 2: final fulfillment in the Age to come, when all evil
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  Speaker 2: is done away. Another clue is verses two through four,
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  Speaker 2: where the writer combines the sovereignty of God as the
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  Speaker 2: maker of heaven and earth with the fact that God
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  Speaker 2: never slumbers. In other words, God is so powerful and
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  Speaker 2: so attentive around the clock, never goes to sleep, that
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  Speaker 2: anything that happens to you has to be according to
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  Speaker 2: his sovereign will. Nothing sneaks up on God because he's
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  Speaker 2: never sleep and nothing is too hard for God because
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  Speaker 2: he made heave. So we know that whatever happens to
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  Speaker 2: his beloved happens according to his goodness. He wasn't sleeping
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  Speaker 2: when this happened. He wasn't weak when this happened. He
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  Speaker 2: was good, He was wise, he was strong. So when
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  Speaker 2: Noel and I say goodbye, we still do. We do
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  Speaker 2: not assume, when we quote this psalm, that I will
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  Speaker 2: not die in a plane crash. We don't assume that.
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  Speaker 2: We assume that God will not let our foot slip
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  Speaker 2: into unbelief, and we assume that if the plane crashes,
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  Speaker 2: he will keep me from destruction and damnation. He will
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  Speaker 2: keep my going out of this world, and he will
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  Speaker 2: keep my coming in to the presence of Christ. I
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  Speaker 2: turned eighty this year. Back in January and when everybody
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  Speaker 2: had gone home that day, I sat in my chair
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  Speaker 2: and and I let it sink in how good God
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  Speaker 2: has been to me to keep me. He has kept
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  Speaker 2: me through blood clots and prostate cancer and heart attack
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  Speaker 2: and endless close calls, and on and on. I was
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  Speaker 2: simply overwhelmed as I sat there at the mercy of
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  Speaker 2: being kept by the sovereign goodness of God. And so Tony,
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  Speaker 2: you know what I do when I when I feel
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  Speaker 2: something strongly, I write a poem about it. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to read it, I said, Mike, I'm just closed
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  Speaker 2: with this song, this this poem there road. It's a
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  Speaker 2: sonnet if that means anything to anybody, but it's It's
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  Speaker 2: titled on turning eighty goes like this, What do I
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  Speaker 2: have that I did not receive? What breath? What sight?
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  Speaker 2: What thought? Or will? What energy to do or to achieve?
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  Speaker 2: What hope? What taste of holiness or thrill? And shall
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  Speaker 2: I boast as if a bird should claim to form
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  Speaker 2: the wind, an ant to forge the earth, as if
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  Speaker 2: I gave myself a parent or a name, or brought
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  Speaker 2: about my first or second birth. No, it lies not
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  Speaker 2: within my fallen power to seize the gift of life,
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  Speaker 2: or even weep that I cannot, But rather every hour
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  Speaker 2: my hope was not myself or soul to keep, but
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  Speaker 2: this to bow and joyfully accept that for these eighty
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  Speaker 2: years I have been kept. I love some.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can see why. I thank you for that,
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  Speaker 1: Sonic Pastor John. This promise in Some one twenty one
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  Speaker 1: that the Lord will keep you from all evil is
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  Speaker 1: not a magic shield against all the pains of life.
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  Speaker 1: There's no guarantee that we will never get sick, or
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  Speaker 1: be sent against or experience real loss. There's going to
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  Speaker 1: be delayed flights and turbulence in the skies, and there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be broken arms and casts on earth. The
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  Speaker 1: promise means that God is guarding the very core of
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  Speaker 1: who you are, your faith, guarding your faith all the
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  Speaker 1: way to the end. So good. That explains why Psalm
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  Speaker 1: one twenty one is one of your four psalms pastorgs
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  Speaker 1: on that you've memorized in order to serve others with,
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  Speaker 1: because it's just so useful as a psalm to serve
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  Speaker 1: other people. As a list that also include Psalm sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: pal of forty six in Psalm one thirty you can
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  Speaker 1: see in the APJ book on pays forty one for
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  Speaker 1: more on those four psalms and how pastors On uses them.
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  Speaker 1: And obviously there's always that question that lingers out from
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  Speaker 1: an episode like this, and that is over whether God
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  Speaker 1: will give me more than I can handle? Will God
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  Speaker 1: give me more than I can handle? See that in
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  Speaker 1: EPJ book and pages three sixty five and three sixty six,
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  Speaker 1: because that's very important as well. And of course, once again,
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  Speaker 1: please consider joining us by giving a monthly or a
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: one time gift to help offset the cost of free
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: for thousands, just like you go to Desiring Good dot
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  Speaker 1: org forward slash give. That's Desiring good dot org forward
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  Speaker 1: slash give Much appreciated. pH Psalm one twenty one reminds
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  Speaker 1: us that what feels like loss is not really lost.
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  Speaker 1: We explore that theme again next time when we look
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  Speaker 1: at why doing the right thing will never ruin your life.
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  Speaker 1: Antony Rank, you will see you on Monday.