Latest / truthunedited / Stop Venting_ Start Asking _ James 1_5 Explained(M4A_128K)

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Stop Venting_ Start Asking _ James 1_5 Explained(M4A_128K) · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: When the storm hits, who do you call first? Your
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best friend, your group chat, a mentor, therapist's spouse, or
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maybe you just curl up in silence, scrolling through social media,
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hoping someone else's chaos will distract you from your own.
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We've all been there, scrolling instead of praying, venting instead
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of seeking, googling instead of listening. Because deep down, though
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we believe in God, we often act like he's not
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our first call but our last resort. And here's the
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uncomfortable truth. Many of us are spiritually exhausted, not because
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God hasn't spoken, but because we never asked. We've built
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our lives on second hand wisdom. We treat divine direction
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like a back up generator, only activated when the power
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goes out everywhere else. But James one five doesn't say
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if any of you lacks wisdom, go poll your friends.
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It says, lets him ask God directly first, with confidence.
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But asking God requires something we don't like, to give, surrender.
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It's easier to get opinions than to wait for revelation.
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It's more comfortable to hear from people who think like
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us than a holy God who may challenge us. You've
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probably done it too, that moment when something goes wrong,
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and before even whispering a prayer, you're already texting three
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people about what happened. You say, pray for me, but
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you've already made your decision. You weren't really seeking God,
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you were seeking confirmation for what you already planned to do.
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We say we want answers, but what we really want
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is control, and prayer isn't control. It's submission. That's why
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we avoid it. That's why we delay it. That's why
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we drown ourselves in noise instead of kneeling in silence.
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Think of the people of Israel in First Samuel eight.
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They were under God's leadership, divinely guided through judges and prophets,
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but it wasn't enough for them. They looked at the
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nations around them, at their kings, their thrones, their parades,
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and said to Samuel, give us a king like the
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other nations. They weren't asking for better leadership, they were
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rejecting God's leadership. The tragedy. God gave them what they
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asked for, and they paid for it with generations of warfare, idolatry,
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and ruin. Sometimes the worst thing God can do is
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say yes to what you demanded outside of him. That's
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why the invitation in James is so radical. Let him
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ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and
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it will be given him. No shame, no delay, Just
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ask directly. Sincerely. God isn't reluctant to guide you. He's
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just waiting to be your first call, not your back
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up plan. Consider King Jehoshaphat in Second Chronicles twenty, when
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faced with a massive army coming against him, he didn't
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strategize first. He didn't seek an alliance with another kingdom.
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He set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a
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fast throughout all Judah Veight three. And God responded not
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with a battle plan, but a declaration. You will not
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need to fight in this battle. Stand firm and see
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the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. What would
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have happened if Jehoshaphat had panicked and acted on instinct?
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What battle are you fighting right now alone? Because you
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forgot to ask God? In every day life? This looks
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like more than just prayer in crisis. It's when you
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feel the pull to quit that job, and instead of praying,
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you scroll job listings for hours. It's when the relationship
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feels distant, but instead of asking God what to say,
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you rehearse arguments in your mind. It's when money is tight,
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but instead of seeking God for provision or wisdom, you
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spiral into worry or over work. You forgot to ask,
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You consulted yourself. You leaned on your logic. But James
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says the opposite. Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
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and do not lean on your own understanding in all
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your ways. Acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.
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Proverbs three five dash six. God never called us to
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figure it out, He called us to follow. There's one
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more story worth remembering. In Joshua nine, the Israelites are
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approached by strangers pretending to be from a distant land.
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They offer a peace treaty. The bread in their bags
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is moldy, the sandals on their feet are worn out.
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It all looks legit. So the men took some of
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their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord Vifendatin.
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They signed the treaty, made a covenant. Days later, they
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discovered they'd been deceived. Don't miss that they did not
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ask counsel from the Lord. It looked right, it felt safe,
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but it was still wrong because it wasn't God led.
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Some of us are suffering right now, not because we
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weren't sincere, but because we made decisions without God's voice.
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The question isn't just did it work, it's was it God?
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So before we moved to the next lesson, pause, what
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are you seeking answers for right now? Where have you
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been running Instagram podcasts, people plans? And where is the
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altar in all of this? Have you asked God? Not flippantly,
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not once, but with open hands and surrendered heart. Because
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the next section will show us what happens when we
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keep chasing empty wells instead of going to the source
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of living water. And once you see that, you may
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never seek answers the same way. Again, let's continue. They
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were thirsty, but not for water. They were spiritually dehydrated,
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but too prideful to admit it, and so they dug
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not wells, not rivers, cisterns, cracked hollow cisterns carved by
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human hands. That's the indictment God gave through Jeremiah. My
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people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me the
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fountain of living waters and hewed out cisterns for themselves
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broken cisterns that can hold no water Jeremiah two thirteen.
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This wasn't about infrastructure. It was about intimacy. It wasn't
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about clay containers. It was about covenant betrayal. God had
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rescued them, provided for them, led them through deserts, and
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fed them with bread from heaven. He poured himself out
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like living water. But when things got comfortable, they started
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crafting their own solutions. They didn't outright with jack God.
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They simply stopped depending on him. And that's where the
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heartbreak lives. That this passage was delivered early in Jeremiah's
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prophetic ministry. Israel had entered a time of spiritual compromise,
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entangling themselves with foreign idols and political alliances. They weren't
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necessarily rebellious in obvious ways. They were simply distracted, drifting
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into a self made religion of convenience and cultural approval.
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They carved cisterns, they gathered advice, they borrowed practices, but
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it couldn't hold the real presence of God. Now bring
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that forward. Imagine a woman named Erin. She's in her thirties.
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She used to pray, She used to journal about what
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God was teaching her. But somewhere along the way, life
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got louder. She downloaded more podcasts, joined more productivity groups,
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got therapy, started intermittent fasting, even tried manifesting goals, and
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all of it helped for a moment. But she still
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feels dry. She still can't hear God. She still wonders
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why everything that once worked no longer satisfies. She doesn't
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realize she's sipping from a broken cistern. Or a man
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named James. He used to ask God for direction in
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every decision, but now as his career grows, the stakes
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are higher. There's no time to wait on God. So
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he builds networks, reads leadership, books, studies analytics, optimizes schedules
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on paper. He's crushing it. But late at night, he
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lies awake, wondering why he still feels so insecure, so anxious,
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so exhausted. He's drinking sand and wondering why he's still thirsty.
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So broken cisterns in our day don't look like stone jars.
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They look like hustle culture. They sound like self help cliches.
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They hide behind phrases like I'm just trying to be practical,
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or God helps those who help themselves or this season
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is just really busy right now, But deep down they're dry.
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Because the truth is this, Any source other than God
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will eventually leak. Your career can't hold you. Your relationships,
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though meaningful, can't refill you. Your own intelligence, effort, therapy,
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and even ministry, if not rooted in God, will become
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empty vessels. They'll carry residue of meaning without the power
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of life. This is what Jeremiah wept over. Israel was
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performing the motions of religion. They had temples, they had traditions,
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but they weren't drinking from the fountain. They were building
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systems around absence instead of anchoring themselves in presents. And
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we do the same. How many of us are running dry?
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Whilst sitting beside the well. Jesus told the woman at
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the well in John four, whoever drinks the water I
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give them will never thirst. But she had to first
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leave her jar behind. She came for water and walked
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away with worship, because once you've tasted the sauce, you
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stop searching for substitutes. But don't miss this. The first
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evil in Jeremiah two thirteen wasn't just the building of
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broken cisterns. It was the forsaking of God. Substitutes only
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thrive when the real thing is neglected. Your Instagram scrolling
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isn't evil on its own, but it becomes a cistern
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when you stop opening your Bible. That job isn't your
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idol until you stop trusting God with your provision. Even
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community can become counterfeit comfort when it replaces communion with
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the Creator. This isn't about guilt, It's about invitation God.
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God wasn't condemning Israel just to shame them. He was
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calling them back to himself. He's not angry because they
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dug cisterns. He's heartbroken because they walked away from the spring.
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So here's the question for us today. What cisterns have
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you carved? Where are you pouring your energy, your hope,
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your trust. Are you checking your phone more than you
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check in with God? Are you expecting your job to
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satisfy a need only joy can fill? Are you trading
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prayer for podcasts, discernment for data presents for performance. God
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isn't asking for your perfection, He's asking for your return.
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Come back to the fountain. The water is still flowing.
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It's because the next section will take us deeper, not
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just into how we abandon God, but how sometimes we
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replace him with something spiritual looking, something religious, something moral,
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but not him. And in the next part we'll explore
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one of the most tragic and overlooked examples in scripture
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of someone who did just that and how their misplaced
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trust cost them everything. He didn't pray, he polled. When
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Rehoboam inherited the throne of Israel, stepping into the sandals
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of Solomon himself, he stood at a fork in the
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road that would decide the future of a nation. His
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people came to him, bruised by years of heavy labor
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under Solomon's grand ambitions. They came humbly asking for lighter burdens,
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and re Heboam did something that looked like wisdom. He
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asked for advice. But not all counsel is created equal.
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First Kings twelve and Second Chronicles ten tell the story
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Rehoboam first went to the elders, wise men who had
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served his father, Solomon, the wisest man in history. They
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told him plainly, if you will be kind to these
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people and please them and speak good words to them,
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they will be your servants. Forever. In other words, lead
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with mercy, and your lead with strength. Then he went
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to the second group, his peers, his friends, the men
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he grew up within the palace, the ones shaped more
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by privilege than pain, more by status than sacrifice. They said,
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tell them, my little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
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My father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you
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with scorpions, flex harder, rule, harsher. Show them whose boss.
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Rehobum chose the second voice. And in doing so, he
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didn't just reject human wisdom. He rejected divine mercy. He
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crowned pride, and the kingdom split, the ten northern tribes revolted.
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Israel was torn in two, all because one man listened
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to good friends instead of God. And here's where it
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hits home. Sometimes we don't reject God outright. We just
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slowly replace his voice with a chorus of others. We
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say things like I'm just getting advice, or I need
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more perspectives, or let me talk to my circle first.
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And that's not wrong until it becomes routine, until wise
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counsel becomes a crutch, until our decisions are no longer
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soaked in prayer. But shaped by people's opinions. Take Jordan,
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for example, he's considering a move, new job, new city,
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new chapter. He calls three friends. One says it's a
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smart financial move, another says he deserves better opportunities. A
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third says the new place has a better weather and
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life style, perks. All logical, all thoughtful, all kind. But
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in all of this, Jordan hasn't once opened his Bible,
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hasn't once asked God, is this where you're sending me.
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He's polling, but he's not praying. Or Take Mia, she's
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thinking about ending a relationship. Her friends say, girl, if
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he's not making you happy, walk away. Another friend sends
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a tik tok about protecting your peace, and everything sounds empowering,
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but deep in her spirit there's a check. She hasn't
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asked God what he wants. She's following vibes, not the voice,
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and she doesn't realize she's one decision away from spiritual fracture.
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What happened to Rehrboam still happens to day. Not because
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we're rebellious, but because we're relational. We crave connection. We
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trust people who know our story, but the problem is
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they don't always know our calling Rehoboam's friends knew his habits,
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his humor, his history, but they didn't know Heaven's agenda.
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They gave advice from familiarity, not from fear of the Lord.
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And the tragedy is that it all felt right. It
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felt bold, it felt protective, it felt strong, But it
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was spiritual sabotage. She says, here's the deeper warning. Advice
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without alignment to God's word is just noise, and not
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all noise is neutral. Some of it is deceptive, some
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of it delays destiny, some of it splits what God
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wanted to keep whole. When you trade divine direction for
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human affirmation, you don't just risk bad outcomes, you risk
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missing God entirely. And yet we do this all the time.
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We let YouTube influencers disciple our desires. We let productivity
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gurus define success. We let cultural trends redefine morality. We
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go to coaches before we go to Christ, we chase
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mentors before we bow to the Master. And somewhere along
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the way, we stop recognizing the Shepherd's voice, not because
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he stopped speaking, but because we stopped seeking. So how
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do we come back? It starts with the discipline of
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silence before you post poll or plan, pause, ask God
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is this from you? Measure every opinion against the word,
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weigh every decision in the spirit, and don't confuse strong
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opinions with spiritual authority. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you
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can do is stop listening to people for a moment,
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not because people are bad, but because people are limited.
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They see your now, God sees your next, They see
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your personality. God sees your purpose, They see your history.
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God sees your harvest. And in the next part of
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this teaching, we'll dive into one of the most countercultural,
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almost forgotten practices in scripture, where breakthrough came not because
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someone got more advice, but because they got alone, alone
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enough to hear God again, alone enough to be changed,
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alone enough to follow fire instead of familiar and maybe,
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just maybe that's what you need to He started strong,
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He even tore down idols, He reformed worship, he sought God,
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But in the end he died with the disease he
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never prayed about. King Aesa is one of those lesser
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known names buried deep in the Old Testament. If you
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blink while reading, you might miss the warning. His life
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screams into the modern soul. His story isn't about rebellion
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like Saul or adultery like David. Aesa's downfall came through
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a quieter enemy, self reliance, not loud sin, just silent pride.
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In Second Chronicles fourteen to sixteen, we watch Aesa rise
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with spiritual power. In the early years of his reign,
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Judah faced a million man army from Ethiopia led by Zira.
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Aesa did what few kings remembered to do. He cried
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out to God, help us, O, Lord, our God, for
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we rest on you, Second Chronicles fourteen eleven. And God
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answered with stunning victory. Then the prophet Aserriah gave Usa
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a word, The Lord is with you while you are
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with him. If you seek him, he will be found
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by you. Second Chronicles, fifteen two. Assir took it to heart.
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He launched a national revival, He cleaned house spiritually. He
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even deposed his own grandmother for idolatry. For thirty five years,
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his reign was marked by peace and obedience, But then
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he changed. In chapter sixteen, a smaller enemy arose. Basha,
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king of Israel, fortified Rama to cut off trade with Judah.
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This time, Assa didn't cry out to God. He didn't
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remember the past miracle. He reached for silver and gold.
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He broke it a deal with ben Hadad of Syria.
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Politically it worked, but spiritually it broke something. God sent
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another prophet, Hanani, who confronted him boldly, because you have
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relied on the King of Syria and not relied on
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the Lord your God. Therefore the army of the King
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of Syria has escaped you. The eyes of the Lord
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run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give
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strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
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You have done foolishly in this, for from now on
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you will have wars. Second Chronicle, sixteen seven through nine.
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Instead of repenting, Usa imprisoned the prophet. The next verse
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is heartbreaking. In the thirty ninth year of his reign,
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Usa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe.
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Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord,
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but sought help from physicians twelve. It's not that seeking
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physicians was wrong, it was that he replaced God with them.
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He never even asked. The one who once cried out
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to Heaven now died without a prayer. And if we're honest.
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His story feels familiar. How often do we start our
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spiritual life dependent on God only to drift into quiet
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self sufficiency. We pray when the war is big, but
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when the problem feels manageable, we move fast and consult
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our networks. We seek advice, google strategies, text friends, make moves,
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but we don't kneel. We don't ask, we don't wait.
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We become people who once depended on God, but now
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only involve him when we hit a wall. Consider Lauren.
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In college, she had nothing, no job, no direction, barely
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enough to make rent. She prayed every night, she saw
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God provide in supernatural ways. But now, five years into
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her career, when stress mounts, she doesn't pray. She overworks,
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she doesn't ask for clarity. She makes more coffee. She
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relies on her spreadsheet and strategy deck, but never stops
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to ask, Lord, what do you want? Or Marcus, he
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used to cry out to God when anxiety crushed his
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chest at night. Now he's built a routine early jim
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long meetings, scroll before bed. The anxiety is still there,
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but it's buried under noise. He doesn't call it sin.
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He calls it being busy. But really, it's Ace's disease,
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silent self reliance. Just ASA's tragedy. Wasn't that he sinned wildly,
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It's that he stopped seeking God sincerely. He still looked wise,
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he still ruled, he still functioned, but the fountain of
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his strength had dried. And the worst part, he didn't
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even notice. It's possible to die spiritually long before your
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story ends. So see, So here's the mirror. Where are
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you relying on your own plans more than God's presence?
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Where are you consulting physicians, experts, systems, routines without even
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asking the spirit what he thinks. God isn't against wisdom
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or medicine or planning. He's against being your last resort,
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the one you run to after everything else fails, the
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final voice when your first steps already walked you into chaos.
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The longer we live without prayer, the more it feels
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normal to operate without power. Good you see, But what
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if Ace's story doesn't have to be your ending? The
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prophet told him, the eyes of the Lord run to
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and fro to give strong support to those whose heart
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is blameless. That promise still stands right now. The eyes
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of the Lord are looking not for perfection but for surrender,
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not for talent, but for trust. And as we shift
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into the next moment of this teaching, we're going to
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look at a forgotten moment where someone did seek God first,
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without a plan, without allies, without fall back, and because
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they did, the impossible happened. Sometimes the miracle isn't in
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what you do, it's in who you ask first. It
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was the darkest night of Saul's life and he knew it.
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The once chosen king, anointed by the prophet Samuel and
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empowered by God, now stood trembling in the shadows. His
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enemies had surrounded him, his courage had left him, and
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worst of all, God was silent. No dreams, no prophets,
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no answers, just silence. But Saul couldn't handle silence. He
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wanted certainty, not surrender. So in one of the most
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haunting moments in all of Scripture, Saul turned not to
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God but to a medium first. Samuel twenty eight records
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the chilling story. Saul had outlawed spiritists and mediums earlier
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in his reign as God commanded. He knew what was forbidden.
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He knew that necromancy seeking the dead was an abomination
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before the Lord Leviticus nineteen thirty one, Deuteronomy eighteen ten
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through twelve. But desperation will lead people to what they
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once denounced. When the Philistines amassed against him, Saul inquired
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of the Lord, but God did not answer, not by
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dreams or urim or prophets first Samuel twenty eight six.
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Instead of repenting or waiting, Saul disguised himself and went
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to endoor. He asked a medium to summon Samuel from
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the dead. She did. What followed is strange and terrifying. Samuel,
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by God's mysterious allowance, actually appears, and he doesn't bring comfort.
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He brings confirmation of judgment. Why do you ask me
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since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy,
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Samuel says verse sixteen. He declares that Saul's kingdom will fall,
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that he and his sons will die, that it's too
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late to turn back. The man who once stood in
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prophetic authority was now groveling at the feet of a witch.
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It's easy to distance ourselves from this story. After all,
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we're not consulting mediums, we're not dressing in disguises and
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seeking the dead, but spiritually many of us do exactly
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what Saul did when God seems silent. When the pressure builds,
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when we feel abandoned, we start searching for answers in
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all the wrong places. We scroll through forty seven Instagram
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reels from Christian influences, hoping one of them gives us
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the breakthrough word we're looking for. We binge a YouTube
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rabbit hole of prophetic updates instead of spending one honest
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hour in prayer. We text ten people for advice but
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don't ask God once. Or we self medicate with busyness, distraction,
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or escape, filling the silence with noise because we can't
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handle divine delay. Saul didn't go to end Or because
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he was evil. He went because he was afraid. But
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fear is a terrible compass, and when we choose insight
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over intimacy, we end up deceived. Consider Jenna. She had
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been waiting for clarity from God about a career decision.
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Doors weren't opening, prayers seemed unanswered, so she went to
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her horoscope just for fun, she said, then to a
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life coach, then to a friend who believed in the universe.
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What started as curiosity turned into dependency. One year later,
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Jenna couldn't discern truth from trends, and she felt farther
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from God than ever. Or Marcus, who got desperate after
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a long season of depression. He used to journal his prayers,
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but now he just listens to random tik tok's tagged
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number faith. He tells himself its inspiration, but really he's
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addicted to emotionally charge opinions that contradict scripture. His faith
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isn't being fed, it's being deformed. Saul didn't lose his
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life at Endor. He lost it long before when he
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stopped seeking God with his whole heart. The visit to
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the medium was just the final symptom of a deeper sickness.
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He wanted answers more than he wanted God. The story
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ends sombrely. Saul returns to the battlefield, and as Samuel said,
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he dies not just because of his enemies, but because
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he sought help from someone other than God. One Chronicles
29:09
ten thirteen to fourteen sums it up plainly. Saul died
29:15
for his unfaithfulness. He did not inquire of the Lord.
29:21
Pause there, because here's the heartbreak. God never said he
29:25
wouldn't answer eventually, just that Saul had to wait but
29:29
instead of sitting in the silence, Saul sprinted to sorcery.
29:34
And we must ask ourselves, where do I run when
29:37
God goes quiet? When the job doesn't come, the relationship
29:40
doesn't change, the healing doesn't happen. Where do I turn first?
29:46
Do I wait in worship? Or do I grab for
29:49
whatever is near by? Popular voices, trending philosophies, comfortable habits.
29:55
Sometimes God is silent because he wants your attention, not
29:59
your pan, And silence isn't absence, it's invitation. Now imagine
30:05
if Saul had waited, if he had fasted, repented, asked
30:10
the Lord with tears instead of tactics, what might have happened.
30:14
We don't know, but we do know what did happen,
30:17
and it's a warning. So before you make your next
30:21
decision in fear, ask am I turning to end or
30:25
or to el Shadai? Because the next voice you consult
30:29
might shape your entire future. Let's now shift to one
30:33
more powerful story, not of failure, but of faith, a
30:37
lesser known figure who didn't chase voices in the dark,
30:40
but waited for God in the silence and saw the
30:44
hand of Heaven move. Because it's not just about what
30:48
you don't do, it's about who you choose to trust.
30:52
It was the seventh day, just as Samuel had said,
30:55
but still the prophet hadn't shown up, and Saul was panicking.
31:00
In First Samuel thirteen, we find King Saul standing on
31:03
the edge of war against the Philistines. His soldiers were
31:06
melting away, hiding in caves, thickets, cisterns, running for their lives.
31:12
His army, once proud and poised, had turned into a
31:16
trembling mob. And Samuel, the man of God, who had
31:19
promised to come and offer the sacrifice, had not arrived.
31:22
Time was ticking, fear was rising, and Saul had a
31:27
choice wait or take matters into his own hands. He
31:31
chose the latter. Saul, though he was king, was not
31:34
a priest. He knew he wasn't authorized to offer burnt
31:37
offerings to God. That was Samuel's role, God's appointed prophet.
31:42
But anxiety doesn't care about boundaries. It whispers, just do something,
31:49
fix it. Now. You've waited long enough. And so Saul,
31:54
driven by fear and urgency, lit the fire. He offered
31:58
the sacrifice, crossed the line. The moment the smoke cleared,
32:03
Samuel walked up. What have you done? He asked. Saul's
32:06
reply was hauntingly familiar. When I saw the people were scattering,
32:11
and you didn't come when you said you would, I
32:14
forced myself and offered the burnt offering First Samuel, thirteen
32:19
eleven to twelve. It was classic justification. He blamed the circumstances,
32:24
the people, the prophet. But Samuel wasn't moved by Saul's excuses.
32:30
You have done foolishly, he said. The Lord would have
32:34
established your kingdom, but now your kingdom shall not continue
32:40
Verses thirteen to fourteen. And with that one rash act,
32:45
Saul lost the legacy God had intended for him. Now
32:49
pause and look at your own life. How many times
32:52
have you felt like God was late? You prayed, waited, believed,
32:57
but then nothing happened. The ill stacked, the door stayed closed,
33:03
the person didn't call, the healing didn't come, and everything
33:07
inside you started screaming, May be I need to handle
33:11
this myself. So you texted your ex, took the job
33:14
that didn't sit right, compromised your values because something is
33:18
better than nothing, or you gave up entirely on God,
33:23
on prayer, on hope. We call it survival, but sometimes
33:28
it's actually sabotage. Because God's delays are not detours, they
33:34
are directions. They are part of the training. They expose
33:38
what we trust and what we fear, and most of all,
33:42
they reveal whether we want God's will or just his speed.
33:46
Consider Melissa, a single mother who had been trusting God
33:49
for provision. Her hours at work were cut. She tithed faithfully,
33:55
prayed daily, and held on to Psalm twenty three like
33:58
it was her life line. But weeks passed, then months,
34:03
nothing changed. Finally, in frustration, she started working side gigs
34:09
that conflicted with her values. She told herself it was temporary, necessary,
34:14
but soon her peace disappeared. Her kids noticed her anger,
34:19
her prayers dried up, and though she had more money,
34:22
she and she had less joy. Why because she moved
34:26
when God hadn't. Or Take Jordan, a young man waiting
34:29
to launch his ministry. He had prophetic words, dreams, the passion,
34:33
but no platform. Doors weren't opening, so he forced them,
34:38
bought followers, created viral content, got the likes, but lost
34:41
the anointing because like Saul, he built an altar God
34:45
never asked for. Waiting is not passive, Its warfare. To
34:50
wait on God is to resist the temptation to rush
34:54
into flesh born fixes. It's to say I'd rather have
34:58
nothing with you than something without you. It's to declare
35:02
that timing matters because obedience matters. Saul's story is not
35:09
just about a bad decision. It's about a heart that
35:12
couldn't handle the unknown, a man who feared the absence
35:16
of control more than the absence of God, and the
35:20
tragedy he was just one breath away from breakthrough. Samuel
35:25
came right after he sinned. If Saul had waited just
35:29
a few more moments, history would have changed. And that's
35:33
where this hits us hardest, because many of us are
35:36
one decision away from either seeing God move or manufacturing
35:41
a counterfeit move ourselves, one choice away from peace or panic,
35:47
one yes away from God's best or another cycle of delay.
35:53
So ask yourself, what offering are you tempted to make
35:55
without God's permission? What decision are you rushing because you're
36:00
tired of waiting. God's silence is never without purpose, His
36:04
delay is never random. It's shaping something in you that
36:09
short cuts will never produce. Don't light the fire. He
36:13
hasn't asked for. Don't try to birth a breakthrough with
36:16
your own hands. The sacrifice God wants is not your performance,
36:21
it's your patience. Now, let's walk forward in this truth
36:25
into a story not of panic, but of persistence, a
36:30
lesser known example of someone who waited, trusted, and saw
36:34
God reward what no one else could see. Because while
36:38
Saul shows us what's lost in haste, there are others
36:41
who show what's gained in faith. Let's look at one
36:44
of them. Now. There is a subtle danger that doesn't shout.
36:48
It whispers. It sounds like confidence. It wears the mask
36:52
of maturity. It cloaks itself in logic, reason and common sense.
36:57
But beneath it all is a quiet eye, idle, bowing
37:01
not to bail or golden calves, but to self. It's
37:06
the belief that you know best, and it has destroyed
37:09
more destinies than open rebellion ever could. Proverbs three five
37:15
through seven calves straight through this deception. Trust in the
37:19
Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your
37:22
own understanding. In all your ways. Acknowledge Him, and he
37:26
shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes,
37:31
Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil these verses
37:36
aren't poetic suggestions. They are spiritual surgery. Because there's a
37:40
kind of wisdom that the world applauds, one that calculates risk,
37:45
maximizes advantage, and moves without waiting. It's the kind of
37:50
self assured decision making that says I've got this without
37:55
ever consulting God. And in our results driven cult, this
38:00
isn't just tolerated, it's celebrated. But scripture makes it clear.
38:06
Spiritual pride doesn't look like arrogance. It looks like independence
38:11
from the voice of God. In the time when Proverbs
38:14
was written, kings and rulers were expected to consult oracles, prophets,
38:19
or spiritual advisers before major decisions. To lean not on
38:24
your own understanding was to resist the natural temptation of
38:28
power to assume you're wise enough on your own. Solomon,
38:33
the very author of this proverb, had seen first hand
38:36
what happened when people trusted their instincts over God's instruction. Ironically,
38:41
even Solomon himself, blessed with supernatural wisdom, fell into this trap.
38:48
In First Kings eleven, it says that though God had
38:51
appeared to him twice and warned him, Solomon allowed his
38:56
heart to be drawn away by foreign wives and their gods.
39:00
He leaned on his understanding of political alliance, cultural strategy,
39:05
and personal pleasure, and it fractured the kingdom. But it's
39:09
not just kings who fall prey to this. Take Amnon,
39:13
a forgotten prince in two Samuel thirteen. He was the
39:17
son of David, the heir to a throne, and yet
39:21
he let his own twisted desire and the counsel of
39:24
his cousin Jonadab drive him into a tragic sin. Instead
39:29
of seeking God, he plotted with another man's logic. Instead
39:32
of resisting, he rationalized he trusted his hunger more than
39:37
God's holiness, and it ended in violation, vengeance, and death.
39:44
I bring this into our day. Picture a young woman
39:47
named Leah. She's been praying for clarity about a relationship.
39:50
The guy isn't godless, but something feels off. Her heart
39:54
says yes, but her spirit says wait, And rather than
39:58
seek God, she screw Roll's Instagram, reels about red flags,
40:02
and listens to a dozen podcasts. She starts to convince
40:06
herself she can handle it, after all, She's prayed before,
40:11
but she no longer listens. She analyzes she weighs pros
40:16
and cons, she leans, and soon she falls. Or imagine
40:21
mark a man offered a lucrative job across the country.
40:24
It would uproot his family, pull them from their church,
40:27
and put him in an environment known for compromise, but
40:31
the salary life changing the title impressive. He prays once,
40:39
but doesn't wait. He figures God opened the door, so
40:45
he walks through it, never realizing it wasn't a door,
40:49
it was a trap. Spiritual pride doesn't always feel like rebellion.
40:55
Sometimes it feels like momentum. It looks like initiative. It
41:00
dresses itself in good intentions, but it's still idolatry because
41:06
it refuses to bow the decision before the throne of God.
41:09
So what does it look like to not lean on
41:12
your own understanding. It looks like pausing when everything in
41:16
you says move now. It looks like praying when everyone
41:20
else is giving advice. It looks like fasting when logic
41:24
gives you the green light. It looks like refusing to
41:28
trust a plan you haven't prayed over, even if it
41:30
seems air tight and it means this. Before you send
41:34
that text, sign that contract, say yes to that person
41:37
or walk through that door, Ask yourself, did I acknowledge God?
41:43
Did I invite him into all my ways? Or just
41:46
the ones I couldn't figure out? Because the most dangerous
41:50
lies are the ones that wear Truth's vocabulary. And when
41:54
we become wise in our own eyes, we stop being
41:57
sensitive to God's voice. We stop it expecting correction. We
42:01
silence conviction. We develop spiritual blindness and call it clarity.
42:08
But clarity without God is still deception. This is why
42:12
proverb says, feel the Lord and turn away from evil.
42:16
It's not saying your evil, it's saying your wisdom apart
42:20
from reverence, can lead to evil. Your discernment without God
42:25
becomes deception. Your best thinking without the spirit will always
42:30
fall short. So what do we do? We repent not
42:33
just of sin, but of self reliance. We confess not
42:37
just what we've done wrong, but how long we've done
42:40
right in our own strength. We surrender not just our outcomes,
42:44
but our methods, our logic, our timelines. Because God is
42:48
not obligated to bless what you didn't invite him into. Now,
42:53
let's keep walking. We've seen what happens when we ignore
42:57
God's voice. When we chase quick counsel and when we
43:00
rely on ourselves. But what about those moments when the
43:04
silence of God feels more frustrating than the noise of people.
43:09
What do we do when we've prayed, waited and sought
43:12
him but he hasn't said anything. That's where we go next.
43:17
Before Ne'emiah ever rebuilt a wall, he wept. Before Jehoshaphat
43:22
ever led an army, he bowed. Before Anna ever saw
43:26
the Messiah, she fasted and prayed for decades. These were
43:30
not impulsive heroes. They were intercessors seekers. They were people who,
43:36
in moments of desperation or divine assignment, turned to God first,
43:41
not last, not after strategy failed. First, and when they did,
43:48
Heaven moved. Naemiah wasn't a prophet, He wasn't a warrior.
43:53
He was a cupbearer, a glorified butler for a pagan king.
43:57
And yet when he heard about the broken wall of Jerusalem,
44:01
something shattered inside him. He didn't start a go fund me,
44:06
he didn't post about it. In frustration. He sat down, wept, mourned,
44:13
and then he prayed. The book of Nehemiah opens not
44:19
with action but agony. Chapter one reveals a man broken
44:23
in private before he ever stood in public. His prayer
44:27
is raw, Lord, the God of Heaven, let your ear
44:31
be attentive. I confess the sins we Israelites. We have
44:35
acted very wickedly toward you Naemiah one five through seven.
44:41
Before he requested favor, he repented, before he asked for help,
44:46
He acknowledged his people's history. This wasn't manipulation, it was surrender.
44:54
Then only then did he speak to the king. And
44:58
because he had asked God first, the King released him,
45:01
gave him letters, sent resources, appointed him governor. But it
45:06
all started with prayer. If Neemiah had rushed into action
45:10
without intercession, he would have had ambition, but not anointing. Instead,
45:16
he asked God first, and a wall that lay in
45:19
ruins for decades was rebuilt in fifty two days, or considered.
45:23
Jehoshaphat in Second Chronicles twenty, a terrifying word reaches the king,
45:30
A vast army is coming against you. The natural instinct
45:34
would be to gather troops, draw up strategy, prepare defenses.
45:39
But verse three says Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord,
45:43
and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. He didn't move.
45:48
He didn't panic, he didn't calculate odds. He inquired. Then
45:53
he gathered the people and prayed one of the most
45:56
transparent prayers in scripture. We we do not know what
46:01
to do, but our eyes are on you Second Chronicles
46:07
twenty twelve. That kind of confession would be political suicide
46:11
in modern leadership circles. But God called it faith, and
46:16
through a prophet named Jehaziel, the Lord answered, you will
46:21
not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions,
46:25
stand firm, and see the deliverance the Lord will give you.
46:28
Jehoshaphat inquired, So God intervened. The battle belonged to the
46:33
Lord because the posture belonged to humility. And then there
46:37
was Anna, just a few verses tucked away in Luke Too,
46:41
but a lifetime of devotion. She was a widow eighty
46:44
four years old, and the text says she never left
46:48
the temple but worship night and day, fasting and praying.
46:53
When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple, Anna
46:57
saw him. She saw what others missed, not because she
47:01
was qualified, but because she was watching. Anna didn't have
47:04
a title, she didn't hold a microphone, She wasn't a
47:08
known prophet like Simeon, but she had lived decades of quiet,
47:13
consistent surrender, and when the time came when the Messiah
47:18
entered the building, God made sure she was there to
47:22
witness it. What if the breakthrough you long for doesn't
47:26
come from doing more, but from inquiring more. In a
47:31
world of noise, of instant access to information, we often
47:36
forget that wisdom isn't found in Google searches, It's found
47:40
in God's presence. How often do we text a friend
47:44
before we pray? How often do we post our frustrations
47:48
before we kneel in them? How often do we ask
47:51
for feedback before we ask for fire from heaven? Picture Olivia,
47:56
a small business owner who just received an offer to
47:59
expand her company. It promises growth, exposure, and double the revenue,
48:05
but something feels off. Everyone around her says, this is
48:09
the opportunity you've been waiting for. But Olivia, remembering what
48:15
it means to ask God, first, takes a day to fast.
48:19
She quiets the voices, She goes to her knees, and
48:23
in the stillness she senses a hesitation. She says no,
48:28
and three months later, the company offering the deal collapses
48:31
from fraud charges. Her obedience didn't make sense in the moment,
48:36
but it saved her destiny. Or think about Jamal, a
48:40
college student offered a prestigious internship across the country. He'd
48:44
be separated from his church, his family, his spiritual mentors.
48:49
The position looks perfect, but before saying yes, he prays.
48:55
Days pass, then weeks. He feels tempted to accept before
48:59
the offer expires, but instead he waits. Finally, God gives
49:04
peace about another door, one with less prestige but more purpose,
49:09
and through that path, Jamal discovers his calling as a
49:13
youth pastor, changing hundreds of lives. His lesser choice became
49:17
the greater one because he asked God first. This isn't
49:21
about legalism, It's about alignment. Inquiring of God doesn't mean passivity.
49:27
It means priority. It means you place his voice above
49:31
the noise, his word above opinions, his timing above opportunity.
49:38
Too often we look for open doors and call it confirmation.
49:42
But not every open door is from God, and not
49:46
every closed one is from the devil. That's why we
49:50
must ask, So, what would happen if you paused right
49:53
now and invited God into the decision on your mind,
49:58
before you accept that job, before you walk away from
50:01
that relationship, before you say yes to that move, before
50:05
you launch that ministry, before you retaliate, before you reply,
50:10
ask because the ones who ask God first don't just
50:14
avoid disaster, they walk into destiny. And now, with this
50:19
in mind, we must ask the final question, what happens
50:23
if you don't ask? What happens when you lean on alternatives, intuition,
50:28
or your own emotions and it leads you somewhere God
50:32
never called you to go. That's where we go next.
50:35
Google has become our first responder the minute life shakes us,
50:40
when the diagnosis comes, when the relationship breaks, when the
50:44
anxiety creeps in, we don't reach for our Bible. We
50:48
reach for our phones. How to heal from heartbreak? What
50:54
does it mean when I feel numb? Spiritually? Why they
51:00
do bad things happen to good people? We search, we scroll,
51:05
we consume, But at the end of our digital rabbit hole,
51:09
we often find ourselves more overwhelmed than when we started.
51:13
Because what we're facing isn't just a question, It's a crisis,
51:17
and spiritual crises were never meant to be solved by algorithms.
51:21
We're more informed than ever, but less transformed, more connected
51:26
than ever, but lonelier in our souls and the reason
51:30
We've replaced the sacred with the searchable. When our spirits ache,
51:35
instead of going to the living word, we go to
51:38
trending blogs. We watch reaction videos instead of entering into revelation.
51:44
We binge watch content, trying to find comfort that only
51:47
the comforter can give. Now, don't misunderstand tools like Google
51:52
have their place. God can use information, He can even
51:56
use technology to point us toward truth, but are too
52:00
often we don't use them as tools, We use them
52:04
as replacements. We turn to digital knowledge, hoping to avoid
52:07
divine surrender because googling doesn't ask anything from us the
52:11
Bible does. Googling doesn't convict us the Holy Spirit does.
52:16
Googling doesn't call us into obedience. Scripture does. There's a
52:21
lesser known story tucked into Second Kings, one that exposes
52:25
this tension with startling clarity. King Ahaziah, the son of Ahab,
52:31
had fallen through the lattice of his upper room and
52:34
injured himself. He lay there, wounded and uncertain. He wanted
52:39
to know would he recover, But instead of calling for
52:42
a prophet. Instead of seeking God, he sent messengers to
52:46
inquire of bal Zibub, the God of Ekron. This wasn't
52:50
just idolatry. It was a fence to the God of Israel.
52:54
So the Lord sends Elijah with a direct message, Is
52:58
it because there is no god in Israel that you
53:01
are going off to consult baal Zebub? Second Kings one
53:06
three God's question echoes like thunder, am I not enough
53:13
for you? That question still confronts us to day. When
53:17
heart break hits, do we turn to God? Or do
53:20
we type into a search bar? When we're wrestling with doubt,
53:23
do we press into prayer or do we watch ten
53:26
videos by influencers who've deconstructed their faith. When the depression
53:31
won't lift, do we go to our knees or scroll
53:35
until the numbness settles? Like a hazir. We often bypass God,
53:40
not because he's silent, but because we don't want his answer.
53:44
His word might call us to wait, to repent, to forgive,
53:49
to change, and sometimes we'd rather know about God than
53:54
surrender to him. Picture Lisa, a mum of three, newly divorced,
54:00
scrolling through articles on how to co parent with the narcissist.
54:03
Her heart aches, she doesn't sleep. Every headline promises peace,
54:10
but nothing soothes the storm inside. One night in the kitchen,
54:14
tears fall into the sink as she types one more
54:17
phrase into Google why does God allow abandonment? And for
54:23
a moment she pauses, not because of the search results,
54:26
but because she realizes she hasn't spoken to God in weeks.
54:31
She searched the world for answers, but not once sat
54:34
in silence to hear from her father. Or consider Marcus,
54:39
a college senior crippled with anxiety over his future law
54:42
school missions work. Should he date her or not? He
54:47
makes pros and cons lists, watches reels, listens to six
54:51
different podcast pastors. But in all of his searching, he's
54:55
never fasted, never cracked open proverbs, never just asked law
55:00
Lord speak. He's drowning an input, but starving for intimacy.
55:05
God's question to our Hassiah is his question to us.
55:09
Am I not still the God of Israel? Am I
55:12
not still the wonderful counselor the Prince of peace, the
55:16
healer of broken hearts, the anchor of storm tossed souls.
55:20
The truth is, we don't need more information. We need revelation.
55:25
We don't need more voices, we need his voice. Because
55:29
spiritual crises are not solved with clearer facts, they're solved
55:33
with deeper faith. There's a reason Paul told Timothy all
55:37
scripture is God breathed, tewod Timothy three sixteen. Not trending,
55:43
not viral, not widely accepted. God breathed, And when God breathes,
55:48
things live. But we're trying to resurrect our purpose with
55:52
recycled quotes from pinterest. We're trying to cast out demons
55:56
of despair with digestible self help, and it's not working.
56:01
Jesus didn't say man shall not live by blogs alone.
56:06
He said man shall not live by bread alone, but
56:09
by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God
56:13
Matthew four four. So what's the solution. It's not complicated,
56:18
but it is costly. Close the tab, open the book,
56:22
power down the phone, turn up the worship, shut out
56:25
the noise, seek the spirit. Replace your search history with
56:30
a prayer history. Because God doesn't want to be your
56:34
last resort, he wants to be your first response. So
56:38
now we move forward. Because the problem isn't just distraction,
56:42
its deception. When we don't run to God, will inevitably
56:47
run to substitutes. And in the next part of this
56:51
journey we confront one of the most dangerous spiritual counterfeits.
56:55
We face the false peace of self help, the kind
56:59
that sueooths your emotions but never saves your soul. Let's go.
57:04
Most people don't deny God exists. They just delay him.
57:08
They know he's there, they just assume he'll still be
57:11
waiting when everything else they try collapses. God isn't hated.
57:16
He's often just held us back up, a spiritual fire extinguisher,
57:20
a last minute rescue line. And this is exactly how
57:25
we end up exhausted, broken, and faith frustrated. We treat
57:31
the God of the universe as the if nothing else
57:34
works option, instead of the very foundation of the answer.
57:38
Hezekiah didn't think like that. Historian Two Kings eighteen to
57:43
nineteen doesn't usually get the front page spotlight, but it
57:47
holds a secret many desperate people miss. When threatened by
57:51
the strongest empire of his day, Hezekiah didn't panic. He
57:56
didn't strategize a war plan or call Egypt for help.
58:00
He ran to the temple. He took the enemy's letter
58:03
literal evidence of fear, and laid it before God. He
58:07
didn't just say pray for me or toss a verse
58:10
at his anxiety. He put it all in front of
58:13
the Lord and prayed. The context of this moment matters.
58:17
Assyria wasn't a joke. It had already crushed Israel to
58:21
the north and now came for Judah. Sir Nacarib, the
58:25
king of Assyria, mocked Hezekiah's trust in God, saying no
58:29
other God had saved the nations he conquered. The threat
58:33
was real, the logic was convincing, the pressure was suffocating.
58:38
But Hezekiah didn't run to logic. He ran to the Lord.
58:42
And when Isaiah came to deliver God's response, it wasn't
58:46
just poetic, it was prophetic. God himself defended the city.
58:53
One angel, just one wiped out one hundred eighty five
58:59
thousand a Centian soldiers in one night. God didn't give
59:03
Hezekiah a strategy. He gave him victory. But it came
59:07
because Hezekiah didn't use God as a last resort. He
59:11
used him as the only source. Fast forward to today.
59:16
The enemy may not be at your city gates, but
59:18
he's prowling around your peace. Fear emails you every morning.
59:23
Doubt speaks through culture's megaphone. Your assyria might be bills, diagnosis, rejection, deadlines, depression,
59:32
or just the rising panic that nothing's working and time
59:35
is running out. And the temptation is the same. Look
59:39
for relief before you seek the redeemer. Search Google, before
59:43
you search scripture, Call a friend before you call on Heaven.
59:47
Try everything, then pray. But prayer wasn't made to mop
59:50
up what your hustle couldn't handle. Prayer was meant to lead.
59:55
Scripture wasn't designed to be background music. It was the blueprint.
59:59
God does just want to be the God you run
1:00:02
to when plans fail. He wants to be the one
1:00:05
who gives you the plan in the first place. Let's
1:00:09
bring this to where most of us live. You get
1:00:11
bad news, a job falls through, a loved one's in crisis.
1:00:16
Your emotions scream, your brain races, and within minutes you've
1:00:22
texted five people, scanned two blogs, and told yourself you've
1:00:25
got to figure this out. But you haven't breathed one
1:00:28
word to God. Sound familiar. We don't mean to ignore him.
1:00:33
We just assume there's something more immediate, more actionable, more available,
1:00:38
but there isn't. Maybe God has allowed the pressure not
1:00:41
to break you, but to expose what you really lean on.
1:00:45
Maybe the delays and rejections weren't punishments but spiritual pauses,
1:00:52
divine invitations to say this time, I'm not reaching for
1:00:57
a short cut. I'm going to the throne room first.
1:01:02
Think about it. How much peace have we forfeited because
1:01:05
we prayed last How many breakdowns did we suffer because
1:01:09
God wasn't our starting place. It's time we stop treating
1:01:14
faith like a life jacket we wear only when the
1:01:17
boat's sinking. Faith is the boat. God is the anchor,
1:01:23
and he's not just available when we're desperate. He's available
1:01:27
now for decisions, for daily direction, for the little things
1:01:33
that seem beneath his attention, and the big things that
1:01:36
keep us awake at night. There's one more piece of
1:01:39
Hesekia's story worth noting. When he prayed, he didn't beg
1:01:43
God to change his mind. He reminded God of who
1:01:46
he was. You alone are God over all the kingdoms
1:01:51
of the earth. That's not just trust, that's worship. Hezekiah
1:01:58
knew that when you exult God, your enemies start to shrink.
1:02:03
So here's the confrontation. Who do you run to first?
1:02:07
Where do you go when pressure rises? If you really
1:02:11
believed God was your only source, how would your actions
1:02:14
look different? Because He doesn't want to be your last resort.
1:02:18
He already is the answer, the breakthrough, the wisdom, the rest,
1:02:24
the healing, the plan, but you have to come to
1:02:27
him first. If you've ever been tempted to google your
1:02:31
way through a crisis, this message is for you. We've
1:02:34
got more content that exposes digital distractions, unpacks the wisdom
1:02:39
of the proverbs, and walks through the stories of leaders
1:02:42
like David, Daniel and Elijah, available now on our website,
1:02:47
completely ad free. If this kind of teaching stirs your spirit,
1:02:53
know that we've also turned many of these videos into
1:02:56
downloadable ebooks for deeper study. And the mission behind it
1:03:00
all not to entertain, but to reawaken your walk with God.
1:03:05
Every like share and prayer fuels that mission. You can
1:03:09
find everything in the description below. Now back to the word,
1:03:14
and with that we pivot not to a new idea,
1:03:17
but a deeper one. If God is the only source,
1:03:21
why do so many still feel dry? Maybe it's because
1:03:24
even after we go to him. We don't stay. Maybe
1:03:28
we start the conversation but then wander back to worry.
1:03:32
Maybe we've asked but haven't waited the next move learning
1:03:37
how to listen, Let's go there. Pain isolates not just
1:03:42
from comfort, but from clarity. When you're crushed under sorrow, confusion, betrayal,
1:03:48
or just the ache of something unanswered for too long,
1:03:51
the temptation is to find someone who will just sit
1:03:54
with you, nod their head, agree with your frustration, and
1:03:58
hand you a spiritual powerfire. And don't get me wrong,
1:04:02
comfort matters. God cares about compassion. But there's a danger
1:04:07
we rarely talk about. It's this In our darkest moments,
1:04:11
we often seek pity when we actually need prophecy. We
1:04:15
want agreement when we desperately need alignment. Job didn't lose
1:04:20
everything because he was reckless or sinful. Scripture says he
1:04:24
was blameless, a man of integrity, and yet in a
1:04:28
flurry of divine permission, his world collapsed. Children died, wealth vanished,
1:04:35
skin blistered, reputation shredded, silence from heaven. And in that
1:04:39
unimaginable grief, Job's friends showed up. They started strong, They
1:04:44
sat with him in silence. For seven days, they mourned
1:04:46
with him. But then the shift happened. Their comfort turned
1:04:51
into commentary, their empathy twisted into arrogance. One by one,
1:04:56
they started diagnosing Job's pain like theologians in a courtroom.
1:05:01
You must have sinned, you must have hidden pride. God
1:05:06
doesn't allow this unless you deserve it. But here's what
1:05:11
makes this story so unnerving. Their words sounded right, they
1:05:16
even quoted truths about God. Yet they were rebuked by
1:05:20
God himself in the end, not Job. Why because they
1:05:25
spoke from assumption, not revelation. They offered advice without God's permission,
1:05:31
and that's the line too many cross in today's spiritual culture.
1:05:35
We offer emotional alignment with someone's pain instead of truth
1:05:40
that anchors them beyond it. This is where the story
1:05:45
takes a twist. After wave upon wave of flawed human advice,
1:05:50
a young man named Elihu speaks up. He had waited,
1:05:54
he had listened, and unlike the others, he doesn't start
1:05:58
by blaming Job. He starts by restoring the weight of
1:06:02
God's majesty. He reminds Job that even in pain, God speaks,
1:06:08
sometimes through whispers, sometimes through suffering, sometimes through dreams. Or silence,
1:06:14
but always with purpose. It was after Eli who spoke
1:06:19
that God finally enters the conversation. That's the prophetic pattern.
1:06:24
Comfort alone didn't open the heavens. Correction did not cruelty,
1:06:28
but divine confrontation, not scolding, but reorientation. It was then
1:06:35
that God thundered from the whirlwind and essentially said, job,
1:06:39
where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth.
1:06:43
Not to humiliate him, but to remind him to lift
1:06:46
his eyes to recenter his heart. Job didn't need more sympathy,
1:06:51
He needed a sight of God again, and maybe so
1:06:55
do you. To day, too, many of us are surrounded
1:06:58
by voices who mean well, but echo what we already feel,
1:07:02
instead of what God already said. We want someone to
1:07:06
feel our pain, But what if God is trying to
1:07:09
redeem it. What if what we need most in suffering
1:07:13
is not someone to validate our anger, but someone to
1:07:16
usher us back into alignment with Heaven. Because your pain
1:07:20
might need a listener, yes, but more than that, it
1:07:24
needs a voice from above, a voice that will not
1:07:28
let your wounds become your world view, A voice that says,
1:07:32
there's more beyond this moment. A voice that calls you
1:07:36
out of the ashes and into perspective. And don't miss this.
1:07:39
God did rebuke Job's friends. He told them, essentially, you
1:07:44
didn't speak what is right about me. But then, in
1:07:48
the grace of all graces, he asked Job to pray
1:07:51
for them. And when Job prayed, not when he was healed,
1:07:55
not when he got answers, not when everything made sense,
1:07:58
but when he prayed for his friends, the Lord restored him,
1:08:02
not just financially, not just physically, spiritually, eternally. So here's
1:08:08
the question. In your pain, are you surrounding yourself with
1:08:12
comforters or prophets. Are you scrolling through opinions or pressing
1:08:17
into God's presence? Are you listening to empathy that keeps
1:08:21
you where you are or to truth that calls you
1:08:24
where God is leading. Real love doesn't just sit beside
1:08:28
you in sorrow. It points you toward the Savior. And
1:08:32
when Job stopped listening to the echo chamber and tuned
1:08:35
into heaven, God didn't just give him back what he lost,
1:08:39
He gave him double. That's not a formula. It's not
1:08:43
a guarantee that every pain will be reversed, but it
1:08:47
is a promise that no pain is wasted, that every
1:08:51
scar has a story, that every tear God collects becomes
1:08:56
part of the rain that water some one else's delivery.
1:09:00
The people in your life matter, but their voices must
1:09:03
always bow to His. Underneath the noise of every decision
1:09:08
you make, there is always a voice your following. The
1:09:11
question isn't whether you're seeking counsel, it's where you're getting
1:09:15
it from. We've all been there. You hit a wall emotionally, relationally, spiritually,
1:09:22
and the first impulse call some one, Google it, vent
1:09:27
to a friend, open Instagram and scroll for something that resonates.
1:09:32
But here's the question you rarely stop to ask. Who
1:09:36
are you asking and where are they leading you? The
1:09:40
Bible doesn't just encourage us to seek wisdom, it warns
1:09:44
us about where we look for it. In One Kings
1:09:46
twenty two, there's a lesser known prophet named Mikaiah who
1:09:51
stands alone in a crowd of yes men. King Ahab,
1:09:54
desperate for affirmation before going to war, surrounds himself with
1:09:58
four hundred prophets who will tell him what he wants
1:10:01
to hear. They hype him up, cheer him on, confirm
1:10:05
his plans. Only Macaiah, the one true prophet who actually
1:10:10
heard from God dares to say the opposite. He tells
1:10:14
the king the truth, You're walking into destruction, but Ahab
1:10:19
ignores him, listens to the crowd, and dies in battle.
1:10:24
It's a chilling reminder. Being surrounded by voices doesn't mean
1:10:27
you're surrounded by truth. Confirmation isn't always clarity, and just
1:10:32
because advice sounds good doesn't mean it comes from God. Now,
1:10:36
sooom out to your own life. Who do you go
1:10:38
to when you're overwhelmed? Who gets the first phone call
1:10:41
when you don't know what to do? Maybe it's that
1:10:44
friend who always gets it but also never challenges you,
1:10:49
or that podcast host whose wisdom feels deep but lacks
1:10:52
the spirit. Or maybe, if you're honest, it's just you,
1:10:56
your logic, your research, your gut. But here's the danger.
1:11:02
When we treat people, platforms, or feelings as our compass,
1:11:06
we might feel supported but still be spiritually misled. It's
1:11:12
not that God doesn't use people. He does, but when
1:11:15
their voice replaces his voice, even well meaning counsel can
1:11:19
become a counterfeit. Remember Eve didn't get deceived by a monster,
1:11:24
She got seduced by a suggestion. Did God really say,
1:11:30
that's how it always starts. Doubt that feels like dialogue,
1:11:35
opinions that feel like wisdom. We follow bread crumbs that
1:11:38
lead away from the bread of life, yet scripture shows
1:11:42
us a better way. In Second Chronicles twenty, King Jehoshaphat
1:11:47
faces an impossible battle. Three armies are coming against Judah,
1:11:52
and fear grips the nation. But instead of rushing to
1:11:56
generals or allies, Jehoshaphat does something radical. He calls a
1:12:01
fast and praise. He doesn't ask God to rub a
1:12:05
stamp his battle plan. He waits and God answers, not
1:12:10
with a strategy, but a song. You won't need to
1:12:13
fight in this battle, God says, stand firm, hold your position,
1:12:19
and see the salvation of the Lord. That day. Judah
1:12:24
wins the war by worshiping. No swords drawn, just hearts surrendered.
1:12:30
And it all started because they asked the right voice. First.
1:12:34
We must learn to audit our sources. Are we looking
1:12:37
for comfort or correction, agreement or truth, emotional relief or
1:12:42
divine revelation? Because you can be surrounded by people and
1:12:47
still be spiritually alone. If God isn't your first counsel,
1:12:51
you can post your pain online and get one thousand
1:12:54
likes and still not get healed. You can receive encouragement
1:13:00
that feels like peace but isn't aligned with God's word.
1:13:04
The people in your life may love you, but only
1:13:07
God formed you. Only he knows the blue print, and
1:13:11
only He can lead you where you were born to go.
1:13:15
Maybe this is your moment to pause, to take a
1:13:17
brutal inventory, to ask who am I really asking? Whose
1:13:22
opinion carries the most weight in my decisions? Is it culture, comfort,
1:13:27
convenience or Christ Because in the end, there are only
1:13:32
two kinds of people, those who seek God first and
1:13:35
those who turn to Him last. One is led, the
1:13:40
other is lost. And the difference isn't how spiritual they look,
1:13:44
but how surrendered they are when it matters most. So
1:13:48
here's the invitation. Come back, re center. Make God not
1:13:52
your last resort but your first pursuit. Not the one
1:13:56
you consult after your plans fall apart, but the one
1:13:59
you follow before you make them. Don't wait for silence,
1:14:04
pain or confusion to remind you who you should have asked.
1:14:08
Let this be the turning point where you exchange noise
1:14:12
for his whisper, opinions for his voice, and confusion for
1:14:15
his presence, because the truth is, if you've been following
1:14:20
the wrong voice, you don't just need advice, you need
1:14:24
a shepherd and the good news he's already calling your name. Father.
1:14:30
We confess that we've asked every one but you. We've
1:14:33
leaned on our own understanding, chaste, comfort instead of clarity,
1:14:38
and called it wisdom. But now we come back. We
1:14:43
come tired of the noise, tired of confusion, tired of
1:14:47
relying on ourselves or those who cannot see what you see.
1:14:53
You are the God who answers in fire and whispers
1:14:56
in silence. Speak again, Lord, let us hear you. You
1:15:00
break every dependence that has replaced your voice, expose every
1:15:05
counterfeit piece that has numbed us, and train our hearts
1:15:08
to seek you first fully, faithfully, We release our need
1:15:13
to be in control. We surrender our addiction to instant answers,
1:15:18
and we ask for something better. Your presence, your leadership,
1:15:22
your will lead us. Shepherd of our souls, correct us
1:15:26
when we stray, counsel us when we're confused, and comfort
1:15:31
us not with empty phrases, but with eternal truth. Let
1:15:35
our lives be marked not by how loudly we speak,
1:15:38
but by how closely we listen. Amen. If you made
1:15:42
it to the end of this message, thank you. It
1:15:45
means you're not just looking for inspiration, you're hungry for transformation.
1:15:52
Our hope is that this wasn't just thought provoking, but
1:15:55
spirit provoking, that it expos something in you and turned
1:16:00
your eyes back to Him. If you want more, everything
1:16:04
we've taught is part of a growing library of ad
1:16:07
free deep Bible teaching available now on our website. And
1:16:11
if you're someone who learns better by reading or journaling,
1:16:15
many of our most impactful teachings are now ebooks crafted
1:16:21
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1:16:25
This channel isn't about going viral, It's about going deeper.
1:16:29
And if that's your heart too, you're part of this family.
1:16:33
You can support what we're doing by liking, sharing, subscribing,
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or exploring the links below. Every clique helps keep the
1:16:42
word alive and help someone else find what you just did.
1:16:47
May the Spirit lead you in every decision ahead. May
1:16:50
you seek God first and never last. May His voice
1:16:54
be louder than the noise, and may you never forget
1:16:57
the Shepherd still speaks until next time. Stay rooted in
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the word. This is deep Bible stories where the word
1:17:06
explained like never before.