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Max Lucado – Jacob and the Wilderness: What God Teaches Us in Our Hardest Seasons · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You have had or will have moments of deep despair.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: You've had or will have hours in which your eyes
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: weep a river and your heart breaks into a thousand pieces.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: You've had or will have journeys through dry, barren stretches
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of life that will leave you feeling all by yourself
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and exhausted. You will feel stripped of everything you cherish.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You'll look around and find no one to comfort you.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: You will search for strength, but the search will be
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in vain because strength will not come. Yet in that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: desolate moment, as you sit near a headstone and cry
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: on a bar stool and drink in your bedroom and sigh,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I want you to know That God will meet you.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: He will meet you there. You will sense him. And
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you will see him. As never before. So please do
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: not begrudge. The barren stretches. For it is in our barrenness.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: That we encounter God. It is in our isolation that
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: we find. Our Bethel. We find the house of God.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Jacob did. And no one was more surprised than he.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: His life at this point was a total mess. Recall
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the context. We are 2,000 years before the birth of Christ.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: We are somewhere in southern Israel. We are looking at
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the grandson of Abraham. First there was Abraham. Then there
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: was Isaac. And then there were the two sons, Jacob
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and Esau. Jacob was the second born of the two
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: sons to Isaac and Rebekah. He was second born only
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  Speaker 1: by a matter of seconds. They were twins. He came
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  Speaker 1: out second, holding his brother's heel, hence the name Jacob
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: that means heel grabber, According to tradition, the oldest son
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: would receive the birthright. And the birthright consisted not just
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of double the inheritance, but it also, in this case,
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  Speaker 1: consisted of being the courier of the promise that God
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: had made to Abraham. Now, God had told Rebekah that
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Jacob would receive the birthright. But rather than wait on
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: God to orchestrate the presentation, Jacob took matters into his
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: own hands. He deceived his father and his brother. In
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: one fell swoop, he tricked them both. Believe it or not,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: he fooled his nearly blind father into believing that he
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: was his older brother. Isaac gave the secondborn, Jacob, the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: blessing that he had reserved for the firstborn. Esau came
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: to receive the blessing. And when he did, he found
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  Speaker 1: his father, Isaac, nearly blind, very old, dozing in the tent.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: His belly was full of the food that Jacob had
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: fed him. Esau awoke his father by saying that he
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  Speaker 1: had come for that blessing that Isaac had promised. Isaac
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: told him he had already blessed Esau. Esau said that
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: couldn't be the case. Esau would know he was Esau.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Who realized the betrayal first? Was it Isaac, the father
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: with the full stomach and the dimmed eyes? Or was
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: it Esau, the hairy brute of a brother who had
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: chosen beans over birthright. According to scripture, both reacted. Isaac
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: trembled exceedingly and Esau cried with an exceedingly great and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: bitter cry. Esau thought to himself, my father will soon
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: die and I will be sad for him. Then I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: will kill Jacob. Ancient version of Sibling rivalry, wouldn't you think?
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: He emerged from the tent with rage in his eyes.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: He grabbed the knife that he used to skin the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: animals and he swore to use it to slit his
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: brother's throat. Had Jacob been nearby, he would have done
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: just that. But Jacob was not near. The mother was, Rebecca,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and she saw Esau's rage and she raced to warn Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: She told him, get out of town as fast as
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  Speaker 1: you can. Don't pack a bag. Don't grab a cloak.
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  Speaker 1: Don't stop running and don't look back. She told Jacob
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  Speaker 1: to hightail it to the land of her brother Laban
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  Speaker 1: and stay there until Esau cooled down. Jacob took off
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and he began that journey of some 550 miles from
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: southern Israel to to Mesopotamia or modern-day Turkey. Neither he
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: nor Rebecca imagined that he would be gone for 20 years.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Neither he nor Rebecca imagined that he would never, as
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: far as we know, see his mother again. He left
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: behind a weeping mother, a seething brother, and an aging,
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  Speaker 1: angry father, and his life was just in free fall.
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  Speaker 1: Not only was he suddenly alone, he was suddenly broke.
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  Speaker 1: He had no herds. He had no servants. He had
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  Speaker 1: no companions. He had no guards. He had no resources. Nothing.
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  Speaker 1: It might surprise you to know that his grandfather Abraham
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  Speaker 1: was very rich. The scripture says Abraham was very rich
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  Speaker 1: in livestock, in silver and in gold. He had vast
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  Speaker 1: amounts of sheep and and donkeys and tents and camels
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  Speaker 1: and servants. Why, he and his nephew Lot were so
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  Speaker 1: blessed that the land was not able to support them.
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  Speaker 1: Their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.
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  Speaker 1: This affluence was passed down to Isaac, Abraham's son. Isaac
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  Speaker 1: began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.
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  Speaker 1: For he had possessions of flocks, of herds, and a
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  Speaker 1: great number of servants. I say that so you'll know
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  Speaker 1: that Jacob was raised in affluence. He was wealthy. His
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  Speaker 1: grandfather was wealthy. He was wealthy. And he was raised
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  Speaker 1: in a wealthy home. So he was surrounded by servants, shepherds, workers.
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  Speaker 1: He had his choice of tents and camels. He had
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  Speaker 1: everything he needed. And then from one moment to the next,
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  Speaker 1: he had nothing. He was all alone. For two days,
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  Speaker 1: he traveled. The land through which he walked was scorched
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and barren bleak as moonscape. On the second day in
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  Speaker 1: the evening, the sun set over a village called Luz, L-U-Z,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and he stopped for the night. Jacob did not go
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  Speaker 1: into the village. We are not told why. Maybe the
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  Speaker 1: village contained some contrary folk. Maybe he was a bit
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  Speaker 1: insecure so far from home. Why he stopped short of lose,
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  Speaker 1: we are not told. What we are told is this.
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  Speaker 1: He took one of the stones of that place and
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  Speaker 1: put it at his head. And he lay down in
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  Speaker 1: that place to sleep. Here he is, the grandson of
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  Speaker 1: a baron, the son of an ancient version of an aristocrat.
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  Speaker 1: Had Jacob lived today, he would have been raised in
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  Speaker 1: a mansion, pampered by servants, educated in the finest school.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: And yet here he was far from home without so
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  Speaker 1: much as a sleeping bag or pillow for his head.
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  Speaker 1: He was the Bronze Age version of the prodigal son.
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  Speaker 1: The desert around Luz was his pig pen. And he,
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  Speaker 1: like the prodigal, was far from home. But you might
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: recall in Jesus' parable about the prodigal son, that the
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  Speaker 1: prodigal son did something that Jacob did not do. The
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: prodigal son came to himself. In other words, he woke up.
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  Speaker 1: He came to his senses. He looked at the pigs
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  Speaker 1: he was feeding. He looked at the life he was leading.
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  Speaker 1: And he determined, I will arise and I will go
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  Speaker 1: to my father. It's important for you to know that
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  Speaker 1: Jacob showed no such initiative. He did not make a resolve.
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  Speaker 1: He did not display repentance. he didn't show remorse he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: didn't regret what he did to his family he didn't
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  Speaker 1: pray as Jonah did he didn't weep as Peter did
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  Speaker 1: in fact Jacob's passivity is what makes what you're about
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  Speaker 1: to read one of the great paragraphs of grace in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible. We're in Genesis chapter 28. Let's read it together.
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  Speaker 1: Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder resting on the
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  Speaker 1: earth and reaching up into heaven. He saw angels of
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  Speaker 1: God going up and coming down. Then Jacob saw the
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  Speaker 1: Lord standing above the ladder and he said, I am
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, the God of Abraham, your grandfather, and the
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  Speaker 1: God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants
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  Speaker 1: the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants
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  Speaker 1: will be as many as the dust of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: And they will spread west and east, north and south.
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  Speaker 1: And all the families of the earth will be blessed
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  Speaker 1: through you and your descendants. I am with you. I
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  Speaker 1: will protect you everywhere you go. And I will bring
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  Speaker 1: you back to this land. I will not leave you
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  Speaker 1: until I have done what I have promised you. Jacob
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  Speaker 1: saw a ladder that connected earth with heaven. The Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: word here can equally be translated stairway. That's why some
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  Speaker 1: of you have heard this story as the stairway to heaven.
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  Speaker 1: The stairway spanned the distance between Jacob's barren, borrowed bed
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  Speaker 1: of dirt and heaven's highest, holiest dwelling. And what was
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  Speaker 1: happening on this ladder? Well, angels were ascending and descending
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  Speaker 1: up and down. Their movement was a rush of lights
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: back and forth, up and down, a corridor from heaven
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  Speaker 1: this place to God's place was made visible. Jacob was
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  Speaker 1: able to see the unseen. And I would suggest to
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  Speaker 1: you and me that if we could see the unseen,
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  Speaker 1: we would see the same. That we would see the same.
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  Speaker 1: We would see angels all around us. When the apostle
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  Speaker 1: John caught a glimpse of heaven, do you know what
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  Speaker 1: he saw? He saw 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and
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  Speaker 1: thousands of angels. Somebody do the math on that. I
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  Speaker 1: think he's saying, I saw so many angels, I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: count them. The scripture speaks of thousands of angels in
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  Speaker 1: joyful assembly. On the eve before his crucifixion, Jesus said,
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  Speaker 1: do you suppose that I cannot appeal to my father
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  Speaker 1: and he will immediately provide me with more than 12
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  Speaker 1: legions of angels? That's more than 80,000 angels. Folks, angels
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  Speaker 1: are to heaven what stars are to the night sky.
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  Speaker 1: They are too many to count. They are everywhere. They
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  Speaker 1: surround you wherever you go. There is never a plane
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  Speaker 1: upon which you ride. There is never a store into
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  Speaker 1: which you enter. That you are not surrounded by God's mighty,
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  Speaker 1: powerful servants. The angels of heaven. And what is their task?
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  Speaker 1: Have you seen this verse in the New Testament? All
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  Speaker 1: the angels are spirits who serve God and are sent
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  Speaker 1: to help those who receive salvation. You're not alone in
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  Speaker 1: this journey. There are servants everywhere you go. Invisible, strong,
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  Speaker 1: compassionate angels who are carrying out God's will. And the
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  Speaker 1: message of Jacob's stairway or Jacob's ladder could not be simpler. God,
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  Speaker 1: ever in the highest, and we, when we are at
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  Speaker 1: our lowest place, And what connects us, what binds us
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  Speaker 1: together is this conduit of grace. Angels ascending and descending,
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  Speaker 1: carrying out God's will. And when you pray, when you worship,
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  Speaker 1: when you beg God for mercy, your request sets into
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  Speaker 1: motion a flurry of angelic activities. In the book of Revelation, again,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: John's vision, his peek into heaven. Here's what he saw.
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  Speaker 1: Another angel carrying a gold censer came and stood at
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  Speaker 1: the altar. He was given a great quantity of incense
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  Speaker 1: so that he could offer up, look at this, the
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  Speaker 1: prayers of all the holy people of God on the
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  Speaker 1: golden altar before the throne. So when you pray, Your
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  Speaker 1: prayers are handed to an angel, and he carries those
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  Speaker 1: prayers as if they were in a pan, as if
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  Speaker 1: they were in a bowl, and he presents them to God.
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  Speaker 1: The angel ascends with your requests. Our prayers are couriered
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  Speaker 1: into the presence of God by God's angels. And as
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  Speaker 1: God hears those prayers, look what happens. Then the angel
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  Speaker 1: filled the censer with fire from the altar and heaved
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  Speaker 1: it to the earth. It set off thunders, voices, lightnings,
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  Speaker 1: and an earthquake. Your prayers are heard by God and
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  Speaker 1: God responds with his activity. Your prayers have a thermostatic
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  Speaker 1: impact upon the actions of heaven. Yes, my friend, to
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  Speaker 1: be clear, let me state it. There is above you
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  Speaker 1: a corridor. a conduit, a stone stairway, a corridor through
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  Speaker 1: which God's will is done. Mothers, when you pray for
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  Speaker 1: your children, husbands, when you pray a blessing on your marriage, children,
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  Speaker 1: when you kneel at your bed and you ask God
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  Speaker 1: to help you, your prayers trigger the ascension of angels
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  Speaker 1: and the downpour of blessings. Now Jacob saw this. He
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  Speaker 1: saw this. And God told Jacob that he would make
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  Speaker 1: him and his descendants a great people who would cover
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  Speaker 1: the earth. He repeated to him the very blessing that
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  Speaker 1: he had given to Abraham, the very blessing that he
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  Speaker 1: had given to Isaac. Nothing has changed, God said to Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: Now think about it, folks. Up until this point, In
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  Speaker 1: the story of Jacob, he has done nothing, nothing except
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  Speaker 1: be a sneak, slimy. He's a trickster. He's a hustler.
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  Speaker 1: He's a grifter. He's a drifter. He worked the system
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  Speaker 1: like a riverboat gambler. He played his brother like a
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  Speaker 1: $ 2 fiddle. There is thus far not one mention of
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Jacob in prayer. Jacob in faith or Jacob in earnest
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  Speaker 1: pursuing God? Jacob did nothing. God did everything. So the
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  Speaker 1: hero of this moment is not Jacob. The hero of
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  Speaker 1: this moment is God. This is a picture of grace.
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  Speaker 1: This is a picture of God taking the initiative. This
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  Speaker 1: is a picture of God taking the first step. He
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: created the vision. He revealed himself. And he still does.
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  Speaker 1: My friend William attended Wake Forest University. He had a
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: lot going for him. He was raised in a great home.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Played a great game of golf. So good that he
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: played on the golf team at Wake Forest University. He
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: was smart. He was fast-tracked as a freshman onto an
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: MBA program. He had everything going for him. But he
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: drank a lot. He experimented with drugs. He violated the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: team policies. And he was right on the verge of
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: losing everything. But then God spoke to him. When William
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: shared this story with me, he paused at this point
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and he said, now remember, Max, I'm just an old Presbyterian.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: We're as close to charismatic as, well, the only thing
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: we do is raise one finger. So he said, I'm
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: not used to mystical encounters. But what happened to William
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: next was every bit as mystical and supernatural as what
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: happened to Jacob outside the village of Luz. William was
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: despondent his scholarship was in jeopardy his future was under
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  Speaker 1: question he went on a walk out in the woods
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: a single trail winding through the trees and that's when
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  Speaker 1: he saw Jesus Jesus stood there on the pathway And
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: you know what Jesus said to him? Jesus said, William,
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  Speaker 1: everything you've always heard about me is true. I am here.
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  Speaker 1: I love you. And it's time for you to come home.
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  Speaker 1: And William did. In fact, within short order, he had
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: changed his major and he went on to serve as
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: a pastor in for a couple of decades and today
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: he heads up a large organization that that finds jobs
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: for people interested in non-profit work and church work God
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  Speaker 1: spoke to William just like God spoke to Jacob and
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: God spoke to my friend Matthew just like he spoke
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to William and like he spoke to Jacob Matthew has
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: allowed me to share this story with his permission, but
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  Speaker 1: at his request, I've changed his name because it involves
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  Speaker 1: a lifelong struggle that Matthew has had with pornography. And
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  Speaker 1: he did not want to embarrass his family, but he
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: really wants, he really wants to brag on God. The
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: day that God spoke to Matthew Matthew was in another
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  Speaker 1: city other than his hometown, a large city in the
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  Speaker 1: United States. He had battled pornography for decades. It was
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: like an anchor, he said, around his progress. The gravitational
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: pull of the internet, of pictures, of even seedy strip clubs,
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  Speaker 1: he just couldn't stay awake. And on that particular day,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: he had just emerged from one of those seedy strip
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: clubs in the downtown section of a large city. He
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: said there were many Sundays that he stood up to
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  Speaker 1: speak to his church, still carrying the shame of a
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  Speaker 1: Saturday night stumble. And he had stumbled on that day.
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  Speaker 1: And he was walking down the sidewalk, a thoroughfare of
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  Speaker 1: the city. And he said, I prayed. I prayed. He
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: said my prayer was something like God. I don't deserve grace.
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  Speaker 1: I stumbled yet again. And that's when Matthew heard the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: voice of God. Matthew said God told me you don't
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  Speaker 1: deserve grace. You didn't the first time you requested it.
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  Speaker 1: And you don't this time. But that's why it's grace.
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  Speaker 1: I forgive you. and I will forgive you for the
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  Speaker 1: rest of your life. There's a verse in the book
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  Speaker 1: of Romans that Matthew said encapsulates his experience where the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: apostle Paul wrote, God's kindness is intended to lead to repentance.
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  Speaker 1: It was not the sternness or the discipline of God,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: but it was the kindness of God that led to
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  Speaker 1: Matthew's repentance. And it was still a struggle. But to
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: this day, he's standing strong and he's moving forward in faith. Now,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I know what someone is thinking. I know exactly what
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: someone is thinking. Why doesn't God talk to me? I've
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  Speaker 1: never seen a stairway leading into heaven. I've never heard
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  Speaker 1: God talk to me in my dreams I've never seen
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  Speaker 1: God on a path in the woods I've never heard
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: God on a thoroughfare in a city why doesn't God
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  Speaker 1: talk to me somebody is thinking that and I would
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  Speaker 1: like to answer that with this what do you think
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  Speaker 1: he's doing right now is this not a holy moment
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  Speaker 1: Has he not brought you to this place? He knows
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  Speaker 1: how barren this world can be. He knows how hard
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: this walk can be. And I would suggest to you,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: dear friend, that God has orchestrated this moment in your
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: life so that you would hear him say, I still
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: love you. And everything you've heard about me is true.
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  Speaker 1: Come home. Your heavenly father loves you. This is the
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  Speaker 1: message of Jacob's story. Again, he's done nothing but slimy
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: things thus far. He's done nothing to orchestrate or deserve
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  Speaker 1: or create this moment. As far as we know, he's
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: yet to offer a prayer. As far as we know,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: he's yet to cry out to heaven for help. And
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: yet God appeared to him. And God is speaking to you. Now,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: your ladder into heaven is not just a vision, not
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: just a dream. Your stairway into God's presence is a person,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke to his disciples, he said, truly, truly,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: I say to you, you will see heaven opened and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the angels of God, look at this, ascending and descending
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  Speaker 1: on earth. the son of man, talking about himself. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, he said, I am your ladder. I am
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  Speaker 1: your mediator. In fact, the scripture says there is one
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  Speaker 1: God and one mediator so that human beings can reach God.
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  Speaker 1: That way is through Christ Jesus. The reason we can
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  Speaker 1: be certain that your prayers are carried into heaven is
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  Speaker 1: because of Jesus Christ. He is your mediator. He is
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  Speaker 1: the ladder. He is the one who facilitates the movement
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  Speaker 1: of the angels and the transport of your prayers. Don't
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you think this is an extraordinary realization? I mean, somebody
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: here is thinking, man, I can't even get the plumber
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to call me back. And you're telling me God will
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: hear me. The answer is yes. Jacob was stunned by
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: what he saw. The next verse says, then Jacob awoke
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: this place. And I did not know it. In this place,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: this barren place, this desolate place. How many people could
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: say the same? For the Lord is in this place.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: We expect to find him in the holy places. in
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the Meccas of the world, the Jerusalem of the world,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: the temples, the Easter services. We expect to find him
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: in those religious gatherings, but he would meet me in
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: this place, in this barren spot. They do not know
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the Lord is here in my desolation, here in the desert,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: here in the dark times, the broken times. Again, Jacob
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: was a away from his family. He was a fugitive.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: He was a victim of his own folly. He was penniless.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: He was homeless. He didn't even have a blanket for
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: his head. He thought he had lost it all, but
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: actually he found it all. He found a father who
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: found him first. I conclude by inviting you to do
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: what Jacob did. Jacob turned his pillow over That stone
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: into a pillar. And then he renamed the place of
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: his pain. Here's how the story ends. Jacob took the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: stone he had used for his pillow. And he stood
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it up as a memorial pillar. And he poured oil
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: over it. And he christened the place Bethel. Which means
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: God's house. What is your version of a stone pillow? No.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: This stone pillow was a reminder to Jacob of everything
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: he had lost. There's probably a stone pillow in your life,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: maybe a gravestone, maybe a divorce decree, maybe a table
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: full of bills that you can't pay. It's just a
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: reminder of all the things you've lost. But here in
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: this moment of desolation, you sense the presence of God
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: meeting you here, meeting you here in the middle of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the desert. Here's the promise. God will meet you in
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: this place. Do not interpret the presence of pain as
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the absence of God. Indeed, God allows us to pass
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: through times of pain so that we will stop depending
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: upon our own resources and begin depending upon Him. and
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: with his help your pillow will become a pillar and
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: your place of desolation will become a place of worship
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: and you like Jacob will say I didn't know it
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: but God was here all along amen Thank you, Lord,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: for this amazing story that reminds us that there's more
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: to life than we can see. And in these difficult
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: times in which we find ourselves, a whole world weary
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and wounded and worried, would you please choose to pour
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: yourself out upon your children? We pray this in the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: name of Christ and all the church said.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: somewhere out there. That's enough for me. I don't need
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: to hold you near me. Don't need promises to keep.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: world I see.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: Even if I'm not beside you Even if you never.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Know There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: you still glow I don't need forever I just need
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: you to exist.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: You don't have to stay with me.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: You don't have to feel the same. Just as long
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: as you're still out there calling softly through my days.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: You don't have to look my way.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be my home.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: It's enough to know you're living in a.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: World I'm not alone. I won't chase you through the distance.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: Won't disturb your chosen life. I'll just keep you in
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: my silence like a star that shines at night. Through
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: the dark and through the blue. I still think of you.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: know you're living in a world.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not alone. I don't need to be your light
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: I don't need to cross your mind All I need
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: is just the truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: to look my way You don't have to be my
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: home It's enough to know you're living
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: In a world I'm not alone.