When It Feels Like There is No Hope

Dave Jackson00:00:01

I found myself in a spiral. Spiral. Yeah. Every time I turned on YouTube, anytime I turn on the news, I saw things that I just couldn't believe were happening.And not only happening, they were happening more often. How do you get yourself out of the spiral? That's what we're going to talk about today. I'm Dave Jackson, and this is Feeding my faith.Feeding my Faith. So there I was, going to YouTube again.And if you've heard the last couple episodes, I was talking about the lack of personal responsibility and the lack of consequences and we're all going to hell in a handbasket was basically my mental state. And I'm not making this up when I say it physically affected my body. Like, it just felt like the air was heavier.And it's just kind of the way YouTube is wired. It serves you what it thinks you want. I remember for the longest time, it thought I wanted sharks, and I would click on it and go, I don't want this.But I clicked on it, so it thought I did. And after watching body cam footage, videos of youth takeovers and other depressing topics, it really started to make me feel different physically.And I'm worried about the world my great nieces and nephews are walking into as teenagers. And, I mean, what examples do they have? And 60%. You ready for this? 60% Of the McDonald's in Chicago have closed.How bad is it when a McDonald's leaves a city in Fairfax, Fairfax, Virginia, that's about 15 miles from D.C. there's a McDonald's that has locked the doors, and you have to show an ID to get in. You got to be 21, because it's right across the street from a high school. And so these are the things I just saw that today.YouTube is still feeding me this stuff. I've gone over and said, give me cat videos. Give me something. But it can turn into a spiral, and it leaves you feeling worse and worse and worse.Which brings me to Philippians 4, 8. And, boy, does this have a new ring to it. And he says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, Whatever.Whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy. Think about such things.And I always read that verse, but there was a part of me that was like, yeah, but isn't that kind of burying your head in the sand, like, because, you know, we got to know what's going on in the world, and that's true. But you have to realize there are times when you can go a Little too far with that.And so I've been very lucky to have a woman named Jerry Carlson come into my life. She's a student of mine. And here is Jerry's story. It's amazing. And that is, she had weeks of pain.Now, when we say pain, we're not talking paper cuts. We're talking worse than childbirth. And she's got a disease that I can't really probably pronounce, but I will do my best. It is called. Here we go.Variegate porphyra. That's probably wrong, as well as it's a subtype of acute hepatic porphyra, and it's a rare blood disease.And so the fun thing about a blood disease is you are going from the inside out, and they could not figure out what was going wrong. And so this is pain that is above, and this is somebody who's had a kid, and this was pain that is above childbirth.And then she started off with these pains and ended up basically being paralyzed for the better part of a year. So when you talk about a great condition to start spiraling, that's it.Because the doctors are telling her, kids, you might want to get your affairs in order. You might want to make sure everything you want to say to Mom. You said to mom, they were getting ready to put her into.They wanted to put her into hospice. And you're like, well, you know, give her some painkillers. Well, she was on, are you ready for. I'm not making this up. Oxycontin.And I was like, they still have that, like, you know, fentanyl, which has killed so many people. And she's doing a cocktail of both these and then some. And still in pain because they couldn't figure out what the deal was.She was actually hallucinating all sorts of amazing things. And when I talked to her, she's doing a podcast herself called Hope Boulevard. That's at Hope Boulevard just blvd dot org.And when you talk to her, you're like, well, how did you get through this? Because I'm just picturing being in a hospital bed.I can kind of barely move my head left or right, and I don't know, Judge Judy comes on, and I have no way of changing the channel for the 18th time. I can't imagine that. And her answer is God. Basically knowing that God was still with her.Even though the pain was like nothing she'd ever felt, she knew God was still with her, which is amazing. And one of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11. When anything really goes bad in my life, this is the one I turn to.And that is for I know the plans I have for you. And so for me, just that line, plans are something that's happening either in the future. It's not now, could be now. But it sounds very futur esque.For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and to not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. And that's what we're talking about today, hope.And so there are times when I'm like, lord, I don't get what is going on. This seems nuts. It seems crazy. What the heck? And I will read that.I'm like, all right, I don't get it now, but I might find out later that this is going to make more sense.And I was looking at the Bible and I thought this was interesting, that when it comes to the phrase, do not be afraid or fear not or do not fear, that is in at least 14 passages. Do not worry, do not be anxious is in at least eight passages, O ye of little faith. Exactly five times.Now, that's in parallel context of, you know, fear and worry and doubt. And I know you could say day, but it was, you know, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke and John talking about the same story.It's still a lot of times for Jesus to be saying, chill out, you know, fear not and know that I am God. 27 Times from Jesus. And what's interesting about this is that means you have to push through something that you don't want to push through.That's why you have to get pushed through it. If you could walk through it, you'd choose it. But there are times we get into situations and we're just like, what is the deal?What did I do to deserve this? And that hope, right, in those situations is when Satan's going to stop in and go, you know what? This is messed up.I don't know where God is, but if I was you, I would just lose him. He's not a very good friend, right? He's going to sneak that in your head.But if you think about it, when God wanted to make David a king, he didn't give him a crown, he gave him a Goliath. And when God wanted to raise Joseph to the palace, he didn't give him a shortcut, he gave him a prison.And when God wanted to make Esther a queen, he didn't give her comfort, he gave her a crisis. When God wanted to make Moses a leader, he didn't give Him a stage. He gave him wilderness.And a lot of times when you feel like God is breaking you and we've all been there, he's actually building you. And what you have to understand is that God doesn't give us what you expect in life.He gives you what you need to become everything that he needs you to be to fulfill your calling. The story, we've read it so many times. In Mark, about the time Jesus was asleep in the boat, a giant storm shows up.And the disciples are losing their minds. They're just like, we are going to die. I can't believe it. I'm going to die. And sometimes hope isn't that the storm immediately stops.Because if you think about it, the presence of the storm didn't mean the absence of God. It's just hope is knowing who is in the boat. And sometimes we're too busy looking at the waves to realize who's in the boat.If we go back to that verse again, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. And I know I don't want to go through stuff like, can't you just give me the knowledge without the trial? That would be nice, wouldn't it?But it's those trials that make you who you are. If I look back at myself, my sister is on the spectrum in some way.And so when people go, man, you are so patient, I look at God and go, thank you for my sister. I can see where that skill has helped. When my mom died early, it kind of turned me into not so much a workaholic.But I've definitely learned the lesson very early that you only got a short time on this planet. You better get to work. There are times when I have lost jobs that I thought, well, wait, now what I'm going to do.And then a door opens and you go, oh, that's what I'm going to do. And so it's easy to have the thoughts that spiral of like, nothing is working right. Because what happens is the world starts to look horrible.And Satan's going to transfer those feelings into, you are horrible. And he's going to do everything he can. Realize he is always trying to pry your hope and your faith from your hands.That's what he's trying to do here. And there are going to be things that are thrown at you, and you're going to be thinking, there's no way I can get through this.Which is why I love John 16:33. This is such a great, I love this. I have told you these things so that in me this is Jesus talking, so that in me you may have peace.In this world you will have trouble. Doesn't say you might have trouble. He doesn't say, cloudy with a chance of trouble. He's like, no, no, in this world you will have trouble.But take heart, I have overcome the world. And so when you want to go to Jesus and go, but I've got this thing, and Jesus is like, no, I got it, that's it's good.But Jesus, now this is happening, it's all right, I got it, you're okay. But Jesus, I have overcome the world. And so that's why I think for me, I still love Jeremiah 29:11. That's it's hanging in my living room.For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.And so if you find yourself in a spiral, if you find yourself in some sort of situation where you feel like you're being tested, just realize it's not going to be forever and that you will come out of this a better person, better equipped for whatever God has in mind for you. And when I talk with Jerry about being paralyzed for a year, she always reached out to God and prayed for healing.And what's interesting is she has to wear braces on her legs and her hands don't work as good as they used to, but she's pretty much self sufficient.And where you and I probably fall into the habit of thinking in calendars and years, Jerry has said, well, I know eventually, meaning and sometimes I might get fully restored when I get to heaven. And this is where we need to back up again. Sometimes we have that, that tunnel vision.And when we back up, we all have to realize that when we get to heaven, it is so amazing that the Bible says we can't even comprehend it. And so when you think about that, talk about thinking about good things, that will keep you focused, that will keep you hopeful.Jesus doesn't really talk about hope in the Bible. He talks about not worrying and not being afraid. And it dawned on me as I was working this particular message.Jesus doesn't talk about hope because he is hope. As long as we have Jesus, we always have hope because anything that you run up against, he's overcome. I've overcome the world.I was at a funeral this week for my now ex sister in law. And while my ex Wife is my ex wife. She's still a human who lost her sister.And so I went to the calling hours and it was actually great to see her if you can have a friendly divorce. We had one and I got to. I got caught up with my now ex step children who are just amazing.And they now have little kids and ranging from two and four little itty bitty kids. But there was one that I believe was seven. And about halfway through the funeral, I think it clicked what was really going on.And he became very distraught, as one does at a funeral and he does what you do. And that was. He went to his mom, who kind of brought him up and had him sit on her lap and gave him kisses, rubbed his head. We all know that feeling.There's only, you know, dad could kiss a boo boo. But it's, you know, mom's kisses always worked much better on a boo boo. And that's where there are times when we do feel overwhelmed, when we feel.When all of a sudden something clicks and we're like, oh, this is horrible. One of my other favorite verses comes from Psalm 46:10, and it says, be still and know that I am God. And there are times when we want to run away.We want to, you know, throw a fit, we want to scream. And there are times when we need to just be still and know that he is God. So focus on the good things. Focus on things that are admirable.Keep your mind, because where your mind goes, your body follows. And Satan loves to distract your brain. So that's the first place to start. So it might be time to change the channel if you.It might be time to search for cat videos on YouTube or good news or who knows? But you have to be able to recognize when you're in a spiral so that you can go, oh, I see what's going on here.And then step out of it and get back on the path that God wants you on, because Satan is pulling you in the wrong direction. He is prepping you for his test. Don't do that. And to quote Jerry Carlson, there is always hope, always. Simple.