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I always wondered what I look like. So I prayed, so I'm going to try something tonight. Preach with the mirror up here. You'll find out what that's about in a minute. I asked my wife, Do you think I should bring that up there? Yeah, go ahead. Well, tonight, I want to talk to you about overcoming anxiety, specifically a plan for overcoming an anxiety and really boils down to having a reverent heart.

And I'll explore that a little more this evening. Turning your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I'll be looking at primarily verses 73 to 80. 73 to 80. One of the nice things about Psalms is that the Psalms are a book about really how man responds, occasions for every kind of situation, whether that situation be a cause for depression, anxiety, anger, you name it, it's all there.

And God has given us the book so that we could see humanity wrestle with the difficult issues of life and Gain victory. And so it's very instructive for us, especially as we start talking about the things we've been talking about in terms of overcoming these deep heart issues.

Some of the very beginning, as we've already walked through, we've looked at, just by way of review, the Bible answers the basic question: who am I? Who am I? The gospel, God comes into the world, he speaks his truth, belief in that truth, especially John. John learned that he was a disciple whom Jesus loved.

That gave him life. It brought his soul at peace, put his heart at rest, and it enabled him to love one another and therefore live for God's glory. John's letter, 1 John, answers the question, what am I supposed to do? And the gospel answers that question: overcome every challenge to live for God's glory.

So the Bible answers the very basic question of who we are and what we're supposed to do. Who are we? If you are in Christ, you are a disciple whom Jesus loves. What are you supposed to do with your life? You are to overcome every challenge that would rival his glory, whether that is a challenge on the outside or whether it's a challenge on the inside.

And so, what that means is that you're going to need to overcome some things. We looked at some plans for life already. We looked at a repentance plan. If you're going through life, you need to learn how to repent. You're going to have to learn how to forgive.

So, you need a plan for that. You need to have a plan for handling temptation because that's going to come your way. You're going to have to have a plan for overcoming depression because life is going to get you down over and over. There are going to be occasions and situations that bring you low.

But then there's also going to be some occasions that will cause you to fear, be afraid, worry, and be anxious about. And so, you need an anxiety plan. How do you deal with anxiety? I can say on the outset of this that what's important in all of these things, especially when it comes down to the depression and anxiety, we often run from our depression, and we often run from our anxieties instead of run through them.

In fact, we get afraid of these circumstances, and we tend to retreat and run from them instead of running to God and with God through them. So, what I've set out here, you have to make up your mind. Mind ahead of time, who are you going to listen to?

Who are you going to listen to? Who is going to be the authority about issues of depression and issues of anxiety? It's not hard to understand. There's not too many authority options out there. Oh, there's a whole bunch, but when you boil them down into, they come into a few categories.

Number one, what do you think this represents? What authority is this? Yeah, look at yourself. You're looking in the mirror. And let me tell you, if you are going to use yourself as the measure of all things, you're not going to fully understand. You don't understand yourself. You don't understand God.

You don't understand some of the things that are coming at you. You don't understand the circumstances. And they can get you down. They can be very depressing. If you're the final measure of things, I can tell you where that's going to go. It's going to go to the point that you're not going to be able to handle it.

Eventually, you're going to get to the end, and you're going to either be depressed, you're going to be anxious, fear. You're going to learn how to take flight, run from. But there's a dark place here if this is your only authority. And most people realize, okay, They're not the final authority, especially when it comes to these things that I'm talking about: deep depression and paralyzing anxiety.

So then there's another source out there, and I would put this up there as the experts of the field. I introduced this to you last time and have before the DSM-5, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. And what this really represents up here for this illustration is the experts in the field.

Whether you look at that expert as somebody else or whether professionals or whoever, if you're not going to be the measure, then you're going to look to somebody else as the authority that can speak, correctly, diagnose the situation. And I can tell you where this goes. These, as I have read and studied, they typically run into the category of coping, whether that coping comes through avoidance, if that's possible, or some kind of governor.

So this is going to lead in some kind of governor, where that governor, if you can learn to govern yourself, or whether somebody else has to govern you, and you get committed to a place where you are governor. Governed by somebody else, or whether there are other governing methods, whether medications or other things that may be put in your life to cope with the situation.

Then there's another source, of course, it's God's Word. And God's Word has much to say about anxiety, depression, and all the things of life, because it is written by the one who created us, who knows us, who knows the impacts of sin, and knows how to save, and knows how to save completely, so that we may live for his glory.

And at the outset, you have to decide who are you going to listen to, because there's a path at the end of how God wants you to deal with issues that would rival his glory is very simple. Crucify them. So you're going to have to either learn how to cope or crucify.

And the Word of God has much to say on these. Now, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong in this. I will agree with the DSM-5, where it agrees with Scripture. I'll agree with your self-evaluation where it agrees with Scripture. I'm not particularly having a battle on that front, but to Really yield to a priority in who we're going to listen to and what we're going to really take to heart.

And I can assure you, God understands our deepest dilemmas, our greatest fears, our worst tears. He understands them, and that's exactly why he sent his son into the world, because sin breaks down the world and has put us in a fallen world, and he knows how to heal.

And so we're looking at a dealing with anxiety. We'll come to this psalmist in a minute, but I want to set up where we are. Let me just go ahead and read this just so the words are in our mind because this is where we're going to go tonight.

Psalm 119:73. Your hands made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. May those who fear you see me and be glad because I wait for your word. I know, O Lord, that your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Oh, may your loving kindness comfort me according to your word to your servant. May your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on your precepts. May those who fear you turn to me, even those who know your testimonies.

May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I will not be ashamed. So let's talk about an anxiety plan. There's a dictionary definition of anxiety. It's a noun. It's a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. There are biblical causes for anxiety that are very common to mankind.

Jesus talks about those in Matthew 6:31. Do not worry then, saying what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what we shall wear for clothing. For the Gentiles eagerly seek these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough of its own trouble. Three causes of anxiety that Jesus points out here, mentions in this. Number one, food. Two, clothing. Number three, Future. Anxieties. What are we going to eat? What are we going to wear?

Stuff for the body, but also the future. And that's a big one. The future. Jesus understands basics comprehensively, but he gives us a very simple picture of some causes for anxiety. But he also gives an anecdote for anxiety. In that same passage, Jesus says this: For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

Jesus revealed that the best anecdote for worry and anxiety is bound up in the concept of a good father. You have a good father, a heavenly father. Trusting him will put such anxieties to flight. Food, clothing, and the future. And Jesus flat out says, don't worry. It's a command.

Don't worry because you have a heavenly father. Don't be afraid because you have a heavenly father. Our heavenly father is both sovereign and he is good. It's bound up in the idea of the father. Good, sovereign. And I cannot help but see how the gospel provides the ultimate solution for all of humanity's anxieties: food, clothing, and the future.

And I don't think that's an exhaustive list of the Bible, but it sure covers the ground very quickly. I want to read to you a few things just out of the diagnostic manual of mental disorders. This has actually a lot to say about anxiety, along with depression and anxiety, has a lot to say about categories and groupings.

Individuals with anxiety disorders typically overestimate the danger in situations they fear or avoid. So there is a race to extremities, to extremes. I can't help but see that gospel truth and somebody who will be there to help guide into truth isn't very important in dealing with this with somebody.

Truth. Overestimate. The individual with a separation anxiety disorder is fearful or anxious about separation from attachment figures. An attachment figure is like somebody you're Very attached to a father, a mother, a child, a friend, a dog, whatever. But the individual with separation, anxiety disorder, is fearful or anxious about separation from attachment figures to a degree that is inappropriate.

Whereas it's okay to not want to be separated from somebody, but there is an inappropriate kind. In social anxiety disorder, the individual is fearful about social situations that involve the possibility of being scrutinized, of being negatively evaluated by others, by being embarrassed, humiliated, or rejected, or offending others.

Well, I think this person has an overt and excessive fear of man. And there's a remedy for that, and I didn't say on the last one. The fearful of anxious, or someone who's fearful of being separated. Well, we have a Heavenly Father that says, I'll never leave you or forsake you.

And if for some reason your closest friends or most precious people are taken for you, you still have a Heavenly Father and you're not alone. And so you can see how the gospel addresses these: that we're not to fear man. That's good news. We are to fear God.

I'll talk about that in a minute. That is great news. In panic disorder, the individual experiences recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, abrupt surges of intense fear or discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, and it's often accompanied by physical and cognitive symptoms. Again, an intense fear. And a lot of this time, these fears are general, non-descript.

You know, there's a good kind of anxiety, a good kind of anxiety, or a good kind of fear that the Bible talks about. Such a fear stimulates a person to action. It's the reason why some of you have a job is because you're afraid of not being able to pay the bills.

And so there's a fear of not being able to provide. That's a good fear. That's the reason why some of you are going to study for exams this week, because you have a fear, a healthy fear. And it stimulates you to action, to do what's right, maybe to protect someone from harm, maybe to get ready for something important.

It's constructive. That kind of fear is constructive and necessary. But there's other kinds of fears that are negative. And that's what talking about here tonight. Kind of anxiety that is destructive. It leads to paralysis or debilitates a person. And oftentimes it's not as specific. It's a little more fear of the unknown.

I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just afraid. Well, the key features, some of these disorders, as put by the DSM-5, of generalized anxiety disorder are persistent and excessive. Worry about various domains, including work and school and performance, that the individual finds difficult to control. Yeah, well, we understand that there's a lot of things in life that we cannot control, but it doesn't have to paralyze us because we have a God who is in control and he is good.

And so we can put all of these. So I think the gospel has something to say on this arena. The Bible does speak to these issues. And you see that really in so many ways. But it boils down to this concept that God is good and that God is in control.

Two pillars of truth. The psalmist, before we get to our Stanza tonight, he's already learned that God is good. Look at what he says in verse 17. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word. So his prayer in verse 17 is: Deal bountifully with me, be wonderful with me, be over the top good with me, so that I may live and keep your word.

Lord, I need you to be so good to me so that I will not be a person who defects and goes away from you, but one who keeps your word. He recognizes his tendency to wander away. And if you're honest with yourself, you understand one of the things about our own heart, we have a proneness to wander away from God.

The psalmist feels it, and he says, Deal bountifully with me. And then he says, look in verse 67. He says this, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good. What's happened here? He has prayed that God would help him keep his word, and then all of a sudden he is afflicted.

He is afflicted by very depressing circumstances and very fearful circumstances. And then he can. Say these words in verse 67: Before I was afflicted, before my depressing and my fearful situations came over me, I was going astray from you. But now I keep your word. You are good and you do good.

Do you see what the psalmist is saying? Saying, God, you have a purpose for these things. And even though they're hard, you are good and you do good. And even in affliction, there is good purpose. He has a purpose for our fears and for our tears. Affliction. The causes of his depression and worry was God's answer to his earlier prayer for God to deal bountifully with him.

That's hard for us to understand. But here is a guy that we're dealing with that has gone through all kinds of horrific circumstances, perplexing, difficult, depressing, and fearful. And he is coming out running, delighting. We can learn from him. God takes him through these fearful circumstances and he begins to understand how.

There are four steps. Quickly, I want to go through this psalm or the stanza of this psalm. Four steps to overcoming anxiety that I just want to quickly run through, and then I'll flesh them out a little more. Number one, fear God. Number two, comfort yourself in God.

Pray to God, basically, and delight in God. So fear God. Comfort yourself in God's sovereign goodness. Pray in the light of God's sovereign goodness and delight in God's sovereign goodness. This whole situation of anxiety that he's going to deal with in these verses boils down to these two pillar truths: God is good and God is sovereign.

God is sovereign, he's in control of everything: the good, bad, the awful, and everything else. He's in control of it all, but he's also good. You see how one without the other isn't comforting. If God is sovereign, but he's not good, that doesn't comfort the heart. If he is good, but not sovereign, that really doesn't comfort.

I need more than a God who means well. I need a God who means well and can execute his good plan. And so these two pillars are the basis for a plan to overcome. Anxiety, the fears that we face in life. So he's already realized that God is good, and it's in the stanza, in the words that I just read to you, that he will learn that God is sovereign.

So, first of all, first step in a plan to overcome anxiety is to fear God's disapproval above all others. Fear God. That's what it means. Fear God. Fear God's disapproval above all other fears. God is a father. He's a father. And a father should be revered, respected. But I want to be careful here because we often think, well, fearing God is not really what we want to do.

We need to love God, not fear him. No, the Bible sees no disconnect between fearing God and loving him. And sometimes we walk that back a little bit. We say, well, what he really means is revering. No, it's the same word, phobia. Be fearful. Be afraid of. And what is he talking about?

What does the Bible talk about? Fear God's disapproval. Be afraid of God's disapproval. Ecclesiastes. 12, 13 says this. The conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments, because this applies to every person. And in Revelation 14, 6, you remember that wonderful scene when that angel is flying through in the midst of Babylon the Great before the great judgments are finally going to come.

There's an angel flying and he is proclaiming an eternal gospel. Gospel, eternal good news. And he's saying, before the final bowls start coming, here, you're again an invitation to come out of this worldly system and not come under God's judgment. And this is what he says. The eternal gospel.

The point number one that this angel says is, fear God. Fear God. And you think about the context of what good news that is. Don't fear the beast. Don't fear the sanctions against you. Don't fear not having food. You fear God. Boy, that's good news. You see, a father is to be feared.

And there's good news about fearing God. It is good news. Number one, this fear will consume all other fears. If you will fear God, guess what it will do? If you will have a right fear, Fear of God, specifically a right fear of his disapproval. If you will truly fear that, that fear will consume the others.

Psalm 119, 20, look at what he says. There's four places that the word fear shows up in Psalm 119, and two of them are in our passage. And one is right before, and one is right after. Look at what Psalm 120 says, or verse 120. My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.

In other words, the psalm is saying, Whatever I'm going through, the thing that I'm afraid more of, more than man's disapproval, more than the afflictions, more than these circumstances, is not pleasing you, God. I'm afraid of disobedience to you. And if that fear is your fear, if that's your greatest fear, then the other fears will eventually have to bow.

And that's exactly what happens in the Psalms, psalmist life. So, number one, this fear will consume all other fears. Number two, or the second good news of it, is that it puts you in the greatest comfort. Look back at verse 63. I am a companion of all those who fear you and of all those who keep your precepts.

It's good news to fear God. This fear will consume all others. It will put you in the greatest company. And number three, it will grant you the most meaningful service. And this is in our text. Look at verse 74. May those who fear you see me and be glad.

We'll talk about that in a minute, but that's meaningful service is that your circumstances can be used to encourage others. As you go through your circumstances and your fears and overcome your fears, others can watch and others can watch you and be glad. So there's good news. Fearing God's disapproval above all others is what the Bible wants us to do, and that puts all the others into their proper perspective.

Second, comfort yourself. So fear God, comfort yourself. Comfort yourself by knowing that God's sovereign goodness is over three areas of life. First of all, It's over your being. God's sovereign goodness is over your being. Look at verse 73, and we'll start going through this stanza quickly. Your hands made me and fashioned me.

Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Your hands made me. You fashioned me. You made and fashioned me. Put it together. It's like you thought through much detail in putting me together. You see, when you understand this, that God is sovereign and he's good and he is your creator.

He knows everything about you. He has full knowledge of you and he has complete power over influencing your being. Look at what he says. Your hands have fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. See, he knows you intimately, and so he knows how to teach you.

He knows how to teach you so that you will get it. That's what the psalmist is saying. Put as much thought into teaching me as you did making me. And that's exactly what God does with his people. So that, like it, so that I may learn. So that I may learn your commandments.

So that I may be skilled in living out your ways. You see, God made us, and he knows how to give us understanding. So we are to trust and obey him. Deepen our knowledge of his word and him. Trust him in life's situations, the deserts, the fearful situations, the depressing ones.

He is doing something. And he's wanting to accomplish something in us. So God is sovereign over your being, all aspects of it. Second, sovereign, God, you can comfort yourself by knowing that God's sovereign goodness is over your testimony. It's over your testimony. Look at verse 74. May those who fear you see me and be glad.

Notice that people are watching you. People were watching the psalmist. And notice his prime interest in verse 74 is the community of believers and how this situation would impact them. He wants them to see and be glad. You know why? Because people need encouragement. Look at verse 74.

Second part. May those who fear you see me and be glad because I wait for your word. Let others see me as I go through these trials that you place. Before me. May my situation, because I wait for your word, I trust in you, may they see my deliverance, and may my situation be an occasion to gladden hearts.

Now think about that for a second. Your difficult circumstances can be an occasion to bless others. Others are watching. And as they see you go through things, and people are watching you that you don't even know are watching you. It can be an occasion to bless others. It's a mark of maturity.

So much of the time when we're going through trials, we think of ourselves and we miss the bigger picture of what God may be doing in others by us going through and facing difficult things. You see, God's intention is for you to be a visual testimony of what God does through someone who trusts in His Word.

If you will trust in His Word, you will be that visual testimony of what God can do. So God is sovereign in His goodness over our testimonies. And we should do as the psalmist. Does and hope in his word. Third basis to comfort yourself is by knowing that God's sovereign goodness is over your circumstances, over your circumstances.

Look at this shocking statement that the psalmist makes in verse 75. I know that your judgments are righteous, that your ways are good, perfect, what you do is right. And look at this statement, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. You, the one he's crying out to to help him, you have afflicted me.

The one he loves, he has afflicted me. You, Yahweh, the faithful and covenant-keeping God, you're the one who has brought me low. You have reduced my rank. You have made me feel my need of you. And that's a blessing to feel God, to feel your need of him.

And you get the picture through all this psalm that he's got all kinds of enemies. There are arrogant people. There are people coming against him. So what's going on? Who's afflicting him? Well, if there's enemies that are afflicting him, they are the enemies. Instrument, but God is using the psalmist's enemies to afflict him because God is accomplishing something greater in the person in the psalmist.

So, is God the author of sin? No. Are the arrogant responsible for their arrogance? Are the afflictors responsible for their afflictions? Yes. But here's the comforting truth: God uses the wicked to accomplish His good purposes in us. Before I was afflicted, he said, I went astray, but now I keep your word.

You see, what God is wanting to bring about in us is a people who will be with Him and not stray from Him. And we have a proneness to wonder. And sometimes it is the afflicting circumstances, the hard stuff. And I know I'm talking about things. I hear some of the things that some people in this church are going through, and I don't think I could go through it.

But I watch, and I know what I'm saying is seems very difficult. But the psalmist is saying, it was good that I was afflicted, because through that affliction, God, I no longer go astray from you. You have used these difficult, perplexing, and hard circumstances to connect me to you so that I don't go astray.

And that is God dealing bountifully with him. And the psalmist begins to get this. So you need to remember when we're going through afflicting circumstances that God is anything we face, God is faithful in them. He's not going to leave us. He's not going to abandon us. But he is going to accomplish good things in them.

And so he is faithful, steadfast. Third. Third step in overcoming anxiety. Pray in light of God's sovereign goodness. Pray in light of God's sovereign goodness. By asking God two things. Look at verse 76. Number one, ask him to make known his loving kindness to you. Verse 76, Oh, may your loving kindness comfort me according to your word.

And number two, look at. Verse 77, may your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. May pray in whatever circumstances he is going through, he is facing, he's like, God, let me see your loving kindness in this situation. Let me see it in your word, and let me see it in this situation, and let me see that your compassion in my circumstances.

These are the prayers, God, help me connect the dots, help me see what you are doing. I'm sure the point is, at this point, the psalmist probably knows by faith, and you and I do too, that God is loving kindness. He does have compassion. But what the psalmist is asking is, God, I want the evidences of that to become more real.

I am going through this perplexing, difficult, painful struggle. God, let me see your loving kindness. Help me connect the dots. Help me see the evidences. And that's why it's good in circumstances like this: to start thanking God. Like, God, the situation could be a lot worse. Or, God, here's this.

And God, you brought this. And here's this person. And now I know this. And all of a sudden, God, He will open your eyes to see the loving kindness that surrounds you. Even in difficult circumstances. But our problem is we get to where we just are so looking at ourselves and we're relying on ourselves, relying on our perceptions.

And you know what we need to do? We need to stop listening to ourselves and we need to start talking to ourselves. That's what an old man loves to do. But it's biblical. You'll stop listening to yourself and telling what you're and start talking to yourself, telling yourself the truth.

And that's what this psalmist is doing. God, I know you're faithful. I know you are good. You are a good father. I have a good father. And that you're bringing about good things. Instead of, man, the situation is so bad. Lord, there's no way around it. Why would you do this?

Why would you, God, this is just, this is over. I just can't. Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself. Soul, you have a good father. And he would have to ungod himself if he doesn't take care of you according to what he has promised. Speak that to your soul.

And not only that, soul, he's bringing about something very, very good in this circumstances. And it may not just be about me. He may be touching other lives. He's bringing. About something, and even if I can't see it, I can know that it's good. Start talking to yourself, it'll get you out of depressing circumstances and fears.

Number four, fourth step: delight in God's sovereign goodness. And knowing that God is at work, and He's going to do several things. Number one, He's going to humble the proud. Look at verse 78: May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on your precepts.

May the He's going through some kind of situation that has a bunch of arrogant people coming against Him, subverting Him with a lie, slandering him. And He says, This may the arrogant be ashamed. May they come up empty. That's the idea. May they come up empty like a bucket going down in a well and come up empty.

May they be humiliated. And even though they distort me, I will continue to meditate on your precepts. You see, we're free to love our enemies. You know why? Because in the end, they will come up empty. God will humble the proud. They will come up empty. But those who are dependent upon God.

Will be full. And your perplexing and difficult circumstances are geared to drive you to God. Second, you can delight yourself in God's sovereign goodness and knowing that He will exonerate His people. Look at what He says: May those who fear you turn to me, even those who know your testimonies.

The idea there is: turn, may they return to me. Could imply that some have been abandoned, probably because of the lies, been subverted, but He will exonerate His people. May those who fear you turn to Me, even those who know your testimony. Those who really know you, God, ultimately may they turn and see.

Number three, we can delight ourselves in God's sovereign goodness by knowing that God will finish what He began. He will finish what He began in you. Look at verse 80. May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I will not be ashamed. May my heart be blameless, may it be intact.

Sound, complete, whole, perfect, unscathed, unmarked, without blemish. May that my heart be that. That's what God's doing, that's what He's after. The Psalmist knows that God's creative work is not finished until His heart completely belongs to God in all its soundness. And what the Psalmist is dialing into is that God is dealing bountifully with Him, bringing His heart to a sound and complete state through afflicting circumstances, and that God is going to continue to finish what He began.

And so, you can see the anxiety that this psalmist is facing. It involves relationships, it involves the future. Notice in verse 78: He's worried about His standing before the enemies. Well, God is going to humble them. He's worried about His standing before His friends. God is Going to exonerate his people.

And the psalmist is worried about his standing before God himself, but he knows that God is going to finish what he began in him. And so his anxiety is put to rest by God's goodness and sovereignty. God hasn't abandoned you in affliction. The fears that paralyze you, God has not abandoned you in them, and he won't abandon you in them.

He is teaching you through them. You see, the best anecdote for anxiety is bound up in the idea of a good father, God's sovereign goodness. What are we to do? Fear God. Comfort yourself in God. Pray to God. And delight in God. You see, the best anecdote is a good father, someone who's good and in control.

And this is exactly what we have. Hebrews 12, 5 says this, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. For discipline that you endure, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, so that we may share his holiness. You see what's happening, and once you fully grasp that all the evil and all the difficulties you will face are from the sovereign hand of your good Father, who is using them to perfect you, you will be able, you will overcome all forms of anxiety.

God is good, God is sovereign. We need to stop listening to ourselves and start talking to ourselves. You have a good Father who is mindful of you, who sometimes takes us into depressing and fearful situations for our good or for the good of others and for his glory.

And we don't have to know all the reasons why, we just need to. Know that he is good. And we don't have to run from them. We can run to him and run with him through them. And so, a reverent heart, one that's afraid to defect, you can say it like this: a solution to an anxious heart is an anxious heart.

Just being anxious about the right thing, being fearful of defecting, being fearful of breaking that relationship, being fearful of not going with Him through our depressing and fearful situations. Let's follow Him all the way through. Amen. Questions? Thoughts? Usually it takes a minute. Okay. Yes? Well, it does mean that God is using all trials for our good.

It doesn't necessarily mean that we've done something bad and we're getting spanked. That kind of discipline, I think, is not what. Would be in view even in the Hebrews passage. Paul faced all kinds of trials, and you could say it was discipline, but it wasn't that because, like, we would think with a child, okay, we're disciplining, so you'll behave right.

I mean, yeah, that could be part of, yeah, but I wouldn't, so I would say, no, I don't think all is all is punishment, discipline in that sense, but all trials, God is doing something good through us, through that trial. And in that way, He's disciplining, shaping us, perfecting us.

And those can be some very wrong things that we are brought into. And so. Yes, sir. What would be the best way to view and deal with trials that are self-inflicted and not consequences of God actually? Well, even that, just like you repent, you get good at repenting, you get good at making it right where you can, you get good at forgiving, you get good at avoiding those temptations in the future, so you learn.

All that is perfecting work, even from your past failures or sins, or self-inflicting or poor decisions. You learn, you grow, and you live with the consequences. Sometimes you have to live with the consequences. And be thankful. And so I think in all those circumstances, even if it's due to our own failures of some sort or another, infliction, there's still much to learn and much to run through.

That God is still good, and He's still using those circumstances for your good, for His glory, and so you can run the race that He has and not just sit there and beat yourself up. You can thank God for His forgiveness, praise Him for it, praise Him for the learning, and go forward in His grace and in His strength.

Even Paul, if you've learned, Paul was persecuting Christians, and God used that as one of the greatest strengths in His life. Even His past and His failures, His wrongness was something that God used mightily to forge the man to be an effective minister in the place that He has.

All right, yes. I just wanted to say, I really I know you talked about it a little bit, but I really appreciated how you talked about just the importance that when you're going through a trial like this, and having these sometimes, usually they're not seeing these anxieties. That people have as believers, the importance of talking about them and seeing that other people, other people in this church have gone through these things.

And as the church, we can build one another up and knowing that we're not alone. And I just, I really, I really love that. And so it's just, I'm so thankful for the body, and I love that you have come on the path. Thank you for saying that.

Yes, it's good to let people know what you're going through. God, I tell you, God touches people in ways through testimony that He doesn't do through the teaching of His word sometimes. Somebody going through a difficult thing, or whether it's whatever the situation is, and watching a person go through a trial, a difficult thing, and glorifying God in it, it touches lives.

And so it is good to talk about, in fact, I would like to write a book called The Heroes of Emmanuel. And I tell you, the heroes, I mean, I know we've, you know, sometimes we make in church circles, we make celebrities out of people who we really don't need to make celebrities out of.

And a lot of the people that I know in this room that what they have been through and what God has accomplished, I would love to write some of those stories down because they're heroes in our midst. And they are ones who ran through their trial. Yeah, they may have even fell a few times.

But there is a living testimony to the goodness of God in so many of y'all. And so sharing your struggles is very, very good and edifying. And God gives God an opportunity to use what you're going through to edify and build up his body. So have a much bigger view of your fears and tears than just yourself, your perspective.

God's doing something much bigger. I'm going to go ahead and close this, and then I'll be up here to answer if anybody wants to talk some more. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these truths. We thank you that we can go tonight, go to bed tonight, knowing that you are sovereign and that you are good, and that that will never change, and that the promises that you have made to your people are good forever.

Help us in our dark times to remember these truths. Call them to mind. For you are good, and you are our Father. And in this, Jesus, the one who knew you the most, put the hearts of his disciples. Rest and commanding them, don't worry, because we have our Heavenly Father.

What a bold statement, what a glorious truth. Help us to walk in that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.