What You Know Must Anchor What You Feel
Tom Shrader teaches that in the wear and tear of daily life, what believers know about God must anchor them above what they feel in moments of stress and anxiety. Drawing from Romans 8:28, Psalm 139, Hebrews 11:1, and other passages, he outlines five foundational truths: God is in control, God forgives sin, God causes all things to work together for good, God is our only hope, and God is immutable. He closes by connecting these truths to communion, reminding believers that salvation has a past, present, and future dimension, and that those who know Christ are as certain of heaven as the saints already there.
“What you know trumps what you feel.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Scottsdale Bible Church
Recorded: 2013 at Scottsdale Bible Church
Duration: 34 min
Themes: anxiety, worry, faith, hope, forgiveness, trust, communion, peace, struggling with anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, doubting god's control, new believer, parent, grandparent, going through hard times, seeking assurance
Scripture: Psalm 139:7-10, Daniel 4, Colossians 1, Psalm 32:5, 1 John 1:9, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:28, James 1:2-4, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8, 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
Theological Themes: sovereignty of god, immutability, providence, sanctification, salvation, assurance of salvation, romans 8:28, faith over feelings
Full Transcript
When Anxiety Meets Truth
It's good to be with you. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Sandy and I did. We have eight grandkids, the oldest is seven, and they all came over Thursday for dinner, and it was so loud. Then Friday was the Iowa game, so we got together for that, and they were all there, plus some friends who have a newborn. It was so nice to say hello to them and goodbye to them.
Sandy and I have been married a year and a half, and we found the secret, I think. We both love me. So it's working. Before we got married, we spent a lot of time talking about things, and I said, if you don't change, it'll be perfect — and the reality is she has changed. She's gotten even better. It's been an amazing time, so for those of you that have asked, we're doing well.
Let me pray and let's get started. Father, thank you that we can be here. We thank you that in our life You bring challenges and difficulties, but You also give us insight and wisdom, so we thank you for that. I pray that You use this time here this morning to encourage some — maybe all, and that'll be bold. That's our hope. That's our prayer. Fill us with Your Spirit. We pray that in Christ's name, amen.
The Anxiety Epidemic
About the time that Jamie called and said, "Can you be here on December 1st?" I was reading a book, and the big challenge for me when I'm invited into a place — a church or a study — is deciding what to talk about. I find myself going down the same themes over and over again, hopefully because they're important. I had just started a book called *One Way Love* by Tullian Tchividjian, the young man who replaced D. James Kennedy at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale. I had just read the introduction, and I came across a sentence that grabbed my attention.
He writes in the introduction, literally as the first sentence: "A few years ago I read something astonishing. A prominent psychologist and anxiety specialist was quoted as saying" — and here is the quote — "the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s." Now I have no idea how you would ever prove something like that, but I knew it would preach well, so we'll go with it. The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s. When I think of anxiety, the synonyms for me are worry and stress.
And it's not just high school kids. The director of Britain's National Association of Mental Health wrote this: "The whole of the western world is under stress. Our mode of living produces continuous stress from the moment we're born. It hits everyone. There's no escaping it. Stress affects the apparently happy, healthy people just as much as the natural born worrier. I'm left in no doubt that stress is the fastest growing disease in the western world." The AMA suggests, and I quote, "50% of all visits by patients to physicians involves stress" — a health problem that makes stress more common than the common cold. I actually checked yesterday and found statistics suggesting it may be as high as 70 to 75% of physician visits are related to stress.
My point is not for us to get sidetracked arguing whether the number should be 75% or 65%. The reality is, as one biologist defines it, stress is the wear and tear of living. It's just life. Some of you are sitting here right now trying to focus, but your mind is consumed with what's going to take place tomorrow — a deadline, a deal that could blow up, something relational. I'll let you fill in the gaps. But in comes the wear and tear of living.
Here is what experts tell us about facing stress — three things to do. Take control of your diet, exercise, and get plenty of sleep. You can figure out which one of those three I actually do. What I want to do is go in a somewhat different direction, and it came out of a specific experience.
What You Know Must Anchor What You Feel
One night I was home and the phone rang. I answered it and there was a lady on the line. She said, "Hang on," and passed the phone to a friend of hers who was absolutely hysterical. I could barely make out who it was — that was about all I got from that part of the call. The phone went back to the original lady, and she told me that the other woman's husband had just been killed in an accident, and asked if there was any chance I could come over. I said, "Sure, tell me where." So I went.
Everybody was gathered together, and after about half an hour I was ready to leave, because I didn't think I could contribute much more. But the lady whose husband had died said, "Can we just talk for a minute?" We did. She said, "I'm so afraid." She was beginning to play out all kinds of scenarios. She said, "I feel so insecure. I don't know what's going to happen to our daughter, or our finances. I don't even know how to take care of a funeral. I feel all these feelings."
In the course of that conversation, at that moment — and I think God gave it to me — I said, "Let's not talk about what you feel for a second. Let's talk about what you know." And out of that came the phrase we use as the title for this series: what you know must anchor what you feel.
God Is in Control
Stress, anxiety, worry — whatever handle you want to put on it — you are going to experience that in your life. As a follower of Christ, there are things we know that allow us to push through that. I am not trying to minimize the experience or the feelings. If you go to the doctor tomorrow and he says there is a problem and it is serious, you are going to have those initial feelings, that initial reaction. And when someone you love tells you they do not love you anymore, there are going to be feelings. But what I am saying is that in the wear and tear of life, there are some things we know.
I have five of them today, and I know this is not an all-inclusive list. You might look at these five and say three of them work for you. That is fine. The point is to take that list and go to these things you know in a time of crisis.
The first thing is this: God is in control. Psalm 139 says, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." In the book of Daniel, chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar has an experience where he is wandering out in the field, eating grass and living like an animal. Then he comes to his senses, and when he does, he gives this amazing testimony of God — of His power, His might, His majesty, and how He raises up leaders and puts leaders down. God is in absolute control of everything.
The planet we are standing on weighs 6,588,000,000,000,000 tons, spinning on its axis at 1,000 miles an hour, in an orbit of about 1,000 miles a minute. The Milky Way galaxy is so large that if you could travel at the speed of light — 186,000 miles a second — it would take you four and a half to five years to cross it. To put the distance in perspective: on a scale where one inch equals one million miles, the distance across the Milky Way would be the distance between Phoenix and San Diego. And the Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies that God spoke into existence and holds under absolute control.
And yet, in the midst of all of this, you can have a personal relationship with Him. He is not a distant, removed God. He is the God who created it all, and Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 1 that He is also the God who holds it all together. There is no maverick molecule loose in the universe that could subvert His plan. He is absolute authority. So when people say they believe everything happens for a reason, if that statement is true, then there has to be something — someone, some force, some power — that is all-knowing, all-powerful, and omnipresent. That is God. That is the God who loves you, who cares for you, who brought you into right relationship with Him.
A book came out in 2005 — Louie Giglio, and the title sounds a little confusing: *I Am Not, But I Know I Am.* The meaning is: I am not the I Am, I am not God, but I know Him. Giglio writes this: "God is more massive than our wildest imagination, bigger than the biggest words we have to describe him. And what he is doing today is sustaining galaxies and holding the stars in place and stewarding the seemingly chaotic events of earth to his conclusion within his great story. He's constant. He blinks and a lifetime comes and goes. To him a day is a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. God is doing well today, thank you. He has no dilemmas, no quandaries, no counselors, no shortages, no rivals, no fears, no cracks, no worries. He is self-existent, self-contained, self-perpetuated, self-powered, self-aware. In other words, he's God and he knows it."
Giglio also talks about the time when God meets Moses and tells him He is the I Am. Giglio writes: "God was telling Moses, I am the center of everything, I'm running the show, I'm the same every day forever, I'm the owner of everything, I am the Lord, I'm the creator and sustainer of life, I'm the savior, I'm more than enough, I'm inexhaustible, I'm immeasurable, I am God." And by implication, He was saying to Moses: you are not the center of everything, you are not in control, you are not the solution, you are not all-powerful, you are not calling the shots, you are not the owner of anything, you are not the Lord.
Sometimes, depending on the day — if I have had enough talk radio and a little Fox News — I can be very discouraged by the end of the day. I am prone to see things in a dark way, and pretty quickly I get the sense that things are out of control. I have to step back and remind myself that things are not in my control, but they are under God's control. When things come at you in your life, one of the things you need to know and remember is that God is in control.
God Forgives Sin
The second thing is this: God forgives sin. Psalm 32:5 says, "I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin." And 1 John tells us, "If we confess our sin, he is faithful to forgive us."
For those of us who are Christians — and let us go ahead and define that — a Christian is a person who has come to a point in their life where they understand that their sin has separated them from God. Though their natural impulse is to try to fix it themselves — that is called religion — there is that point where they understand that Christ came.
No Condemnation for Those in Christ
Christ came, lived, died, rose again, so that we could have eternal life. He paid the price. "God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Paul tells us that because of that relationship, there is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Our sin is forgiven. That is not a license to sin even more — the Bible calls us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling, not work for our salvation, but as a result of a new heart and a new life.
We walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We look differently and act differently because we are a new creature. R.C. Sproul tells of the time a counselor in his town came to him and said, "I'll pay you a six-figure salary if you can come in and help me somehow deal with my patients and all the guilt they have."
You need to know your sin is forgiven. It is not about you forgiving yourself — God has forgiven you, and that is who you have sinned against. I have watched people who go through life with a ball and chain attached to them, and they come to Christ in repentance and faith, and there is this glorious moment where they understand their sin is forgiven and that chain is cut. Then, if I'll be darned, a month later they bend over and pick up the ball and start carrying the guilt around again. You have been forgiven. It may not always feel that way, but it is true.
All Things Work Together for Good
Here is the third thing: God causes all things to work together for good. Romans chapter 8, verse 28 — "And we know God causes all things to work together for good." It is not a universal promise. Paul gives us a stipulation: to work together for good "for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."
It does not say that God causes all things — not sin — but God takes those things in our life, those things we might not even want, and uses them for good. James has a similar thought in James chapter 1, verse 2: "Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance and endurance."
Sandy is a runner and a swimmer, and she pushes her body to the point where she does not think she can go any further — and then she pushes it a little more. It is aerobics, and it makes her physically strong. What James is saying in James 1:2 is that trials are spiritual aerobics. "Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials, because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance."
My friend Larry Wright used to say that God knows the maximum elasticity of your faith. He will take you to that point, and it is not in some sadistic way — it is to train you. He takes you out there, and then you pass that test, and you say, "Yes, I passed the test. Glad that's done." But all He has done is loosen up the band so He can start there next time. All these things come into life, and sometimes we are confused — not in a moral sense, but in a circumstantial sense. We oftentimes do not even know what is truly for our own good.
A Soldier's Prayer
There is a classic prayer from a Confederate soldier that became the creed of the disabled, offered in the form of a prayer. Let me read it to you:
*I asked God for strength that I might achieve — I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.*
*I asked for health that I might do great things — I was given infirmity that I might do better things.*
*I asked for riches that I might be happy — I was given poverty that I might be wise.*
*I asked for power that I might have the praise of men — I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.*
*I asked for all things that I might enjoy life — I was given life that I might enjoy all things.*
*I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for.*
*Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered, and I am among all men most richly blessed.*
Dave Dravecky: Hardship as an Answer to Prayer
There is a gentleman who comes to Scottsdale Bible Church periodically when he is in town — his name is Dave Dravecky. You may remember his story. He was a pitcher, and his arm snapped. He rehabbed and came back. On his comeback appearance, he threw a pitch, and the men in the infield said it was like his shoulder exploded. When they went in to examine it, they discovered it was cancer, and if you remember, they had to take his arm.
I had never met Dave at that point, but I had speculated that losing that arm was actually an answer to prayer. He had been praying that God would use him in a significant way — not just to touch his city or state or town, but maybe the whole nation, maybe the whole world. Then one night I was watching a Barbara Walters special, and there was Dave Dravecky sharing his testimony with the entire country.
When I finally did meet Dave, I said, "I have been teaching this — I don't know if it's right or not — but tell me: that cancer and losing that arm was in fact an answer to prayer, wasn't it?" And he said, "Yes, it was." Sometimes in the midst of our circumstances, we simply do not know. That hardship gave him a platform to the people around him, and they began to watch and say, "I had no idea. How can you endure this? I didn't know you were that strong." The answer is: he was not — but the Jesus in him and the Spirit He gives made the difference.
In the midst of stress and hardship and difficulty, rather than pushing those things away, one paraphrase of James chapter 1, verse 2 says we are to welcome trials as friends — not intruders to be expelled, but friends that allow God a platform to work.
God Can Be Completely Trusted
Let me give you two more to consider adding to this list. God is our only hope, and He can be completely trusted. Hebrews 11:1 gives us something close to a definition of faith: "Faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for. It means being..."
The Anchor of Hope in Temporary Things
"Do not lose heart, though the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. Because the things that are seen are temporal. The things that are unseen are eternal." That is the idea Paul communicates in 2 Corinthians 4:16–17. We must be certain of realities we cannot see. Said another way, in this life our only true hope is Jesus, and those things we see are temporary.
Sometimes a deal, a relationship, a circumstance, or a scholarship becomes so important that it almost displaces God and becomes our hope — our idol. Years ago, when they refurbished the Statue of Liberty, the Secretary of the Interior said at the unveiling, "The Statue of Liberty stands as the hope for all of mankind." I am a big American, a free market, capitalist kind of person, but the hope for mankind is not the United States of America. The hope for mankind is Jesus. Our fundamental problem is not economic or political. Our fundamental problem is sin, and He is the only solution we have to that sin problem.
He is your hope, and He can be trusted. To a certain extent, when I begin to worry or have anxiety — and I want to take some pressure off here, because there will be an initial reaction when something happens that may not be this thoughtful approach — something suddenly comes at you. Think of those snow globes you see this time of year: you shake it and the snow goes everywhere, but pretty soon it settles. What I am saying is that when that snow, that adversity, those circumstances settle and you grab a breath, you know that this is temporary.
Here is the way I like to say it — I find relief in it, though not everybody does. No matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime. No matter how bad it gets, this is all there is. For us, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and He is our hope.
The Comfort of an Eternal Destination
There is that wonderful scene Paul paints in 1 Thessalonians 4 — the Lord will come again, there will be a trumpet shout, and we will be caught up with Him and spend forever with Him. Most often we quit reading right there, but the next verse says, "Comfort one another with these words." In life comes the inevitable wear and tear, but for those of us who know Christ as Lord and Savior, this is not our home.
I will confess that sometimes it is so good here that heaven does not quite have its appeal. Then there are other times when I yearn for heaven, but I am ashamed to say that most often it is about getting out of here rather than being with Jesus.
God Is Immutable — His Promises Do Not Change
One more thing, and it may seem odd in this list, but it ties everything together: God is immutable. God is changeless. Malachi 3:6 says, "I am the Lord, and I do not change." The reason I add that is this — if God were changing, then maybe these promises change. When He says, "Do not worry about anything," or declares what He loves and what He hates, maybe those declarations could shift. But they do not. As James says, there is no variation or shifting shadow with Him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So let me put a bow on this. In life come these inevitable circumstances. You cannot stop them — it is the wear and tear of living. I did a graveside funeral service a few years ago, and graveside services are not my strongest setting. We were there beside the casket over the open grave, and sitting next to me was the daughter of the man who had died. She was holding his grandbaby, who was two weeks old. I thought: that is just the cycle of life. You cannot stop it, nor should you want to, because God is working in the midst of all of it.
Two Groups — and the Promise That Belongs to One
Now let me be clear on this, and it will lead us into communion. That promise is for those of us who know Christ. I was at a coffee shop the other day and there were two men with a big demographic study, breaking people down by age, gender, ethnicity, and economics. In this room, I can break everyone into two groups: those who know Christ, and those who do not. Those who have come to Christ in a personal way — confessing your sin, submitting to Him and His Lordship, embracing Him as Savior.
For those of us who are in that position, this is an amazing truth: we are as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there. That is something genuinely encouraging. It does not mean you are in a bubble, exempt from the hardships of life — you will experience those hardships. But He will never leave you or forsake you, though it might sometimes feel like He does. You know He did not. And He yearns to have a close relationship with you.
The Lord's Supper — Past, Present, and Future
One of the things Jesus did before He left this earth was to institute what we call the Lord's Supper — to take the bread and the cup. He told the disciples, and us as well, to do this in remembrance of Him. We look back to the cross. This idea of communion and salvation has a past, present, and future component: Jesus died and we have been saved; in the present He is walking with us now in this life; and then there is that coming moment when we will be with Him forever.
He said that when we gather together we should celebrate, and this is the form in which we do it. So we invite those of you who are Christians to join with us this morning in communion.
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you as they come and present these elements to us. Let us take them seriously. Thank you that You love us. Even in the midst of this world and life, we can find peace. In the middle of hardship, we can amaze our friends as they begin to see You working in us. God, as we come now to this time of communion, allow us to see our life as You see it. We pray that to You now, in Christ's name, amen.