However, despite the scoreboard telling us we can’t lose, we still get angry or have despairing feelings, don’t we? We get elbowed in the face and get upset. That we’ve already won the game won’t protect us from injuries we get before the final buzzer. So, if you’re like me, you might ask yourself this question—“Is this what winning feels like? I consider my life, my circumstances, my emotions, and it feels like losing. I know we’re more than conquerors, but is this really going to plan, Lord?”

If you look at the Bible, the Psalms in particular, you’ll see the wonderful truth that we can bring our questions and feelings to God—all of them. God’s not like us. He doesn’t get defensive when we show up, doubting him. He especially wants us to turn to him when we’re doubting, especially when we can’t see him working in our hardships. But God is so far above us and sees our lives and pain in such a different light that often the answer we get from him challenges us. Here’s the challenging picture that came to mind after I asked him, “Is this what winning feels like?”

I remembered Jesus praying in the garden before they showed up to arrest him, “saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.’” (Luke 22.42a). Jesus, beaten beyond recognition, hanging, arms outstretched on the cross. What if in those moments Jesus had asked his Father the same question? “Is this what winning feels like? Surely not, surely this can’t be going according to the original plan set before we created the universe.” Jesus was in the deepest place that felt like crushing defeat, but he was winning! That pain was winning the eternal battle for souls...winning over death and sin...winning for eternity. The pain-gripped, stress-filled, agonized reply to us from our Lord is, “Yes. This is what winning feels like sometimes.”

So, follower of Jesus, here is your challenge and your hope. As you die to yourself and live for others, with God’s help—it will be really dark some days. BUT, as 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “[W]e do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

There’s a well-known proverb that talks about the words we use. You heard it on the playground as a kid. Maybe you came crying into the house and your parents tried to encourage you with this proverb. It goes like this - sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. Author Wayne Mack says that this is “one of the biggest lies ever foisted on the human race. . .it certainly wasn’t coined by someone who accepts God’s perspective on speech or by anyone on the receiving end of careless, unwholesome talk.”

So today I’d like to take you with me through a thought experiment. Let’s walk through a normal day in our normal lives–but let’s take out our normal eyes and put in special eyes. These eyes aren’t like Superman’s eyes that can see through solid objects or emit laser beams. These eyes are very disturbing to look through, like the kid who could see dead people in The Sixth Sense. These eyes can physically see the emotional impact words have on people.

Proverbs 12:18 says, “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

So, you’re out running an errand and you pull up to a stoplight. You look over at the car stopped next to you and you see a husband and wife talking. You can’t hear them. The windows are rolled up. A splatter of blood hits the side window, and the wife crumples against the glass in pain. You’re horrified. But just before you look away, the husband coughs blood and leans on the steering wheel, to prop himself up while he tries to recover from a return attack. The light turns green, and you speed away, trying to rid your mind of the gory images.

Four friends walk silently side by side as you pull up to Target. They all have multiple open gashes on their arms. A smiling employee welcomes you into the store but has no arms. You see blood trails down all the aisles. Scarred and wounded people smile or stare blankly. No wonder people act the way they do, they’re in so much pain from words.

You dodge a body that is laying on the floor and swing your cart around a corner. You’re flying into the canned food aisle at Formula 1 speeds, but stop dead in your tracks. There, right in front of your special fresh eyes, is the most marvelous thing you’ve ever seen. A mother is resting her hand on her teenage son’s shoulder. He’s crying and has a blood-soaked hand over a deep wound in his neck. As she looks into her son’s eyes, you see her words flow and glow mid-air, like swirling waves of golden dust. As the shimmering waves circle and pour into the boy’s ears, he lifts his hand and you gawk in amazement. The layers of open flesh are reconnecting and closing, one at a time, until it has healed completely, with an almost imperceptible scar as the only evidence of the damage done.

Racing home after checking out, you wonder what you will see when you get there. What scars and open wounds will your loved ones be suffering from? How bad will it be? How much of the damage will have been yours? Glancing in the rearview mirror, you see the marks on your own face. Your hair seems to be matted down with blood on the left side. You wince in pain as you touch it–and your mind flashes back to the conversation you had after church with a close friend.

Then you remember the miraculous healing you saw. You remember Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” But now you believe it like you never have before. Real wounds, real healing. Actual death or life. You pull into your driveway and put the car in Park, like you have a thousand times. But you pause, lower your face, and pray. “Lord, I’m terrified to go inside and see what the world has done–what I’ve done–to my family. I confess my words are often rash–I am not slow to speak or as slow to anger as I should be. Please forgive me. And by your grace and Spirit in me, please bring healing and life. I want us to spend our evening eating the fruits of life-giving words, not hurting and with swords drawn and ready. Amen.”

God wrote the Bible, through men, over thousands of years. It covers hundreds of topics, but has one overarching goal—to show us who God is, how much we need him, and how to find him and then follow him. 

God is the perfect author, and he knows us perfectly. He wants to save and care for our souls, but he knows we need help to understand our spiritual state. So he gives us physical examples that are easy to understand. Then, still holding onto that physical reality that we know, he tells us how it is also our spiritual reality.

One of my favorite metaphors that the Bible uses, because is so easy for me to understand, is thirst. Because it is so good, God uses it throughout the Bible and it was much more powerful for people in biblical times. They lived in dry lands and thirst wasn’t so much an issue of discomfort as of life and death. 

Here’s a modern-day equivalent for us. You’ve been hiking in the desert landscape of Moab in Utah. You’re several days in and the supply of water you brought with you has run out. You must have taken a wrong turn because you can’t find the campground. It’s been an especially hot summer, so all the rivers are dry creek beds—their dusty bottoms only torturing you with the fact that at one time they were flowing with water.

As a result, you aren’t just thirsty, you’re dehydrated. Your tongue has swollen and feels like sandpaper in a mouth that can’t offer it any moisture. Your eyes and cheeks are sinking into your face. The desperation and dry, sandy wind are making you cry—but your body has no tears. Your skin is extremely dry and your lips are cracked and bleeding. Your head aches, muscle cramps are setting in, and in confusion you drop to the ground right in the sun, not even thinking of shade.

But this doesn’t mean you’re dumb, or can’t understand your condition. You know you are dying of thirst; you need water! As a fellow hiker happens upon you and runs over to you, the truth of their offer resonates immediately. They say, “You don’t have long to live—neither did I, but I found a fountain of pure spring water that flows into a shimmering river! I tasted its sweet coolness. I’ve seen it plunging from the rock, down into deep blue pools, and its spray has covered and refreshed me. Come with me, I will show you how to find it, be saved and delighted, just as I was—it’s closer than you think!”

On the way you see someone bent over a small greenish mud puddle. Another hiker is holding a bottle of vodka. If they say, “don’t follow that guy, we have all you need right here,” you won’t stop. Those may look like answers, but they won’t save you. You know this because extreme hikers don’t brink dirty water or vodka to keep them hydrated. Plus, why settle—get all that your body is dying to experience and more.

Ok—there’s the powerful reality. It’s obvious and we can relate to it—so hold on to that and let me ask you something. Is your soul thirsty today? Is it parched and dry? Do you feel like dropping to your knees and giving up and you don’t even care if the sun is beating down on you? Does Psalm 63:1 sound like your inner dialog sometimes?

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

You may reply, “That’s sort of how I feel. My soul is thirsting for sure, but I’m not thirsting for God.” Many people would agree with you. I can relate to that. In the Old Testament, God’s people felt that way, too. In Jeremiah 2:13, God says:

for my people have committed two evils:

So, either we don’t believe that God is the only one who can quench the thirst of our dehydrated souls, or we don’t want to follow him on his terms. We’re willing to put a lot of effort into digging empty wells instead of going to the fountain of living waters. It’s so tragic, because none of the mud puddles or alternative drinks we’re choosing are saving us—we know that, we feel so soul-thirsty. His terms are generous—Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, who’s lived with six different men and still has a parched soul,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10)

and

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13b, 14)

As we scrounge around today, in desperation, wondering why none of our dreams are working out the way we wanted; trying to come up with some new, creative way to stop the dry croaking screams from our soul. We need to remember that Jesus extends the same offer to us. He’s personally inviting you right now. I’m like that other hiker, inviting you (and me!) to give up on our barren efforts. Let’s go drink and completely satisfy ourselves!

The thirst metaphor shows up at the end of the story, in the last chapter of Revelation, with a personal invitation from the Spirit of God, and his bride—all the saved hikers who were thirsty.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1)

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22:17)

You know the scene well. You’ve seen it in countless movies, whether comedies or dramas. Someone is being a jerk. They’re real proud of themselves, too. Maybe they are bullying the main character or breaking all the rules and laughing about it. But then, as the audience, we see the authority figure join the scene, silently in the background. Often, several characters see the covert entrance, too. Maybe it’s the teacher or the principal, the prison warden, or the boss. Or maybe it’s one of my all-time favorites, Mr. Miyagi.

It’s Halloween night in the 1984 classic movie Karate Kid. The rich, mean karate jerks, dressed in skeleton outfits, have surrounded Daniel. They have him up against a fence and are proceeding to beat the tar out of him. Their vengeful leader, Johnny, refuses to stop, even when his own thug says Daniel’s had enough! Instead, he yells out the mantra the evil Cobra Kai dojo has taught him: “an enemy deserves no mercy!”

If you watch carefully behind the kid holding Daniel, you can see Mr. Miyagi sneaking up behind them. He climbs the fence, waiting for the right moment to jump down into the middle of the five bullies. He crushes them one by one, effortlessly leaving them rolling around, moaning on the ground in pain.

We love these scenes in movies and books because we love justice. We hate it when the “bad guys” are getting away with it. The recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia makes me feel like a helpless bystander. But this sense of trapped injustice is especially true when it’s our life and our injustice and it looks like the people abusing the systems and other people are laughing as they get away with it! They get to us and we get angry, stressed, and consider sinning, ourselves, so that we can set things straight.

Praise God for Psalm 37, where David has us take a few deep breaths and count to ten. Then he tells us to shift our focus and our “camera angle”. There, silently watching behind the person doing evil, “up on the fence” is the LORD God Almighty!

Here are a few verses from Psalm 37, but I encourage you to read the whole psalm on your own.

1 Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

    be not envious of wrongdoers!

2 For they will soon fade like the grass

    and wither like the green herb.

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;

    trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

    and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,

    but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

27 Turn away from evil and do good;

    so shall you dwell forever.

28 For the Lord loves justice;

    he will not forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever,

    but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29 The righteous shall inherit the land

    and dwell upon it forever.

Isn’t that great? Yes, we see injustice in this world. People are doing horrible things and seem to be getting away with it—and prospering! But only for a short time. So, don’t despair and don’t add any more sins to the fight. Instead, remember this picture of the LORD standing behind the evildoer, guaranteeing to deliver perfect justice.

Lastly, let’s remember that you and I are not innocent bystanders. We’re often the thugs—selfish, insensitive, and at times brutal to others around us. So, give thanks to God that when he stands watching behind you, the heavy justice you deserve falls on Jesus, upholding his righteousness—and sparing you.

The gavel comes down with a crash. The judgment is rendered, final. Nothing and no one can overturn it now. After staring ahead for years, with vacant eyes, at inevitable, solitary confinement, I can’t believe that the echoing report of the gavel is ringing the news… of… my release, not my imprisonment. My pardon, not my punishment. Reality soaks slowly into my parched soul.

I get to my feet, trembling a little, and feel life surging through me like never before! Turning to my right, I prepare to leave, and I see them cuffing him and marching him toward the barred security door. The judgment is rendered, final. Nothing and no one can save him now. Someone had to pay for my crimes. He volunteered. If I was willing to confess to it all, he would pay for it all. I believed him and now his promise is a reality. Here I am, walking out into the sunlight and into the waiting arms of my new travel companion and guide. The Father’s daring plan, his Son’s perfect execution, and now I’m being held by the unshakeable arms of my Helper and seeing his smiling face looking right into my smiling face. It’s done. 

A luxurious lounge chair, white sand beaches, and a perfect purpose await at my new home, but they are a long way off. My new reality with my Father and my glorious future won’t keep the trials away. Trials have crashed into me a thousand times, shocking, like full-body slaps from icy waves. I remember the deep, dark disappointment that followed in the wake of every one. Even now I sense more waves approaching, but I can’t tell from what direction.  

But I do not fear them now. Everything has changed. Each crashing wave will strengthen me, not weaken me. Why? Because, as I lose my breath with each heavy slap of cold water, I don’t try to stand my ground. I hold fast to Him. As my eyes feel the burning from the salt water, I don’t blink back the tears. I bury my face into His shoulder. He’s never lost a battle to a trial, not even to that greatest looming tsunami, death.

With every storm weathered, my confidence in Him grows and my muscle memory improves—I put all my strength into clinging to Him, nothing else, and I find myself standing! So, I am content, even happy, to march onward, knowing that each step brings me one step closer to home. Every trial proves His power and that I am not alone. I know how dearly the Father loves me, because he has given the Helper, to keep my heart topped up with His love.

This story is just Romans 5:1-5 turned into a personal picture – one that helps me understand the connection between trials, disappointment, and faith. Disappointment and faith are connected, because disappointment is what you feel when the thing you trusted and hoped in (had faith in) fails you. When do things tend to fail? When they are tested. So, often, when we experience trials, the things we’ve been enjoying and hoping in fail us, and we feel disappointment—even devastating hopelessness.

But what would happen if every trial proved the thing we hope in and trust in? What if it never failed, when tested? Two things would happen. First, our confidence in the object of our faith would grow, and second, our fear of it being tested would shrink. We would no longer dread the testing but would welcome it.

In Romans 5, Paul explains that this idea is our new reality! We should not fear trials, because our faith is in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and every trial will only grow our confidence in his love for us. If we learn to keep our hope in him, we will never come away disappointed. 

Romans 5:1-5 NLT

I love well-made things, especially when they are doing what they were designed to do. Don’t you? Picture a balanced, razor-sharp chef’s knife cutting slices of tomato; a lifted off-road vehicle crawling through a boulder field; a fine musical instrument, like a guitar, resonating with all the right harmonics, effortlessly filling the world with beautiful music.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I hope so, because one of my all-time favorite true stories in the bible is the story of Jesus walking on the surface of the Sea of Galilee, and Peter getting out of his boat to also walk on water. I’ll read you the story in a minute, but here are a few reasons I love it.

First, I’m a chemistry and physics nut. I majored in Chemical Engineering, and I’m fascinated by the study of chemical properties. People laugh when I share my love of the refrigeration cycle. And here we have two grown men, walking on stormy swells of liquid sea water. The chemistry behind hydrogen bonding, surface tension, density, and buoyancy is cool – but it cannot explain what these two men got to experience in real life.

Secondly, I wish I could walk on water, don’t you! Wouldn’t that be amazing? Even watching little bugs zip around on the surface of the water is exciting. My personality especially loves new and memorable experiences, but I can’t even put walking on water on my bucket list.

While these aspects draw me into the story, they aren’t the parts that drill to the deep parts of my heart. That happens when I see my terror, courage, obedience, and doubt in Peter and the calmness, power, and love in Jesus. Let me read it to you.

Matthew 14:23-33

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

None of us will get to walk on physical water in this life, unless it’s frozen over. We won’t have the experience of our lives depending on Jesus holding us up on the surface of the water with each physical step, like Peter did. But the spiritual analogy is so rich. We can play it safe in the boat, doing nothing spiritually, trying to ignore the storms of sin and guilt we know are real. But we’ll go down with the ship when it capsizes, holding on to everyone and everything in this world that we trusted in. Or, like Peter we can pursue spiritual things in faith, even believing that maybe the Jesus of the bible plays some role in saving us. But courage in getting out of the boat is only folly if we are trusting in anything else to hold us up. They are like trying to walk on water trusting in hydrogen bonding. Any doubt that Jesus alone is holding us up with every step - and down we plunge into the cold, dark, unforgiving waters of spiritual death. 

But, and this made all the difference in the story and makes all the difference for you and me spiritually, it is good to be terrified and to see that we’re going down fast. Cry out, “Lord, save me! You alone have the power to keep me from eternal suffering, and I trust in you completely.” The story doesn’t even say Peter grabbed Jesus’ hand for some support. All he had time to do before he drowned was cry out. But it says “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”

Have you trusted in Jesus to save you, but you still feel like your life is sinking? I often feel that way. It makes sense because he calls us out of the boat to a life we can’t do in our own strength. We must have let go of the savior’s hand to trust in something else, doubting his sufficiency to protect us. We need to cry out to the Lord to save us and cling to him as he takes hold of us.

Roots aren’t pretty, are they? Nor are they even visible when they are doing what they are supposed to do. Dirty, unseen, gnarled things.

And yet it is the investment in the root that allows any life at all, but especially healthy growth and beautiful leaves and fruit. You  may think I've spent too much time watching Gardener's World and this isn't the type of Resonate Truth you're interested in, but hang in there with me.

When you buy a fruit tree to plant in the ground, you don’t pay special attention and care to the leaves it has, making sure that nothing happens to them – no, you pay special attention to the roots. But then we easily forget they are even there working.

In our lives, we can slip into the habit of focusing on the leaves and fruit our lives have. When we don’t see them, or they are damaged, rotting, or ugly, we throw our hands up in desperation – my relationship with my wife, or kids, or friends is failing! I’m having trouble at work! My finances are spiraling out of control! I’m doing everything I can but it’s not getting any better!

But where are you putting your time and attention? Is it all focused on the leaves and fruit? It’s a longer play, but God says – do you want healthy leaves and fruit, regardless of your circumstances? Then it’s the hidden, unnoticed, vitality of your roots that need your attention and time and energy. I will worry about the rest for you.

God says this in the first three verses of the very first Psalm in the Bible. 

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man

So, when we find ourselves lamenting truly lamentable withering or lack of good fruit in our lives. When we feel the dry, parched hand of despair grabbing us around the throat, let’s pause and turn our gaze from the things we want to fix, to the solution. Let’s read a few verses of God’s perfect word, let’s think about the truth there and ask others about it, let’s work at delighting in the Lord’s words to us. It will take time that few are willing to invest, but as our roots grow stronger and healthy, they will provide the vital nutrients to our hearts that will produce the leaves and fruit we love to see. 

Welcome back for the second half of my short story, The Prince's Bride, where we find out what happens to Sophia after she finds that a disease has begun spreading over her hands and arms.

I'm excited to share something a bit different today - the first part of the short story I wrote for my daughter, Sophia. I wanted to write a fun and exciting fictional story that resonates the truth of the gospel and all that is ours in Jesus, so that she could come back to these pictures of the truth that are hers, no matter what hardships come her way. I hope it does the same for you, too. Enjoy and come back next time for the second half!