Trust and the Glory of God (episode 26)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness?

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Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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Welcome back. I hope that you got some good rest after the four episodes we did on rest.

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And if you missed any of those, I would encourage you to go back and listen to them. Today we

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are beginning a series on trust. Trust is one of the most important things for each

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of us in our prodigal journey. But it's a little hard to get a hold of and really know

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how. We want to trust God in the middle of it. But sometimes circumstances make it hard

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for us. And when we've been praying and praying, sometimes when we don't get the answers we

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want that also makes it hard for us to trust. So today we're going to talk just an intro

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to trust and about one reason we can trust is because of the glory of God. Really this

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is very practical. So has your prodigal ever said to you, you can trust me? How many times

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and how long has it taken you to realize no, you can't trust them? Like the time our prodigal

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needed to buy something for an upcoming soccer tournament. I let him have my credit card.

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I know, I know. He returned it to me after soccer practice. When the bill came, his soccer

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purchase was there and a tank full of gas and a Taco Bell purchase and probably a pack

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of cigarettes, though he was still a minor at the time. Can we trust our prodigals? Not

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so much, especially if they're into addiction. But our God says, you can trust me. We have

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a God we can trust. Being able to trust our prodigals may be in the distant future, but

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what we really need now is to be able to trust God. So we're going to explore how that can

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become real for us. It's hard to trust, isn't it? When the fear is real, the pain is intense,

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the waiting seems endless, and prayers seem unanswered. Brennan Manning in his book Ruthless

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Trust has had a profound impact on my life and has been especially helpful to me on this

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topic of trusting God. Time and again, Manning has sent me to God's Word. So that's where

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we will go, right to God's Word. We will consider not only why we can trust God, but how we

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can trust Him. And we will also look at how that trust, ours, will affect the lives of

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our loved ones. Manning in this book defines trust as faith in action. So trust is something

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we do. Let's explore what this action of trust is. We will begin by intentionally focusing

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on the following words from God, words that will establish our hearts on Him and prepare

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us to be able to trust Him at all times, no matter what. We've looked at some of these

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in previous episodes, but I want us to ponder them, especially in light of God's trustworthiness.

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King David affirmed in Psalm 56, when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. And most

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of us with prodigals are afraid, at least occasionally, sometimes often. One of my favorites

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from David is in Psalm 27. He says, I remain confident of this. I will see the goodness

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of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and

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wait for the Lord. That's all about trusting God in the long wait. In Deuteronomy, we are

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assured the Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you

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nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Is that beautiful? God's there

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always. He doesn't abandon us or leave us to do this all by ourselves. He is with us.

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And in Isaiah chapter 26, we see this promise. He, you Lord, will keep in perfect peace those

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whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Isn't that what we want? Perfect peace?

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No fear? To see the goodness of God? To never feel abandoned? You know, the more we know

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someone, the better we can judge if they are trustworthy. So let's get to know God a little

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more and I believe that will help us to know that we can trust Him. The first reality of

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God that will help us trust Him is His glory. I recently experienced a few weeks with the

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glory of God, the grandeur of the Colorado mountains, the peaceful beauty of blue-bonnet-clad

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Texas Hill country, the faces of my grandchildren, and even my own reflection in the mirror.

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What? What? Yes, my own face because we, you and I, are a reflection of the glory of God.

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We are made in His image and one of our main purposes is to reflect the glory of God to

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the world around us. All of these and the amazing glory of creation all around us are

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just shadowy hints at the glory of God. He's so much more than these things I just mentioned.

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So what is glory? It's a little intangible, isn't it? The Hebrew word for the glory of

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God is kabod. I think. I'm not a Hebrew scholar. Maybe it's kabod, but I think it's kabod.

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It is a comprehensive word with many shades of meaning, but the most basic definition

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is weight. It can connote heaviness, wealth, rank, status, power. To the children of Israel,

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it meant the greatness, the eminence, the power, authority, and majesty of God. Even

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those weighty words were insufficient to capture the glory of God. A greater description could

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be glory is a light so brilliant that Yahweh Himself is rendered invisible by the brilliance.

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We can't even look at His glory, but it's there and to understand what a magnificent,

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powerful, all-encompassing God He is, and that is His glory.

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And though in the Old Testament it was hard to see His glory, there were some revelations

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of it. Moses wanted to see the face of God or the glory of God, but God said, no, you

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couldn't handle it. Moses could only see God's back, for no one, God says, may see

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me and live. And yet, we get to see God because Jesus has revealed the Father. He is the light

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of the world who shares in the luminous brilliance of His Father. He tells us that when we see

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Him, Jesus, we are seeing God the Father. When the Apostle John was transported in his

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revelation vision, we read this. He said, I turned around to see the voice that was

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speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And among the lampstands

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was someone like a son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden

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sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and

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his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and

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his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars, and

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coming out of his mouth was a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in

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all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. John did just

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what we should do when we get even small glimpses of God and His glory, when we experience hints

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of His glory. He fell on his face, and so should we. How do we even begin to grow further

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into understanding and grabbing hold of the glory of God? Too often I settle for such

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a small comprehension of God and His glory. I think most of us accept a puny picture of

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God anyway. We don't have the capacity to see all of who He is and His full glory. He

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does reveal Himself to us in many ways. The magnificence of creation, the beauty of those

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He made in His image, like you and like me, show His glory and loveliness most profoundly.

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Every time we see God's faithfulness to be true to His own character, we catch a glimpse

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of that glory. Each time we discover that He is with us and loves us and accepts us

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and keeps His promises, we once again grasp that He is trustworthy. Whenever we receive

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answers to prayer and surprise gifts from Him, we understand that He is a faithful God

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and we recognize that we can trust Him. As we walk on the wilderness path of loving a

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prodigal, our only hope of surviving and thriving is to know that we can trust God. Our only

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hope of wooing our loved ones back to God and to us is to let the light and glory of

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God shine on us and through us. Think about this. When have you had an especially vivid

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glimpse of the glory of God, where He's done something startling and beautiful, where you've

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been where you're in beautiful creation, or when a person just reflects God so well to

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you? How do you think growing in your view of God's glory would help you love and pray

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for your prodigal? God bless you. Thank you for joining me today on the When

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You Love a Prodigal podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and

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review the show on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Your review helps the show reach

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more people with the hope and encouragement of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the

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show notes and for more helpful information, resources, and books, check out judydouglass.com.

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That's Douglass with two S's. You can find me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram

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at JudyDouglass417. Until next week.