Week 17 (Days 113-119): What if it doesn't feel like God is good to me?

Hey Bible readers! Welcome to TBR Deep Dive. I'm Kirsten McCloskey and I'm Emma Daughter and we are here with Terri Lee Cobbles. So happy to be back. Terri thanks for joining us again. It's always a pleasure. I love it. It's my favorite thing to get to talk about the Bible with you guys and hang out with the TBR crew out there in the world listening and watching. I love it. That's awesome. Well we're glad you're here and we'll go ahead and get started with our first question. Let's do it. All right so question number one is coming from day 116 specifically Psalm 73 1 to 3 and so I'll go ahead and read the verses and then we'll get into the question. So Psalm 73 1 to 3. Truly God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart but as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked and the question is I really related to these first two verses. When I look around it seems like God is good to everyone else but me. My circumstances are more challenging than my friends. What should I do when I feel discouraged? I love this question because it's honest and it seems to be a direct reflection of what the psalmist is feeling. So the psalmist begins with this declaration of what he knows is true. Surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. Surely God is good but in the next verse he admits that that truth feels distant which is a very relatable feeling when it comes to seeing our circumstances and light of who God is. We sometimes get confused when our circumstances don't seem good. God is good. He says but as for me my feet had almost slipped I'd nearly lost my foothold but here he's not denying God's goodness. He's just confessing how hard it is to feel that God is good when life feels unfair. The rest of the chapter what follows is his journey from envy to worship, from comparing his circumstances to fixing his eyes on God and that is a journey. Yes that's a really good point. It's so much easier said than done but yet we must do it. We have to. Yeah and I just one thing that I just kind of stood out to me as you were talking about this is that I think that's where the psalms just in general are so helpful to us because what we're seeing with this question is someone engaging with the psalm and being like I feel like that too. So kind of I feel like that too so what should I do about that and like what you're saying the psalmist kind of guides how we should think about that. Yes because it's Psalm 73 is giving us permission to be honest. It's not just hey here's this one guy's experience it's no you can talk to God like this too and God isn't silencing his frustration he invites it he wants to hear from his kids that's what a good father does he wants to hear. And the fact that this is recorded as scripture. This is in the song book that the people of God would sing these songs collectively together. So this is not something you have to hide and do in your bedroom alone. This is not something you even have to be ashamed of or feel bad about. This is something that these are conversations that the people of God were having collectively when they were encountering God and that I think to me is just a reminder this kind of thing when we have hard feelings don't have them alone. Like I was actually having a conversation with my community group last night nobody heals on their own like that's we aren't meant to you know you don't you don't get over things like sin struggles and things like that you don't get over those on your own James 516 confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed and so the fact that this is done within the community of believers is I think a really beautiful example to us of what we do when we have these hard feelings about us. And something that we're probably or maybe I want to say probably less likely to to think about sometimes I think especially if maybe you don't have a community group or you don't feel like you have a place where you can really do this in community but I love the reminder that this is an encouragement to do that and so if that's something that maybe you're missing like pray and ask God to give you a space where you can work through these challenges with other believers because we really need that. It reminds me of what we read earlier this year back at the start of the year when we were in Job and Job has three friends around him and they are not the kind of people that it was safe for Job to share his experience with and Job was expressing these things his challenges and his relationship with how he viewed God and watching other people be blessed while his life was kind of devastating and they were not responding in a good way so it's not just with you shouldn't just share these things with anyone right you need to share them with wise trusted like people who are pointing you God word yes and with the right view of God and yeah I think that so not just anybody but wise godly humble people who understand the character of God yeah I think that's great so what should I do when I feel discouraged when I feel like the psalmist press in keep showing up with prayer scripture and community but to your point good community people are going to help you we're going to help you pursue Jesus and see God rightly but also lean into God's nearness rather than your circumstances yes because we we love to get focused on our circumstances and lose sight of God's character but when our circumstances are tough we need to see God's character the most clearly yeah and it gets blurry so I love that the psalm ends with esoph declaring whom have I in heaven but you God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever and the same God who walked with the psalmist from doubt to delight wants to meet you in your discouragement as well amen and that's so good yeah the example the Job we just talked about yes he is seeking an audience with God yeah he wants to draw near to God and I mean even with this verse verse three that we just read uh that is the prompt for this question I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked his eyes are looking toward the wicked his eyes are on the wicked yeah they've drifted and and so it's like your eyes shouldn't be on the wicked your eyes should be on the Lord and I think you know Job is this example of someone who's seeking an audience with the Lord in his struggles and this is a reminder for us not to be looking at what others have comparing totally yeah comparing ourselves to them and what they have yeah looking at the Lord and his goodness and his steadfastness and his provision regardless so if we're discouraged by looking at the prosperity of the wicked maybe we should stop looking at the wicked right exactly maybe it's that simple yeah I know because one of the things I was thinking about is when we judge our lives or how much we think God is at work in our situations in our lives whatever is going on if we judge that based on comparing ourselves to other people that's always going to end poorly for us that is not what we're called to be doing it's not helpful and it really is harmful so I think when when we're discouraged one of the key things is let's avoid comparison at all costs that's where we're turning our eyes to God we're remembering that he's good regardless of our situation you know that's where it that's where it starts off where it's like oh it just doesn't feel like God is good and that's where we just have to keep reminding ourselves we know that he is even though I can't right now in my situation understand that with my finite mind my experience so comparison is an interesting topic to bring up Kirsten because we would say hey it's it's not helpful to compare your circumstances to other people's circumstances that's kind of where things went awry at the beginning of the psalm but the next question is asking is it okay for me to pray like I see the psalmist praying and I don't know should my prayers look like their prayers that's what this question comes from day 116 specifically from Psalm 77 and it reads is God really okay with the kind of honesty we see in the Psalms is this how I should be talking to God so Psalm 77 it's a very raw prayer from someone who can't feel God's nearness or he seems to be far and doesn't want to fake it which is relatable and he describes sleepless nights unanswered questions he wonders aloud if God's love has failed so he is doubting God's character but there's a turning point when he chooses to remember truth over his feelings so what can we learn from this example I mean I think yes is this how I should be talking to God is this okay to kind of model my prayers after the Psalms 100 percent I think I think two things like first of all you can use the Psalms as your own prayers and we've seen that that's that's what Israel did that's what the early church was doing that is a great thing to do so that's one thing and then on the other hand you can also model your prayers after the Psalms and write your own say your own knowing that God is 100 okay with this kind of honesty and he welcomes it and he's omniscient he already knows he already knows thoughts don't surprise him exactly so he knows every thought you've ever had whether you said it out loud you wrote it down or you just kept it in your head he knows the deepest desires of your heart and so we can't hide anything from God and so it's helpful for us to just get it out write it down say it out loud yeah we I love that you said that Christian that we can't hide anything from God because we can bring our tears our confusion even our doubts yes our frustration and trust that he's not going to flinch God's not going to be surprised by what what we're bringing to him so we can say whatever's going on in our heart in the spirit will meet us there because prayer isn't about performing it's about being known it's about being obedient it's about being connected to to the vine drawn 15 but I also think it's worth noting our heart posture when we come to God so as we're talking about these Psalms as model prayers yes God can handle our emotions yes he can handle our doubts yes he can handle our confusion or disappointments but that doesn't minimize him it actually should expand our view of him that that doesn't mean God doesn't deserve reverence right or or worship minimize him in yeah yeah in our eyes that that doesn't mean that he is casual or small that I could talk to him like I'd vent to my friend it means he's big enough to handle and respond to what I'm bringing to him in a way that none of my friends could ever yeah yeah and with the with the kind of wisdom that he has more wisdom than all of any wisdom that our friends have comes from him anyway yes you know he's a source of all wisdom exactly right and the comparison aspect that of is it okay to come to pray like these people I think you know with the last question we were talking about how we don't want to be looking at the wicked but these people who wrote the Psalms are not models of wickedness for us to look to they're models of righteousness for us to look to and so mimicking the righteous is a wise and godward thing to do right and so I think I absolutely want to mimic the righteous you know Paul says imitate me as I imitate Christ it's like all right I'm happy to imitate the Psalmist those are good people that point me toward the Lord in how to demonstrate they have demonstrated for us how to share our emotions with God because and again this is not to be a broken record this is the songbook of God's people right they said these things to God in public yes yeah right yeah yeah and I think it can help us again communicate with God in a wide variety of ways it helps us lament it helps us helps us express sorrow which I think is something that I I mean I would say I just think that that's hard for our culture to do sometimes especially with God or in a church setting it kind of feels like no I have to come to church all buttoned up like I have to bring my my best which sometimes then is just putting on a face yeah so I think it can really inspire the Psalms can inspire us to help communicate with God in ways that feel authentic right that are faithful that align with his word so yeah I feel like I would say if you want to read through the Psalms and pray through the Psalms that's a great thing to do if you're feeling maybe a little bit more creative or artistic you could try to write some of your own Psalm inspired songs or poems like that could be a cool thing to do I'm not really that creative so I will just be praying the Psalms no I'm like that's for those creative types out there you know yeah I am literally the one who's like give me the exact words to pray and I will pray those words okay so I can't pray like the Psalms and then they read these beautiful songs and they're like oh I can't pray like that my prayers are a lot messier they're not as well rounded or whatever however you want to describe them eloquent yeah but it's it's not about using the most precise or most beautiful words it's about sharing your heart with God it's not about meter or rhymes yes yes and and I think the most important thing to remember as we're sharing our hearts with God and we have these kind of sticky spots that we're in we have some tough thoughts and feelings is we have to remember God is not mad at you all the wrath that the Father has for your wicked actions thoughts and feelings like even your bad thoughts and feelings Jesus paid for that on the cross it has already been paid for God is not looking to punish you and that is one of the reasons you are free to bring things to him and if you want to ask him to change your heart you have to bring your heart to him if you want to get the oil changed in your car you got to take your car to the mechanic right and so I love that he's the only one who can change your heart so take it to him share it with him he's a safe place for everything in your heart he can be trusted yeah amen amen that's great yeah that's great all right so let's move on to our next question which is coming from day 118 specifically Psalm 88 verse 14 so the question is does God really cast us away or hide his face from us and so that Psalm says oh lord why do you cast my soul away why do you hide your face from me so the question is really is this what's is this what's happening to me yeah it's a great question because Psalm 88 is often called the darkest Psalm and it's because it ends without a resolution yeah so a lot of times we see this arc where the psalmist brings the complaints and reminds themselves of truth and there's this you know you can type oh on that yeah wrap up yeah and here you you don't see that so it is a true lament with no happy ending no like but I will praise you the no there's no but phrase and it reminds us that sometimes even the most faithful people feel abandoned they have moments of despair they have really low moments that doesn't mean that you're not a good enough Christian it means you're a broken broken person like everybody else yeah and I think to to kind of give like maybe the short answer to just the the general question so we know that God never forsakes his people that's in Deuteronomy 31 6 Psalm 94 14 yet we have all experienced these times where God has felt distant or forsaken or that he might be hiding his face from us we have felt that so I think what we want to clarify with this Psalm is that this is an expression of emotion this is what this person was feeling but that doesn't mean that that was actually what was happening yeah because we know God is never forsaking his people he's not forsaking us yeah well what's interesting is the psalmist is still talking to God so even though he's expressing this like God God is gone yeah but he's yet he's talking to talk to God yeah so his what might be like an apparent absence doesn't mean he's actually absent he's just sharing how how he feels and so this psalmist giving language for believers who can't yet see that reality that God is there or feel or it doesn't feel like I'm experiencing it but are choosing to refuse to stop praying because they believe that God is there like they know it yeah but it's hard to believe right so I'm going to choose to persist in prayer right which I think is important to address our feelings with the facts and that's that's but the space between facts and feelings is where faith comes in yeah you know like that's just that's where the rubber meets the road that totally and that's the opportunity to express what we know is true more than what we feel is true yeah but I think we need to have we need to be able to express the experience that we're having and then I think we can get to that place oh yeah you know it's not denying how we feel exactly so it's not denying it so the psalmist I think is giving us the language for okay this is sometimes the experience that we might feel with the Lord maybe we're suffering maybe people around us are stuff like something's going on where we're feeling this but we then remind ourselves God never removes his presence from his people he might feel far away but for our case the Holy Spirit is always with us that is a promise we can be confident in that so even when we're having this feeling of God you feel distant or I feel distant from you the reality is that the Holy Spirit is there's not some days where the Holy Spirit is closer to you than others like yeah he's with you at all times Jesus Jesus himself quoted the language of the psalm when he says my god my god why have you forsaken me and in that moment Jesus was entering the full depth of these human emotions that we experience and because of him we can know that even when God feels far or God feels hidden he's closer than we can see the one who who once felt cast away now stands with us Jesus is with us whenever we are in the dark yeah and even that that psalm where he's quoting psalm 22 we've talked about this in tbr um well actually I don't know if we've hit this episode yet we haven't hit it yet oh yeah but Jesus quoting that psalm that is not uh I don't believe that's an acknowledgement that the father was had cast Jesus away right um and we'll talk more about that so let's let's stay here yeah uh but it is I believe he's he's quoting this this psalm 22 is a prophetic psalm about the messiah and so when people um use that to point to a separation between Jesus and the father I don't think that's something that's trinitarily possible I don't think doctrinally theologically I don't think that stands up as what that is representing and so even in that space the my god my god why have you forsaken me that the psalmist wrote it's again an expression of how the feeling is that is not accurate as far as the facts are concerned and so I think we got it we have with this question the question does God really cast us away or hide his face from us I think if we were to just answer this in brief he would say no right exactly no yeah right no that is the your believer you're secure yeah I mean here's all the reasons that we think this verse is important in scripture but the answer to the question about the scripture is no yep I love it love it you two ready for the next one yeah I think I wrapped it up that was good yeah yeah no okay what would that person who asked that question have thought if we had just been like no all right nothing on right he didn't even tell me why I'm really like I'm really struggling good thing we didn't do that right all right this one comes from day 119 it's more of a general question and the question says we learned in today's reading and devotional that God is the giver and taker of life and we also learned that God is never the active agent of evil or at least that's what I recall TLC saying how do you hold both truths yeah I okay I'll start this one so I believe both of these things and I also recognize that I truly don't fully understand in my less than infinite mind how both of these things somehow work together like this is not an easy answer to this question but different than the last question with a simple no um so I think there's two things that we need to be confident of as we approach this question so first God sovereignty and then second God's character and specifically his goodness so as we're thinking about this we're holding both of those things together which sometimes it feels like uh one you know one feels maybe more strong than the other but they're they're they're on the same page yeah they don't contradict yeah yeah right God is sovereign over life and death yes fact yes and he is never the author of evil right also a fact but those aren't opposites they're just two true realities so that are sometimes really hard to marry together yes but it's the difference between what God produces and what he permits so he permits death but he's not the acting agent of death I might disagree with that because of Jesus well because of sovereignty okay but it death is a result of the fall death is a result of the fall but who is deciding when you die God but he's permitting that he's not sending he's not giving you the cancer he's allowing cancer okay so I mean I can get on not that I think you're dying right yeah I mean just you know as a cause of death when he takes me but I would say that that for anyone else to have the control over when I die would put on sovereignty yeah I don't like if the enemy gets to choose when I die yeah I don't like that plan yeah you know yep yep I want God to be right how many days you get yeah and and thank God he does you know all my days were numbered and that is a comfort to me yeah and so I think and I the conversation that we just had illustrates that it's complex it's complex but I also think death it's death itself is a result of our sin it's the result of the fall it is not the result it is God's necessary response to the problem of evil yes that he chooses to allow it yes and that he chooses to work it that's one of the things that is works together for our good and his glory the timing of death and to to for some people who readily acknowledge that God is the author of life it is scary to think that God is also in charge of death and I see those things as both comforting yes because I like that phrase you just used in charge of because there's a difference between if you're like managing a business and you own the business you're in charge of all of the happenings but you might not be the one making the decision to fire an employee who's way down on the totem pole but you're overseeing the happenings of the company how much money the company makes how well the company does and you want the person who's in that seat to be somebody who's a good person who has the best interests of the organization at heart however there's a difference between God and humans right so God is this ultimate sovereign authority who is going to permit death and evil he's going to permit bad things to happen but he's not going to initiate it from an impure evil heart right it is it is out of good yes it is and I mean I'm thinking of just old testament passages there's one where God took the boy in death took him brought him to himself because he delighted in him yes and we see in that and it be good as a be with God right then yeah and even the fact that Jesus is the angel of death uh in the old testament it's a very interesting yeah and um so there are just a lot of things that to me those things are um comforting and because I don't want anybody else to take me out well I would say too I think that I know that you have such a high view of God sovereignty and such a high view of his goodness like yes you are so settled those two in the goodness of God and trusting that whatever may come is for your good and so I think that for people out there that this maybe feels like more of a wrestle yeah you know we're having a little bit more of a higher level theological conversation about this whereas for someone else it might be like no this feels like oh and I get that wrestle I went through I think you're not alone right and I think that's part of it is that we all as believers we have you've got to go through the wrestle yeah because you have to get you have to get to this place where you can hold these two things that are challenging to understand yeah together and to just trust that the areas that that don't make sense in our lives that you're like I don't see one ounce of good here but I believe that God is good and I believe that he will use all things for good and so I can trust in his sovereignty his power his authority in this yeah so I think absolutely yeah for people out there that are still in the midst of the wrestle you know like keep pressing in because the goal is to get to this place of really a confidence in God's goodness and sovereignty together and I have to make sure that I add I co-sign everything you just said and also the fact that I hold both of these things in high regard and don't I acknowledge that there's tension but I don't think they're at odds with each other yeah doesn't mean I've arrived and that I never struggle with what happens in life right it's not that everything is just like no the goodness of God like sometimes I'm like what are you doing yeah totally what is happening yes are you good like I'm praying like this yes totally and so I still have those wrestles of what my feelings are versus what I know the facts are yes yeah and again that's the that's the space where faith gets to show up and shine yeah and I think this is this conversation I think is so helpful because I think correct me if I'm wrong but you probably lean more toward God's sovereignty than I do I'll lean a little bit more into man's free will but as y'all were talking I was reminded of Romans 5 when we're in the wrestle whether whether you hold a stronger conviction toward God's sovereignty or a stronger conviction toward honestly man's brokenness at the end of the day we can't fully understand it yeah but when we're in the suffering Romans 5 when we're in the wrestle we rejoice in our suffering knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope not disappointment or discouragement hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us so it's okay to wrestle in the suffering you have to but God tells us that he will grow us through it yeah and ultimately to look more like and I am guaranteed to struggle with this again yes I'm guaranteed to wrestle with this again and the hope of Romans 5 let's you know persevere through it yeah fix my eyes on Jesus and don't let my feelings or my lack of omniscience and knowing how God is working all this together for my good and his glory don't let that discourage me from trusting him and praising him in the midst of it yeah yeah because really there's so many things about how God is at work that that are mysterious and they are we don't know right and and like praise God for that he's so much bigger than us you know what I mean but we have to be you that's where the the humility and the faith come in of just when you're in those places being like I do not understand this God but I trust that you're good yeah yeah yeah yes and amen amen all right so let's go to our next question which is coming from day 119 this is coming from 1 Chronicles 10 13 so let me read this verse first and then we'll get into the question 1 Chronicles 10 13 Saul died for his breach of faith he broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord and also consulted a medium seeking guidance so the question is what does the phrase breaking faith so coming right from that verse mean or breach of faith does that mean Saul was saved and then lost his salvation that's a great question so the phrase breaking faith one view doesn't mean Saul lost salvation he once had it means or it could mean that he willfully turned away from trusting and obeying God so an initial rejection Saul's pattern wasn't just one moment of weakness as we know reading about Saul this week it was a life of ongoing rebellion he'd have moments where maybe it seemed like he was going to turn around but then he just disappointed again right he hardened his heart he refused to repent and even sought guidance from a medium yeah instead of the Lord so we we see a pattern of rebellion and in the Old Testament breaking faith often describes a covenant disloyalty yeah so it's a it's failing to live in right relation with God is what it is and it's about unfaithfulness not losing salvation as we talk about today right when it comes to believers this is this is different so this is a this is Saul's death illustrating a very serious rejection of God's word not not fragility of God's grace it's yeah it is a a choice that Saul is making so the Hebrew here to act unfaithfully it's a technical term for violation of covenant loyalty so it's yeah it's all that's all like yeah almost being portrayed as judgment for like apostasy not a withdrawal of like divine election it's not God saying oh you you had salvation i'm gonna take it away that's not that's not what God does that's not what's happening yeah yeah i was thinking about this again not having to do with Saul's salvation but more a comment on Saul's lack of faithfulness to Yahweh so this is breaking of the covenant unfaithfulness yeah and also i think um so the net translation or the nat translation i think is helpful so it says Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord's instructions he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits so it's about the unfaithfulness versus anything having to do with salvation especially as we would have that conversation in in this day and age yeah and i think it's it's clear in the passage in the the verse that this question is based on the consulting the medium and seeking guidance from the medium is not the one thing that changed everything it's just given as an example of like the audacity that's a very clear very clear indicator that his trust was not in the Lord but i mean reading about Saul's life that guy just never really demonstrates a pattern of faithfulness it is it is i mean he's hiding in the luggage cart from the junk like he just is not he's just like he had this is a disappointment the Lord used him but to me it feels it's almost parallel to like a Cyrus story of like this person who did not have a heart that belonged to the Lord Cyrus being Cyrus the king of Persia yeah thank you thank you yeah we have gone there yet i don't think we're going to be there yep um sneak peek yeah exactly um but uh but this person who was used by God for the purposes of God but did not have a heart that belonged to God and so the faith that is demonstrated by the people of God Saul had this it wasn't a whole faith it was a broken faith it was like a again my community group last night we were reading through uh James one and we're talking about the double-minded man who's unstable in all his ways when you've got one foot on like sure God's God's good but then the world i want to want to seek the world's guidance you there's no stability and that's gonna that's gonna break things in the long run well and that's interesting yeah to think about Saul in that way because you're like yeah exactly that's what we're saying in his life yeah yeah i want to make a key distinction as we talk about Saul's unfaithfulness about the covenants in the Old Testament because the Old Covenant was to some degree conditional in the mosaic covenant from Sinai yep yes and that God expected his people to carry themselves to behave to obey in a certain way and thus experience specific blessings as a result of their behavior that's Deuteronomy 28 and what we see with Saul is the opposite he's just doing so much wrong yeah and so there is not upholding the covenant in any way with how he's behaving yeah so there's an immediate there's a consequence that we see very clearly that results from his collective behavior not the one instance but his collective behavior for those who belong to Christ now under the new covenant our salvation rests in God's faithfulness not perfection right we we will fail and we're not i'm not living my life thinking oh if i mess up too many times God's gonna strike me dead yeah right that's that's not the way we we operate because the covenants are a little bit different God had told people in the Old in the Old Covenant hey if you disobey death is a possible consequence and now today our standing before God depends on Christ's finished work now our ability to keep the law yeah it's key distinction and i think but also it's important to say those people under the Old Covenant were not saved by their obedience correct they were still saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross which they were looking forward to and we are looking backward to so it's not we want to be clear that yeah they were saved by their works right but their works would lead to very specific consequences yeah yeah yeah and i think too just remembering kind of the context of the book that we're in so in chronicles the author is really setting up David as the epitome of a good king in Israel and so what what it seems like he's doing is reminding the readers and us that Saul was not a good king and here's why he disobeyed God he was unfaithful and so the Israelites reading chronicles and us today as we're reading this book we're meant to learn from the negative example of Saul don't be faithless like Saul don't let the fear of man which i feel like is a huge thing for Saul don't let the fear of man get you to disobey God totally yeah instead be faithful to Yahweh more along the lines of what we see David doing right yeah but yeah it's a call to faithfulness by using the negative example i think but if someone's listening and they're thinking okay but i have failed i am failing i am one foot in the world yeah Saul's story isn't isn't it's warning us not to turn away but it also reminds us to turn back yeah amen yes God is more eager to forgive than we often are to repent yeah but that should be comforting yeah he he wants us to come to him when we're failing when we're falling short when we're more like Saul than we want to admit his is more for reconciliation than ours is his heart is more because it's perfect yeah and i would just encourage whoever's watching listening the fact that you're here right now listening to this episode or watching this episode that is an indicator that you are on a great trajectory and so do not lose heart if you have failed or you feel like my faith isn't perfect or oh no am i like Saul like you're here stay in it stay with it keep reading keep recapping keep repenting keep turning toward the Lord among the people of God keep your eyes on the Lord like all the things that we've talked about in this episode yeah are great fodder for you as you continue to persevere and cast off the things that entangle you and fix your eyes on the Lord not on the world and um man i love all these questions i know they couldn't really yeah i think it was high matter yeah i was really helpful that was the Lord he oh and the question askers yeah i love it yeah well thanks for taking a deep dive with us and we'll see you next week as we continue to read understand and love the bible and the god who wrote it there are tons of podcasts out there so how do you know which ones to listen to and which ones to avoid most people decide which podcast to follow based on reviews when you leave a positive review for tbr deep dive it helps others want to listen so be sure and leave us a five star review so we can help more people read understand and love the bible and the god who wrote it