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00:00:00,600 –> 00:00:04,080
In 2025, I found myself
wrestling with frustration that

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God was not giving me joy.
And then God very patiently told

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00:00:08,520 –> 00:00:11,200
me what was actually happening.
It wasn’t that he was

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withholding joy, it was that I
was rejecting it.

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What followed was an invitation
to spend 30 days looking at 30

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00:00:18,200 –> 00:00:21,320
passages on Joy and turning it
into a devotional called

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Rejecting Joy No longer.
You’d think I would have learned

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that coming into 2026, I was
wrestling with hope.

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God, why are you making me so
hopeless?

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And God very patiently let me
know the reality.

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He wasn’t withholding hope.
I was rejecting it.

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And so now here I am, spending
30 days looking at 30 passages

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on hope.
And my hope is that this

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encourages you.
One thing that’s different this

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year is I felt like God was
inviting me to be publicly

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transparent with my.
Processing to.

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Actually go live on social
media, pull out a.

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Random verse.
And then read and process

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through it on camera.
This isn’t me coming to you as

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an expert on hope, but me coming
to you honestly, as someone

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wrestling with hope.
And by witnessing that some of

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you might feel less alone, may
feel seen and understood, may

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end up being encouraged in a way
that is far deeper than the best

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platitude.
So join me as I spend 30 days

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navigating 30 passages on Hope.
This is day 17.

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You’re listening to episode 224
of the Where Did You See God

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podcast.
Probably God.

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I just thinking that you are
God, you are good, and I thank

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you for the privilege of being
able to access not just your

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word as we understand it, but
truth in reality, that is not

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only beyond our understanding,
but we just never would have

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even known to look for it when
you’ve given us access.

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You’ve given us access knowing
that we won’t understand it most

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of the time.
We will misuse it often, so I

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pray always fear that she would
move in this space, that we

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would approach your word wisely.
I always fear guide my fingers

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to reverse, guide my mind, my
heart to a deeper understanding.

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Pray for the person listening
that they would have ears to

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hear unless famous holy name be
men.

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All right, plot twist, Psalm.
I don’t know if we’ve had a

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Psalm in a while.
Psalm 918 For the needy shall

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not always be forgotten, and the
hope of the poor shall not

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perish forever.
Let’s go to Psalm 9 folks.

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This makes me think of
conversation I had recently I

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had the privilege of speaking to
ministry called Rock Arts.

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They do a fellowship program and
we were talking through the book

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that I wrote.
God Won’t provide a Lie.

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We don’t believe We’re
believing, and we got on the

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topic of how a message like that
plays out for different

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demographics.
And I share when I wrote the

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book, and this is in the book, I
was very mindful that I believe

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the message that God is provider
and that we don’t understand him

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as provider is relevant for
everyone.

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But it plays out differently.
If you are very wealthy, it’ll

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play out a certain way.
If you’re doing well, it’ll play

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a certain way, if you’re getting
by, it’ll play a certain way.

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And if you have very little,
it’ll play out a certain way.

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Like how do we understand God as
provider depending on our

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financial context?
So this verse says for the needy

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shall not always be forgotten
and the hope of the poor shall

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not perish forever.
So that’s verse 18, you know,

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Psalm 9 short, it’s 20 verses.
What do you say?

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Should we do it?
Let’s do it.

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This is for the director of
music to the tune of the Death

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of the Sun, A song of David.
I don’t know what the tune of

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the Death of the Sun is, but I
do know David experienced the

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death of a son.
I will give thanks to you, Lord,

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with all my heart.
I will tell you of all your

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wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in

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you.
I will sing praises of your name

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almost high.
My enemies turn back.

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They stumble and perish before
you, for you have upheld my

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right and My cause.
Sitting enthroned as the

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righteous judge, You have
rebuked the nations and

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destroyed the wicked.
You have blotted out their name

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forever and ever.
Endless ruin has overtaken my

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enemies.
You have uprooted their cities.

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Even the memory of them is
perished.

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The Lord reigns forever.
He has established His throne

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for judgement.
He rules the world in

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righteousness and judges the
people with equity.

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The Lord is a refuge for the
oppressed, a stronghold end

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times of trouble for those who
know your name.

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Trust in you, for you, Lord,
have never forsaken those who

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seek you.
Sing the praises of the Lord

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enthroned in Zion.
Proclaim among the nation’s what

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He has done, for he who Avengers
blood remembers.

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He does not ignore the cries of
the afflicted.

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Lord, see how my enemies
persecute me.

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Have mercy and lift me up from
the gates of death, that I may

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declare your praises in the
gates of daughter Zion, and

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their rejoice in Your salvation.
The nations have fallen into the

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pit they have dug.
Their feet are caught in the net

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they have hidden.
The Lord is known by His acts of

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justice.
The wicked are ensnared by the

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work of their hands.
The wicked go down to the realm

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of the dead.
All the nations that forget God,

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but God will never forget the
needy.

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The hope of the afflicted will
never perish.

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Arise Lord, do not let mortals
triumph.

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Let the nations be judged in
your presence.

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Strike them a terror.
Lord, let the nations know they

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are only mortal.
Well, there’s a lot in there.

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One thing really did stand out
to me though.

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Two of these verses are not like
the others.

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He spends a lot of time giving
thanks.

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In verse three he said, my
enemies turn back.

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Verse 2, I will sing praises of
your name.

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I will be glad.
I will give thanks.

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The Lord reigns forever, sing
the praises of the Lord.

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All right, so the image you get
from verses 1 to 12 is that, oh,

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God’s done it.
And so many of David’s psalms

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are in the hardship, in the
struggle, asking where God is.

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But this one is one of the ones
that God’s already done the

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thing and David’s celebrating
it.

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God has turned back the enemies.
The Lord reigns forever, which

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makes it odd when we get to
verse 13 and 14.

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Lord, see how my enemies
persecute me, have mercy, and

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lift me up from the gates of
death, that I may declare your

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praises in the gates of daughter
Zion, and their rejoice in your

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salvation. 13 and 14 seem to
imply that the enemies have not

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yet been dealt with and that he
is not yet able to praise.

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And so there’s a lot of what
could be going on here.

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It could be poetic, it could, it
could be a number of things, but

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let’s just take it as it’s
written.

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Why in the world would you have
12 verses talking about a

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reality that you’ve been seen to
refute in 13 or 14 or not even

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not refute, but the first 12
verses you write it as though

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it’s happened in 13 and 14.
It seems like it hasn’t.

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And this isn’t new to what we’ve
been exploring.

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A lot of these verses on hope
take this stance of naming a

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reality that is not yet there.
And that’s the idea of hope is

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seen as not hope at all.
And so it could be that what

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David is doing is he is in the
space of 13 and 14, but he’s

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trying to frame it with a
foundation of what he knows to

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be true, even if it’s hard to
know.

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His enemies are currently
persecuting him, But he is

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naming that God’s dealt with it,
and he’s already dealt with it.

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Enemies have been dealt with.
I’m praising him.

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And then he shifts.
It’s almost like all this is out

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of order.
It’s talking as though it’s in

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the present, then it’s talking
as though it’s a a future thing

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like, and then we get to 15
through 20 and he’s talking

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about what’s going to happen,
but not as though it has

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happened.
So it’s in this in between

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space.
Venetians have fallen into the

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pit they have dug.
Their feet are caught in the net

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00:08:47,840 –> 00:08:50,400
they have hidden.
The Lord is known by his acts of

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00:08:50,400 –> 00:08:52,440
justice.
The wicked are inserting by

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their works of their hands.
The wicked go down to the realm

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of the dead.
All the nations that forget God,

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but God will never forget the
needy, the hope of the afflicted

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will never perish.
All right, two things.

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One, I think about this often.
There’s a lot in Scripture

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that’s written as though God did
a thing and it can be hard when

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that thing was really rough.
The one that comes to mind is

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there’s a passage that I’ve
shared about before in another

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context where the Israelites
were grumbling for like the 50th

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time as God was leading them
through the wilderness.

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And then Scripture says so God
sent serpents who bit them and

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many got sick and died and
someone could be like that does

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not sound like a loving God.
They were grumbling.

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So he sent serpents, venomous
serpents at them.

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But one thing I learned as I was
digging into it is the verse

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used for scent can be translated
in many ways, and one is me

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actively sending something.
Another is more of a release as

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though I was holding something
back and then I stopped holding

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it back.
So it wasn’t that I was

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directing it to go, I was just
not standing in the way of it

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anymore.
I gave the example on a podcast

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or something of if I was a
principal and I had to have a

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school insert the word for
meeting, but I had to talk to

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all the students and the
students don’t want to be there.

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They want to leave, but they
have to be there because I’m

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keeping them there.
But then when I’m done, I

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release them.
I’m not sending them out

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necessarily.
I’m just saying, all right, you

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don’t have to be here anymore.
And then they go.

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And I wondered if what if what
happened in that passage with

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the serpents is not that God got
mad, lost his temper and said

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and his anger.
Oh fine.

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Well, you know what, here’s some
snakes.

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What if it was that throughout
their journey, He was actually

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protecting them and providing
for them, and they were

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rejecting that provision.
They were rejecting that

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00:10:59,080 –> 00:11:01,360
protection.
They were rejecting God over and

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00:11:01,360 –> 00:11:03,880
over and over and over and over.
And it was clear that they did

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00:11:03,880 –> 00:11:08,680
not want God.
And so he just stopped

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protecting.
Maybe he was holding the snakes

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00:11:11,880 –> 00:11:18,120
at Bay and then he just stopped.
And maybe not out of anger,

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00:11:18,120 –> 00:11:20,920
maybe not out of a rash
response.

192
00:11:21,600 –> 00:11:24,200
Maybe it was letting them have
what they were clearly saying

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00:11:24,200 –> 00:11:27,520
they wanted.
But I say all that to say there

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00:11:27,520 –> 00:11:30,280
can be two different ways to
read some of these things that

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00:11:30,960 –> 00:11:34,480
you know, a passage like Psalms
that gets into the things that

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will happen to the enemies, what
God would do to the enemies.

197
00:11:37,240 –> 00:11:38,960
But then you get to 15 and it’s
interesting.

198
00:11:39,200 –> 00:11:41,640
The nations have fallen into the
pit they have dug.

199
00:11:42,360 –> 00:11:44,800
Their feet are caught in the net
they have hidden.

200
00:11:45,400 –> 00:11:47,880
The wicked are ensnared by the
work of their hands.

201
00:11:48,560 –> 00:11:52,360
That even though David seems to
indicate that it’s God doing

202
00:11:52,360 –> 00:11:56,440
this stuff to the enemies, this
passage, this part of it seems

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00:11:56,440 –> 00:11:59,720
to indicate that he wasn’t even
God that was doing it to them.

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00:11:59,720 –> 00:12:00,920
They were doing it to
themselves.

205
00:12:00,920 –> 00:12:04,320
God just stopped protecting them
from themselves, stopped

206
00:12:04,320 –> 00:12:07,880
interceding in their disastrous
actions.

207
00:12:08,720 –> 00:12:12,160
He had told them over and over
and over and over, there’s a way

208
00:12:12,160 –> 00:12:14,480
to live and there’s a way to not
live.

209
00:12:14,560 –> 00:12:16,600
And you keep going in that other
direction.

210
00:12:16,880 –> 00:12:19,480
I’m trying to tell you how to
have a full life.

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00:12:20,000 –> 00:12:22,760
And it means we’re like, well,
we got our own gods remain.

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00:12:22,760 –> 00:12:25,880
We got our own ways.
So what does this have to do

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00:12:25,880 –> 00:12:28,600
with hope?
You have this full context of

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00:12:28,920 –> 00:12:32,920
David naming a reality that has
not yet happened.

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00:12:33,840 –> 00:12:37,840
We have this section of helping
us to see reality in a different

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00:12:37,840 –> 00:12:41,120
way.
Maybe it’s not God that is just

217
00:12:41,200 –> 00:12:46,000
pouring out wrath, but maybe he
is just withholding his lacks of

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justice, his protection, his
love.

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Wicked go down to the realm of
the dead.

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All the nations that forget God,
but God will never forget the

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needy.
So you have these counter things

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happening in 15 through 18 of
the nations do this, but this is

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what God does.
The nations do this, but this is

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what God does.
The nations are forgetful, but

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God will never forget the needy.
The hope of the afflicted will

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never perish.
And the key here is David is in

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a hard place.
His enemies are coming against

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him.
He is in need of help and in

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that space, instead of just
giving up, returning against

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God, he is claiming who he knows
God to be.

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He’s claiming what he knows God
will do, even as it’s not

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happening yet, even as he’s
still like, right.

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So God, you see how they’re
persecuting me like have mercy

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and lift me up from the gates of
death like even as he’s still in

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that place of knowing, but it’s
but I’m not seeing it.

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He is resolved to hold God is
his foundation.

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The hope of the afflicted will
never perish.

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God is referenced as a God of
justice and God is aware of

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those that are facing affliction
and then he is aware of their

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hope.
Let’s click the O here.

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Psalm 25 three.
No one who hopes in you will

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ever be put to shame, but shame
will come to those who are

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treacherous without cause. 39
seven But now, Lord, what do I

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look for?
My hope is in you. 71 Five.

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For you have been my hope,
Sovereign Lord, my confidence

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since my youth.
Proverbs 2318.

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There’s surely a future hope for
you, and your hope will not be

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cut off.
Jeremiah 14-8 You who are the

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hope of Israel, its savior.
In times of distress, an

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affliction, we either give up or
we have hope.

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And the question is, what are we
putting our hope in?

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And if our hope is in God, then
the next phase of this is

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choosing to remain in that hope,
even as the thing we’re hoping

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for has not yet happened.
David’s enemies, we’re

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persecuting him.
He felt like he had to name it

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bluntly to God.
He felt like he had to say, have

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mercy and lift me up from the
gates of death.

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The gates of death.
I mean, that’s low, low, low,

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low.
That’s a hard place.

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That’s deep affliction.
He wants to praise God, but he

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is at the gates of death.
He is holding on to this hope.

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And he is reminding himself that
though the nations forget God,

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God will never forget the needy.
The hope of the afflicted will

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never perish.
The ESV is interesting in its

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wording, for the needy shall not
always be forgotten, and the

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hope of the poor shall not
perish forever.

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And I think what’s interesting
there is it implies that it sure

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does seem like it’s been
forgotten now.

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It will not always be forgotten
though, for the present moment

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seems forgotten.
The hope of the poor shall not

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perish forever, but right now
and kind of seems like it’s

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perishing.
Man.

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Living in that tension is hard.
You can have 12 verses where you

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claim who God is, but then you
got those two verses where

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you’re like, but let me tell you
what is actually happening.

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I might be saying who God is,
but this is what’s happening.

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God defeats my enemies, but my
enemies are right now defeating

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me.
I’m at the gates of death.

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My hope is waning.
My hope feels like it’s

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perishing.
I feel like I have been

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forgotten.
But the needy shall not always

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be forgotten.
Hope of the poor shall not

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perish forever.
God will work.

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Though today that does not seem
to be the case.

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So this is one of those verses
that requires being willing to

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sit in the reality of the
hardship when you feel

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forgotten, when you feel like
your hopes dying, sitting in

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that reality that that that is,
that’s real, that’s real.

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And then choosing to name that
that is not the final

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destination.
And there’s a song who has the

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final say.
Jehovah has the final say.

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God’s got the final say.
Why He does it in different

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timing way than we want, we
can’t say most of the time, but

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this is what we can say.
Psalm 918 For the needy shall

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not always be forgotten, and the
hope of the poor shall not

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perish forever, but God will
never forget the needy.

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The hope of the afflicted will
never perish.

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Both of those are definitive.
The end of the story.

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God is going to be God and good
and loving by the guy.

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We just thinking that you were
God and you were good.

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And we acknowledge right now
that it can seem like we are

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forgotten and our hope is
perishing.

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But you say that will never
happen, though it seems like it.

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Though it seems to be right at
the edge.

305
00:17:43,200 –> 00:17:45,680
Hope will never perish.
We will never be forgotten.

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So help us to trust that when it
is hard to believe.

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Most parents only name Amen.