July 29, 2025 • 46 mins
A listener to Chris Fabry Live wrote, "I am struggling with God being good and allowing all the kids and families to die in the Texas floods. Their prayers were not answered." We're going to talk about God’s sovereignty and goodness in light of the Texas floods with author and speaker Ray Pritchard. He says the deepest thinkers in church history have wrestled with this question. Hear the conversation on Chris Fabry Live.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:06):
Welcome to our Tuesday edition of Chris Fabry Live! The
program from the heart to the heart for the heart
today a topic I have waited to discuss because it
just didn't feel like it was time. But an email
recently let me know that I am not the only
one who's struggling with this. The emailer asked about the
floods in the hill country of Texas and the loss
(00:26):
of life there, and the main question was, how could
a good God allow such a thing? How could he
not hear the cries of the campers who perished, or
the parents who no doubt had prayed for their safety?
So it's the problem of evil. It's the sovereignty of
God and your heart and mind. Today at the radio,
(00:49):
backyard fence, all that's front and center on Chris Fabry
live as we welcome back, doctor Ray Pritchard. First, let
me thank our team behind the scenes, Ryan McConaughey doing
all things technical. Tricia is on a much needed vacation.
Lisa is in the chair and today is Rihanna's last
day with us. Rihanna. Thank you. And if you call today,
you say thank you to Rihanna. Let me also say
(01:12):
thank you to our back fence friends and partners. You
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(01:33):
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(01:56):
Org or eight, 6695. Faber and thank you for your support.
Today's program is evidence, I think, of what your support does.
There's someone who has been asking this question about God's
sovereignty and the problem of evil, and your partnership with
us is going to help them. At least that's what
we're praying is going to happen here today in the
(02:17):
in the next hour. And we're going to get to
that right now. So thanks for your support. The email
was short and to the point. I am struggling with
God being good and allowing all the kids and families
to die in the Texas floods. Their prayers were not answered.
That's it. That was the the gist of the email.
(02:42):
The first part of my response was you and me both.
How could you not struggle with that? So this question
has kind of been hanging over me since the flooding
and the rescue, and the recovery He has been going
on and those who were rushing in to help as well.
You can't forget them. Those who put aside everything they
(03:05):
were doing and ran toward the flood. Doctor Ray Pritchard
serves as president of Keep Believing Ministries. He has ministered
extensively overseas and a lot of different countries. You can
find out more about him. We have a link to
his website at npr.org. Speaks frequently at conferences and here
on the radio. For 26 years, he pastored churches in
(03:27):
LA and Dallas and Chicago. And Ray is an author.
We've got a book, An Anchor for the soul, which
is not a bad topic, a book for this topic
here today. Ray. How are you doing?
S2 (03:39):
Hey, Chris, I am doing great, and it's good to
be with you today.
S1 (03:44):
Same here. Okay, so I sent you that email. I'll
read it one more time. I'm struggling with God being
good and allowing all the kids and families to die
in the Texas floods. Their prayers were not answered. What
do you what's the first thing you want to say
in response to that?
S2 (04:01):
Number one, I want to say that God's character is
not on trial in our sufferings. Sometimes we try to
make it that way, but God is good. The Bible
makes that totally clear. God is sovereign. God is gracious.
God is holy. What God is, what God is, was
(04:22):
true a year ago. A month ago. It was true
on July the 3rd. It was true in July the
4th and true on July the 5th. And I think
because of the the nature of what happened, the floods
coming up so fast and the mental images you get of,
of the cabins being swept away down the Guadalupe River
(04:45):
and these, these beautiful girls who were at camp mystic
and then many, many others. It's overwhelming, the visions that
come into your mind. And I'll tell you at the
age of 72, now at the age of 72, thinking
about my life, I only know one thing for sure
(05:06):
about all this that your starting point is all important,
and I'm sure the following thing is true. If you
start with any tragedy, any heartache, or any unanswered question,
and try to reason your way back to God, you're
not going to make it because we're not smart enough
to fill in all the gaps and answer all the
(05:27):
questions and fit all the pieces together. I think you
have to start with God with who he is his character,
his kindness, his wisdom, his justice, his holiness. If you
start with who God is, at least you have the
right framework for approaching the almost unimaginable questions of life.
(05:50):
I don't I don't mean to say, Chris, that if
you start with who God is, you'll be able to answer,
why did one girl die and another girl survived us
to to sing that song on Fox and Friends this morning?
I'm not saying that I think there are a lot
of questions that will not be answered this side of heaven,
(06:10):
but I just know this, that if you start with
the tragedy and try to reason your way back to God,
you're starting in the wrong place. Better start with who
God is. Get yourself grounded in that, and at least
you'll have the right framework for looking at these unanswerable
questions of life.
S1 (06:29):
And there's so much throughout Scripture, Old and New Testaments,
there's so much. Probably the oldest book in the Bible
is Job, and he deals with that. And there are
a lot of hard questions there. Jesus talks about the
tower that fell on the people. So he dealt with this,
but not in the in the answering the why question,
(06:51):
but to But again, to do the same thing that
you just did, which is take us back to who
God is. Um, you used that's word sovereign. When you say,
I know that there are different definitions of this and
different theological perspectives on the sovereignty of God, but when
you use that word, God is sovereign, what does that mean?
S2 (07:10):
Okay, let me give you a quote I got from
Tony Evans, and I, I use it because I cannot
improve upon it. Tony says everything in the universe is
either caused by God or allowed by God. And there
is no third category, such as really bad stuff that
happened while God was looking in the other direction. We're
(07:32):
not going to survive. We're not going to make it.
Our faith is not going to make it. If we
somehow say God did not know what was happening. God
did not have control. We're just not going to make it.
If we say that. So to me, the sovereignty of
God is exactly that. Everything in the universe is either
caused by God or allowed by God, at least, at
(07:53):
least as they say. That doesn't answer every question, does it?
But at least it puts God in the right place.
It puts him on the throne of the universe and
puts the problem. If that's what you want to call it,
it puts the problem at the right place, right at
God's doorstep. And that's what I mean by saying, you
(08:13):
got to start with God. You're not going to make
it if, uh, somebody, uh, I've got a friend right now.
Right now. Chris, who, uh, I mean, a dear friend,
somebody from my days in the church in Oak Park
who is a little bit older than me and has
had so many problems and, uh, uh, I'm talking about
(08:36):
health problems and just just recently been diagnosed with leukemia
on top of everything else. And he just told the doctors, uh,
God has been good to me. He testified to me,
God has been so good to me. I want to
take the next 2 or 3 months. Send me home.
I'm ready to go. Be with Jesus. Send me home
(08:57):
and I. And when my time comes, my time comes.
So you try to. You try to say why him?
Why now? Why this? At least, at least when you
start with God, you can find the faith and the
hope and the confidence to believe in this world where
(09:17):
sometimes things just seem to be spinning out of control.
There is a God who knows me and a God
who loves me. And even at the end of my life,
I can trust him. Yeah.
S1 (09:29):
You know, that's the other thing about it is, uh,
if if God were to call us up right now
and we, you know, if Jesus were on the line
and we take caller number four, and I would really quickly, um,
and we could ask him and say, okay, Why give us.
Give us the whys and the wherefores. And he explained
(09:51):
it all to us. It still wouldn't be good enough
because we can't understand, you know, he wouldn't be able
to take the amount of time to explain to our
finite minds what is going on here. And that is
not to let God off the hook, but it is
to say the truth about the the complexities of how
(10:13):
how in the world can God hear your prayer and
my prayer and a billion others at the same time?
You know, we look at him through the prism of
our own experience, and we also think, if I could
just know why, then I could go forward. You know,
if I could just have the Joseph answer, you know,
he was thrown in the pit and they thought he
(10:34):
was dead. Dad thought he was dead and goes in
Potiphar's wife and prison. You know all that. But but
he saved his family. If in the end, you could
see he saved his family. He's like, well, I can
go through all that because look, look at what happens
on the outcome. I can't see what happens in the
outcome here. And that is the struggle that I have.
(10:55):
So let me take our break. You mentioned the young
girl who sang this Morning on network TV. We've got
her voice, if you haven't heard that and I hadn't.
We're going to listen to her words today. And her voice.
Are you struggling with this issue? I'm going to open
our phone lines. We'd love to hear from you. 87754836758775483675.
S3 (11:33):
This is Chris Fabry.
S1 (11:34):
Live on Moody Radio. Thanks a lot for joining us today.
We're talking about the struggle to comprehend great loss in life.
This could be a personal thing that you have been through.
Or it could be something that, as we saw play
out in the Texas Hill Country and the floods there,
and the people who were the campers who were there
(11:55):
as well. The other thing, Ray Pritchard is with us today.
The other thing, Ray, is the the campgrounds where they
had and this they weren't, uh, camp mystic or any
of the other camps, but just campgrounds of people in
RVs and the people on the, the shore who were
saying we could hear them crying out, and there is
(12:16):
nothing we could do. This was just heartbreaking to see
that and then to see those first responders dealing with
the recovery. Yes, some rescues, but then just the recovery
efforts after that and the toll that it took, it's
it's it's the perfect storm. Quote unquote in the negative. Right.
S2 (12:41):
Well, you're talking about a flood. What is it? I
don't know how many inches of rain it was, but the.
But the. The river rose up now. Five, ten. 20, 25, 30ft.
And it it happened at what, 1:00 in the morning,
130 in the morning. So, humanly speaking, confluence of unbelievable
(13:03):
events that nobody was expecting and nobody was prepared for.
So you you look at all that and and I
go back to the question you asked in the last
segment or the the scenario you raised Jesus is online for.
We ask him, so, Lord, what's this all about? It's
not that he doesn't know, it's that we are not
(13:24):
in a position to understand. I mean, you and me, Chris, uh,
fallen is we are redeemed. I know, but still struggling
along in this life to understand we're not. What answer
could God give that we could even begin to understand.
And I just want to let let's put down a
(13:45):
marker right here that a big part of the Christian
answer is that we will, as the song says, we
will understand it better by and by. There was a
that Sunday night hymn we, when we had Sunday night
hymn sings back when I was a boy. Sometimes somebody
would always call for one of these songs. This one
(14:07):
by Charles Albert Tindley. Trials dark on every hand. And
we cannot understand all the ways that God would lead
us to that blessed promised land. But he'll guide us
with his eye and will follow till we die. We
will understand it better by and by. Then there's of course,
you know that goes by when the morning comes. We'll
(14:27):
understand it better to people who do not know the
Lord Jesus. That may sound like a cop out, but
to those of us who do know the Lord, we
understand that there's a better day coming. I was my
attention last week was called to heard a sermon developing
(14:48):
revelation 21 just last week. He will wipe away all tears. Chris,
I'm looking forward to that day. I can't wait for
that day because I'm so overwhelmed with sadness and the
tears and the heartache. But there is coming part of
the Christian answer and a big part. Chris, we have
(15:08):
to emphasize is that God knows what he is doing.
He has told us the principles we need to know
in this life. But there is coming a day when,
as the song says, we will understand it better by
and by. So don't lose your hope of heaven, of
the life to come. Because there is a day coming
(15:28):
when we will know, even as also we are known.
And our tears will be wiped away once and for all.
I more and more am looking forward to that day.
S1 (15:41):
But while we're in the nasty now and now, and
I agree with you, I agree with you wholeheartedly. While
we're here, we're in we're in Psalm 22. You know,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And
some people have mistakenly said, when Jesus said, that boy,
he's not trusting God. No, he's echoing the heart cry
(16:06):
of the psalmist, who is has his or her feet
firmly planted, probably firmly planted in. This is what is
happening right now. And I don't like this, and I'm human,
and I am struggling in the middle of this. And
a lot of people say Christianity is, you know, plug
(16:28):
your ears, la la la. Just trust in God. But
Psalm 22 to me is saying, no, you go through.
It's okay to feel everything that you're feeling and the
stuff that I'm feeling. Well, Jared says this on Facebook.
He says I'm struggling with the exact same thing. If
I'm completely honest, it cut into my faith, especially all
the young girls at the Christian camps. It's very hard
(16:50):
to comprehend and I had to stop trying to figure
it out. God knew, but allowed it. So respond to that.
S2 (17:01):
First of all, that's a tremendous statement if you just
I mean, we could go through and kind of take
that sentence by sentence. It's it's a it's a tremendous statement, Chris.
You're exactly right. It's okay to ask questions. It's okay
to be dumbfounded. It's okay to sit and mourn and weep.
(17:23):
It's okay to look to heavens and say, why God?
Why would you have allowed this? And in that statement
that you read, there's a sentence there, I finally had
to stop. I mean, that goes back to the very
first point I was making. If you if you focus
only on the cancer, if you focus only on the death,
(17:45):
if you focus only on the heartbreak or the images
that come to your mind from that awful night and
the girls were swept away. If you only focus on
that in the end, in the end, you will go
in the wrong direction. At some point you have to
turn to God and you have to say, God, you
are my rock. You are the truth. You know what
(18:08):
you're doing. And I do not understand. I think it
is good, in fact, to be completely honest with God, Chris,
because he already knows what you're thinking, right? Yes. Yes.
He knows. It's not like we're going to say something
that sounds awful and God's going to go. What? I
didn't know you felt that way. He already knows. It's
(18:29):
okay to tell him and be honest with God and
finally say, Lord, I rest my case. Right here you are,
my rock. You are my God. I will trust in you.
Which is I? Which is where the psalmist, in so
many of the cases. That's where he ends up. Lord,
you are my rock, and in you I will put
(18:50):
my trust.
S1 (18:52):
And that's this is another situation to do that or
whatever is going on in your life and the specifics
that you are walking through that you're asking the same question. God, why?
I don't get it, I don't understand. I'm struggling with
your goodness and allowing this in my life. I prayed
this way and here's what's happened. Are you not there?
(19:16):
Or am I am I wrong? I want to trust you.
Help my distrust, you know. And if that's where you are.
That's why we're doing the having the conversation with doctor
Ray Pritchard today. (877) 548-3675. I want to go to Alice
in Ohio. Alice, why did you call today?
S4 (19:35):
I called to give a little light. Maybe on the
subject I had. I come from a pretty big family.
A family of six. And I had my kids father.
We were married together 18 years, and I had lost
him early on when my kids were younger. Um, my
youngest was 11 at the time and my oldest was 13,
(19:56):
and it was like my husband was my rock. And
when I lost him, I went through that whole, you
know why, God? Why God? Why this? Why me? Why
my kids got to go through this? And then shortly thereafter,
I had lost my mother. And then it was like
a domino effect from my brothers to my sister to
my father. And I'm the last one standing out of
(20:16):
the six. And, you know, as you look back at
it all and, you know, after, like I would say,
the first two, I was still blaming. And then I
finally realized, you know, I'm being selfish. You know, if
they're in heaven, they're in such a more, better place.
And I think personally, I was being selfish. You know,
it was all about me, me, me. And why aren't
(20:39):
they here with me? And why aren't they still in
this world? You know, when God's plans are so much
higher than ours, you know, and especially with losing my kids. Father,
I was thinking back, like, you know, they needed a
father more than they needed a mother because I had boys.
And that was just my thought process, you know? But
God knows what's best. God is, you know, we have
to remember that God is the is the ultimate person.
(21:03):
And we were created by him and for him, but
we all just become so selfish here. It feels like
myself personally, that, you know, you always want what's what
you feel is best and what you want is supposed
to matter. But it's all about him. Yeah. You know,
and that that helped me.
S1 (21:22):
I resonate with with a lot of that, that I
want what I that's where I go, I want what
I want. I know better, you know. And I would
never say that to God, you know? But it's like
that doesn't make any sense that he's going to take this,
this loving man out of these these boys and girls
lives and your life as well. That makes no sense
(21:43):
to me. Is is there a plan or is this
just and that makes you feel like, well, this must
just be happenstance. Then everything happens, things happen, and there
is no earthly reason or heavenly one. And you know
that's not true. Ray, jump in here. What do you say?
S2 (21:59):
Alice, thank you so much for what you said. Tremendous,
tremendous statement of faith. And, Alice, while you were talking,
I was thinking because Chris mentioned the book of job.
And I think about what job said. There's so many.
There's so much in job. But there at the end
of chapter one, when he's lost everything, everything, and he
(22:20):
gives that great statement, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. I think in
the end, that's where a believer must come. And Alice,
that's my interpretation of what you're saying. The Lord does give,
the Lord does take away. But blessed be the name
(22:42):
of the Lord. And I think about those little girls,
you know that they were at a Christian camp. No
doubt they heard the gospel. No doubt many of them,
if not all of them, were believers in the Lord Jesus.
Then in. When they cried out for help that night,
the Lord answered. He did not answer in the way
their parents or friends expected or wanted, or even what
(23:04):
they wanted. But to take them home to heaven is
exactly the point that you're making. Heaven is a real place,
and it's a wonderful place, and we ought to be
glad that to to to live as Christ. But to
die is gain. So these are great Christian truths. We've
got to come back and remind ourselves of what the
(23:25):
Bible says in these hard, hard moments. Keep looking to
the Lord. Yeah.
S1 (23:32):
Um, there's. Sheryl says this. And, Alice, thank you for
your call. Uh, if those who died were believers, their
prayers were answered. If they prayed, God help us. He did.
He rescued them from peril and brought them safely to
heaven while they were rejoicing. While they are rejoicing where
they are rejoicing and having the best time ever right
now still. And so if you were to stop right
(23:53):
there with the response, it's like, well, but but what
about the comfort that we need? Right. She says, still,
it's very hard for those who are left here to
lose their loved ones. It always is. Being separated from
someone you love is extremely painful. God never promised any
of us a painless life, but he will use our
(24:13):
pain in some way. Um, and I wonder, you know,
I think for a lot of Christians and I'm speaking
for myself, what I sign up for is, God, you're
going to make everything make sense. You're going to make
everything turn out the way I want. I'm going to
raise my kids this way. Here's your obligation, I do this,
(24:36):
you do that. And God seems not disinterested but disenchanted
with my comfort and a lack and desire for lack
of pain. Right?
S2 (24:49):
Well, this let me say it to you this way, Chris. Um,
I think even inside the evangelical church, I don't care
how many books we read or write, or how many
sermons we hear, or how many programs we listen to
deep inside our hearts, we we secretly feel. And I
do sometimes myself, feel this way. Listen, I went to church.
(25:10):
I put the money in. I prayed the prayer. I
did what the preacher said, right? I kept my part
of the implied bargain. Lord, how could you let this happen?
How could you let this happen? It just shows how
little we understand about the big picture of what God
is doing. I know this will not fully answer everything. Well,
(25:34):
we'll wait till after the break. I got something else
to say about that.
S1 (25:37):
I want you to say it. And I want to
play because Ray is the one who said. Did you
see what happened on network TV this morning? I want
you to hear what this young girl sang. And we'll
take more of your calls. You're struggling with this. With
God's sovereignty. (877) 548-3675.
S3 (26:05):
This is Chris Fabry live. Doctor Ray Pritchard is with
us today.
S1 (26:08):
We're dealing with the, uh, the difficult topic of the
sovereignty of God. And again, you can look at this
from a lot of different perspectives, your own personal perspective
or something that happens to someone that you love. Um,
and some people that you don't even know. I mean,
there have been I can pull, uh, news stories out
(26:30):
of the last two days, and it's like, look at this.
Look at why, why, why did God allow that to happen?
What's going on here? And the shooting at the church
and etc.? Um, but we're just looking at the Texas
Hill Country floods and the incomprehensibility of that. And so
you were right in the middle of your thought, Ray.
(26:51):
Keep going.
S2 (26:53):
I have been greatly helped by something John Piper said
that I have come back to over and over. He
said in any given situation in my life, God may
be doing 10,000 different things, of which I will only
be dimly aware of perhaps 2 or 3. Huge, huge
(27:16):
insight from me and blows my mind, in fact, that
God's ways, you know, he says, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. The secret
things belong to the Lord our God. I mean, the
Bible is very clear on this. He's far above us.
And it is is very helpful to understand that God
(27:38):
has many, many different purposes at work. This goes back
to the question, Chris, of If Jesus were on the
line right now, he could talk. We couldn't understand. We
don't have the capacity yet in this life to fully understand,
or even begin to do more than be dimly aware
that God is at work. Somebody said this long I
(28:01):
heard this long, long time ago that when we come
to these unexplainable moments of tragedy and heartache and sadness,
we ought to erect a sign that says, Quiet God
at work. And he is. That is central to the
whole Christian worldview that God is at work. He's at
(28:24):
work when I can see it. He's at work when
I can't see it. He's at work when I know it.
He's at work when I don't know it. God is
at work when I feel it deep in my soul.
And sometimes I do. He's at work when God seems
to be 10,000 miles away. We just come back to
the point I've been trying to make throughout this program, Chris.
(28:48):
We gotta start with God. We gotta focus with God.
It's the only way we're going to maintain our hope.
As we look at what happened in Texas, as we
look at what happened in New York, uh, you know,
just down the road. I'm in Kansas City right now,
but just down the road in that, uh, state park
down there, Missouri, the the the the the couple that
(29:10):
evidently were stabbed to death on the hiking trail. And
I got another, another story about that. But if you
if you look at that, if that's where you start
and end, you'll probably either become very angry or a
closet atheist because you won't be able to understand and
you won't be satisfied with any answer inside yourself. We
got to go back to God. We got to go
(29:33):
back to God. And there at least we'll find we'll
find the framework, if that's the right word for understanding
and believing in the midst of enormous heartache.
S1 (29:47):
And part of the lament is part of it as
one of the reasons why I wanted to wait a
while to even have this conversation. Uh, though I'm having
the internal dialogue, you know, all the time. Um, perhaps
a child shall lead us. Skyler Darrington is is 12.
Her dad, Joe, attended a boys camp. I'm reading this
(30:08):
from the Billy Graham Association from their website. In the 1980s,
her dad went there and he and his wife put
Skylar's name on the waiting list for girls when she
was only a year old, so that she would have
the chance. So since she was eight, she's been going
to camp mystic, and for the past four years has
(30:29):
been reuniting them with the group of girls. And when
the flood waters rose early on July 4th, in that morning,
Skylar says she remembers singing songs to the Lord with
her cabin mates, trying to calm each other down. And
so this morning, I had no idea this until Ray
mentioned it just before we went on. Evidently, some folks
(30:52):
at Fox and Friends found out about her. They heard
the song that she had written, and they had her
come and they had her sing. And so I want
to just take. And I have not heard all the song. Uh,
don't know if it's theologically correct, but you know what?
I want to hear her heart. Because this is how
she kind of wrapped her mind around the loss and
(31:15):
the struggle and her survival. So here is Skylar Darrington.
S5 (31:20):
I heard there was a giant flood, but we were
washed in Jesus blood. And you don't really care for
my news, do you? On July the 4th, 2020 fifth,
the water rose and we went adrift. The baffled king composing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
(31:58):
Our faith was strong. You showed us love like only
God from up above. Your prayers, your hugs and your
love overwhelmed us. We cried. We prayed. We did our share.
You clothed us, fed us, brushed our hair from our lips.
(32:19):
We drew the hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah. They
say the water overcame. But I will never forget their names.
(32:41):
No blame, no fault. So really, what's it to ya?
We are a part of Mystic Herd. We spread his light,
his love, his word. The holy and the broken. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Yeah.
(33:11):
We did our best. We left a mark, a light
that shines within the dark. I told his truth. I
didn't come to fool ya. And even though it wasn't long.
We stand before the Lord of songs. With nothing on
(33:32):
our tongue. But hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
S1 (33:48):
And she did that acapella too. She's got some some
great pitch, you know, as well as the heart that
comes through in that broken hallelujah that, uh, that affected
you when you saw it, Ray.
S2 (34:03):
You know, Chris, that's about as gutsy a performance as
I've ever heard on national TV. A 12 year old girl,
a survivor. Some of her friends no doubt swept away.
There is a there's a note in there of, uh,
there's a note in there of, uh, almost defiant faith.
(34:26):
That's the wrong word. But I can't think of a
better word of saying we're going to continue to believe.
We're going to continue to shine our light. We are
going to continue to, you know, interesting in the there
there's nothing in there trying to explain, but only to
say that we are going to shine our light, that
(34:49):
God is good, and we are still going to continue
to say hallelujah. So in that sense, besides being gutsy,
I think it's a profoundly biblical way to think about it. And,
you know, job, we haven't said much about the book
of job. But while she was singing, I thought about
that famous phrase from the book though he slay me,
(35:09):
yet will I Trust him. Well, God bless Skyler and
God bless all those who continue to trust in the
Lord in the face of so much sadness and so
much loss.
S1 (35:24):
And something that you've said early today. I wrote this
down and I'm hanging on to it. God knows what
he's doing. I know that in my head, I want
to get it down here in my heart so that
not only will I believe it, but that I will
live in light of that truth. God, you know what
you're doing. I can't understand it. I surrender to you.
(35:46):
I surrendered my broken hallelujah to you. There's more coming up.
Straight ahead. This is Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio.
Our remaining moments with doctor Ray Pritchard, and we're talking
about how do you how do you trust God when
(36:09):
you can't trust him when something happens and you can't
understand why. And that's one of the places where I
have gone over the last few weeks. And that is Mr.
Rogers always talked about look for the helpers, you know,
thinking about nine over 11, you know, why did that
happen to all those people? Well, look at it on
the other side. Look at how many people's lives were
(36:29):
saved through that. Um, from that, uh, and look at
how many people rushed in to those buildings. Look at
how many people have come alongside those folks, and look
at how great the love is for the people and the,
you know, not waiting for the government action. I'm not
(36:51):
saying anything political for this, but it's like, no, we're
going to get the pickup and we're going to go
over there and we're going to, you know, help out
from states hundreds, thousands of miles away. People showed up.
And we need each other, don't we, Ray?
S2 (37:09):
How are we going to make it? How, Chris? How
am I going to make it? How are you going
to make it? Unless somebody comes alongside and says, I'm here.
I love you. I'll listen to you. I don't have
any answers, but I'll pray with you. I'll be your friend,
and I will walk with you through that. And you know,
(37:30):
when I heard Skyler sing, I felt strengthened, I felt inhibited,
a 12 year old girl going to do that on
national TV. That that puts some that strengthens my spine.
That points me back toward the Lord. You know, all
those one another passages pray for one another. Bear with
one another. Which means when I fall, you lift me up.
(37:52):
And when you fall I try to lift you up.
And we just help each other along the way. We.
In moments like this, we need the body of Christ. Yeah.
S1 (38:03):
Summers on the line. Summer. Why did you call today?
S6 (38:07):
Hi. Um. so I just got out of a 20
year abusive marriage. Um, and I basically am calling for, uh,
just some advice, some wise counsel because, um, like I said,
it was abusive for 20 years, um, verbally and physically, and, uh,
(38:28):
it destroyed me, uh, for the most part. So, um,
we got divorced. It was finalized in March of 2024.
And since then I've been struggling just to get through, um,
if I'm being honest. And he already got remarried. And
(38:48):
so I've never one time questioned God's goodness. I know
that he's good, and I know that he's with me.
But in my quiet time with God, what I really
struggle with most is God, don't you see me? And
I'm sorry if I'm getting a little emotional, but God,
don't you see everything I went through? And how is
(39:11):
it possible that he gets to be happy and go
on with his life? And I can barely. I don't
think anything positive of myself, and I'm still trying to
undo all the lies that were spoken over me. And
I just ask him, like, God, I don't understand. I
don't get it. I want to trust you. But I
struggle in that area really hard. Yeah.
S1 (39:33):
Oh, I'm so sorry, Summer. I'm so sorry that that's
what you've gone through. And now here you are, a
year and some months after it, you know, 20 years
behind and then a year in some months, struggling to
put one foot in front of the other. First of all,
I'll tell you what Ray just said. You're not alone.
(39:54):
There are women and maybe some men, too, who are listening,
who say, I get it. I understand exactly what you're
talking about. That feeling of not being seen. Um, Ray,
what do you say to Summer?
S2 (40:08):
You know that one part of summer, one part of
what you said is, you know, here you are struggling,
and there's your ex. He's remarried. This is this is
a Psalm 73 kind of question. And if you've never
read Summer Psalm 73, read it and think about it.
Why do they why why do the bad guys get
(40:30):
away with what they get? They they hurt us. And
then they walk away laughing. And they come back and
hurt us again and walk away laughing even more in
Psalm 73 makes it clear that the answer is that
God sees and knows. He not only sees you, summer,
he sees your ex. And, um, as Martin Luther King
(40:52):
often said, the moral arc of the universe is long,
but it bends toward justice, and in the end there
will be justice. And that's a good thing. We're really
glad for that. But remember, too, one of God's names
is Elroy, the God who sees. And some are. Chris
and I are here to tell you. God sees you.
(41:13):
He sees you right where you are. He knows everything
you've gone through. He knows your pain. He knows your struggle.
And he loves you. He loves you. He's got a
plan for your life. He's working it out. And let
me say this. God's plan is being worked out in
your life. When you can see it and when you
(41:35):
can't see it, God knows what he's doing, even when
we don't have a clue. Last thing I'll say is
remember this faith is not a feeling. It's not a
feeling of being up or glad. Faith is not a feeling.
Faith is a choice. It's a moment by moment choice
to believe that God is who he said he is,
and he will do what he said he will do.
(41:57):
And I encourage you to make the moment by moment choice,
sometimes the minute by minute choice to say, Lord, you
are true, you are good and I am trusting in you.
And when I see it, I trust in you. And
even if right now I don't see your hand, I
still believe. Your mercy is new every morning. You are
(42:19):
faithful and you are good. And you have not abandoned me.
Remember that summer. Faith is a moment by moment choice
and I encourage you to say to yourself, God, you
are good. When I see it, and even when I don't.
S1 (42:35):
The enemy wants to kill, steal, destroy, wants to take
away your hope for the future. And we were just
talking in the break a summer about about the hope
that we have in God and the future. That Jesus said.
That's what the enemy wants. I want abundant life. So
that's what I pray for you. The pathway where you
(42:59):
can see the way through To an abundant life, rather
than the years spent wandering and listening to the the
lies that were spoken over you. Um. And I want
you to hang on. Don't. Don't hang up. I want
to send you something. But before we let you go, Ray,
would you pray for summer right now?
S2 (43:20):
Father, we lift summer up to you because you know her.
You know her heart. You know her through and through.
You know what she's been through and what she has suffered.
And you know the doubts and the fear and the
worry and the uncertainty that fills her heart. Lord, come
with your spirit and replace the fear with faith and
(43:44):
the doubt with hope. And, Lord, fill her with your love.
You promised to do that. You said your Holy Spirit
would come and fill us with the love of God.
So from this day forward and right now, Lord, come
with faith and hope and love. Wrap your arms around
the Lord. May she know that you are God and
(44:06):
she is your beloved, greatly loved daughter. Give her encouragement, hope,
and faith as she moves forward. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (44:16):
Amen, Amen. Summer, you hang on. I'm going to have
Lisa get your information, friend. There will be a lot
of people around the country praying for you. Okay.
S7 (44:27):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
S1 (44:30):
Um, in the answer that I gave to the person
who emailed, who said I'm having a hard time struggling,
you know, with with this. One of the things I
wrote back was I pulled out my 50 most important
Bible questions. Question 42 why does God allow so much
evil and suffering? And he ends that chapter this way. Ray,
(44:53):
it says English writer Dorothy Sayers said that when it
comes to human sufferings, sorrow and death. God had, quote,
the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine
in the Messiah, Jesus. God entered this world as a
fully human person. He not only suffered for us, but
(45:16):
also suffered with us. That through his death and resurrection
we can have life forever. And that's the kind of
God that we serve. That's the kind of God that
we sing. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah to this broken
hallelujah that we have. Uh, whether it's in tune or not,
(45:40):
whether it's on pitch or not, when it comes from
the heart, it's a great sacrifice of praise to God. Ray.
Final thought. What do you say?
S2 (45:51):
God is good all the time and all the time.
God is good. And Chris, you and I and all
of our listeners, we are witness to that truth. Let's
hold on to the grace and goodness and kindness of God.
He has not forgotten us.
S1 (46:07):
Amen. Uh, feature resourced by Ray is an anchor for
the soul. You can go to Chris Fabriclive. Org click through,
go over to Keep Believing Ministries as well. You can
find that there. And the the phrase God knows what
he's doing. I'm going to hang on to that. You
hang on to it as well. And we're going to
talk about a corollary subject tomorrow at the back fence. Um,
(46:32):
we got a friend coming from across the pond who
has been looking at friendships and the the modern friendship,
friendless mail and what we can do about that and
more here on Chris Fabry Live, a production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to our Tuesday edition of Chris Fabry Live! The
program from the heart to the heart for the heart
today a topic I have waited to discuss because it
just didn't feel like it was time. But an email
recently let me know that I am not the only
one who's struggling with this. The emailer asked about the
floods in the hill country of Texas and the loss
(00:26):
of life there, and the main question was, how could
a good God allow such a thing? How could he
not hear the cries of the campers who perished, or
the parents who no doubt had prayed for their safety?
So it's the problem of evil. It's the sovereignty of
God and your heart and mind. Today at the radio,
(00:49):
backyard fence, all that's front and center on Chris Fabry
live as we welcome back, doctor Ray Pritchard. First, let
me thank our team behind the scenes, Ryan McConaughey doing
all things technical. Tricia is on a much needed vacation.
Lisa is in the chair and today is Rihanna's last
day with us. Rihanna. Thank you. And if you call today,
you say thank you to Rihanna. Let me also say
(01:12):
thank you to our back fence friends and partners. You
keep these conversations going with your support and if you
could help us out here, two days left in July. Oh,
we'd be so grateful. We're just a few hundred dollars
away from our goal. So if you've never given or
it's been a while, call or click through (866) 953-2279 or
(01:33):
go to Chris Fabry. Org. Our thank you for two
more days is Colin Smith's drive through the Bible. Get
the big picture of how the scriptures fit together in
this 30 day journey. I'm finding it helpful. I think
you will too. If you can move us closer to 100%
with a gift and you will, no matter the size
of the gift, it'll be a big encouragement. Chris Fabry live.
(01:56):
Org or eight, 6695. Faber and thank you for your support.
Today's program is evidence, I think, of what your support does.
There's someone who has been asking this question about God's
sovereignty and the problem of evil, and your partnership with
us is going to help them. At least that's what
we're praying is going to happen here today in the
(02:17):
in the next hour. And we're going to get to
that right now. So thanks for your support. The email
was short and to the point. I am struggling with
God being good and allowing all the kids and families
to die in the Texas floods. Their prayers were not answered.
That's it. That was the the gist of the email.
(02:42):
The first part of my response was you and me both.
How could you not struggle with that? So this question
has kind of been hanging over me since the flooding
and the rescue, and the recovery He has been going
on and those who were rushing in to help as well.
You can't forget them. Those who put aside everything they
(03:05):
were doing and ran toward the flood. Doctor Ray Pritchard
serves as president of Keep Believing Ministries. He has ministered
extensively overseas and a lot of different countries. You can
find out more about him. We have a link to
his website at npr.org. Speaks frequently at conferences and here
on the radio. For 26 years, he pastored churches in
(03:27):
LA and Dallas and Chicago. And Ray is an author.
We've got a book, An Anchor for the soul, which
is not a bad topic, a book for this topic
here today. Ray. How are you doing?
S2 (03:39):
Hey, Chris, I am doing great, and it's good to
be with you today.
S1 (03:44):
Same here. Okay, so I sent you that email. I'll
read it one more time. I'm struggling with God being
good and allowing all the kids and families to die
in the Texas floods. Their prayers were not answered. What
do you what's the first thing you want to say
in response to that?
S2 (04:01):
Number one, I want to say that God's character is
not on trial in our sufferings. Sometimes we try to
make it that way, but God is good. The Bible
makes that totally clear. God is sovereign. God is gracious.
God is holy. What God is, what God is, was
(04:22):
true a year ago. A month ago. It was true
on July the 3rd. It was true in July the
4th and true on July the 5th. And I think
because of the the nature of what happened, the floods
coming up so fast and the mental images you get of,
of the cabins being swept away down the Guadalupe River
(04:45):
and these, these beautiful girls who were at camp mystic
and then many, many others. It's overwhelming, the visions that
come into your mind. And I'll tell you at the
age of 72, now at the age of 72, thinking
about my life, I only know one thing for sure
(05:06):
about all this that your starting point is all important,
and I'm sure the following thing is true. If you
start with any tragedy, any heartache, or any unanswered question,
and try to reason your way back to God, you're
not going to make it because we're not smart enough
to fill in all the gaps and answer all the
(05:27):
questions and fit all the pieces together. I think you
have to start with God with who he is his character,
his kindness, his wisdom, his justice, his holiness. If you
start with who God is, at least you have the
right framework for approaching the almost unimaginable questions of life.
(05:50):
I don't I don't mean to say, Chris, that if
you start with who God is, you'll be able to answer,
why did one girl die and another girl survived us
to to sing that song on Fox and Friends this morning?
I'm not saying that I think there are a lot
of questions that will not be answered this side of heaven,
(06:10):
but I just know this, that if you start with
the tragedy and try to reason your way back to God,
you're starting in the wrong place. Better start with who
God is. Get yourself grounded in that, and at least
you'll have the right framework for looking at these unanswerable
questions of life.
S1 (06:29):
And there's so much throughout Scripture, Old and New Testaments,
there's so much. Probably the oldest book in the Bible
is Job, and he deals with that. And there are
a lot of hard questions there. Jesus talks about the
tower that fell on the people. So he dealt with this,
but not in the in the answering the why question,
(06:51):
but to But again, to do the same thing that
you just did, which is take us back to who
God is. Um, you used that's word sovereign. When you say,
I know that there are different definitions of this and
different theological perspectives on the sovereignty of God, but when
you use that word, God is sovereign, what does that mean?
S2 (07:10):
Okay, let me give you a quote I got from
Tony Evans, and I, I use it because I cannot
improve upon it. Tony says everything in the universe is
either caused by God or allowed by God. And there
is no third category, such as really bad stuff that
happened while God was looking in the other direction. We're
(07:32):
not going to survive. We're not going to make it.
Our faith is not going to make it. If we
somehow say God did not know what was happening. God
did not have control. We're just not going to make it.
If we say that. So to me, the sovereignty of
God is exactly that. Everything in the universe is either
caused by God or allowed by God, at least, at
(07:53):
least as they say. That doesn't answer every question, does it?
But at least it puts God in the right place.
It puts him on the throne of the universe and
puts the problem. If that's what you want to call it,
it puts the problem at the right place, right at
God's doorstep. And that's what I mean by saying, you
(08:13):
got to start with God. You're not going to make
it if, uh, somebody, uh, I've got a friend right now.
Right now. Chris, who, uh, I mean, a dear friend,
somebody from my days in the church in Oak Park
who is a little bit older than me and has
had so many problems and, uh, uh, I'm talking about
(08:36):
health problems and just just recently been diagnosed with leukemia
on top of everything else. And he just told the doctors, uh,
God has been good to me. He testified to me,
God has been so good to me. I want to
take the next 2 or 3 months. Send me home.
I'm ready to go. Be with Jesus. Send me home
(08:57):
and I. And when my time comes, my time comes.
So you try to. You try to say why him?
Why now? Why this? At least, at least when you
start with God, you can find the faith and the
hope and the confidence to believe in this world where
(09:17):
sometimes things just seem to be spinning out of control.
There is a God who knows me and a God
who loves me. And even at the end of my life,
I can trust him. Yeah.
S1 (09:29):
You know, that's the other thing about it is, uh,
if if God were to call us up right now
and we, you know, if Jesus were on the line
and we take caller number four, and I would really quickly, um,
and we could ask him and say, okay, Why give us.
Give us the whys and the wherefores. And he explained
(09:51):
it all to us. It still wouldn't be good enough
because we can't understand, you know, he wouldn't be able
to take the amount of time to explain to our
finite minds what is going on here. And that is
not to let God off the hook, but it is
to say the truth about the the complexities of how
(10:13):
how in the world can God hear your prayer and
my prayer and a billion others at the same time?
You know, we look at him through the prism of
our own experience, and we also think, if I could
just know why, then I could go forward. You know,
if I could just have the Joseph answer, you know,
he was thrown in the pit and they thought he
(10:34):
was dead. Dad thought he was dead and goes in
Potiphar's wife and prison. You know all that. But but
he saved his family. If in the end, you could
see he saved his family. He's like, well, I can
go through all that because look, look at what happens
on the outcome. I can't see what happens in the
outcome here. And that is the struggle that I have.
(10:55):
So let me take our break. You mentioned the young
girl who sang this Morning on network TV. We've got
her voice, if you haven't heard that and I hadn't.
We're going to listen to her words today. And her voice.
Are you struggling with this issue? I'm going to open
our phone lines. We'd love to hear from you. 87754836758775483675.
S3 (11:33):
This is Chris Fabry.
S1 (11:34):
Live on Moody Radio. Thanks a lot for joining us today.
We're talking about the struggle to comprehend great loss in life.
This could be a personal thing that you have been through.
Or it could be something that, as we saw play
out in the Texas Hill Country and the floods there,
and the people who were the campers who were there
(11:55):
as well. The other thing, Ray Pritchard is with us today.
The other thing, Ray, is the the campgrounds where they
had and this they weren't, uh, camp mystic or any
of the other camps, but just campgrounds of people in
RVs and the people on the, the shore who were
saying we could hear them crying out, and there is
(12:16):
nothing we could do. This was just heartbreaking to see
that and then to see those first responders dealing with
the recovery. Yes, some rescues, but then just the recovery
efforts after that and the toll that it took, it's
it's it's the perfect storm. Quote unquote in the negative. Right.
S2 (12:41):
Well, you're talking about a flood. What is it? I
don't know how many inches of rain it was, but the.
But the. The river rose up now. Five, ten. 20, 25, 30ft.
And it it happened at what, 1:00 in the morning,
130 in the morning. So, humanly speaking, confluence of unbelievable
(13:03):
events that nobody was expecting and nobody was prepared for.
So you you look at all that and and I
go back to the question you asked in the last
segment or the the scenario you raised Jesus is online for.
We ask him, so, Lord, what's this all about? It's
not that he doesn't know, it's that we are not
(13:24):
in a position to understand. I mean, you and me, Chris, uh,
fallen is we are redeemed. I know, but still struggling
along in this life to understand we're not. What answer
could God give that we could even begin to understand.
And I just want to let let's put down a
(13:45):
marker right here that a big part of the Christian
answer is that we will, as the song says, we
will understand it better by and by. There was a
that Sunday night hymn we, when we had Sunday night
hymn sings back when I was a boy. Sometimes somebody
would always call for one of these songs. This one
(14:07):
by Charles Albert Tindley. Trials dark on every hand. And
we cannot understand all the ways that God would lead
us to that blessed promised land. But he'll guide us
with his eye and will follow till we die. We
will understand it better by and by. Then there's of course,
you know that goes by when the morning comes. We'll
(14:27):
understand it better to people who do not know the
Lord Jesus. That may sound like a cop out, but
to those of us who do know the Lord, we
understand that there's a better day coming. I was my
attention last week was called to heard a sermon developing
(14:48):
revelation 21 just last week. He will wipe away all tears. Chris,
I'm looking forward to that day. I can't wait for
that day because I'm so overwhelmed with sadness and the
tears and the heartache. But there is coming part of
the Christian answer and a big part. Chris, we have
(15:08):
to emphasize is that God knows what he is doing.
He has told us the principles we need to know
in this life. But there is coming a day when,
as the song says, we will understand it better by
and by. So don't lose your hope of heaven, of
the life to come. Because there is a day coming
(15:28):
when we will know, even as also we are known.
And our tears will be wiped away once and for all.
I more and more am looking forward to that day.
S1 (15:41):
But while we're in the nasty now and now, and
I agree with you, I agree with you wholeheartedly. While
we're here, we're in we're in Psalm 22. You know,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And
some people have mistakenly said, when Jesus said, that boy,
he's not trusting God. No, he's echoing the heart cry
(16:06):
of the psalmist, who is has his or her feet
firmly planted, probably firmly planted in. This is what is
happening right now. And I don't like this, and I'm human,
and I am struggling in the middle of this. And
a lot of people say Christianity is, you know, plug
(16:28):
your ears, la la la. Just trust in God. But
Psalm 22 to me is saying, no, you go through.
It's okay to feel everything that you're feeling and the
stuff that I'm feeling. Well, Jared says this on Facebook.
He says I'm struggling with the exact same thing. If
I'm completely honest, it cut into my faith, especially all
the young girls at the Christian camps. It's very hard
(16:50):
to comprehend and I had to stop trying to figure
it out. God knew, but allowed it. So respond to that.
S2 (17:01):
First of all, that's a tremendous statement if you just
I mean, we could go through and kind of take
that sentence by sentence. It's it's a it's a tremendous statement, Chris.
You're exactly right. It's okay to ask questions. It's okay
to be dumbfounded. It's okay to sit and mourn and weep.
(17:23):
It's okay to look to heavens and say, why God?
Why would you have allowed this? And in that statement
that you read, there's a sentence there, I finally had
to stop. I mean, that goes back to the very
first point I was making. If you if you focus
only on the cancer, if you focus only on the death,
(17:45):
if you focus only on the heartbreak or the images
that come to your mind from that awful night and
the girls were swept away. If you only focus on
that in the end, in the end, you will go
in the wrong direction. At some point you have to
turn to God and you have to say, God, you
are my rock. You are the truth. You know what
(18:08):
you're doing. And I do not understand. I think it
is good, in fact, to be completely honest with God, Chris,
because he already knows what you're thinking, right? Yes. Yes.
He knows. It's not like we're going to say something
that sounds awful and God's going to go. What? I
didn't know you felt that way. He already knows. It's
(18:29):
okay to tell him and be honest with God and
finally say, Lord, I rest my case. Right here you are,
my rock. You are my God. I will trust in you.
Which is I? Which is where the psalmist, in so
many of the cases. That's where he ends up. Lord,
you are my rock, and in you I will put
(18:50):
my trust.
S1 (18:52):
And that's this is another situation to do that or
whatever is going on in your life and the specifics
that you are walking through that you're asking the same question. God, why?
I don't get it, I don't understand. I'm struggling with
your goodness and allowing this in my life. I prayed
this way and here's what's happened. Are you not there?
(19:16):
Or am I am I wrong? I want to trust you.
Help my distrust, you know. And if that's where you are.
That's why we're doing the having the conversation with doctor
Ray Pritchard today. (877) 548-3675. I want to go to Alice
in Ohio. Alice, why did you call today?
S4 (19:35):
I called to give a little light. Maybe on the
subject I had. I come from a pretty big family.
A family of six. And I had my kids father.
We were married together 18 years, and I had lost
him early on when my kids were younger. Um, my
youngest was 11 at the time and my oldest was 13,
(19:56):
and it was like my husband was my rock. And
when I lost him, I went through that whole, you
know why, God? Why God? Why this? Why me? Why
my kids got to go through this? And then shortly thereafter,
I had lost my mother. And then it was like
a domino effect from my brothers to my sister to
my father. And I'm the last one standing out of
(20:16):
the six. And, you know, as you look back at
it all and, you know, after, like I would say,
the first two, I was still blaming. And then I
finally realized, you know, I'm being selfish. You know, if
they're in heaven, they're in such a more, better place.
And I think personally, I was being selfish. You know,
it was all about me, me, me. And why aren't
(20:39):
they here with me? And why aren't they still in
this world? You know, when God's plans are so much
higher than ours, you know, and especially with losing my kids. Father,
I was thinking back, like, you know, they needed a
father more than they needed a mother because I had boys.
And that was just my thought process, you know? But
God knows what's best. God is, you know, we have
to remember that God is the is the ultimate person.
(21:03):
And we were created by him and for him, but
we all just become so selfish here. It feels like
myself personally, that, you know, you always want what's what
you feel is best and what you want is supposed
to matter. But it's all about him. Yeah. You know,
and that that helped me.
S1 (21:22):
I resonate with with a lot of that, that I
want what I that's where I go, I want what
I want. I know better, you know. And I would
never say that to God, you know? But it's like
that doesn't make any sense that he's going to take this,
this loving man out of these these boys and girls
lives and your life as well. That makes no sense
(21:43):
to me. Is is there a plan or is this
just and that makes you feel like, well, this must
just be happenstance. Then everything happens, things happen, and there
is no earthly reason or heavenly one. And you know
that's not true. Ray, jump in here. What do you say?
S2 (21:59):
Alice, thank you so much for what you said. Tremendous,
tremendous statement of faith. And, Alice, while you were talking,
I was thinking because Chris mentioned the book of job.
And I think about what job said. There's so many.
There's so much in job. But there at the end
of chapter one, when he's lost everything, everything, and he
(22:20):
gives that great statement, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. I think in
the end, that's where a believer must come. And Alice,
that's my interpretation of what you're saying. The Lord does give,
the Lord does take away. But blessed be the name
(22:42):
of the Lord. And I think about those little girls,
you know that they were at a Christian camp. No
doubt they heard the gospel. No doubt many of them,
if not all of them, were believers in the Lord Jesus.
Then in. When they cried out for help that night,
the Lord answered. He did not answer in the way
their parents or friends expected or wanted, or even what
(23:04):
they wanted. But to take them home to heaven is
exactly the point that you're making. Heaven is a real place,
and it's a wonderful place, and we ought to be
glad that to to to live as Christ. But to
die is gain. So these are great Christian truths. We've
got to come back and remind ourselves of what the
(23:25):
Bible says in these hard, hard moments. Keep looking to
the Lord. Yeah.
S1 (23:32):
Um, there's. Sheryl says this. And, Alice, thank you for
your call. Uh, if those who died were believers, their
prayers were answered. If they prayed, God help us. He did.
He rescued them from peril and brought them safely to
heaven while they were rejoicing. While they are rejoicing where
they are rejoicing and having the best time ever right
now still. And so if you were to stop right
(23:53):
there with the response, it's like, well, but but what
about the comfort that we need? Right. She says, still,
it's very hard for those who are left here to
lose their loved ones. It always is. Being separated from
someone you love is extremely painful. God never promised any
of us a painless life, but he will use our
(24:13):
pain in some way. Um, and I wonder, you know,
I think for a lot of Christians and I'm speaking
for myself, what I sign up for is, God, you're
going to make everything make sense. You're going to make
everything turn out the way I want. I'm going to
raise my kids this way. Here's your obligation, I do this,
(24:36):
you do that. And God seems not disinterested but disenchanted
with my comfort and a lack and desire for lack
of pain. Right?
S2 (24:49):
Well, this let me say it to you this way, Chris. Um,
I think even inside the evangelical church, I don't care
how many books we read or write, or how many
sermons we hear, or how many programs we listen to
deep inside our hearts, we we secretly feel. And I
do sometimes myself, feel this way. Listen, I went to church.
(25:10):
I put the money in. I prayed the prayer. I
did what the preacher said, right? I kept my part
of the implied bargain. Lord, how could you let this happen?
How could you let this happen? It just shows how
little we understand about the big picture of what God
is doing. I know this will not fully answer everything. Well,
(25:34):
we'll wait till after the break. I got something else
to say about that.
S1 (25:37):
I want you to say it. And I want to
play because Ray is the one who said. Did you
see what happened on network TV this morning? I want
you to hear what this young girl sang. And we'll
take more of your calls. You're struggling with this. With
God's sovereignty. (877) 548-3675.
S3 (26:05):
This is Chris Fabry live. Doctor Ray Pritchard is with
us today.
S1 (26:08):
We're dealing with the, uh, the difficult topic of the
sovereignty of God. And again, you can look at this
from a lot of different perspectives, your own personal perspective
or something that happens to someone that you love. Um,
and some people that you don't even know. I mean,
there have been I can pull, uh, news stories out
(26:30):
of the last two days, and it's like, look at this.
Look at why, why, why did God allow that to happen?
What's going on here? And the shooting at the church
and etc.? Um, but we're just looking at the Texas
Hill Country floods and the incomprehensibility of that. And so
you were right in the middle of your thought, Ray.
(26:51):
Keep going.
S2 (26:53):
I have been greatly helped by something John Piper said
that I have come back to over and over. He
said in any given situation in my life, God may
be doing 10,000 different things, of which I will only
be dimly aware of perhaps 2 or 3. Huge, huge
(27:16):
insight from me and blows my mind, in fact, that
God's ways, you know, he says, my thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. The secret
things belong to the Lord our God. I mean, the
Bible is very clear on this. He's far above us.
And it is is very helpful to understand that God
(27:38):
has many, many different purposes at work. This goes back
to the question, Chris, of If Jesus were on the
line right now, he could talk. We couldn't understand. We
don't have the capacity yet in this life to fully understand,
or even begin to do more than be dimly aware
that God is at work. Somebody said this long I
(28:01):
heard this long, long time ago that when we come
to these unexplainable moments of tragedy and heartache and sadness,
we ought to erect a sign that says, Quiet God
at work. And he is. That is central to the
whole Christian worldview that God is at work. He's at
(28:24):
work when I can see it. He's at work when
I can't see it. He's at work when I know it.
He's at work when I don't know it. God is
at work when I feel it deep in my soul.
And sometimes I do. He's at work when God seems
to be 10,000 miles away. We just come back to
the point I've been trying to make throughout this program, Chris.
(28:48):
We gotta start with God. We gotta focus with God.
It's the only way we're going to maintain our hope.
As we look at what happened in Texas, as we
look at what happened in New York, uh, you know,
just down the road. I'm in Kansas City right now,
but just down the road in that, uh, state park
down there, Missouri, the the the the the couple that
(29:10):
evidently were stabbed to death on the hiking trail. And
I got another, another story about that. But if you
if you look at that, if that's where you start
and end, you'll probably either become very angry or a
closet atheist because you won't be able to understand and
you won't be satisfied with any answer inside yourself. We
got to go back to God. We got to go
(29:33):
back to God. And there at least we'll find we'll
find the framework, if that's the right word for understanding
and believing in the midst of enormous heartache.
S1 (29:47):
And part of the lament is part of it as
one of the reasons why I wanted to wait a
while to even have this conversation. Uh, though I'm having
the internal dialogue, you know, all the time. Um, perhaps
a child shall lead us. Skyler Darrington is is 12.
Her dad, Joe, attended a boys camp. I'm reading this
(30:08):
from the Billy Graham Association from their website. In the 1980s,
her dad went there and he and his wife put
Skylar's name on the waiting list for girls when she
was only a year old, so that she would have
the chance. So since she was eight, she's been going
to camp mystic, and for the past four years has
(30:29):
been reuniting them with the group of girls. And when
the flood waters rose early on July 4th, in that morning,
Skylar says she remembers singing songs to the Lord with
her cabin mates, trying to calm each other down. And
so this morning, I had no idea this until Ray
mentioned it just before we went on. Evidently, some folks
(30:52):
at Fox and Friends found out about her. They heard
the song that she had written, and they had her
come and they had her sing. And so I want
to just take. And I have not heard all the song. Uh,
don't know if it's theologically correct, but you know what?
I want to hear her heart. Because this is how
she kind of wrapped her mind around the loss and
(31:15):
the struggle and her survival. So here is Skylar Darrington.
S5 (31:20):
I heard there was a giant flood, but we were
washed in Jesus blood. And you don't really care for
my news, do you? On July the 4th, 2020 fifth,
the water rose and we went adrift. The baffled king composing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
(31:58):
Our faith was strong. You showed us love like only
God from up above. Your prayers, your hugs and your
love overwhelmed us. We cried. We prayed. We did our share.
You clothed us, fed us, brushed our hair from our lips.
(32:19):
We drew the hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah. They
say the water overcame. But I will never forget their names.
(32:41):
No blame, no fault. So really, what's it to ya?
We are a part of Mystic Herd. We spread his light,
his love, his word. The holy and the broken. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Yeah.
(33:11):
We did our best. We left a mark, a light
that shines within the dark. I told his truth. I
didn't come to fool ya. And even though it wasn't long.
We stand before the Lord of songs. With nothing on
(33:32):
our tongue. But hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
S1 (33:48):
And she did that acapella too. She's got some some
great pitch, you know, as well as the heart that
comes through in that broken hallelujah that, uh, that affected
you when you saw it, Ray.
S2 (34:03):
You know, Chris, that's about as gutsy a performance as
I've ever heard on national TV. A 12 year old girl,
a survivor. Some of her friends no doubt swept away.
There is a there's a note in there of, uh,
there's a note in there of, uh, almost defiant faith.
(34:26):
That's the wrong word. But I can't think of a
better word of saying we're going to continue to believe.
We're going to continue to shine our light. We are
going to continue to, you know, interesting in the there
there's nothing in there trying to explain, but only to
say that we are going to shine our light, that
(34:49):
God is good, and we are still going to continue
to say hallelujah. So in that sense, besides being gutsy,
I think it's a profoundly biblical way to think about it. And,
you know, job, we haven't said much about the book
of job. But while she was singing, I thought about
that famous phrase from the book though he slay me,
(35:09):
yet will I Trust him. Well, God bless Skyler and
God bless all those who continue to trust in the
Lord in the face of so much sadness and so
much loss.
S1 (35:24):
And something that you've said early today. I wrote this
down and I'm hanging on to it. God knows what
he's doing. I know that in my head, I want
to get it down here in my heart so that
not only will I believe it, but that I will
live in light of that truth. God, you know what
you're doing. I can't understand it. I surrender to you.
(35:46):
I surrendered my broken hallelujah to you. There's more coming up.
Straight ahead. This is Chris Fabry live on Moody Radio.
Our remaining moments with doctor Ray Pritchard, and we're talking
about how do you how do you trust God when
(36:09):
you can't trust him when something happens and you can't
understand why. And that's one of the places where I
have gone over the last few weeks. And that is Mr.
Rogers always talked about look for the helpers, you know,
thinking about nine over 11, you know, why did that
happen to all those people? Well, look at it on
the other side. Look at how many people's lives were
(36:29):
saved through that. Um, from that, uh, and look at
how many people rushed in to those buildings. Look at
how many people have come alongside those folks, and look
at how great the love is for the people and the,
you know, not waiting for the government action. I'm not
(36:51):
saying anything political for this, but it's like, no, we're
going to get the pickup and we're going to go
over there and we're going to, you know, help out
from states hundreds, thousands of miles away. People showed up.
And we need each other, don't we, Ray?
S2 (37:09):
How are we going to make it? How, Chris? How
am I going to make it? How are you going
to make it? Unless somebody comes alongside and says, I'm here.
I love you. I'll listen to you. I don't have
any answers, but I'll pray with you. I'll be your friend,
and I will walk with you through that. And you know,
(37:30):
when I heard Skyler sing, I felt strengthened, I felt inhibited,
a 12 year old girl going to do that on
national TV. That that puts some that strengthens my spine.
That points me back toward the Lord. You know, all
those one another passages pray for one another. Bear with
one another. Which means when I fall, you lift me up.
(37:52):
And when you fall I try to lift you up.
And we just help each other along the way. We.
In moments like this, we need the body of Christ. Yeah.
S1 (38:03):
Summers on the line. Summer. Why did you call today?
S6 (38:07):
Hi. Um. so I just got out of a 20
year abusive marriage. Um, and I basically am calling for, uh,
just some advice, some wise counsel because, um, like I said,
it was abusive for 20 years, um, verbally and physically, and, uh,
(38:28):
it destroyed me, uh, for the most part. So, um,
we got divorced. It was finalized in March of 2024.
And since then I've been struggling just to get through, um,
if I'm being honest. And he already got remarried. And
(38:48):
so I've never one time questioned God's goodness. I know
that he's good, and I know that he's with me.
But in my quiet time with God, what I really
struggle with most is God, don't you see me? And
I'm sorry if I'm getting a little emotional, but God,
don't you see everything I went through? And how is
(39:11):
it possible that he gets to be happy and go
on with his life? And I can barely. I don't
think anything positive of myself, and I'm still trying to
undo all the lies that were spoken over me. And
I just ask him, like, God, I don't understand. I
don't get it. I want to trust you. But I
struggle in that area really hard. Yeah.
S1 (39:33):
Oh, I'm so sorry, Summer. I'm so sorry that that's
what you've gone through. And now here you are, a
year and some months after it, you know, 20 years
behind and then a year in some months, struggling to
put one foot in front of the other. First of all,
I'll tell you what Ray just said. You're not alone.
(39:54):
There are women and maybe some men, too, who are listening,
who say, I get it. I understand exactly what you're
talking about. That feeling of not being seen. Um, Ray,
what do you say to Summer?
S2 (40:08):
You know that one part of summer, one part of
what you said is, you know, here you are struggling,
and there's your ex. He's remarried. This is this is
a Psalm 73 kind of question. And if you've never
read Summer Psalm 73, read it and think about it.
Why do they why why do the bad guys get
(40:30):
away with what they get? They they hurt us. And
then they walk away laughing. And they come back and
hurt us again and walk away laughing even more in
Psalm 73 makes it clear that the answer is that
God sees and knows. He not only sees you, summer,
he sees your ex. And, um, as Martin Luther King
(40:52):
often said, the moral arc of the universe is long,
but it bends toward justice, and in the end there
will be justice. And that's a good thing. We're really
glad for that. But remember, too, one of God's names
is Elroy, the God who sees. And some are. Chris
and I are here to tell you. God sees you.
(41:13):
He sees you right where you are. He knows everything
you've gone through. He knows your pain. He knows your struggle.
And he loves you. He loves you. He's got a
plan for your life. He's working it out. And let
me say this. God's plan is being worked out in
your life. When you can see it and when you
(41:35):
can't see it, God knows what he's doing, even when
we don't have a clue. Last thing I'll say is
remember this faith is not a feeling. It's not a
feeling of being up or glad. Faith is not a feeling.
Faith is a choice. It's a moment by moment choice
to believe that God is who he said he is,
and he will do what he said he will do.
(41:57):
And I encourage you to make the moment by moment choice,
sometimes the minute by minute choice to say, Lord, you
are true, you are good and I am trusting in you.
And when I see it, I trust in you. And
even if right now I don't see your hand, I
still believe. Your mercy is new every morning. You are
(42:19):
faithful and you are good. And you have not abandoned me.
Remember that summer. Faith is a moment by moment choice
and I encourage you to say to yourself, God, you
are good. When I see it, and even when I don't.
S1 (42:35):
The enemy wants to kill, steal, destroy, wants to take
away your hope for the future. And we were just
talking in the break a summer about about the hope
that we have in God and the future. That Jesus said.
That's what the enemy wants. I want abundant life. So
that's what I pray for you. The pathway where you
(42:59):
can see the way through To an abundant life, rather
than the years spent wandering and listening to the the
lies that were spoken over you. Um. And I want
you to hang on. Don't. Don't hang up. I want
to send you something. But before we let you go, Ray,
would you pray for summer right now?
S2 (43:20):
Father, we lift summer up to you because you know her.
You know her heart. You know her through and through.
You know what she's been through and what she has suffered.
And you know the doubts and the fear and the
worry and the uncertainty that fills her heart. Lord, come
with your spirit and replace the fear with faith and
(43:44):
the doubt with hope. And, Lord, fill her with your love.
You promised to do that. You said your Holy Spirit
would come and fill us with the love of God.
So from this day forward and right now, Lord, come
with faith and hope and love. Wrap your arms around
the Lord. May she know that you are God and
(44:06):
she is your beloved, greatly loved daughter. Give her encouragement, hope,
and faith as she moves forward. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
S1 (44:16):
Amen, Amen. Summer, you hang on. I'm going to have
Lisa get your information, friend. There will be a lot
of people around the country praying for you. Okay.
S7 (44:27):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
S1 (44:30):
Um, in the answer that I gave to the person
who emailed, who said I'm having a hard time struggling,
you know, with with this. One of the things I
wrote back was I pulled out my 50 most important
Bible questions. Question 42 why does God allow so much
evil and suffering? And he ends that chapter this way. Ray,
(44:53):
it says English writer Dorothy Sayers said that when it
comes to human sufferings, sorrow and death. God had, quote,
the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine
in the Messiah, Jesus. God entered this world as a
fully human person. He not only suffered for us, but
(45:16):
also suffered with us. That through his death and resurrection
we can have life forever. And that's the kind of
God that we serve. That's the kind of God that
we sing. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah to this broken
hallelujah that we have. Uh, whether it's in tune or not,
(45:40):
whether it's on pitch or not, when it comes from
the heart, it's a great sacrifice of praise to God. Ray.
Final thought. What do you say?
S2 (45:51):
God is good all the time and all the time.
God is good. And Chris, you and I and all
of our listeners, we are witness to that truth. Let's
hold on to the grace and goodness and kindness of God.
He has not forgotten us.
S1 (46:07):
Amen. Uh, feature resourced by Ray is an anchor for
the soul. You can go to Chris Fabriclive. Org click through,
go over to Keep Believing Ministries as well. You can
find that there. And the the phrase God knows what
he's doing. I'm going to hang on to that. You
hang on to it as well. And we're going to
talk about a corollary subject tomorrow at the back fence. Um,
(46:32):
we got a friend coming from across the pond who
has been looking at friendships and the the modern friendship,
friendless mail and what we can do about that and
more here on Chris Fabry Live, a production of Moody Radio,
a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks for listening.
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