Walking Through Life’s Valleys: Psalm 23 Like You’ve Never Heard It

Welcome to the Stand Up Dude Podcast! In this episode, hosts Tim Bisagno and Stewart White invite you into a powerful, down-to-earth conversation exploring one of the most-loved—and most misunderstood—passages in the Bible: Psalm 23.

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Have you ever wondered if God really sees you—or if He’s truly with you in the toughest, darkest moments of your life? If you’ve felt alone, overwhelmed, or driven to fix things in your own strength, you’re not alone—and this episode is for YOU.

Tim and Stewart unpack what it means to have “the Lord as your Shepherd,” and why that ancient truth is radically relevant to men (and women) today. Through honest stories, practical wisdom, and raw vulnerability, they show how God’s presence, protection, and provision are available right now—no matter how messy, broken, or doubtful you might feel.

What You’ll Find in This Episode:

• Why David—himself a shepherd and a king—chose to identify as a sheep and what that means for your everyday struggles
• How God’s guidance, discipline, and abundance are real, even when you walk through the “valley of the shadow”
• Why Jesus Himself quoted Psalm 22 on the cross—and the staggering truth about suffering, separation, and God’s love for you
• How to recognize—and resist—the “voices of the wolves” (doubt, fear, and lies) that tempt you to run from your Shepherd
• Unfiltered stories from Tim and Stewart’s own lives about trusting God when everything feels out of control
• Practical steps for finding stillness, real rest, and healing—even in chaos
• What it actually looks like to “be real” with God, process tough emotions, and let Jesus restore your soul
• A fresh perspective on abundance—why God’s blessings often overflow, and how you can build a greater capacity to be loved

This isn’t self-help dressed up in scripture. It’s a call to true freedom, honest faith, and letting God be the Shepherd who never leaves or forsakes you. If you’re ready for deeper purpose, clarity, and the confidence that only comes from being fully known—and unconditionally loved—by your Creator, don’t miss this episode.


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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Title: "God's Presence and Care"
04:32

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I don't think we comprehend what it must be like to be the God of creation who's never been separated from himself in the Trinity.

(00:08):
And in this moment, he looks away from His Son because the sins of the world are placed upon him.
And Jesus quotes it from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken?"
Hello, welcome to another episode of the Stand Up Dude podcast. I am co-host Stewart White along with our main host Tim Bassagno.

(00:31):
Tim Bisagno, thanks!
Yeah, well I like to think it was the main Dude around here.
He said it for me.
Yeah, so kind.
But welcome to the show guys. We are really glad to have you and Tim has an awesome message that he's prepared today.
What we are going to be talking about you want to stick around for that, but first Tim, how have you been?
Yeah, I've been doing great stuff.
Yeah, thank you, brother.
You're in the middle of selling a truck, something right now, right?

(00:53):
Yeah, selling a truck, I'm selling a lawn mower, selling a computer.
So if my phone goes off its Facebook message, going, "I'll pay for the price."
Nothing's better than people, Rando Strangers reaching out to you to buy stuff and then never actually replying to you after you say, "Yeah, it's available."
It's available.
It's my biggest complaint.
If it's listed, it's available.

(01:14):
We'll do a whole show on that somehow.
I'd like that.
Hey, I want to do a reaction video. We've talked about it.
Yeah, we've been talking about react videos.
I would like that.
I think we should make react videos that are us reacting to ourselves reacting.
It'd be like a, like the movie inception.
It's extremely judgmental just reacting to our reacting, reacting.

(01:35):
We do. I probably do enough of that real layers of fun layers.
Reaction.
We'll give you a glimpse under the hood.
That'd be fun.
Well, Tim, what are we going to talk about today?
Well, we're going to talk about something that you probably haven't thought about, maybe ever,
unless you've been in church and heard a Bible story about such things.
But I promise you, it's going to be extremely relevant to your life because it's all about God is here.

(02:05):
God is with you.
God ain't going nowhere. He sees you and he is all in your business for good reasons.
All of the doubt and the fears that we have, wondering if God knows us, sees us, cares for us,
even if he's maybe not there.

(02:27):
I hope to answer that very clearly today.
The scripture we're going to really emphasize here is it's a chapter.
But it's only six verses long.
Huh? Crazy.
An entire chapter in the Bible.
Twenty-third Psalms or the twenty-third Psalms is maybe what you've heard it referred to.
It's that one that says, "The Lord is my shepherd, a shall not want."

(02:48):
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
Yeah. Yeah, that one.
So we're going to unwrap that.
I want to start out by telling you something.
This beautiful song is what it is.
It's not just a positive pep talk that David is giving himself.
This is an actual testimony.
It's an actual declaration of David and his shepherd over his life.

(03:16):
Even though David was a shepherd, so check this out.
Even though David was a shepherd, he's not speaking from a shepherd standpoint.
He's speaking from a sheep standpoint.
Also, he says that the Lord is my shepherd, as mentioned.
But I want to ask today, who is this Lord?

(03:43):
Does he really, this is a question for you?
Does he really have the credentials to be the Lord?
To be my shepherd, my manager, my owner, my boss.
And if he does, how do I come under his shepherding?

(04:07):
So it's interesting, Tim.
You pointed out it is from the perspective of him being the sheep and not the shepherd.
I hadn't really even thought of that.
I know it talks about us being all like sheep of Ghana, and that kind of stuff.
And there is this shepherding idea, but David was a shepherd.
But he's putting himself in the place of the sheep.
Isn't that cool?

(04:28):
Yeah.
It's like he was looking at him one day and he's like, "God's like that."
God.
To me.
Yeah.
Yeah. And he wrote this later in life.
And I just love that he probably had fond memories of being a shepherd.
By the way, I wasn't planning on saying this.
But this is the same David that slew, that killed, that took out Goliath with a rock to the head.

(04:52):
So I'm imagining being a shepherd.
There's times of great quietness.
Let's hashtag boredom.
But I love that David probably spent his lot of his time practicing for what he was called upon to be a shepherd.
And that would be to get good with a slingshot to get rid of the sheep.

(05:15):
To get rid of the lions and the tigers and the bears and things like that.
So I just love that.
Also, this is also when he wrote a lot of songs.
Right, Kaden?
You like that, bro?
Talking about things back there on the engineer.
He's a songwriter.
And that's part of how David spent his time in the field.

(05:41):
Now, this is a side note.
This is not an extremely relevant per se to the message today.
But I just love how David filled his time to making himself better when things were quiet, when things were boring.
He wrote songs and he practiced, I guarantee you, on the thing.
And he could hit about anything.
So, before I read this very, very short chapter, this 23rd Psalm of only six verses, as I've said,

(06:10):
I want to offer a frame of this sheep shepherd picture.
It's very important.
It's going to help you a lot as we go forward.
Because I'm going to guess unless you live in the Middle East.
By the way, they still do shepherding in the Middle East.
I was in Israel a few years ago.

(06:32):
They do this big time.
It's the first time I started thinking about the word shepherd is like hurting sheep.
Sheep herder.
Isn't that cool?
So, I'm going to guess that they're probably or not a whole lot of sheep shepherd conversations going on in your life today.
Unless maybe you work on a farm raising sheep or something like that, you're probably not talking about sheep a lot.

(06:57):
Probably not.
But for the sheep of these eastern lands, just know that the sheep always lived with their shepherd.
Always.
And he is the center of their life.
They're only guarantee of any form for security.

(07:19):
Apart, these sheep, apart from their shepherd and their sheep condition is absolute pathetic helplessness.
The first time that these sheep ever go into distress, maybe this is you.
Or they're sudden calamity that comes on.
What did the sheep do?
They scatter.

(07:40):
You know where they scatter? These bros are not super smart by the way.
They're one of the dumbest animals ever.
They'll scatter into the creeks and they don't swim and their wool fills up with water and they drown.
They don't even think about it.
They just all hail Mary's and they scatter.
They'll run into the thorn bushes and they'll get all bloody.

(08:02):
How many thorn bushes do we run into when things get difficult?
They'll run up the rocky slopes and they'll break their legs and then they have to be put down or the beautiful picture of the shepherd even carrying them to safety.
So a good shepherd never ever forsakes his sheep because they are completely defenseless without him.

(08:28):
He's always accompanying them by day and by night.
Here's what I mean.
In the morning this shepherd gets up before the sheep do and he is ready to lead them out in the night when he's gathering them.
He lies down in their midst as he sleeps.

(08:52):
So beautiful.
He is always with them and that's the message that I want to just hopefully have really sink in with you today.
That Jesus is always with you.
I remember that the first revelation that I feel like I maybe had in this was when I was looking out a window of a bus in Israel looking at these at these shepherds and they were attending their sheep.

(09:22):
They were sheep hurting and I thought oh my gosh this is like a few years ago and these guys are still doing this.
And we were there for like five days and every time we drive past them there was never ever not a shepherd amongst the sheep.
The sheep could always see the shepherd and the shepherd could always see the sheep.

(09:47):
I thought that was just really beautiful.
Tell me if this is true too because I've heard we tend to think oh it's this wimpy kind of profession almost.
It's not a manly thing.
These guys are manly men right there.
Well they don't want to get used to wolves.
Gosh obviously lions and I don't know if tigers were in that area but nevertheless yeah.

(10:11):
I mean they're sleeping outside.
I guarantee these bros probably didn't bathe more once a week.
Maybe they did maybe they didn't.
It's kind of like the early cowboys or something like these guys are but with sheep.
With sheep.
Well I would love to hang out with them and tell you the dang truth.
That's more or less an introduction and I hope that you are still with me because we're about to get fed up in here.

(10:36):
I'm going to just ask Jesus would flood your heart with the reality that he has never left you.
He will always be there for you.
Out of respect for the beauty and the poetic flow of this actual song, the 23rd song.
I want to stay with the old school language of the King James.

(10:58):
So you guys ready?
Let's go.
I want to just read it and then we can circle back here in a minute and unwrap it.
So check out what us sheep have in our good shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd.

(11:19):
That's a relationship.
I shall not want or be found wanting.
I shall not lack that provision.
He makes of me lay down in green pastures.
That's rest.
He leaves me beside the still waters.

(11:41):
That's refreshment.
He restores my soul.
That's healing.
He'd leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.
That's guidance for his name's sake and that's purpose.
In ye, though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

(12:03):
That's testing.
I will fear no evil.
That's protection.
For that art with me.
That's faithfulness.
Thou rod and thou staff, thou comfort me.
That's discipline and assurance.

(12:27):
Thou prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
That's hope.
That's a quiet confidence that somebody can eat in the presence of their enemies.
Thou anoints my head with oil.
That's a symbol of his presence.

(12:48):
My cup runeth over.
That's abundance.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
That's a blessing.
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
That security forever.

(13:09):
That's eternity.
You know the first five verses that I mentioned?
For here, right here and now.
That's God's provision, His presence, and all of the beautiful things that this represents for us.
But verse six is the hope of our future and for everness and eternity.

(13:30):
We just got to face it.
God loves you.
And that's the most valuable gift that he's ever given.
Just remember that.
You think about it. He shows his love.
We talked about this recently.
In while we were sinners, he dies for us.
God sends his son to die.

(13:52):
Like, wow, you're right.
It's the greatest gift.
Nobody's given that anyway.
Yeah, yeah.
There's nothing you did to earn it.
Yeah.
But I'm jumping ahead.
I'm jumping ahead.
Okay, Tim.
So there were a couple of things that you talked about there that I wanted to circle back to.
It's not actually the very beginning.
It's the first or so into it.
And I think they go hand in hand.

(14:14):
I hadn't really thought of this.
But we see him say he makes me lie down in green pastures.
You were pointing out that's rest.
But also leads me beside the still waters.
There's the refreshment of that.
It's safety, everything.
You had mentioned starting off it.
Like the sheep will panic and they'll run into the raging rivers.

(14:35):
They're heavy wool or will get flooded with water and drown them.
And I was thinking about this.
There's been stuff even in my own life recently where my wife and I have both had to...
We've clung to this verse.
It's in Exodus 1414.
But it just basically paraphrase.
It says, "The Lord will fight for you.

(14:57):
You need only to be still."
Oh, man.
Just thinking of that, like laying down in the green pastures.
You got the refreshment.
You could be off munching away as a sheep.
But instead, he's like, no, rest.
Be calm.
Because they'll just run themselves to death.
And when they do, if he was to take them by the waters that are raging,

(15:19):
they might panic and run in.
And how often do I want to...
I don't want to be still.
I don't want to let the Lord fight the battle.
I want to figure it out on my own.
And I often get weighed down with the consequences of rushing into it too soon.
And feeling like, oh no, I'm sinking.
I thought this was the right way to go.
I just wanted to sit...
I thought this would be refreshment.

(15:41):
And instead, it's like, I needed to wait.
I needed to listen for him to come along and go.
Let me take you to where the waters are not rushing.
Where you're not going to fall in and sink to death.
I have good things for you, but let me do it for you.
You know why I believe he takes us to the calm waters?
Not just because it's...
You've said a lot of this, but it's not just because it's pretty.

(16:02):
And maybe tastes a little better and more easy to drink.
It's we have to have it.
If we're a sheep can't drink from a raging bully water.
I'm picturing like white water rapids that sheep try to be like,
"It's not really a choice that he takes us to calm waters."

(16:24):
We must have calm waters because we need calm waters.
He knows that because he's our good shepherd.
When things are raging around us, that's when we panic.
That's when we make our worst choices.
We're not going to be calm.

(16:45):
We're not going to be sitting there resting if we're not listening to him.
That's so good.
I love to follow up on that. He restores my soul.
In that time, in that waiting, in that resting, in that drinking of the good waters.
He's healing us.
You said it there.
That's healing in that restoration time.
And again, like sheep, we go astray.

(17:09):
We are foolish.
We think we're really smart.
And we just make dumb choices because we just kind of go off of gut level instinct
and get ourselves into a whole mess of mess.
I love the verse.
Exodus 14.
Exodus 14.
Give me a quote again.
It's the Lord will fight for you.
You need only to be still.

(17:31):
Oh, man.
It's spoken by Moses.
Yeah, Moses from God to the people.
They're like, "Well, I'm afraid.
I don't want to go in there."
The land you're promising is dangerous.
No, just trust me.
I'm in this.
And they didn't actually.
Yeah.
The first round, they were like, "No, no, thanks.
No, we're..."

(17:52):
And they had to wander through the wilderness for 40 years.
Yeah.
Just to battle one enemy.
And what is the distance between A and B?
Oh, yeah.
It was like 11 days or something.
Like 11 days of walking there.
Yeah, 40 years.
They wandered in circles.
Oh.
Yeah.
But it's like they had to submit.
They had to get to that point of, "Okay, I'll listen to you.

(18:15):
And just hear what you say, God.
I'll do what you tell me to."
Yes.
Doesn't it...
Tell me this.
Yeah.
I feel like the Lord does this to me all the time.
Okay.
He puts something before me and I'm like, "Well, I'm not able to do that.
That's impossible for me.
It's just beyond my reach."
They'll put it in front of you.
Yeah.
And I think, so I can't do it.
And then he's like, "No, just like that.

(18:37):
I told you, I'm going to fight for you.
I'm going to give you the strength.
I'm your power.
I'm your rest.
Replenishment."
And I go, "Nah, yeah.
Bad, right bad, bad, bad, back off."
I know.
There's just something built in us and we set it on a previous podcast.
It's a both.

(18:59):
Is it mercy or is it works?
Well, is it work or is it rest?
Is it grit or is it grace?
It's like, "Oh, man.
I think the answer is yes."
Grace brings the obedience, the ability to obey trust and belief.

(19:22):
But I think we, I default, Stu, maybe you do.
Yeah, but I know he's relying on me to do ABC and D.
And man, I default to that instead of defaulting to the other.
I just do.
I'm struggling with that right now.

(19:44):
He's called me to some things that are absolutely out of my hand.
Completely no idea where it's going to come from.
I know that it's coming.
I don't know when and how or where from other than from the Lord.
But what about Tim?
What can you do?
And yes, but jeez, I default to, well, what do I have to do?

(20:07):
And my wife calls me on that.
It's pretty great.
Hey, I know that you, that recently, it's been tough for you in your life.
And we just talked about how God never leaves us.
And he's always there with us.
He brings us to the calm waters, even in the midst of potential,

(20:30):
not so calm around us.
Tell me, what have you seen?
During this time where you've noticed that God is here potentially now,
more than ever, is what I often feel when I look over my shoulder after a difficult time.

(20:53):
Yeah, hindsight is 2020 for sure.
Tell me what, tell me the 2020 for the hindsight that you've seen so far.
Yeah, if I were to relate it to this as being a sheep with a shepherd, I often will think I know better.
I'll think that, well, if I was the shepherd, I would do it this way.
And even thinking of his ability to defend me from the wolves, to defend me from the predators that are trying to consume,

(21:22):
those like wolves will say, for example, they bark, yap, they howl.
And that's something that sheep, they get scared, right?
And they begin to panic and they want to run off.
That's when they get into trouble, right?
Because they run from their shepherd.
The wolves in what I can reflect on is like, oh, it's not even anything or anyone.

(21:45):
It's my own beliefs of what do I think I need to do?
What am I hearing?
And it can be so easy to then panic, which is what a real wolf wants to do.
It wants the sheep to run and get away from the shepherd.
Yeah, a wolf and isolates and then attacks.
And it doesn't want to be near the shepherd because they begin to learn.

(22:09):
The shepherd's got the stone, the sling, they've got the staff.
But then that section there, the rod and your staff, they bring me comfort to the sheep.
It's like, yeah, sometimes they actually pulls me back in.
Yeah.
And I think I'm a mature spiritual person.
I can grow.
I know enough scripture.

(22:30):
And the Lord humbles me by going, pull you back in, keep you safe, and keep you from running off in panicking.
But just thinking of that, hit me.
The wolves want you to panic.
And they can't do anything.
A bark, a howl doesn't actually harm me in any way.
The voice of the enemy speaking whispering to me, it's my belief.

(22:54):
Do I hear that voice?
Do I hear you can't?
You shouldn't.
You won't.
God isn't there.
Whatever the voice is saying is how could a good God allow this?
That sort of thing.
And I have to go, that's not the voice of the Lord.
There's no peace in that.
There's no comfort.
There's no certainty.
It's all about creating more chaos in my heart.

(23:15):
And again, I think the Lord wants to bring me to the still waters.
And He wants to make me lay down in peace and safety.
What have you done?
Like, where does it get practical for you in the last couple of weeks?
It's been rough.
Where do you, where have you been finding still waters?
You know, a big thing has been in prayer, like the simplest of prayers, even, just the God help.

(23:44):
And recognizing my own inability to fix things.
And then also in journaling and writing down what is going on in my heart.
We had Nathaniel Blackburn on a few episodes ago.
And his retreat that we went on, where he has you journaling through things, writing out your thoughts and stuff.

(24:06):
I wasn't doing his exact method, but I want to actually do more of it.
I've been doing another system.
And it's both prayer, it's devotional, it's in the Word, but it's weird how your heart tries to tell you that's not going to do anything for me.
Like, what good is writing down what's in my heart going to do?

(24:29):
I hate writing.
I actually do.
I'm left-handed.
I hate my handwriting.
I've always been like, oh, this is, wish my handwriting was nice.
So then I'd at least enjoy what I'm doing, you know?
And no matter what I try, it's just the left-handed curse.
But in doing that, the amount of processing the Lord does in your heart, you're like, oh, I didn't even realize I was in there.

(24:53):
Writing it out, allowing the Lord to then go, I present it to him.
Lord, what is true in this?
What isn't true?
Show me what I need to know.
And--
That's what David did.
Yeah, exactly.
He said, where are you, Lord?
Why have you left me?
Even if you go north, one chapter, go to Psalm 22 and check out the first, I don't know, four or five verses.

(25:16):
Like, bro, it's a lot different than what you hear here.
Jesus quotes it from the cross.
He was, oh, far out.
He was emoting.
He was being honest.
Like what you just said.
And he was like, whoa, I didn't even know that was in me.
And in essence, David was journaling.
I think that's something too, is what people inadvertently Christianity and church and whatever else you want to say, Christians buy this lie that I have to present my life as being altogether.

(25:48):
Yeah, good.
And then we even do it before God.
Like, hey, God, I just want to talk to you.
Things are good.
How are you?
And not seeing that you could be like, David, where you actually are saying what, Psalm 22?
Like, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Whoa, like somebody says that in front of you.
If you're saying that, people would be like, whoa, Tim, careful.

(26:09):
God's going to strike you down if you're asking him questions like that.
Yeah.
And Jesus quotes it from that from the cross.
Like, holy cow, Jesus, the member of the Trinity, the son, is separated from God at that moment on the cross.
And he's quoting this section that is just absolute anguish.

(26:30):
Like, I don't think we comprehend what it must be like to be the God of creation who's never been separated from him himself in the Trinity.
And in this moment, he looks away from his son because the sins of the world are placed upon him.
And we're like, oh, yeah, one time I stubbed my toe or stepped on a Lego or whatever.

(26:51):
That hurts really bad.
It's like, this is incomprehensible, the amount of anguish that was in his heart in this moment.
And bringing that all back around though is being real with God, being able to be honest with him.
It helps your heart process things.
We can't heal the thing we won't feel.

(27:14):
We won't be able to address the broken bone if we won't go to the doctor in the first place and say, hey, can you?
It kind of hurts.
We'll just misdiagnose it every time.
I think I just need some pain killers.
Pain killers are not a long-term solution.
And that's mostly what I see a lot of is in our faith.

(27:36):
We tend to turn toward the pain killer, like the quick fix, even the coffee cup versus.
But it's like, okay, but what's really going on in your heart?
How is the Lord enough for you in this?
He is, he is.
We just whitewash it.
And I want to be real. It's still a temptation. I still want to tell people, of course.

(27:58):
I'm good. You know, that common question people ask, how are you doing?
Oh, I'm good. I try to be honest with him now.
That's good.
And just always go, you know, I'm hanging in there.
Yeah. And you got to feel it out, right?
Like, if they're like, oh, I was not prepared for this conversation.
You're like, oh, sorry.
You're good at that.
Sorry, yeah.

(28:19):
But yeah, I think that is the things that I've been doing.
It's just pressing into the Lord, pressing into prayer, pressing into really being honest with what I'm feeling inside.
And not being afraid to bring it to the Lord.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
You know, I wanted to, I'm just going to bring this up here.
And because you've said several things.

(28:41):
You know, so, so often, we want what's promised inside of the scriptures.
We want, we want the relationship.
We want the provision.
We want the rest.
Yeah.
We want the refreshment.
We want the healing.
We want the purpose.
Yeah.
We want his faithfulness.

(29:02):
Yeah.
We want the assurance.
We want the abundance.
We want the blessing.
We want the eternity.
But there's a couple buried in here.
And one of them is the pieces that we're not always so into is the testing.

(29:23):
Oh, yeah.
Though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, that's testing.
So I couldn't help but think even before we started today that God loves you enough to be, he's a good dad.
And he's testing you and others.
Yeah.

(29:44):
Right now.
And to give into the, you remember what you said about the negative messages that you'll get about how your life might be going or not going?
Well, it says though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
The shadow is a little bit like those, those, those barks of the wolves.
They're not real.
It's the shadow of death.

(30:06):
It's not real death.
And it's in those times where he's, where he's, he's testing us.
Sometimes we're not so into, into the testing.
The other one, you're rod and your staff.
They comfort me.
And I mentioned here that that's discipline.
Discipline is, is what the, the staff is for.
Yeah.
We're all into the blessings that I just mentioned.

(30:28):
But the discipline of when he takes the hook around your neck and he goes back here, buddy.
Brother, back here.
Bring it back.
Yeah.
And you might be like, what are you doing?
Yeah, you're like, how could that be loving?
And he wants to say because there, there, there's a snake in that grass because there's rushing water because there's a cliff.
And you do not know.

(30:49):
So accept my, my, my discipline.
So, um, lastly, I just wanted to, to expand on when I said the cup, when, when, when the scripture said, my cup runeth over.
And I mentioned that that's abundance.
Okay.
Um, the cup runeth over is a little bit like, I, I use this container where I pour my coffee beans in there.

(31:12):
And, uh, and I shake them, I shake them to get them tight in there so I can get more beans.
So that's, that's the press down, shaking together type of thing that God, uh, offers us with it.
And, and all of the blessings in our life, period, but in this, this runeth over goes a step further.

(31:33):
It's not just shaken together.
He continues to pour and it comes over the sides.
It's flowing over, spilling over, spilling over.
Does it sometimes ever feel to you like, like, um, like it's too much when God's blessing you.
Does it ever feel like, I don't quite deserve that.
I can, a few beans over the side just to say, just a, just a, a week to go, yeah, I see you Tim.

(31:59):
I see you still.
But what, but it says it's, it's, it's, it's a spilling over in, in abundance.
Does it ever feel re, irresponsible of God when it's flowing over?
One time I did an illustration where, where I had a glass of wine on, on the, on the, on the stage.

(32:20):
And it was sitting on a stool and I took a picture and I poured in the glass.
And then I kept pouring and it was flowing all over the sides and all down the stool and all onto the ground.
And I was like, how does this feel?
This is pouring over. This is an, this is in, in abundance.
This is the cup runeth over and so much time, so much often, so often for me, I want to, I want to accept the, where's the best camera right here?

(32:49):
I'm going to look at this one. So much time I can take this much blessing instead of this much.
I can handle, I only deserve, I can only receive this much and, and the rest out here, I'm going to have to earn.
And he says, my love is, is spilling over you. It's flowing all around you. It's going to spill onto the ground and, and, and, and, and, and feel wasteful even.

(33:16):
But it's, it's to show you that I love you that much and I pour vied for you. I will guide you when you lay down, I will lay down amongst you and not sleep.
He's, he's so, he's so good. And I just wanted to offer you this, this chance of this idea of, of, of, of my cup runeth over.

(33:39):
That, would you may, maybe pray and ask this prayer of God, it's a big one for me. And I've been doing it a lot in the last year, two, year and a half.
And it's, and it's simply, would you increase my ability to be loved by you?

(34:00):
And, and, and, and that's what I believe this verse is about. It's all about his, his, his, his assurance and his guarantee that he is not going anywhere and he sees you.
And if that is true and your, your cup runeth over, will you increase your ability to be loved by him?

(34:23):
I want to end with one verse. It's Hebrews 13, five, and it's a great elaboration on exactly as we've talked about.
I love this verse, it's one of my favorites in the world. So let's be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have.

(34:46):
For he, God himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up.
I will not leave you without support.
I will not, I will not, I will not, he says it three times instead of, instead of accents back in the day, they would repeat it to show accent.

(35:14):
I will not, I will not, I will not in any way or any degree leave you helpless, nor forsake you nor let you down nor relax my hold upon you.
Surely not. Oh man, praise the Lord. For those that have never asked the great shepherd to guide your life, to, you can make this, this, this time with him say Heavenly Father, thank you for sending me Jesus.

(35:51):
Thank you for, for wanting to guide my life and I give you complete control.
Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Thank you for rising again. Thank you for calling me to higher purpose.
I give you my life and my heart and give you the permission, Lord, as if you needed it, but from my heart I give you permission to do with my life as you will.

(36:15):
I want to serve you with all of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Well, thank you guys so much for watching this episode and listening. If you have any questions or if this has touched you in some way, we would love to hear from you.
You can leave a comment in the comment section below on YouTube. You can also reach us at dudes standupdude.com.

(36:40):
But also we have some resources to him. You want to tell him about those? Yeah, those standupdude.com/stand, especially if you just prayed for us and you're looking for some resources to not just know him but know how to look more like him.
Their growth paths that we offer you free right there. SantaDude.com/stand. It's also right there in the top of the show notes.

(37:01):
Remember, like, share, subscribe, let a friend know if you think that this would be beneficial to them. And we're teasing this out right now but there's going to be bigger announcements coming.
We are though in the process of building a community for growing deeper in these things that we talk about. It's great that we have the show.
It's great that we're able to offer this resource to people but we want to give more. We want to be able to offer them a path of growth that it's beyond just the free resources.

(37:33):
We want to be able to give you something to grow in your discipleship with Jesus and see your life transformed. So be on the lookout for that. We will be announcing that very soon in a more official capacity.
Thank you guys for watching for listening and don't forget to tune in next time to stand up dude podcast where we will dig deeper into subjects like this and have even more guests.

(37:57):
So, can't wait to see you then. Bye.
[Music]
Thank you.