How God Redeems Regret, Hurt, and Fear to Make Better Humans
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If you feel weighed down by regret, hurt, or fear, Pastor Scott Sauls understands what you’re going through! Pastor Scott himself has wrestled with anxiety and depression.
He joined Crystal Keating on the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast to talk about his personal experience with anxiety and depression and shared insights he’s gained through 25 years as a pastor, counseling people through painful life seasons.
In his book, Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen: How God Redeems Regret, Hurt, and Fear in the Making of Better Humans, Pastor Scott explores how Christ meets us amid our hardships and redeems the darkness in our lives.
Crystal asked Scott if, as a pastor, he found it hard to be open and honest about his anxiety and depression. His answer? No, because history and the Bible offer such wonderful examples of believers struggling before God. To name a few:
- C.S. Lewis burying his wife, Joy, 4 years after marrying her
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer facing execution for plotting to kill Hitler
- Tim Keller continuing to do the work of the Gospel as he suffers from incurable pancreatic cancer
As for biblical heroes, start with:
- King David often fleeing for his life and facing mighty foes
- The Apostle Paul learning contentment amid hunger, imprisonment, an unrelenting “thorn in his flesh,” and impending execution
- Jesus choosing pain and death to give the ultimate gift of grace and eternal life to all who would believe in him
From his own life, and observing the lives of biblical and historical Christians, Scott Sauls has learned to recognize a voice. He calls it the “counter-voice” of God that speaks into our pain points: regret, hurt, and fear to bring healing and redemption.
Regret: What does God say to you in your regret?
“Jesus comes into our places of regret with his forgiveness and with his comfort that there’s no failure, and no sin, so great that it’s beyond the reach of his kindness and grace, for those of us who receive and trust in Christ.”
Scott
Receiving the grace Jesus offers, can lift a burden of regret and replace it with the promise that the best is always yet to come, no matter what has happened in life.
Take Paul, for example. Regretful about the tenacity of sin, he expresses frustration in Romans; but regret doesn’t get the victory…
“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Romans 7:21-25
Hurt: What does God say to you in your hurt?
“Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.”
Psalm 6:2-4
For as long as human beings have lived in this fallen world, God’s people, like King David have cried out to God. Many of the Psalms give voice to human hurt and help us hear what God might say to us in our pain.
Pastor Scott describes the counter-voice of God reminding the hurting of his comforting and permanent presence.
God says, “he’s with us always, to the very end of the age. And that he also suffered and is able to empathize with us—enter in with us in our tears and our sorrows.”
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
Hebrews 4:15
Fear: What does God say to you when you’re afraid?
“The third pain point is the pain point of fear, where Jesus holds out wonderful promises: the long-term worst-case scenario, for any Christian, is resurrection and everlasting life… that’s as bad as it will be.”
Scott
This perspective echoes Paul’s in Romans 8 when he lists what Christians may face, all without the ultimate threat of separation from God’s love:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Romans 8:35-37
Pastor Scott named Joni Eareckson Tada as an example, living out God’s redemptive call on her life through decades in a wheelchair, suffering from chronic pain, two bouts with cancer, and more. Joni offers a great example of a leader willing to share her struggles, vulnerabilities, and praise in order to encourage and heal others.
Who can you encourage today by sharing an aspect of your story?
At every Joni and Friends Retreat and Getaway, seeds of community sprout and grow as people with shared struggles support one another and move toward healing. As Pastor Scott says:
“There’s just something powerful about a group of people getting together who share the same struggle and also share the same desire to heal. And who tell their stories in a way that offers strength and hope that that only community can provide. And when you add Jesus Christ to the mix, it just becomes that more hopeful and powerful.”
Scott shares that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Life Together: “The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” In other words, the Gospel takes on greater power, richness, and meaning when we express it in community, rather than just holding it on the inside.
Pastor Scott suggests that’s why Paul says in Colossians not just to sing to the Lord, but to sing to each other, so that we can receive encouragement from those who are on the same journey as we are.
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”
Colossians 3:16
Maybe that’s why Joni loves to sing hymns so much, whether on stage, in church, or rolling down the ramp through the office. She has tuned her ear to God’s voice, learning his Word, singing hymns to encourage her own heart and the hearts of others.
Scott loves Joni’s vision of not just singing in heaven, but dancing—how one day she will push her wheelchair to the corner of the room to dance in glory.
“I think we all have a certain kind of dance of our own to look forward to—those of us who know Christ. At every turn where we experienced any kind of affliction or struggle, there’s always the voice of God coming in and offering hope there.”
Scott
And in the meantime, amid our regret, hurt, fears, and disabilities, we can join our voices with the voices of Joni, Tim Keller, C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer, The Apostle Paul, King David, and believers from every age, to affirm what 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 declares:
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
Want to Read Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen?
Are you’re struggling with regret, hurt, or fear? In his book, Pastor Scott Sauls offers insight on how God wants to use difficult season for our transformation into more beautiful people.
