Can Your Pain Become Praise? | BEYOND SUNDAY

Can your driest season actually become a spring? 🙏 Psalm 84 says yes.

In this episode of Beyond Sunday, we dig into Psalm 84 and the Valley of Baca, a real place of pilgrimage that was also hot, dry, and hard to walk through. But the psalmist says something surprising: those who pass through it make it a place of springs. Baca isn't a place you're stuck in. It's a place God meets you in, on the way to something better. 💧

From there we get honest about what it actually looks like to praise God in the middle of real pain: a brother battling ALS who ends up ministering to everyone around him, and an uncle preaching from his hospital bed the week of cancer surgery. We talk about posture (why kneeling, lifting hands, or just sitting still before God can unlock something words can't) and the difference between our outer circumstances wasting away and our inner spirit being renewed day by day. The question underneath it all: are we praising God because of our circumstances, or in spite of them?

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:00

When we get in a posture of praise, when you lift your hands, something changes. Every time I hit my knees, humility hits my heart. I don't know what it is, but posture and then praise change the course of my understanding. And so praise seems to open up the blessing of God and it open up, opens up an intimacy with God.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Welcome to Beyond Sunday. Let's dig a little bit deeper into the theology and scriptures from the weekend so you can become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus. Well, we had a great message this weekend. Got our incredible friend, Pastor Joel Schmidgall with us today. Joel, thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Hey, you got my name right too. That was impressive.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

You think I would mess it up?

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Oh man, it's so good to be back. And this is home. Uh so anytime I come back, man, it just kicks up so many memories of what God has done in this house. And so fun to be a part of the legacy here.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's an incredible foundation of faith. Your your mom, your dad, your family built. Uh, I know you talked about being raised under the pews. Yeah. Not necessarily not just in them. I I remember that growing up in church too. And so uh thank you for what you mean to Calvary.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Oh, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

But also thanks for what you mean to the body of Christ and this message that God put on your heart. And I know your family's going through some things with your brother Rob right now. But there's all kinds of things that people have gone through and are going through. Yes. And the the message you brought is really is is from your heart in a moment that you guys are in, but it's uh available to all of us on how to go through hard times in faith and in a way that actually shifts our situation from the inside out. You talked about the valley of Baca. Just before we get into it, just remind us again what that is.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Yeah, so Bach, it's right in the middle of Psalm chapter 84, and it talks about going through Baca and making it springs. But um Baca, it's um it's uh known as a balsam tree as well, and which is always an arid and kind of nasty uh areas and just hot climates. And it's thought of both as a literal place that people had to pilgrimage through, yeah as well as theologically a metaphorical place of pain or difficulty in life.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

And so Baca is that place of pain that you've been through, or it's the place of difficulty that you're currently going through to get to a place called Zion, to get to get to a place called a holy refuge in the Lord. And so I think sometimes we just think, oh, I just gotta suck it up and somehow, or or people go to Baca and they never make it through. Yeah. And God has something for them in Baca. And so I really wanted to unpack that partially because I know it's so profound in most people's lives, and then also because as a pastor, I'm not immune to very difficult circumstances. And so I'm relearning that lesson right now.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah. And just to find springs, to you know, to have a spring in the desert. He makes he makes streams in the deserts. Uh whether he's bringing water from a rock. This is what our God does, is in the driest, most difficult times and places, there can be refreshing for us uh and our soul. Yes. Uh what's interesting, of course, you know, this psalm that you you brought out, Psalm 84, is one of the pilgrimage psalms. It's it's uh on the pilgrimage to Zion, what they would sing in in transit. You have the halels that are that are sang as and the song, psalms of ascent as they would go up into the temple and the halels, the praise that would be sang around Passover and other situations. But we have the these psalms, this song book. I just I thought that was interesting as well, just that this entire message about going through difficulty is actually a song. Yeah, true. A song and a song of praise, if you will. There are many types of psalms and and laments, you know, just really grieving what we're going through in pregatory, God judge my enemies. Yeah. But one interesting thing is they always come back to praise. What's the what's the role and the power of praise in our pain?

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Yeah, isn't it interesting? And I think, you know, that is part of our calling to persevere through praise. Um and so something about a song, it just hits you in a different way, doesn't it? And and I've seen it over and over that worship and posture are huge things in faith. And, you know, I I gotta admit, I'm Pentecostal background, so I probably have a bent here, but um, I've got a friend who is a counselor up at Gordon Conwell, and he did these really interesting experimental studies. Um, they would do counseling in different postures. And so they would start it by sitting, and then they would um do counseling, you know, kneeling, and then sitting on the ground, and then in a corner. Um, and they did all kinds of like fetal position, all kinds of things. And what they found in this experimental stage was that in different postures, somebody would open up in a different way, it would almost unlock. And I feel like it's the same thing in our worship to God. When we get in a posture of praise, when you lift your hands, something changes. Every time I hit my knees, humility hits my heart. I don't know what it is, but posture and then praise change the course of my understanding. And so praise seems to open up the blessing of God and it open up opens up an intimacy with God. I find myself in this difficult season. You know, when I praise, I feel like I've, it's been a while since I've been this intimate with the Lord. And um, and so that's what praise does in this season, and that's a calling, like we see in Psalm 84 and other Psalms. And so I do think I love what you're saying though, about yeah, on the way to pilgrimage, they were so often not just taught how and where to go, but how to go to the place that you've been called, and that is with praise.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

And I mean, that's what we're called to is as ministers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry to in essence to be the ones to remind people of the word of God that's present for us and giving us our how-to, how to do this life in faith. Um and and I I love the the idea about posture because we don't have a disembodied faith. In fact, we have a God who became human in flesh, incarnate for us, so that we would know we have a high priest who's not untouched with the feeling of our infirmity, but in every way tested as we are. And so God Himself, having human experience, uh gives us the ability to realize that we, having this human experience, can have God in it, that He's He's in it with us and can carry us. But there's a way to go through that. We can we can be totally focused on the physical, or we can recognize there's something more going on and that there's a power. I I love this verse too that says the spirit of a of an individual can sustain them in infirmity. So even when the physical is weak or even dying, as we all will, there's a strength from the inside that that think of those streams of living water welling up. I've seen people minister out of great pain and bring life and sustenance to others around them because it's not just the physical that we exist in, it's simultaneously spiritual, it's not separated. So you can you can strengthen from the inner man, your external man, and external relationships, or you can let the external diminish your inner inner being as well. And I love the I think the power of that song. And you, and of course, you sang for us a little bit while you recited for us, It is Well With My Soul. We know that's a song that was written by a man that experienced great pain and loss in his family.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

And somehow came through that. Yeah, you know, Luke 180 is something that I've been praying recently, which is essentially about John the Baptist, but it's it's that he grew in strength of spirit, yeah, like you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

And I've been praying, and it's 180, so I've been praying for a few individuals that I'm asking God to do a 180 for. So I'm doing this 180 prayer. At the end of the day, that 180 prayer is about God. They're going one direction. Give them a strength of spirit to understand themselves in Christ. And, you know, to take it home this week. I mentioned my uncle Ed's been in the hospital for surgery for cancer this week and to go to the hospital room and to see he is a minister while he's getting worked on.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

And so, and it happened with one of the nurses that was there. They were, he was asking him questions and they were kind of going, you know, just ignoring him. And he said, What's going on with you right now? And they opened up and he just started ministering. And then Aunt Judy started praying for him. And in the midst of his lowest point, his highest pain, his lowest point, somehow God shows up with purpose because he has a strength of spirit that is unstoppable.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Same thing with Rob, you know, going through ALS. Why is it that Rob is ministering to me? I feel like a horrible brother, Sean. I get you. And um, I'm like down on things and down on myself. And he's talking about the peace and the presence of God that is sustaining him. That's a strength of spirit.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

And so I wholeheartedly agree, like, we can't underestimate what the spirit of God does. And our, you know, what's the scriptures? Our bodies are wasting away, but my inner person is being renewed day by day. And so, um, God, give us a strength of spirit. That's a sign of spiritual maturity.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Yeah, and the the righteous is a light that shines brighter and brighter. And so it doesn't mean the circumstances may not be dark, but there's a light from the inside. And I I love the concept, and I want to just thank you for reminding us what it means to turn our pain to praise. That it's not always God doing something, you know, in our circumstance to to overcome it. Yeah. Many times that's how he's gonna get the praise, but even as we go through it, there's refreshing in the middle. Yes. There is there is living water, there's life. Yeah. There is life present in in all of the human experience. Yes, yeah. And that life can be the light of of others as well. And so thank you for the uh the the openness, the the personal, you know, sharing of your situation with your brother Rob. We're praying for him, of course, believing for healing, but also grateful for what God is doing in and through this. And you mentioned him being a strength to others, and I'm we're seeing that, but you know, I think God sometimes gives us those that are going through something even more grace. That's true. Even more grace, that's true, and then we can be a strength to somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Yeah, and I I don't like this statement, but I heard somebody say, you know, God trusts you enough to allow you to go through that and know the strength of your faith to minister to others. And so I embrace this idea that we're gonna keep praying for a miracle and believing for that. But as Rob would say, if it doesn't happen, if it ends in death, he's given me peace that comes through his presence. So no matter what, Jesus says, I am with you even until the very end of the age. And so we receive his presence and his peace.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

We receive it, and and this book is full and full of testimonies of people that that went through some things. We none of us gets a pass. There's there's no get out of jail free card or like get out of life free, right? Yeah. Um but though I walk through the valley, I fear not. Yes. Uh, because of who's with me. Thou art with me. And so I thank you again for reminding us today that we can praise through pain and we can have springs and deserts. Amen. And uh we're believing with you. God bless you, Pastor Joel. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

Thanks for having me, Sean. Good to be with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. We do this to help you grow in your faith journey. And if you ever have any questions, see the link below, fill out the QR code, and we'll get back to you soon. And if you like this content and want to see more, feel free to follow, like, and share. But most of all, we want to encourage you to take the Word of God and apply it to your week beyond Sunday. We can't wait to see you back soon.