Trusting Through Turmoil

Walking With God in a Pandemic

Trusting Through Turmoil

Rough Transcript

Khayree Pender

Khayree Pender:

Good morning, men. My name is Khayree Pender, and I’ll be doing our lesson on today, Trusting Through Turmoil.

Trusting Through Turmoil. And don’t we all go through life and we probably have a situation where our trust was tested? I remember the summer of 1989 when I told my parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I wanted to ride my bike without any training wheels. And that time they took me up to an open school parking lot, and I was able to start riding my bike. But we all know my parent was guiding my seat as I was driving to get me accustomed to riding my bike without my trainer wheels anymore. And their key words were “Keep riding, keep pedaling, and don’t look back.”

And as I was going with a steady flow, I can feel myself moving. I did the wrong thing and I looked back. And as I looked back, I saw that my parent wasn’t holding my seat anymore. They were in the far distance way. They’d been cheering me on. And as I turned back around, I was abruptly stopped by a gate that was in front of me. So we can imagine that my trust was tested and then I probably would have a few issues with trusting ever since the outcome that I had with running into a gate.

If you have your Bibles with you on today, I would like to read a quick story talking about just trusting through turmoil. It’ll come from 2 Kings, the 4th chapter verses 2 through 7. And it reads, “Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’ ‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a small jar of olive oil.’ Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’ She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’ But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.'”

Trusting through turmoil. As we begin to look at that story, we can kind of correlate it with what’s going on in our nation right now and that’s we’re suffering from a pandemic. We know that there’s a lot of turmoil going on. We may even know people who are affected by it. Some of us maybe have lost family members or know close people who did. Some of us jobs have been affected, finances as well. And we can say now that even through this time we could say that it’s pretty hard to trust.

Just like this woman right here, she’s a widow woman at that, she’s dealing with this situation that is probably kind of unthinkable right now. Being that she’s a widow woman, which we know, not to insult your intelligence, she lost her husband. And being that her husband was the provider, he passed away and there was still some debts that were left. There were some debts that were left, but the debt collectors were still coming to collect their money. And she was in an uproar, not knowing what to do. Mind going crazy, trying to figure out, “What can I do to pay the debt?”

Now we will say, “Hey, well just don’t pay it.” Well that wasn’t an option for her. The only option was, hey, pay the debt. Or the second option was, don’t pay the debt and we take your sons for collateral and turn them into slaves. And we know just like every parent, we don’t want to be detached away from our children, so she wanted to do everything that she could do to make sure that she could make ends meet so she can keep her children as well. So trusting through turmoil.

I want to ask a question before we even start or even getting a little bit more into. Just like myself in the summer of ’89; when was your trust tested? That’s a great question for us to really think. When was our trust or when was your trust tested? As you begin to think about it, certain situations may even start to come in your mind and you say, you know what? Maybe a business deal, maybe friends, maybe family, or even trying something that someone recommended and it didn’t turn out the way that you thought it would. And it calls you to say, “You know what, my trust is a little bit shaky right now because I don’t like the end results that it gave me when I was fully trusted into it.” And we can say that’s a hindrance as well, that we may not want to trust fully because the outcome didn’t come the way that we want it. And we thought, “You know what, I’m putting my trust into it, giving it my all. But we received something bad on the other end.”

Now this woman went and did something that was really, really bold of her. She was really vulnerable. And as men, let’s be honest, we like to keep it in. Let’s say it. We like to keep ourselves together. We like to live up to the stigma or the petition of a man. We want to say, “You know what? I can’t let myself be vulnerable. I have people counting on me and I have to make sure I’m not breaking at any point.” Well, this lady took the time and you know what? She was able to speak. She was vulnerable.

That’s another question we can ask ourselves as well. Are we willing to be vulnerable? Are we willing to be vulnerable? Well, some of us think that it takes away from us as being a man, but I can count it to you that it doesn’t. She was vulnerable and able to speak up and say certain things. And it’s another question I have for you. Are there people around you that you can talk to that you can be vulnerable with? Let’s just be honest. Trusting is not an easy thing, especially when you can see all the things that’s going on around you and we can see the results from everything going around you, but it just shows and it says like, when is trust going to show up? When will I get the residuals? Or when will I get the results from trusting? So what do I do?

She was vulnerable. She opened up. She began to tell him, “Listen, I don’t have it. I have to pay my debts to collectors to come in and my family is in danger.” So the prophet Elisha actually said, “What is it that you have in your house?” And she said, “I just have a little bit of oil.” Now what I counted as strange was maybe the response and I’m looking at the punctuation in the Bible when she said it just as if it was nothing. How many times do we discount something that’s inside of us that can really push us to the next level that can help us in that area of trust? She said, “All I have is just a little jar of oil.” And she kind of discounted it down if I could hear the tone as she was saying it.

There are certain things that are inside of us that we may discount or that we may not really look or give it the full opportunity to flourish, to push us to the next level. What’s inside of you that you may have looked over or you may not have given it the full time to perform, to really step up and say, “You know what, this is what’s really going to push me.” What’s inside of you that you’ve been discounting, that you’ve been looking over that can cause you to even trust a little more? What is it? That’s a great question or great moment to reflect to say, “There’s some things inside of me that I know that I can benefit and people can benefit off of me if I just allow them to flourish or even show up.”

So she said, “All I have is a little bit of oil,” and he said, “You know what? This is what I need you to do.” Here’s another vulnerable moment. “Go to all your neighbors around you and ask for vessel. Ask for jars.” Could you imagine having to go to your neighbors and ask them? And if you have any neighbors like me, which I’m greatly appreciative of, you have a few nosy ones, but they do great for me because they’ll let me know if a package came or someone came by my house. We all need neighbors like that.

But she had to be vulnerable again and say, “You know what? I need a jar. I need jars from all my neighbors,” which would raise a question in her neighbors. “Why do you need a jar? What do you need this for?” Asking questions because some people may not lend you anything without letting you know what is it for? So she had to get those jars and she had to go around, which was another vulnerable moment, but it helped her. She had to be vulnerable to get her to the next phase. These were all steps to help her.

So after she did that for the assignment, which we all are on our own assignments and we have our trusting that we have to do, he said, “This is what I need you to do. Take these jars. Take these vessels and go in the house with you and your sons and close the door behind you.” This is a great piece of the scripture that I love because it said, “Close the door behind you.” Let’s just be honest. When we’re trusting, there’s several things that love to attach itself to our trust or our situation that’s at hand. But he told her, “close the door behind you.”

Here’s another great reflective moment. What is it that you need to close the door on behind you? When we begin to think about it, we may need to close the door on doubt, fear, just questioning or negativity or even when we’re dealing with certain people in situations that doesn’t have any good things to say. We may even need to close on them at that point of time, not for life, but just at that point in time because we know we cannot risk taking any type of negativity or things in it.

I like to look at the scripture and say that the mission or the example for her to close the door behind her was so she’s not focused on who’s coming around. Are people even looking to raise or ask questions? What are you doing? Certain things have to be in private and we understand we have the strong ones with us that we have to keep with us, but certain negativity, we need to close out certain doubts, certain fears. We need to close out. I can’t bring you with me on this one because you may distract me from the next phase that I’m going to.

So she kept pouring. It kept pouring from that oil that she discounted that she thought it was just a little bit, but it was able to fill up as many vessels that she had into the room and it kept flowing until she ran out of jars. So if she had more jars, the oil would have kept flowing, but it kept flowing until she ran out. And she finished up and she told the man of God Elisha, she said, “You know what? I’m done. That’s it.” And he told her this, “You know what? Go sell that oil.” And here’s the best part for her being obedient. “You and your sons can live off the rest.” So showing us early, she couldn’t pay the debt because she didn’t have the finances, but her being obedient and just trusting into the word, she was able to pay off her debts and live off the rest. So meaning debt-free and then live. Store up and do what needs to be done for her family. That’s a great thing.

So I asked the question before reflected, what part of your assignment, what situation in your life is causing you to trust right now? What part of the assignment or what situation are you dealing with requires your trust? When do you trust? That’s another great one. Do you trust right in the beginning of the situation, in the middle of the situation, or the end of the situation? When do you do it? She was able to fulfill the promise that was given to her or even the assignment that was given to her and did everything in line, and she came out with a great thing. But she had to do a few things as well.

She had to do three things. One thing I saw was this. She had to release a petition. There are things that we’re holding on. There’s things that we’re keeping to ourselves that’s probably breaking us down inside and we just need to release them, and not knowing that soon as you release it, it’ll free you up to get their advice, to even release the trust that’s even inside of you. We need to release it. She released the petition. What was the petition? Listen, I have a situation right now. I have a debt. I have a debt that I cannot pay. But she was willing to open up to be vulnerable, and it was able to get her to the next step.

As she released the petition, the next thing she had to do was what? Remove her emotions. Let’s just be honest. When we get into certain situations or when we deal with things that we feel as though that are hurting us, that are not getting us to where we need to be or we see the negative results from it, it causes us not to trust, and we are really moved by our emotions, our emotions. They start to tell us how to respond, how to react. Our emotions start to get in the way. She was able to release a petition, but then also remove emotions, remove pride.

Certain times we don’t want to do it. We don’t want to reach out and say, “You know what? I’m dealing with something right now. I’m hurting right now and I just want to remove who I am that stigma, that ego and say this is what needs to be done.” So as she began to release a petition, remove her emotions, she was able to receive a promise.

There’s a promise waiting for us. There’s a promise right there that’s waiting for us as we began to trust. How do we activate our trust? What do we do? What part of your assignment requires your trust? The prophet asked the woman, “What’s in your home? What is it that can I can use?” And the question is, what is it that God can use? What is it that it helped you trust? You may have something in you. It may be something as simple as a smile that you may look over that may be able to help you and someone else get to the next place.

Here’s the question. The neighbors were able to help her in her time of need. Are you one of the people that when others are going through, when men are by you, the men that we get with going through something, are you one of the ones that they can come through in a time of need and receive a jar or a vessel from you, something that they can pour into? Are you someone that they can come to because they know that you have it? And then here’s another one. Are there people around you that you can go to, that you can reach out to, that you know that you can lean and depend on during turmoil? How do you trust? What do you do? Are those people readily available? Are they positive enough? Are you positive enough to trust through turmoil? What do we do?

So as we begin to go through and you look at the thing that’s inside you, you have to find out what fuels your trust. You have to find out what fuels you that pushes you to go through. It’s not an easy thing. I told you my trust started to be tampered with at a young age in 1989 when my parent let go, but it was all a part of my process to continue to move on that bike. But me crashing into a gate because my trust to be tampered with a little bit.

So, men, I want to ask you, can we go back and look and see what causes us not to trust fully and where was our trust tampered with back then that causes us to be a little edgy with it to say, “You know what? I don’t want to release all of it because I don’t want to be hurt from outcomes”? Not knowing that trust is a cushion for us that when things do come, it’s a buffer. It helps us through the bumps and bruises because we know that something is going to happen through the end course. She had to. She had to be vulnerable. When is it? How can you be vulnerable? What will cause you to be vulnerable? Will you be vulnerable so you can release and get to this next phase?

We understand that it’s not that easy to trust, especially when our results are showing more product or productivity than what our trust is. But is it because we’re not really activating our trust as much? Is it? That’s a question.

Another question. What can I start trusting on right now today? What can I close the door that’s been attaching itself to my trust? What can I do? We understand that she had to do these things, but she also had neighbors around her and not to mention she had sons around her as well. How is our support system? Trusting through turmoil. We know that our nation is going through. We understand that. We know that we may be going through situations and things may be happening as well, but we have to make sure and understand that we continue to trust.

We know that it will give us the outcome that we need. We need to release that petition, begin to speak, talk about things that you may be holding it, things that may be keeping you down, things that may cause you to look at things in a certain way. What do we do? You need to remove, remove any type of pride, any type of any type of emotions, any type of thing they may hinder you from getting to that next level. And guess what? That though those two steps will open up for us to receive what it is that’s there. We know that it’s waiting for us and we understand.

Men, We know that we’re providers, protectors and priest of our home and we know we have a… We like to see an image to live up to and we don’t like to show it, but we can’t without trusting. I encourage you today to continue to trust in certain things that will push you to that next level. And after all, he asked her a question. She didn’t even have to reach out to go to all these things. He said, “What’s in your home?” Someone asks you, “What’s in your heart?” What’s inside of you that you can lean and depend on, that push you to that next place? What is it inside of you that you have that you’ve been discounting that you know that will help you get to that next level? So trusting through turmoil. I encourage you today to be that person, to lean on that person and be available as a vessel to help someone get through.

So if you will, I would like to pray for you on today if you don’t mind bowing your head and closing your eyes. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for all the men. God, we thank you for the word. We thank you for allowing us to be connected right now, God. Father, we thank you for protecting us and preserving us right now through a pandemic and through what’s going on in our nation, God. We know that, Father, our land needs to be healed, but we thank you right now for allowing us to be the seeds for our land to be planted and fertilized right now, God, to have the word that’s in us, Father, to help the ones around us.

God, we ask right now, Father, that as we pour out, we ask that you begin to fill us back up, God, because we’re trusting through turmoil. God, we know that trust right now, God, is at all time high. Father, we need it right now through every step through every phase right now, God. So we ask right now that you bless us right now, God. Allow us to be the strength that you called us to be. Allow us to be the firm believers that you called us to be, God, and we just want to say thank you. We thank you for loving us and blessing us and helping us right now, God. Allow us to be able to encourage the ones around us and we ask that we’re encouraged as well. We thank you for everything that you’ve done and everything that you’re going to do, Father, right now in this present time. In your name, we pray, Jesus. Amen.