11. Resting in God's Character with Ruth Chou Simons
Today we’re chatting with Ruth Chou Simons about how the character of God meets us in our weariness and brings us true and lasting rest. If you don’t know her, Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including GraceLaced; Beholding and Becoming; and When Strivings Cease. Today we’ll be discussing her brand new book, Pilgrim: 25 Ways God’s Character Leads Us Onward. As you’ll hear, Ruth is an artist, entrepreneur, and speaker, using each of these platforms to spiritually sow the word of God into people’s hearts.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How does resting in the character of God infuse courage in you as you face difficulties and hardships?
What are some guideposts, or Scriptures, that you cling to to remind yourself of God's character when you feel alone or abandoned?
What themes of grace punctuate not only your point of salvation, but all the twists, turns, hills, and valleys that shape your journey to glorify God?
How does knowing you are loved help you persevere when you feel weary?
How does God's mercy and grace enable you to move forward, especially when you feel like you've failed?
How do you cultivate eyes that see and a heart that believes these guideposts of truth?
When you notice you're getting caught up in believing the journey is all about you, what helps you remember that the pressure is off and that all glory belongs to Christ?
What makes it possible for us to complete our journey on this earth? How does the gospel enable us to persevere to the end?
NOTES & QUOTES
“What do we really believe about God? Because that will affect whether we run out of this room, freaking out and going, ‘I'm not the girl for this job. I can't do this. I'm exhausted.’ Or we say, ‘I'm going to persevere because God is…’ and we can list off all the things that he is. He's faithful, he's just, he's merciful, he's good, he's our deliverer, he's our sanctifier, he is sovereign, he's immutable. We can go on and on. I've only listed 25 in this book, but the truth is, each one of those things will impact whether we keep walking in a weary way or we walk in a way where we lean on him more than ourselves.”
“Colossians 1:17 reminds me that he holds all things together. That is a guidepost of grace for me. That is a reminder that it was never up to me and that I never had the ability to hold all things together and I continue to need him to hold it together for me.”
“Just because you're not where you want to be today doesn't mean that God's not at work, that he's not wasting this moment that you're in. You and I, if we are feeling weary, if our listeners right now are going, ‘I'm just trying to listen to this while I'm juggling 50,000 things, and I feel exhausted and I feel weary, and I kind of don't know how to admit to other people that I don't really wanna show up for my life today.’ If we're feeling that, then we can stop and go, ‘Well, is it my job to get myself to the finish line or did God already promise that it was by grace that we are saved through faith? Ultimately we 100% need him to even get us out of the mess of self-reliance. He will sustain us all the way to the finish line. He will complete the good work of sanctification in our lives.”
“When we have sanctification in view then we realize God uses everything to complete the good work in us.”
“God, you love me, not because of anything I've done, so I can walk in the freedom today of clearing out my inbox, feeding my children, discipling them, working out a conflict… Whatever it is that I have to do, I'm not more loved or more welcomed or more able to do great things for the kingdom of God because I'm so perfect. I don't have to worry about that. That freedom keeps me not persevering because I'm fearful, but persevering because I'm grateful.”
Lauren: Ruth touched on how easy it is to wake up already in that posture of feeling like you are loved only because of what you can accomplish or do or be. It’s a struggle many of us likely have in a variety of ways. She mentioned how reorienting her perspective to remember who God is and what he has done helps her to persevere even amidst weariness or difficult days. She talked about Ephesians, which is truly one of the most beautiful passages about God’s character and his love for us in Christ. I’ll do anything to talk about Ephesians 2, so I’m going to read 10 verses for you from the second chapter. As I read, consider how this reality—everything that is true about what God has done for you in Christ—how it compels you toward this freedom that Ruth talked about. This freedom to go about your work and your ministry and your care for the people God’s placed in your life without feeling the weight of needing to accomplish or earn anything before God. Think about how this truth—all these things that God has done for us in Christ—allows us to work heartily unto the Lord out of an overflow of gratitude for what he offers us! “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10). Friends, let’s be strengthened today by the truth of who we are in Christ. Let’s be encouraged in our weariness, spurred on in our work, and upheld by the reality that our God of grace and mercy and love has shown us immeasurable riches of grace through Christ, and that ultimately we are eternally secure in him. Bless the Lord!
“His mercy, his goodness, and his grace compels us to respond in a way that says, ‘I want to be yours and I will show you that your grace is not wasted on me, and I love you and I want to respond in faith.’ And that doesn't mean you turn your life around, you run a marathon, and you study the Greek every day. That means you start with one small thing. And I think we can all think of one thing we can do today in response.”
Lauren: I'm sure we can all resonate with that feeling Hunter mentioned of failing before the day even starts. Or just that feeling of really wanting to pursue growth in your relationship with Christ but finding yourself just stuck in old unhelpful habits. Maybe it’s consistently sleeping through your alarm and missing time in the Word with God, or maybe it’s ignoring your screentime notification for the 18th time and kicking yourself for wasting the last 30 minutes scrolling your phone, or maybe it’s losing it (again) at your kids or your spouse when you told yourself that you would be more patient today. Those pesky habits that seem to inhibit us in where we want to be in our faith walk. I love Ruth’s encouragement to just do one small thing. Each of us can start with one small thing. One small intentional pivot to shift our focus and pursue intimacy with and obedience to the Lord. I don’t know where you’re at in your relationship with God or how you hope to grow in your faith, but I wonder, what small habit might you work to cultivate—even this week—to respond to the Lord in faith and obedience? It could be the simple habit of rolling out of bed onto your knees every morning to say a 2 minute prayer as you start your day. It could be the small step of setting boundaries with your social media and spending that time scrolling your Scripture app instead. It might be writing down a short list of breath prayers that you start incorporating into your days when you find yourself at your end—”Lord, I need you”; “God, have mercy on me”; “Lord be my strength”; “Your grace is sufficient for me”. As you seek to take these small steps, do so knowing that at the end of the day—it’s not these things that earn us anything before him. These are simply acts of obedience that we do out of the overflow of the love we’ve received, simple shifts so that we can come to know him more! And, sister, know that when you inevitably fail (because hey, not one of us is going to do this life of faith perfectly), know that God is looking toward you not with judgment or with disappointment, but with mercy and with grace. It’s his heart to continually draw us near even when we fall short. So, out of the overflow of the love we have received from this good, gracious God, let’s consider what “one small thing” we might do today to know him and love him even more.
“Unless the Lord builds the house the builder's strive in vain. All the things that I'm trying to build and grow and be a part of and the good things that I want to do for the Lord. They could be really good things, but unless the Lord is doing it, unless I am nestled in the shadow of his wing, unless I'm actually relying on him and doing it by his strength, I'm really just building my own kingdom.”
“Recognize and know that you're not going to make it on your journey home towards heaven just because God's sitting there cheerleading you. He's not your cheerleader. He's not your assistant. He's actually the leader who is carrying you so that even when you feel weak, he's the good shepherd who throws you over his shoulder and carries you all the way home. So go with that visual imagery that he's not just sitting on the sideline, giving you a little bit of water as you run your race. He's carrying you all the way home.”
RESOURCES
The Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How does resting in the character of God infuse courage in you as you face difficulties and hardships?
What are some Scriptures that you cling to to remind yourself of God's character when you feel alone, abandoned, or weary? Consider memorizing one of those passages this week.
How does God's mercy, grace, and love enable you to move forward, especially when you feel like you've failed?
How does the hope of heaven and the truth of the gospel help you to persevere through difficulty?
What might you do or implement in light of what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
Affiliate links used are used where appropriate. Thank you for supporting the products that support Journeywomen!
FOR MORE OF JOURNEYWOMEN
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Follow Us: Instagram | Facebook
Support the podcast by writing a review
