David:     Karen, maybe this is the week we’re going to reach the peak regarding the coronavirus and that curve we keep hearing about is going to start to flatten out. That’s in the eastern part of our country anyway. That would be great. There have been way too many deaths already.

Karen:     Yeah, and the more there are, the more you just feel like tearing up, having had a death in our own family and an untimely death. I just feel for these people. I mean, it’s gruesome. Some of them can’t even be with their loved ones as they die because of the virus.

David:     It’s very sad.

Karen:     Terrible.

David:     It’s impossible not to be moved emotionally. I’m sure these have been incredibly difficult days for people. I mean, we’re staying in. That’s not a big deal, but for them, it’s life and death.

Intro:      Welcome to the Before We Go Podcast featuring Dr. David Mains and his wife noted autho,r Karen Mains. Here’s David and Karen Mains.

Karen:     One of the things that has happened as we’ve had some time to go back over some of the materials I’ve been going through files and just revisiting our lives. And one of the things you discovered was the book you had done, When Life Becomes a Maze, you wrote it in a time of great difficulty. 25 years ago, is that how long ago it was?

David:     Yeah, it actually came out of a series of messages I’d given at a college, my alma mater Wheaton College. I did eight messages and then those messages eventually became part of a book which was out of print, but the messages still have great relevance for where people are.

Karen:     Well, they like they were written for today. So why don’t you go ahead and read the part from that book, When Life Becomes a Maze, which is exactly where many, many people are right now.

David:     Yeah, we eventually put that into a series called What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do.

Karen:     Seems appropriate. Read Away, Mains.

David:     The sports editor of the old New York Globe wanted his daily cartoon. The year was 1918, and the 25-year illustrator who was responsible for the job searched desperately for an idea. Rummaging through his files, sports oddities he had collected through the years for his own amusement, he found the following: M. Pollock win, Paris, 1912, remained under water six minutes, twenty-nine and four-fifth seconds.

A forester of Toronto ran 100 yards backwards in 14 seconds. He drew simple figures to depict these and other facts because that’s all he could come up with to meet his looming deadline. Entitling the page Champs or Chumps, young man wasn’t all that sure he had done a good piece of work. Maybe a different title would help. Crossing out the first attempt, he quickly littered in “Believe It or Not” and left the cartoon on his editor’s desk. Not thinking about it any further, the artist went across the street for a cup of coffee, never imagining he had struck upon an idea that would capture the imagination of millions of readers and make “Believe It or Not” a household phrase all over the world. The next day the rough cartoon appeared in the globe and readership response was immediate and positive.

So, Robert Ripley was asked to do a similar piece as soon as he could get the material. In time “Believe It or Not” appeared weekly, then twice a week and finally every day. Other papers received permission to publish the material and before long the feature was syndicated in more than 300 papers, 38 countries and 17 languages with an amazing readership of 80 million.

In time newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst became a sponsor and Ripley traveled the world looking for stories. The Duke of Windsor called him the modern Marco Polo. Ripley’s books and collection of curios became increasingly popular. They were also startlingly accurate. Distinguished radio journalist Lowell Thomas, remember him, commented on this in the foreword of one of Ripley’s illustrated editions. “The day after Lindbergh made his historic transatlantic flight in 1927, Ripley’s newspaper cartoon announced that Lindbergh was the 67th person to make this non-stop journey by air from America to Europe.” This naturally drew an avalanche of protests. More than 3,000 letters and telegrams poured in from irate readers. Of course, what Lindbergh had achieved was the first across the Atlantic solo flight. Alcott and Brown had been the first in 1919. The English dirigible R34 had made the flight with 31 aboard the same year and the German ZR, later the Los Angeles, crossed in 1924 with 33 passengers.

So, Ripley was right again and those who had been so quick to protest became Ripley fans. Ripley’s books are replete with odd historical facts like this one. General Henry Heath, 1825 to 1888, leading a Confederate division in the Battle of Gettysburg, was hit in the head by a Union bullet. But his life was saved because he was wearing a hat two sizes too large with newspaper folded inside the sweatband. The paper deflected the bullet and the general unconscious for 30 hours recovered and lived another 25 years. Believe it or not.

Of course, the possibility of truth being stranger than fiction is what made these items interesting. A reader had to decide, “Am I going to believe this”? No way but then Ripley says it’s true.

Well, a far more important set of truths is found in another unique volume. I personally have never seen anything to match it. Once again, the reader is forced to decide, “Am I going to believe this”? Like Ripley’s Believe it or not this uncommon book was also compiled over a period of years and the stories come from various nations. The nature of it is different than Ripley’s work because these truths reportedly represent the mind of God. Included in as many pages are phenomenal promises that the reader must decide upon. Are they believable, or aren’t they?

Now few people have trouble believing promises until push comes to shove. Perhaps your brother assumes that he can borrow the van to go on vacation, but the test is whether or not he’ll come through when you say “I want it the second week of June because that’s when I plan to drive to Santa Fe.” When the departure date rolls closer his wife, your sister-in-law, might begin to have second thoughts about the offer so will his promise hold up. Strange as it may seem a good time to put the promise as a scripture to the test is during those awkward occasions when we’re maneuvering our way through a maze of one kind or another. That’s when we are less self-confident than we might normally be so we’re not able to cover for God if he doesn’t come through.

Let’s work with this example. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man; and God is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear but when you are tempted you will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

Now, that’s a great promise when everything is going well and you’re on top of the world. It’s not quite as delightful when you’re caught in a corporate downscaling or the doctoral dissertation committee disapproves of the thesis topic that really excites you or the brakes go out on the used car again, or you’re publicly criticized by opponents, or you’re facing terminal illness or a debilitating disease, or you’re not achieving what you expected in a chosen field of endeavor. God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

Come on. When life’s a bummer, we have every reason to give in to temptation and halfway blame God for our actions under pressure. Am I right? Here’s the real test for when you decide whether you’ll believe it or not.

Do you really embrace this promise from the Bible that no temptation has seized you except what’s common to men and women? Are you truly convinced that God is faithful and that He won’t let you be tempted beyond what you can bear? Or do you give in like the young college professor Charles Van Doren does in the Robert Redford movie Quiz Show? His temptation is to become the new intellectual genius and win all the prize money even though he quickly learns that the quiz show is rigged and they’re feeding him the questions and answers ahead of time. That’s certainly beyond most young men’s ability to pass up, isn’t it? So what good is such an ancient verse about a unique and modern temptation being common to man and God not allowing him to be tempted beyond what he can bear?

Well at another time in history another young man said, “I choose to believe the promises. I’ll bank my life on what the scriptures say.” In this situation the man under pressure was physically weak. He hadn’t eaten for 40 days. Mentally he was working his way through a huge transition from being an unknown tradesman to announcing his rightful kingship. “You’re obviously hungry”, as Satan pointed out. “Why not just tell these stones here to become bread? Croissants, muffins, or even Parker House rolls.”

Christ’s mind immediately considered. “What do the scriptures say? It is written”, he quotes to his tempter, .”..man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” He distinctly gave the impression that he hardly thought much about what the enemy was saying. In his mind the only consideration was what does God say? “What’s in the scriptures”?

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem. “Look, it’s time to announce who you are. Do it with dramatic flair. Throw yourself off the highest point of the temple. You want to remind her what the Bible says? Well, it reads, he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands.” Jesus immediately replied, “It is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test.” This series of conflicts revolves around two questions. “What does the word of the Lord say? And what’s appropriate for this immediate troubling situation”?

Satan again. “Let me show you what I can give you if you will bow down and worship me.” Bad move. Too obvious. “Away from me”, snapped our Lord, .”..for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

In some ways this scenario in Matthew 4 is like a battle of the book. “This is my Father’s word and I must choose whether to believe it or not.” You’re in trouble when a similar dramatic scene presents itself and you let the battle shift away from the written word and its promises. I tell you what Satan you might say, .”..go over that temptation one more time. I just want to review your offer.” Forget it then. Such equivocation is a sure sign that you are wading in deep waters.

“No temptation has taken you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able.” Do you believe it or not?

A similar promise is in 2 Peter 1:3-4. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Once again, believe it or not.

Embracing these promises is what carries people through confusing times. Not only in terms of overcoming the enemy, who can be expected to attack most frequently when we are weak; but also, in regard to giving us hand holes when we are in a dense fog. “I am confused, Lord. I am bewildered. Life has suddenly become much too complex.”

Another promise is from the mouth of the one who always lived by God’s promises. “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.” These are the words of Christ in Matthew 7:7-8. “Yeah, somebody jokes. But I don’t like it when I knock, and it takes forever for the person to come and open the door.”

What do humorous comments like this really mean? I think they suggest that we really don’t believe the promise. Once again, this is the basic question with which we must wrestle when lost in one of life’s leverage. “Do I believe God’s word or don’t I? Yes, or no? I believe it”, you say. Good.

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel wandered around 40 years more than they needed to because they responded to God’s believe it or not question with national waffling. God’s promises were true then. He never failed his people, though they continually failed their God. Joshua 21:43-45 tell the end of the story. These are great verses. “So, the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers and they took possession of it and settled there.” Listen, .”..not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed. Everyone was fulfilled.”

A good time to embrace, to hug tightly to your soul, the great promises of God’s word, is precisely when you’re trying to maneuver your way through a wilderness maze. That’s another key scriptural truth I’m learning to live with. Reduce to a sentence, I’m saying that a good time to embrace the great promises of God’s word is when trying to maneuver through a maze.

Want me to say it again? A good time to embrace the great promises of God’s word is when trying to maneuver through a maze.

Life isn’t designed by God to be like it was for Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day, where if you make a mistake, you have to relive that same day over and over and over and over until you finally figure out how to do it right. But even though we aren’t stuck in a time warp, many people do repeat their mistakes over and over. Mistakes as basic as assuming they can affirm the truth of Scripture doctrinally while repeatedly denying the promises in practicality. Lifetime mistakes show that in our heart of hearts we really don’t believe that if we ask it will be given to us. If we seek, we’ll find. If we knock, God will open the door.

On the other hand, I believe people, the people who practice making I believe statements declare, “If I’m knocking and the door hasn’t opened, I’ll knock louder. If I’m asking and God hasn’t granted my request, I must not be asking quite right; because I know the promise doesn’t read that if anyone will ask, he will receive not.” No! “If a son asks for bread, is he going to give him a stone? If he requests to fish, will he be given a snake?” The implied answer is an extremely strong no.

One additional dilemma many Christians wrestle with is almost a universal maze. “Where do I fit in God’s plan?” Scripture offers believe it or not statements that relate to this. Remember Philippians 1:4-6. “In all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Do you believe it or not? Do you really believe that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion? Does that belief make you confident? As life unfolds will God show you where your partnership in the gospel is. Or will he purposely cloud that issue in great mystery and puzzlement?

In Scripture, stewards were servants who had been elevated to positions of high responsibility in their master’s household. They were also almost always slaves, but not menial slaves. Stewards had to know the desire of their masters. They didn’t think “What do I want but what does my Lord want done”? The follow-up but lesser question was “What are my skills and how do they equip me to accomplish my master’s desires”? A steward was skating on thin ice when too much time was spent considering his skills or gifts and not enough time concentrating on his master’s wishes. The apostle Paul wrote, “This is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. If you’re struggling through the maze of life’s calling, consider this first. What is my master about and how can I plug into the agenda he’s designing? Don’t try to solve things for 20 years down the road but for right now ask what is my master about and how can I involve my skills in his agenda? It’s not terribly complicated.

When you finish this present life passage ask the same question about the next stage of living. What’s my master doing that I can assist him in utilizing the skills he’s given me. And as you keep at this, I’m confident that he will begin a good work in you and carry it to completion until the day of Christ. But the question you must answer about this scripture is this, “Do you believe it or not”?

As you think about your response be aware that Christians in many parts of the world are learning to hold onto promises like this. Picture a young man raised as a Hindu in a small village of India and who has recently come to faith in Christ. He may be more responsive to what Paul wrote than we are in North America. Though he has no money, he walks many miles to enroll in the nearest Bible school, since that’s what God is saying in his heart. The Lord honors his faith and opens other doors in what can only be called a series of miracle stories. As he testifies to these, to the glory of the Lord, the faith of his hearers is increased, and the kingdom is advanced in a way we in the West know far too little about.

Well, sometimes a simple illustration like this is a good one. We, most capable humans are too often convinced that we really must know everything about God in his ways. But if someone else was already chosen for the executive position you wanted, well praise the Lord. God has another good work for you. The only way he can get you to experience that new thing is by blocking what you wanted.

Now is not the time to sulk, complain, withdraw, and totally miss the better thing God’s unfolding in your behalf. Again, as strange as it sounds at first, a good time to embrace the great promises of God is when trying to maneuver through a maze. So, the next time you read scripture, I suggest that you look for promises in the passage, write them down, begin a life list, start your own, believe it or not collection.

“A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” at Psalm 34:19. Believe it or not. “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” Nahum 1:7. Believe it or not.

Boxer Danny London was born deaf and dumb, but after he was hit on the head during a fight in Brooklyn, New York in 1929, he suddenly found he could both speak and hear. Robert Ripley’s Believe It or Not. And I suspect that some Christians are more prone to believe Ripley than they are Nahum. It was Ripley who said concerning the sources for his popular column, “The mind is inexhaustible.” In other words, he felt he would never run out of material.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1-5. Believe it or not. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet, was without sin.” Hebrews 4:15. Believe it or not. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2. Believe it or not. I could go on quoting God’s promises, because the truth for you and for me is this: Practically speaking, the mind is inexhaustible.

Karen:     Well, it’s an extraordinarily good word written to people who feel like they’re in a maze today. I was trying to think of the things that people might be facing while you were reading that. And, you know, separated as families, you may have a child who is not able to live in the home because of some coronavirus incident of one thing or another. And yet you’re concerned about that child because he or she has difficulties in their life. And this just tears the parent apart. You know, I mean, the worst thing in the world for a parent is when their kids are going through rough stuff and yet you can’t really do anything. You can write notes, you can, you know, but you can’t comfort, you can’t hold, you can’t.

David:     People are cut off from one another in so many ways now.

Karen:     So many ways. Or the financial duress that so many are going under now with our economy collapsing because of the coronavirus, people not being able to go work or businesses closing down or, you know, it’s just an endless, endless duress.

David:     Part of what I was trying to say is that even in the midst of these extremely difficult circumstances, it’s a time above all other times almost to hold onto those promises of God’s word, to even share them family-wise if possible.

Karen:     Right.

David:     You know, I just last night I wrote a long letter to one of the family members and basically trying to encourage, you know, the goodness of the Lord and the mind of this person to hold onto that.

Karen:     Yeah.

David:     The promises of scripture are wonderful. I think it’s easier to be older folk like we are because those have been given a lifetime of proving themselves time and again as contrasted to people who are newcomers to this. They’ve had huge amounts of information into their minds because of their educational processes but they haven’t had the time to accumulate those scriptures which become so dear.

Karen:     It hasn’t become experiential and that’s one of the excitements of being young. So, I’m saying to our listeners, you may not remember Ripley’s Believe It or Not, but you can experience the excitement of seeing these promises come true in your life. And I think that’s one of the joys of being younger is that you, these things seem so new and fresh and at our age we’ve experienced God so much it’s easy to sort of say well of course he’ll work. You know, it’s almost a habit rather than this exciting adventure.

David:     I asked you before we began to put this together and say “What scriptures have you been finding new and meaningful”? And I said the same of myself, “What is it that has become wonderful for me”? I’m going to read Psalm 16. I’m going through the Psalms along with other reading and just doing one Psalm a day. This is Psalm 16. I’ve thought about it many times. I’ve probably read it. I’m guessing five six times now.

“Keep me safe, oh God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing. As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely, I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who consoles me even at night my heart instructs me. I have said the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body will also rest secure because he will not abandon me to the grave nor will you let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

Karen:     Beautiful.

David:     I love that Psalm. Psalm 16. A lot of the Psalms are really.. it’s amazing how appropriate they are even for this day.

Karen:     Well, this is the one that I found that hit me. I was sort of making an exercise a spiritual exercise of reading through the life of Christ. I mean this is we’re recording this a few days before Good Friday and Easter. So, I thought by the time I got to the end of this week I would be in what we call the Passion of Christ. Early in Mark the phrase “come and see” is repeated a couple times in the early chapters. Christ’s followers the disciples say to him “Well, where are you staying?” And he said, “Come and see.” And then Philip answers Nathaniel’s questions. These are the two of those who did become Christ’s apostles. What we call the apostles that group of special people who are being trained up and raised up to take on the message of the gospel after Christ’s passion. Philip answers Nathaniel’s question “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That’s where Christ came from little, tiny town. Sort of a hick town. I’ve met up on it. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? And Philip answers his question and says, “Come and see.” Come and see. So, this week I’ve been trying to say I don’t want this to be just… I don’t want my spiritual devotional life to be pro forma. Something I do just because I’ve done it all of these years and it’s become habitual. But I want to have the excitement that I did when I was a young woman discovering the truths of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life; and the scripture coming alive and a passionate love for Jesus as he began to reveal through his spirit more and more of himself to me. I don’t want to be an old lady who these things are kind of ho hum. And part of how that reality is invigorated is: by this come and see. Come and see. So, where’s Christ staying? Come and see. What means in this life where we’re living? We want to find him in all of our days. You know where you are staying, while he lives in us. He walks beside us. He’s nearby. That’s what I want to experience. I want that reality. I want that freshness. How can anything good come out of Nazareth? Anything good it happens two centuries ago and…

David:     …a little time we live in a little West Chicago.

Karen:     Or not the little town we live in in West Chicago. How can anything come out of that?

David:     Come and see.

Karen:     Come and see. So, I think that…

David:     … he’s alive.

Karen:     He’s alive. Yeah. That’s what I want to live. And I want that reality to be to be…

David:     Beautiful.

Karen:     Beautiful heartbeat in me. Come and see. And that means I have to do something but then he meets me as I do that.

David:     Beautiful. Yeah. I’m just going to say a quick word of prayer for people listening to us.

Lord, I would pray that this would be a good day for those who love you and have listened and have joined with us. I would pray that there would be the opening of eyes and people would say, “Yeah, come and see God’s doing a wonderful work even at a difficult time.” We are pleased to be called children of the Father. Let that be the case for people today. Lord. Be very close. I know that you answer those prayers in beautiful way. Ways that we can’t fulfill. I’m not asking that I fulfill it. I can’t. I’m asking that you fulfill that for people today. And that even during a time where there’s what’s called a pandemic all through the country you will show yourself available to your people. And I ask that in Jesus’ name believing. Amen.

Karen:     David let me just remind our listeners that you have put together a study guide.

David:     If you want to go to scripture but you don’t have any idea where to turn, I picked out five scriptures related to what I talked about today. And then I have five questions for each of those. If it’s helpful, fine. I think it will be. It was kind of neat just putting those questions together you’re more than welcome.

Karen:     And we have a URL, I believe, that people can go to and Dean’s going to tell them how they can do that.

Outgo:     You may obtain a copy of the handout mentioned in this podcast by pointing your web browser to the following link: www.grow.beforewego.show. That’s all-lowercase letters. GROW www.grow.beforewego.show  SHOW.  And if you would like to write to us, please send us an email at the following address hosts@beforewego.show .

You’ve been listening to the Before We Go Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast please remember to rate review and share on whatever platform you listen. This podcast is copyright 2020 by Mainstay Ministries, Post Office Box 30, Wheaton, Illinois 60187.