Now That You Know – Sarah Jakes Roberts
Discovering God’s Perspective: Navigating Life Now That You Know
There’s a moment in every believer’s journey where the veil lifts, and we find ourselves confronted with truth sometimes beautiful, sometimes deeply painful. It’s in these moments, when our understanding grows and our experiences deepen, that God invites us to see the world through His eyes, not just through our own limited perspective. Whether you’re tuning in from your living room, listening on a morning jog, or gathered in a sanctuary, know that you are not alone in wrestling with the realities of good, evil, pain, and hope. This week’s message is an invitation to walk boldly, now that you know trusting in God’s unfailing goodness amid whatever you’re facing.
Church, Healing, and the Unspoken Struggles
For generations, the church has been a place where people brought their struggles both spoken and unspoken. There’s a unique kind of therapy in worship, in prayer, in dancing before the Lord sometimes, it’s the only release from the trauma or heaviness life handed us. As the world grows more aware of topics like mental health, it’s essential that spaces of faith grow, too. September’s Suicide Prevention Month serves as a critical reminder: these battles are not just out there in the world they’re very much present within the church as well.
Maybe no one knows what you’re going through. Maybe your thoughts have grown heavy, or you’ve wondered if you matter. Friend, your value is not accidental. God’s love for you is intentional. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a counselor, a friend, or a prayer team. There’s no shame in seeking help. In fact, sometimes it takes more faith to get help than to pretend you don’t need it. The body of Christ is called to support one another celebrating life, walking through pain, and carrying each other’s burdens.
Getting Comfortable With the Uncomfortable
Let’s ground ourselves in Scripture. In Matthew 16, Jesus and Peter have a pivotal exchange. Peter, filled with revelation, declares Jesus is the Messiah God’s own Son. But not long after, when Jesus shares He must suffer, Peter recoils, insisting such a fate isn’t possible for the Christ. Jesus’ response? “Get behind me, Satan. You are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
It’s a sobering reminder: often, we mistake our own logic for God’s truth. We want to avoid pain; we want to avoid the cross. But Jesus points us higher to see as God sees, to trust even when understanding fails. Jesus asks us to surrender our perspective, our plans, and even our idea of what’s good and what’s evil, for something more divine.
God’s Original Design and the Reality of Knowing Too Much
When we take a step back to Genesis, we see God’s intention for humanity was pure He created a world where we’d never need to know sorrow, calamity, or evil. “‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.’” God designed us for innocence for goodness, for light, for intimacy with Him. Knowing evil wasn’t part of the plan.
But the choice to obey is only meaningful if there’s a real option not to. Love and obedience are never coerced. The tree stood in the garden as that point of decision. And when Adam and Eve chose otherwise, humanity’s eyes were opened not just to good, but to suffering, to grief, to experiences that God never wanted to define us.
Sometimes, the hardest part of faith is carrying knowledge we wish we didn’t have: betrayals, losses, abuse, or heartbreaks. It’s easy to blame God, but Scripture reveals that He grieved too. He never wanted us to learn pain firsthand. Yet, He promises to enter the mess with us walking alongside us, redeeming even what was never meant to be.
Redefining Good and Evil: Trusting God’s Wisdom Over Ours
Here’s where things get complicated: human reasoning is flawed. Proverbs tells us that “a man’s ways are right in his own eyes.” Left to our own devices, we mix up good and evil all too easily. The fruit that seemed so appealing brought about death. And yet, the Savior who faced the ultimate evil death on a cross transformed it into the greatest good for all humanity.
God didn’t design us to define good and evil independently. What looks good on the surface a relationship, a career move, an escape can lead to devastation if detached from God’s purpose. Sometimes we even reject God’s “good” because it means humility, accountability, or letting go of what our pride desires. That’s why discernment matters desperately in these times. With so many voices competing for our attention, true clarity is found only in God’s presence and counsel.
Receiving God’s Perspective in a Modern World
We live in an age saturated with information. Social media, news cycles, and digital connections mean we are constantly exposed to more than ever before. It’s easy to adopt the values, the anxieties, or even the despair of the world around us sometimes without ever realizing it. The subtle infiltration of “the things of men” shapes our attitude, our hope, our actions. We cannot afford to become numb or indifferent to God’s voice.
Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is not to condemn, but to remind us that even the most sincere believer can drift from God’s truth. We must regularly pause and ask, “Am I seeing the world through God’s eyes or my own?” Romans 12:2 instructs us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” a continual process, not a one-time event. We renew our minds in worship, in community,
