Almost a third of Americans report anxiety symptoms, and according to PsychCentral, anxiety can create a “strong desire to control surroundings and other people.” I’ve definitely seen this pattern’s negative effects on my life and relationships, yet I’ve experienced the freedom of living—not by fear or unhealthy control, but by faith in a God who keeps his promises.
Shannon Popkin is on the show discussing her new book, Shaped by God’s Promises: Lessons from Sarah on Fear and Faith. Join us to see how God was with Sarah and faithfully for her, even when she couldn’t see it. Discover how her life—and yours too—was ultimately shaped not by her hardships or heartaches but by the reliable promises of God.
Tune in to discover how:
- God makes promises and keeps promises, and in between he invites us to respond by faith—believing the promises will come true.
- Faithfulness isn’t demonstrated in a minute. We learn God’s faithfulness over time.
- Self-reliance begins where faith ends. We aren’t shaped by God’s promises when we think he needs our help.
- Control is costly. When we play God, we make everyone (including ourselves) miserable.
- Rather than ignoring doubts, faith asks, “Is anything too wonderful for God?”
Summary
In this episode, Shannon Popkin shares her journey of falling in love with Jesus as a child and discovering her passion for writing. She emphasizes the importance of spending time with the Lord and studying His word. Shannon also discusses her latest Bible study, ‘Shape by God’s Promises,’ which explores Sarah’s life and the temptation to take control or give in to fear. She highlights the faithfulness of God and the need to trust in His promises, even in waiting. Shannon encourages listeners to recognize that true fruitfulness comes from relying on God, not self-reliance.
Takeaways
Spending time with the Lord and studying His word is essential for growing in faith and understanding God’s promises.
God’s faithfulness is demonstrated over time, and we can trust in His promises even when we don’t see immediate results.
The temptation to take control and give in to fear is a common struggle, but we can find freedom and peace by surrendering to God’s sovereignty.
True fruitfulness comes from relying on God’s work in our lives, rather than trying to control or manipulate outcomes.
Recognizing and claiming God’s promises can shape our perspective and help us navigate the challenges of life with faith and hope.
Sound Bites
“I truly loved Jesus as a little girl.”
“There is nothing to fear. There is nothing that can come against God and His purposes and His plans for His beloved children.”
“There is often a much longer stretch between the parentheses than we anticipate.”
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Falling in Love with Jesus
03:01 Discovering the Call to Write
08:04 Trusting in God’s Promises in the Waiting
14:54 The Temptation to Take Control and Give in to Fear
18:30 The Faithfulness of God and the Need to Rely on Him
23:26 True Fruitfulness Comes from Relying on God, Not Self-Reliance
Transcript
Rachael Adams (00:01.25)
Well, hello Shannon and welcome back to the love offering podcast. I’m so happy to have you again.
Shannon Popkin (00:07.243)
thank you so much, Rachel. It’s a privilege and a joy to be back.
Rachael Adams (00:12.056)
So the last time you were on the show, you were talking about comparison girl for teens. And since then, you and I had the opportunity to like meet in person and really spend time together. I at a writer’s conference where you live and you opened up your home and let me stay with you and your family and got to know you even better. And gosh, you are just such a beautiful, godly woman. And I just adore you so much.
Shannon Popkin (00:39.366)
You are so sweet. I love that time that we got together. That was really special. mean, a lot of us, don’t really get to meet in real life, you know? We’re doing this thing and we meet each other on screens, but it was really fun. Just spend time together. We went out to Lake Michigan. That was great. It was good.
Rachael Adams (00:55.456)
It was great. One of my favorite memories and I think that’s why I like this writing industry so much. You know, getting to serve the Lord in this way, getting to make new friends like you has definitely been a gift to me. And so it is evident to me that you spend time with the Lord, that that really is who you are in your writing and your speaking, but also in your own home and in your real relationships. So I’d love to start today’s conversation by hearing, when did you first fall in love with Jesus?
Shannon Popkin (01:26.13)
You know, it was as a little girl and my parents were coming back to church when I was just a preschooler, like maybe two years old. And so they were so excited. We found this amazing new church and you know, they were growing and as they’re reading me my Bible stories, they’re like, these are the first time they’re hearing these stories too. And so I just remember it being a super exciting
think, to know God and to know His word and to go to church and be with other people who loved Him. so that was just my upbringing. And at four years old, I was just playing outside one day and I was thinking about the story of Nicodemus. I guess I think I had heard it in Sunday school or something. And I was thinking, you know, he wanted eternal life. He didn’t want to die. And I didn’t want to die either. And I thought, well,
if Jesus could give him eternal life, I want that too. So I went inside and I told my mom, I want eternal life. She thought it was too little to pray and ask for salvation, but you know, I started crying and so she let me and led me to Jesus. that really was, I was so excited and wanted to tell others about him. think maybe I was a bit of an embarrassment. I would knock on doors and I was.
like preaching to the neighbor kids from the front porch. yeah, and not, mean, they weren’t truly embarrassed, but they were like, what do we do with this kid? So I truly loved Jesus as a little girl.
Rachael Adams (03:01.87)
Well, so what about when did you first hear the call to write? Like what did that process, you you loved him and you wanted to serve him. And so when did, when did writing as a way to serve him, when did that begin?
Shannon Popkin (03:15.752)
Well, I didn’t have any training or anything like that. I would just write little stories. But I think when it really started being cultivated is I would teach Sunday school. I was an elementary ed teacher or elementary school teacher. And so I was teaching the third through fifth graders at my church and we didn’t really have a real involved curriculum. So I worked really hard on my lessons. loved.
studying the Bible and teaching this large group of kids. And then in the afternoons I would come home and I wanted to just write all my lessons out that I had just taught. And my husband would be like, what are you doing again? like, I thought you’re done. I’m like, why are you down in the office? Cause I’d spend a couple hours on Sunday afternoon while the kids were napping, like writing out my thing. I, you know, I’d edit it and get it. And he’s like, what are you doing? I’m like, I don’t know. I just want to do this. And so then I,
My mom and I spoke at a mom’s group and on the way out the door, somebody said, hey, that was really good content. You should maybe turn that into an article. And so I had never thought of trying to write a magazine article, but that gave me like a little nudge of encouragement. And so I sent it to focus on the family and I didn’t know how hard it was. You you probably know Rachel, like now we know right now we would be like, ooh, this has to like.
Rachael Adams (04:36.084)
It was hard.
Shannon Popkin (04:41.574)
you know, be hesitant, but I just sent it to them and they accepted it. And I was like, that’s really nice. You know, I didn’t realize what a, what an, I mean, I knew it was an honor, but it was a really big honor. And then that started opening other doors to write and so speak. So yeah, it just kind of grew organically.
Rachael Adams (04:59.628)
Yeah, I didn’t know. We stayed up late to having all kinds of conversations and we never touched on any of that. And now God has you speaking all over the world, all over the country and all over the world and is using you in such mighty ways. And I love just watching how he’s working through you. And so I am interested in hearing, because it is so evident that he’s working through you. What does your study and your quiet time look like on a typical day?
Shannon Popkin (05:03.102)
Yeah, we didn’t talk about that one.
Shannon Popkin (05:11.528)
Yeah.
Shannon Popkin (05:14.952)
It’s a privilege.
Shannon Popkin (05:27.462)
Well, you know, we’re in a season of life where it’s so easy. It’s so easy going because we have all young adults. So when I share this, want if you’re a young a young mom, just know this is not how it always was. But I get up and pour myself a cup of coffee and sit in the living room with my Bible for an hour or so. My husband and I, you know, we read good books and we talk to each other and talk about the word and what we’re.
know, questions we have and it’s very lovely. so when I’m writing a book, I read differently, you know? When I’m writing one of these books, what I like to do, Rachel, is write out the verses. There’s something really like rich in that. So if I’m studying a story or a passage, I’ll write it out and as different thoughts or questions come to mind, I jet them.
You know, I leave like a little thick margin on the side and there’s something about that process of writing out the word, you know, that is, it’s very inspiring and, you know, God uses that. I still think I might write best with my hand versus typing. So then I’ll take those notes that I’m pondering and transfer them to the computer. yeah, it just looks like a lot of studying, writing.
I use Bible study methods like anybody else, looking for keywords or looking for verbs and looking for who are the pronouns referring to and all those things that were taught in Bible study. But yeah, I really love to dig into God’s word. And I find it to be a deep well that every time you dip your bucket down, there is always more. I’m always learning and it’s an astonishing process.
Rachael Adams (07:19.96)
Yeah, absolutely. I actually prefer to hand write as well. There’s something, I don’t know what it is, a connection that just leads it more to your heart somehow. I’m not sure what it is. Yeah.
Shannon Popkin (07:23.837)
Yeah.
Shannon Popkin (07:29.924)
I, yeah, yeah, well, it’s how we learn as little kids, right? And there’s some brain connection, hand connection. I don’t know. I do find it really helpful.
Rachael Adams (07:40.654)
I love hearing all the behind the scenes of what it takes to get to where you are and your most recent Bible study is titled Shape by God’s Promises which is a six -week Bible study that explores the life of Sarah in Genesis 12 through 21 where you encourage women who are tempted to take control or cave into fear
instead to be shaped by God’s promises in the waiting. So Shannon has there ever been a time when you were tempted to take control or cave into fear?
Shannon Popkin (08:16.798)
Well, like every day, right? I did. Yes, and Sarah is actually a chapter in control girl. I looked at seven controlling women in the Bible and what we can learn from them. And she was the one that really intrigued me, captured my attention. There was so much that I couldn’t fit into that one chapter on her. So I wanted to write a whole book about her life. yeah, I just found so many parallels in the way that she had this little
Rachael Adams (08:18.56)
I mean, you wrote Control Girl, so right.
Shannon Popkin (08:45.438)
perspective on how it was all supposed to turn out. And she heaped that onto her own shoulders. And so for me, I mean, I think men control, but women tend to control, to want to control in relationships. And so for me, it’s always, and that’s the same with fear, you know, wanting to control the outcome with my kids, you know, particularly, relationships at church or with my husband wanting to control him, because I think
I know what’s going to be best for our family, right? and fearing what if, what if, what if, you know, and just heaping this burden onto my shoulders of I have to make it turn out right. Like not only should I, but I must, right? Because what if I don’t and how’s it all going to turn out if I don’t insert myself? And so just like clamping down, digging my heels in, trying to white knuckle my way through life, you know,
making sure that my kids are in all the right programs or they’re doing the right things or they’re choosing the right friends. Like, and, and when they were younger, I had a lot more opportunity, you know, there were, there were so many little things I wanted to control. But now that I have young adult kids, I haven’t outgrown that desire to control them. Now there are just bigger things that I would like to control. Like, you know, what job they take or who they date, who they marry, right? they’re
they’re moral choices. And so there are, there’s never going to be an end to the things because you know, next stage, it’ll be grandkids or you know, health crises or whatever it is. And so I think for me learning to recognize that God is the one who is in control. He’s managing these details. We get to see that in Sarah’s life.
Right? We can look at other controlling women like temporary women. can look into their lives and say, wow, she’s really controlling. But we get this perspective of looking at people in the Bible, you know, because they’re just one episode of a whole unfolding overarching storyline that what we see is God is in control and there is nothing to fear.
Shannon Popkin (10:55.496)
There is nothing that can come against God and His purposes and His plans for His beloved children. Nothing can thwart that. And so we really have nothing to fear and we can rest. can find our security and our hope in the fact that God is in control. And that means we don’t have to be. We can lay control down. But it is a day by day, moment by moment process. And it’s not…
It’s not something I’ve grown out of yet and I doubt that I ever will.
Rachael Adams (11:26.52)
Yeah, but just to surrender to His sovereignty, really, and to trust Him. And there’s freedom in that, and there’s peace in that, if we trust and believe that He is a good God, which I know that we both do.
Shannon Popkin (11:39.635)
Yes.
Rachael Adams (11:40.034)
And so so in in your book you say God’s promises are like a set of parentheses that he makes the promise and he keeps the promise like a set of parentheses his promises come in pairs you never have one without the other and that goes back to his faithfulness too I think but often there is a much longer stretch between the parentheses than we anticipate so I’d love for you to elaborate on this
Shannon Popkin (12:04.05)
Yeah, so if you think of a set of parentheses, I’ve got a little set here. he makes the promise and he always keeps his promises, always. But there is often this stretch between that we weren’t anticipating. I think when God made this promise to Sarah and Abram, that he was gonna, Sarah, and Abram at the beginning, that he was gonna make of them a great nation.
They’re a two -person family at this point. so I thought, I think Sarah got really excited about this idea. know, infertility was a huge burden to her. And I’m guessing she probably thought, we’re going to get pregnant on the way. You know, we’re going to this promised land. God’s going to fill this land with our descendants. And she’s probably imagining we’re going to get there. We’re going to build a house. I’m going have babies. And this is all going to be great. But they do get there.
month after month after month goes by, there’s no baby. And they never actually own any property in this promised land. They are visitors, strangers in this land, aliens. And the only property they ever own is Sarah’s grave. And so, I mean, this is a long stretch between the parentheses that they were not imagining. takes 24 years before she becomes pregnant for this baby. so, like, I think
Oftentimes we’re not anticipating that, you know, as Christians. I mean, even just think about our Bible. You know, if I had my Bible in front of me and put a sticky note in the first promise that God would send a savior, that’s Genesis 3. And then that fulfillment of that promise is Matthew 27. There is a thick gap in my Bible between those two places.
And I think the way that we often think about it, we collapse that timeline down. We don’t think about those thousands and thousands of years that people were waiting on God to keep his promise for the Savior. We skip from sin to the Savior, all in the same sentence, all in the same song. Like we don’t really look at all of those years that people were agonizing and waiting for God to do as he had promised. And that’s what we’re experiencing as well. Like we have this whole other set of promises.
Shannon Popkin (14:18.642)
you know, that Jesus will return and that he’s going to set everything right and that there will be no more tears in heaven. There’ll be no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow. And so we’re anticipating all of those things, but there is often this much wider stretch in the Christian life than we were imagining between these parentheses. We’re looking at the first set of parentheses, you the first one, but man, we don’t know when that second one will come.
We do know it is coming though. And that’s the key is recognizing it will come. And so we can be shaped by these promises in the waiting.
Rachael Adams (14:54.976)
And yet, waiting is really hard, you know? And I think that you’ve discovered, and God is working in the wait, like working on our hearts. So what have you discovered in the waiting?
Shannon Popkin (14:57.53)
It is. Yeah, it is.
Shannon Popkin (15:09.246)
Yeah, well, I mean, there are so many things to discover in the waiting, but I think the primary thing that I’ve discovered is God’s faithfulness. I have this five -year prayer journal. Have you ever seen those? They’re like, can, you on the same day, like, so today is August 22nd and I can look back at 2023, 2022, you know, as I write my prayers in this journal. Well, one day I was writing out a prayer.
about a relationship that was broken and really dear to my heart. And as I filled it in with tears, like begging God on behalf of this relationship, I looked back the year before and it was like almost the identical prayer. my heart sank. just thought, my goodness, Lord, how long am I going to be praying for this? Like how long is this stretch of waiting? Like waiting, you’re right. It is not enjoyable. And I think, you we have to…
keep in mind too, like I don’t have any promise in the here and now that this relationship would be reconciled. Like I can’t turn to a verse in my Bible, but here are the promises like that comfort me is that God hears my prayers and that I’m forgiven. You know, I’ve contributed to the brokenness of this relationship. My sin has contributed and yet I’m forgiven in His eyes. I’m washed clean. And so I don’t have to…
feel the shame and the agony, you know, like those are precious promises. And I know that he is making all things work together for good for those who love him. That’s me. I love him and who are called by his name. That’s me. So I know that God is working in this broken relationship that I have longed for him to restore. But that stretch of waiting, here’s where as I return over and over,
to God’s promises, what I see is he’s faithful. He doesn’t leave me, he is with me. He hears my cries, he comforts my heart. And so, you we don’t learn faithfulness in a minute, right? We just don’t. Sarah did not learn God’s faithfulness in her first year of following him. We see, like when Hebrews 11, 11 says that,
Shannon Popkin (17:32.862)
by faith Sarah considered him faithful who had promised. And that’s what gave her this power to become pregnant. That’s probably, that verse is probably referring to year 24 when she considered that he was faithful and promised because all of those years before she was wondering like, who is this God? You know, they didn’t know God. And so she’s wondering, can he keep his promises? Will he keep his promises? We don’t know. And so.
It’s as we come to know God over many months, many years, whether it’s sitting in your living room in the morning reading your Bible or finding different snatches in your day to open His word, to memorize it, to claim these promises, to pray them. It’s over the long haul, over this time that we’ve recognized, yes, God has been faithful and He is the God who not only makes promises but keeps them. And I can live like it’s true that He will keep these promises to me.
Rachael Adams (18:30.082)
You know, I think so many of us when we’re waiting for these promises or these prayers to be answered, we want to just go back to the control girl and take matters into our own hands and be self reliant. And we see Abram and Sarah do that. And so let’s talk about fear and faith and how we can trust God to keep his promises instead of reverting to self reliance.
Shannon Popkin (18:39.702)
yeah.
Shannon Popkin (18:55.252)
yeah, yeah, fear. Sarah had to deal with infertility and there was a lot of fear in that, just fear of what are they thinking? What’s gonna happen? What’s gonna become of our family? know, they were the clan, Abram was the clan leader. And when you picture them leaving their homeland and going to this promised land, don’t just picture the two of them. They had this whole entourage of people who traveled with them at one point.
It says that he had three, I think it’s 318 men who went with him into battle. So there’s this probably a clan of about a thousand people that are traveling with them and he’s the leader of the clan. And if they don’t have an heir, every single person who has left everything behind to go with them, everything feels, there’s a lot of fear in that. It feels there’s insecurity. They don’t know what’s gonna happen. And so there’s a lot of pressure on them to have an heir.
Right. And Sarah, it all comes down to her. What’s going to happen if I don’t? So like they, they might choose this Eliezer guy to be the, the heir, but that nobody knows who that is. Like if it doesn’t come from the family line. So I just bring that up. It was more than just not being able to have a baby. You know, it’s like what, what’s going to happen to this whole clan of people. And Sarah felt that she felt that burden. Not only was Abram.
you know, hoping for a baby. He thought he was going to have a baby. He believed that God had promised this. He was expecting. And so I just imagine him like on a monthly basis, like any news, you know, any that gets really hard really. And so 24 years of that of waiting on a baby, right? She’s like, I called her in the book, I called her like the brittle branch of the family tree. You know, if you picture the family tree she can’t produce and in this
in this time frame where she’s living, like that is not acceptable. You know, we think of babies as optional, right? In marriage, they didn’t, they thought of, you know, if you didn’t have a baby, your husband could divorce you because that’s really the, you know, love was optional, babies were not. And so, you know, there just was a lot riding on her not being able to have children. And so what we see is her
Shannon Popkin (21:17.214)
reverting to self -reliance, to taking control. The Hagar solution was her idea. And this was a completely culturally acceptable thing to say, maybe we can have a baby through her. And I just want to bring up the contrast in Genesis 12. God is saying, I will make of you a great nation. I will make your name great. I will bless you. I will, I will. Through you, all of the other nations will be blessed. So the emphasis is on this God who makes.
promises, here’s what I’m going to do. And then in Genesis 16 with the Hagar situation solution, she’s saying, maybe I can, maybe perhaps through Hagar, I can build a family. And so she’s turning to self -reliance. She’s trying to take control and it just blows up. Nobody who plays God and tries to take control does a very good job of it. So, you know, there’s this personal pain, but then it gets mixed in, you know, so now they’ve got
you know, the other woman in their marriage and there’s all of this tension in their home and it’s just a mess. By the end of Genesis 16, it’s almost as like, it looks like these parentheses have closed. You know, it looks like God made the promise, I’m gonna make of you great nation and here’s the baby, you know? All right, that part is capped off and Sarah is on the outside looking in and it’s like.
Hagar, I guess, was God’s answer to that promise. I’m irrelevant. I’m worthless. And that’s not the case. That’s not the truth. That’s not the true version of the story. But that’s what happens when we try to take control. We get a skewed perspective of ourselves. We get a skewed perspective of God. And just a lot of turmoil and brokenness in our efforts to take control.
I’m sure you can agree. That’s how it is in every marriage, in every relationship where we’re trying to take control, just a lot of brokenness, a lot of pain, a lot of insecurity. It’s never what we’re hoping for. It’s true for Sarah and it’s true for us as well.
Rachael Adams (23:26.432)
And I mean, think that goes to just control is costly. know, our decisions that we make have consequences for good or for bad. And so these decisions that Sarah and Abram made, we are now still being impacted by today.
Shannon Popkin (23:31.504)
It is.
Shannon Popkin (23:44.016)
Yes, yeah, that’s interesting, isn’t it?
Rachael Adams (23:44.882)
And it’s fascinating to think through that. I’d love for you to kind of talk through that a little bit if you’re willing. And then just to think about, you know, for us as believers, the decisions we’re making right now will impact future generations. We just can’t quite see that. So I’d love for you to dive deeper into that if you’re willing.
Shannon Popkin (24:01.559)
Yeah, that is mind blowing, isn’t it? To think of the effects of making this choice to take control. so I just like to look at it from a literary perspective, like look at where the story leads. It does not lead. So God makes all of these promises to Hagar and he does fulfill those promises. But this is not the story of just a couple who wants to have a baby.
This is a story that’s tied to a God who wants to give his people a savior, right? So that’s really the story that we’re paying attention to when we look at Abram and Sarai. And so when they choose this baby, you know, when they choose to have a baby through Hagar, this is a child of self -reliance. This is not the child of promise. And so if you look at where these two lines lead, God’s promises are
only fulfilled through the baby that he will provide. And he waits 24 years to make sure that they know this is not going to be a child that is produced through self -reliance. And I think what God is showing us through that is salvation. We are not called to self -salvation. We can’t save ourselves, right? We can’t save other people. We can’t save ourselves. We are completely and utterly dependent on God. God is the one who provides a savior.
And God, so God is the one who’s going to provide a baby through Sarah’s dry, barren, empty womb. He is going to bring life. And so I think so many of us when we’re trying to take control, it’s because we see some other brittle branch in our family line. know, we’re looking at, maybe it’s our husband or maybe our kids, or maybe it’s, you know, a sister or some relationship that we’re like, this is fruitless.
I am scared about this. I am worried. Where is this all going to go? And we say like, Sarah, I, maybe I can, maybe I can do something. Maybe I can insert myself. Maybe I can take control. And yet God doesn’t want there to be people coming into his family or bearing fruit of their own accord or of their own making. Like think of, you know, taking a stapler and trying to staple up fruit on a brittle branch.
Shannon Popkin (26:19.346)
That isn’t the fruit that brings God glory. Like we can maybe as I think controlling moms produce some of the godliest looking families, right? And yet that isn’t true fruit. It’s not lasting fruit. If we’re just like beating our husbands into submission, like you are going to go to church and you know, our kids like, no, you’re not going to listen to that music or no, you’re not going to, you know, like if we’re, if we are the source of the fruit, that’s not true fruit. And so it’s actually,
when we’re laying down control and we’re looking at like, no God, I need you to produce this fruit. I can’t do it. Recognizing the lack of self -reliance, whether it’s the first fruit of salvation, you know, coming to faith, or it’s the ongoing fruit of sanctification, this is all his work. It’s not our work. It’s not our work in our own life. It’s not our work in other people’s lives. And like we’ve said before, when we try to take God,
or play God, when we try to take control and play God, we actually do more harm than good. I think there are a lot of Christian families where everybody thinks somebody is a believer, but let that play out for 10 years, 20 years. And if the fruit doesn’t continue to grow, like we’ve stepped in and played God and we’ve really hindered what God wants to do, just like Sarah did in the case of Hagar.
you know, if we follow the story through to its completion, the story continues on through this baby that Sarah could not produce on her own. It’s through the line of Isaac that God, you know, produces this great nation that he’s promised and that the Savior comes through this line. And all of us are then saved and included into this great family of Abraham.
Rachael Adams (28:13.388)
Yeah, yeah. It’s so interesting to me and you know we’ve touched on God’s faithfulness and you’ve said faithfulness cannot be demonstrated in a minute. It’s over time.
we learn how faithful God truly is. And I think we can just look at how he’s been faithful to everyone in the Bible, including the story of Abram and Sarai. So how do you think we can be faithful as God has been faithful? I mean, we’re not going to do it perfectly because we’re fallen sinful human beings and know that, but we do have a role to play in this. We aren’t puppets. Yes, God is in control, but we do have a part in it.
Shannon Popkin (28:49.65)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think there’s a tie between our faithfulness and recognizing God’s faithfulness. It’s like, as we recognize like, okay, he has made this promise. And I know that I know that I know that he’s going to keep this promise. That changes us. That is what produces this faithfulness in our lives. It’s we’re responding to God’s promises. It doesn’t originate with us. know, Abram and Sarai,
They were originally following God. wasn’t as like, it wasn’t like they got God’s attention with all their good behavior and their beautiful faith. No, they were pagans. They were worshiping other gods, probably the moon god. And God showed up and he made promises and they responded. Like the whole reason they moved to this promised land.
They would have never come up with that idea on their own, but they did this in response to God’s promises. So see how His promises shaped the rest of their lives. And yes, ultimately they were faithful to God. You know, we see ups and downs in their journey, just like we do in our own.
but their faithfulness was tied to God’s promises and to his faithfulness over time. I often like equate faithfulness to marriage. when you think of, if I were to show you a picture of my husband, the first day that we met, know, here’s this guy named Ken. He’s a really faithful man. Well, if you’re a good friend to me, Rachel, you’re gonna say, you don’t know he’s faithful. You just met him. Like that’s not the kind of word you use for someone you just met.
Now contrast that with now we’ve been married 28 years and if I show you our picture of our anniversary at 28 years and say this is a faithful man, well that makes a lot more sense, right? And so it’s over time as we look in on these stories in the Bible of Abram and Sarah, as we look in on their story, we see a God who is faithful and he is faithful even
Shannon Popkin (30:43.826)
Like they didn’t know if he would keep his promises. They didn’t know if he could keep his promises, but he did fulfill his promises to them. And so we get to gain our faith, not just from these open -ended parentheses, but we get to look at their story and see how our God does keep his promises. That’s why these stories are in the word so that we can rest our faith.
on the faithfulness of God proven over and over and over through the scriptures. And then we take that faithfulness and we apply it to ourselves. Okay, he is always faithful. He always keeps his promises. And that’s why as I live with these open -ended parentheses, because a lot of times it does not look like all things are gonna work out together for good. It does not look like.
God even hears my prayers. It doesn’t look like he’s working. It doesn’t look like he’s gonna produce fruit on a dead branch. It doesn’t look like things are going to be fulfilled in my life or in the lives of other people. And I always have to give this caveat, like we have to separate what we have been promised and what we haven’t. Like let’s only rest on the things that we have been promised and we’re not promised that.
Every situation will get to see this happy ending that we hoped for. No, we’re not. But we are promised that our God is faithful, that He is working, that He hears our cries, that He forgives those who are repentant. You we have so many rich and precious promises. And so as we turn to these promises, that it shapes us, it changes us. And in response, we become the faithful people of God.
Rachael Adams (32:27.382)
I think that is such a good point. We’ve got to know what his promises are so that we are hanging on to the promises that are true as opposed to ones that we sometimes there’s so many things we think that are in the Bible that really aren’t even there because people just talk about it like they are but they really aren’t so I think that that is the key. What you need to know what the promises of God are and what they are not.
Shannon Popkin (32:32.051)
Yeah.
Shannon Popkin (32:40.677)
Exactly.
Shannon Popkin (32:50.064)
Yeah, I actually put a glossary in the back of, shaped by God’s promises of these promises, but I segmented them out. I talked about like, some of them are just principles, they’re not promises. Others are for certain people, not, you know, like not all promises are for all people at all times. I mean, Sarah was promised a baby, you know, they were kind of, it was wrapped in these other promises to Abram, he was gonna make of them a great nation, but.
I heard about a woman who was speaking to a group of young moms or young women saying, you know, claim the prom, claim God’s promise of a baby. Well, that is a very dangerous message because you have not been promised a baby. And so if you start claiming this promise for yourself, that you’ve been promised a baby and then you don’t get the baby.
then all of God’s other promises are in question. Like then it’s like, is he truly faithful? I didn’t get the baby, right, that I was supposedly promised. Well, you know, God is faithful to his promises, but not promises that you claim for yourself that belong, you know, to a particular person or a particular group of people in the Bible. So we have to be careful with those. And many of our promises also, I think it’s really important to note that they’re not for the here and now, right?
There are, so in my little back of the book, you know, list, I looked at promises for the here and now, and then promises for the there and then that belong to us, you know, in heaven. And so don’t look at something in your life right now and say, God hasn’t been faithful. When you haven’t seen the end of the story, right? That’s in the there and then, then is when we will be able to gauge just how faithful God has been.
So I created, and if any listeners want it, I created a Pray the Promises guide that you can download. You don’t need the book for it. I’d love to share that. And so I kind of listed out, here are some of the promises and here’s how we can pray in response to them.
Rachael Adams (34:49.346)
So good. So we get that on your website, shenanpopkin .com.
Shannon Popkin (34:52.89)
Yeah, I can I can send you a link but yeah, it’s Shannonpopkin .com forward slash promises and you can find all of that.
Rachael Adams (34:57.506)
Yeah, yeah, everybody will want to do that. I’ll include that in the show notes. You know, what you have shared today, it gives me so much hope that it’s a hopeful message. When we believe that God will do what he said he’s going to do. And so I’m so thankful for that. And I’m wondering if there is maybe a biblical concept of love since we’re the love offering podcast that you think applies to this theme in any way.
Shannon Popkin (35:02.034)
be great.
Shannon Popkin (35:09.531)
It is,
Shannon Popkin (35:28.458)
I how, I think sometimes we think of love as God giving us just whatever we want. He doesn’t. That’s not love. But His love is so intermingled with His faithfulness to keep His promises. You know, when God introduces Himself to Abram and Sarai, it’s as if He’s making these wedding vows to them. You know, He’s saying, will. It’s sort of like when you think of a proposal where normally we would say, will you?
God doesn’t say, you, he says, I will. And so he enters the relationship making promises and his love is so intermingled with him keeping these promises to us. So he is like a faithful husband to the bride. That’s who he is to his people. And that is the way that he demonstrates his love to us.
Rachael Adams (36:20.738)
Hmm, such a good answer. And I’m thankful for that truth. That’s true for us. We’re gonna live like it’s true. That’s the name of Shannon’s podcast, which you guys are gonna go have to go tune into that as well. And so, Shannon, I know. Yeah.
Shannon Popkin (36:29.064)
Yes.
Shannon Popkin (36:34.82)
I got to have you as a guest on that one. So that was great. That was such a great conversation. Gideon, right?
Rachael Adams (36:40.884)
It was Gideon. Yeah, we talked about Gideon. So yeah, Shannon goes and talks through the books of the Bible with a guest or chapter in the Bible. And so everybody needs to go and tune into that. But Shannon, I would love to hear what is something you’re loving right now. There’s no rules to it. Just the first thing that pops into your head.
Shannon Popkin (36:42.162)
We talked about Gideon.
Shannon Popkin (37:01.32)
Well, we got a new puppy just a couple of weeks ago. His name is Moses, Mozi Mo. He’s right here beside me. But, yes, I know he just lays beside me. He is such a good puppy. So I just love him. He’s like follows me around and just wherever I go, there he is. So he’s a nice little companion dog. He’s a Shih Tzu. we have another one. Louie’s not quite so sure he loves Mozi yet, but he will.
Rachael Adams (37:08.3)
He’s been a good boy, I’m not hurting.
Rachael Adams (37:30.043)
He will they’re gonna yeah well I love Louie when I got to stay with you and my dogs are typically if I’m just working they’re right here in my office with me at once at my feet and one used to want to sit in my lap but I got a new chair and now he has to sit on the side but I can’t trust them they are not always good when I record and so I have to like lock them out outside with the Finston yard which I don’t feel too guilty
Shannon Popkin (37:30.856)
That’s been fun.
Shannon Popkin (37:41.136)
Yeah, he does. That’s cute. yeah.
Shannon Popkin (37:52.56)
Okay. yeah, yeah, yeah.
Rachael Adams (37:53.97)
because it’s beautiful here today. yeah, I’m glad Moses is being, he’s been so good today. So, well, I would love to, as we close, if you would just pray for us, just mindful of maybe the women that are just really in the waiting season or tempted to take control or just really fearful about the future. Would you just pray for us and over us today?
Shannon Popkin (38:17.478)
I’d love to. Lord Jesus, I’m thinking of the woman who is staring at a brittle branch in her life, something that she longs for fruitfulness, maybe in her own life or somebody else’s. Lord, I pray that she would return to your promises over and over, that she would soak her heart in what is true, that she would remind herself that you are a faithful God, that you are always working.
that you never abandon your people, that you hear our cries. Lord, I pray that she would be reminded of your forgiveness that is offered to her, that’s offered to anyone who is repentant. And Lord, I pray that her hope would not be wrapped up in what she can do and what she should do and her attempts to like almost staple up fruit on this brittle branch. But Lord, I pray that she would rely on you, our self.
Our salvation is not a self -reliant story, it’s a trusting in you and your faithfulness story. And so Lord, I pray that as we encounter you in your word and in our personal lives, that we would be reminded over and over how faithful you are. And Lord, we’re just so grateful. Help us to walk in that truth today, to live like it’s true that you are a faithful God. In Jesus’ precious name, I pray, amen.
Rachael Adams (39:42.834)
Amen. Well, Shannon, I know I want to stay in contact with you. I’m sure listeners are going to want to they’re gonna want to grab a copy of this Bible study and maybe control girl and listen to your live like it’s true podcast. So tell us how we can best and then obviously download the promises download that you talked about. So tell us all the things how we can stay in contact with you.
Shannon Popkin (40:04.124)
Yeah, Shannonpopkin .com. can find the books that we talked about, the resources, the podcast, all the things. And I like to hang out on Instagram too. I’m there quite a bit.
Rachael Adams (40:17.728)
Okay, well thank you for today. It was such a hopeful, insightful conversation as we’re all waiting for something and so I just appreciate your time today.
Shannon Popkin (40:28.476)
It was a privilege. Thank you, Rachel.
Connect with Shannon:
Shannon Popkin | Inviting you to live like God’s Word is true.
