Skip to content How to Trust God When Everything Goes Wrong (Audio) Apr 2 · 40 min ...more
How to Trust God When Everything Goes Wrong (Audio)
April 2, 2026 · 40 min
In a world that feels like it’s shaking, Nahum 1:7 reminds us that God is our stronghold in the day of trouble. When life is hard, He is still good, still present, and still our refuge. More than that, He knows those who trust in Him personally and deeply. No matter the storm, you are not alone.
Series Audio Sermons with Pastor Tyler Gaulden
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April 2, 2026 · 40 min · Audio Sermons with Pastor Tyler Gaulden
In a world that feels like it’s shaking, Nahum 1:7 reminds us that God is our stronghold in the day of trouble. When life is hard, He is still good, still present, and still our refuge. More than that, He knows those who trust in Him personally and deeply. No matter the storm, you are not alone. ...more Show the full description Show less In a world that feels like it’s shaking, Nahum 1:7 reminds us that God is our stronghold in the day of trouble. When life is hard, He is still good, still present, and still our refuge. More than that, He knows those who trust in Him personally and deeply. No matter the storm, you are not alone.
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In this video 0:00 Nahum's Message: God is Good Amid Judgment10:24 Unpacking 'Good': Three Layers of God's Character24:54 A Stronghold in the Day of Trouble32:09 Trusting the Master Chef Through Bad Ingredients
Nahum's Message: God is Good Amid Judgment 0:00 We do know where Nahum was from. He was a little country preacher from around the area of Galilee. He grew up on the farm hills and on the little plains around the0:12 Sea of Galilee, and was called by God to serve as a prophet to the little or to the city that was a part of the nation of Assyria.0:24 He was the follow-up book to the book of Jonah. You remember brother Jonah that was swallowed by the mighty whale. All because he disobeyed God in going to Nineveh. God wanted to preach the message of0:36 judgment to Nineveh, and Jonah disobeyed. But finally, in the belly of that whale, he repented. And he goes to Nineveh and he preaches, and the scripture says that 180000 people0:48 are turned in a second from the gutter all the way up to the throne. The Bible declares that the greatest revival that has ever occurred occurred in Nineveh, and because of their1:00 repentance, judgment is stayed. Judgment did not leave though, because Nineveh's repentance was short lived. Roughly 100 years after their repentance,1:12 Nahum writes, and he writes the book of Nahum 1, 2, and 3, and he writes it because Nineveh has turned again to their idols and to their idolatry and their foolishness and their wickedness,1:24 and God sends through Nahum the message of judgment. And that upends a lot of things and that upends a lot of people's minds because Assyria at that moment was the most powerful
1:36 nation in the world. You can imagine what it would be like today if a prophet came along with a message to America and said America is not going to make it, judgment is
1:48 on the way. You and I would begin to think about a lot of things, we would think about fear and torment and anxiety and all the different bad things that are gonna occur, and people began to say what's gonna happen?
2:00 Nahum stands up in chapter number 1 to calm the people's minds, and this is what he says. He says beloved, don't forget the Lord is good. He is a stronghold
2:12 in the day of trouble and he knows them that put their trust in him. Brothers and sisters, he uses that phrase the Lord is good.
2:24 Over 700 times that word good is going to be used in the Old Testament. Many of them referring to the God of Heaven. Now brothers and sisters, whenever a preacher stands up
2:36 and declares that God is good, immediately sitting down on the pew, you began to pucker and say, well, wait a second, that person over there because they've got stuff, and those people over there because they don't have
2:47 trouble, or those people up there because they don't don't have a lot going on. Yeah, God may be good to them but he isn't good to me because of what I got going on. Write these 3 things down. Number 1, notice what
2:59 it does not say. Number 1, it does not say that times were good. Not 1 time did it ever say the day that we live in is a good day. No, it
3:11 does not even describe what's going on in that day because it has nothing to do with what the times are like, it has to do with what and who God is. Ladies and gentlemen, you and
3:23 I look around and I understand all the political leanings and I understand all the different this and the the others of that, but beloved I did not come in here on a political wave and I don't give 2
3:35 rips who's in the White House. I do remind you right now, it does not matter what our economy is like, it does not matter what the seasons in the world are like, it does not matter who is at
3:47 war with who because the times can be bad but the Lord is still good. Things can go up and things can go down, that does not change who God is, what God
3:58 is, and how God operates. You and I have got to get off of this hobby horse of political leanings and economic leanings and all these different things. You know God was good when there was
4:10 no America and God was good in July the fourth 1776 when America wrote that declaration of independence. God was good when the civil war was going on and
4:22 God was good when we were a united people. God was good before Pearl Harbor and God was good after Pearl Harbor. God was good when America had all of its might in the 50s and the 60s,
4:34 and God was good during the idolatry and the wickedness of the 70s and the 80s. God was good in the economic boom of the 90s and God was still good on September the
4:46 eleventh, 2001. God was good when Barack Obama was president. God was good when Donald Trump was president. You and I need to get off the hobby horse and I don't really care who we
4:58 know or who is here today or who your mama voted for or who your daddy cares about. I couldn't give 2 rips because I do not represent an American kingdom. My ambassadorship is from another
5:10 country and I've got another leader and he's the high and the holy god of heaven. Let times rise and let times fall because the lord is still good. Number 2, it does
5:22 not say that situations are good. Brothers and sisters, brother Nahum is writing in the midst of an absolutely unbelievable time. He's looking around at a
5:34 nation about to be upended. He's also writing in a time when the 10 northern tribes have just been upended. I want you to write something down. There's a definition that I want you to write down.
5:45 When you and I look at this man named Nahum, we don't know much about him. We don't know a lot where his village is from. We don't really know a lot about his father, we don't know a lot about his mother, but we do
5:57 know where he was from and this is gonna matter. When you come to the New Testament you are introduced to a town in the New Testament and that town is called Capernaum. You remember studying about
6:09 that in school and in Sunday school? That word Capernaum, when you and I look at that, that's where Peter lived, that's where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, that's where the roof was tear it off torn off, and they
6:21 lowered the paraplegic down to the floor. That was in the town of Capernaum. Do you know what the town that name Capernaum literally means? It literally means the village or
6:33 the home of Nahum. Now why does that matter? Here's why that matters, because Capernaum, if you've been to the holy land, you go with me to the holy land, you'll see that Capernaum
6:45 is around the Sea of Galilee. Why does that matter? Here's why that matters, Because the the area of Galilee was a part of the 10
6:57 northern tribes of Israel, not Judah. Israel, the 10 northern tribes. Guess what had already happened when Nahum writes chapter number 1?
7:09 The 10 northern tribes have already been conquered by Assyria. His home is gone. His people have been in bondage. His family have been
7:20 enslaved. That's why we don't hear about his wife. That's why we don't hear about his family. Here's what Nahum says. He says, My home may be upended. My family may be in torments. There may be all types
7:32 of bad things that have happened around me, but at the end of the day, situations may be down and situations may be up, but God is still good. Brothers and
7:44 sisters, we would be absolutely shocked at the people that are sitting around us and the things that they've got going on in their lives, but beloved, it does not matter what's going on in your life.
7:56 We have got to get to the place where we say, oh god, it does not matter if it's bad in my life, if it's good in my life. At the end of the day the goodness of God is
8:08 not contingent on where I'm at in life and what I have in life. Number 3, here's something else. It does not say times were good. It does not say situations were good. Number 3, it
8:20 also does not say people were good. Do you know what Nahum knew? Hypocrites. Do you know what Nahum knew about? Backsliders. Do
8:32 you know what Nahum knew about? Wicked people. Do you know what Nahum was familiar with? People that were liars, people that were thieves, and he also knew about those people that were thieves
8:44 and robbers and liars and hypocrites that were supposed to be God's people. Ladies and gentlemen, I am absolutely over being over when you and I let
8:55 other people affect our opinion of who God is. Ladies and gentlemen, bad things happen to all of us. Everybody in this room knows about a hypocrite.
9:07 Everybody in this room has had experience with liars that are supposed to be a part of the church and people that are supposed to be Christians that do bad things, but at the end of the day people are scoundrels, people
9:18 are sinners, people are wicked, but God is not a scoundrel and God is not wicked. It does not say people are good, it says the Lord is good. I remind you this morning, get your eyes
9:30 off of people and lift your eyes to the God of heaven. Whether people come or people go, at the end of the day, the Lord is the 1 that is good. Let's pick apart this
9:42 verse and let me go through a couple little things. I wanna ask and answer 3 questions this morning and I want you to write them down. Now I'm gonna be just absolutely straight. There is about 1 percent chance I'd get
9:54 through this entire message because at some point in this journey, I'm gonna hit a honey hole and I'm gonna turn about 4 cartwheels on this platform right now. I'm telling you there's about 4 or 5 honey holes
10:06 here. If I really get to digging them in a real hard, I'm liable to feel pretty good in the neighborhood and I'm liable to feel good in a way James Brown had no idea about. Say amen right there. Number 1, you need to
10:17 write this down. First and foremost, you've gotta do this. You've gotta say number 1, what he is. Write that down. What he is. Watch what it says.
Unpacking 'Good': Three Layers of God's Character
10:29 The Lord is what? Good. Circle that word good and I want you to underline that word. I want you to draw you a line out to the side that word. It is a
10:41 Hebrew word that has 3 different layers to it. In order for you to understand what it means for God to be good or when the scripture says, oh taste and see
10:53 that the Lord is what? Good. You've got to understand the 3 layers of that word good. In the bible, when you study that word, that Hebrew word good, it's the Hebrew
11:04 word tov. Now you don't need to remember that, but here's what's interesting about that word tov or good. In the bible, in the old testament, it does not stick with 1 kind of word.
11:16 There are times when it's an adjective, there's times when it's a noun, and there's times when it's a verb. Here is why. There are are 3 layers. Whenever it says the lord is good, here are the 3 layers. Write them down.
11:28 Number 1, when it says the lord is good, the first layer that word good means, it means to be morally pure. Whenever you say that God is
11:40 good, you are saying there is no presence of wickedness in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Why would that matter?
11:52 Here's why. Because if we were not able to say that God is not morally pure, then you and I would have to look at God when he makes a decision that
12:03 doesn't make sense to us, and say there's gotta be an ulterior motive to that thing. If you're not able to say, God, he's got a little bit of bad in him,
12:15 then when something seemingly bad happens in our life, we've gotta look at that and say, wait a second. What did he really mean by that? When he
12:27 withholds something from our lives, we've gotta look at that if God is not good. We've gotta look at that and say, what were you really trying to do there? You and I look
12:39 at people and people do things to us and they say 1 thing, but we know at the end of the day, there's got to be more to the story.
12:51 Am I right about it? But when the Bible says, the Lord is, you could say it like this, free from any 2 sides.
13:03 Therefore, everything God does is pure. Even when it looks bad, it's not bad, it's
13:15 what? Good. Well, what does that have anything to do with? After you stack that first layer and peel that back, you get to the second layer whenever the
13:27 Bible says the Lord is good. Second of all, it does not mean morally pure alone. Number 2, it means that he is beautiful
13:39 and attractive. Whenever the Bible says the Lord is good, he's saying that what he is,
13:51 it's appealing to the eye. Now, let me say something without offending anybody. There's 2 kinds of ugly in the
14:03 world. Am I right about it? There's ugly on the inside and then there's ugly on the outside.
14:17 The inside ugly, Jesus can do something about. The outside ugly is gonna need a glorified body at the resurrection. The women
14:29 angle angle go with me here. I'm gonna see if I can get about 4 or 5 men that got a backbone. Fellas, you ever looked at a man and woman been married and you look at her and say,
14:41 oh. 0. There ain't no way. There ain't no way.
14:53 If you've ever been to West Virginia, you know what I'm talking about. And I know there's probably people in here from West Virginia. You know there's different kinda ugly in West Virginia. Say amen right there. Don't
15:05 I've been to West Virginia. Now, I've seen some countrymen up in West Virginia. I'm talking country as cornbread. You look at those
15:16 men and you say, there ain't no way you found a woman to marry you. And God be my witness if
15:28 Bertha don't come out of the house when you go over for Sunday dinner. And you look at that toothless man and you say,
15:40 why did you marry her? And Merle Haggard's cousin that I'm overeating at his house with, he looks at me and says, ain't she the purtiest thing ever?
15:53 She's a real gem, John. I don't know what to tell you. There's some ugly like that where beauty's in the eye of the
16:06 but then there's some people you look at and it's universally accepted. They're beautiful. It's a natural beauty that shines
16:18 through. It's as if what they are on the outside is only amplified by what they are on the inside.
16:30 Here's my first honey hole. I heard a story years ago about a king that had a wonderful kingdom, but yet he lived in his palace far away from everybody. He was 1 of the most
16:42 beautiful men that they say had ever lived on that part of the earth. He was 1 of the most wonderful kings and every time somebody would come into his palace, they would look at him and say you sure are
16:54 a wonderful king, you sure are a beautiful king. And over time he got to wondering, are they really just saying that about me because of what I give them, because of what I do for
17:06 them. So 1 day he got an idea. He he said this is what I'll do. He said I'll disguise myself. He said I'll mad up my hair and I'll let my my beard grow out and let it get all
17:18 matted up. I'll put dirt on my face and I'll put let dirt get up under my fingernails. He said bring me the poorest robe you can find and he took off his kingly garment
17:30 and he laid it to the side and he put on that beggar's robe and he went to go out of the palace and the guard said sir, you can't do this, it's not safe for you out there. He said no, I
17:42 wanna see is there anybody that really cares about me, is there anybody that really thinks that I'm a wonderful king, I wanna know what they really think about me. So the king leaves his
17:53 palace and he makes his way down the street and those people that had used to come into his into his castle and say good things about him, he walked by 1 that was a baker and he looked
18:05 at the baker who before had given bread to the king but now as a beggar he looked at the baker and he said sir would you mind giving to a poor beggar and that baker looked at him and
18:17 said get away from me you poor pauper, I don't want you anywhere near my shop and the king's heart just began to sink. He made his way on down and he went by the local bank and he looked
18:29 inside to the banker who at at times past had come into the castle and had get asked for money and the king had willingly give it but now this seeming beggar said sir, do you have any coins to spare
18:41 for an old beggar like me? And the banker said get out of my shop you beggar. I don't want anything to do with you. All day long he made his way down the main street of his kingdom and people began to reject
18:53 him and they called him ugly and they called him vile. As he went on down he crossed over the tracks in that town that separated the townspeople from the poor people. And as he made his
19:05 way down the way, he came to a little shack of a house and there was a little girl standing in the mud and she was sweeping dust off the front porch and she he came up to her and he said,
19:17 child, would you have any bread at all for somebody to eat? That little girl turned. She didn't look at his garment. She didn't look at the dirt on his face. She looked in his eyes
19:29 and she said, sir, there's something about your eyes. They just stand out to me. She said, sir, you can come into my house. We don't have much. But if you wanna sit at our table, you can sit
19:41 at our table. And she brought the man in that she thought was a beggar and sat him down. She said, sir, mama doesn't have much, but what she has, I'll give it to you. He said, honey,
19:52 why would you give me something like that? She said, I don't know, sir. There's just something about your words. There's just something about your eyes. He said, but don't you see the dirt? Don't you see
20:04 the the crud? Don't you see the matted hair? She said, sir, I'm looking beyond the dirt. She said there's just something special and beautiful about your eyes. There's something wonderful
20:16 and attractive about your words and she gave that beggar those pieces of bread and she sacrificed herself. The time came, the beggar had to leave the king, went back up to his
20:27 palace, and as he made his way to the gate, the people at the gate said, open wide the gate and let the king come in. He went inside of his palace and he took off his beggar's robe and he said give me a
20:39 bath and wash this mud off. He went back into his royal quarters. He took that beggar's robe off. He washed the dirt off of his face. He anointed his head with oil. He cleaned his hair up and he put his
20:51 robe of righteousness and kingliness and majesty back on him. And he said, I want you to get my stallion, and I want you to get my chariot. He said, I'm going to get my family. I'm going to get those people
21:03 that thought I was beautiful. Honey, all of a sudden, he got his stag and he got in his chariot and he made his way back out of his palace. This time, he didn't come as a beggar. He went down as the
21:15 king of kings of that land. As he made his way down the street, the baker came out and he said, all hail the king. Oh, he said, no, sir. You would not give to me bread when I came the last
21:27 time. You don't get a home in my house. He made his way past the banker, and the banker said, all hail the king. He said, you wouldn't give me a shekel or a shilling. Go back in your store. And he made his
21:38 way down the street. He went across the tracks and he stopped his horse. As he got out, That little girl came out and she ran back in. She said, mama, mama, something's not right. The king has got her
21:50 mama afraid that they had done something wrong. The king got off. They laid down the the the rug beneath his feet. No. They would not get into the mud as he went inside of that house. That mother
22:03 panicking and in fear, she said, king, we don't have any money to give you. We don't have any bread to give you. He looked at her and he said, ma'am, do you know who I am? He she said yes I do, you're
22:14 the king of the land. He said where is your daughter? That mother's heart began to palpitate. What's gonna happen to my little girl? The little girl came trembling out of the back room and she said your
22:26 majesty how can I help you? And he said, child, do you know who I am? Do you recognize me? She said, king I've never met you all of my days. He said, come here
22:38 child, look into my eyes, Hear what I've got to say. And in a moment, that little girl, she said, mama, mama, I recognize his eyes. I see his beauty. His
22:50 beauty is not in his crown. His beauty is not in his robe. His beauty is not in his horse. It's in the words that he speaks. It's in the hands that he touches with. It's in the eyes that he looks with. Our God is not
23:01 good because of the angels. Our God is not good because of the stallions in heaven. Our god is good because flowing from his mouth are words of comfort and coming out of his eyes are eyes that do not
23:13 slumber nor sleep and coming from his hands are hands that reach down and scooped out the oceans and heaped up the mountains and rolled back the sunset and broke down the walls at Jericho and broke up Belshazzar's party
23:25 and were crucified on Calvary's rugged hill and were buried inside of Joseph's tomb. And on that third day, came out, lifted up his hands in glory. I tell you, our God is good. Not just because of
23:37 what he does, but because of who he is. He's not just morally pure. You gotta peel that layer back and then you go to these beautiful and attractive. You gotta peel that layer back.
23:49 The third definition of the word good in the Bible, it literally means to be fragrant or delicious to taste. Now,
24:02 why would that be there? Here's why. Because in the bible, when it says God is good, whenever it says he's fragrant,
24:14 where do you sense fragrance? Just smell. When something's delicious, where do you sense that? With your tongue. Here's the point.
24:27 When the Bible says the Lord is good, it's trying to tell us his goodness is something we can experience. It's not just something
24:39 we gauge at a distance, it's something we can put in and experience in our own lives. What is he? The Bible says the Lord is, say it with
24:51 me, good. Okay. Number 2. We all get that. We understand that. The second thing you need to write down is this, when he's good.
A Stronghold in the Day of Trouble
25:03 Now the Bible doesn't just say the Lord is good. When is he good? Now, if I ask that question to you brothers and sisters, every 1 of us in this room would say, pastor, I know when God's good, he's good on the
25:15 mountain. That's not what the Bible says. Watch what it says in verse 7. The Lord is good. When is he good? In the day
25:28 of trouble. He's a stronghold in the day of what? The
25:40 Bible does not ever declare to us that the Lord is good when times are good. In fact, he says the Lord is
25:51 the most morally pure we can experience in the day of trouble. Nahum, what if I told you the world was
26:03 falling apart so you could see how truly good I am? What if God looked at you and said that? Child, what if I let
26:15 your world crumble so you could see how truly good I am? Lord? Alright. What do you mean? Well,
26:28 when the world falls apart, it's very difficult to say, Lord, you you're good. It's very hard to look and say, God, I know this is gonna work out okay.
26:40 Am I right about it? Well, maybe you don't have bad stuff like I got bad stuff and have dealt with bad stuff. But there gonna be times in your journey, chicken pot, that you gonna look and you gonna say,
26:52 what is God doing? And in fact, it'll get so bad in your life sometimes. You will actually say, God isn't
27:04 even anywhere near this situation. I want you to circle that word stronghold. Draw your line out to the side
27:16 because that word stronghold is a Hebrew word which literally means strength or fortification. Strength or fortification, but there's
27:28 a word picture. Now I've told you how I feel about boats and ships and cruises. And just so we're all on the same page,
27:41 whenever anniversary time comes up at the church, you can send me anywhere. Send me to Smithville. I don't care.
27:52 But dear mercy in heaven, don't send me on a cruise.
28:05 You know, whenever you get to a real harbor I mean, a real harbor, not a marina, a real harbor. Every real harbor on a major body of water
28:18 has what's called a harbor break or a rock wall. What is that? Here's what it is. It's a fortification
28:31 to keep the ships safe when the storm comes. When those boats are still in the water, but they are
28:43 safe behind the fortification of that break wall. Do you know when you realize how strong that break wall is?
28:57 Not when the water's smooth. You see how really strong and powerful that break wall is
29:09 when the storm is on you. Whenever the storm is beaten up against that breaker wall and you are safe
29:21 in the harbor, you look and you say, wow. What a wall. It's not when times
29:33 are good that you are able to truly understand how good God is. It's in the day of trouble
29:45 when the waves are crashing, but yet you're safe in the storm. It's you looking at it and saying, God,
29:58 the only way I made it through that was with you. And then you really do say, the Lord is good.
30:12 God is not wanting you to see how good he is when the storm's going on. That's when you learn. That's not when you speak. It's after the storm,
30:24 you look and you say, wow. The Lord is good. It's not when the
30:36 baby turns 1 that you say the lord is good. It's when you don't even have 1 in your arms. And then when
30:47 the baby turns 1, you say, wow. Look how far I made it. It's not when you're over at your mama's house and y'all talking about
30:59 recipes and food. It's after the funeral is over and you're looking back on the memories, and you said back there, I'll never make it without her.
31:11 But here you are a time later. You say, I don't know how I made it, but God. It's not when you are having your first
31:23 anniversary that you're able to say the Lord is good. Everybody says the Lord is good on your first anniversary. It's after
31:35 20 years and you've walked through hell and high water. You look back. You say, wow. The Lord
31:48 is good. The problem is not in number 2. The problem is gonna come in number 3. Because we see what
32:00 God is, then we see when he's good, then number 3, the third thing you've got to write down is who recognizes he's good. Watch what he says.Show more
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