So good to see y'all again. Dave
Marvin and moving the schedule so I was able to come up. Before we get into the message,
I want to go back to the scripture that was just read a few moments
ago. In 2 Peter 5, verse 10. Verse Peter 5, verse 10. But
the God of all grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after that you has suffered a while, make you
perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. I didn't know what
he was gonna read, but the Lord did. That's kind of the theme,
An example of one of God's servants that suffered. I'm gonna look
at David. David was hated by Saul, King
Saul. He was jealous of him. Saul even
hated his own son, Jonathan, because David and Jonathan loved
each other. And God brought him through all
those things. He had to live in a cave. He had to live like
on the run. He was like a dog just being
hunted. But God used every bit of that
to teach David. And he was talking about humility.
He taught him humility. If we are the Lord's, he will
break us. But after you've suffered a while,
It makes you, he makes you, through those things, perfect, establish,
and remember that word, strengthen you. So turn to 1 Samuel chapter
30. So you'll know the background
of this. David has been living with the Philistines. The same
one of Gath, remember the giant that he slew? He was a Philistine.
You go, why, how did David wind up living among the Philistines? And I think we're gonna say,
I think he was there for like a year and four months. He was
so tired, just basically wore out, he said, I gotta have a
little rest. You mean he even turned to, The
Philistines, that's what he did. David would not lay his hand
on Saul. He embarrassed him one time and
the Lord smote his heart. But what this is doing here,
this is the last battle that Saul will fight against the Philistines. Saul will die in this battle.
But David is almost forced to have to go along and fight with
the Philistines against King Saul. And the only reason he
didn't, some of those people that were in the Philistines
said, we know who this man is. Saul has slain his thousands.
David has slain his 10,000. They knew this man. But even
through that, it worked out so he didn't have to go into battle
against his own people of Israel. Now here in chapter 30, verse
one, and David lived in a place called Ziklag. And it says it
came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the
third day, it took them three days to get back to Ziklag, that
the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and had smitten,
I'm sorry, And it came to pass when David and his men were come
to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the
south in Ziklag, in smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire. And
he had taken the women captive that were therein. They slew
not any there, either great or small, but they carried them
away and went on their way. And David and his men came to
the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives
and their sons and their daughters were taken captive. And David
and the people that were with him lifted up their voices and
wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives
were taken captive, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail,
the wife of Nabal, the Carmelitess. And David was greatly distressed,
for the people spake of stoning him. You know what they're saying? It's your fault, David. It's
your fault. This city, you imagine it's sitting,
there's nothing left. It's ashes. And you imagine him
and his 600 men, they're all standing there. You know, this
is how we always want to do. We want to blame somebody for
it. And it really was David. They was following David, and
they wanted to stone him because the soul of all the people were
grieved. Every man for his son and for
his daughter, but well, look at this. Dial the message, David
encouraged himself in the Lord his God. That word encouraged
is the same word there in 1 Peter 5, strengthened. Make you perfect,
establish, strengthen you. David strengthened himself in
the Lord his God. You imagine standing there among
the ashes. And you know, it's your fault.
and your wives and your children, they're all gone, which is a
miracle in itself, because the Amalekites were not known for
showing mercy. It's a miracle that all the women
and all the children were not slaughtered. They only could
do what God allowed them to do. And while they were gone, for
three days, these people come in, take the wives and the children,
and burn the city down. Now what about David Ziklag? It's gone. It's gone. How did David get here? How do we get in messes many
times? Fear. He said, one day I shall
perish at the hands of Saul. That's what he thought. But he
never perished at the hands of Saul, because God had done the
decree, David said, on the throne. And he did. And he did. We don't know what David did,
it's not recorded, for those 16 months while he was in Ziklag
in the land of the Philistines. But you know what chapter 28's
about? That whole chapter is about King
Saul when he sought the Lord and the Lord wouldn't speak to
him and he goes to a witch of Endor and tries to get some peace
and relief because he knows he's going into battle, and he's terrified,
and tomorrow he'll be dead. But God recorded the whole chapter
about King Saul, and we know very little about what David
did for those 16 months. What the Lord is teaching us,
many lessons. We know this about David, he
was leaning on the arm of the flesh. We don't read that he
was seeking the Lord. Now, no, he seeks the Lord. He
calls for the priest. Bring here the ephod. Should we go after the enemy
or not? If the Lord leaves us to ourselves,
we won't seek him. we'll try to figure it out on
our own. Well, this sounds good. He asked the king of the Philistines,
would you give me a city? And that king said, yeah, you
can have Ziklag. Well, that sounds pretty good.
I'll be down there, and Saul, and because it said Saul wouldn't
go after him. David got what he wanted. He
said, well, I don't have to deal with him for a while. Well, look
where you're living. It's not peace at any cost. But
you mean David, a man after God's own heart? That's exactly right.
One time it talks about David went up and he acted like he
was a madman, said the spit'll run out of his mouth, down on
his beard, and they go, this man's crazy. Crazy. He was trusting the arm of the flesh. He was afraid. And confidence
in the flesh always shows itself in fear. God's not giving us
the spirit of fear, but power and love and a sound mind. Fear, fear of that torment. Well,
maybe tomorrow Saul's gonna get me. What am I gonna do now? How
am I gonna do this? How am I gonna pay my bills?
How am I gonna take care of my family? How am I gonna do this?
How am I gonna do this, this, this, or this? Fear. All David could see was God, that Saul was gonna kill
him. And he done had the promise of God. He's gonna sit on the
throne. That means he cannot die till
he reigns, and he did. David, as I said, has already
been delivered from having to fight with Israel, and he goes
back to Ziklag. When they reached the city, I could see or maybe see the
smoke off in the distance. Somebody said, what's all that
about? Well, something of ours are burning. You know how you'd
imagine, how you'd feel. You walk up and your whole farm's
gone. This is where you lived. This
was where you were living with your family. This is where you're raising
your children and it's gone. Question I'd put before us is
what do we do when God burns up our zig-legs? I took it, he
destroyed it, and he might use the Malachites just like he did
all those things in Job's life, but he used these things. It's all burnt. A Ziklag can represent anything
that we look to or rest in. This can be a picture of any
vain hope or us trusting in our self-righteousness. You know
what he'll do? There won't be anything left.
It's gone. We can't rest in it. There's
nothing to rest in. We were founded on the solid rock.
Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and his
righteousness. But David's trial, and this was
a trial, had its perfect work. After you've suffered a while,
and you listen, now listen to me, after you've suffered a while,
and everybody's gonna suffer, one way, shape, or form, after
you've suffered a while, it will make you perfect, it will establish
you, it will strengthen you, and it will settle you. This had brought David to the
end of himself. It's all gone. There's nothing left. Mr. Pink said, better far to
be in the midst of the black ruins of Ziklag, surrounded by
a threatening mob, than to be in the ranks of the Philistines
fighting against his own people. If God hadn't have worked it
out, that's what he would have done. You imagine taking on your
own people, turning on your own people, the people that he's
gonna rule over. But notice the timing. While
David's marching back to Ziklag, the Amalekites, the enemies of
God, are destroying the people. But you know, there's a reason,
and I'm gonna show you in a second. Why did they come upon Ziklag
now? I believe they were watching
it. I could see them just waiting for David to leave, waiting for
the opportunity to burn that city down, why? Because David
had stirred up a hornet's nest. When David came down and was
among the Philistines, the king of the Philistines, you know,
David had to prove himself. So David goes and fights against
these people and he doesn't tell the king who he actually fought
against. And he didn't leave anybody to tell on him because
he knew if there's one person left, they'll tell the king and
the king will kick me out. Because in 1 Samuel 27, Verse
eight, David and his men went up and
invaded the Jershites, Gezisites, and the Amalekites. For those
nations were of old, inhabitants of the land, and thou goest to
Shur, even into the land of Egypt. And David smoked the land and
left neither man nor woman alive. and took away the sheep, and
the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel.
And he returned to Achish, who was king of Philistine. And Achish
said, have you made a road today? Where you been to, David? Who
you been fighting with today, David? And David said, against
the south of Judah. I've been fighting against Judah. and against the south of the
Germalites, and against the south of the Canaanites. And David
saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to guests, saying,
lest they should tell on us, saying, so did David, and so
will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of
the Philistines." You know what he's doing? He's living a lie. And Achish believed David. He's gotta get him to believe.
He's gotta win this man's favor. And he hath made the people Israel,
utterly to abhor him. Therefore shall he, this king
says, he shall be my servant forever. He's gonna be my right-hand
man. I can trust him. He stirred up
a nest when he attacked them Amalekites. I believe that's one reason they
came. It's like the enemy, they always
want revenge. Take. But like I said, it's a
miracle. David didn't leave anybody. You
think of that. He didn't leave one person. And
the Amalekites, they took the women and the children captive,
which was a blessing that they're not all laying there dead. God used these people, the Amalekites,
to chasten David. but not to destroy him. They
could go this far and no further. As you remember what the Lord
told Satan, he said, about Job, he said, you can take everything
he's got, but you can't touch him. And then he told him the
second time, he said, you can touch his body, but you can't
take his life. Then Malachi, yes, you can burn
down that city, you can take it, but you won't destroy David. destroyed David. David was greatly, it says, distressed. Can you just imagine what David
is thinking? He has arranged all this. God
has, as you read, to humble him. We are so filled with pride.
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt
you in due season. Cast all your cares upon him
because he cares for you. He's surrounded with sorrow. Proverbs 16, 25, there is a way
that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. You know, he had to convince
himself I think this will work. It's kind of like Jonah. We'll
tell him to go to Nineveh, and Jonah, he gets, he has the money,
he goes down to where they rent boats, and he pays the fare,
and he gets on the boat. Well, that worked out real good.
In Providence, everything happened just like I wanted. Oh, just
wait a minute. Didn't God send a storm? Like in David, like in our life,
the Lord sends the storm. to humble us and bring us back
to him. You can't humble yourself. What
our humility is is nothing more than pride. Pride. But here now we have the turning
point. What is David gonna do? He knows
that he's running all this over in his mind. This is the man
after God's own heart. David has been struggling for
a year and four months. And now he submits. He bows. God had arranged all this to
bring him to the end of himself and he's left with nothing. God
is stripping him of every false hope. And you know what he's gonna
teach you? to depend upon the Lord. You think, David looks around
him, what does he have to encourage him? We all get down. It's nice sometimes
to just pick up the phone and call somebody or just sit down
and talk to somebody, a believer, and it encourages you. We all
need to be encouraged. Exhort one another daily, why
it's called today, lest any of us be hardened to the deceitfulness
of sin. Nothing to encourage him. None
of them men encourages him. It's all gone. But like I said, one thing that
encouraged him, his wives are not laying there dead, and his
children are not laying there dead. And he knows why. It's
not because, like I said, them Amalekites were gracious or merciful.
It was God who spared them. So what did David do? In verse
10. David encouraged himself, and
the Lord is God. David encouraged himself, and
the Lord is God. Now if you'll notice, if you
read the verse, it said that every man for his sons and for
his daughters. You see that little word but,
B-U-T, as a conjunction word. I don't know much about English,
that just sounds real smart. But, in spite of all that, in
spite of all that, that's what it said, David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. We were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love for with he loved us. You know what happened? God
bled at the end. And he's gonna teach David to
look back to his Lord, look into Ziklag, look into all the, it's
all gone. And he encouraged himself. That's
our encouragement. That's our strength. Our strength
lies in him. Just like out of the blue, in
spite of all this, David encouraged himself in his
God. I remember when Bathsheba, remember
she was conceived with David's child, and God's gonna take that
child, and David prays. David prays for that child and
asks that God would spare the child, and David's tore up over
the child, he's sick, and the child dies. What's David gonna
do? Now everybody's watching him.
How will David respond? He said he got up, washed his
face, and he went and worshipped God. He went and worshipped God. How could a man do that? How
could Job, when he lost everything, he said the Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He remembered. You know what
he remembered? He remembered that God is still
God. He remembered that God is on the throne. He remembered
the Lord is my shepherd, what more could I want? Let me read you this. Alexander McClarion
said, This was only one possession, there was only one possession
in all the world except his body and his clothes that he stood
in that he could call his own at that moment, that's all he's
got, the clothes on his back. Everything else was gone, his
property was carried off by the raiders, his home was smoldering
embers, but the Malachites had not stolen God from him. Though he could no longer say,
my house, my city, my possessions, he could say, my God. Whenever else, whatever else
we lose, as long as we have him, we're rich. And whatever else
we possess, we are poor, as long as we have not him. God is enough. Whatever else may go, The Lord,
his God, was a sufficient portion for this man when he stood a
homeless pauper. He had lost everything that his
heart clung to. His wives, his children, Abigail,
Abihuahem, they were captives in the arm of some Amalekite.
His house was left unto him desolate. His heart was bleeding. but he
still had his God. God has ways of reminding us
who he is. He has ways of reminding us that
all those that he loves, he rebukes and chastens. He may leave you
alone for a while as he did David. David had changed and we change
every day. We are up one day and down the
next. And now David is looking to the covenant God. That's how
he encouraged himself in the Lord is God. He's looking to
the unchanging God. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. If anybody ought
to be consumed, it was us acting just like David, living in the
Philistines, just like Peter, when he warmed himself by the
enemy fire. What in the world's he doing
there? We could ask ourselves the same question. Our Lord asked
Elijah, what are you doing here, Elijah? He's not looking to his bravery.
He's a brave man. He's not looking to his works,
he's not looking to his merits. They're all gone. You have no righteousness of
your own. We like to trust, by nature we trust our works and
our merits. There's nothing left. Now listen,
David's relationship with God had changed, but God's relationship
with David hadn't changed. The only reason David is still
alive is God never changes. Let's apply that personally.
The only reason we are still alive is God never changes. This is where his strength lied. What's he going to do? Is he
just going to stand here, mope and feel sorry for himself and
blame himself? Let me read you this in 1 Samuel.
Here's another time where David needed to be encouraged. Verse
Samuel 23, verse 16, and Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to
David, where David was at. He's hiding out in the woods
because he can't go, and every time Saul sees him, he wants
to kill him. You know what Jonathan did? He
strengthened his hand in God. Well, how did he do that? David,
David, one day you're gonna be king. My daddy thinks he's king. You
don't have to worry about him. Lord will take care of King Saul,
but you're going to be king one day. One that talks about Jonathan
taking his coat off and he took his armor off and he took his
sword off. He's in charge, David. See, Jonathan would have been
next in line to be king. And he knew that it wasn't him.
He knew it was David. David, God chose you. God ordained
you. Listen to Isaiah 40 verse 31.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. The Lord give David, I mean Saul,
Paul a thorn in the flesh to humble him. And God said, my
strength is made perfect. in weakness. You know what? We need his strength.
Every day, his mercies are new. Every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
David now realizes why this had happened. He realized it. But what's he going to do? He
can't raise this city up from the ashes. What's he going to
do? This is the question, what's
he going to do? What are we going to do? David said one time, what time
I am afraid I will trust in thee. He was at his wit's end, but
he's not at faith's end. The trying of your faith works
what? Patience. David's encouragement rested
upon the fact that this unchanging God is my God. You know, we think
if we, whatever we do, and God smites our conscience, we say,
boy, that's it. Went too far then. How many times
have I not asked forgiveness for the same sin? If he ever changed, We're in
a mess. We're not making a lot of sin,
but he remembers that we're just dust, and that's all we are,
dust. Isaiah 64, six, but we are always
an unclean thing, and all of our righteousness is ours, filthy
rags. And we do fate as a leaf, and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away, and there
is none that calleth upon thy name, what's this, that stirreth
up himself, to take hold on thee. For thou hast hid thy face from
us, and hast consumed us. Why? The cause of our iniquities. I don't know about you. One of
the most horrible feelings is to call, try to call upon God
and the heavens are as brass. What are you to do? What are
you to do? But now, oh Lord, watch this,
he changes. He talks about him, he'd hit
his face, but now, but, there's that word but again, but now,
O Lord, thou art our father, and we are the clay, and thou
our potter, and we are the works of his hands. You've seen him
make clay and potter, put it on a potter's wheel, put it right
in the center, and he starts spinning it, and he takes his
hand from without and from within, and he shapes it. to whatever
he sees fit to form it. Thou art the potter, and we'll
just play. And the prophet knew it. Don't
we need to be reminded? He's conforming you to the image
of his son. And he won't stop, he's gonna
make you just like him. What did he say? After you've
suffered a while, make you perfect. Now I know we're perfect in Christ,
I know that. But one day he's gonna make us,
when these old vile bodies drop off, he's gonna make us like
his darling son. He's gonna make us perfect, he's
gonna establish us, he's gonna strengthen us, and he will settle
us. I'm so glad. David had sinned, he'd sinned
horribly. But the amazing thing is that
God's love for David It's never changed. It's like if you got
a needle and it's right on perfect, right on zero, and it never moves,
never moves. You know why? His love is unchanging. God has loved his people with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with love and kindness
have I drawn you. You mean he didn't even love David? Yes,
he loved David. How did he love David? In Christ. Who can separate
us from the love of Christ? And Paul lists a lot of different
things. We are more than conquerors through him that loves us. How's
David gonna conquer this depression? How's David gonna conquer these?
How is he? We're gonna see. He will never cast off his people.
David said, what time I'm afraid, Psalms 56.3, I will trust in
thee. And God, I will praise his word.
And God, I have put my trust, and I will not fear. Flesh can
do unto me. He knew he had brought it upon
himself, and he sits around looking at his sin. That ain't what he
did. He didn't throw out a look at
it. There's no encouragement there. You know, the first place we
look, we look in there, well, maybe I can find something. Maybe I can find a little faith.
Maybe you're not gonna find anything in here. It's just all dark. It's just all dead. Psalms 37,
23, the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and he delighteth
in his way, though he fall. You get this, though he fall. He shall not be utterly cast
down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his right hand, with
his hand. I've been young and now I've
grown old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken. I've
never seen them begging bread. Now here in verse eight of our
text, And David inquired of the Lord.
Wonder how long it had been since he saw direction from the Lord. You know what's amazing? David had a priest and he had
the ephod. And he went to the priest to
ask him to seek God's direction about what he should do. And David said, And David inquired
at the Lord, saying, shall I pursue after this truth? You know, that's
what we would have wanted to do. First saying, I don't need
to seek God about this, I'm just gonna go get what's mine. No,
he said, should I pursue after this truth? And then he also
asked him, if I pursue them, will I overtake them? Will I
be able to defeat them? And he answered them, one word,
Hersu, for thou shalt utterly overtake them and without fail. You're gonna recover everything.
Think about that. This is not blind faith. What
am I to do? What am I going to do now? He
sought the Lord and the Lord said, pursue, you're going to
recover all. You know what the Lord Jesus
Christ did? He pursued and he recovered everything that Adam
lost in the fall, everything. He recovered all. Now look at verse 17. David smoked them from the twilight
even to the evening of the next day. I'm sorry, let's go back
and begin in verse eight and in verse nine. So what did David
do? The Lord said, pursue. Does he
know what he needs to do? Yes, he's been instructed. So David went, and his 600 men
that were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where
those that were left behind stayed. And David pursued he and 400
men, for 200 abode behind, which were so faint they could not
go over the brook." Now don't you see the picture? David has 600 men. Now they're
just men. They get to this brook, and these
200 men are just wore out. He said, David, we can't go on.
You know what we're doing? Well, just get up from there,
just suck it up, you know. David said, no, y'all stay right
here. And somewhere, I can't remember what verse it is, but
David said, you know what? I want y'all to watch this stuff.
But what was the stuff? I don't know. You know, everybody
needs stuff. But you know what? They were
guarding it's David's stuff. And they stayed right there by
the brook. And now the Lord swiveled it
down from 600 men, David only has 400 men, to pursue the enemy. And they said they were so faint
that they didn't go over the brook. In verse 17, and David
smoked them from the twilight even into the evening of the
next day. And there escaped not a man of them, save 400 young
men, which rode upon camels and fled. And David recovered all,
that the Malachites had taken away and David rescued his two wives. David, just looking
at it naturally, he's no match for these Malachites. Who gave
them into David's hand? The Lord did. The Lord did. And there was nothing lacking
to them, neither small nor great, neither son nor daughter, neither
spoiled or anything that they had taken to them. David recovered
all. You know, I'm thankful our Lord,
he recovered everything. Everything that we lost. This world, he redeemed it. He's
gonna make a new heaven and a new earth. Everything that was affected,
everything that was affected by the fall, he has recovered
it. Verse 20, and David took all
the flocks and the herbs which they draved before those cattle
and said, this is David's spoil. And watch this, and David came
to the 200 men, which were there by the stuff, which were so faint
that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide
by the brook Besor. And they went forth to meet David,
and to meet the people that were with him. You think for a minute,
you think you're, put yourself, you're one of the 200 men. You're hoping he brings your
wife back. you're hoping he brings your
children back. And when I see and probably hear David and the
men coming, they get up and they run to David. Can you imagine
how they feel? They didn't get to go with him
to fight, but they're looking to David to recover everything
that was taken, everything. And when David came near to the
people, he saluted them. Now watch this, then answered
all the wicked men, the men of Belial, of those that went with
David and said, because they didn't go with us, we will not
give them all of the spoil that we have recovered. Who recovered
it? It didn't say they recovered
it, did it? It said David, and what it said, David recovered
all. Who recovered it? The Lord Jesus Christ did. But
these people, see, they want to take a little bit of the credit.
You know what they said? We ain't sharing nothing with
them. They didn't do nothing. They didn't. They stayed there
by the stove. And they stayed exactly where
David told them to stay. What if David don't come back?
Oh, he's coming back. But they said, we ain't gonna
share with him. They ain't work like we have.
They didn't risk their life like we did. When one member suffers,
all the members suffer with him. And when one is exalted, all
the members are exalted with him. Verse 23, what's David gonna
say? What he says is what matters.
Then David said, you shall not do so, my brother. with that
which the Lord hath given us. He gives him all the credit the
Lord has given us, this, who hath preserved us and delivered
the company that came against us into our hand. For who will
hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth
down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by
the stuff. They shall part alike. Isn't that grace? You know what, it ain't gonna
be, you're gonna have more crowns than I am or vice versa. You
know what our reward is? It's Christ. He is our exceeding
and great reward. I'm just glad to see David. So thankful he rose from the
grave. He led captivity captive and he did what? He gave gifts
unto men. But as his part is that goeth
down to the battle, so shall his part be that by the stuff
they shall partake alike. And it was so from that day forward
that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel until
this day. And when David came to Ziklag, he comes back a different man.
He sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah. He's sharing with them what he's
got. And he sent it to them. They
were gifts. Gifts. Oh, what gifts we have. Gifts
of mercy. Gifts of grace. He just showers
us with grace. The exceeding riches of his grace. You go, how did David get all
this spoil? He won it. He won it. God gave it to him. How did the Lord get all these
riches? The Father gave it to him. Everything he has, he put
in Christ's hands. And when David came to Zechariah,
he sent the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends,
saying, behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies
of the Lord. Like I said, he led captivity
captive. And he gave gifts. And I mean,
what's the gifts he gave? Some pastors, some teachers,
some missionaries, just gifts. Gifts that he gives to his people.
Let me read you this by Mr. Hawker in closing. There may
be, and no doubt there is, much unworthiness, much undeserving
in the best of saints. There will be changes in God's
people, like the ebbing and the flowing of the tide, but there
is no change in the covenant security of God's love. The efficacy of this is eternally
and everlastingly the same. God in Christ is an ocean that
never dries and never lessens and it never abates. He is a
rock. His work is perfect, Lord. He said, give me grace that whatever
leanness, whatever barrenness there may be in me, I may like
David, encourage myself in the Lord his God. May the Lord teach us by his
grace to do just that, amen.