If you would open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 42. Psalm 42. As you're turning,
let me point out in the bulletin, we've got the dates for our vacation
Bible school set up June 2nd through the 4th. I know that's
a little earlier than we normally have that, but the Lord willing,
I'm going to be gone some later on in the month of June. preaching
at a conference in Great Falls, Montana. Brother Moose Parks
is the pastor. And after that, I've always wanted
Janet to see that neck of the woods. And we're going to spend
some time driving around, letting her see that area. So I just
this is, to me, one of the very most important weeks of the year.
I did not want to miss it. So we're having a little earlier
than we normally do, but hope you'll keep that in mind. And
it's not too early to start praying for that week that the Lord will
bless our children. through the teaching that they
hear that week. All right, Psalm 42. I titled the message this
morning, Why Is My Soul Disquieted? I took my title from verse five,
where David says, why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why
art thou disquieted in me? Now that word disquieted, it
means to growl. It means to be turbulent, to
rage, and to riot. And the words cast down mean
to be brought to despair. Brought to despair. David, his
soul is raging and rioting in despair as he writes this psalm. Now I want to preach to us this
morning, all of us, right where we live. If you're a believer,
you've asked the same question that David asked here. Why is
my soul cast down? Why is my soul disquieted? Now,
you know what's happening here? David's new man is arguing with
his old man. That's what he, why is my soul
disquieted? There's no reason for me to be
in despair. Then why am I? You know, we read that to open
a service, 2 Corinthians 4, we're troubled on every side, yet not
distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair.
David says, I shouldn't be in despair. But I am. There's no reason for my soul
to be turbulent, raging like the stormy seas. There's no reason
for us to feel that way. But let's just be honest with
each other. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we do. David asked
the same question. Look over page Psalm 43. Verse
five, here's another time. He asked the same question. Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? You every believer goes through
these times when everything looks and feels spiritually dead. It looks that way, feels that
way, even though they're not. There are times that we don't
get a sense of the Lord's presence, do we? Now he's there, but I
just don't get a sense of his presence. There's times we don't
feel a sense of the Lord's love and care for us. Now that doesn't
mean it's not there, you know it is. but that's what it feels
like. That's what it feels like. You know, believers have and
they enjoy real, genuine salvation, genuine joy, genuine peace, which
passes understanding, just a genuine happiness of soul. But at the
same time, real believers also feel genuine sorrow, trouble,
heartache, darkness, Believers experience both of those extremes. So I know how I should feel.
I also know how I do feel. And when the way I should feel
does not match the way I do feel, that's what makes my soul disquieted. That's what causes this raging,
a spiritual depression, if you will. Then how I do feel doesn't
match how I should feel. And that's just a believer's
experience from time to time. John Newton, he was known to
be a very positive and upbeat man. This is the man who so confidently
and just full of joy, can't you just see the joy that was in
him as he was writing amazing grace that saved a wretch like
me. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. It was grace that brought me
safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. Oh, he was, grace
is gonna lead me home? I've just, every step of the
way you know, brighter as it goes. You know that's the way
he felt that day. He's writing that song. The very same man,
another day, wrote, "'Tis a point I long to know." Often gives
me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? When I turn my eyes within, there's
the problem when we turn our eyes within. All is dark and
vain and wild. Filled with unbelief and sin,
Can I even deem myself a child? That's the same man. Same man,
wrote Grace, will leave me home. David was feeling the same way
when he wrote this song. In verse one, he says, the heart,
painteth after the water brooks. So painteth my soul after thee,
O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? David says, I thirst for the
Lord. This is not just, eh, take it
or leave it. I thirst for the Lord. I thirst for His righteousness. I thirst for the presence of
the Lord. And it's urgent. It's not just,
well, you know, I'll take a little drink. This is an urgent thirst. David said, I thirst for the
Lord the same way a deer thirsts after it's been running from
hunters for a long time and finally evaded the hunters. And that
deer feels like, if I don't get a drink right now, I'm gonna
die right here. I mean, the hunters may as well shot me. I'm going
to die right here, right now if I don't get a drink of water.
That's the way David feels. This is urgent. He feels like,
for whatever reason, he feels like he's banished from the Lord's
presence. The Lord's not hearing me. I
call and the Lord's not hearing me. He says, when am I going
to be able to come again and appear before the Lord? When?
When am I going to be able to enjoy the Lord's presence again
if I don't get a drink of Christ right now? If I don't get a drink
of His mercy, if I don't get a drink of His grace, if I don't
get a drink of the waters of life right now, I'm going to
die right here. In verse 3, he says, my tears
have been my meat day and night. While they say continually unto
me, where is thy God? David says, just day and night,
all I feel is sorrow. I've been waiting for morning
to come. Joy comes in the morning. Not for me. Day and night, I'm
filled with sorrow. And I know that's wrong. I know
I shouldn't feel joy in the Lord, but what I do feel is sorrow.
I shouldn't feel sad, I shouldn't feel so all alone, but I do.
In verse seven, he says, deep calleth unto deep, that the noise
of thy water spouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. David's describing a boat out
in the middle of the sea, just wave after wave after wave. It's crashing over it. Those
water spouts come up just scaring you half to death. Davis is just
waves of trouble and sorrow crashing over me. I can't remember the
last time I had smooth sailing. That's what he's saying. My mind
and my emotions, my spirit, they're just, they're all wore out. They're
right at the breaking point because I've been in this sorrow and
this turbulent sea, this trouble so long. And to make it worse, during
this storm, I feel so upset, you know? My enemies are mocking
me. They say, where's your God now,
David? Huh? David, why ain't God helping
you now? I thought you said God was your help. How come God's
not helping you now? I thought you said the Lord's
your defense. How come He's not defending you
now, David? What, David? Where's your faith? Huh? What, you feel all this trouble? Where's your peace? Where's the
assurance in the Lord you spoke of before? Where's your faith,
David? Why, you wouldn't be so sad if you had some faith. David,
you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Such little faith, oh, ye little
faith. Yeah, I know I shouldn't listen to the wicked when they
say things like that, but David says, I'm wondering the same
thing. I know I shouldn't, but I'm wondering the same thing.
Now, I know God's on the throne, I know He's in charge of this.
I know this has come by His will and His purpose. I know God sees
me. He sees everything. I know that. But here's my trouble. The loudest
enemy shouting, where is now your God? It's my old man. I can't shut him up. I'm getting
attacked from within and without. It's dreadful, isn't it? What
a horrible place to be. David says in verse four, when
I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had
gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God
with a voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy
day. David said, boy, I remember in times past, I remember going
with God's people to the worship service. Oh, you remember that
time, David said? That was such a time of joy.
That was such a time of refreshing and hearing the gospel preached
We're all worshiping God together. Our hearts were as one. There
were no problems anywhere. We're just worshiping the Lord
together. Dave said, I remember that, but I don't feel it now. I don't feel the joy of that
now. I go to the worship service, but it's not thrilling my heart
like it did in times past. I mean, no wonder soul's turbulent,
right? Because you know, for the believer, there's no worse
feeling than that. To feel like I know the gospel
should thrill my heart, should thrill my soul, should fill me
with peace and confidence and comfort, but it's not. Something's
wrong with me. I know I shouldn't feel that
way, but I do. I do. I don't feel that thrill like
I did other times. Now, I believe I know why that
is true, why that's the experience of the believer as we go through
this world. We all go through different seasons spiritually.
Summer, winter, spring, fall. And there's just nothing worse
for a believer than going through a spiritual winter. There's nothing
worse than that. You know, physically, people
suffer with seasonal affective disorder. chemical depression. I think it's not enough vitamin
D or something. Because you don't get enough
sunlight. It affects your brain. What an awful thing to suffer. You know, just to, you can't
help it. Well, that's what David's describing
spiritually here. It's a spiritual winter. And it's, we just suffer
that from time to time. But it's tough. I mean, that's
a tough, tough time. David, he's being honest with
us here. Aren't you glad the Spirit moved David to be honest
here? If David would just tell us, oh, you know, since the Lord
saved me, since the Lord revealed Himself to me, since the Lord
showed me His gospel, since I've been born again, boy, I mean,
everything's just been great. I've never had moments of doubt.
I've never had moments of fear. Nothing's bothered me. Just everything's
great. Everything's wonderful. I'm smiling
all the time, you know. If David said that, how downcast
would you be from time to time? Here though, he's being honest
with us. Now this is the tough stuff we're dealing with here.
But David also knows the prescription for the problem. And he tells
us here, I'm gonna give you five things that will help us when
our soul is disquieted within us. Number one is this, when
your soul is disquieted, it's raging in you, you can't calm
it down, hope in the Lord. See what David says, verse five.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me? Here's what you do. Hope thou
in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Now I've told you frequently,
this word hope, it means expectation. It means to wait and to expect,
expect. Now wait on the Lord, call out
to him. and wait on the Lord and expect
him to do what he promised to do. He's promised to help his
people. Now you call on him and you wait
on him and you expect him to do what he promised to do. God's
gonna keep his promise. I can assure you of that. Call
on God and wait on him. Expect him to be who he is. He's the sovereign God. He's
the savior of his people. He's the comforter of his people.
You need comfort? Call on God. and then wait on
him to be who he is, the comforter of our souls. Listen, God hadn't
changed. God never changes, isn't that
right? Well, God's been merciful in the past. He'll be merciful
now too. He delivered you in the past,
hadn't he? He'll deliver you from this too. Hadn't God helped
you in the past? He'll help you now too. This is something that I'll just
pass on to you that just gives. It's just something it's so so
so meaningful to me as I go through my everyday life. I know this
from reading the Word of God. And I know by experience. Now
Eric, I know this. God's grace is sufficient. Whatever it is, I don't care
what it is, whatever it is, God sends your way. I promise you
this, His grace will be sufficient for it. Now, I don't want to go through
the next trial, the next heartache. Do you? I mean, you know, I just
assume not to ever have one of those again. But if we do, this
is what calms our disquieted soul. God's going to give grace
for it. He's going to give grace for it. He will. And here's how
I know it. He promised. He promised to do it. That's
just a prayer of mine constantly. It's not just, Lord, deliver
me. I don't know if he will or not. I mean, some heartache,
some sickness, some trial, some difficulty is gonna end my life
here on earth. I don't know if God's gonna deliver
me for this or not. I mean, I ask him to, but here's what I can
ask him in expectation. Lord, give me grace for it. You just wait on him, he will.
You can expect it because he promised to. See, part of David's
trouble here is he's thirsting for the Lord. You thirst for
something that's not that you don't have. It's not in you.
That's why we thirst for water, because it's our body's way of
telling us you're getting dehydrated. Take a drink of water. David's
thirsting for the Lord. You know, if you're hungry and
you're thirsting after the Lord, Are you listening to me? Call
on Him. Call on Him. And then wait on
Him to come. Wait on Him to come. I know there's
not a more miserable feeling in this world than hungering
and thirsting after the Lord. And you can't find Him. I know
there's nothing more miserable than that. Oh, I hate it. It's
miserable. But do you know that miserable
feeling is also a blessing? It is, it's a blessing. I tell
you what, there's trouble for somebody when they don't thirst
after the Lord. If you're thirsting after the
Lord, miserable as that might be, that's a blessing from God.
Because do you know the only person who hungers and thirsts
after God? The only one. It's the new man that's been
born of God. Desiring God, desiring his salvation, desiring his mercy,
desiring his grace, desiring his presence. Only the new man
desires that, the old man don't want that. But the new man does. And I'm telling you, if you're
hungering and thirsting after the Lord, he's gonna fill you. That won't last forever, I promise
you. Now Frank, how can you be so
sure? Look at Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five, verse six, blessed, not cursed, not judged,
not those under trial, blessed are they which to hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be built. They shall be, not maybe, they
shall be. That's a promise from God almighty. Now you wait on him and you can
expect him to keep his promise. That's not presumption. You can
expect God to keep his promise. Wait on him, keep calling on
him and wait on him. If you hunger and thirst after
him, he will fill you. All right, number two, when your
soul is disquieted within you. Let's remember some things. Verse
six, back in Psalm 41. Oh my God, my soul is cast down
within me Therefore, because I'm cast down, will I remember
thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites and from
the hill Mizar. Now, when you're in this spiritual
wilderness or winter, just your spiritual depression, your soul
is raging within you, tell you what to do. Go back to the beginning. Go back to those ABCs of the
gospel. that God first taught you when
He revealed Himself to you. You know, a lot of times, you
know why we find ourselves in trouble? We've over-complicated
things. Let's just go back to the beginning.
Let's recite the ABCs again. Isn't that what Jacob kept doing? Jacob, all his life long, after
the Lord revealed Himself to him at Bethel, Jacob kept going
back to Bethel. Going back to Bethel. Things
would get all in uproar, Jacob, go back to Beth. This is the
place God first made that promise to me. He kept going back there,
didn't he? Remember. I tell you, go back
and remember. The Lord's merciful to sinners.
You remember that? There's no question. That's the
ABCs of the gospel. Salvation's in God's mercy. You
remember that. And then remember this. The Lord's
merciful today, too, just like He was this evening. Go back and remember. Where were
you when God found you? Where were you when you first
heard the gospel? I mean, when you first heard it and believed
it. Where were you when you first trusted Christ? When he first
revealed himself to you, where were you? Well, look where God's
brought you now. Now, do you reckon after God's
brought you this far, he's gonna leave you now? No. No, he's not gonna do it. I'll
never leave nor forsake my people. You just remember God's faithfulness
to his people. Go back and remember all of God's
tender mercies. They're tender mercies. They're
given in such tenderness and compassion. God's tender mercies
are a fountain that never runs dry. Go back and remember all of God's
precious promises. We've talked about several of
them. My grace is sufficient for this. That's a promise. I'll
never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's a promise. That's a promise. Go back and
hang on to those promises. Hang on to them for all your
work. And then remember this, he's faithful to the promise. That tends to quiet me right
down, don't you? And while you're remembering
some things, while you're remembering the sweetness of the gospel.
And maybe you don't feel it today like you did in times past, but
you remember, don't you? You remember the sweetness of
it. You know, this is a mighty good thing to ask. Lord, remember me. Remember me. That dying thief on the cross
had one request. Just one. Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. You know what the Lord said to that
poor man? Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. I'm gonna be like that brother
and call out the same prayer. Lord, remember me. Remember me. You'll hear the same promise
from the Savior. I know you will. Then third is this, when your
soul is disquieted within you, trust in the Lord's sovereign
love for his people. In verse eight, David says, yet
the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and the
night his song shall be with me and my prayer under the God
of my life. I'll tell you, trust in the Lord's
loving kindness. That's God's goodness to his
people, his tender, with love for His people. You and the Lord
first showed you His loving kindness, His tenderness, His compassion. Like that poor leper we looked
at this morning. Came to the Lord. The Lord's moved with compassion
for him. That's His tender, loving care. Weren't you so thrilled? Oh,
that just thrilled your soul, didn't it? It thrilled you. He
showed you before that. Before He showed you His loving
kindness, what did He show you first? He showed you you deserve God's
hatred. You deserve God's wrath for your sin. But instead of
giving you that wrath, he showed you his eternal love for his
people, even though you don't deserve it. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Everlasting, that love started
long before you came on the scene. I love you because who I am. I love you because I'm gracious.
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn you. That's why you come thirsting
after me, I've drawn you to me. Now, I know sometimes it feels
like, this is one of the reasons we should never trust our feelings,
it feels like God doesn't love me anymore. Well, if God doesn't
love me anymore, that must mean I've done something bad, so I
better do something good to get God to start loving me again.
See, we start trusting our feelings, we follow man's logic and end
up completely upside down, don't we? We don't ever deserve God's
love, ever. Don't ever look in yourself to
try to find reasons God would love you, because they're not
there. That's what Newton said. When I look inside myself, everything's
dark and wild and stormy, you know. Look to Christ to find
reasons that God would love you. Oh, God loves you. That's why
He sent His Son to die for you. I said that just right. Christ
didn't die for you to make God love you. Christ came to die
for you because God loved you, because He already loved you.
See, that's God's character. Now think on that. Think on Him,
not yourself. And those stormy seas will start
to calm down, won't they? You know, God's loving kindness
to His people is just like everything about God, it's sovereign. God's
love to His people is sovereign love. It's the love that David
says here, God commands to His people. commands it. Now you can trust God's sovereign
command will be done. It will be. God's commanded his
love to his people. Therefore, nothing can separate
his people from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Nothing can separate it because God's commanded that
love to his people. Our Savior is the sovereign Savior. His will is always done. He commands, and it's so. Well,
he has commanded the salvation of his people. He's commanded
the preservation of his people. He's commanded the glorification
of his people. Is anything gonna stop it? Not one. And that what Nebuchadnezzar
learned? None can stay in your hand. They're saying to you,
what are you doing? Almighty God has commanded the salvation
of a sinner like me. I've never heard anything more
amazing in my life. But since God's commanded it, I can't do
something to lose it. Because God's commanded it. That
salvation in Christ because of God's commandment, that brings
joy to the hearts of God's people in the darkest of days. I'm not
saying suddenly everything's going to be roses and sunshine.
What I'm saying is even in the darkness, even in the turbulence,
you'll find joy in your soul. Trust in Christ. See, it's true,
David here talks about day or night, day or night. It doesn't
matter if it's there where I can see it or it's in the nighttime
where I can't see it. It's still there. It's still true. It's
still God's promise. God has commanded his love to
his people. Why should I be disquieted? Why
should everything get all in a big fuss? Everything's all
right if God loves me, isn't it? If He sent His love upon
me, why am I making such a fuss? Think on Him. Remember Him. Remember
His loving kindness. Sovereign, loving kindness. Everything else just starts getting
in perspective, doesn't it? Alright, number four. When your
soul is just quieted within you. Tell you what to do. Trust in
the Lord, you're rocked. David says in verse nine, I will
say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning? Because of the oppression of
the enemy. David feels like the Lord's forgotten
him. See, all this problem is our
feelings, isn't it? He feels like the Lord's forgotten
him, but he hadn't. But even though David feels that
way, he still calls on the Lord his rock. He calls on the rock
of his foundation. He calls upon the rock that defends
his people. He calls on the rock, our hiding
place. And boy, our rock is not like the other rocks. Our savior,
our God is not like the other gods, little G. Our rock will
never fail us. He'll never fail his people because
he never fails. He shall not fail nor be discouraged,
Isaiah said. And our rock, will never change. He will never move. Well, if
I'm established on Christ the Rock, then the waves of the storm,
they're going to blow and howl, but they can't move me either.
Not if I'm founded on Christ the Rock. Now, if you're trusting
in your own strength, if you start looking at your own strength,
how am I going to survive this storm? What am I going to do
to survive this storm? Your soul is going to be disquieted
in it because you're not going to find any peace. But if you're
trusting in Christ the Rock, you'll never perish. And you'll
find peace for your soul. And if you're hiding in Christ
the Rock, the enemy can't touch you. Now, you'll hear them, but
they can't touch you. They'll be there, they're still
there, but they can't touch you. In verse 10 says, David says,
as with a sword of my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while
they say daily unto me, where's your God, David? Now we hear
that. We hear that, don't we? And there's
nobody that likes suffering. There's nobody that likes persecution.
There's nobody that likes slander from our enemies. Nobody likes
that. And I'll tell you the believer
who especially hates hollering at him like this. It's that old
man. That old man. Say, where's your faith? Where's
your faith? That old man, you see what he's
doing? He's doing what he always does. He's trying to get us to
look to ourselves and look away from Christ. That's exactly what
he's doing. David, where's your faith? Where's
your faith? But you know, like I said earlier,
the only people who are suffering attack from that old man, the
only people is a new man who's been born of God. And I know
we hate that feeling. We hate that feeling of persecution
and slander. But you know what? Really and
truly, that's a blessing from God. Let me show you that and
look at Matthew chapter five again. Matthew 5 verse 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those
people suffering that persecution for righteousness sake, now not
because I'm a horse's hind end, we're not talking about that,
we're talking about for righteousness sake. Those people, the kingdom
of heaven itself is theirs. They have a right to it. They
have a right to be there. They've been born of God. They've
been made naturalized citizens of heaven. Now, if your citizenship
is in the kingdom of God, what have you got to worry about?
See, thinking that, that calms our heart, doesn't it? And then
last thing is this. When your soul is disquieted
within you, Remember this, the Lord's your health. Verse 11,
why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. He's the health of my countenance. David started out feeling so
low, he feels like the Lord's forgotten him. That feeling is
so strong, I know it's wrong, but that's the way I feel. But
yet God has promised, I'll never leave nor forsake my people.
Well, then I know if that's God's promise, I know it's wrong for
me to feel forsaken. I know that feeling is wrong
because that's the promise of God. And that's why I say don't
trust your feelings. Don't trust your feelings. You
know, you can feel healthy. I mean, you feel like nothing's
wrong. And you go to your doctor for
annual, you know, checkup. I'm just going to get a couple
of prescriptions. You're renewed. Have my blood pressure taken.
Be on my way. Nothing's wrong. I'm healthy as a horse. And you
find out you're not. You find out there's something
in you you didn't know was there. You find out you're not healthy.
But I sure feel healthy. You can go to the doctor feeling
mighty bad. And your doctor tell you, ain't
nothing wrong with you. I went to my doctor recently
and told him, I feel bad. I mean, I just feel bad. There's
got to be something wrong with me. And he already knew I had
this prostate cancer. But he said, other than that,
there's nothing wrong with you. He said, get out there and exercise.
There's nothing wrong with you. Get out there and go. I feel
like something, but there isn't. I feel great. Something's wrong. The same thing is true spiritually.
Our spiritual health is not determined by how we feel. Our spiritual
health is not seen in how well we act. Our spiritual health
is Christ the Savior. And as He is, so are we in this
world. Now since that's true, how's
your spiritual health? Huh? Perfect. Perfect righteousness,
because Christ is my righteousness. Perfect sanctification, because
Christ is my holiness. Perfect acceptance with God,
because I'm accepted in the beloved. Perfect health. Now my countenance
is not going to be full of joy when I look at myself. When I
look at myself, my soul is going to be disquieted. But if I look
at Christ, Now I have joy. That's a good reason to have
joy. Just calm down just a little
bit. Look to Christ. Look to Christ
for everything that you need. I don't want to make myself the
story at all, but I close with this illustration because it's
something that occurred to me this week. I got laid down on a table
this week and run in and out of this great big old machine,
taking a scan of my body. And I'd been reading this text. And I thought, now I don't know
what this scan is going to show. It's going to show something
bad. I just don't know how much bad stuff it's going to show.
And it occurred to me, spiritually speaking, what if Christ, my
Savior, was scanned for me. Chris, he was. The all-seeing eye of God that
sees right to the heart of man was scanned for me. And you know
what God, in His holy, strict justice that has to call everything
exactly the way it is, you know what He said? You're righteous. You're whole. Not in you. In the beloved. Well, that's
where I want to be founded. And if we're founded in Him, what do you got to fear? That
just settles that old soul right down, doesn't it? I hope that'll
be a blessing to you. Father, how we thank you for
your word. How we thank you How you dealt
so honestly with fathers of old. And we see that they're just
like us. In ourselves we're so weak and
faulty and full of sin and failure and deadness. There's no hope
to be found in us. But what joy, what confidence
we have in trusting Christ our Savior. How we thank you that
righteousness Our righteousness is Him, that our cleansing is
in Him, that our acceptance is in Him, that our holiness is
in Him, that you don't look to us to supply anything that you
require, but it's all in Him. Father, we know we should always
have perfect faith, perfect confidence, perfect calmness, perfect peace. But Father, you know what we
are. You know our flesh. You know
that we're dust. And we beg your forgiveness for
the times when we don't trust you like we should. We don't
look to you like we should. We beg your forgiveness for ever
looking for any sign of life and hope and peace in ourselves. And Father, when we do, I pray
you draw us back to Bethel. That you'd draw us back to you,
those ABCs of the gospel. That you'd comfort our hearts
with Christ the Savior. We know we don't deserve it.
We don't deserve it any more than we deserve for you to die
for us in the first place. But Father, by your mercy and
grace, would you keep drawing us back to Christ. Keep us looking
to him and depending upon him. Father, it's in Christ's name.
For his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.