Let's look at Isaiah chapter
10 this evening Isaiah 10 This is an interesting chapter. The first time you read this
chapter, you're going to say to yourself, what in the world
did that just say? But as we read through it, I'll try to
clarify a little bit. It takes a little time. You'll
see what I mean. Verse one, woe unto them that
decree unrighteous decrees and that right grievousness which
they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgment
and to take away the right from the poor of my people that widows
may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. Now he's talking about Israel
here. He's describing Israel, the injustice, the godlessness
that's going on there as often in We saw that in Isaiah chapter
one, didn't we? All the way through, really,
the book. He's pronounced woe upon the
nation of Israel as a whole. And that's what he's talking
about here. Verse three, and what will you do in the day of
visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far? To
whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your glory?
If you don't care what I say now, you're just doing things
your own way. Who are you going to run to when
your trouble comes? That's a pretty good question,
isn't it? That's what I've tried to say to our young people. If
you snub your nose at God, and then you look up and your life
is crumbling down around you, where are you going to go? Who's
going to help you? Without me, they shall bow down
under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain, For
all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched
out still. And then look, now he's talking to the king of Assyria. And this will help you, I think,
as we go through this to kind of see. I had to look into this
some to even get the gist of the narrative. Look, now he's
talking to the king of Assyria, and you'll see why. He says,
O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff In their hand,
in the Assyrians' hand, is my indignation. God's gonna use
Assyria, the king of Assyria and his army, to afflict his
people, Israel. And that's why he's talking to
him here. He says, I will send him against a hypocritical nation.
That's the Jews. And against the people of my
wrath will I give him a charge. I'm gonna give the king of Assyria
a commandment. and he's never gonna even know
I did it. You'll see that in a minute. To take the spoil and
to take the prey, to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither
doth his heart think so. He don't know he's doing my will.
He has no idea that I even commanded him to do it. but it is in his
heart to destroy. He's doing it because he wants
to. We're going to learn something important tonight, I pray. I
pray the Lord will teach us. And out of nations, and cut off
nations, not a few, for he saith, are not my princes altogether
kings? Even the ones under me are powerful
and mighty. Is not Calno, I better find my
glasses for this. I can't hardly read these names,
but you'll know better than what I say if I say it wrong. Is not
Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? In other words, they're all the
same to me. They can't, none of them, stand
before me. This is the king of Assyria now
boasting what he's fixing to do. All right. As my hand hath
found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel
them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto
Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? I've
destroyed better men than them, and I'm fixing to tear them up.
This is the king of Assyria boasting. What he doesn't know is this
is God doing this, not him. All right. Wherefore verse 12 it shall come
to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon
Mount Zion and on Jerusalem I will punish the fruit of the stout
heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks
You see what God's doing here. Now. We're gonna learn something
if the Lord's pleased For he saith by the strength of my hand
have I done it? I And by my wisdom, for I am
prudent, and I have removed the bounds of the people. I have
robbed their treasures. And I have put down the inhabitants
like a valiant man. And my hand hath found as a nest
the riches of the people. And as one gathereth eggs that
are left, have I gathered all the earth. And there was none
that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. I stole
their eggs, and they didn't even peep at me. All they could do
is just sit there and watch me do it, because they have no power.
You talk about bragging, he's saying, there's nothing you can
do about it. I'm going to take everything
you got, and you can't do a thing about it. You can't even peep
at me. Now here's God talking again. Shall the ax boast itself against
him that he was there with? All you are is an axe in my hand,
God said. And when I get done with you,
I'm going to break you and burn you. Just a tool that God is
using. Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift
up itself as if it were no wood? Therefore shall the Lord, the
Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under
his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire, and
the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his holy one
for a flame, and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his
briars in one day, and shall consume the glory of his forest
and of his fruitful field, both soul and body, and they shall
be As when a standard bearer fainteth, and the rest of the
trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. And it shall come to pass in
that day. Here's what God's doing all of this for, right here,
the remnant. You see that? We've seen this
in Isaiah before now, haven't we? God's doing all of that. He'll raise one up, put down
another, destroy nations, make nations rise up, give victories
and defeats in this world. for his remnant. The remnant's
going to return. And we'll see that in a minute.
This chapter is all about two perspectives on things. Two sort
of parallel narratives you see in this passage and teach us,
this teaches us that there are always two. Even now, in our
lives, in this world, there are two There's the playing out of
the affairs of men. There's what you see in the newspaper.
There are the players, the stakes, the motivations, the consequential
deeds of men, kings, nations, societies. And then there's God
and what he's doing. And most people never see but
one. By God's grace, we see both. Because really the one that most
people see is not what they think it is. It doesn't mean anything,
really. It's just the axe in God's hand.
The kings of this world, just a tool that God is using. There's what God is doing and
why he's doing it. And we see it everywhere. We
saw it in the New Testament this morning, didn't we? And here
we're seeing it in the old. God has always done everything
he's done for the sake of his elect. And that's what he's doing
tonight. We see the results of what He
does. And the two are taking place simultaneously, but they're
very different, aren't they? Very different. When you look
from our natural perspective and see what's going on around
you, you don't always see the hand of God at work, even if
you know He's working, right? I mean, we know this. We know
this. We know in the headlines we see
the hand of God. In events that surround just
our little lives, we see the hand of God sometimes. Usually
not. Usually we don't do it. We don't
know what God's doing, but we know that He's always at work.
If you believe this book, you know He's there. You know it's
Him that's pulling the strings. And that's a good thing to know,
my friends. That's our comfort. That's our confidence. That's
our hope. That's how I'm able to lay down my head and go to
sleep at night, because I know who's on the throne. And he's
not just sitting up there as a figurehead. He's making everything
happen that happens from that throne. You see him weaving his
purposes by means of and in this strange rhythm with the workings
of men. And I say strange because it
doesn't look like God's at work at all. Usually when we see what
we do with these eyes of flesh, when you see men nailing a carpenter
from Nazareth to a cross, for example, you might just see,
even if you know who that is, think about that. If you know
who's being nailed to that cross, the Son of God, you might say,
well, this is man's darkest hour. This is man at his worst. And
you'd be right. This is man sunk as low as he
can sink. This is God taking his restraining
hand away completely. And man has hit rock bottom.
But if that's all you see is man's darkest hour, you would
miss God's greatest glory. His most glorious triumph. You
might look at Apostle Paul beaten unjustly and thrown in jail. and not see in that God's saving
a jailer. You'd see it later, but did you
see it before that? No, because he didn't reveal
it yet, did he? You might see Paul stored in
the flesh without ever seeing the sufficiency of God's grace.
That's what God was showing Paul and us through him, how that
his grace is sufficient. Did you see it? Do we see that?
Do you see it when it happens to you? You might hear God's promise
as Sarah did that she's going to have a son in her old age.
And you might laugh like she did if you get too caught up
with what is possible with men and what can happen naturally
in this world. If you get too dependent upon
these eyes, you might not see the miracle of God's grace. In
the promised seed You might see yourself surrounded
By the enemy as a luscious servant did in second kings chapter six
And not see the heavenly host That's going to defend you from
them I see what men are doing. Don't
you I see what they're up to. I know what they're up to I look
around me and they're proud and selfish and greedy and I look
in the mirror and I see the same thing. You look around this world and
you see what murderous animals men are. In this country, we're
restrained greatly by God's grace and I'm thankful for that. But
you don't have to look far to see how corrupt and foul and
what absolute animals. The scripture says we're worse
than the animals, doesn't it? And I see that. By God's grace,
I see that. As corrupt as we are in this
country, we're restrained to a great degree. But I see what
men are doing. They're all about power and wealth
and the glory of the flesh and dominance and evil. Bless God. Thank God. I see what God's doing.
Aren't you glad? I see what he's doing to you. And it's not a struggle between
the two. That's a big mistake religion makes. It's not, you
know, the forces of darkness and the forces of God's light
struggling against each other. No, no. Did you see what happened
in our text? He's not fighting with the king
of Assyria. It's not good versus evil. It's God on the throne. It's God's sovereign. It's God
doing as he pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. God is sovereign. I'm not sure
that word means what many think it means. God does as He pleases
only as He pleases in all things with all creatures at all times.
Not in spite of what men do, but everything that all of His
creatures do accomplish His purposes ultimately. Satan plotted and
is instrumental in the destruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and
thought he had accomplished something when the Son of God was nailed
to the cross. But what really happened is that
God, by the same acts of evil, the betrayal of Judas and Pilate
and all the things that Satan was working in all of them, but
by those same acts, God accomplished the salvation of his people.
Because God is sovereign, everything that sinners and devils do to
thwart God's purposes only serve to further God's purposes. You're
talking about God now. Now you're talking about God.
He never tried to do anything. God has never tried to do anything
and he never will. He never wanted to do anything. All things work together for
good to them that love God. You know why? That can only be true if the
God that loves you does as he pleases, always as he pleases,
with whom he pleases, when he pleases. To them who are the called according
to his purpose. Thank God for his grace, his
sovereign grace. In all of the complicated and
intricate details of history, and of current times and all
of the schemings and workings of men in this world. Think of
it. All of it. As complex and terrible as it
all is, God is doing just a few simple things. You can't even
figure out all the motives and twisted perversions of men. It's all, it's pretty complicated,
isn't it? Even when you think you know what's going on in this
country, you have no idea what's going on at the top. No way. But God's just doing some very
simple things. And that's all that's really
happening. Everything else is a dream. It's a shadow. It's just what men think is happening.
What's happening in reality is just a few simple, very simple
things. We see in our text that this
king and that king doing this and the other. You know, you
got the leaders of Israel that are Oppressing the people and
you got the king of assyria, you know boasting of his ability
to you know, wipe out whoever he wants to and men thinking
that all of these schemes and And all of the supposed great
consequences that are being played out by their actions and all
the while God is just doing a couple of things Just two or three things
You know what? He's doing Number one. He's glorifying his son Every
bit, every bit of it now, every bit of it. He's glorifying his
son. He's saving his elect. And he is establishing righteousness
and justice in this earth, in this world, in this universe.
Which means the damnation of all who are outside of Christ.
All who are his enemies. When all, here's what it is.
When all that God is doing is done, Christ will be exalted, everyone
he shed his precious blood for will be saved, and everybody
else will be in the pit. What else is there? That's it. That's what God's doing. Man's
got all this stuff going on. That's what God's doing. And
as you see, what man is doing is just instrumental. It's accomplishing
those things. Every bit of it. Christ is going
to be exalted. His people, all of them. He's
not going to lose a single one. And everybody else is going to
get what they deserve. Christ will reign in righteousness.
And we'll praise Him forever. for those things that he has
accomplished. Sometimes we can see what God's
doing. It's just wonderful and it's
just marvelous. We've got to be careful about that, though.
We may think we know what God is doing and we may be wrong. But sometimes it's kind of obvious,
isn't it? Sometimes it's kind of obvious.
This church has seen God do some things that we'll marvel at the
rest of our lives. Sometimes we can see Even when
we look at the news, sometimes, we can see what God's doing. When we experience things ourselves,
we see the mighty and merciful hand of God. Usually not. Usually not. We're not going
to see it. But we know by His infallible word what is happening. Those things I just mentioned,
just a couple of things, really. We know what's happening. We
know who's making it happen, and bless God, even though it doesn't look like
it sometimes, we know what's happening, don't we? And we know
why, we know why. And this is the difference now,
knowing that, seeing this and understanding what we just read
in chapter 10 of Isaiah, is the difference between peace and
absolute misery. It's the difference between rest
and anxiety. It's the difference between a
nightmare and sweet sleep. Elisha prayed for his servant,
didn't he? Remember what he prayed? Elisha's
servant woke up and he sees the armies of the enemy surrounding
them. And he says, oh, Elisha, we're in trouble. What are we
going to do? And Elisha prayed to God and said, Lord, open his
eyes that he may see. And the Lord was gracious to
do so. He saw the armies of heaven encamping around about them and
protecting them. Oh, that's my prayer for us.
Lord, open our eyes. Help us to see this text in Isaiah
10 and know who's on the throne. And know what you're doing and
know why. We don't know all of His dealings. We don't know everything
that He does in its intricate details. But we know the simple
things that God is accomplishing in this world because He's revealed
it to us. We know the outcome. And praise His name. We know
that we're in on it. We know we're in on it. Oh, little
sheep, don't be afraid. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you his kingdom. Don't be afraid. God is going to use the king
of Assyria and his army to grievously afflict the nation of Israel. In verse five, there we see that
evil king described as a rod of affliction in the hand of
God. Well, you won't hear a lot of that, will you, in religion.
Oh, when something happens in this world, a natural disaster
or something like that, or some evil person does something horrible,
oh, that's not God's will. I'd like to know whose will it
is. I want to know who's on the throne, don't you? I think I
know. I think I know. Oh. And it's because God has opened
our eyes. Lord, open his eyes. You talk
about a change of perspective now. Elisha's servant, you think
about that. He went from trembling to, can
you imagine how blessed and humbled and comforted he was to see the
army of God? There are more that be for us
than that be against us. And now I can see that. What
a change of perspective I want from God for me and for you. A true perspective on things,
don't you? God, give us a true perspective
on things. When we're afraid or troubled
or worried or sad, it's because we're not looking at it the right
way. The rod of affliction in the
hand of God himself. And in verse six, he tells who
he's going to use that rod against the nation of Israel. They that
are there are not all Israel, which are of Israel. And then
later in the chapter, we see God judging the king of is of
Assyria and the nation of Assyria for the evil that they committed
against God's people. You see that God wielded them
in his own hand to do that. And then he's gonna turn around
and break the axe that he used to cut that tree down for cutting
the tree down. But wait, it was God using him
to begin with. How can, if God is the one that
wielded the axe, how can he find fault with the axe? That very
question is asked and answered in Romans chapter nine, isn't
it? You know it is. Let me just read it to you. You
certainly can turn there if you'd like to, Romans 9, 18. Asked and answered right here
same question now If God is the one if this is just his will
being done And how can he find fault with the ones he's using
to do his will? Romans 9 18 therefore God hath
mercy On whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth
And thou wilt say unto me then why does he yet find fault for
who hath resisted his will And before this, in the context,
of course, he's talking about Pharaoh and how he raised up
Pharaoh so that he might make his power known in Pharaoh. And
so here's Pharaoh and anybody else that doesn't know God and
hasn't submitted and bowed to God's sovereignty saying, why
does he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? In other
words, the king of Assyria might say. I'm not able to resist the
will of God. If God's going to use me to chop
the tree down, how can I stop him? So how am I at fault? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same To make one vessel under
honor and another under dishonor. The Bible never anywhere tries
to justify God in what He does. Nowhere. You're not going to
find it. Nowhere does it explain why it is right for God to deal
with men the way that He does. But it does declare, the Bible
all the way through declares that God is just and He is right. And he is good. You know what? You're just gonna have to trust
him. You're gonna have to trust him. And I am too. Oh, and by the way, it says bow
to him. Bow to him, submit. Acknowledge
his right to do what he pleases. I recommend it. Believe and bow. Well, I don't
understand that. I don't either. But I know what
God's saying, don't you? Is there any misunderstanding
about that? That God can do what he wants to do with you. And
when he's done with you, he can throw you in hell if that's what
he wants to do. It's time to get to bowing. That's what it's
time to do. He's not unclear, is he? I don't
understand that. But it's pretty clear though,
isn't it? And we better believe it. Believe God and bow to his
son. Submit to righteousness in him
alone. As Paul so passionately preached
to his countrymen. And look at verse seven again.
This wicked king of Assyria He meaneth not so. He doesn't
have any intention of doing the will of God, does he? When Pontius
Pilate rose up and it says all the enemies of Christ rose up,
the Romans, the Jews, Pilate, Herod rose up against thy holy
child Jesus. They did what God's hand and
counsel determined before to be done. They didn't mean to
do that. What they meant to do was to
rid themselves of this Nazarene that they despised so greatly.
But what they did was the will of God. Acts 4, 23. Let's look at it.
That's such a beautiful, because I want us to see the context
of that too. Acts 4, 23. Verse 23, and being let go, the
disciples, they were threatened, don't preach in this name anymore,
and they were let go, and they went to their own company and
departed all, and reported all that the chief priests and elders
had said unto them. And when they heard that, they
lifted up their voice to God. They saw, it was trouble wasn't
it? They threatened us. They said,
it's going to be trouble if you preach in this name again. They
could have, you know, pouted about that and fretted over it
and worried and could have quit. Could have just said, well, hey,
I didn't sign up for this. But they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord and said, Lord, you're God. They saw in this what God had
prophesied. Listen to it. your God, which
has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them
is, who by the mouth of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen
rage? You saw this happening. You told us thousands of years
ago. Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together. You said, why does the heathen
rage? They're going to defy my son. And sure enough, they did. And they did whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, O Lord,
behold their threatenings. They still They still raised
up against you. They still hate you. Every time
we mention your name they gnash their teeth. And grant unto thy
servants that with all boldness we might do the very thing that
makes them rage against us. The very thing that puts us in
danger. Give us boldness to do it. Don't let us be cowards,
Lord. Don't let us back down. Don't
let us be afraid. Give us boldness to preach the
Lord Jesus Christ everywhere we go, no matter how they rage,
no matter what the consequences. Oh, Paul said, I don't count
my life dear unto myself, that I might preach the gospel of
Christ. Oh, that we may speak thy word.
God prophesied it thousands of years before. and orchestrated
it without any of these players having the slightest idea what
was happening. They had no idea what was going
on, and accomplished his eternal purpose in saving his people
at the sacrificial death of his precious son by the hands of
these wicked men, and then dropped everybody in hell who murdered
his son, except for those for whom he died. You see that? Can you see the king of Assyria
in that? I'm going to use you just like a man picks up an axe
and chops down a tree. I'm going to use you like that
and then I'm going to throw you in hell. Can you wrap your mind around
all that? Look at what's happening in this world and see and understand? Me neither. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? Can you bow
to this God? Is it alright with you that he's
on the throne? Or would you rather have somebody up there that just
wants the best for everybody? That's going to give you an opportunity to be saved. I kind of like things the way
they are. How about you? This king in our text, he's just doing
what he wants to do, what he thinks in his own will. Isn't
that what he said there? You're going to do what you want
to do. And so did those who crucified the Lord of glory. And you, we
saw there in verses eight through 11, the proud boastings of the
king of Assyria, I'm going to come steal your eggs and you're
not even want to peep at me. You're just going to sit there
and watch me do it. He talked about what he's about to do,
but then in that next passage, You see what God's gonna do.
He said, I'm gonna use you, and when I'm done with you, I'm gonna
throw you away. What does this have to do with
us right now, tonight? Does it have anything to do with
us? Oh, my. It kinda has everything to do
with us, doesn't it? Everything. God is still on the
throne tonight. Does that make you mad, or does
that make you glad? He's gonna do what he will with
everybody and everything. circumstance and you're gonna
be mad about it or you're gonna be glad about it I guarantee
you'll be one of the other because if you ain't mad you're gonna
be glad aren't you I'm glad I'm glad by his grace your heart
and manner in his hand just like this Kings was you okay with
that I'll tell you this whether you're
okay with it or not doesn't much matter with regard to the fact
that it doesn't change it Not going to change the fact of it
at all, is it? But it does matter in this sense. What's going to
happen to you? Which side of this are you on? In other words, what think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? If he's God's
son, then he's calling the shots. You know, when he says, what
think ye of Christ? He's not asking, do you like
Jesus or not? He's saying, what do you think
about Him being on the throne? What do you think about the fact
that He calls all the shots? What do you think about my King?
What do you think about the sovereign Son of God and you being in His
hand? What do you think about that?
What do you think about the Son of God? determining the eternal
destiny of not only everyone in this book, but everyone in this
room. It's not a history lesson. Which side of this are we on?
What do you think about him being on the throne? What do you think
about the fact that what looked like God's son being in the hands
of wicked men was really men being in the hands of the Son
of God. What looked like men doing what
they wanted to do with God's Son was really God's Son determining
the eternal destiny of everyone there. He was doing what He would
with them, wasn't He? Because when He died on that
cross, He decided life or death for every one of them there.
And every one of us here. Somebody's in somebody's hands.
But it's not the way it seems to the eyes of the flesh. What
he accomplished on that cross decided life and death for every
sinner. And what God was ultimately doing
in Isaiah 10 is right there in verses 20 and 22. I wanted to
look at that again before we close. 20 through 22. And it
shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and
such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again
stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel in truth. Now you think about that for
a second. God used this evil king to bring
justice to his enemies, right? There was injustice in Israel,
and God brought justice to his enemies. Temporal justice, and
in some cases, eternal justice, because some were killed and
put in hell, I'm sure. But also, he used this wicked
king to bring the remnant to the feet of Christ. And that evil king likely went
to hell thinking, look what I did. Look at my great victories that
I brought. And never had any idea that God was pulling his
strings. Pulling, flat pulling his strings. Now you think about this, look
at this, the wording of this. The remnant, verse 21, shall
return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel
be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness. All of God's purposes of grace
for his elect are going to be fulfilled Perfectly that remnant
that remnant according to the election of grace Everybody else
now it's justice. It's judgment, but that remnant
that little scrap that little Tenth and different things that
they're called in the scripture the elect of God. I'm gonna return
to God They're gonna come to his feet and they're gonna bow
It says there you notice in verse 20 They shall no more stay upon
him That smote him. You know what that word stay
means? It means to lean on. To trust
Him. They're not going to lean on
men. They're going to stay upon the
Lord, the Holy One of Israel. We know who the Holy One of Israel
is, don't we? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're going
to do it in truth. in truth. That's what God is
working out here. That's what he's causing with
all of these affairs of men, all these instruments in his
hand, all of these circumstances that appear to be something that
they're not. There are two in this passage who say, I will. Aren't they? We saw them there. The king of
Assyria said, look what I'm fixing to do. And then we saw God say,
look what I'm going to do. There are two, man and God. Which one are you leaning on?
I hate to say it in this crude way, but who's your money on?
You know what I mean by that. Which one are you leaning on?
The remnant are not gonna lean on man anymore. Not when God's,
what he's doing is done, not gonna lean on man anymore. They're
gonna lean on the Holy One of Israel. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Are you going
to lean on him or are you going to lean on man? Trust in him. Don't lean on your own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. There is what man does and we
see it every day. And there is what God has done,
and is doing, and will do. You see how they work out in
this text. And blessed, blessed, blessed
is the man who can say with Joseph, you made it unto me for evil,
but God made it for good. Blessed is the man who can say
with Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.
That can say that now when the Chaldeans and the Sabians, he
knew who it was who stole all his stuff and burned his field. He knew who it was. The Chaldeans
and the Sabians, and he knew it, burned everything he owned
and stole the rest of it, and can say the Lord hath taken
what he gave. Blessed is that man. Blessed
of God is that man who can say that. Blessed be his name. When
a tornado destroys your children, God has taken what he gave. Blessed
be his name. When God takes from you what
is most precious in this life, if he's pleased to do that, blessed
is the man who can say it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. That's easy to say now, isn't
it? God give us grace to say that.
When maybe it's not so easy for this flesh to do so. It is the
Lord. Whether we say it or not, it
is the Lord. And He's gonna do what seem of
Him good. And by His grace, I'm glad. Let's
pray.