Alright brethren, let's turn
to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. Let's begin reading here in Psalm
107, verse 23. We'll read down to verse 32. They that go down to the sea
in ships, that do business in great waters. These see the works
of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth and
raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they
be quiet. So He bringeth them unto their
desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. Let them exalt Him also in the
congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of
the elders. Now this psalm tells us who the
students are. It tells us who will be taught. It says there in verse 23, they
that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters. The students here are the fishermen
and the sailors and those that are doing business in the sea.
Now in scripture, the sea, these deep waters and these stormy
waves are often used to represent trials. Trials. And there are many kinds of trials
that a believer faces in this life. We face trials of health. We face trials of poverty and
of wealth. Trials amongst our brethren.
Trials in our families. Trials at our business. And we
could go on and on and on. There are all kinds of trials
represented by these waves and these stormy waves. So if you are experiencing any
kind of trial at the hand of God, I hope tonight the Lord
will make you see His wonderful works and His wonders in the
deep. But above all the other trials
that we face, the trial that we face when God makes us to
see our sin and our need of Christ, that's the greatest trial of
all. That's the greatest trial. That stormy trial of the law
whenever God makes us to hear it declare us guilty before God.
That storm and wave of sin and unrighteousness when God makes
you to see that everything about you, And all your works and all
your righteousnesses are just filthy rags before God. When
God makes you see that you've got to have Christ alone. We've
got to have His righteousness alone. We've got to have His
sanctifying power. We've got to have Christ. That's
a stormy trial at first when God makes you to see this. But
we're just like the sailor in that sea, in that storm. Those
that come into these great waters, the great waters of His Word,
and the great waters of His trial, and the storms of His bringing,
it says there, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders
in the deep. And that's our subject tonight,
God's works and wonders in the deep. Now, you all know that
Last week, Melinda and I went on this seven-day cruise in the
Western Caribbean. Some very dear brethren bought
that for us, and they went on the cruise with us, and it had
been a long time for us to just be able to relax like that, and
we had a great time with them, enjoyed it thoroughly, and it
was a very special time to us. It was a nice thing they did
for us, and we enjoyed it very much. But last Thursday night,
this time last Thursday. We were coming across the strait
at the north end of Cuba on our way back and we were awakened
in the middle of the night by a violent storm. A very violent
storm. Now you bear in mind that the
ship that we were on is one of two of the largest ships there
are in the world. They're sister ships and they're
the largest ships there are in the world. When we would be at
port, we would see our ship parked next to another ship, and we
would just be amazed at how much larger this ship was than those
other ships. And believe me, those other ships
were large. That ship we were on was amazing.
We were on the 11th floor, and there were 17 floors on that
ship. It was a big ship. But when that
storm came and those waves arose that night, it was tossing that
big ship like it was a little toy boat in a bathtub. It was
nothing for the wind and the waves. Absolutely nothing. And
this passage came to my mind. They that go down to the sea
in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works
of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. Most of the time, we
were in waters around 1,500 to 10,000 feet deep. But a man that
was with us told me that they went one time through the Cayman
Trench. They crossed the Cayman Trench
and the waters there were 25,000 feet deep. But those waters,
brethren, are shallow. They're very shallow compared
to the waters, the depth of the waters of God's Word. and the
depths of what He teaches you when He brings the storm of affliction
to one of His chosen children. Now, I want you to see this first
of all. We see God's work and wonder
in commanding the storm. It's God who commands the storm.
Look at verse 25. It says, For he commandeth and
raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Storms on the ocean are a work
and a wonder of God. We got to see that. We got to
experience that. For days it had been calm seas,
it had been sunny, it had been beautiful weather. Everything
was nice. And then all of a sudden we wake
up and at night there's this strong cold wind and these big
waves. This storm has come. The wind
was causing waves to rise very high and then go very low. But that storm didn't come by
what men call Mother Nature. That's not how that storm came.
That storm was commanded by God. We've seen before when we looked
at Jonah. When Jonah got in a ship and
he went to try to go away from the Lord, the scripture says,
the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. And there was a
mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be
broken. Well, it's the same God who commands and brings the Holy Spirit into
a sinner and causes the stormy winds of affliction. The same
God, He commands that. Turn to John 3.8. God commands and the Holy Spirit
comes into a sinner. And there is absolutely nothing
a sinner can do. Look here at John 3.8. The Lord
here is declaring the necessity Absolute must for spiritually
dead sinners to be born again by the Spirit of God. And he
says this in verse 8. The wind bloweth where it will. That's what that word means.
The wind bloweth where it will. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. I heard the wind
that night. I went out on my balcony and
I could hear the wind. If you just barely had the sliding
glass cracked, it was just howling. And when you went out, you could
hear the wind. But I had absolutely no control
of stopping that wind. That wind did what it would do. I couldn't stop it. I had no
control over it. Well, the scripture says, Christ says, so is everyone
that's born of the Spirit of God. Now, you hear me preach
the irresistible grace of God, and I want those that may not
understand, I want you to get this. When you hear us speak
of the irresistible grace of God, this is what we mean. when
the Spirit of God enters into the sinner. God has chosen the
sinner, Christ has redeemed the sinner, and He sends the Spirit
at the time that He will, and the Holy Spirit enters into that
sinner. And that sinner has no control
over what the Spirit of God is doing. You can't resist the Spirit
of God any more than you can resist the wind. The Spirit of
God always accomplishes His will. He always accomplishes His will. He always brings the sinner that
God's chosen and Christ is redeemed to bow to Christ in saving faith. He always does it. You hear men
say, when the Spirit of God enters into a sinner, then the sinner
is given a choice and he can either choose Christ or he can
resist Christ. No, that's a lie. That's a lie. When the Spirit of God enters
in, He's going to make His child believe God. He's going to make
you willing in the day of His power. You can't resist Him. And the Holy Spirit raises up
spiritual waves, just like the wind raises up the waves on the
sea. Look there at verse 25. God commandeth
and raiseth the stormy wind. Which, that stormy wind, like
the Holy Spirit, it lifts up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven and go down again to the depths. Just like
the wind lifts up those waves. Like that night, the wind was
lifting those waves. So the Holy Spirit enters in
and He lifts up this storm within a sinner. First thing He does
is He quickens us. And He raises us from the dead.
He makes us to have life. And He gives us eyes to see because
we're dead, we're just blind in sin. He gives you eyes to
see. And He makes you to see that
all we are is sin. He makes you to see wave upon
wave upon wave upon wave. We were out there one day and
I was looking at those waves and I told Melinda, I said, just
imagine. Those waves have been doing that very same thing since
creation. Just one after another. And you
know what we've been doing since we fell in Adam? One wave after
another. Sin upon sin upon sin upon sin. And God makes you see that. And
He makes you see like those waves that our sins mount up to heaven.
He makes you behold that your sins are so abundant that they
mount up to God, and God sees them. They're not hidden from
God. They mount up to heaven in God's sight. Look over at
Hebrews chapter 4. I think we have a tendency to
think sometimes that when we sin, God doesn't know it. God doesn't see it. Listen to
the scripture. Hebrews 4, look at the end of
verse 12 there. He's talking about the Word of
God, and he says the Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. That means just what we're thinking
in our heart. The Word of God is a discerner
of it. Look, verse 13. Neither is there any creature,
neither is there any sinner that's not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. They mount
up to heaven. And then the Holy Spirit makes
us see that our sins go down to the depths. He says there
they go down again to the depths. He makes you to see that because
Adam's seed has been passed along throughout the generations. Every
child that's been born has been born of Adam's corrupt seed.
And it just goes on and on and on. And it came down to you.
and to me." And he makes you to see, you're born of corrupt
seed. Therefore, your very nature,
sin goes down to the depths of your very nature. Your will is
in bondage to sin. Your thoughts are in bondage
to sin. You're totally in the depths of your nature bound in
sin. This is what God makes you to
see. This is a storm. This is waves mounting up and
going down to the depths whenever He brings this to our understanding.
This is a storm. Our deadness in sin is why it's
an absolute necessity It's a must that God work this work and this
wonder of sending the Spirit and making us to behold what
we are, nothing but sin. You won't acknowledge that and
I won't acknowledge that until God forces us to acknowledge
it. So that's the first work. He commands the storm. He commands
the trial. It's in God's hand to make us
see what we are. And secondly, look at this. Back
in our text, Psalm 107, not only does God send the storm, it's
the work and wonder of God to use the storm to bring a sinner
to the end of ourselves. We're going to see right here
the totality of self. This is what self is made up
of right here. First of all, He says there's those waves mount
up to the heaven and go down again to the depths. Their soul
is melted because of trouble. That's your spirit. That's your
heart. That's your inward strength.
And then look, verse 27. They, this is your body. This
is your body. It reels to and fro and it staggers
like a drunken man. And, now here's the mind. They're at their wits end. That's the totality of self right
there. You got the soul and spirit,
the body and the wisdom of the mind. That's what makes us...
I experienced that, that storm last Thursday night. First of
all, my soul, my heart, my spirit within was melted because of
trouble. I was out there looking around and you couldn't see anything.
There wasn't any land around. There wasn't any ships around.
It was just a big storm. And my heart became without strength. I realized in the midst of that
my utter inability. I realized the utter inability
of anybody on that boat to help us. I was at the mercy of God. So my heart melted within me.
Much more than that though, when God first made me see my sin,
when God first made these waves mount up and made me see what
I am, my heart was melted. My spirit lost all strength. My heart was broken within me. That hard heart, that obstinate
heart, that rebellious heart suddenly melted like a candle
melts in a fire. It just melted like wax. That's
what happened to Isaiah. Remember when he saw the Lord?
He then said, I woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips and I'm dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. That's what I was thinking that night on the ship. There's
nobody. I can't save me and nobody else
can. And that's just a little illustration of what it's like
when God makes you behold your sin. You're saying to yourself,
within your heart, you realize I'm without strength. I can't
save me. And then look at this, not only
does He melt the spirit within, He takes away our bodily strength.
Verse 27 says, They reeled to and fro and staggered like a
drunken man. You know those waves rocked,
rocked that ship and rocked us to and fro hour after hour after
hour. I put my hearing aids in and
all I could hear was that ship creaking. just that room creaking,
just the joints and everything creaking as it moved. You could
hear the TV bounce against the wall this way and then bounce
against the wall that way. And our next door neighbor had
something in his cabinet and it would roll to the right and
then it would roll to the left. And you could just hear it all
night. And I got sick. I was already sick, I think,
for something I ate. But then I got seasick. I was
sick. And when you're seasick on a
boat, it's like being sick in an airplane. You can't do nothing
about it. There's nothing you can do about it. But you try.
You try. I tried to use my bodily strength
to do something, to find some way to get out of it. But I couldn't
walk straight. When I'd get up, you're being
pushed this way and that way. And you just can't get physical
relief. You're sickened by it. Well, in a greater way, in a
spiritual way. When God makes us see our sin,
whether it's in the trial and conversion, whether it's in the
midst of a trial, when He's chasing us in this life, whatever it
is, when He makes you to see your sin, you're totally weak
to aid yourself in any way. He makes you see that. He makes
you see the works of our hands are useless to work a righteousness
out before God. He makes you to see that your
sin is so great and it's so tumultuous. He makes you sick by it. He makes
you sick of your sin. Does he make that happen to you
where you get, I hate sin. There's a part of me, and I'm
being honest now, there is a part of me that loves sin. Wants to
commit sin. And there's a part of me that
loathes sin. That hates it. And that part
of me is sickened by it. I'm sickened by it. Just like
I was seasick out there. He makes you sick of your sin.
But that's not the end of self. When He makes your heart faint,
that's not the end. When He makes you bodily weak,
that's not the end. Finally, I was at my wit's end. The margin there says, look at
the margin, all their wisdom is swallowed up. That's what
it is to be at your wit's end. Now, I tried to use what wisdom
I could to get some relief. I laid every way I knew to lay.
Then I thought, well, maybe if I just occupy my mind and my
attention and go do some activity, maybe that'll make it where I'm
not sick. It didn't work. And I thought,
well, I'll just walk around. That didn't work. Nothing worked.
And that's just like us, isn't it? When God makes you start
seeing You try to occupy your hands and occupy your mind and
occupy... Try to find something, lay this
way and that way and try to get out from under this burden and
blame this and blame that and what have you. And God just keeps
on pressing you and keeps on pressing you till finally all
your wisdom is swallowed up. You're brought to see, I can't
get out of this. I can't save myself. That's a
good place to be brought. When you're brought to the point,
brethren, where you have all your wisdom swallowed up, all
your bodily strength is gone, and all of your heart is just
melted like wax, you're brought to the end of yourself. That's
a good place to be brought. You see then, now let me ask
you this. Let me ask just our young people
this. Have you ever been in a, say there's a storm, Say you
get choked like Joshua did out there that day. Or say there's
some trial you face in school or in your job or whatever. And
you get to a point where you realize there's absolutely nothing
you can do to save yourself. That day Joshua got choked out
there, that scared me to death. Because I didn't know at first
what was happening. And then I realized he was choked. And he was leaning back as far
as he could and rocking forward as far as he could. Just his
body's natural reaction was to try to get his wind so he could
breathe. And he couldn't do anything about
it. Well, that's where God... You didn't object to me coming
over and trying to help you, did you? Because you couldn't
help yourself. That's where we have to be brought.
To see our sins. to see that we can't establish
a righteousness, we cannot justify ourselves, we can't pay justice
to eternal death we owe. We can't even give ourselves
spiritual life. We have to be brought to behold
this, brethren, to get to the point where we will not mind. We want God to save us. And that's the third thing. It's
the work and wonder of God to bring us to cast all our care
into Christ's hand. Look here now at verse 28. When
He's brought this storm, when He's brought you to the end of
yourself, look what happened. Verse 28. Then they cry unto
the Lord in their trouble. Now, have you ever considered
when it is that we really and truly pray? You know, really,
true prayer is casting all your care into God's hand. That's what true prayer is. That's
true prayer. Casting all your care, counting
yourself absolutely helpless and worthless to help yourself
in any regard and casting all your care into Christ's hand. That's true prayer. That's true
prayer. That's what we're doing as believers. That's what we're doing even
when we're thanking Him for things He's given us. Even when we're
just praying You know, every day in a daily prayer, thanking
God for the things He's done for us. When we're praying here,
we're casting all our care into His hand. We're saying that we
are helpless to do any of these things. But when is it we truly
will do that? When will we truly cast all our
care into Christ's hand? It's only when that's all we
can do. It's the only time. That's where
God had to bring us in the beginning. That's where He has to keep us.
When God's melted our spirit within us, when God makes us
see our bodily strength is useless, when God has swallowed up our
wisdom and brought us to our wits end, then they cry unto
the Lord in their trouble. We got on that ship and we were
focused on the beauty of that ship. Linda and I one day, we
went from end to end to that thing all on every level of it
top to bottom and checked it all out. We were focused on that. We were focused on the shows.
We were focused on the food. We were focused on the fun. We
had all our attention on those things. And then God sent that
storm. And God brought us to the end
of ourselves. And you know what I did? I called on God. I called on God. You know, we go through this
world just like passengers on a cruise ship. We really do. We go through this life going
from one dinner to the next, from one show to the next. Some
are playing golf, some are climbing rock walls, some are surfing. And all those insignificant things
I just mentioned are just as insignificant in eternal spiritual
importance as the business that we deem so important in our daily
life. When it comes to our eternal
welfare and our spiritual good, the things that we seem to think
are the most very... we cannot do without this business,
it's so important. It's as insignificant as a child
climbing a rock wall on a cruise ship when it comes to eternal
spiritual welfare. It takes God to command the spirit
to raise the storm. It takes God to make us behold
our sin, to bring us to the end of ourselves, to make us cry
unto the Lord. And that's when we'll truly pray. That's when we're truly calling
on God, acknowledging we're worthless. when God had cast Jonah into
the sea. And he was at the very depths
of that sea. He said, Thou hast cast me into
the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods come past
me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then
I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again
toward thy holy temple. That's when our cry is, God be
merciful to me, a sinner. Just in that little illustration
of that storm and that ship that night, I was at God's mercy. I was at God's mercy. That's where we got to be brought
to where we see I am in matters of salvation and being accepted
with God and being made the righteousness of God and have my sins purged
and be pardoned of all my sin and justify before God. I am
at the mercy of God. That's when we cry on God. It's
the work and wonder of God to bring us there. He gets the praise
for every aspect of our salvation. And when He's brought us there,
at last, it's God's work and wonder to save. Look here in
verse 28. And He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. And so He bringeth them unto
their desired haven." It could be the trial with God working
on a sinner, bringing him to the knowledge of his sin and
to faith in Christ for the very first time. It could be the trial
of It's the child of God that's turned away and taken up and
enamored with the things of this world and God's turning him back
to Christ. It could be the trial of facing
the end when we're facing death and our bodily health is bad
and we have no strength and we know the time is drawing near.
It could be that trial. Whatever the trial is, the purpose
of God in the trial is always, always, turn his child to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's always the purpose.
So a man comes into trial and says, why is this trial happening
to me? What's the purpose of this? Why am I going through
this? If you're a child of God, it's to bring you to the foot
of Christ. I guarantee you. As long as we're
bucking and fighting and trying to get free and trying to save
ourselves some other way and blaming this one and blaming
that one and blaming the second causes, we haven't been brought
to his feet yet. But if we're God's, He'll keep
on until He brings us to the end of us. He'll make us see
you are the man. You're the sinner. You have nothing
to commend yourself to God. And He'll bring you to the foot
of Christ. And He'll make you to behold,
whether it's the first time or He's done it again, He'll make
you to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. When He makes those waves
of sin come up to where you see how sinful you've been and how
that all you are is sin, He makes you to behold the Lord Jesus
Christ. with that very sin laid on Him in the room instead of
His people. When He chastens you and He puts
His hand on you and it's just a little moment that you suffer,
though to us it seems like it's great affliction and it's great
trial, it's just a little slight moment. Through that little suffering,
that little chastening, that little correcting that God does
to us, He makes you to behold the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross in the room instead of His people, in your room instead. He makes you see Christ on that
cross bearing the fierce anger of God's wrath, bearing the fury
of God's wrath towards Christ Jesus our substitute because
He was made sin for us. He makes you to see God pouring
out justice on Him in your room instead. It makes you see Christ. When
you feel like you're separated from God, and you feel like God's
not hearing you, and you feel like this trial won't end, and
that God has turned His back on you. He's never done that
to His child. And the reason is He forsook
His Son on that cross. He makes you to behold Christ
separated. That's the wages of sin. That's the death that we owe
to justice. Separation from God, from His
glory, from the power of His glory. And when He makes you
to behold that, He makes you to know because He separated
Himself from His Son, He'll never leave you nor forsake you. And He makes you see that through
the faith that He's given to you, through the faith God Himself
has given to you, He makes you to see now that the blood of
Christ has washed you. You've been justified. You've
been sanctified by Christ being formed in you by the Spirit of
God. He makes you to see that you complete in Christ. This
is the end of every trial. This is where He brings us to
see that He sent the trial. He did it on purpose. He did
it for you to see your sin. He did it for you to see your
helplessness. He did it for you to see that you're not nearly
as big as you think you are. That's why He always does it.
It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter what the trial
is. That's the end purpose of it. When He brings you there,
and He brings you to behold Christ, just like Christ did when He
walked this earth. Christ comes to you just like
He came to His disciples. Some people think this text is
a prophecy of the disciples in the boat in the storm. I've read
that. Some commentaries said that.
This is a prophecy of those disciples in the flood. Maybe it is. But
I know this for sure. When you're in that trial, it's
just like those disciples in that ship. You're in fellowship
with Christ, in fellowship with your brethren. And He comes walking
on that trial, walking on those waves, walking on that water,
triumphant over them, ruling them, the one who's in command
of them. And He comes to you when He's brought you to His
feet, brought you to behold what He's done for you. And He says
to the wind and to the waves, peace be still, and there's a
great calm. All the trial may still be going
on. You know, sometimes it's such
a complicated thing that He brings you into, it takes a little while
to get out of it. And the trial may still be going
on. But you can be in the very midst of it. And He can come
to you and say, Peace, be still. And the waves are calm in their
heart now. Because you see Him. You see
your salvation. You see Christ your all. You
see Christ your all. And that's the end. That's the
purpose. That's where He's bringing you from the beginning all the
way to the end. What's the end of our salvation?
What will be the end when we can say we've been fully saved? Where will we be? Standing at
Christ's feet. Praising Him for His works and
the wonders that He did in the deep. Well, that's the end of
every trial right now. The end of every one. Now, here
is the Lord's... Here's the Lord's the Lord's application. Verse 31, Oh, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. Do you know what will happen
if we are left to ourselves? This is not a boast in any way.
God forbid that. I just want to make a point here.
Maybe some others experienced it too. Maybe my brethren on
that ship, I'm sure, experienced this. But on that ship, God showed
me this on that ship. There were lots of other people
on that ship. And usually, when men have come out of the trial,
unless God has shown this to them in their heart, left to
themselves, you know what we do? Pat ourselves on the back
for getting through it. The mariner says, boy, I was
sure we were skillful. I turned the ship into the wind
and I tacked it all just right and I got out of that. You remember
that fellow here lately that was walking home from the party
and somehow fell out in the snow and passed out or whatever he
did and he was found there frozen. His heart hadn't beat for a long
time and it was hours and hours and hours and the doctors revived
him. Have y'all heard about that? Well, that happened. And it's
been a big deal. Everybody's been talking about
it. And I saw a reporter interview this man, and at the end of the
interview, he congratulated the man on being so strong and surviving
being frozen and coming back with his heart beating again.
He congratulated the man on that. Oh, that the children of men
would praise God, but left to ourselves, we will not do it.
But when God works this in His children, His children do, He
says, let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people
and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. We say what those
disciples said, what manner of man is this that even the wind
and the waves obey Him? He's conquered sin so that sin
now just does what He bids it to do. That's all it does. He's
conquered death so that the fear of death just does what He bids
it to do. All providence is His so that
it all just does what He bids it to do. And every bit of it
is to bring us to Him. Look at there what He does to
us. This is why we praise Him. He says, verse 29, He makes the
storm a calm. The waves are still. The waves
of God's justice and of our sin, they're still now by what He's
done. Then we're glad because they're quiet. He brings us into
Christ, our desired haven. And when He does that, we exalt
Him and we praise Him. We woke up Saturday morning,
I mean a Friday morning, and the waves were still. I was brought
out of my distress. And the waves were still. And
I was thankful because they were quiet. And then Saturday morning,
the Lord brought us into our desired haven. He brought us
to Fort Lauderdale. We were saved. And the only one
I had to praise for that was God. The only one. The only one. And I'm going to tell you this,
when God brings you to Christ the safe haven, works all this
we're talking about, brings you to Christ's safe haven, the only
one worthy to be exalted and praised is God our Savior. God our Savior. Don't you love
how He uses these simple illustrations like this in the wind and the
waves and the ships and the seas to show us His works. I pray
He would do that now and show you, use this to show you your
need of Christ. Make this storm happen in your
heart and bring you into Christ a safe haven. I pray that. Pray
that for me and my children, my family, my wife, for everyone
here. All right, let's stand together. Father, we thank You for ruling
everything in our lives. Lord, we pray You'd make us to
see how You do rule them and how that You rule them to bring
us to Christ, to see Christ in all these various ways. Make
us behold Him in Your Word and use these trials to show us,
Lord, that everything You've taught us in the Scripture is
real and true and that you have the power to make it effectual.
Lord, bring us to exalt only you and praise only you. Keep
us there. Keep us there. Keep us exalting
you and praising you. Father, forgive us of our sin. Forgive us for focusing on things
that don't matter. Forgive us for not constantly
looking to Christ and trusting Him. We ask it in the name of
our Lord and our Savior, our great captain. Thank you, Lord,
for this fellowship we have in him. In his name we pray, amen.