Good morning. Good seeing everybody. If you will, begin turning to
Psalm 57. Psalm 57. David said, I was glad when I
said to me, we get to go to the house of the Lord today. That's
a privilege, isn't it? It's a privilege we ought not
take for granted. I was cleaning the toilets this morning here
and I thought what a privilege it is to clean the Lord's toilets.
Take out his trash. It's a special privilege if the
Lord sent his spirit to us. If not, we gather in vain then.
I pray he's pleased to. The Bible message is perfect
calamities. Perfect calamities. There's a
lot of calamities going on. Calamity means utter ruin, misery,
grave suffering, heavy distress, and very wickedness. I was thinking the other day when
we looked at the Lord said, weep not for me. We could go around
this room one by one and list everything. I know we're a few
in number today. We could list everything we have
to weep over. We could have a boo-hoo party,
couldn't we? Likewise, we could go around a room and we could
list the calamity that each of us are experiencing. We could. There's something that's an utter
ruin. There's some misery that we're going through. There's
grave suffering. There's heavy distress. Or we're surrounded
by wickedness. I've been waiting a few weeks
to preach this psalm. It wasn't a text. I just couldn't
preach it. I had to go through some calamity
to be able to preach it. I pray the Lord be with us. If
you're in true calamity, true misery, suffering, ruin, heavy
distress, what do you need? You need help? Would that be
good? North, south? You need grace. We need grace in calamity. Do we need wisdom? Do we need
to have wisdom to handle this calamity? Do we need faith to
handle this calamity? The Lord told the apostles, he
said, if your brother sins against you seven times in a day and
seven times he turns to you and says, I repent. I was wrong. I have some things I've done
big that's wrong. I've done some big wrongs. And
I hope people forgive me for that. The Lord says forgive them.
But seven times a day, you forgive them if they repent. And you
know what the apostles said? Lord, increase our wisdom. Increase
our diligence. No, the apostles said unto the
Lord, increase our faith. For that, you have to believe
God to show forgiveness. What about calamity? What do
we need there? Psalm 57, verse one. Be merciful unto me, O God,
be merciful unto me. We need mercy. For my soul trusteth
in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings I will make my refuge
until these calamities be overpassed. This is a child of God speaking. This is the Lord's anointed king
to picture himself as king on this earth. And you know what
he has? Calamities. Believers have calamities. Other
people have maybe some sorrow and discomfort. We have some
true distresses, unlike anyone else. David says in verse two,
I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all
things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
Selah. That's where I wanna stop. I
wanna get through these three verses, Lord willing, and then
just meditate on that. Not say that was a good sermon.
And then go on about our day. I got a guy come pick up a dumpster
here in three hours. No, dwell on that. Let this, I pray God, make us
soak into us. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. David says in verse one, be merciful
unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. He says it twice. What is
mercy? It's an odd thing to have something
prepared. I got somebody in my mind. And
then they not be there. It's a hard thing. I was wanting
these young people to hear this. What's mercy? It's not getting
what you do deserve. That's what mercy is, real simple,
not getting what you do deserve. What's grace? Getting something
you don't deserve. That's receiving something you
don't deserve. Mercy is not getting what you got coming to you rightfully. What's a mercy seat? We don't
deserve to be there, but that's where the Lord's Shekinah glory
is. We can be in the presence of
a holy God. That's a propitiation. That's an acceptable bloody sacrifice. I want these words to soak in.
What's propitiation? What's mercy? What's grace? We're
gonna need some mercy. What's faith? Not looking to
yourself, looking to God. We should teach us these basic
words. Be merciful unto me. That's what
a child of God needs. We have some learning to do in
faith. We have some growing to do in
grace. We need mercy. We're in calamity
whether you know it or not. I wish the world knew what calamity
that was in. I wish your families knew what
calamity that was in. I wish my family knew what calamity
we was in. I wish I could be reminded on a daily basis what
calamity I have all around me and in me. I might cry out for
mercy. Instead of crying out hate, as
they say nowadays, hate speech, right? Well, you know what my
rights are? Ha! You got the right to mercy? That
ain't mercy, is it? You want to know something about
God's mercy? I want to help you if you'll
let me. Old Barnard said, Henry said, Clay said, Kevin says. I hope the one that comes after
me says that. I want to help you if you'll let me. You want
to learn something about, I want to learn something about mercy.
That's what I need. You wanna learn something about mercy?
Turn over to 1 Peter 1. What about God's mercy? This
ain't man's mercy, this is God's mercy. What's something about
God's mercy? I'll tell you, it's abundant. It's abundant. 1 Peter 1, verse
3. 1 Peter 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. You need mercy? It's abundant mercy. It's reserved
in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. I wish the Lord would make this
to somebody, if there's anybody, if I could find somebody that
needed mercy, if I could find a sinner, God made a sinner,
they know they're a sinner, they're convicted of that, and they need
mercy. I wanna tell them, it ain't gonna run out. I don't
know if he has enough mercy for me. That's not, wallowing in
your sin, that's self-righteousness. You don't think he's able. I
wish we quit agreeing with it and need it. It's abundant. It ain't gonna run out. Every
generation of the Lord's children from Adam until that last saint
that's called home, this mercy has not run out. It will not
run out. It ain't even gonna run low.
It can't be diminished. We don't understand that. You
go out there, there's cantankerous people on earth that'll fight
you tooth and toenail over everything. Well, you can say, well, you've
got an ocean. Take a cup of water out of it. Well, technically, it's
a volume of mass that's been deducted. Shut up. Good night.
Get the principle, not the particulars. Maybe you've got to save somebody.
It ain't going to run out. This is so, we have sin-filled
pictures on this earth to show something that's eternal, infinite,
and holy. His mercy's abundant. What else about it? It's great.
You don't have to turn there. Solomon, the Lord came to Solomon
in a dream. He said, what do you want me
to give you, Solomon? He thought of God's mercy. I'm thankful
you ain't giving me what I got coming to me, what I rightfully
earned. But Solomon said, thou hast showed
unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. This abundant mercy
you've had, it's great mercy. You showed that to my daddy.
And you know what? My daddy told me about it, because
that's what saved parents do. They tell their children about
it. God don't owe you nothing. I hope I raised you children
to know that. The world sure don't owe you nothing. The Lord
don't either. If he's gonna have mercy, it's his business. We'll
get that in a second, sovereign mercy. But this is a great mercy. It's a needed mercy, and it's
an abundant mercy. We need a great mercy. That's
important, because we're great sinners. He has great mercy for
great sinners. Well, I mean, I've done some
things wrong, and I might have been in a little bit of error before.
God ain't convinced you of sin yet. You're still in your sin.
We need a great mercy. They've cried out twice to be
merciful to me, oh God, be merciful to me. Mercy is what we need,
a great mercy. We need that mercy. I don't need
it austere. I don't need it cold and dead
letter doctrine and something that John Gill said. I need it
to be for me and I need it to be tender. I'm wounded. His words cut me like a two-edged
sword. And I need mercy. You cry out
and you hunk over and, oh Lord, I need it. And it needs to be
tender, tender. Turn over to Luke one. This mercy is not going to come
from an austere man, a stoic man. This was a true living God
that delights to show it. This is a tender mercy. Zacharias
was going to have a boy, John the Baptist. And the angel came
to him and he said, I'm old. And the angel said, because you
didn't believe me, you ain't going to speak until that child
is born, until this comes to pass. I was reading this weekend,
a lot of times, whoever prints Bibles just gets it wrong. They're
faithful to put the word in there. But I was reading about the prophet
going to that widow woman and being provided for him. And the
heading says, whenever Elijah predicted the famine or the drought
to come. That is not what happened. He
proclaimed it. James said so. The prayer of
a righteous man. He said, he prayed and it didn't
rain for three years, six months. That's what happened. Wasn't
it? Zacharias went, that angel of the Lord, that messenger came
and said, here it is, and I said, I don't know about that. And
he said, watch this, you ain't gonna talk for nine and a half
months or till John the Baptist is born, and he didn't. And then
the child was born here in Luke 1, verse 76. Luke 1, 76. He's speaking now. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sin." Here's an infant,
I mean, two hours old. God's prophesying to this one
he's old. You're going to do this through the tender mercy
of our God. God sent me a preacher to tell
me what I was and to tell me who God was, to show me that
finished work. And that was tender. That was
God's tender mercy to send me a messenger that ripped me open
and showed me his tenderness. That's a good, that's a profitable
man. That man was faithful to the word of God. And I'm thankful
for it. It's the Lord's doing. But I'm thankful. Through the
tender mercy of our God, verse 78, whereby the day spring from
on high hath visited us to give light to them that sat in darkness
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
That's tender. That's tender. That word translated
tender there means inward affection. That's a heart love. That's good. You mean the Lord brought me
through all those trials and did all those things to break me?
That ain't nice. He broke my heart. Oh, that's very nice.
That's tender. We'll thank him for it. If he
does it, we will. We'll be grateful. And this mercy
always has been and always will be. Psalm 103. This isn't something
new that comes. Well, this is plan B. Salvation
is not a plan. It's a declaration. It's a person.
And it always has been. Psalm 103 verse 17. This is an ancient mercy. Psalm
103 verse 17. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting. You know what that is? From everlasting,
that's unconditional election. The Father purposed that before
time, right? Well, what's to everlasting?
Perseverance of the saints. Some fellow a couple hundred
years ago just worded it that way that day. That's what it
is. Everlasting mercy. But the mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Who? For who's
this for? Upon them that fear him. and
the righteousness unto children's children. Who'd he tell us to
weep for? Ourselves and our children. They need mercy and they don't
even know they need it. When he had mercy on his people, it
was before the world was made. But in this mercy, it's enduring. Turn over a couple pages, Psalm
106, verse one. Psalm 106. Verse one, praise ye the Lord,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy
endureth forever. It ain't gonna change, it ain't
gonna diminish, it's from everlasting to everlasting. Who can utter
the mighty accent? I'm trying to tell you what this
Bible says about these things, hoping we'd learn something.
I'm not doing a good job at it. Nobody, who can utter these things?
The Lord can speak it to the heart, make it effectual. I can't.
Who can utter these things? Who can utter the mighty acts
of the Lord? Who can show forth all his praise? Do you thank
him the way you want to thank him? Let me ask you another way. Do you thank him the way he deserves
to be thanked? It endures all my sin. It endures
all my failing and my falling. It endures all my doubt and my
unbelief. That's pretty durable, isn't
it? His mercy is a sovereign mercy. Let's turn to Exodus 33.
We might be able to quote this, but it'd be good for us to read
it. Exodus 33. This is a sovereign mercy. This will be good for us to see
for next hour, too. Exodus 33, verse 17. Moses had asked the Lord something,
and the Lord replies. He said, and the Lord said unto
Moses, Exodus 33, 17. The Lord said unto Moses, I will
do this thing also that thou hast spoken for a cause. Thou hast found grace in my sight. I looked upon you in grace, and
I know thee by name. And Moses spoke, he said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. This is a sovereign mercy. He was gracious and merciful
to Moses, and what did he do? Well, see, the Lord's gonna be
merciful, who wants to? He put him in the cleft of the
rock so he didn't die. He put him in Christ. That's
mercy. And that's grace. That's what
we need. I need to be in him. I need to
sovereign mercy. And he's the only one that can
do it. He owns it. It's his mercy. If it's true mercy, it has to
be sovereign. It has to be without influence. Because if in any way, shape,
form, or fashion it's influenced by me or somebody else, or, well,
I prayed for my children, and now the Lord's gonna do some
family covenant garbage, then it ain't true sovereign mercy.
It's influenced, and therefore not mercy. And to be true mercy
that's without influence, it has to have the capacity for
mercy. It has to have the capacity for
mercy. You have to be able to do it.
You get that? You got to be able to do it.
I cannot make someone not get what they got coming to them.
I cannot. You offended me, and I have every
right in the world to punch you in the mouth for that. But I
ain't going to do it. I don't have that power. I mean,
we have little squabbles on this earth. I don't have the power
for there to be mercy. I saw this horrible religious
movie I don't know a good one. I'll save you a whole bunch of
hours and cringing and goosebumps. They ain't no good ones. Save
you time. But this man, he wanted to stand
up. He was yelling at this man. And
he said, something bad happened. And so he's blaming God. And
he said, we ought not bow to him and ask him. We ought to
stand in his face and yell back, ah! Fighting with everything in us.
Two things are true about that. One, you are. You already have. That's all you've been doing
your whole life, even when he was playing church growing up. And he was a good
little Catholic, or a good little Presbyterian, or a good little
Baptist, or a good little Sovereign Grace boy, like me. He was fighting
God. He was at war with Him. You already
are. You haven't surrendered. And then I thought, too, if somebody
got in my face, I told Cameron, do you ever be like that? I can't
be gracious. I can facilitate the opportunity.
I can put you in front of him. I can preach to him now. I can
send you to him. I'll arrange the appointment. He'll be glad
to talk to me like that. I can't destroy and I can't show
mercy. I can't do anything. Man can't
do nothing. Did you know that? The Lord said,
he said, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul. Don't worry about that, but rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's
who we're dealing with. That's who David's praying to,
is God. It's real important, isn't it? Psalm 51, I'm sorry,
Psalm 57, verse one. David says, be merciful unto
me, unto me, not unto sinners and unto people, no, to this
sinner, to me. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me,
for my soul trusteth thee. Here's the conditions of this.
Here's why. I trust you, Lord. I trust you. Trust is something
that's unique, isn't it? If someone trusts you, you will do anything you can
for that person. I know so. Some of y'all have
family. Some of y'all have children. Some of y'all have friends. I
don't know. But if somebody trusts you, you will do anything you
can for that person. I hope so, as I wrote this. I
think I'm accurate. My children, I pray, have never
worried where their next meal was coming from. They've never
worried if they're going to have a roof over their head, if they're
going to have clothes to wear. I never did growing up. I just
trusted them. And because they trust me and
they said, Daddy, I need this, I'm going to do everything in
my power I can to provide that. If somebody really trusts us,
we'll do everything in our power to support them. How much more
will our Lord and our God, if he's put a new heart in us and
we trust him to be merciful, if I will do those things and
I'm evil, what's he gonna do? You think he's faithful? That
makes unbelief so much better. If that gets you at your heartstrings,
if there's a new heart there and it gets you by your heartstrings,
that makes unbelief so much more better. There's one time my children
looked at me and I lost that trust. They said, Daddy, we gonna
be okay. That crushed me. I'll never forget
it as long as this mind's still in me. That hurt bad. I'll lay down my life for you.
How much more so for our Lord that did lay down his son's life
for us, right? Do we trust him? I've had a real bad week. Don't matter. Don't matter, does
it? Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings I'll make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. I'm gonna be in the shadow of
thy wings. I'll make my refuge. That's where
I'm gonna hold up. That's where I'm gonna ride this
out. That's where I'm gonna be protected. In the shadow of thy
wings. This is real basic stuff. It's easy to read over. That's
why I say you can't read the Bible in here. It's too fast.
It ain't gonna soak in. It's like reading a proverb a
day. Are you kidding me? Read a verse a day maybe, take a couple
years doing that. The shadow. What's some natural
requirements for a shadow? Hope we've all been to kindergarten.
You're gonna have to have some light. Ain't ya? To have a shadow,
there's gonna have to be light. This is a child of God speaking.
David's heart had the light of Christ in it. He understood some
things. He saw some things. What else
must there be to be in a shadow? You have to have light and you're
gonna have to be close to it. Not way over there. Not one day
a week. You have to be close to it. Right? You have to have light. You have
to be close. And you're gonna have to be, to be in a shadow,
what you going to be? This will get you. Under it.
What's that mean? Below. We may have to bow down
from our big old heads and our high horses and all the things
that we're so wise in and hunker down. What's underneath the chicken?
It's feet. That's a good place to be. Is
that easy to read over? In the shadow of thy wings I'll
make my refuge. Where's that city of refuge, the sweetest
spot in it, the feet of Christ, who is our refuge? This is a picture of a per Matthew
23. Matthew 23. This is good. It's
good. People say they got confidence and they have lack. People struggle
with assurance. Listen to me. I close my eyes.
I don't know what I'm looking at. If you're having trouble,
stop studying more than your pastor does and go for a walk.
Go outside. Breathe some fresh air. Get some
vitamin D. It'll be good for you. Peace ain't found in John Gill,
or Henry Mahan, or something else. Peace is found in Christ,
and he says something, and then go learn what that means. This
is a picture of a chicken, what David's talking about, gathering
his hens around him. I'll try sending you a YouTube
video if you've never owned chickens. They have a clutch of chickens,
and that hen will gather up them little ones, them biddies, underneath
her. When trouble comes over, a falcon, Wolf. Death. When death's coming, that's
what we'll look at next time. When death's coming, calamities
come, they run underneath the wing of that hen. You know what's
there? It's feet. Warmth. Protection. That's a
good place for a child of God to run in trouble. Christ's feet. Not to the Bible. Not to a deacon. Not some preacher. Not some man. To Christ. Go to him. And grab
ahold of his feet and don't let go. Stay right there. Make that your refuge. And you
know what you'll find? What does a little bitty find
underneath its mama hen when it runs underneath the mama hen
in time of trouble? It's a no-brainer. Other little baby hens. Other
little baby chicks. They gather at the feet of Christ.
They don't run away from it. They gather. They don't stay
off by themselves. That's called dying. And if you
can be worn by your own flame, you ain't got no flame anyway. You need that, you need defeat.
Matthew 23, look here in verse 37. I'm gonna pay y'all. Matthew 23, 37. Oh Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stoneth them, stoneth them which
are sent to thee, how often I would have gathered thy children together.
That's who he told us to wait for, that's who he told us to
pray for, your children. You love your children? I'd have gathered
your children to me, even those that are killing the prophets,
even those that he sends a preacher and they bite him tooth and toenail
and throw rocks at everything he says. The Lord says, I'd delight
to show what? Mercy. I'd have gathered your
children up. You was at war with me. That's
when he found me. I stole my sins, wasn't I? Lord said, I
would have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings. Yet you would not. You knew a
better way. You had wisdom of your own, didn't
you? You would correct that fellow. He's wrong, I'm right. That's
not bound to the feet of Christ. All them prophets and all those
that the Lord sent, what was they telling you? Go to him.
I don't like that. Pick up a rock and throw it.
Lord said, I would have done that just like David. Wanted
to get in the shadow of my wing, I'd have gathered you in, just
like a hen does her biddies. But you would not. Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate. That's what I was saying last
week on Wednesday. If the Lord delights to show mercy, and the
scriptures say he would to all men to be saved. And so if anybody's
not, it's flat man's fault. If someone dies, well, they're
in a better place now. If they didn't bow to Christ,
no, they ain't. Better to have our bubbles pop now than popped
in judgment. I'll tell you that. Mm-hmm, back
in our text, in Psalm 57, verse one. Be merciful unto me, O God,
be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. Our days are few, but what are
they full of? Trouble, calamities. It ain't
gonna stop. It ain't gonna get no better.
We'll have easy days. We'll have days we see our Lord
and we have peace and contentment and all that. But that's like,
what are we looking at in Genesis? You just showed up to the scene.
We're only two years into this famine. There's still five years
left. Hold onto your horses. It ain't gonna get no better
on this earth. Till these calamities be over and past, I will cry
unto God, Most High, unto God that performeth all things for
me. He performs all things for me,
and he's for us. That's what we read in the psalm
before, didn't we? What's the scripture say? He performs, he
does all things. Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph. He showed him mercy. He gave
him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison whenever
he's cast in prison. And he committed everything to Joseph's hand and
all the prisoners that were in prison, and whatsoever that they
did there, he was the doer of it. Joseph's a picture of Christ. God that performeth, he doeth
all things for me. Everything. People have a real
hard time with this, and this is God's word. Shall a trumpet
be blown in the city and the people be not afraid? Shall there
be evil in a city? And the Lord hath not done it.
That's for us. That's for his glory. If it doesn't
glorify him, he'll restrain it. All those false religions, all
those abortion clinics, all those whatever, I don't know, pick
something that you don't like, that's bad. The Lord's doing
that. That's for me. That's for you that believe. Humbling, isn't it? He performs
all things and he does it well. That's what it says in Mark 7.
That's mercy. That's doing things well. He performs all things
for our good and his glory. And we know because that spirit makes intercession
for us. That's what he's talking about, the context, right? We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. All things. He performeth that. He doeth
that. For me. were his workmanship. That's
the key for Simon. I mentioned that after service
of the time. The synoptic gospels account that Simon carried the
Lord's cross and John says that he carried his own cross. How
do you reconcile such a thing? Well, the timeline, that's without
the gospel. That's on the calendar or time
piece. Well, he carried it and then
Simon picked it up later and he carried it. You go ask Simon,
that carried the Lord's cross, and you say, boy, you did a good
thing, Simon, you carried the Lord's cross. He said, if it
was good, I didn't do it. Christ in me did it. Ain't nothing
good in me but him, if he's pleased to be there. Isn't that what
he said? Isn't that what you would say? If I did something
good, the Lord did it, it wasn't me. That's called unity. That's
like that leper taking that offering to the temple because he was
cleansed of leprosy because the Lord touched it. That's the Lord
fulfilling the law in his people. That's mercy. That's grace, isn't
it? He performs all things for me.
Verse 2, I will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth
all things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
He's going to send from heaven. What did the Father send from
heaven? The only one to ascend is the one that descended. He
sent Christ from heaven. He come down, didn't he? And
he saved us up from the one that would swallow us up. That's another
hard thing. Everyone is under the influence
of their father, the devil, until the Lord saves them. All the good things we thought
we did in the 75 times we was baptized or whatever, whatever
it was, I was fighting for the gospel. I was under the influence
of Satan is what it was. I was under the influence of
the devil until the Lord saved me. Now, he allowed that to happen.
That's his doing. But that was the means. That
was the ones who was mean. He'd have killed me. We were
not doing okay on our own. We were about to be swallowed
up. And he came and saved us. Saved us from something, right?
Our sin. That was our desire. Selah. Stop. You go think about that. Think about it. Stop and consider. The Lord said, if any man shall
send you low here as Christ or low there, believe him not, for
false Christ and false prophets shall arise and shall show signs
and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
And he says, but take ye heed. Pay attention. David says, I
will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all
things for me. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.
Selah. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Mercy and truth, they are met
together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That
salvation's what David was talking about in Psalm 85. Where'd that
take place? Calvary. Calvary. All those things, just in those
first couple verses, first three verses, those are good things
to pray. And that's a good thing to have
in our heart while we're in calamities. I didn't read it, but David was
in a cave of 600 men and Saul had 3,000 looking for him. He didn't turn to 599, so what
do you all think? Well, what do you think about
that verse? Well, what do you think about that verse? He prayed
to God. He was gonna send help from heaven. That's who he trusted
in. That's a good leader. I'd like
to be in the cave of the king, like, must have been a big cave,
600 of them. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. Let's pray together. Father, we're thankful for the
calamities that you've sent to make us cry out for mercy that
you delight to show that's everlasting, that's abundant, that's tender. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
the calamities. Thank you for Christ that those
things made us run to. Thank you for the shadow of his
wings. What a defender we have. Lord, you're gracious in mercy.
Make us thankful for those things. Give us a heart that praises
our redeemer and be with us. We're so prone to wonder out
where there's hawks and wolves and bobcats. Lord, make us run
to the feet of Christ. It's because of him we ask it.
Amen. All right, brethren. We'll take
about a 10-minute break. Meet back.