In the book of Habakkuk, obviously
written by the prophet Habakkuk, whose name means embracer. Habakkuk,
the prophet, he embraced the Lord by faith. And he embraced
his people Israel, even though Israel had departed from the
worship of the Lord, had gone into idolatry, were acting in
such a vile way at that time. He embraced the people Israel. And the message of Habakkuk,
to the people of his day and to us today, is believe God. Believe God. And keep believing. Keep believing God, keep believing
that God is doing right. Keep believing that God's gonna
do what he promised to do, no matter how bad the circumstances
may appear at the time. You just continue in the faith.
That's his message. But now that's easy to say and
hard to do. And the Lord brings Habakkuk to that point, to the
point that not only does he preach that, you believe the Lord, keep
believing him, but he enabled him to do it. And the title of
the lesson is From Despair to Praise. I want us to look this
morning and see how did Habakkuk get all the way in three short
chapters from despair to praise. If you look in chapter one, Habakkuk
begins in despair. Habakkuk was a man with a burden.
Verse one, the burden, which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Now, you know, preaching is always a burden. If you've never done
it, it's kind of hard to imagine. But it's a burden to handle the
word of God, to speak for God to sinners, To take God's word
and to preach God's word to the people of God, that's a burden. Brother Henry said, no man can
preach without a burden. A burden for the word, a burden
for the souls of men and women. Charles Spurgeon said, if preaching
is not a burden to you now, it will be in eternity. It's a burden. But Habakkuk's burden is more
than that. His burden also includes the
sad state of religion in his day. False religion ruled the
day, and it was just, God was letting it prosper, and this
really was a burden to Habakkuk. Look here at verse three of chapter
one. Why dost thou show me iniquity,
and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are
before me, and there are that rise up strife and contention.
Therefore, the law is slacked and judgment does never go forth
for the wicked does compass about the righteous. Therefore, wrong
judgment proceeded, not just wrong judgment in court of law,
but wrong judgment. In the preaching of the word
and in worship is. He says this is such a burden
to see, to see false religion prospering among the people that
I've embraced. Now remember Habakkuk's message
is you keep believing even when the situation appears to be getting
worse. And then Habakkuk finds out that
the burden is going to get worse. God tells Habakkuk, he said,
I'm going to do something so horrible you won't believe it.
I'm going to send the Chaldeans to punish Judah. Look here at
verse five. He says, behold ye among the
heathen and regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work
a work in your days which you will not believe, though it be
told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the
breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are
not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful.
Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Their horses also are swifter than the leopards and are more
fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread
themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall
fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for
violence. Their faces shall sup up as the
east wind, and they shall gather the captivity of the sand." I
mean, this is going to be a horrible experience for Ishtar on her
back and says, what? It's getting worse. And I tell you why he's so much
in despair when he sees this burden coming. You know who the
Chaldeans are? The Chaldeans are the exact same
people who are ISIS today. How horrible would it be to be
found under their rule, to be under the dominion of such a
wicked, awful people. And that's what's coming to Israel.
Habakkuk's in despair. It keeps getting worse. God's
going to allow these Chaldeans to come and conquer Israel. And
then he's going to allow them to give credit for all their
success to their idol. Look at verse 11. Then shall
his mind change and he shall pass over and offend, imputing
this, his power unto his God. He's going to give the credit
for this to his idol. Now, remember back in verse five
here, God said, I'm going to do something that's so terrible. You're not going to believe it.
It's just too horrible to imagine, just like it's too horrible for
us to imagine being under the control of ISIS. God tells Habakkuk,
I'm going to do this and you're not going to believe that I can
use these wicked, heathen people as a rod to correct my people
for their good. You're just not going to believe
it. You're just not going to believe that this horrible, awful
trial is something I can actually work for the good of my people.
You're not going to believe it. And he was right. Habakkuk, he
just couldn't believe he couldn't understand why God would allow
this to happen. He says in verse 13, for thou
art of pure eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity. If you can't look on iniquity,
how can you look on this? Wherefore lookest thou upon them
that deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devoureth
the man that is more righteous than he. Habakkuk doesn't understand
how God can look on and allow this injustice to happen. And
he's in despair. Well, here's the second thing.
Even in a time of despair, now we're looking at how does Habakkuk
get from despair to praise? And it'd be good for us to see
how he goes through this prophecy, this book, because we're in times
of despair. If we're not now, we will be
soon. How might the Lord bring up, do the same, follow this
same pattern to bring us from despair to rejoicing? Well, even
in a time of despair, Habakkuk was a man of faith. Look at chapter
two, verse one. He says, I will stand upon my
watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he
will say unto me and what I shall answer him when I am approved. The Lord told Habakkuk this is
what he's going to do. And Habakkuk prayed. and asked
the Lord, Lord, don't do that. How can you do this? Please don't
do this to your people. Please spare your people. How
can you allow this? And then Habakkuk shut his mouth
and waited. He went to wait to see what the
Lord's going to say. And Habakkuk intends to believe
and to bow to whatever it is the Lord tells him. And he sure,
you know, Habakkuk, I like this. He says, I'll see what I shall
answer when I'm reproved. He knows he's going to be reproved
for this. He just had a pretty good idea he's going to be reproved
about this. And Habakkuk says, I still intend
to bow to and believe what the Lord tells me when he reproves
me about this. Only faith can say that. This
is an evidence of God-given faith. Now God's promised judgment's
coming. And he's not just talking about
the Chaldeans, although historically that's true. What this prophecy
really is is spiritually concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. God's
promising that a day of judgment for sin is coming. And there'll
be no escaping it. And the only way that you and
I can avoid eternal punishment for our sin is if Christ suffered
for us as our substitute. And Habakkuk the Embracer was
a man of faith who clung to Christ and he believed that he would
be delivered in God's time. And by the time we finish this
prophecy, I'll show you that. He believes, a man of faith,
he clung to Christ and he believed that in God's time he would be
and his people would be delivered. Here's the third thing. Even
though Habakkuk was in despair, he was a man of worship. Look
at chapter two, verse 18. He says, what profiteth the graven
image that the maker thereof hath graven it? The molten image
and a teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusted therein
to make dumb idols. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood, awake, to the dumb stone, arise, it shall teach. Behold,
it's laid over with gold and silver, and there's no breath
at all in the midst of it. Now Habakkuk was a man of faith,
And as a man of faith, he could not stomach idolatry. Now he'd embraced Israel, he
loved them, he had a desire to preach to them and point them
to Christ. So he warned them against idolatry. He says, get
rid of your idols and worship the Lord. See what he says in
verse 20, he said, there's no breath at all in the midst of
these idols, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the
earth keep silence before him. I'll tell you a big part of worship,
a real big part of worship is keeping silence before the Lord. Just silence before him. Now
that ought to shut down a lot of false religion in our day,
shouldn't it? That ought to shut down the Pentecostals, that ought
to shut down every show of flesh that we see in false religion
in our day. We're told to keep silence before
God. Now, idolatry. is anything, is
worshiping anything other than Christ alone. Now, to most people
today in our country, that idolatry is Christ plus. Christ plus something
else is idolatry. Christ plus my faith is idolatry. Christ plus my tithing, Christ
plus my Christian life is idolatry. Christ plus my decision is idolatry. Christ plus my church membership
in the right place is idolatry. Baptism, we're gonna observe
baptism this morning. It's very important for the life
of a believer, but now you listen to me. Christ plus my baptism
is idolatry. Baptism is a confession of Christ,
not something that's added to him. Christ plus anything is
idolatry. So you look to Christ alone,
worship Christ alone. That's what Habakkuk's telling
us here. And I know this from scripture, and I know this from
my own experience. I promise you this is so. The
best thing a believer can do in times of despair is worship. You know, our natural tendency
when we're in despair, we're hurting. You just, your natural
reaction is to recoil in it, to just kind of to stay hidden.
Hold up, you know, at home. I promise you that's the worst
thing we can do. I promise you it is. The best
thing a child of God can do is worship God. In time of despair,
worship Him. In public worship, Because you
know where God speaks to his people? In public worship. That's where he speaks to them.
And in time of despair, we ought to be found in private worship,
too. You know, we're not just coming
out to make a show, you know. In private worship, too. In time
of despair, what's better than reading God's Word? What's better
than His Word? What's better than spending time
in prayer that we'll get to in a minute? Prayer. We ought to
be found in worship. It's the best, it's the best
remedy for despair. Because in those ways, through
worship, through prayer, the reading of and the preaching
of God's word, Christ is revealed to us. That's the answer to our
despair. So Habakkuk was a man of worship.
And then this goes closely with worship. Fourthly, even though
Habakkuk was in despair, Even though everything was going against
him, the Lord promised him all these things that he did not
want. The Lord sends us, almost everything
he sends us are things we wouldn't choose. Isn't that right? Well,
we're in despair. The Lord's giving us these things
we wouldn't choose for ourselves. Habakkuk was a reverent man.
You know, the worship of the Lord can only be done in reverence,
reverence. There is nothing, nothing about
the worship service that is there for us to be seen and for us
to be recognized. Now, we have to serve. We serve the Lord. You know,
I have to stand up here and speak. I mean, there's a certain amount,
you know, you have to see me. John Chapman says, I like to
preach hiding behind the pulpit, you know. Nobody would see me,
just focus on the Lord. Now you serve in this way so
that you're not noticed. You can do that. There's a way
to serve that you're not noticed. That's reverence. Worship can
only be done in reverence. So I'm hiding myself so that
all of the attention goes to the Lord. See, isn't that what
he said in verse 20? But the Lord is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before him. And look what he
says in chapter three, verse two. He says, oh Lord, I've heard
thy speech and it made me afraid. It made me afraid. Oh Lord, revive
thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years,
make known in wrath, remember mercy. See, reverence is fear
of the Lord. If you want to know, am I reverent? I'll tell you a real good kind
of rule of thumb. Reverence is remembering when
we come before the Lord, we're not coming before an equal. No,
he's the friend of sinners, but we're not coming before an equal.
We're coming before the Lord of glory. We come before him
as beggars, as sinners, begging for mercy, begging for what we
do not deserve. Our prayer is, Lord, I know you
have to take wrath on sin. You're holy, you're just, and
you, the believers, glad about that. I'm glad the Lord must
take out vengeance upon sin. If he took out vengeance for
my sin on my substitute, he'd never take it out on me. So Lord,
I know you must take wrath on sin, but in your wrath, Would
you remember mercy? Could you remember mercy for
me? That's being reverent, coming
before him as a beggar, not an equal. And then fifthly, now
Habakkuk was in despair. You understand why he's in despair,
don't you? And he was a man of faith. So because he was a man
of faith, Habakkuk was a man of perseverance. Habakkuk kept
believing and he kept praying. even when the circumstances kept
getting worse. Look back in chapter one, verse
two, look what he says here. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry
and thou wilt not hear? Even cry unto thee of violence
and thou wilt not save. Lord, how long am I gonna cry
to you? And you're not gonna answer.
Habakkuk cried and the Lord didn't answer. So you know what Habakkuk
did? He kept crying. The Lord begged, or Habakkuk
begged, the Lord didn't give him what he asked for. You know
what Habakkuk did? He kept begging. He kept begging. Even when the Lord didn't answer,
and not only did the situation not improve, it got worse. What did Habakkuk do? He kept
praying. He kept crying. He kept looking
to the Lord. Well, how does that apply to
you and me? Well, don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged when the
Lord does not move quickly. Because you know what? He seldom
does. The Lord seldom moves quickly.
You and I want to keep time with a time watch, with a stopwatch,
you know, that keeps track of seconds. You know, we pray and
then we want to time God how quickly he's going to answer
our prayer with a stopwatch in seconds. And God don't keep time
with a stopwatch. God keeps time with calendars
and years and months and days. Time is so important to us because
we've got so little of it. So little time. I am, boy, I'm
tied to my watch. I'm tied to the time. I don't want to waste it. I want
to redeem the time. I want to use the time that God's
given me. I ain't wasting it at a red light.
I mean, time's so important to us. We've gotten so little of
it. But time's nothing to God. He
dwells outside of time and space. I don't think we're going to
time Him with a stopwatch. God is going to accomplish His
purpose. Do we know that? God's going
to accomplish His purpose. But I promise you, it'll never
be on our schedule. Never. So the best thing that
we can do in times of despair is just wait. Just wait on God
and keep believing Him. He'll do what He promised to
do. The best thing we can do in times of despair is just keep
looking to Christ. I don't understand. Keep looking
to Christ. I'm in pain and it's getting
worse. Keep looking to Christ. He's
your comfort. I'm in total despair. I don't
know what's going to happen. Earl Wooten tells me, he said,
you know, nobody gets out of this thing unscathed. The flesh,
the body's going to be scathed. Keep looking to Christ. He's
your salvation. That'll give us an answer in
time of despair. Now Habakkuk is in a time of
despair and anguish, and we understand it. We get in those times too,
don't we? What causes our despair? I looked up despair. The definition
of despair is a feeling of hopelessness. Well, by God's grace, a believer
is not hopeless. You have a good hope through
grace. You have a good hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Then why are we in despair? It
has to be because we've taken our eyes off Christ, doesn't
it? If we're in despair and we feel hopeless, it has to be because
we've taken our eyes off of Christ. So the best thing we can do in
times of despair is to worship and to pray because those are
the ways that God has ordained to remind us of Christ our Savior. Now here's the sixth thing. In time of despair, Habakkuk
was a man of prayer. Chapter three of Habakkuk contains
a great example of prayer. And if you were here Wednesday
night, you'll notice this, that the pattern of Habakkuk's prayer
is the same pattern as the prayer of the church in Isaiah chapter
51. First, Habakkuk prays for revival. He prays that the Lord
will do for his people what he already promised to do for his
people. Verse one. a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet
upon Shigian oath. O Lord, I have heard thy speech
and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. Now in this time of despair,
Habakkuk is getting ready to sing. This prayer is in the form
of a psalm, and he's getting ready to sing. This word, shigionoth,
means singing, loud, variable singing. It's loud singing of
praise, and it's variable. It's singing of all the variable,
different blessings of the Lord to his people. Habakkuk's getting
ready to praise. It's a good thing for us to remember
our circumstances change. You know, one, one day we, we
feel less. So everything's going our way.
You know, the next thing, everything next day, everything's taken
away from us. Our circumstances have changed, but the Lord hadn't
changed. You know, when everything's just
going so well, it's just, Oh, I just want to sing his praises.
Well, when everything's going to get what I feel like is against
me, it's not what I want. God hadn't changed. It's still
right to sing his praises. Isn't he in despair? Habakkuk's
going to sing in praise. And Habakkuk asked the Lord.
It's part of his praise. Lord, would you do for your people
what you promised? Would you revive your work of
grace in your people? He's praying, Lord, would you
save your people in this awful time? Would you remember mercy
and save your people? It seems like a lost cause. I
mean, you look around. Doesn't it seem like a lost cause?
But our prayer is, Lord, show that you are God Almighty. Show you're God who's merciful
and gracious to your people. Lord, do what nobody else can
do. Show your love for your people
by saving them through the sacrifice of your son. Call your people
out through the preaching of your word, according to your
mercy and according to your promise. Now that's a good prayer. because
sovereign electing mercy to sinners is God's chief glory. You remember
when Moses asked God, Lord, would you show me your glory? God said,
all right, Moses, I'll show you. I'm gonna make my goodness to
pass before you. I'm gonna make my goodness pass
before you so you'll see God's sovereign electing mercy. God said, Moses, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. Moses, I will be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. That's sovereign mercy, isn't
it? Sovereign electing mercy. Then we're always on good ground
to go to the Lord in prayer and ask God for his chief glory,
to display his sovereign electing mercy by showing mercy to sinners
who don't deserve it. Then next, I'll tell you, this
is true. My mother told me this all the time when I was a little
boy. I didn't do it, didn't listen to her, but I've learned this
is true. One of the best things you can do in time of despair
is count your blessings. You just start counting your
blessings. Before long, your heart will be comforted. That's
what Habakkuk does in this prayer. Next, he begins to list all of
God's past blessings to his people, and he begins to thank God and
praise God for what he's already done for his people. Look at
verse three. He says, God came from Timon
and the holy one from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens
and the earth was full of his praise and his brightness was
as the light. He had horns coming out of his
hand and there was the hiding of his power. Habakkuk is thanking
God for revealing his glory to his people when he gave the law
at Sinai. That's what he's talking about
there. And you know that story. God came down on the mountain.
The site was so glorious and wonderful. Moses went up and
talked to the Lord and came back down. His face was shining. The
people couldn't look on the Mount. They couldn't look on Moses.
They just couldn't look at it. And it frightened them because
the glory of God was revealed. But you know what other glory
was revealed besides the giving of the law, which, which in the
light of that glory shows man what we are, makes us afraid,
makes us, fear and tremble before God that we can't keep his law. That's the glory of God. But
you know what other glory was revealed at Sinai? Not only was
the glory of the law giver revealed at Sinai, the glory of the law
keeper was revealed at Sinai. When Moses asked God, show me
your glory. God didn't show Moses how he's
going to damn everyone that doesn't believe on him, does he? What
did God show Moses when he, Moses, I show me your glory. He gave
him a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, the law keeper. He gave
him a vision of Christ who would come and keep the law as the
representative of his people. And he'd suffer as a substitute
for his people to pay their penalty for the broken law. And Moses
saw his hind parts. Moses, when he saw the Lord,
where was he? hid safely in the cleft of the
rock, covered with the hand of God, that rock which pictured
Christ. He saw the glory of the law keeper. That's what Habakkuk's thankful
for. We can't keep the law, but we're thankful that God sent
the one who does. He goes on in verse five. He
says, before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth
at his feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove
asunder the nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered. The
perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. I saw
the tents of Cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land
of Midian did tremble. Was the Lord displeased against
the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers?
Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine
horses and thy chariots of salvation? Now here Habakkuk's thanking
God for how he delivered Israel from Egypt. And God did that
in, Great power. Before Israel left Egypt, God
had sent all these plagues on the Egyptians. And while over
here the Egyptians are being plagued, right next to them is
Israel. And they're being blessed. God's
working with His people. And then Israel left Egypt. And
they thought they were trapped at the Red Sea. And God allowed
them to be trapped at the Red Sea so they could stand still
and see the salvation of God, that God could reveal to the
world who He is and give us a picture of redemption in Christ. Now,
you know, the parting of that Red Sea was not just this calm
little, you know, thing, the sea stood up in walls. It was
a violent sight, that water parting and standing up in walls and
dry land appearing. There were wind and waves and
just, it was a very dramatic sight. Well, what's going on
here? Is God mad at the sea? Was God
mad at the Red Sea? Sending this wind and all this
violence at the sea? Was He mad at the Red Sea? Of
course not. The sea didn't do anything wrong.
God was simply using that sea to show His power and how He
saves His people from death by going through the river. God
was also showing how He uses that same power to destroy His
enemies. And Habakkuk was thankful. God
showed mercy in destruction. He showed that there's justice
in God. There's justice in his destruction,
and there's justice when he shows mercy. Look here at verse nine. Thy bow was made quite naked,
according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Thou didst
cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they
trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by the deep,
uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high. The whole
earth saw the power of God and the wrath, his wrath against
his enemies. And do you know what else the
whole earth saw? The whole earth saw and trembled at the power
of God and showing mercy to his people. And that's what God displayed
at Calvary. When Christ died, he died to
satisfy God's holy wrath against sin. And he died to bring an
everlasting life by showing mercy to sinners. There's life for
God's people in justice because of the death of the substitute.
There's mercy for God's people in justice through the death
of the substitute. Now remember Habakkuk's counting
his blessings. When you begin to count your
blessings, that'd be a good place to start. Start right there.
There's life for a sinner through the death of the substitute.
Verse 11, he says, the sun and moon stood still in their habitation.
At the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining
of thy glittering spear. Now what he's talking about here
is the time that Joshua was fighting the Amorites, and God made the
sun stand still. And you can read about that this
afternoon, Joshua chapter 10, verses 12 through 14. Joshua
defeated the Amorites that day. The scripture's clear. Why did
Joshua defeat the Amorites that day? Because that day, the Lord
fought for them. The Lord fought for Israel. That's
why they won. The sun stood still on that day. You know, the next day I know
of, the sun stood still, is when God turned the sun off at Calvary. As Christ our Joshua suffered,
he suffered on Calvary's tree and he fought for his people
that day. He put the sin of his people
that day and won a great victory for his people. When you're counting
your blessings, count that one. How he put the sin of his people
away. In verse 12, he said, Thou didst march through the land
in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen
in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
even for salvation with thine anointed. Thou woundest the head
of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto
the neck. Thou didst strike through with staves the head of his villages. They came out as a whirlwind
to scatter me. Their rejoicing was to devour
the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea
with thine horses. through the heap of great waters."
You know what he's saying there? All this was light work for God. Is anything too hard for God?
Of course not. Here's all these enemies and
all their material, all their horses, all their chariots, all
their armaments, all their weapons, and God just walked through them
easily like a man walks through water just parting it with his
hands. No effort at all. And Habakkuk's thankful. God's
sovereign. God's all-powerful. He's still
got that power. This is who God is. This is who we worship. He's
still got that power to save his people and to protect his
people and to bring his people out of every trial. Now, as Habakkuk
counted his blessings, he's reminded of who God is. That reminded
Habakkuk who he is. Look at verse 16. When I heard,
my belly trembled. My lips quivered at the voice.
Rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in myself that
I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people,
he will invade them with his troops. As Habakkuk was reminded
of who God is, boy, he saw who he is. He saw there's nothing
good in me. And somebody's thinking, Frank,
that looks like he's going back into despair. This is a bad thing.
The rottenness entered into his bones. He's trembling with fear.
No, this is a good thing. This is bringing him to rejoicing. The more we're reminded who we
are, the more we see I've got to look to Christ. There's nothing
in me, so I've got to look to Him. That takes me from despair
to praise. And that's what happened to Habakkuk.
As he gets done counting his blessings, as he gets done being
forced to look away from himself to Christ, now he's brought from
despair to praise. Verse 17. Although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither should fruit be in the vines. The labor
of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat. The
flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd
in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the
God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make
me to walk upon mine high places. And Habakkuk says now, the church
is to sing this to the chief singer of my strained instruments. Even though I can't see one earthly
blessing, I'm going to rejoice in the Lord. Even though I don't
see any spiritual results right now, even though I don't see
any spiritual blossoms of life beginning to form to give me
any indication there's a harvest coming, I'm still going to rejoice
in the God of my salvation because this is what I know. God's going
to save his people. The death of Christ was not in
vain. He'll save his people. Do we know that? Do we believe
that? If we believe that, We won't
change our message in order to try to produce a harvest. We'll
just keep preaching Christ. We'll keep constantly looking
to Christ. He'll bring forth a harvest when
it's time. And let's be together frequently and rejoice in our
Savior. Because when we do that, it just
doesn't seem so bad, does it? It's a whole lot easier to go
from despair to praise when we see our Savior. All right, I
hope the Lord will bless that to you.