We have seen in Psalm 11, enemies are telling me to run away from the things of God, and God's message to us is to stay in the game. In Psalm 12, we've seen proud enemies attacking us with lies, And we are urged to trust in the pure Word of God. And part of that seven times refined Word of God is that Jehovah says, I will arise and I will protect. And in Psalm 13, We see David saying that he feels as though God has forgotten me, actually he says it in slightly stronger terms than that. And we are urged by David's example, when we feel forgotten by God, to talk to the God who we think has forgotten us. Spurgeon talks of Psalm 13 as the how long psalm. And he says, we had almost said the howling psalm from the constant repetition of how long. And personally, I was slightly offended by Mr. Spurgeon as he talked this way, but the more I spent time with the psalm, I see that there is something to this. How long? How long? How long? With an anxious questioning of God, calling God into account, it does sound a bit howling. Another has written Psalm 13 as a brief poem of only six verses, but those verses plumb the depths of near despair before concluding with an unexpected confession of trust and confidence. The psalm is a lament, it's an expression of sorrow, characterized at the beginning by a series of four sorrowful questions. Structurally, the psalm falls into three stanzas, each composed of two verses, the initial series of questions, a plea for deliverance from approaching death, and a concluding expression of confidence and trust. And yet another has highlighted the progress and development in Psalm 13 as the first verses like a wild stormy sea, the middle verses as rough waves and yet calmer. And by the time we reach verse five and six, glassy, calm water. This storm is not so much the storm that is out there that is turned into a glassy sea, but the storm within has turned into a glassy sea of an incomprehensible peace by which Christ Jesus is guarding our hearts. Dalich says the complicated question Till when? How long? Forever? Is the expression of a complicated condition of soul in which, as Luther briefly and forcibly describes it amidst the feeling of anguish under the divine wrath. Hope itself despairs. And despair nevertheless begins to hope. Hopefully it's sinking into your mind more than it did the first time in mine. Hope itself despairs, and despair nevertheless begins to hope. He goes on. The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict which is going on within the flesh and the spirit. The dejected heart thinks, God has forgotten me forever. But the spirit which thrusts away this thought changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere appearance, not a reality. How long shall it seem as though you forget me forever? Well, that brings us to your handout sheet, Roman numeral one, the anxious questioning. The anxious questioning of God, verses one and two. Wilson says, questioning God is an ancient tradition in Israel. You don't have to go very many pages into the book of Genesis And you've got Cain questioning God, deflecting God's attention by saying, am I my brother's keeper? The greatest example of a questioner outside of the Psalms is Job. whose questions of God begin in Job 3 and are not ended until God appears in chapter 38. And at that later point in the book of Job, Job is wanting to put his hand over his mouth and be silent. The questions at issue here are not simple requests for knowledge, but they express deep human suspicions about the character and the activity of God and their effect on human nature. This kind of questioning flung in the face of God is a product of and a response to the experience of the hiddenness of God who refuses to appear and to act as humans expect and desire. Rather than information, these questions seek the divine presence and divine action on the questioner's behalf. Such questions reveal a faith seeking to understand in the midst of painful experience that shake the very foundations of believing. There are these four questions in verses one and two beginning with, how long? I ask my Bible software how many times how long appears in the book of Psalms, and as a question that is directed towards God, I found 12 times. It's not every psalm for sure, it's only a few. But it's not just here. Psalm 80 and verse 3 is a good example of this, where Asaph, and not David, says, That's almost inconceivable, isn't it? that someone feels that God is angry towards their prayer. You have fed your people with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in great measure. You have made us a strife to our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts, cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. You know, we want our hymnal to express truth. But as you look at this hymnal, verse one in particular, there's something that is here that if we're looking for complete orthodoxy, we're gonna need to fix. How long O covenant-making, covenant-keeping God, will you forget me? Will you forget me forever? What a question to ask of God. The questions express the sense that God has withdrawn himself from the psalmist's present experience, and God's failure to appear and act in their behalf, in David's behalf, leads to a fear of abandonment. I've asked God to intervene, and I've asked God to intervene, and so far, I haven't seen God intervene. Now, whether this is David's situation where he's running for seven years down in the southern part of Israel from King Saul. And he's just, Laura, I'm getting tired of this. When he goes over to the Philistines, Or whether this is a broken-hearted David in connection with the rebellion of Absalom, where he starts a civil war and he's determined to kill his godly father. That's how he's going to get the throne. David had plenty of experiences, plenty of difficult situations, that might provoke him, in the flesh, to feel as though God has forgotten. Psalm 1 and verse 6 concludes, for Jehovah knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. And David is feeling, that doesn't seem to be my experience right now. Spurgeon. It is not easy to prevent desire from degenerating into impatience. Oh, for grace that while we wait on God, we may be kept from indulging a murmuring spirit. How long? You owe me, God. And now Spurgeon, not speaking to us, but speaking to David, of course, speaking to us. Oh, David, how like a fool you talk. Can God forget? Can omniscience fail in memory? Above all, can Jehovah's heart forget his own beloved child? Oh, people of God, let us drive away the thought and hear the voice of our covenant God by the mouth of the prophet speak. And he directs us to Isaiah 49 and verse 14. But Israel said, the Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. God's response. Can a woman forget her nursing child? and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you." Secondly, B, the more rational despair of Jehovah hiding his face. Second part of verse one, how long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 89 and verse 46. How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire? This is a far more rational question, for God may hide his face, and yet he may remember us still. A hidden face is no sign of a forgetful heart. It is in love that his face is turned away, yet to a real child of God, this hiding of the face of God is terrible, and that child will never be at ease until once more he has his father's smile. Not only his face, but that face with a smile on it. Thirdly, C, the constant grief of fruitless brooding reflection. A bird broods over eggs. And sometimes we brood over our problems. How long shall I take counsel? First part of verse two. Having sorrow in my heart daily. The experience of God's absence has emotional, inward emotional effects on the psalmist. His sense of abandonment leads to inward wrestlings. This daily sorrow and torment in his heart. Spurgeon again. Anybody else know that? Repeatedly ruminating on trouble is bitter work. Sometimes it's almost like a child where the dad says, here's your pill. It's bitter, so don't bite it. Just put this in quickly and then take the glass of faith and swallow it down and embrace that it's from me. Don't chew it. But sometimes we can't quite swallow. We don't want to taste that. We're somehow drawn to that. Almost a little bit of a fight going on. Why? Why did you give this to me? Dalich, the Hebrew scholar, And I love him for his Hebrew scholarship, but he's not getting this out of the Hebrew words. We must think of these cares as taking possession of his soul in the nighttime, for the night leaves a man alone with his affliction and makes it doubly felt by him. Dalish, know something about your heart? If we set up monument stones over the graves of our joys, but don't erect monuments of praise for the mercies received, then there's something wrong with us. This is a place where we all will be on at least occasion, verses one and two. But we are not to think that we are some sort of wonderful individual for experiencing verse one and two. How long? How long? How long? Fourthly, D, the troubling fear of an enemy's victory. The latter part of verse two. How long will my enemy be exalted over me? The laughter of a foe grates horribly on the ears of grief. For the devil to make fun of our misery is the last ounce of our complaint and quite breaks down our patience. The careful reader will note that the question, how long, is put in four different shapes. we might add. Verse 1a, as it seems to be, as it is, God has hidden his face. As it affects himself within deep sorrow and torment, and as it affects his foes without, they're going to be exalting over me. We're all prone to play most on the worst string. clang, and over and over it goes. Sometimes there's almost a magnetic attraction to that bitter pill, and we don't want to quite swallow it yet by faith. And sometimes there's a magic attraction to that woeful note that would be brought into tune with a measure of faith. Roman numeral two, now the middle verses. Verses three and four. The prayerful reasoning with God. And here are reasoned pleas offered in prayer. As David moves from the wild tempest, the horrible storm, how long, O Jehovah, will you forget me forever? What a question to ask your covenant God, even as you use the covenant name of God. Here, David moves to pray, and the stormy sea is somewhat calmed. First of all, A, a plea for attention from Jehovah. God inspired this. And here it is, verse 3, consider and hear me, O Lord my God. David's directing God to look. Is that what you regularly think of doing in your prayer? Jehovah, I need you to see something. It almost sounds to me like the way that I might talk to a child or I might talk to a dog. Look, do you see what you have done? Child, do you see the consequences of your action? But this is not necessarily the way that I think that I should talk to God. Look, all seeing one, God's temporary absence brings his people into the very suburbs of hell. God is entreated to see and hear that he may be doubly moved to pity. Further, David's directing God to hear. Consider, look, behold, and listen. Again, it sounds like the way that I may speak to a child that's out of line. Now, I want you to see this, and look at me. I want you to hear what I am saying. It's not necessarily the way that I think that we ought to approach God and say, I want you to look at my problem and I want you to hear what I'm saying. Pay attention to me. But isn't that the wonder of the Psalms? David doesn't take his red pen and cross out verse one and two. How long, O Jehovah, will you forget me forever? And say, this will be unsuitable for the public worship of God. He doesn't strike out this, that rises up with, Lord God, you need to look. I want you to hear me. It doesn't seem like you are looking. It doesn't seem like you are paying attention. But what we find is that there is at least enough faith to go to God and to complain. And to tell God, you need to look at this. You need to listen to what I am saying. Then, there is David's reminding God of his covenant commitment. Look at me and hear me, O Jehovah. Jehovah, who is the independent God, I will be that I will be. Jehovah is the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I want to remind you of your promises. Further, there was David's reminding God of David's ownership. Oh Lord, my God. There it is. He's not absolutely despairing, is he? We're not in the storm at sea and God has totally forgotten him of verse one and two any longer. He's just given the covenant name of God, though he's talked a little bit directly to God, a little bit plainly. But he owns God as his own. My God. And may that be true of us. in the mix of not so much good things that we were thinking or saying or suspicioning about God, at least of a little bit of my God comes out. There's some hope. Is it not a very glorious fact that our interest in our God is not destroyed by all of our trials and sorrows? We may lose our gourds, but not our God. What does he mean by that? Well, Jonah had his vine with its gourds and it protected him from the sun. And God sent a worm and he lost his gourd and lost his shade and lost his protection, but he didn't lose his God. The title deed to heaven is not written in sand, but in eternal brass. Secondly, B, a plea for bright eyes. instead of death. Latter part to verse 3 and on into verse 4. Consider and hear, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes. Enlighten my eyes. Here's the positive side of his petition. Enlighten my eyes. I already found myself commenting to someone about the beautiful sunny day out there. We have gray, wintry days. And we have bright, sunshiny days. And it seems what David is asking for is that, I want you to put a little sunshine in my eyes. I want when people come and meet me and see my countenance, I don't want them asking me, what's wrong with you? Your eyes are gray and overcast and it looks like a winter storm is about to break. No, I don't want that. I want someone to see me, to see my countenance and see sunshine in my eyes. Maybe a little, a little turn of the smile. It's about all of us, Nebraskan, reserved, a little turd. For you, get your 32-tooth grin on with the enlightening of the eyes. Let the eye of my faith be clear that I may see my God even in the dark. Let my eye of watchfulness be wide open, lest I be trapped, and let the eye of my understanding be illuminated in the right way. The negative side of his petition, lest I sleep the sleep of death. And he's serious. Emotional darkness makes us very tired. Very tired physically. And Spurgeon was well acquainted with the workings of depression. From this faintness and dimness of vision caused by despair, there is but a step to the iron sleep of death. David feared that his trials would end his life, and David rightly uses his fear of death as an argument with God in prayer. Do you see that? for deep distress has in it a kind of claim on compassion. Not a claim of right, but a plea which has a power with grace. Heavenly Father, I feel like I'm about to be extinguished under this pressure. I'm about to break. Not being a baby, He's being honest with his heavenly Father and he's giving it as a reason why God should act. I want the sparkle of the sun in my eyes. I want a little smile on my face. And I don't want this to end me up in death. Thirdly, In his reasoning, in his petitioning, his plea, there is the reason from the enemy's victory. Lest my enemies say I have prevailed against him. David's worst enemy, the devil, is also God's enemy. God's arch enemy. And David teaches us to reason with God. Lord God, I don't want my enemy to be prevailing over me. And I don't think you want my enemy, who is your enemy, to be prevailing over me. I think that that will impact you as well as me. The reason from the oppressors rejoicing, lest those who troubled me rejoice when I am moved. Father, you do not want the devil and his agents to be celebrating my defeat, do you? It is well for us that our salvation and God's honor are so intimately connected that they stand or fall together. Our covenant God will complete the confusion of all of our enemies, and if for a while we become their scoff and jest, the day is coming when shame will change sides. Don't you love that phrase? Shame will change sides. I should not be over here on the side of the righteous, but I, shame, am running over to where I should be. And the contempt shall be poured on those to whom it is due. And Paul says, It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. And he's looking at the second coming of Christ. That's at least the time when a lot of shame will be running over to the other side. When Jesus comes with his angels in flaming fire. Roman numeral one, anxious questioning of God. Roman numeral two, prayerful reasoning with God. Roman numeral three, now verse five and six, the resolved singing to God. Through prayer, God has calmed the tempestuous sea within. It's gotten a little calmer. And now it seems to be classy smooth in verse five and six. The mercy seat is so refreshed the poor weeper that he clears his throat for a song. If we have mourned with David, let us now dance with him. David's heart was more often out of tune than his harp was. He begins many of his Psalms sighing and then singing, and others he begins in joy and ends in sorrow, so that one would think, says one, that those Psalms have been composed by two contradictory dispositions." Well, we've discovered it. David didn't write this whole Psalm. Somebody else wrote Psalm verses one and two, and David came along and he touched it up with three and four, and now he's putting his finishing touches on the sweet psalmist of Israel has finished it up. But you got plainly two different authors. Hogwash. Those of us who know the reality of remaining corruption C, the one consistent author. A, a recollection of faith in Jehovah's covenant lovingkindness, but I have trusted in your lovingkindness. Verse 5a speaks of a faith that is clinging fast to God. Here is that chesed. It's one of the reasons why I love the New American Standard for the songs. Because this word chesed of the covenant loving-kindness is consistently translated as loving-kindness. That an English reader goes, oh, loving-kindness, I'll bet this is. And yes, it is. More definitive than mercy. There's another word for mercy. But there's a world of difference, isn't there, between the despair of verse one, where, oh, Jehovah, you have forgotten me. How long? Forever? And this, I have trusted in your covenant-loving kindness. There's this covenantal commitment In society at large, there might be a covenant that is between a king and the vassals, and there is this life and death bond that is made between them. In the case of Jehovah and Israel, Jehovah says to Israel, I have chosen you. Not because you were the greatest nation, not because you're the most wonderful nation, but I've chosen you because I decided to set my love upon you, my chesed on you. And so when Israel fails in her commitment to our covenant obligations, God remains faithful. And though Jehovah may punish the nation of Israel for their sin, for their idolatry, by picking them up as a nation and carrying them away into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. But because he is Jehovah and because he has chesed for them, they know they will be back. David knows in 70 years we'll be back. This is why the psalmist can continue to hope for personal restoration, even though it looks like he's at the door of death. No, Jehovah will intervene. He's got covenant loving kindness. And notice with me, trust in God is key to the Christian life. Trust in God is always in fashion. It is always in demand for the Christian. And if you have a time where you do not experience and live out personal trust in God, at that point, your Christianity is an empty, hollow shell. There's no way around it. We've got to trust in our God. For many a year it had been David's pattern to make the Lord his castle and tower of his defense, and he smiles from behind the same bulwark still. I have trusted in your covenant-loving kindness. He is sure of his faith and his faith makes him sure. Had he doubted the reality of his trust in God, he would have blocked up one of the windows through which the Son of Heaven delights to shine. Faith is now active and consequently is readily discovered. There was never a doubt in our heart about the existence of faith while it is in action. When the rabbit or the bird is quiet, We see it not, but let the bird or the rabbit be in motion, and we soon perceive it. All the powers of his enemies had not driven the psalmist from this stronghold of trust in God's lovingkindness. As the shipwrecked mariner clings to the mast, so did David cling to his faith. He neither could nor would give up his confidence in the Lord his God. B, a resolution of future delight in Jehovah's deliverance, latter part of verse five. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. This is the language of the feast. The kind of language that you would expect to find at a great harvest celebration. And the cause of the rejoicing? Your salvation. You are going to deliver me. You see again how vastly different this is from verse one? Jehovah has forgotten me forever. Now listen to the music which faith makes in the soul. The bells of the mind are all ringing. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Thirdly, see a resolution of future singing to Jehovah. First part of verse six, I will sing to the Lord. Did I say something about how Chassid is often associated with the name Jehovah, the covenant-making, covenant-keeping God? Verse five, you've got the loving-kindness. Verse six, it is God by his covenant name Jehovah that he is known. Sweet is the music which sounds from the strings of the heart. But this is not all. The voice joins itself in the blessed work, and the tongue keeps tune with the soul. And I think that if we read this portion of God's inspired word, by bringing something of the New Testament back into it, and we're talking about a measure of confidence that we have in God, we're gonna rejoice in Him, we're gonna sing in Him, we can't do that without thinking about the work of Jesus, can we? For Christ also suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, or by the Spirit. And because of that, I know I will rejoice, and I know that I will sing." And they sang a new song, talking about the singing of heaven. and the singing of heaven is never old. They sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. We will rejoice. We will be singing, hopefully before then. But if not, at least then and for all eternity after then. Fourthly, D, a recognition of Jehovah's great favor. Of Jehovah's great favor, I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. Here, the closing line is a refutation of the opening line, isn't it? Jehovah's forgot me. How long? Will it be forever? He has dealt bountifully with me. And so shall it be with us if we wait a while. The complaint in which we in our haste speak, we shall joyfully retract, and we shall witness that God has dealt bountifully with us. Practical lessons, and I have to move quickly. A, embrace the dominating reality of the felt absence of God for an unbeliever. the reality of the felt absence of God for the unbeliever, Paul speaks of those who are not Christians as having no hope and without God in the world. It's a sin-cursed world, and they live alone in it with no God to guide them and no God to protect them, and they sense it. But it's a wonderfully mixed-up combination, isn't it? I don't want to allow God to exist because then he could tell me what to do. And yet I'm miserable because there is no meaning and purpose in my life. And with Ecclesiastes, the merry-go-round of the earth, we're all like little ants that wander on to the merry-go-round, and then we fall off in death, and it just keeps going on and on, and we have enough as much significance as one of those little ants. Yet, God has put eternity in the hearts of all. We're made in the image of our God, and we have value and purpose. And if you are feeling a sense of alone, then I urge you to consider that the God of heaven seeks a relationship with you, and Jesus Christ will be yours if you will but have him. Secondly, B, embrace the occasional reality of the felt absence of God for a believer. Is David an unbeliever in verse 1? Does David need to be saved in order to get out of verse 1 and 2 and get into verse 5 and 6? No, but some under the sound of my voice may need to be. What's going on here is the same as Psalm 80. Restore us, O God, cause your face to shine, and we shall be delivered. O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? This is the experience, at least the occasional experience of a believer feeling that God has hidden his face, that God has pulled away. Again, the complicated question that Dalich talks about with Luther, hope itself despairs and despair nevertheless begins to hope. And the self-contradiction is what goes on, what comes out of our carnal self and what the Spirit under the blessing of the Spirit of God is thinking rightly Hope begins. It's very important that if you are a professing Christian that you not stay in verse one and two very long, isn't it? You need to get to verse five and six. Why is it important? Well, because you're gonna be miserable. Well, yes, and even more than that. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Is there a dark world out there? Is there anybody who needs your light? Get out of verse one and two and get into verse five and six. Thirdly, C, employ God's method. Employ God's method for regaining a favorable sense of God's presence. What is the bridge from the storm at sea and despair, verse one and two, over to the calm sea of trust in God in verse five and six? Do you remember what verse three and four are about? What's the title I gave it? The Prayerful Reasoning with God. So how will you follow David through this transition? Should you follow David? Why do you think that this is a part of the inspired Psalter, a part of the inspired hymn book? It's not just for David. It's David's experience, but he wants all of the people of God, God wants all of the people of God to know how to get from verse 1 and 2 over to verse 5 and 6, doesn't he? I want you to sing about it so that when you're in good shape, it'll stick in your mind. And when you find yourself down in verse 1 and 2, you know what the bridge is. I don't feel God is there. I feel God has forgotten me. What do you need to do? Talk to Him. Talk to the God that I don't even know if He's there. I don't even think He's listening. I think that he has forgotten me in that forever? Voice your complaint. My commentary friend Gerard Wilson has already gone to heaven as well. I've got two methods here when I feel this. One is writing poetry that reflects the inward turmoil and anguish I am feeling. For others, it might be journal. It's getting in touch and giving voice to your complaint. is that I have conversed with an absent creator is through audible spoken words. I like to go out on a walk where I'm all alone so nobody can hear what I'm saying and think that I've become unhinged. Or I talk as I'm driving to this absent, but by me talking out loud, It gives, just even that gives a little bit more credence to God is there. And what if you say, I can't pray to God? Well, maybe you can't. And there are times when we can't pray to God. 1 Peter 3 and verse 7 speaks to man and says, you behave to your wife in a certain way, lest your prayers be hindered. They don't get above the ceiling. If you come to worship and you realize that someone has something against you, then there's something you need to do before you offer your gift of worship to God. In Psalm 66, 18 says, if I regard wickedness in my heart, there's something there it's not been addressed, it's not been repented of, the Lord will not hear. And that's why we have Paul saying, I have hope in God, Acts 24, 15, and the very next verse, this being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. Fourthly, D, employ other helps for regaining a favorable sense of God's presence, getting out of ourselves. Sometimes when we are depressed, sometimes when we are down, it is very natural to become self-absorbed when we are down. The only thing that I see is my problem. That is the only thing that exists in all the world. And sometime by pulling that problem out of the way and seeing that someone else has a need and trying to minister to someone else, it helps put this in its perspective. God has made us to love. And it's wonderful how just living out agape love will help break the self-absorption. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Secondly, letting others lead me to God in worship. When I can't pray, when I can't sing, when I can't say from the heart, I have trusted in the loving kindness of Jehovah. And my Jehovah has dealt very bountifully with, when I can't do that, let me be around the people of God who can. Let me be in their presence hearing them sing and knowing that it's coming from a true heart. Let me sit in the home with one who is living out the exhortation to minister to one another daily, lest anyone be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Let us make use of the means of grace that God has given to us. Plainly the prayer, it's right there, verse 3 and verse 4. But let us go out of ourselves and let us let others minister to us in worship, and in fellowship regarding the deepest needs of our hearts. What is someone going to do if you open up and you say, I feel like David and I'm stuck in verse one and two? That could never happen. Well, of course it can happen. It will happen. and such will reach out and try to help get you on into verse three and four where you're talking to God and at least telling God to look and telling God to listen and getting you to move on to the place where, yes, I have in the past and I am now. trusting in the covenant loving-kindness of Jehovah my God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for how these verses minister to us. Perhaps someone under the sound of my voice is living in verse 1 and 2 right now. And we pray that you would use this inspired part of your word to encourage them and to direct them. And for others of us who've been there in the past, can only expect that we will come into that place again. Help us to see the bridge. Help us to use the bridge. We take encouragement, our God, that you condescend to our weakness, and you allow and even encourage us to come to you and tell you to look, and tell you to listen, that we might stir your compassion. You take delight in us coming as children. And we pray, O God, that you will use this spiritual advice contained in this psalm for our great good. We pray for those who are outside of the gospel of your Son, those who are truly, every day, without hope and without God. Bring them. to a settled trust in your Son, the Lord Jesus, and enlighten their eyes for the first time. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.