Please turn in your Bibles to Ezra chapter 8, just by way of... I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there were none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eleazar, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jared, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshulam, leading men, and for Joirib, and for Elnathan, who were men of insight, and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Qesiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, and the temple servants at the place Qesiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. and by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely, Cherubiah, with his sons and kinsmen, 18, and Hashebiah, and with him, Jeshiah, and the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20, besides 220 of the temple servants whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites, These were all mentioned by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, and that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Then I set apart 12 of the leading priests, Cherubiah, Hashebiah, and 10 of their kinsmen with them, and I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 200 talents, and 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 derricks, and two vessels of fine, bright bronze as precious as gold. And I said to them, you are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chamber of the house of the Lord. So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Merimoth, the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas, and with him were the Levites, Josbad, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Benueh. The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded. At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and as a sin offering, 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river, and they aided the people and the house of God. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his word. Let's pray and ask him for this. Our Father in heaven, we do pray that you will bless us as we study your word. Please give us insight and help us to apply it to our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you've studied economics at all, you may be familiar with the phrase, the invisible hand, and this is just gonna be a really short synopsis of this. It can be more detailed, but It really refers to unseen market forces that drive an economy. So for example, supply and demand and prices. Have you ever wondered why gas is more or less the same price? I mean, you don't pay $10 for a gallon of gas in Reston and $2 in Oakton and 50 cents in Falls Church or something. Well, they're unseen forces driving the price to roughly the same place, at least all else being equal. And we see this all over the economy. No one has to tell farmers, hey, you better milk your cows, and no one has to coerce grocery stores to put milk on their shelves. It just kind of happens because of this unseen, invisible hand of market forces causing things to be allocated in certain ways. This is an economics lesson, so if you're tracking with me, great. The market works in this kind of invisible way, and often God works that kind of in a similar way, right? We can't really see why there's milk in the store or what kind of forces led to it, we just know it's there. And likewise, God often blesses us and causes us to grow in ways that we can't really see. But we know his hand is at work moving, even when our human eyes can't see it. And so throughout the book of Ezra, we've seen God's invisible hand caring for his people. So if we look back to the very opening verse of the book, we see that God stirred up Cyrus' heart. So no one could see that, and yet it was God's invisible hand working to stir up the king. Likewise, in chapter 7, Ezra credits God for King Artaxerxes' support. Again, not something he could see, but he knows is very real. Well, in tonight's text, we continue to see God's hand being on his people for good. And it encourages us with this truth. God's hand is for good on all who seek him. If you seek God, his hand is for good on you. And so there's a clear implication from this truth. Therefore, we should seek him and we should trust him. And we'll consider this evening some ways this text shows us that God's hand is on us for good and how we can actively seek him and put our trust in him. Well, God's hand is first seen as the Israelites gather together. And this is in verses one through 20. Now, as you look at this list of those returning, you may remember there was another list back in chapter 2. And most of the family names found in verses 4 through 14 also are found in chapter 2. And so this reminds us that the first return, about 80 years prior to the events of chapter 8, That first return was only partial. It was incomplete. So families were split, as it were. You had extended relatives. If you returned home to Jerusalem, you likely had very, you had extended relatives who, extended family who were still in captivity. And so a partial return, which is a theme we've seen throughout this series already, there's a lot to be encouraged about, a lot to be thankful for as the exiles return. But it's also disappointing on so many levels. Not everyone is back. The temple isn't as good as people had hoped. There's no Davidic king sitting on the throne. The nations aren't coming to them. And so there's a lot of disappointment. And the book, even as it ends, or even as Nehemiah ends, it still leaves us longing for that full completion of God's promises. Nonetheless, despite these disappointments, God was still working for good for his people, and not just a small number of them. There were actually a lot of people who returned in the initial wave, and we see many more people returning again with Ezra. Ezra doesn't go home alone. The king doesn't say, hey, go teach the people, and he doesn't just saddle a donkey and go by himself. No, he comes with a whole second wave of people to restore the covenant community. As we look at this text, at first he gathers the people and then in verse 15, it tells us that he found none of the sons of Levi. Now, that's significant because the Levites were the priests, they're the religious leaders of the day. And as verse 17 indicates, Ezra wanted more of them to join them. And by God's grace, as we read, he found more. Verse 18 says, and by the good hand of our God on us, they were able to find these men. Now, there's that phrase again, the good hand of our God. But how was God's hand on them for good? Well, there's no indication that he did anything miraculous. There was no sign or wonder from heaven compelling the Levites to come or vision or dream for the Levites to go and join with the returning exiles. Instead, Ezra simply sent other men to gather these men, to call them to join with them. Again, that's often how God's invisible hand works. It works in ways that we might even miss if we weren't paying attention. We might say, those Levites came because we asked them to. Well, partially true, but that's an incomplete version. They actually came because God was at work blessing those efforts. Now, again, they return in a community, in a wave together, and that's really the way God still calls us to serve him, and it's really the way God builds us up in our faith, too. Thinking practically in your own life, perhaps you can think of a time where you've been really discouraged or weighed down. and maybe someone's given you a note just at the right time when you've needed it. Or we can think about God's invisible hand working for us in other ways. Perhaps you're running late for an interview and traffic's really bad and yet somehow you make it. You think it's almost miraculous, but you're there on time and you get the job. That's God's hand at work caring for you. Or perhaps you don't get something you really wanted. Again, that's God's invisible hand blessing you and guiding you. Often, and again often, God's hand is for good on us as we come together as a covenant community. As we look at verse 18, Ezra doesn't say the good hand of my God, but he says the good hand of our God was on us. And so the point here is we don't seek God alone. The exiles return together, and we too worship God together. We too grow in our faith together. That's true wherever you are in your stage of life, whether you're a child, whether you're a teenager, whether you're single, whether you're married, whether you're retired, whether you're in the workforce, we all need one another. And after all, it's It's vessels that sail alone that are the weakest, right? Those are the ones Satan can pick off. It's the zebra at the back of the pack that is most vulnerable, right? So we need to be sailing together. We need to be in a covenant community as we seek God and as we try to trust him together. Now as I say that, of course, God can strengthen you when you find yourself in periods of loneliness or when you do find yourself somewhat alone in your faith. I have to imagine that Noah probably felt pretty alone, just his family as he built the ark and just his family after the earth was destroyed. Perhaps you've been in situations where you are, at least in terms of being a Christian, alone. The only Christian at the office, maybe the only Christian in the neighborhood. For some of you, maybe even the only Christian in your family. And the Lord is able to strengthen us in those times and uphold us and cause us to grow. But ordinarily, ordinarily, we need other people to grow. Well, there's application in that for all of us, in terms of seeking out fellowship. But I also wanted to especially highlight families here. Because you see, Ezra gathers families together. He starts with heads of households and then brings them together, family by family. There's an application in that for parents and families with a father, especially fathers as your head of your house, but all parents. You need to lead your family in coming to God. You need to bring your children to the Lord and teach them how to follow the Lord and to love Him. Of course, as you think about that, you have to start with yourself, right? You can't bring someone else to follow God if you yourself are not following Him. If the Jews hadn't decided to return to Jerusalem, they couldn't bring their children to Jerusalem with them, right? So let me just invite each of you to ask yourself, those of you with families, how can I lead my family in seeking and serving the Lord this year? And if you don't have, if you're not a parent, ask that same question for yourself, and maybe also ask, how can I encourage others to seek the Lord this year? While families are important, the church also must take family seriously. Derek Kidner, commenting on this chapter, says it is at least food for thought that church strategy often tends to reverse this order, concentrating on the children to the neglect of the head. In other words, if we want to raise up the next generation of faithful Christians, we need strong marriages, we need strong families, and we need to invest effort in that, in encouraging one another in our parenting and in our marriages. By the way, this isn't in competition with youth ministries or Sunday school, and if you're serving in that, that's a wonderful way to come alongside parents and help. So I'm not setting up any type of competition here. I'm just saying we must not neglect families and start only with the children. So we see here how God's gracious hand is upon us as we come together. Again, that's ordinarily how God works. God works as we come together, but God also shows us his love when we think about one man who was truly alone. How God ultimately showed us his grace when one man was left all alone, our Lord Jesus Christ. On the night he was betrayed, he goes out, he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then the disciples, when he's arrested, They scatter. The shepherd is struck and the sheep scatter. He stood trial alone. He faced that angry mob alone with no one standing beside him. And then as he was nailed to the cross, even the father turns his face when he says, Our Lord Jesus bore our sins on his shoulders all by himself. And it's because Jesus was cast off and condemned that we can be accepted. It's because he bore our sins alone that we can come together as a community worshiping him and serving our God. It's also why we look forward with great expectations. While the return from exile was disappointing on so many levels here in Ezra, Jesus' salvation brings in the full return that this anticipated. He restores our right relationship with God. In him, we have God's presence among us when Jesus walked among us and then when he sent his Holy Spirit to be with us. And in him, we have the promise of eternal life, the time when we will see God with our own eyes, and there will be nothing partial or incomplete or disappointing about it in any sense of the word. And so, Ezra begins here by gathering the people together, and we see God's gracious hand on him in this. After Ezra gathers them, we see him leading them in fasting and praying. And we see that in verses 21 through 23. And from this, we can learn one way that we can actively seek and trust God through fasting and praying. So look at verse 21 again. Ezra proclaimed a fast that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. Now, one reason they did have to ask for this is because Ezra had refused help, so I'm going to address that in our third point. But for now, let's consider this idea of fasting and praying. Fasting really goes hand in hand With praying, it's a way to humble yourself before God by not eating for a period of time. By the way, it's not a diet strategy or an effort to have more time at the office. Hey, if I don't take a lunch break, I can get more done. This is a way to humble yourself and assist you in your prayers. The Israelites here could have taken a very different approach, couldn't they have? Just think about all they had to do. Think about all the logistics that had to be planned. If you've ever moved, it's annoying, isn't it? I don't like moving, personally. I don't ever look forward to moving. It's not fun. And these people had to move hundreds of miles, leave a country, go to another one. They're returning home. Many of them are probably born in captivity. And so it's a totally new place. There's so much to plan for. They could have been poring over maps. They could have been doing all the risk assessments. Where are the bandits most likely to be? What do we do if we get attacked? What if we get split up? I don't doubt, by the way, they did some of this kind of planning. But that wasn't where their focus was. Instead, first and foremost, they knew they needed to pray. And there's something in that that we can all learn. Have you ever had an important decision to make? What do you do? Sometimes you list pros and cons of each decision. That's fine. But how earnestly do you pray about the decision you're making? When there's something significant coming up in your life, how often do you turn to God in prayer? What about someone you know or love who's not a Christian and they desperately need the gospel? How often do you pray for that person or pray for your interactions with that person? And as you look at your prayers, let me also invite you to ask, are your prayers brief and mechanical, we could say, forced? Or are they earnest cries for God's grace and his help? This is encouraging us to cry out to the Lord. And so as you pray, fasting may be one way that you can do this. It'd be worth considering at times in your life. Of course, this isn't something you need to do alone. Sometimes churches pray and fast together. Entire groups can decide to do this. In fact, some in recent days have even called for that in light of the events happening in our nation. And that's an appropriate thing to do, to fast and to pray for our country, for healing in our nation. Again, we've seen these deep divisions and just being brought out and a lot of ugly violence in these recent events of the storming of our nation's capital, and we should seek Our Lord, earnestly, as we look at the national events here, we should be praying for the welfare of our nation. Remember, Jeremiah told the exiles to do that, to seek the welfare of the city in which I have sent you and to pray for it. And so, we also should earnestly be praying for our country. We should always be praying for it, but especially in light of recent events. Perhaps I should also add, every four years, we should be earnestly praying for our country as there's transitions in governments and as new president or vice president and cabinet come in. That's a particular time to be earnestly praying for our country. Let me also add that as we earnestly pray for our country. That doesn't mean we have to support everything any of our government officials do. We can, of course, pray against things that are ungodly and we've already in the prayer and I believe in the morning service abortion was also mentioned and that of course is something we can pray against and pray that any laws that would promote abortion would be foiled, or that our leaders would repent of that. So praying for our leaders doesn't mean agreeing with everything they do or hoping that everything they want to achieve is accomplished. Not at all. Nonetheless, we must be earnest in prayer for them. Let me also add, especially in light of recent events, that we should be trusting God. And I think a lot of times when we see violent anger being expressed, it's a result of a failure to trust God. Remember, throughout this series in Ezra, we've seen how God can bless his people through even unbelieving leaders, leaders who may be totally, maybe even wicked leaders, leaders who don't worship God, who don't follow him, who don't pass laws that always are in accord with God's laws, and yet he blesses his people through them. God was blessing the exiles through Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, and so We can have that confidence today, no matter who's in office, whether we're happy about it or disappointed or even angry about it, we can trust God that he is sovereign. Let me also remind us that God often works good out of what we intend for evil. We see this, Joseph reminded his brothers of that, and we see that ultimately at the cross of Christ, where the most wicked thing imaginable was done. The Lord Jesus Christ, the author and creator of life, was nailed to the cross for no crime at all that he had done. There was one man who was perfect, one man who had literally done nothing ever wrong, and he was killed. Wicked. And yet, our God was using that to bring about the salvation of the world, to bring salvation to sinners. And so, whenever we're disturbed and even angry about things that are happening, perhaps in our government, we can take comfort and confidence that God is good, that God is sovereign, and that He is in control. And therefore, we don't need to respond in anger or hatred, but instead in prayer and trust. including fasting and praying together. Now, as I'm saying this, about praying and fasting together, some of you may be thinking of another passage on fasting in the Bible, we talked about last year, Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount, and there Jesus says, but when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And so the question may be asked, if fasting is to be done in secret, why are there calls for public prayer and fasting? Well, we need to be clear what Jesus was condemning. What Jesus was criticizing was those who fasted privately, but then publicly made a big show of it. Hey, I kind of disfigured my face, I complained about how hungry I am, and then I let slip that I'm fasting, so you think I'm such a spiritual person. But a public time of prayer and fasting as a church is not what Jesus was condemning. Churches can and should do those kind of things, or you may agree to do that with a few of your friends or fellow believers. That's completely good and honoring to God. It's a good way to seek Him together. So Ezra here leads the people in seeking God by praying and fasting. But as I noted, they did so at least in part because they had refused help. They had to pray and fast because they said no to something that could have helped them. So let's consider this refusal to accept the king's help in verses 22 and then 24 to 34. And that's the third point in your outlines if you're following along. So verse 21 records how Ezra proclaimed a fast in order to get a safe journey from the Lord. Verse 22 then adds, for I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. Now, we shouldn't read this in any way as prohibiting help from secular governments or non-Christians in any way. If we look ahead to Nehemiah, just a little bit later, maybe 13 years later, Nehemiah accepts help. So in Nehemiah 2, verse 9, we read that the king had sent him with officers of the army and horsemen. So Nehemiah felt totally fine accepting that offer. The key is that both of these decisions proceeded from a position of faith. Ezra's concern was that the military escort would undermine God's glory. He had just told the king of God's power, and then he didn't feel he could ask for the king's help. How could he? God's wrath, power of his wrath is against those who are opposed to him. And yet, I need your help, by the way, because God might not be powerful enough to help me on the way there. Perhaps a weak illustration, but you might compare it to lining up a group of people to play pick-up basketball and imagine someone's really good and says, look, it doesn't really matter who's on my team, we're going to win. Oh, but can I pick first? If you're so confident that you can win no matter who's on the team, why don't I get the first five picks and you get who's left? Right? So this is really what's going on here with Ezra rather. Ezra has told the king of God's power. Now he can't backtrack on that. Well, verses 24 to 34 go on to record the return trip. God indeed gave them success and they arrived in Jerusalem. And again, this was God's doing. So verse 31 says, the hand of our God was on us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes on the way. Again, God's invisible hand at work. Now, again, verse 31 doesn't say how God delivered them. Most likely, it was something rather invisible rather than miraculous. A god could have thrown fire down from heaven and destroyed anyone on the way who tried to ambush them. But more likely, it was something like causing their enemies not to see them or needing to take an inconvenient lunch break in which they missed their potential victims, or perhaps causing the people to look more numerous or well-guarded than they actually were. Perhaps there was a skirmish or two and the Lord strengthened them and they were able to beat back their enemies. Are there any number of ways that God may have protected them from these ambushes, but the important aspect is to see that it was God's gracious hand at work leading them safely home. And that's really the same for us today. Earlier I read from John chapter 10, and Jesus tells us, my Father who has given his sheep to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. You see, God's hand is still for good for those who seek him. He is, as Jude 24 says, able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. Again, God usually does this in ways that we can't see with our eyes. So God's Spirit works in our hearts, convicting us of our sin and our need for Jesus. He enlightens our minds and renews our will so that we can embrace the gospel, we can embrace Jesus Christ who is freely offered to us. God sends people into our lives at just the right time, at saying just the right thing, at just the right moment. He gives us faith to persevere in our walk with him. And he may even call at times the right scripture to mind. Perhaps you've had that. You're struggling with something and then a scripture verse just pops into your mind and it's just what you needed at that moment. That's God's gracious hand on you for good. Let me just pause here and say if you're here or if you're listening and you're not a Christian, this is good news that is offered to you and it's offered to anyone. Jesus Christ has come to save sinners. And we may at times refuse help from another human being. But we can't refuse God's help for salvation, at least not if we want to be saved, not if we want to spend eternity with him in heaven. We must accept Jesus Christ by faith. We must receive that free offer of salvation by looking to him and asking for his mercy for the forgiveness of our sins. That's not an offer you want to pass up. And the good news is if you ask him for forgiveness, he promises to separate your sins as far as the east is from the west. And so we always need God's help, but at times we may refuse human help. We may choose instead to trust God. We may say, I'm not going to take that help, I'll trust God instead. Other times we may accept help someone's offering. So how do we know what to do? How do we know when to do something like Ezra's doing and when to act more like Nehemiah and accept the help that's offered to us? Well, I'd invite you to think more about this on your own and to maybe think about some practical situations where this might apply to you specifically. But let me give you just two broad principles. First, as I mentioned earlier, God's glory must be our chief concern. God's glory must be our chief concern. Ezra was concerned that God's power would be obscured if he took the king's help. It would undermine his witness, in other words. perhaps it would be like a Christian ministry refusing to accept financial aid from someone who wasn't a Christian or who in some way had gained their money in a illegal or inappropriate kind of way. And so rather than accepting that money, maybe they would say, no, we're gonna trust God to provide. Second, we must be very cautious about putting the Lord our God to the test. We must be very cautious about putting God to the test. In Matthew 4, Satan tempts Jesus by taking him to the pinnacle of the temple and saying, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. And here the devil was quoting from Psalm 91 verses 11 through 12, but he was doing it in a way that was really opposite of its original meaning. So Psalm 91 was inviting God's people to trust him, and what Satan was doing is asking Jesus to presume upon God, or to doubt God and therefore put him to the test. Huh, he says he'll protect me. I'm not sure that's true. Well, let's give it a try. Let's jump off and see what happens. And that's what Satan was doing. And Jesus responds by quoting Deuteronomy 6.16. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And so God has often provided through the government or through other people, even if they're not Christians themselves. And so we don't want to be like someone who refuses to wear a seatbelt or, in today's day, a mask, because we're going to trust God instead. You know, hey, I don't need a mask because I'll trust God to keep me safe. Well, God has provided medicine and masks and seatbelts and things like that, and so it's not more righteous or holy to refuse those helps that he has given us. All right, so we've seen here how God's hand is for good on his people and some of the ways that we can seek him and we can trust him. Finally, we see the people's response of thanksgiving in verses 35 to 36. When the people get back, we read that they offer these burnt offerings and sacrifices and they deliver the king's commissions. They also aided the people in the house of God. In other words, they continued engaging in regular worship. And perhaps, You've had the experience, as we think about this, of driving somewhere. And as you're driving, the gas light pops up. And maybe your GPS is done, or the phone says the next gas station is just 25 miles away. If you're on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, by the way, this can actually happen. The next exit, I don't know why they made it like this. The next exit, if you miss it, it can be 20 miles to the next one. And it can be nerve-wracking, can't it? And you're just like, maybe your hand's clutched on the steering wheel and you're praying that you won't run out of gas. And then what happens when you get in to the gas station? Sigh of relief, pump the gas, and then you go on your way. I've done that at least before. But what should we do? We should stop and thank God, right? That was God's good hand on us. And the ending of this chapter reminds us not to fail to stop and thank God. We must remember that our safe arrival is His mercy. And so we stop and give Him praise any time we see His good hand upon us. Well, let me ask you to reflect on this question. What are some ways that you can intentionally thank God this week or maybe even this year? What are ways that you can be intentional about looking for his good hand upon you? And as you think about that, if you're like me, you probably don't say thank you as much as you should. You don't thank God as much as you should. And so if that's you, then what obstacles get in your way of seeing God's good hand on you? So we could think about many ways, but let me just give a few practical helps here for you. If you're struggling to see God's good hand on you right now, begin by just looking at the cross. It's always a great place to begin. Remember that God sent his own son to die for you. Just let that reality soak in again. I know we talk about this all the time. I know you probably, hopefully, think about this a lot and thank God a lot for this. But continue to do that, just meditate on that awesome reality that the creator of the universe would take human flesh and die for you. Remember that your sins are separated from you as far as the east is from the west, that God doesn't hold them over your head, that he promises you, miserable rotten sinner like you, eternal life in his presence. Thank God for that. You might also just remember a trial that he's brought you through, something that you thought, I can't take anymore of this. You've probably all had that experience, right? I can't do this anymore. I can't take it another day. And then somehow you did. You're still here. And you can thank God for that mercy, his good hand upon you. You might also just survey church history and see how God's hand has been on his church and his people for good. or reflect on all the many blessings in your own life, how he has spared you physically, perhaps, or a loved one physically. Maybe you can think about how he's kept you on the narrow road that leads to salvation. If you're sitting here in church this evening or listening on the live stream, you didn't have to be. You could be out doing any number of things, but in God's good hand has been upon you to bring you here to sing his praise, to hear his word, to study it. so many things that we could give thanks to God for. So let me just invite you to continue to do that, to be intentional about seeking ways to be thankful. As we come to a close here, let me admit, though, that it can sometimes be very hard to do this because God's hand is for good on us. It is for good on all who seek him. But it is often an invisible hand, at least to us, We can't see it. We can't always see it clearly. But we need to go back to his scriptures and look to the cross and remember that he is at work for our good. And therefore, we need to take confidence again. We need to take confidence that he is working good for us. Even in 2020, he was working good. Even as 2021 has started, much like 2020, It's He's still working good for us. His hand is still on us for good. And therefore, we can have hope, we can have confidence, and we can also seek Him and trust Him. Let's pray for His help in doing that.