You're there in Psalm chapter 107 tonight, Psalm 107. Just a little bit of quick background before we get into the text here and start reading. But the book of Psalms, if you remember from the Sunday school lessons from, it feels like a few months ago, it may have been over a year ago now. Book of Psalms is broken into five little books inside the one big book. Psalm 107, if you look in your Bible, you'll see this is the first psalm of book number five. Book five parallels just like book one parallels Genesis, and two is Exodus, three is Leviticus, book four was Numbers. This is going to parallel the book of Deuteronomy. And so from 107 all the way to the end of the book, it's all about the second law. And a lot of kind of the key behind the Psalms, starting in 107 through 150, kind of the key idea, the key phrases in those are two things. One is God's laws, God's word. So like Psalm 119, every verse talks about the law of the Lord, or the testimonies of the Lord, or the statues of the Lord. Or it talks about praising the Lord. And so that's kind of the key there. And this psalm, the introductory psalm of Book 5, it's going to talk about both those things tonight. That's what we're going to look at. I want to read through a couple of verses here, and we'll just kind of skip around in this passage and just kind of pay attention, see if you notice anything. Verse 1 says, Let's jump down to verse number 8. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let's jump down to verse number 15. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let's jump down to verse number 21. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. And let's jump down to verse 31 and let's read this one all together. Psalm 107 verse 31, Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. There are 783,107 words in our King James Bible. He repeats the same 20 words four times in one chapter. God doesn't waste time. He doesn't, you know, it's not like he forgot, he ran out of things to say, he needed some filler in the middle of this chapter. Oh, I think I better fill this out, make it, get up to 43 verses there. Let's just repeat that one. God doesn't make mistakes. There's a reason he said this for us and he wants us to pay attention. It's kind of like if I sent a text message and If I sent it with one exclamation point, that's, you know, kind of serious. Two exclamation points, maybe more. If I sent four exclamation points behind what I text, that's, hey, this is something really serious. You better pay attention here. And that's what God did for us here. And He wants us to pay attention to this thought. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. We're going to look at that thought tonight. We'll break down this chapter. Father, I do pray that You'd help us. Lord, I pray that You'd help me to be clear. I pray, Father, that You'd that you bless. Be with our pastor tonight there in Arizona. I pray, Father, that you help this missions conference stand strong, please. Lord, I pray that you'd use him, Lord, to be able to see this church do more for missions there. But Father, tonight, I pray that you'd help us, Lord. Please help us to set aside, Lord, some of the cares we've had from today. Some people have had long days. Some people have been up for hours. Father, some people are tired. Some people have had long weeks, Lord, and they've had some different issues that have come up, Lord. And we've got things on our mind, things on our hearts. We've got some worries. We've got some cares. Lord, please help us set those aside now. This helps to focus on you and your word, and I pray, Father, that you'd, that you'd feed us tonight, give me what I need, and I pray for this in your son's name, amen. The Book of Psalms is the song book for Israel, right? It's the book that's, it's their hymnal, if you will. This chapter really shows that really well. That verse we read four times. So I looked through this passage, this is kind of like the chorus to a song, right? So there's verse one in a chorus, verse two in a chorus, verse three in a chorus, verse four in the chorus, and we read all the choruses. And then if we're breaking down the psalm, Starting in verse 32 down through verse 42. There's a little it's a tag the Musical term I had to talk to my wife and it's called a coda when they put like a little tag on a song and you've got that extra little part on there and that's what 31 through 42 or 32 through 42 are and And then verse 43 is kind of a conclusion to this song, who so is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Now that word loving kindness is the same word that's mercy back in verse one. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for his good, for his mercy and earth forever. That word mercy and that word loving kindness, that's the same word. It's also the same word that's mentioned in each of those choruses, O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness. That word goodness is the same word. So we saw that same word in this passage six times. It starts the introduction, it's in each chorus, and then it's the end. And that word goodness, that word mercy, that word loving kindness, it's exactly what that means. It's God's loving favor that's undeserved toward inferiors, and that's us. And so the psalmist is down here, I personally did a little bit of research on this one. No one can say definitively, but it feels like it's a psalm by David. So if I mentioned that David wrote this, it's not said specifically that David wrote this one, but he did write a lot of them. But this is one that's anonymous. But if I say David wrote it, it's a good possibility that he did. But the psalmist here he gives us some reasons why men should praise the Lord. "'Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.'" And then he starts in verse 1. Now verse 1 of this song tells us why should I give thanks unto the Lord? What are the wonderful works to the children of men? What has God done for us that we should give him thanks for? And that's the question, and then the psalm answers that question. So why should I give God thanks? What are these wonderful works to the children of men? Verse two, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. The first group of people that have something to thank God for, to praise God for, are the redeemed. So those that have been saved. Owen, can you come help me real quick? Owen's going to be a quick helper here. Those redeemed people, sometimes we forget there was a time before we were redeemed. Maybe you just hold that sign for me. Before we were redeemed, we were lost. I think we forget just how bad it is to be lost because we're saved. Maybe you scooch up just a little bit so they can see your sign. He goes into a little bit of detail about what it means to be lost. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Folks, remember there was a time that we were in the hand of the enemy? We were the children of Satan. And again, I know several of us, myself included, we were saved maybe in a Christian, had a Christian upbringing. We weren't necessarily saved from a hard life, but we were saved from a hard life. And being saved from the hand of the enemy, some of you in this room, you've got history with substance abuse. Some of you in this room, you've got histories with a past that you don't like to glory in, you don't like to think about. And some of us in this room, we were saved from the hand of the enemy. We don't have that past. It's not something we ever had to struggle with. But regardless, we were saved from the hand of the enemy as well. And then he says, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south. God pulls people from all around the world. He pulls us all together. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. It's hard to go back to remembering what it was like to be lost. spiritually lost. But I know what it's like to be physically lost. I know what it's like to not know where I am or not know where I'm going or not know how to get there. And to wander and to be confused and to not know where I am and not know where I'm going, that's tough. And we were there spiritually. We were wandering in a wilderness. We were in a solitary way. We had no city to dwell in. We had no hope of heaven. We had no hope of after this what? And folks, if we're not careful, we forget what we were saved from. We forget the magnitude of our salvation, the magnitude of the mercy of God, the magnitude of His loving kindness, what He did for us because, hey, I am saved. Things are good. We forget what we were saved from. We forget what we were saved to. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. There are people all around the world. We meet them door knock and we see them all over the place. People that are searching, that are trying to find truth, they can't find truth. They're hungering, they're thirsty, Their soul faints within them. They watch the news, walk down the street, drive through town. You'll see people hungering and thirsting for truth. Their soul fainting in them. They just can't find it. There's nothing there. Verse six is the key. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. We're gonna see that verse, a very similar verse, four times in this passage because At one time we were lost. At one time we were there. You were hungry. You were thirsty. You were wandering. You had no hope. Then at some time you cried unto the Lord in your distress. And you've got to get to that point. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We've got to get to that point. Then they cried unto the Lord in their distress. Or in their trouble. He delivered them out of their distress. And look what God did for them. He led them forth by the right way. And notice, it doesn't say he led them forth in a right way, but by the right way, one way. There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. There's one way. He led them in the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. Book of Hebrews talks about, but now they desire a better country. That isn't heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. There was a time we were lost. There was a time we were wandering. And sometimes we forget about that. But see, God took the lost, and then they cried, and now we're the redeemed. And that first, that second verse there, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And that's many of us in this room today. You've accepted Christ your Savior. You're the redeemed of the Lord. Say so. How do we say so? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. He didn't have to save us. He didn't have to lead us. He didn't have to redeem us. And for his wonderful works to the children of men. Verse two starts out, for he satisfies the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, need another helper. Nehemiah, can you help me? Excellent. Come on up here, buddy. Nehemiah is going to be our captive. Come all the way up. Have you come down here and stand on the front by Owen, right here. All right. Nehemiah is going to represent the people that are captive. Look what it says here. It says that, for he satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with goodness, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron. These are the captives. They're bound down. By the way, that word affliction literally means, it means to be tied up in our mind. This is a mental affliction. And then the idea of the iron is talking about physical affliction. And we're bound in both ways. And he tells us why. Verse 11, because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. The rebelled there that they did, literally means they fought against. They fought against God's counsel, or they fought against God's words, and then that condemned, it's not condemned, it's contempt. It means to disrespect, to find contempt. They found God's counsel contemptible. I don't want that. It was contemptible. If we're not careful, we can end up in the same way too. See folks, we've accepted Christ our Savior. We're redeemed now. We were lost, now we're redeemed. But after we're redeemed, now it's the next group of people, and this next group of people that go around, as we move into this next group of people, we're the ones now that sometimes, if we're not careful, we can be such a sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron. And the reason we get bound in affliction, sometimes the reason we get bound by it, sometimes the reason we get bound by it, is because we know what God's Word says. We know what we're supposed to do. but we rebel against it. We know what the counsel of God is, but I disregard, I contempt, I find it contemptible. I don't want to do it God's way, I want to do it my way. And so we find it contemptible. And what ends up happening is, is we become captives. Romans very explicitly explains to us that who we yield our members His servants to obey, His servants we are to obey. And if we choose to rebel, to contempt God's Word or God's plan or God's counsel and try to do it in our own way, then we can be like captive. We can be held captive. We can be bound in captivity. And in the situation where they're in the captivity, if we look through those verses, it's not a pretty picture as far as what's going on. He started out how they were hungry and how they were thirsty. And they were longing. Verse number 10, they were in darkness and the shadow of death. Down in verse number 12, therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They're working all the time, but they're not accomplishing what they want to do. It's like they're working and there is no relief from the work. They fell down and there was none to help. They were lonely. They felt like they were all alone. There was nothing around them. And why is this happening? And it's because they tried to do it in their own way. They tried to do it not in God's way. They tried to live their lives apart from this book, right? I don't want what this word says. I don't want what God's counsel says. I want to do things my own way. And it ends up holding us captive. We end up getting held down. We end up getting bound in affliction. We end up getting bound in iron. idolatry in the Bible days, they would go and they would go and worship these false gods. They would go to these false gods because God Jehovah wasn't answering in the way that they thought he should, right? They would pray for rain. It didn't rain. Well, if it's not raining, if we pray to God, let's go pray to Baal and maybe it'll rain. If I pray to Baal, maybe he'll make it rain for me. And, and They would go to God, but if they didn't get the answer they wanted and the time they wanted, then immediately they would go to these false gods. And that's what would happen, right? They would pray for profitability or for fertility or for whatever, and it didn't happen. And so, oh, I'm going to go to these false gods. Oh, go to Molech. Oh, we're going to go to Astaroth. They pray to God for counsel. God, what should we do? They don't get it. So, oh, let's go to the witch of Endor and see what she has to say. because they weren't getting the answer they wanted, and they didn't want to do it God's way. So they rebelled against the Word of God, they contemned the counsel of God, and they ended up being found captive. And church families, sometimes we do the same thing. Now we don't go and pray to Astaroth or Molech or Baal, but what we do is we try it God's way, and if God's way doesn't work, all right, well what does Google say I should do? What do they say on YouTube I should do in this situation? I know God's word says that financially, right? God's word, there's some pretty, it's pretty laid out, pretty spelled out scripturally what we're supposed to do financially. And we try it God's way, but God's way didn't seem to work so well for me. So now I wanna try it a different way. Let's try it how these guys say, oh, on the radio, they say, if we do this, this will work better. And if we're not careful, we start worshiping these false idols, these false gods, these false ways. We start changing the ways. and then we're held captive and we get bound. But look what these people did. Even though that they had rebelled against God's word, even though they had contemned the counsel of God, verse 13, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Now if I'm God and you rebelled against my word, you contemned my counsel, suck it up, buttercup, you know? But look what God did. and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of the darkness and from the shadow of death. In fact, go ahead and turn your sign around there, Nehemiah. He released them. He broke their bands in sunder. He let them go. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. See, not only does God save us when we're lost, but when I reject God's way and God's word, And I say, God, I shouldn't have done that. I get myself into trouble. I get myself into distress. I cry out to him, God releases me from my self-made problems. God still saves us. And that's the goodness of God. That's the wonder of what this is. Verse 16, for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars in iron and sunder. Verse 17 talks, this is the start of verse three, fools. Fools, because of their transgression, because of their iniquity, are afflicted. Their soul abhors all manner of meat. They draw near unto the gates of death. I need another guy. Matthew, come on down. He looks like a foolish person. Good typecasting. Thank you for volunteering. I'll get our foolish guy up here. Let's see what the Bible says about this foolish guy. It says, fools, because of their transgression, because of their iniquity, are afflicted. Church families, sometimes we're like that. We're foolish. I do foolish things sometimes. Sometimes I'm foolish, and because of my foolishness, look what it says. Fools, because of their transgressions, The word transgression there means to go beyond. Again, there are three words in the Bible usually that are used for wrongdoing. The word sin, we're used to, you know, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The word sin there means we don't measure up, right? We don't meet the standard. If the standard's here, we fall short of the standard. So, sin. Transgression means to go beyond, to like transport, transfer, to go beyond, to move beyond what's allowable. It's the idea of if the speed limit is 65 and we're doing 75, you are transgressing, you are exceeding what's allowed. So transgression, fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities. Iniquities is the third word oftentimes used for wrongdoing and it simply means a perversion, it means to twist, twist God's way. So God says, this is righteous. And then we twist it and make what was righteous, not righteous, and what wasn't righteous, righteous. For instance, like a rainbow. God put a bow of promise in the sky. And then we can take God's bow of promise, God's rainbow, and we can twist it and we can cause iniquity. We can pervert the rainbow to now if I wear a shirt with a big rainbow on it, it doesn't mean I'm thankful for God saving us from Noah's Ark. It's been perverted. It's been twisted. It's iniquity, right? And so fools, because of their transgression, because of their iniquity, they are afflicted. And folks, sometimes we do the same thing early on in the book of Psalms. It tells us the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. And sometimes I live my life and I make decisions. I make choices for my life as if there was no God, as if I don't want to know what's going to happen. I just want to do this and live and do what I'm going to do. If you go to the book of Proverbs chapter 1, you can see that wisdom cries out, but there's also a foolish person in Proverbs chapter 1. And the fool that wisdom cried out to, the fool, he wouldn't have my counsel. He despised all my reproof. And then calamity and destruction and fear and all these things happened to that foolish man because he didn't want to have anything to do with the counsel, the wise counsel that he was getting. And this is a guy who, he knew better. And he chose to transgress. See, this guy over here, the captive guy, he made some choices that weren't necessarily transgressions. He just got himself into some trouble. This guy, he sinned. These are transgressions. These are iniquities. And he got himself afflicted. He got himself into some trouble. But look what the foolish man does. right there in verse number 19, And here's how God does it for the fool. And that's kind of the key for the foolish person. Go ahead and turn around there. He's going to go with the foolish person. He's going to be rescued from his distress, from the destruction that was coming. And the way God rescues the foolish person was through His Word. He sent His Word, and if you look at that verse, He spells it out, it says, He sent His Word and healed them and then delivered them from their destructions. And that's how God pulls us out of foolishness. How do I stop being foolish? Well, I get into this book and I start living by this book and this book will pull me out of foolishness. But see, it's kind of the key all the way through. How do I stop being lost? Well, How shall they call on Him of whom they have not heard? Or of whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? It takes this Word for us to be redeemed. How do I know what I'm supposed to do? And how do I not rebel against the Word of God or the counsel of God? See, this guy, he knew the truth, he just rebelled against it. It takes God's Word. This guy, he didn't know that this was God's Word. He was just breaking God's Word. He didn't know anybody. He was just breaking God's Word. He's a fool. A fool is one who doesn't know. He just didn't know. And he transgressed. He committed iniquities. And God said, I'll help you. He cried, what do I do? What do I do? God said, I'll help you. Here's my word. Read my word. It'll heal you. It'll deliver you. It's going to pull you out of this. And that's how we get out of this. All right, Matthew, may I have you scoot down closer to Nehemiah? I need one more guy. Sure. Joshua, come on down. Sorry, Nick, you're too far in. Our next verse. our next person. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. God's great. He saves our soul from hell. I don't deserve it. He did. God's great. When I disregard God's Word. When I put other things higher than God's Word, when I sometimes set other gods before God and I take other people's plans and it gets me in trouble, God will still save me from that, from my own foolish choices. When I make these decisions that are not biblical, God can still deliver me from those. When I don't know what's right and what's wrong, when I don't know and I've committed iniquities and I've committed transgressions and And I'm just kind of afflicted and I can't figure out why. God will send his word. God will deliver me. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. And then he tells us a story right here in the middle. Verse number 23 starts, they that go down into the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, the wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth up the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. They are at their wit's end. The next group of people that have something to praise the Lord about. are the overwhelmed. And this pastor talks about how they're at their wits end. It says that they're in, their soul is melted because of the trouble. They're overwhelmed. Now this guy's overwhelmed, not because of disregarding God's word, not because of sin he's committed. This guy's just circumstances in life. The storm, it says, then he commanded the storm and the winds blew and the waves got big and the waves went down, Makes me think of the book of Matthew when Jesus told the parable about the two people that built a house. And we sang the song in children's church, right? The wise man built his house on the rock and the foolish man built his house on the sand. You see, the wise man and the foolish man, they both went out and built their houses and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew. Now, in my mind, it makes sense that the foolish man's house had the rains fall on it, had the floods come on it. He was foolish. He deserved for his house to fall down. He deserved for that storm to come up and hit him. But the wise man who built his house on the rock, the rain descended on his house too. The winds blew against his house, too. The floods came against his house, too. And it wasn't like he was reaping for some evil thing that he had done. It was just God commanded for the storms to come, and in that man's life, the storms came. Now, he was prepared for the storm, but the storm still came. And sometimes in life, storms are gonna come. It's gonna happen. This time of year, pipes are gonna freeze. It's gonna happen. Doesn't mean that God's punishing you for some wicked sin that you've committed, I don't think. But it's just the storms that happen. Cars are gonna slide off roads. And you might go out and your car won't start one day. It's cold, batteries don't do well in this kind of cold. And sometimes all those things can stack up and it can get a little overwhelming. In fact, eventually I can get to the point where I'm at my, as the verse said, I'm at my wits end. My heart melts within me. Oh, God, why is this happening? What am I going to do? How am I supposed to make it through this? Look what the Bible says they did. Verse number 28, then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. Just like I prayed for God to save my soul, when I was lost and He redeemed me. Just like when I'm held captive and I can't get the victory over something and I've made some bad choices and I'm reaping the consequences of those, God can release me from those bonds, from that bondage. Sometimes when I'm foolish and I've transgressed and I've committed iniquity and I know that God's there, but sometimes I live my life like there is no God, God will save me from that. And when I'm overwhelmed, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and I'm trying to live my life right, but it seems like a storm's blown up, and now this is happening, and now this is happening, I'm having trouble at work, and my car won't run, and now I'm sick, and I can't find my dog, and God, why? Then they cried unto the Lord in their distresses. And he delivered them. And then look what he says after that. This is what God will do. He maketh the storm a calm. so that the waves, they're ever still. Remember when Jesus was on the ship with the disciples? He came out in the storm, peace, be still. And the storm of life that was there was calmed, and God can do the same thing for us, and God will. You know what should make us do? Look at the next verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Wonderful work, he saved me. Wonderful work, he'll release me. Wonderful work, he'll rescue me when I make sinful decisions. Wonderful work, when I'm overwhelmed, he'll bring peace into my life. In fact, the verse before says he'll bring them into their desired haven. He helps things to be quiet. He'll get me where I need to go. Then there's this little coda. And in this little coda, he kind of goes through a little situation. verse 33 says, he turned the rivers into a wilderness and the water springs into dry ground. So this is an area where it's all wet and it's all good and then he dries it up. A fruitful land, verse 34 says, a fruitful land into a barren land for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. And then look at verse 35, then he turns the wilderness into a standing water, the dry ground into a water spring. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation, and sow fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to disease. So we see that there was like a fruitful land and God dried up the water, and God turned it into a desert. And then the desert land, God brought water to it and made it fruitful again. But then look at verse 38, or sorry, verse 39. Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth contempt upon the princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. Yet he saith to pour on high from affliction and make them families like a flock. So again, we see the cycle, he says, then they're finished and they're brought low. And then he lifts up the poor and they're brought back up. The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Sometimes I scratch my head and say, God, why? Why is there the captivity? Why are there the storms? Why is there this? He says, listen, I want you to be able to see my hand in this. And it's my hand that brings the water, and it's my hand that dries up the water. It's my hand that brings the blessing, and it's my hand that moves away the blessing. And when we cry into the Lord in our trouble, then we're delivered. And when I don't think I need God's help at all, that's when the water dries up. That's when the crops don't grow. That's when they are diminished, the verse says, we're diminished, we start losing things. Verse 43, whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Remember we started, that word loving kindness is the same word that came up as goodness and the same word that came up as mercy in verse number one. If we're wise, we can observe these things. What things? That God redeems the lost. What things? That God will release the captives. What things? That God comes through and He'll rescue us when we're foolish. God will come through and He'll bring peace to us. He'll bring quietness to us when we're overwhelmed. If we can understand this, if we can see that when I cry out to God He delivers me, and when I think I can do it my own way then I'm diminished, I'm brought down. They will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Gentlemen, you can have a seat and keep your signs. Thank you. I've heard it, I'm sure you've heard it before too. People often ask this question, how can a loving God allow this to happen? Why does God let good things happen like this? Oftentimes when people say something like that, they're looking at a situation that's like the storm. Why does God let a storm happen to good people? Sometimes they're looking at a situation over here. Why is God allowing me to have to suffer this way when other people are? And it's a captivity situation. Who so is wise? We can understand the loving kindness of the Lord, even in the storm, even in the captivity, even in the punishment for the foolish choices. Even when we're lost, God still loves, and is merciful to us. God loved you enough to send his son and die for you while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's understanding the loving kindness of the Lord. Even though if I were the one in charge, I would not be nearly as merciful as God is. God looks down and we make the same bad choices over and over and over again. And he forgives us, says, hey, go ahead. My loving kindness, we can understand the loving, God says, hey, I forgive you, let's clean you up, let's get back at it. Even when I'm just outright foolish, God, I'm gonna make decisions if you don't even exist. I'm gonna transgress and commit iniquity and I don't care. And then trouble comes and distress has come and anguish and fear and tribulation and all the stuff that's talked about in Proverbs chapter one comes down on us then they cry unto the Lord, and he delivers them. And sometimes, just going about my daily life, just going through my day, a storm blows in, and the waves go up to the heaven, and they drop down to the depths, and my heart melts within me, and I'm at my wit's end. God, what am I supposed to do now? God still loves me, and God's still merciful to me. And He won't give me what I deserve. He's going to give me better than I deserve. And that is the loving kindness of God. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for these wonderful works He does for us, the children of men. Let's pray.