Father, we're grateful to have the privilege to be here this morning, and none of us are here by accident. We have a divine appointment with you. For some, it's a matter that they really intended to come. They really wanted to come. This is an important part of their life. Maybe for others, Father, just caught in the middle of trying to figure out who you are and if there's any relevance to truth and scripture for our day, for 2012. Father, thank you that you're a God who speaks to us where we are. You're a God who gives to us truth to understand how we are to live, how we are to conduct ourselves, how to understand the world around us. Because a lot of times there are great questions that we have. And so, Father, I pray now that as we open up this book that tells us about you, reminds us about our relationship with you. Lord, we pray for the ministry of your Holy Spirit among us in a really very special way. That we may see you maybe in a new way today, we may understand how you are to impact our lives and how we're to live our lives in light of that. And Father, if some feel searching this morning about a relationship, a personal relationship with you through Christ, that that might be plain as well. So we invite your presence through the Holy Spirit into our midst today. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. I suspect that if we are honest with each other this morning, there's a vast majority of us who are here, who at some point in our life, we would say that life isn't fair. Life isn't fair. In fact, if we were to take it a step further, it would be a matter that, you know, God, you aren't fair. You aren't fair. We tried to live as God wanted us to live. Try to do the things that God wants us to do. But people who don't seem to care anything about God seem to have everything going so well in their lives. Maybe you've been involved in a sport and that was your desire, your goal. You want to do the very best of your ability through sports. And so you put in hard time. You go the extra mile, literally. You do what you can to be of help to others around and you take that time. And somebody else, however, is able to go and kind of slough off and kind of play the political kind of side of things and they end up starting and you end up sitting on the bench and you wonder is it fair, is it worth it? For some of you who are involved in business, you've made the principle of your business to be that of being honest and upfront with individuals. And so you tell them, yes, my product can do this. No, it can't do that. Here's a deficiency. This is good. And so you're opening your honest with individuals. And you've tried to live your life that way. That's been your principle. And yet you have some competition across town. And they're individuals who lie to their customers. They take the short piece. And they promise things that just cannot happen. And yet there are sales and seem to be going through the roof and you wonder. Is God really in it, is it worth it? For some of you, as you approach that mature point in years and you wanted to live your life for God and you've done that and you've been involved in serving him in all different kinds of ways that he's made available to you. And yet you find that your health is declining and you look out around you and you see individuals who haven't cared anything about God, who have made really bad choices with their life, who have lived hard, and yet they seem to be doing just fine. And you wonder, is it worth it? In 1981, a Jewish author published a book. Harold Kushner was his name. He published a book entitled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. And in that book, he phrased the question this way, you know, why is it that people who we would consider to be good, they're individuals who want to live life right. They're not trying to rip anybody off. They're trying to do the right thing. And why is it that bad things happen to them? Why do they get hit by drunk drivers? Why is it that cancer becomes part of their life? Why is it they lose children? Why is it that they lose jobs? Why is it that Bad things happen to good people because being a Jewish author, he would say that that there is a God in heaven. Who is to be all powerful and all good, but if there's a God in heaven who is all powerful and all good, then he ought to take care of all the problems that we have and we shouldn't have any problems, which led him to only two choices. One suggestion that he put forth is that God is all powerful, that God is sovereign, but he must he must not be good. That God could change your situation if He wanted to, but for some reason, God really isn't good, and therefore, He's going to allow you to go through that difficulty, that hardship, that pain, and that suffering, because He sort of enjoys watching you suffer. Now, Krishna rejected that one. And He said, there's another option in front of us, and this is what it looks like. He said, it's the fact that God is good, but He's not all-powerful. But unfortunately, There are things that happen to you and me that God really wouldn't want to happen to us, but they're just some things that are too big for God. And that you are to derive solace and comfort in the fact that, you know, God really is sitting in heaven with empathy for you. He really feels bad about your situation, but he just can't do anything about it. And that's where he landed. There's a third option, which he didn't get into, and we'll look at that a little bit later on, just for a moment, at the conclusion of the time together this morning. But I want to take that question, why is it that bad things happen to good people and turn it around? And why is it that good things happen to bad people? You know of situations like that. You know of individuals where they have nothing and don't think about God at all and have no interest in the things of God and live life all their way and everything seems to go their way. They get all the breaks. Does really serving God, does really living for Jesus pay off? To put the question this way, why should you live for Jesus when your friends seem to be doing just fine without Him? Why should you live for Jesus when the friends that you have just seem to be doing fine without Him? Well, this morning we're going to get a chance to look in a journal of a man who wrote and who addressed that very question in his life. His name was Asaph. He was a man who wrestled with that question. He was a religious leader. He was a worship leader. So he was one who was called upon to lead God's people in worship. And yet he's wrestling with this question. Why is it that good things happen to bad people? He was in charge of a group of singers. He was a paid, from what we can tell, musician in Israel. But he's very attractive for his honesty and what he saw around him. He was like the Howard Cosell of his day. He tells it like it is. So if God is in control, it would seem to us that if God is really in control, then the wicked should fail and the righteous should prosper. Those who want to live for God should do well, and those who don't want to live for God, should fail, but that's not the world that we see, is it? We see rich scoundrels who are getting richer. We see utterly evil people who are doing better, people making big money, even criminals getting rich off of doing bad things and then selling their books and getting a lot out of it. We wonder, God, where are you? Bring it really close to home. Within the last period of time, we've seen some individuals up in New York who ripped off people, drove their companies into the ground. One individual from whom we have heard lost $5 billion. Not really sure where it went. And as a result of that, it closed down business. People are laid off. And you and I get to bail them out. And our kids. And we wonder, God, that doesn't seem fair. Why do bad people prosper? If I should grab a Bible, let's turn to Psalm 73. Psalm 73, if you want to follow along in a Pew Bible, it's page 593. Page 593. It's an interesting psalm. You notice I mention the fact that Asaph is the author of this psalm. Remember, it's important to remember. This is somebody who has some knowledge of God. He's written praise songs. He's written worship songs. He has the knowledge of God, yet something just doesn't seem to be working. And in this particular psalm, it really divides itself very well into two parts. The first part is he identifies the problem in verses 1 through 15. He states the problem that he sees. So the problem is stated in front of us here in verses 1 through 15. And then the problem is resolved in verses 16 through 28. So let's first of all look at the problem that's given for us in the first part of these verses. We start off in verse 1. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. He starts with a foundational statement that we must know, we must understand, and that God is good. He says, I know God is good. I've learned this about God, that God is good. You see, friends, we have to start with some presupposition. He's looked at the God of the Old Testament that's been recorded for him, and he understands that God is good. It is a character. It is the nature of God. God is good. He's not bad. And sometimes in those times of darkness through which we walk, we are not to question in the darkness what we learned about God in the light. And so he remembers that truth. God is good. But then in verses two and three, he begins to identify the problem that he's experiencing. But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant. I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He looked around at me and said, man, I almost went down. I don't know if you've ever had that experience where it's like, whoa, you know, when you hit a patch of water or something, it's like, man, I was just that close to losing it. Just a little nudge and I would have been down. And that, in essence, is what Asaph is saying. And I have this relationship with God, but I came that close to losing my faith, my trust in God. almost lost. He repeats it twice. Therefore, for me, my feet almost stumbled and almost slipped. Why? For I was envious of the arrogant and I saw the prosperity of the wicked. The wicked here are talking about those who reject God. They have nothing to think in terms of God. I don't care about God. They may be immoral. They may be amoral. Just not really interested in God and kind of living life their own way. And I'm going to do my own thing. And then he goes into a description of these wicked people, and he does that in verses 4 through 11. There are no pains in their death, and their body is fat. Now, here's individuals who, when they come to the end of life's journey, they just sort of stop. I mean, that's it. Whereas you and I have seen individuals who love God, who walked with God, they come to the end of life's journey, and cancer just seems to riddle their body, and there's a lot of pain, and there's a lot of suffering. And we say, well, where's the fairness in that? This guy who didn't know God, didn't care about God, lived his own way, just checks out. That's it. This one over here serves God and it's been painful. Their body is fat. Now, in our day, we have some different impression of that. But in that day, it's saying, hey, they're living well. They got plenty of food on the table. They're not starving. Verse 5, they're not in trouble as other men are. They're not plagued like mankind. Their pride is their necklace of garments of violence covers them. They destroy people. They hurt people. They don't care. They step on whoever they need to to climb the ladder of success. They're proud individuals. They go around like, you exist to serve me. We look at some of our celebrities. who look down on other people and treat them despicably because you're my servants. Verse 7, their eyes bulge from fatness, the imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They enjoy hurting people. We've seen this in dictators, have we not? They speak of oppression, they talk about what they're going to do, and they don't have a problem with that. They speak from on high. Verse 9, they have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth. I love that graphic, that last part of verse 9, the tongue parades through the earth. You know, I mean, there goes their tongue talking about themselves and how great a person they are. Look at me, look at my wealth, look at my prestige, look at my house. Verse 10, Therefore his people return to his place in waters of abundance and drunk by them. They say, How does God know? And is there any knowledge with the Most High? You know, if there is a God, he really doesn't care how I live because I'm doing my own thing and I haven't felt any retribution from it. I'm just fine. In fact, I don't really think there is a God. I don't have to worry about being accountable to him any day. I'm going to do my thing. And I live for myself. And they shake their fist in the face of God and basically announce, I don't believe there's a God and I don't worry about him. I'm doing my own thing. Is there a God? Does He know what I'm doing? Because if He did, He would really judge me, but since He hasn't, there must not be. So He gives to us then a summary of these thoughts in verse 12, and He says, Behold, these are the wicked, and they're always at ease. They have increased in wealth. Life has treated them fine. Verse 12, and then in verses 13 and 14, off of his summary, he draws a conclusion. He draws a wrong conclusion, but he draws a conclusion. And he says, Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence, for I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. God, I tried walking with you. I did what you wanted me to do. I lived by the standards that you set, that this is the way of blessing and prosperity and righteousness, and it hasn't paid off. It's been in vain. I've wasted my time. I could have been going out and grabbing all the gusto because we're only going to go around once. So why did I say no? For I've been stricken all day long and chastened every morning. It's just been painful. I find verse 15 really interesting. Because he, as a leader of God's people, was cautious about what he verbalized to others because he didn't want to cause them to stumble. And he said, if I had said, I will speak, thus behold, I will have betrayed the generation of your children. You see, he didn't say, OK, I'm going to write some worship songs that speak about how bad life is. Somebody told me some years ago that You know, you always make sure you know who's singing and that you've heard him before. You know what they're going to sing because they have somebody that somebody knew in their church and they had to get up on the platform to do a song kind of, you know, one of special music. And it was strong. We're all going to die strong. We're all going to hell. It's like, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Well, Asaph didn't take that. He didn't say, you know, God forgot about us. So I'd be really careful. When I talk to people, no, he wasn't being hypocritical, but there's some things he was wrestling with in his heart and his life, and he didn't want to lead God's people astray. You see, he understood that he was a leader for God. Now, sometimes as young Christians, we need to go find a mature Christian and say, you know, I'm really struggling with some things in life. It's not making any sense to me. I don't know where this is. That's legitimate. But Asaph here said, I didn't really have anybody else that I felt I could go to, and I wasn't going to go out and spread around God's people. You know, God really has been bad to me. So I needed to work this thing through. I needed to think this thing through. So I was very cautious in what I shared, because, you know, once we say something, we can never take it back. Have you figured that out? Oops, shouldn't have said that. And so he said, I'm just really cautious in my speech because I didn't want to cause others to stumble. So the first half of this chapter, the problem is stated. God, people who don't care about you seem to be doing just fine. And I who wanted to live for you, not doing well. The last part of this chapter, verses 16 to 26, he resolves the issue. There's a turning point. It's very important. It's found in verses 16 and 17. It's the turning point in his thought process. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight. I'm working on this. Spending a lot of emotional energy trying to figure it out, but notice what happened. Until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end. What's he talking about? He's talking about worship, friends. Whether it's individual worship or corporate worship, here it's probably talking about corporate worship, where he came and understood that before God, I need to reorient my life. I need to understand life. When I merely looked at life on a horizontal perspective and looked at the problems around me and not realized that there was a God and who God is, I was coming to some wrong conclusions. So I needed to worship. That's why we come together, friends. That's why we sing praises about our God that are lifted out of Scripture, to remind us of the truth of who God is and our life with Him. Jason's song, Remember Me, God in essence is saying, look, we get so involved in life, remember I exist, remember who I am. We need to gain a right perspective of ourselves and we need to get a right perspective of who God is. We need to recalibrate our thoughts. That's what we do when we come together corporately and individually in worship before God. We recalibrate, we do a software upgrade of the brain. Because we're bombarded with all the stuff that is out there and we begin to think like what is out there in the world that is out there. Worship is really seeing things as they are. It renews our perspective. Those of you who enjoy philosophy, a couple of ways and a couple of ideas of truth, and how do we arrive at truth? How do we know? How do we know what is really real? How do we know what is really true? Well, there's the ontological perspective, and that is that truth is that which is true, which it's right because it's there, and we need to understand that. But there's another means of approaching truth, and that's from an epistemological perspective, and that's by experience. How do I know what is true? It's by experience. If I've had the experience and I know it's true, and at first blush, we might say, well, that's the one that seems to make the most sense if I have the experience, right? I was talking with an individual last night, and they were talking about an adoption that they had done for a baby from Russia. And when they went to the orphanage in Russia, hundreds of beds in the orphanage, very little attention being able to be given because of finances and a whole bunch of other things to these infants. And so these infants were in their cribs 23 hours out of 24. And one hour out of the day they were taken out, allowed to play on the floor or whatever. Now stop and think about it. Truth for that baby that was bound in the crib was really limited, but that was their experience, right? But supposing somebody came in from the outside world and said, let me tell you what ontological truth is. You've had epistemological truth. You've had these experiences. But you don't have a clue because there's a whole lot more of the world out there than what you can see or experience. You see, when we come together in worship, we come to see a God who understands the big picture. We only have the experience of our little crib. And we judge what happens within our lives by what happens within our crib. It's that keyhole perspective where maybe you're able to look through a little keyhole and you just see a little bit of space and a little bit of time. And that's how we so often evaluate life, whereas worship brings us before an infinite God to understand Him better. We'll never master God. But we get to understand Him a little better. We get to understand His world. We reorient our lives around Him. That's what worship does. It puts life back into perspective. And He tells us about things that are out there that we don't even know about yet. So the psalmist said it was at worship, it was in worship, that my thoughts began to turn. Then I perceived their end. Well, notice what he does. In verses 18 to 20, he's awareness of the destiny of the wicked, the person who rejects God. Look what he says in verse 18. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down in destruction. That's fascinating. Asaph was the one who was slipping over here, but now we say, no, no, no. Asaph says, it's not really me who's going to be slippery. It's the one who's rejected God. They're in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction, how they are destroyed in a moment. They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors like a dream when one awakens. Oh, God, when aroused, you will despise their form. So first of all, he looks out on they and he's being able to recalibrate his thought process about God and what happens in this world through worship. But there's also not only an awareness of the destiny of those who reject God, there's an awareness of himself found in verses 21 and 22. When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant, I was like a beast before you. Why was his heart embittered? Envy. He said that back in verse three. I was envious of the arrogant. What is envy saying, really? It's me looking at God and saying, God, you haven't really been good to me. You failed in areas in my life, you should have done better. I deserve that and I deserve that and I deserve that. I deserve a different vehicle. I deserve a different job. I deserve more money in my bank account. God, you've not been good to me. And he said, when my heart was in bitter, friends, that's what envy will do. It will make our hearts bitter. We look around at other people and we compare ourselves to them. And I was senseless and I was ignorant, I was like a beast, I was like an animal. Read in a Genesis account, one of the things that that greatly separates humanity, people from animals, the fact that we can have a relationship with the God of the universe. We are created in God's image. No, not feet, toes, hands, etc. But with the immaterial part of us, the soul, the spirit that can communicate and have a relationship with our God. An animal cannot do that. And we were designed to have a relationship with God. So he says, understood the danger. Awareness of his destiny. of those who reject God, awareness of himself. But then he came up with a new awareness of who God is. And in verses 23 through 26, and by the way, I would encourage you on an assignment, memorize verses 23 through 26. Because it focuses on who God is, there's a new awareness of who God is in these verses, first of all, in God's presence in verse 23. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. God, you never let go of me. There may be times I wonder, God, are you there? But God, you are there. God is, we are told, omnipresent. He is able to be everywhere present at the same time. That ought to boggle our mind, man. That short-circuits it right there. But He can be with you individually right where you are. That situation through which you are going and a brother or sister in Christ around the other side of the world is Philippines. So God, I'm in your presence. The person who rejects God is not in God's presence in that way. God, you are my protection, verse 24. Not only is it you my presence, but there's protection in verse 24. And with your counsel, you will guide me and afterwards receive me to glory. The person who rejects God doesn't have God guiding them through life and giving them wisdom to make decisions in life. Is it worth following God for that? Verse 25. We have first of all God's presence, verse 23. God's protection, verse 24. Verse 25, God's person. Look at it. Whom have I in heaven but you and besides you, I desire nothing on earth. Wow. That's a pretty deep statement, isn't it? And I dare say, if most of us, myself included, that's a tough thing to say. That's a really tough thing to say. That I delight really only in God, not the stuff that God's given. Maybe that's a reason why it's necessary for God sometimes to take away the stuff, the health, the toys and allow difficulties into our lives so that we can come to the point where we say, you know, I had the good stuff, but it didn't really bring happiness and it really didn't bring joy. God, you are enough. I think too often we find ourselves using God sort of like You know, the glass case out there, the case of emergency, break glass. Break glass, open door, get God out. Or we open the cabinet at home on a Sunday morning and say, I need to go to church. I'm going to take God with me. So we bring God and we get him out of the cabinet and we bring him to church and we have the time here and I'm thinking about God. But then after that, I go back home, open up the cabinet, stick him in there and it's like, you know, next week, same time, same place, maybe unless something else has my attention. that our daily experience with God is not this. And that's why we get stuck on the stuff. It's kind of like the blame our kids, OK? We would never do this, I'm sure. But like on a Christmas morning, you know, if I just had that item, that gift, then I would be satisfied. You get it on a Christmas morning. They, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, they get it on a Christmas morning, broken by Christmas afternoon and they want something else. And we do the same thing. If I just had this job, if I just had this family, if I just had this wife, if I just had this husband, if I just had this stuff, if I just had this car, if I just had this, then I would be happy. No, you wouldn't. And I wouldn't either. Because happiness and joy is not built around stuff, it's built because of a presence with our God. And there's a fourth awareness that we have of God is found in verse 26, God's provision. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. A person who has rejected God can never experience that. You're my provision, God. You're my provision. You see what the author is telling us here is that we've got to see the long term perspective. So he brings a summary, a conclusion, verses 27 and 28. For behold, he speaks, first of all, the consequences of a godless life in verse 27. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. That is what ultimately is going to happen. That is eventually what takes place. Those who reject God step out of this world into a godless eternity. Great suffering. Pain. It's a choice. We make that choice of our ultimate destiny here. But then there's also the confidence, in verse 28, of a godly life. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell all of your good works. If we were to summarize what Asaph is telling us here, he says, for the one who walks with God, his worst day is far better. than the godless one's best day. Our worst day is better than the godless one's best day. Some things to think about and just kind of bring this to a close here this morning. I think there's some things that we learn about in Asaph, and that is the ultimate good in life is not prosperity. It is not the absence of pain, but it's the nearness of God. I know we live in a day and time that people will tell us that, you know, if you trust God, then everything goes fine. Life just becomes a breeze. That's not what this book says. That our ultimate good is found in nearness to God, and that's a lifelong journey. It's a lifelong journey. Secondly, pain serves a good purpose of putting life and death into perspective. You see, that's the piece that Harold Kushner missed in his book. Either God is sovereign and he doesn't care about you, or God cares about you, but he's not sovereign. Now there's a third option. That God is sovereign and he cares about you. We live in a fallen world. But God is so creative that he can take those bad things that happen to us and turn them for good. Joseph's life story is an indication of that. And it is through the suffering, it is through the pain, it is through the heartache and the heartbreak that we develop that relationship and we grow closer to God. And you know, I've talked to individuals who have gone through horrendous things in their lives. And you know what they tell me? I wouldn't have missed it for the world because I learned some things about God that I could not have learned any other way. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was committed to the Russian gulag, said, Bless you, prison, because it was in prison that I met God. Got nothing in a Russian prison, but God, you're more than enough. And we sit in America, and the abundance of it all gets so fogged by the stuff around us. We also see, I think, from ASAP's experience, that sometimes dealing with the problem of pain is a process. You may be going through that right now. It's not a matter of, well, just buck up. Don't worry. Be happy, as the song says. That's not what he's saying. It may be a process. You notice, I don't know how long this took him to get from verse 2 to verse 28, or really 16 and 17. I don't know how long it took him, but he arrived. Was it hours? Was it days? Was it weeks? Was it a few months? I don't know. Someone has said in their prayers is pretty good. He said, you know, as he was praying, he said, oh, Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today, it was because I couldn't see far enough ahead. I was looking at my crib, I was looking through the keyhole. Supposing on April 10th, 1912, you were standing on a dock in Southampton, Great Britain, UK, and you were looking up at this magnificent ocean liner. And you just had a few dollars in your pocket, and you're not even sure where your next job was, but that's all you had. And you looked up and you could see into the stateroom of a man who was extremely wealthy. In fact, he had made his wealth off of the backs of other people, and he had bought his way into business and prosperity, and he had all the trinkets, all the stuff that the world would consider to be pleasure, He had the money to do it all. He had all kinds of friends in there. The food was elaborate. And you were looking there and you're thinking, man, it would really be nice to be there just for a little bit. And as you were evaluating that, somebody slipped up beside you and you kind of told him what you were thinking. He said, well, do you know, that's the HMS Titanic. In five days, that man is going to be dead. He's going to enter a Christless eternity. A place the Bible refers to as hell is a place of torment forever. No, it's not going to be a party with all your friends who've gone there, because from what I read in Scripture, it really seems like it's isolated confinement. That you're there, you don't even have any contact with anybody else. And he gave you that glimpse into the future, and you were able to see what was going to happen. And he said, by the way, let me show you your life. Yeah, you don't have a lot now, but let me show you what heaven is like. You see, heaven is a place that God has gone to prepare for his people. It's a prepared place for God's prepared people, whereas hell is a place prepared for whom? Devil and his angels. And having known that at that point in time, what choice would you make? Long term perspective or short term perspective? It's been put this way. One of the hymns, you maybe remember part of it. Oh soul, are you wearied and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, the light of His glory and grace. Friend, if you're here this morning, you don't know Jesus, you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the cross to pay your sin, pay my sin, pay for the sin of the whole world. That's what God says, ontologically we know that. That whoever believes in Him, puts their faith and trust in the finished, completed work of Jesus, becomes a child of God. And even though we go through those difficult hardship problems, trials, heartaches and heartbreaks of life, as Asaph did, we come back to the fact that we have a God who gives us long term perspective and walks through us with us through life. Let's pray. Father, it's good for us to get a long term perspective. We live in a time frame that's so short. We can go from joy and great heart effects to pain and suffering in a matter of minutes. But Father, we need the long term perspective and as Asaph pointed out to us, yes, it is good to trust God. So, Father, I pray for those in a real special way here this morning going through really difficult times, not because of choices that they've made, but because of life and the heartaches and heartbreaks. And Father, sometimes those choices we make do have heartaches and heartbreaks, but you're a God who is willing to forgive us on those as well. And Father, this is tough to pray because we understand the process is painful. But God, we want to come to a place where You're enough. You're enough. Lord, I realize that even daring to pray that prayer means that it could get hard. We may lose stuff. And yet, ultimately, to have the assurance, as Asaph did, that you're more than enough. is what true life really means. So it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.