And I hope you have your Bibles open still. We're going to look at Judges chapter 14. And this story is something. It feels like it's straight out of Netflix, doesn't it? Samson, he's a womanizer. He's a man of vengeance. He's got superhuman strength. He's got great hair. He's like James Bond mixed with John Wick, mixed with The Hulk mixed with Rapunzel. He's got all of that in one. And in one sense, that makes my job this morning very easy. Because it's hard to lose attention when you're telling a story of a man who's killing a thousand people with the jawbone of a donkey. I'm sure it could be done. We'll see this morning. But you know, that's easy for me. However, it also presents a real challenge for the same reason. One commentator warns, Samson is such a rollicking, entertaining, break-the-mold fellow. that we may become preoccupied with him. And we must not allow our focus on the Savior God raises up to eclipse the God who saves. Which is exactly right, I think that sets the agenda for us this morning. We're gonna listen in to the story of Samson, but the author of Judges, inspired by the Holy Spirit, didn't put this in our Bibles to entertain us. He included this story so as to teach us further so as to change us. And so that's what we're after today. But in order to do that, we do need to listen to the story that's been told. So we're gonna walk through this, we're gonna break it into three scenes, and then once we've done that, we're gonna step back and ask, what the lesson is here? What is it that we're meant to see? So scene one, I've entitled A Forbidden Love, because the story begins, as so many great stories do, with a flash of romance. We read, verses one to two of chapter 14, Samson went down to Timnah, And at Timna, he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and he told his father and mother, I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna. Now get her for me as my wife. And it's beautiful. It's like we're watching a Hallmark movie. Samson, he finds this woman, kind of like a construction worker, finds a piece of meat he wants at the deli, and he says, that one. Then he sends his parents to go get her, and love is in the air. But which is confusing, however, because if you were with us last Sunday and you looked at chapter 13, Samson, we were told, was gonna be given a lofty assignment. The angel said, behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. And so we went home last Sunday after reading chapter 13 and we're like, the Simpson, he's gonna come, he's gonna be the Philistine destroyer. And then here in the opening verses of chapter 14, he's the Philistine lover. So that's confusing. And Samson clearly, he's not taking this prophecy very seriously. The Philistines also don't seem to be taking it very seriously. Samson takes a Philistine woman to be his wife. The Philistines are happy to hand him over. However, Samson's parents are standing back and they're taking the prophecy seriously. They ask Samson, is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all of our people that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? They essentially say, Samson, look around you. There's so many women here that you could have. You're Samson. Why would you go and take this woman which is forbidden, Samson? Kind of sounds like the Garden of Eden, doesn't it? Just like Adam and Eve before him, even though they're surrounded by all this other fruit, it was the forbidden fruit that was drawing. And so Samson responds, get her for me. She is right in my eyes. If you were asked to define sin in one sentence, I don't think, well, you'd find some good options. That would be one of them, though, wouldn't it? Get her for me, she's right in my eyes. The moment that we give ourselves permission to ignore God's word, to do that which we know is wrong because it is right in my eyes, that's the moment we step into sin, isn't it? And that's the story of Samson's life. That's the story of Israel in the book of Judges. That's why the book ends with, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his eyes. That's wrong, that's not the way we're meant to live. We're not carnal, we're not creatures. But Samson is very much a carnal man. And having made up his mind, he makes his way back to Timnah to negotiate a price for his bride. And on his way down, Samson has a surprise encounter. So look at verses five to six of chapter 14. It says, then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Pause there. You might think, okay, well, see, God's not gonna tolerate this rebellion. Here's judgment. And yet it goes on to say, then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. So here we're expecting perhaps a scene of judgment, and instead we see this scene of empowerment. And Samson's got this lion coming out of him, he rips him up the way that you and I rip up goats. You know, the author says, he's like, you know, like that. Rips him to pieces. And you might think, sorry, that was funny for me too. When I was reading the story, I thought he writes as if like, you know. Now you might think, you might think that after this miraculous deliverance, Samson's eyes would be opened. To see, what am I doing? I'm turning my back on God. A God who's been so faithful to me. I would have died. This lion would have killed me, but God saved me. And you might think that Samson here would learn the error of his ways and turn back. You know, because don't we all learn the lesson when God rescues us out of the mess we've made? But no. The freshly delivered Samson continues his march into the arms of his Philistine lover. And to make matters worse, as he's making his way back, he sees this lion carcass. And I don't know how long he's been gone, but I'm imagining, you know, like these bones. And he sees that the bees have made a beehive in the, I don't know, the chest cavity of this dead lion. And so he reaches in and he takes some honey. He eats it and he takes some more honey for his parents. But if you remember from last week, Samson was set apart by God to be a Nazirite. And there were three parts to the Nazirite vow. First of all, you weren't supposed to eat or drink anything from grapes. Second, you weren't supposed to cut your hair, that's why he's got the locks. And third, you weren't supposed to be around dead things, which I presume includes eating honey out of a lion's carcass. And yet here he is, not concerned at all about his Nazirite vows or obeying what God has called him to do. And in fact, he's so unfazed by it that he decides he's gonna have a little more fun with this sin. And that brings us into scene two, which I'm calling an infuriating riddle. So as Samson is feasting with 30 Philistine men, this is like his bridal party, I presume, and his bridal party made up of Philistine men, he's sitting there and he makes them a bet. He tells them, I'm going to tell you a killer riddle, and if you solve the riddle, I'm going to give you each a new set of garments. So in modern terms, imagine he says, I'm going to take you to Morse, and I'm going to let you pick out any suit, and I'll pay to 30 men. And they say, OK, sure, tell us the riddle. And we read in verse 14 of chapter 14, out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet. And in three days, they couldn't solve the riddle. And so Samson's tickled pink. He's having a great time. He's got his 30 Philistine buddies. He's got his beautiful Philistine bride. He's eating honey out of dead lions. And he's about to get a whole new wardrobe. He's on top of the world. But the bridal party decides that they're not going to be chumped. And so they go to this soon-to-be bride, and they say, hey, get the answer out of your boy, or we're going to burn you to the ground. And your dad, too. We're going to burn you alive in your house. And so she was sufficiently motivated. She goes to Samson. She pleads with him for the answer. He says, no, I didn't even tell my mom and dad. She says, well, tell me. Which is a bit of a forecast of what we're going to see in chapter 16, isn't it? He's a good storyteller. So we get a little glimpse of the future. But eventually, Samson says, OK, I'll tell you. And he tells her. And she rushes. And she tells them. And they come to Samson. And they say, I didn't write it down. They say the answer. What's sweeter than honey? What's stronger than a lion? They say. And Samson's like, oh, he's furious. He's so angry. He says, you plowed with my heifer. Which sounds worse than it is by the way So because the first time I read it. I thought man. He's so mad He calls his wife a cow like but I that's not it you weren't supposed to plow with heifers And so this was an expression in those days that you broke the rules you did something you weren't supposed to do you plowed with the heifer and Samson what's really at stake here is he's just so angry that these guys would be such Rule breakers makes him so mad which is ironic Right, because Samson, his whole life is rule-breaking. He's the rule-breaker. But he flips the Monopoly table and he goes, and he goes to a faraway community where they don't know each other, where they're not going to hear the news, and he kills 30 Philistines and he takes their garments and he delivers it over to the bridal party, and he's so mad he doesn't even go ahead with the night of the wedding. He just marches off in a fury. And... When he was gone, oh yep, so he steals it, he pays it off, and then he comes back. There's so many things happen in the Samson story. I wrote little pictures on the side to make sure I don't skip anything. So, he comes back. He's cooled off, you know, as kids do, and he comes to the house and he says, okay, now I'm ready, give me my wife. I want to go in to be with her. And the father is horrified, and he says, Samson, I thought you hated her. I gave her away to your best man, your best friend in the wedding. Which also sounds like a Netflix movie, doesn't it? It's like, I gave him to your best friend, but he's like, but I've got a younger daughter. She's even prettier than the older daughter, which you should never say, dads. And Samson, he won't have it. And so he marches off, and he begins the most convoluted act of revenge the world has ever seen. The complexity of this look at we're in chapter 15 now look at verse 4 By the way, we're giggling a little bit today and that's on purpose because this story was written to be a little bit funny Just so you know, we're gonna take a breath He wrote this the Philistines are the bad guys and Samson here is making life hard for them So there is a bit of humor in it and there's a lot of humor in the next part it says so Samson went and he caught 300 foxes and took torches and and he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. Now, not funny if you love foxes, admit it. So I'm writing a sermon this week, and this is one of those details that I know, I've heard it so many times, but to really sit there and think, Like, how hard is it to catch 300 foxes? I'm assuming this is not, this is like a, this is a long job. Unless it's a Noah's Ark kind of thing where, you know, he blows his whistle and all the foxes come because it's a miracle. That might have happened. But I'm just imagining Samson out there for a year. Tracking down fox, setting out fox traps. You're right, this is, they're hard to catch. That's the point. That's why he wants foxes. He wants something that's going to run around in the field and the Philistines will never be able to catch it. Which means he's got to devote the next year to catching these foxes. How many times did they bite his hand while he tied a torch around their tail? He is just committed to revenge. And he works out this plan, and he sets the fire, and he thinks, okay, now we're even. And of course, that's not how it works. So the Philistines, they say, we're not even, and they take his would-be wife and her father, and they do what they said they were gonna do originally, and they burn her to death. And that leads us to the final scene. But before we get there, walking through all these details, I wanna show you a big picture observation. Here it is, ready? The story began with Samson perfectly at peace with the Philistines. Got his Philistine bride, got his Philistine buddies. Now here we are in scene two, and Samson is at war with the Philistines. And we're meant to see that progression. And it brings us to the third and final scene in this passage. A jaw-dropping victory. Now, thank you. While Samson may have felt, he may have felt that the matter had been settled. That's what he said to them. All right, now it's settled. But it was far from done. They launched a counterattack against the, I just realized, I didn't tell you. So he went back and he killed them. I skipped that detail. Chapter 15 verses 7 to 8, I should read it. Samson said to them, if this is what you do after they burn the house down, I swear I will be avenged on you and after that I will quit. And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow. And he went down and he stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. I realized I couldn't skip that or you wouldn't understand what's happened. So he kills the men in the city who killed his would-be wife. And he thinks, now we are even. He even says it. Now we're even. But the Philistines don't agree. They say, no, we're not even. And so they launch a counterattack against an unsuspecting city in the region of Judah called Lehi. And the people of Leahy didn't understand why they're being attacked by the Philistines because, again, they've been living peacefully under the oppression of the Philistines. They don't cause a fuss, they do what they're told, and yet here the Philistines are so angry. And so they go to them and they say, why are you so angry? Why are you attacking us? And the Philistines demand that they bring to them their champion, Samson, to be judged. And what comes next is the most embarrassing yellow-bellied scene in the Samson story. We referenced it last Sunday, but I wanna read it for you again. Verses 11 to 13 of chapter 15. So we read, then 3,000 men of Judah, Samson's countrymen, they went down to the cleft of the rock of Atam, and they said to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you've done to us? And he said to them, as they did to me, so have I done to them. And they said to him, we've come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves. They said to him, this is cowardly to you, right? No, we're only gonna bind you and give you into their hands. We surely won't kill you, which is really the same thing, isn't it? But they bound him with two new ropes, and they brought him up from the rock, And so we talked about this a lot last Sunday, so I have to be quick here. But we're meant to see how sad this is. We have the Philistines living peacefully for themselves, oppressing Israel, and nobody cares. None of the Israelites care that they're living in slavery and an oppression. They just are fine with it. And now Israel assembles an army, this is the first time we see them assembling an army in this story with the Philistines, and they mobilize that army not against the Philistines, but against their own people, against their champion. They mobilize 3,000 soldiers to do the bidding of the Philistines. We're meant to see that. This is a tragic scene. But the saddest scene in the Samson story quickly gives way to the most memorable scene, which is the one that, even if you didn't grow up in the church, you've probably heard this one before. Verses 14 to 17. When he came to Lahi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire. And his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and he put out his hand and he took it. And with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down 1,000 men. And as soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. So I, as I was picturing this scene in my office, because I am a nerd, I was just imagining, you've seen the two towers, Lord of the Rings and Gimli. It's like 19, 20, 21, 10 of you. That's what I saw as I'm reading it. I don't know. It's hard to imagine, right? killing anyone with a jawbone of a donkey, let alone a thousand men. The whole scene is told so briefly, which is a good reminder that, again, the point isn't Samson's heroics. The point isn't the scene. And so we don't have details that we'd like to know. I would like to know, did they just line up and come at him one by one? What happened to the 3,000 soldiers from Judah who brought him? Did they see him and get mobilized and say, all right, let's join the fight? Did they just like stand back, horrified, like, I hope he doesn't come at us with the jawbone? We don't know what happened in that scene. What we do know is that the stage has officially been set for a showdown with the Philistines. Samson has become a thorn in the Philistine's side, which means Israel has become a thorn in the Philistine's side, which means that conflict is coming. And the stage that is being set here is pointing forward to what we're gonna read in chapter 16 in the Samson story, but I would argue it's also pointing forward to the final showdown with the Philistines. You remember that? That big giant Philistine who was struck down by David? The stage is now being set for this deliverance. Because Samson was never said to be the one who would deliver Israel, what did it say? He will begin to save his people from the Philistines. So Samson's just, he's just starting it. He's just lighting the match. And it leaves us longing for the end of the story. Which will be a story for another day. But this morning with these flaming foxes and donkey jawbones fresh in our mind, I just, this is a good time for us to step back and say, what on earth are we meant to see here? What is this about? And in particular, I want to ask one question today. What does this story teach us about deliverance? Because it's a deliverance story, that's what it's all been about. The whole prophecy, we got a whole chapter in 13 dedicated to saying this child is gonna come, this miracle child, and he will begin to save. And then we've got this long account of him beginning to save, and it begs the question, well then what does it look like to save? Why all these strange details in this story? What does this teach us about deliverance? Two lessons. First is this, it teaches us that God will sometimes orchestrate temporary chaos to bring about lasting peace. And I think that is a massively important lesson. I think we read the stories of Samson, and I know for me, you know, we come away struck by the craziness, the vividness, like we're very interested, perhaps even entertained, but I would argue that this is why this story is here. It teaches us that God sometimes orchestrates temporary chaos in our lives so as to bring lasting peace. Said another way, God simply won't stand back and watch his people sleepwalk into hell. said another way, like a smoke detector that startles you to get out of your comfy cozy bed because the house around you is on fire, so too will God grab hold of his people's attention when they're drifting into sin. And that's what we see in this passage. If you were with us last Sunday, then you remember that this period of oppression by the Philistines was the only time in the story of Judges where the people of God did not cry out. So we talked about that last week, and if you weren't here, then I have to tell you, because you won't understand the rest unless you see that. The whole point of this story, the Samson story, is that in the normal cycle of apostasy and judges, where God's people sin, God's people suffer for their sin, God's people cry out, and God sends to them a deliverer, that whole cycle, in this one, they don't cry out. They sin, they suffer, God eventually sends a deliverer, but at no point does Israel say, help us. They don't have any fight left in them. There's no hope left in them. This is our lot in life. We're just gonna be slaves of the Philistines. Who cares? In fact, rather than being angry at the Philistines, I'm just mad at Samson for causing a stir. Now the Philistines are even more mad at us. So how does God save people like that? Because we were reminded last Sunday, one of the main lessons was that God saves hopeless people. He'll do it. He'll put a plan in place. The apathetic, stone-hearted person is not outside of God's reach. He can save those people. But here we ask the question, well, how does he do it? And I think we learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes he does it by orchestrating chaos in their life to wake them up. We see it in verse 4 of chapter 14. which I'm gonna argue is the interpretive key for the whole story of Samson. So if you're a highlighter, you can highlight it. This is right after Samson's demanded a Philistine bride, and his parents are like, what are you doing? There's women here, you don't need the Philistines, and they're so confused about it all. It says, his father and mother did not know, listen, that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel. See, before God could rescue his people from the Philistines, he needed to open the eyes of his people to see that they need rescue. They were living in a false peace, sleepwalking through life, grown comfortable living under the oppression of the Philistines. They didn't realize that they were cuddling and snuggling and lying next to a rattlesnake that was gonna be the death of them. So God sent Samson, this unlikely deliverer, to do what? To orchestrate chaos. That's what they needed in this season. And here's the lesson for us. Sometimes that's what we need. Sometimes that's what we need. I'll tell you as a pastor, I'll interact with people who maybe they've just, they've sinned, their life has just fallen apart, they're dealing with the consequences of their sin, they're grieving over it and they feel like it'll never be put back together. I feel so much hope working with a person like that. Because I know that God has promised that he's close to the brokenhearted and he comforts those who are crushed in spirit. I know that he is a God who is rich in mercy, abounding in steadfast love. I know that he's a God who's going to help us even though it might take a while. to sort through some of the consequences of sin. When that sin is out on the table and it's being dealt with, man, God is so gracious to help and walk with us through those seasons. And so that, for me, when I see that, as much as I'm sorry that they're in this pain, I'm also encouraged because I can see God is making something beautiful here. But what makes me concerned as a pastor is when someone is living in unrepentant sin and everything seems to be going just fine. That's scary. When somebody can hear a sermon preached about their pet's sin, and it just shoots over their head, and their eyes glaze over, and they're fine. And they just go on with their sin. And I'm capable of doing this too, so I'm not talking about all of you. But when God's people live like that, it's a dangerous thing. And so what does he do when we've become so cold and apathetic that we just don't care anymore? This is just who I am. This is what life's gonna be like. This is just my sin, I do this, this is what I do. How does God save people like that? Well, he shakes the foundation. Sometimes to melt a heart of ice, God needs to set it directly next to the fire. Because he's the God who fights for us. And as we've seen over and over again in this book, He fights for us by seemingly fighting against us for a time. This theme runs throughout the Bible from start to finish, and we can bristle at that, especially if you're in a season of chaos, you might find yourself bristling at that. But hear me, one commentator notes, the maker of heaven and earth refused to walk away from Eden, shrugging his shoulders and muttering, well, you win some and you lose some. No, he's the stubborn God. who will set all creation ablaze with holy war in order to have a seed and a people for himself. Now, quick qualifier. I'm not saying this morning that if you're in a season of suffering that that's what God's doing. I'm not saying that you've got some hidden sin and that's why God is causing so much chaos in your life. Sometimes life is chaotic just because the world is broken and sinful. And so please, I don't want to add grief or guilt to your grief this morning, hear that. But perhaps for some of us, we do need to just sit in that question for a moment and ask, is it possible that this chaos that I'm experiencing, is it possible that this has come because I had just made peace living apart from God and he's bringing me back? I think the Samson story reminds us that maybe just maybe that's what God's doing. That he's the kind of God who would do that in order to bring his people back. That's the first lesson. The second really flows out of it, and it's this. God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. If I could go back in time, I would have made that heading clearer and then used this afterwards. But the point is, God uses the strangest, most broken things to paint a beautiful picture and to do a wonderful work. The things in your life that just seem so ugly are very often the things that God is using to create a beautiful picture. So one of the obvious questions in this passage is why on earth is God using Samson? Why is he using this man? How can a holy God, because he's holy, holy, holy. We sing that, we know that to be true, and yet here he is using this sinful instrument to accomplish his purposes. Can he do that? Is that allowed? That's an important question. The first thing I'd want to say as we answer that question is that God never sins. He has never sinned. He will never sin. He is holy. And with that, God is never the author of sin. Which means that Samson here in this passage, he's chosen to chase after foreign women. He's chosen to be driven by lust and rage and vengeance. He's choosing that. That's his sin. That's his choice. And yet, What we learn in this story is that somehow in the mysterious providence of God, God uses even our vile sin to accomplish his good purposes. Just like when Joseph winds up in Egypt to deliver the people, and he looks at his brothers and he says, what you intended for evil, like you did something, but God intended it for good. So he was doing something too. And how that all fits together, if you wanna like, you know, make that all neat and tie a bow around it, it's a mystery. It's a mystery, and yet we see it here. He draws straight lines with crooked sticks. And if you struggle to kind of visualize that, I think there's a great illustration right here in the story. This is another thing that just struck me as I was preparing this week. The story where Samson finds these foxes, and why would he catch foxes? I think it's because he wanted things that are hard to catch. He wanted to send them out in the field with the torches so they're hard to catch. Like if he sent something slow out there, not much of the field would be burned, right? They'd just go pick it up and snuff it with the torch. But Samson's like, well, foxes are hard to catch. Foxes are chaos. And so Samson takes these foxes and he attaches the torch to their tail and he lets them go and then the foxes do what foxes do. And I think in a way that's what happens in this story. God picks up Samson and he puts the fire of his spirit upon this man and he lets him go. And Samson does what Samson's do. And chaos ensues. And yet somehow God's purpose is moved forward. One commentator explains, Yahweh can and will use the sinfulness or stupidity of his servants as the camouflage for bringing his secret will to pass. He'll use any instrument. He'll use any instrument to grow His people, to refine His people, to redeem His people. He'll use any instrument to further His purpose. None of it is outside of His reach, outside of His scope, which means that that terrible thing in your life, perhaps, that thing which is causing so much disruption in your life, it has perhaps been sent by your Heavenly Father who loves you on an important errand to refine you and rescue you. It may be that the discomfort that you are feeling right now that you desperately want to be free from is actually the sandpaper that God is using to polish and refine you. And if you look back over your life, isn't it true that it's littered with painful lessons? Terrible seasons of adversity that wound up shaping you and molding you for the better. Isn't that true? I don't know that I've ever met a person who could say, well, that's not true in my life. The greatest character transformation in my life is when everything was easy. I remember one time I slept in until 11 a.m. on a Saturday. I'll never forget that life lesson. That's not where we grow, that's not how we learn. And we can see that on the small scale, and we can laugh at it on the small scale, but then when we step in, we look at the big scale of life, and we get that horrifying diagnosis from the doctor. Or we feel that crazy strain on our marriage, or we're hit by that economic crisis, and all of a sudden we're dealing with financial insecurity. As Lynn said, we're so used to being secure, and all of a sudden we're unsettled, and so uncomfortable, and I don't know what it is in your life, but these things come, and they make us feel so terribly uncomfortable, and we wonder, we wonder what is God doing here? And all we want is to be out of it, but isn't it true that those seasons of discomfort in our life have been some of the most transformative times ever? And so perhaps what we're meant to do, even as we ask God, because we're allowed to ask God and say, God, would you get me out of this? We should perhaps also ask, but God, would you accomplish in me whatever it is that you would accomplish through this? I don't want to waste a second of my adversity. I don't want to waste a second of my suffering. And if you're using this crooked stick to draw a straight line in my life, then do it. God is more committed to your eternal joy than he is to your temporary comfort. And that's because he loves you. Which means sometimes your temporary comfort is actually the greatest threat to your eternal joy. And if we were left to our own devices as rich Canadians with all the money and all the leisure in the world, we would very, very easily sleepwalk our way into hell. which is why Jesus said, it's easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. When you've got it all, you think you can make heaven on earth? That is the greatest threat to your eternal soul. Sometimes, he'll use the, again, I've already listed all these things, but as I conclude, I would point to the, there is one crooked stick that's drawn the straightest line, and that is the cross. Or as we look at our own lives and we say, well, how is it, it doesn't even seem fair that God would use something so hard to accomplish something good. I don't think, I didn't sign up for this. I don't think that I like the way he works. But then, brothers and sisters, when we feel that, let's look to the cross. And let's remember that God used the most horrific, the most crooked of sticks, the worst, the most vile, the most hatred that humanity could spew out. God took that and he turned that into life for each and every one of us. This is what he does. In this broken world, in this world that's been so marred by sin, this is the way that God gets to the root of the problem in and through us. And so every once in a while, there's gonna be some foxes with torches on their tails running through your field. Right? Every once in a while, you're gonna find some chaos in your life, and you're gonna wonder, why on earth is this chaos here? And I pray that we will remember that the God who loves us is not above sowing a season of temporary chaos into our lives so that he can bring us into lasting peace. If that's you this morning, and I'll just, as we conclude, this is it, I want to ask you a question. Reflect on this. I'm going to leave a little moment of silence for us to reflect on it. Maybe just close your eyes for a moment. I just want to ask this, is it possible that God is orchestrating right now in your life some temporary chaos, because he means to bring about lasting peace. Has he set your fields on fire? Is he pursuing you? And if you sense that perhaps that's you this morning, I want you to hear God's invitation from Hosea 6.1, where he says, come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us that He may heal us. He has struck us down and He will bind us up. Just be quiet before the Lord for a moment and then I'll pray for us. Heavenly Father, we just want to stop and invite you to minister in our hearts. Lord, invite you by your spirit to open our eyes to see what we need to see. Lord, what a good reminder as we hear the thundering footsteps and laughter of our kids that life is not always silent and it won't be silent when we step out of this room and go back to our cars and we're surrounded by all the noise that distracts us from what it is that you would do So Lord, we choose to look to you now and we ask that you would speak. Lord, would you make us a people who purposefully stop and seek you every day, who seek the moments of silence and just ask what it is that you would have us see. So today I'm praying, Lord, for myself, for my brothers and sisters in this room, Lord, that you would give us the discernment that we need to understand what you're working at in our lives, that you'd give us the humility to turn away from sin that you might be bringing our attention to. Lord, that you would give us the endurance to press through seasons of adversity with our eyes fixed on you. God, for those who have never put their trust in you, and they just sat through the strangest Bible sermon they've ever heard, Lord, I pray that you would, by your grace, open their eyes, that they would see Jesus, even in this story with a, jawbone of a donkey and a flaming fox tail. And you do that. Lord, I love that you do that. So we thank you that by your spirit, you bring dead hearts to life. And so we're asking that you would do that again today. And Lord, we're asking that you would change us and make us look more like your son. We love you, God. And we choose to give you our praise this morning. We ask all this in Jesus' name. And everyone said, amen. Worship team, would you lead us?