All right, we will begin. Thank y'all for braving the winter weather. I'll pray to get us started. Father, thank you so much for another Lord's Day. Thank you, Lord, for this morning where we can break open your word. Lord, I pray you'd reveal yourselves to us. Help us to see the beauty of the Lord. Help us to see you as a treasure as you have revealed yourself to us in your word. So be with us this morning. Help us, give us eyes to see and ears to hear. It's in the name of Christ we pray, amen. So today we're in the book of Ruth. So last week Logan reminded us, as I will again, that we're going through the Old Testament in a different order than is in our Bibles right now. So in the Old Testament, the way we have it now, they're really broken up into three sections. The Law, so Genesis through Deuteronomy. The historical narratives, so just continuing on the story, Joshua through Esther. Then we have the poetry and wisdom literature, so Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes. And then, at the end, we have the major prophets, Isaiah through Daniel, and the minor prophets, Hosea through Malachi. That arrangement really a lot of the Septuagint is structured that way so it kind of comes from a Greco-Roman tendency to group things by genre but in the Hebrew Bible that Jesus and the Apostles were mainly using it was It was written a little bit more, or read a little bit more chronologically. So it's split up a little bit differently, and that's how we're going through it in this class. So we have the law, Genesis through Deuteronomy still. Then we have, they called the prophets, Joshua all the way through Kings, first and second Kings. And then the third section is the writings. So starting in Ruth and Psalms and Proverbs all the way through the end of the Old Testament, or all the way through Chronicles. So broken up a little bit differently. The prophets are broken up into the former and latter prophets. So instead of major and minor with links, it's more a timescale, former and latter. And then the writings are broken up into former and latter writings. And this is the order we've been completing the survey. So towards the beginning, we had the law. We just finished last week with the prophets. And now today is the beginning of the writings. The arrangement of the Bible actually takes us, yeah, through a little bit more chronologically. So there are multiple covenants that are vital to the story of redemption, but from a literary perspective, the Bible's dominated by two. What are they? Old and new, right? Exactly, the old and new. So how you specifically define the Old Covenant can be different depending on what hermeneutic you use and things like that. But largely it's the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, or the Old Testament and the New Testament. And then in focusing in on the Old Testament, so this one covenant, Deruchi, who's the author of the textbook we're using, he wants us to think of this division of the Law, Prophets, and Writings like this, and I think this is very helpful. It is Yahweh's special covenant relationship with Israel, instituted at Sinai, that controls the Old Testament's three divisions. So the three divisions like we just talked about, Law, Prophets, Writings. It is established in the Law, it is enforced in the Prophets, and it is enjoyed in the Writings. So we've seen this as we've gone through our study so far. If you think back to the beginning when we were going through Genesis and Deuteronomy, so according to Derushi, the law established the law. So there's a heavy emphasis on the establishment of things. So we had even Genesis 3 with the bruising of the serpent's head. We had the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Just things were being established. If we move on into the prophets, that's where we talked a lot about that tension that Logan talked about last week and I've talked about before of obedience to the law and curses that come with that versus the unconditional promises that God also gave. this was the enforcement of the law. So God was, he's being very clear, there's kind of an emphasis even that God was being clear that he was going to enforce his own justice, he was going to enforce the law that he gave, and the prophets, a lot of them largely, what were they doing? Kind of warning the people, saying you need to repent, you've broken the law, repent or there will be Curses, as has been promised. Well, here in this next part, the writings, which we'll use to finish out the whole Old Testament, the emphasis switches a little bit. There's much more of a emphasis on, as Darushi said, enjoyment. So the prophets emphasized Israel's failures, but there were sprinkles of hope throughout. The opposite's kind of true here, where the hope and enjoyment of being in covenant with God is the resounding emphasis. So kind of have that in mind as we begin the book of Ruth. Ruth is kind of an interesting book. It is a narrative, it's a story, but it doesn't actually really progress the story a whole lot. In our own Bibles, if you read, if you're gonna go through a reading pen or something, you're gonna go all the way through Judges, and then read Ruth, and then you'll get to First and Second Samuel. But if you read through Judges, skipped Ruth, and went straight to First and Second Samuel, you'd be missing something, because this is scripture, but you wouldn't be missing something along the lines of the story. progress something the way that some of those other books do. So that leaves us with the question, why Ruth? Why do we have Ruth? Why did the Lord in his providence have Ruth be a book of scripture? And I'll ask you guys that. I think a lot of us, most of us know the book of Ruth at least a little bit, some of us know it real well, some of us may have never read it, that's okay too, we'll learn about it today, but from what you do know about Ruth, why do you think Ruth is in our Bible? Boom, did you have the textbook with you? No, that's literally right under there, but the answer really centers on the Davidic covenant. It's the origins, that's precisely it. Ruth is sort of an introduction to a turning point in the history of redemption, which would be the rise and sadly the fall at some points of King David. So if there's any Old Testament figure who could rival Abraham in centrality of the Old Testament and in the way that God uses him to reveal his plans of redemption history, it would be King David. So 1st and 2nd Samuel center on David, and one way we could consider Ruth is a sort of introduction to 1st and 2nd Samuel, or David. So just as God's promises to Abraham set the context for everything up to 1st and 2nd Samuel, God's promises to David set the context for the rest of the Old Testament. So we've talked about David a bunch in this class. But really it is, like Peter said, it's impossible to discuss the Book of Ruth without discussing the significance of King David. So let's start, be a little exercise for us by remembering the significance of David in the rest of the Bible. So who can give examples of where David is talked about, mentioned, anything you can think of about David that is not in one of the narratives? Not in 1st and 2nd Samuel or 1st and 2nd Chronicles or 1st and 2nd Kings, something like that. Where can you think of David? Perhaps in the New Testament or some of the prophets? Anybody have any scriptures that jump out at him? Yes, yep, genealogies for sure. So that, yeah, we'll talk a lot about genealogy this morning. That's a big God's providential plan of tracing back all the way from Adam all the way to Jesus Christ, David is kind of one of those smack-in-the-middle figures of that genealogy for covenantal and promised reasons. Psalm 89, 49. Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? Yes, yeah, the throne of David shows up a lot. Yeah, so Isaiah 9, 7. Of the increase of his government, throne, and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. How about anything from the New Testament? Yep. Y'all are really just going down the list here 2nd Timothy 2 8 Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead the offspring of David as preached in my gospel. Oh son of David have mercy Yeah, exactly And then one of my favorite ones the big one at the end Revelation 5 and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David has conquered and Some translations say the root of Jesse, David's father, but either way the emphasis is the same. The root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. So all the way from the very beginning to the very end, Jesus, both in his first coming to save us from our sins, is establishing his kingdom. He's the son of David, the promised son of David, and even here at the very end when he comes back for the second time, to consummate all things, he's still considered the son of David, the root of David. So, that's very important to keep in mind as we go through Ruth, and let's look at it a little bit. So, Ruth is a historical and theological prelude to King David. In terms of context, the author, we don't really know who wrote the book, but it was most likely written during David's reign. But if you look at chapter one, verse one, the actual events of the story take place in the days when the judges ruled. So this is most likely in the early part of the 11th century during the time where we read about the book of Judges. So as we discussed when we went through the book of Judges, this 350 year period was a time of great turmoil and disorder. The book of Ruth then acts as a hinge point in God's redemptive plan. The Lord is preparing his people to transition away from the chaos of self-centered rule and to the good rule of King David, who's foreshadowing the true King, Jesus Christ. So in Judges, we have everybody doing what is right in his own eyes, right? It's kind of an anarchy, so to speak. Not truly anarchy, but there's no ruler. The Lord is providentially providing an introduction to introduce King David and establish a more monarchy, a more ordered system. And that's where King David comes into play. But the question at the heart of the book for the characters and for us is, think about it, remember we're in the time of the judges. Turmoil, chaos is going around. Does God still care? So we'll discuss the Ruth a little bit in a second, but does he still care for Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, in light of the loss of her husband and sons? Does he still care for Israel in the middle of this rebellious 350 years or so? The clear answer in Ruth is that God is our kinsman redeemer, that's a key phrase, who perfectly cares for us in the midst of our trials. You can see this summary in the theme statement on your handout. God, this is the main theme we'll be looking at with Ruth. God sovereignly orchestrates all things, even trials, for the good of his people, who he will one day redeem through the perfect rule of the kinsman king. I'm gonna say it one more time. God sovereignly orchestrates all things, even trials, why, for the good of his people, and I would say his own great name, who he will one day redeem through the perfect rule of the kinsman king. So the book of Ruth is really, it's about, Honestly, one of the more central characters is Naomi, an Israelite woman. So she's an Israelite, but in the Book of Ruth, she is in Moab. So Naomi left Israel with her husband and her sons to Moab when there was a great famine in the land. I'm just kind of setting the overall structure of the book. There in Moab, her sons take Moabite wives, and after some time, both her sorry, both her husband and her sons die, leaving only Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws in the foreign land of Moab, unable to provide for themselves. Eventually, Naomi returns with her daughter-in-law, Ruth, to Bethlehem, another kind of type in there, in Israel. The rest of the book of Ruth is essentially about two days in Ruth's life, the day she's fed and the day she's wed. The day she's fed, chapter two, is when she finds favor with a man named Boaz, who provides food and a lot of other things for her and Naomi. He takes care of her when she's in a place where they have no husbands or they need help and he helps them. And then the day she's wed, chapters three and four, Boaz marries her to provide and maintain her family line. So I thought it'd be helpful, I'm gonna actually draw out If you read the Ruth, you can hear all these words. Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, husband, you know, it's kind of hard to keep track. I'm a very visual guy, so I like to draw out the family lineage. It just helps me keep track of it. So I'm going to do that first real quick. I don't know. Right. Yeah, exactly. No, this is just for Ruth. And so we have a limeleck. That is Naomi's husband who died. So they had two sons, Chilium and Malan. Chilium married Orpah. Malan married Ruth. Then in comes Boaz, who had, we'll get to this. But Elimelech, Naomi's husband who died, Julian died, Milan died, so now we have Naomi with her two daughters-in-law that are in, off in Moab by themselves. And that helps you think through, or see it a little bit better, at least for me. So for our overview of Ruth, we'll look at really three main sections or texts providing a snapshot into the story. So we're gonna start with number one, the bitterness of sin. So everybody can turn to chapter one, verses 11 through 13 and verse 20. So in verses 11 through 13 and 20, we hear Naomi plead with her daughters-in-law to leave her so that they might avoid what she understands to be a hopeless fate. It is in these pleas that we hear all of Israel's despair. So I'm gonna read verses 11 through 13. But Naomi said, turn back my daughters, why will you go with me? So she is in, Naomi is over there with her daughters-in-law in Moab, not in Israel. And Naomi's saying, I don't have anything. I'm going back to Israel. But you, her daughter's-in-law, remember, are Moabite women. So they are not actually from Israel. So she's saying, our husbands died. I'm going back to my homeland. You guys should just go to your fathers. The Lord's been like, what is he doing? We're in despair. What do we do? You guys go back. I'm going to go back to Israel. Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. So she's almost blaming God in a way. She's in despair, understandably. And then in verse 20, she's coming back to Israel, entering Bethlehem, saying, So with that statement, unknowingly, Naomi is kind of picking a quarrel with God. Is he a cruel God, as she suggests? Does he make our lives bitter? Well, in one sense, Naomi and her people deserve the bitterness of life, or worse. The famine she was fleeing for could be God's judgment for sin, the sin of Israel. And it's possible even her act of fleeing Israel in the first place was sinful. Her husband was seeking to escape God's judgment by disobeying the covenant and leaving the promised land. But is God all justice and no mercy? Well, as we read through this book, we'll see that's not the case. We see God responds to Naomi's challenge as he overwhelms her with his mercy, and that begins right here in chapter one. So Orpah leaves as Naomi suggests, but Ruth stays with her mother-in-law. In fact, her promise to Naomi is beautiful and poetic. Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you, for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts me from you. So Ruth in her valiancy is saying, nope, I'm coming with you, Naomi. This is the life I've chosen, bitter or not, I'm gonna go to Israel with you. And that's the kindness of the Lord, we'll talk about that in a minute. But that leads us to the snapshot number two, the kindness of the kinsman redemption. So this one will be in chapter four, nine through 12 quite a bit. So the key to understanding the redemption God will bring Ruth and Naomi is the notion of what's called the kinsman redeemer. So as detailed a little bit in Leviticus 25, the kinsman redeemer was originally set up to allow families to buy back or redeem their relatives from slavery or debt bondage. Over the years, this role took on the additional responsibility of marrying the childless widow of a male family member and having children with her so that his family line could continue. So that process is not actually demanded in scripture, but this idea of the redeemer is, in Leviticus 25, you can read about it. Political reasons and other reasons, it kind of developed into this idea of if my brother dies, I will, if my brother has a wife and he dies, I will marry my brother's wife to continue on his name. and continue on his inheritance. Again, lineage genealogy is very important in the Old Testament and the scripture. So this responsibility of the kinsman redeemer wasn't necessarily obligatory, but it was still highly valued in Jewish culture at this time. As we see in Ruth 4, 9 through 10, a man named Boaz acts as this kinsman redeemer, and he redeems Naomi's family by marrying Ruth. So Boaz is a relative of Elimelech, He's not the first line, as you can read about in the scripture, he talks about how he's not the first, but he kind of, he does what someone else wouldn't do. So a relative of Elimelech, Naomi's now dead husband, he sees Naomi and Ruth, has pity on them, cares for them by providing food and allowing them to glean his fields, which a lot of us know what gleaning is, when they were farming, if they left behind any of the leftover grain that they might have missed, the poor would come in and glean it. So he kind of specifically brought Ruth in and said, yes, let her glean the fields, have her first pick, that type of thing. But in the end, he marries Ruth and continues on the family heritage of Naomi. So he was a kinsman, he was related to Elimelech, and he also redeemed the family name, heritage, and inheritance. Thus, he was a kinsman redeemer. Now, there's a lot of typology and foreshadowing packed into this concept of kinsman redeemer. When you think of, when you even think of that, what jumps out at you of kinsman redeemer? Even some of the words. Who's our ultimate kinsman redeemer? Jesus Christ, ultimately. Jesus Christ, obviously he's our redeemer. We all know that through the gospel. He's also our kin. Christ was the firstborn among many brothers. He's not ashamed to call us brothers. He became a kin for us and then redeemed us. He's the ultimate kinsman redeemer because he's our kinsman and he's our redeemer. He's also the true son. We share in his inheritance. Christ has an inheritance by us being his kin and adopting us into his family by redeeming us from our sins. We now share in his inheritance. So there's a lot packed into that idea of the kinsman redeemer. So I'm gonna bring up another story that really is connected with this kinsman redeemer, and that is the story of Judah and Tamar and Onan, which is referenced at the end of Ruth. Everyone turn to Ruth 4.17 real quick, if you're not already there. I'm gonna read this. This is at the very end of Ruth. Also, the neighbor women gave him a name saying, there is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. So, interestingly, Ruth and Boaz had a child. But verse 17 says, there is a son born to Naomi. Again, it's carrying on Naomi and her husband's family name. They called his name Obed, who is the father of Jesse, the father of David. And then in verse 18, it says, now this is the genealogy of Perez. Perez begot Hezron. Etiquette. Keep Perez in your mind right there. So Obed was the son of Ruth and Boaz, eventually leading to David, eventually leading to Jesus. So totally different story we're going to jump into for a minute here. Judah and Tamar. Everyone can, you don't have to flip there, but we're gonna talk a little bit about Genesis 38. I'm gonna, I'll just draw this out and then go through it with you. Guess I should write a little bigger. So why would that begin with Perez? That's what we're gonna talk about here. So let me give a small overview of Genesis chapter 38. In Genesis 38, Judah, the patriarch Judah, has three sons. Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er's wife is Tamar. So, Er dies because of his undisclosed wickedness. To perpetuate, so Judah instructs Onan, Er's brother, to act as a kinsman redeemer. All right, is everybody following? Oh, sorry, he hadn't died yet. This is the infamous story of Onan, a lot of us know it, maybe not, that's okay, where he got with Tamar, and he wasted, this is quote, wasted his seat on the ground so as to not give offspring to his brother. This was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and now Onan was put to death. So now, according to the Kims and Redeemer custom, what should happen now? It should be right for Judah, sorry, not Judah, for Tamar to marry Shelah, to carry on the name of Judah. However, Judah, if we read Genesis 38, I won't read it all, but he says he's gonna wait for Shelah to grow older. If you actually look at it, he didn't actually need to grow that much. He should have given Tamar to Shelah to be his wife and continue on the name, but he didn't. He told Tamar to go to her own father's house to wait for Shelah to grow and mature. After some time, Judah's wife dies, and Tamar has not yet been given to Shelah in marriage, so Tamar is like, oh gosh, what's going on? Wanting to continue the, so Tamar, sorry, Tamar is like, she's acting a lot like Naomi, actually. Remember, Naomi's distraught, although the husbands are gone, and she's like, how's the name of our family going to continue? She fights for Ruth to get with Boaz, that type of thing. Tamar is in a very similar situation, and this is the story of Tamar, where she disguises herself as a prostitute, if anyone remembers that story, and somewhat entices Judah. Judah ends up getting with Tamar, not realizing it's Tamar, and they have a child. Who is that child? Remember? Perez. It's actually twins, but Perez is the older one. I bring this up because, one, there's a very big kinsman-redeemer link in that story as well, where it kind of failed. Everything about the Judah and Tamar story is very sinful. There's just a lot going on there that wasn't good. Kind of the opposite we have in the Ruth story, correct? Ruth and Boaz, we have a lot of good. I can't help but to think about attributes of God when I think about this. In both of these stories, we see the providence of God, his sovereignty in arranging history. Guess what, Perez, despite his introduction into this world through very sinful interactions and all kinds of judgment and destruction, is right smack in the middle of the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we also have Boaz and Ruth, smack in the middle as well, but a much more righteous a much more righteous version. His lineage is formed by both the story of Judah, Tamar, and Onan, and Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. Through human, righteous, and unrighteous lives, God provided means to carry on the lineage of Christ and connect him to the patriarchs of old, just as he promised. So in Ruth, God provides Boaz to be a type of Christ, as we've previously discussed. Boaz acted with kindness and righteousness in acting as the kinsman redeemer. He did things when he really wasn't even obliged to do so. In stark contrast to Onan and even Judah, who acted very sinfully in their kinsman-redeemer setup. As such, Boaz is someone who reflects God's character in his actions, so there is an ethical, really a big ethical dimension to Ruth. God is calling us to act, God is not calling us to act like Judah in the story of Judah and Tamar, despite the fact that God does use that event to provide a direct lineage to King David and then the ultimate King Jesus. In Ruth, however, we do have an example we should seek to follow in Boaz and Ruth. Not necessarily their precise actions per se, but their desires, their principles behind all of their actions. So, Kostenberger, in his outline of the Book of Ruth, says this. The ethics of the Book of Ruth take the form of the imitatio dei. So think about, we know what the imago dei is, the image of God. We are all as humans and creatures made in the image of God. The ethics of the Book of Ruth take the form of imitatio dei, imitating God. That reflects the, so, the Book of Ruth reflects the fundamental biblical truth that what humans should be and do reflect God's moral character and actions. Let me say that again. What humans should be and do should reflect God's moral character and actions. So all the ways we live our lives should be with the intent to reflect God's moral character. The what would Jesus do wristbands kind of get a lot of flack for being cheesy and Overly simplified, but there really is a fundamental truth that they represent that is good. How are my actions reflecting God's moral character? So we see who God is by reading his revelation of himself to us in his word. So we learn about God. Our focus should be about learning about God and who he is. And then flowing from that, we try to reflect who he is in our own lives. That brings us to the final section here, the wisdom of God's good plan. By God's grace, this redemption was not only a blessing to Ruth and Naomi, but it blessed the whole nation in a way that on their dying day they couldn't have imagined. So I'm gonna read verses 13 through 17 of chapter four. We've already looked at this a little bit. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went into her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a Redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. So who is that Redeemer? Boaz, right, but it's definitely a foreshadowing, a type, a taste of the ultimate Redeemer. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. I just think it's fascinating that a son has been born to Naomi. Naomi didn't have a son. Ruth and Boaz had a son. But we're talking about the lineage of Jesus Christ and the promises. And to think back to Naomi at the beginning, what has God done? She's in despair. Well, he was abundantly kind and merciful to her. So amazingly, Ruth is the great grandmother of David, Israel's greatest earthly king, and even more, David would be an ancestor and a preview to the greater king to come, Jesus Christ. So we see throughout the entire book of Ruth that God does care for his people. but that he does so in ways that far exceed our own knowledge. Naomi and many other characters in this story consider their dire circumstances and conclude that God is far off and unconcerned, perhaps even the reason they're suffering in the first place, but nothing could be further from the truth. What's actually happening to God is sovereignly directing human events. He's meeting the specific needs of Naomi and Ruth, but in addition, he's preparing the way for the coming king who will rescue Israel from the tumultuous time of the judges, preparing the way for King David. And even beyond that, he's working toward the future Redeemer King who rescues God's people from their sin. So we can remember this when we're tempted to despair in the midst of trials and tribulations, take comfort knowing that Romans 8.28, for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Then you'll be able to echo Naomi's praise of Boaz in 2.20 with the words to God, his kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. So we're finished a little bit early. Does anybody have questions or thoughts? Sorry, that was pretty convoluted. Who was Boaz? OK, there you go. So Boaz himself is of the same line. Yeah, that's the point of the rest of that. which, you know, it's just also interesting about these people who stand in these lines. Like, Boes had no idea that he was going to be used in this way. Yeah, not when you did this. Yeah, right. There were many children who came through all these different family trees, and the Lord, you know, uses... Right. Right, that's why I specifically discussed this one, because it's just in stark contrast to the way he used Ruth and Boaz. Right, yeah. Yeah, God used two totally different means. And this also gets to, like, remember at the beginning we asked about why Ruth, and the writings being an enjoyment of God's establishment. Well, this is not an enjoyment, but this is, you know, God, I think he gave us Ruth for different reasons than he gave us Judah, in the Tamar story, but at the same time, he's accomplishing similar things. He's accomplishing his lineage, whether it's through sinful means or righteous means. Right, exactly, yeah, that's a big point. We didn't talk about that a whole lot, but Ruth, that kind of foreshadows something, too. The gospel's gonna go forth to all the nations. Ruth came in with open arms, and I didn't talk about it a little bit, but even in her, what she says, your people will be my people, your God will be my God. She jumps in and she's like, this is, but that kind of resonates with what God tells us in Jeremiah 31, I will be to you. I shall be their God, they shall be my people. Well, Ruth wasn't, like you said, she's a Moabite, but he is still her God, and she is now his people, even though she wasn't directly an Israelite. Okay, I will pray and we can get on to this service. Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you for the book of Ruth. Thank you for your sovereignty, the way you direct and ordain all things. Lord, that, as Peter was saying, that is something we can rest in. We don't see those things, Lord, you do. You are so beyond what we can fathom and comprehend. You are always working in ways that we can't see the ways you're working. but you've shown us in your word, Lord, that you are always working. You do not sit still in order to give us rest. So Lord, help us to rest in that, to rest in your sovereignty, to rest in the fact that you know all things and you have your perfect plan, as your word gives us. So help us, Lord, to remember that as we listen to your word preached today and sing worship songs unto you and gather with your people. Lord, you are good, and I pray we would see your goodness this morning. In the name of Christ, we pray, amen.