was clear that first Christmas night. We've referenced it this morning several times. We've even sung it this morning. Heavenly angels carried the message. Luke records this. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest. and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Some 33 years later, the very same message would be declared, this time not by angels, but by a throng of people greeting Jesus the Nazarene as he entered Jerusalem. Luke records that account as well. As soon as he was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. And here is what they shouted. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Peace, however, wouldn't come that day. At least not the way the crowd imagined. Peace would be gained just hours later on a cross. Where that Messiah would give his life as a ransom for the many. Buying for all those who would believe in him, peace with their heavenly father. And those who receive that peace, well, you get a peace that passes understanding, the Bible says. And you live in a constant anticipation of an eternal peace, an eternal peace to come. All of us who are Christians are men and women, it could be said, of peace. Paul, again and again, as he wrote his letters to the churches that we have in our New Testament, would reference this call to peace. He would say it again and again. Most of you are familiar with it. Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Again and again he uses that phrase. He used it when he wrote the church at Rome. Here's what he said. To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is a challenge. Because as a believer, while we may in fact have hearts of peace, we are assaulted by everything but peace every day in the world in which we live. In that world, the daily grind grinds against peace. And it does it, well, in just ordinary ways. There are pressures at home that rob us of peace. There are pressures at work that rob us of peace. There are pressures on the schoolyard and it robs us of peace. They're just ordinary pressures. Everyone faces them. But the result is peace is hard to find. Compounded by those ordinary pressures that everybody faces are the added pressures against Christians because they're Christians. So in that context, in this context in which we live, peace is elusive indeed. It is very hard to realize it, though we know it to be true because of what Christ has done. And then, the writer of Hebrews turns that challenge of peace into a warning. Here's what he says, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." The warning is clear. Do you see it? The grace and the peace, the grace and the peace that should mark us, should identify us, It needs to be like a cloud over us, or a protective tree bed, or a shade over us. But here we're told we have to pursue that. We have to work hard to realize that peace, because that peace is overshadowed. And here in particular, the divine-inspired writer of Hebrews says it's overshadowed by the challenges of relationship. You can see it there. Where does the cloud come from that obscures the peace, that makes it something we have to chase after? Look at it, he says, be sure, see to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes you trouble. This is a defilement, he says, and it attacks believers. He's writing to to what we presume to be believers in the faith. He's identified them as such throughout the letter of Hebrews. But something can happen that will rob the believer of their peace. Something can happen that can strip us of the grace and peace that should so readily identify who we are. The writer speaks of bitterness as a threat. But more than that, he talks about the root of it, the root of bitterness. There's something that produces bitterness. A study of scripture, a simple one, reveals what that is. It's envy and jealousy. Envy and jealousy, if left unchecked, will produce bitterness. It is the root of bitterness. And that bitterness, if it's left unchecked, will always produce anger. And that anger, if it's left unchecked, will always produce hatred. And that hatred, if left unchecked, will produce violent evil in your life, in my life, in the lives around us. It always starts with envy, though. That's the root. of bitterness. James says it this way, for where jealousy or envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. And you can review evil perpetrated by you, or maybe around you in your life, and you'll see that progression. It starts with envy, it moves to bitterness, it moves to anger, which moves to hatred, which inevitably moves to evil acts, wicked acts, the Bible would say. Now nowhere is wickedness on greater display than the wicked acts committed against the innocent one, our Savior Jesus Christ. And when he was given over to Pilate for some sort of a judgment to be issued, Pilate makes an observation of the religious leaders and in that an observation of that Jewish throng that was no longer crying, peace on earth and goodwill, but was now crying, crucify him. Same crowd. Here's what Pilate said. because of envy they handed Him over. It's the root of bitterness that by now with the Jewish leaders and the Jewish people had been left unchecked and has produced hatred and will now produce the most wicked act known to man, the crucifixion of the Son of God. And so it is in our story of Joseph. I hope you'll open your Bible now, or perhaps you already have, to Genesis chapter 37. And look with me again at verse 3. Genesis chapter 37 and verse 3. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a very colored tunic, a coat of many colors. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of, we will say, them. And so they hated him, and they could not speak to him on friendly terms. Now, need we be reminded of what we've already looked at twice, and that's the poor parenting of Jacob? playing favorites with Joseph, dressing him up in that coat of colors which would have marked him as the head of the family. And what's the result? What's the result of all that? Simple. His brothers envied him. They were jealous of him. And because they were jealous of him and they already had wild hearts, well, it just naturally grew into hatred in a very short order. And then Joseph, we read, told them about that dream of his. Really, it was God's dream for him. And the envy and the hatred grew even more. Look at it in verse 5. Joseph had a dream. And when he told his brothers what happened, they hated him even more. They already hated him so much they couldn't speak a kind word to him. And now, if possible, that hatred becomes multiplied hatred. And look at verse 11. You'll see again the root of all that. His brothers were jealous of him. The root of bitterness wasn't just present in that family as it might be in any family, but it was being fertilized by their father Jacob. And now when he sees it spring up and produce hatred and anger, the Bible tells us in verse 11, he just kept that to himself. He knew the root of bitterness was there. He knew the threat was there. But he responded in that second characteristic, right? He played favorites and he was passive. He just didn't do anything. He was passive to the threat. He just kept it in his mind. All we lack then, all we lack in our progression is an evil act. We have the envy. We have the bitterness. We have the anger and the hatred. What we don't have yet is the evil act. That comes next. Look at verse 12 in your Bibles. Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And Joseph said to him, I will go. Then he said to him, Go now, and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me. And so he sent him from the valley of Hebron And Joseph, he came to Shechem. And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, what are you looking for? He said, I'm looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock. The man said, they've moved from here. I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. Now our background the past couple of weeks will help us here. because the brothers are in Shechem when we first are introduced to them here. That's what the father says. It seems that I've heard or perhaps anticipated that the brothers are in Shechem. Now regardless of what led them to take the flocks there, whether it was fertile, full of ground or whatever, Jacob knows that they're there and so he makes a quick determination to send Joseph to check up on them. The question we ponder is that genuine concern for the brothers? Well, we honestly don't know. Is there reason to be concerned? That we do know. Because Shechem is where Dinah had been raped. Shechem is where Simeon and Levi had retaliated and killed likely up to a thousand men. Joseph, you better go check on the boys. I hear they're in Shechem again. There isn't a hint of wavering or hesitation on Joseph's part. Did you see that? Some of you have teenagers. or some of you have raised teenagers and you know the challenge of asking them to walk to the mailbox at the end of the driveway to get the mail. It's not easy. It takes all kinds of prodding and promising it seems to get a typical teenager these days to walk to the mailbox. I mean you have to threaten them like with the loss of their inheritance. It doesn't work for me. I've tried it. It doesn't work. But here Jacob's asking Joseph, get this, to embark on a multi-day, 50-plus mile journey, likely on foot. Best he could have hoped for was maybe a beast of burden that he would occasionally catch a ride on. The questions that would attach themselves to a teenager making such a journey. Will he be safe? Will he get lost? Does he have enough food to get him there and back? But more than that, what Jacob should have been thinking, is how will his brothers react that far from home when they see their brother? It was a monumental task for a 17-year-old, certainly by today's cultural standards, and I would think even in that day, it's a pretty tall request, but all of that serves to magnify for us the obedience of Joseph, who responds simply with three words, here I am. If Joseph had any fears, If he had doubts or hesitation, they're not expressed here by Moses, who writes this for us. He simply says that Joseph simply said, here I am. When God tested Abraham, you know the story. By calling him to sacrifice his own son, do you know what Abraham said? Here I am. When God called Moses, in the burning bush to be a deliverer of his people. Do you know what Moses said? Here I am. When the Lord called Samuel, not once but three times, every time Samuel said the same thing. Here I am. When Isaiah was in the temple and was given that magnificent vision of the Lord, he was high and lifted up, God said this, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? And you know what Isaiah said, Here I am. Send me. That simple phrase from Joseph and the magnitude of the task and the parallels to all the other calls that I referenced for you there, I believe we're meant to recognize something. And that is simple, unwavering obedience. That's what Joseph expresses. A model for teenagers. A model for all of us, right? To respond that simply with, here I am. Send me. And that obedience wasn't just temporary, it was accompanied by persistence because he got to Shechem and they weren't there. Now it would be perfectly appropriate for him to say, check that box off, I'm going home. Dad, I did what you asked me to do. I went to Shechem and they weren't there. But he's also thinking, he's thinking that going to Shechem wasn't the goal. You can go back and read the instructions. That was not the goal. He wasn't worried about Shechem. Jacob was worried about the brothers and he's not going back until he finds the brothers. So he's persistent. That's admirable. That's the type of obedience we need to have when we're called and we say, I will, and then the first trouble comes up and we say, well, I did. But you didn't, unless you accomplished the task to which you set out. And that's exactly what Joseph does. He was persistent to accomplish The task. And now the scripture does something for us as so many of the narratives of the Bible do. The Bible gives us a contrast. We're meant to see this persistent obedience of Joseph and now contrast that with what we see with the brothers. And as the old saying goes, I got a bad feeling about this. Without reading another word. But we will read. Verse 18. When the brothers saw him afar off, even before he came near them, They conspired against him to kill him. And they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit. And we shall say some wild beast has devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. Now that's called plotting. That's called planning. That is called, in courtroom parlance, premeditation. It's the kind of anticipation of an evil act that gets you the highest punishment. Because you thought about it before you did it. These brothers are thinking about this. And this is, listen, don't lose this, this is where envy and bitterness and anger will take you. They saw Him coming and the first thought they had was what? Kill Him. It's the first thing on their mind. He's still a long way off. And you see them saying to one another, look, this dreamer is coming, this mocking, this making fun of. It's almost as though they're encouraging one another and we're intended to read this that they are doing this, they are doing this. It's a display of their jealousy, right? Sure it is. I mean, if you didn't read any farther, you would say ten of them said, look, here comes the dreamer. Look, there he is. There's that dreamer. And ten of them say, let's kill him. Yeah, let's kill him. Let's do it. Ten of them say, throw him in a pit. Let's throw him in a pit. A fitting grave for such a dreamer. And then, so that we cannot claim, which we like to claim today in courtrooms, that they were suffering from some temporary insanity. No, they've got enough wits about them not just to plan the crime, but the excuse they'll use to cover it up. We'll just say if daddy asked that a wild beast devoured him. We'll just say if anybody asks. What do you think about that, Simeon? Good plan. How about you, Levi? I'm all in, man. And the mocking. Do you see it? I mean, you don't have to read between the lines. It's just there. The jealousy being expressed. Let's see what happens to his dreams when he's in that pit, dead. But wait a minute. Wait. It's not ten of them. Shockingly, it's only nine of them. Because if you look at the next verse, we read, But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands. He has a different plan. And he said, Let us not kill him. Wait, guys. And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. And then we're told by Moses, remember inspiration is involved here, we're told by God what was on Reuben's heart. I'll come back and deliver him out of their hands. I'll take him back to daddy." That's what verse 22 says. There's Reuben, the oldest son, stepping up, standing up. And we're shocked. We're shocked to hear him say, let's not kill him, let's just put him in a pit. We're shocked because this is incestuous Reuben. This is the older brother, yes, but it's the older brother who slept with his father's wife. He's not exactly the paragon of virtue. And he's never distinguished prior to this in any of the rest of the text that he somehow had a lesser hatred or a lesser envy or a lesser bitterness. There's no indication of that. But here he's acting differently. And we would say there's hope for Reuben. Now, listen to me carefully. When we say that. We're missing it. And when we do the same things so very often in our lives, we're tempted to say of ourselves, way to go. But when we do that, we're missing we're missing it there, too. So what do you mean, Steve? I mean, Ruben is not to be cheered here. Because he isn't standing up against sin and the murderous schemes of his brothers with the dignity befitting an older brother who has now suddenly decided he's going to act faithfully. No, that's not what he did. This is Reuben doing what you and I so often do. When we're faced with these kind of circumstances, this is Reuben compromising. Compromising. Let's not kill him, let's just throw him in a pit. And even though he may have had on his mind to go back and rescue him, we know what the other brothers don't know. And that is when he says, let's don't kill him, let's throw him in the pit. What's he doing to them? Lying to them. Deceiving them. Friend, it is never faithful obedience. When you appear to be righteous, all the while you're justifying a less than approach of compromise that nobody else can see. Oh, they may applaud you, but you know better. It's compromise. It's taking some good act and trashing it because you attach to it or with it sinful intentions. We want to applaud Reuben here, but we ought to look close enough to see that a man who is afraid to stand up against his brothers isn't fit to be applauded. A man is too shaky to stand up and say, this just isn't right, guys. It's sinful. He's not to be applauded when he pursues some middle ground that might save his brother's life. But then we step up and try to reason through it. I've read commentators try to reason through it. This is Reuben finally becoming the man he should have been, and he's even got a wits about him to be strategizing. It's nine against one, and he knows there's no chance if he doesn't lie. What? That sounds like me when I justify my compromises. God needs a little help here. It can't possibly go well if I'm just simply obedient. I need to twist it just a little or else it won't work out. It's nine against one. It's compromise. It's rationalizing our sin. It is limiting our confidence in God, honoring simple obedience when the odds are against us. And we are just like Reuben so many times. But you know what it really is? You know what he really just did? It's shameful. It's shameful when Reuben does it and it's shameful when you and I do it. Do not compromise with sin. It will not go well. And it doesn't go well here. Look at verse 23. So it came about when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. They took him and they cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty. There was no water in it. Well, it seems like they listened to Reuben. It seems like he convinced them. But there's some detail that's hidden in those verses. We need to dig this out. First of all, Reuben apparently left. And this is where his deception starts to play out. Remember, he's going to come back and get him out, which means he has to disappear first. And here, you'll see in just a moment, he is clearly absent. And I think the reason is so that when the details start to unfold, he's got deniability. I wasn't there. I didn't throw him in the pit. Who am I? I'm the rescuer, Daddy. I brought him back to you. And the brothers in Reuben's absence, well if you look closely as we read on, they don't really seem to have accepted his compromise at all. Look at verse 26. Judah says, what will it profit us to kill him and then cover it up with the story of a wild animal? He's never decided he wasn't going to kill him. He's as committed now as he was from the beginning. He's unwavering in his intention to kill Joseph. So apparently, if we put all that together, here's apparently what they decided when Reuben left. throw him in the pit, let him die in there. I think that's why Moses gave us that phrase. It seems to kind of be out of sorts. There was no water in it. So why did you tell me that? Because he won't last three days in there without water. He'll die. They intend to throw him in the pit and let him die of starvation, but first of thirst. Verse 24, they took him and they cast him into a pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it. They sat down to eat a meal. And then they lifted their eyes and looked and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, what profit is there if we just kill him and then conceal it with blood? Verse 27, come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hands be upon him for he's our brother and our flesh. He deserves better. That's what he's thinking. That's what he's saying at least. And look what his brothers did. Sounds like a plan to us. Let's do that. Now we jumped ahead already and we knew of Judah's steadfast apparent commitment to killing Joseph, but here we see his influence over the other brothers. A greater influence than Reuben has, and we're going to study that next week in the next chapter, verse 28, which is all about Judah. But for now we need to note that Judah is capable of the pinnacle of the evil and wickedness of this act. He is identified now as the most envious, the most bitter, the most angry, the most filled with hate toward his brother Joseph because he's not just guilty of this heinous act that they have perpetrated. He's not satisfied just to kill Joseph. It'll be the same to him either way. I'd rather live every day knowing he's suffering as a slave. That's his heart. And we make money in the process. We need Reuben. And he comes back. Look. Reuben returned to the pit. And indeed, Joseph was not in the pit. And Reuben tore his clothes. He's mourning. That's what we're to understand. If we understand anything about Jewish history, he rips his clothes in mourning. But if we understand anything about Reuben, he's not sorry for Joseph. He's sorry for Reuben. Look at the next verse. The lad is no more, and I, where shall I go? What's going to happen to me? I'm the oldest. Dad will hold me responsible. Where am I going to go now? You guys have really put me in a pickle. But how quickly the compromise. These guys can just spin this stuff so fast you can't really keep up with it. They don't even slow down. Let's just take Joseph's tunic, kill a kid of the goats, dip the tunic in the blood. Well, they're not talking about it now, they're doing it. Verse 32, they sent the tunic of many colors, they brought it to their father and they said, we have found this. Do you know whether it's your son's tunic or not? You recognize this, dad? We're not sure. It's got so much blood on it. Looks like one color. Jacob, verse 33, recognized it and said, It's my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces. And that's the final piece of the puzzle. They deceive their father. They take the tunic, they dip it in blood, they bring it to daddy, and he recognizes it immediately. Now watch, and then he draws his own conclusion. They don't even have to mention an animal. Look how he says it. Without a doubt, he's been ripped to shreds. And then look how he reacts. Verse 34, Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, for I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. And thus his father wept for him. How often has that been you? You say, well, Steve, I've never lost a son. I don't think that's ever been me. Well, look again. Let me ask it a different way. How often have you been found despairing and despondent and downcast because you've jumped to conclusions without the facts? Always imagining the worst in every situation. Without a doubt you say, this is a bad thing. Now let me ask you again, how often has that been you? Caught more of you that time. Caught me that time. We want to rush to see the love of a father's son here when we read this text. And we would be unfair if we don't see that. Jacob loves his son. We've been told that again and again, and his heart is broken for his son. But we need to be just as quick to see the facts. And the fact is that while Jacob may have reason to mourn, he is here mourning for the wrong reason. Right? He's mourning the death of his son, but his son isn't dead. He's committing His life. Do you see that? The rest of His days I will mourn for an event that hasn't even happened. And His sons and daughters were told try to comfort Him. Do you see it? And He refused to be comforted. He's not listening to any reason. You say, well, what reason might have been offered? Well, we could imagine one of those sons, there's ten of them, one of them perhaps just tired of hearing their dad mourn said, Dad, we didn't find His body. He might still be alive. I don't want to hear it. Without a doubt, he's dead. But more than that, I want you to see that he's still being passive. He will not expend any energy to find out what's actually going on. It is difficult for me to imagine that his grave concern for his sons, which he already knows are jealous and angry, and are already over there in a hotbed of trouble where they previously committed a heinous act, would now just show up with nothing more than a bloody coat and he buys into all of it. He's a little shaky, but he ain't stupid. He had to at least suspect there's more to this story than I'm getting here. But he did nothing about it. He is so passive, he's just lazy passive. He wouldn't dig a little. He ain't going to walk two miles, let alone the 50 that Joseph walked, and try to find out what happened. So that's what I see. And I don't want to be too hard on these brothers, and I don't want to be too hard on Jacob. I don't want to be unfair with the text, but I don't think you can be too hard on this bunch. This is a seriously mixed up sinful bunch of kids with a seriously passive and confused father. It's just a big, fat mess. That's what it is. But what about Joseph? He seems to be nothing more than a pawn here in their wicked schemes. There's two things I think we should note. And then we'll be done. First of all, make a note of his immediate situation. Verse 36. The Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard. That's his immediate situation. And when the final chapter is written about this story, we will want to remember verse 28. Look at that again and the last part of it. Thus they brought Joseph to Egypt. So that's the immediate situation. He's in Egypt, and it was his brothers that brought him there. But I want to back up a minute, because there's something in the white spaces. And you know I'm shaky about the whole stuff in the white spaces. But between verses 24 and 25, there is something you do not want to miss. Look at them again. They took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty. There was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. First of all, notice what is there. There's the act, the despicable act of throwing Joseph into a pit. And we know, expecting him to die there at first. And then the second fact is they sat down to eat a meal. Now what's not clear is where did they sit down to eat a meal? So I don't know where they sat down, it doesn't tell me. Well it doesn't, explicitly. But I know if I was there, were I to have committed such an atrocity, I'd get some space between me and that crime. And then maybe I'd get something to eat. But apparently that's not what they did. Because we're told later, Genesis 42 verse 21, The brother said to one another, we are truly guilty concerning our brother for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear. This tells us that at least for a while they were in earshot and it magnifies the wickedness in their heart. that they could sit down, first of all, and eat a meal, but then magnified that they did it all the while hearing Joseph cry for help. We're told what was on their lips when they saw him coming and when they made the plan. Let's see what becomes of that dreamer now. And it's no stretch to imagine that while they ate, they also hurled insults back into that pit. Let that dream save you. Who's bowing to who now? It is a shocking display of the fruit of envy. If you haven't gotten that message yet this morning, I hope you'll get it. I pray we all get it. Don't let the root of bitterness find its way into your heart. And that root is envy. It's when you see the blessing of another and you rather than celebrating it, want it. You want it for yourself. You know why? Because you think you deserve it more. And friend, it is a deadly poison. And so there they sit. listening to Joseph cry out to them, don't do this guys. Please don't do this. It seems, I mean it's just logical, that Joseph must have felt for those hours like nobody cared. Have you ever felt that way? Some of you feel that way this morning? Nobody cares. Somewhere in the dark of that pit, knowing Joseph like we know Joseph already, and like many of us know him from the biography of the pages in the rest of the text to come, somewhere deep inside, I believe Joseph knew God still cared. And while he may have outwardly said, it's my Father's love that has let me go, to this dangerous place, knowing what these brothers might do. My brother's love has let me go in this pit and intended to leave me there. Is there another love? Is there a love that will not let me go? There is. At age 20, George Matheson was engaged to be married. But at the same time, he was going blind. Just before his wedding, his fiancee decided she could not live with a blind man the rest of her life. And so she left him. But a special providence was around him. It was his sister. And she agreed to care for him. And with her help, George finished his studies and became a pastor. And he would preach totally blind to over 1,500 people every week. The day came, however, when his sister fell in love. And she prepared for marriage herself. This time it was her wedding. And on the night of her wedding, George was alone, facing the prospect again of living the rest of his life alone. And then all of that past pain of his fiancé's having left him came rushing in. Here's what he said of this night. I was alone the night of my sister's wedding. Something happened to me which is known only to myself and which caused me the most severe suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. In just five minutes, he said, the words came. Oh, love that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul in thee. I give thee back the life I owe, that in nine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. As we think about Joseph and his reaction that night in the pit, it's not hard for me to hear him singing that song, though it was never written. O love that won't let me go, I am weary and I am alone, and I am afraid in this pit that I will never come out. But I rest my soul in you, God, and in the dream you had for me. And I give this life to you, not like I planned it, but as you seem to have planned better. And in the ocean depths of your love, My life in your hands will be richer and fuller than I could have ever imagined. From the pit that night, we might have only heard His cries for help. That's normal. It's human. And listen, friend, it's also Christian. But oh, if we could have heard His heart. Oh, love. that will not let me go." You see, it isn't just godly men and women that say when asked, here I am. No, it's God Himself that says that when we cry out to Him. Isaiah says, then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, Here I am. A love that will never let you go. Amen. Let's pray. Dark pits. Scary nights. Situations with seemingly no hope. Father, we've either all been there just came from there or going there. Because that's life. And you've said uniquely it's the Christian life. Remind us of a faith that speaks of something that cannot be seen when all we see around us is darkness. May our heart fall back, crushed as it is, and land in the arms of a love that will never let us go. Thank you, Father, for that love and the faith that these circumstances build in us. Oh, we'll cry and we'll beg. that it could be different. But may our heart have a peace that passes all understanding because it's kept in Your love. Thank You for this season. It just seems closer to us, more real to us. May we keep alive the nearness of Your Son every day. but especially in those pit days when you seem so far away. These things we ask confidently, trusting God's grace provided through his son. And so we say, let it be. Here I am. Amen. You have been listening to Pastor and Bible Teacher Steve Wilson of Grace Community Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We trust you have been encouraged and challenged by this message. If you would like to listen to more of Pastor Wilson's messages or obtain more information on the ministry of Grace Community Church, you can go to our website at www.gccbg.com, that's gccbg.com, or call 270-781-2595.