Returning tonight in our study of Mark chapter 12, and we'll begin there in verse 38, Mark chapter 12 in verse 38, as we continue our study in the gospel of Mark. And he said unto them in his doctrine, beware of the scribes which love to go in long clothing and love salutations in the marketplaces, in the chief seats in the synagogues, in the uppermost rooms at the feasts, which devour widows' houses for a pretense make long prayers. These shall receive greater damnation. And Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For they all did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all of her living. Keep in mind that these events are taking place on Wednesday of our Lord's Passion Week, A scribe had just approached our Lord prior to this event. at the temple complex, obviously in the area of the treasury, and with a question. He'd ask, which is the greatest of all the commands? To which our Lord answered there in verse 29, the first of all the commandments is here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There in Deuteronomy chapter six and other places, the Shema. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. It's superior to all else. Everything else comes after this. And the second is like namely this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What a high standard that is. But it's the standard the Lord has given us. There is none other commandment greater than these. He said it on all the law hang these two commands. Whether or not this is the same type of scribe our Lord describes in verses 38 through 40, who love to be seen and love to be heard, we don't know. There were a group of them. There are many people who are attending our Lord's teaching at this time. The scribes, if you'll recall, were experts in the law of Israel, both civil and ceremonial, and in all the law of Moses. They were originally transcribers in the early days, in the Old Testament, those who copied and tenaciously preserved copies of the Word of God. They did an expert job of it, preserving the Word of God. Over time, though, they became legal experts, and not just stenographers, not just scribes, copiers, but because they did it so much, they memorized the law, they knew all about it, they were experts in it, and also this extended to the rabbinical law that later became codified and written out. They became advisors to people in Israel of all things legal, real estate, biblical questions, social questions, civil suits. They were the lawyers in all things having to do with Judaism. And this was their daily lives. By the time of our Lord's ministry, they became so highly regarded in such an elite group, a fraternity, if you will, of men, even higher in estimation of the people than the Pharisees, the priests, and even the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Israel. The scribes were above all else. They were held in high esteem and they loved their positions. And because of their exalted status, they were often sought out for legal advice concerning land and the estates of widows. In Judaism, and in much of the world at that time, the most helpless person in society, besides children, who often had an advocate, widows who did not have a husband, they don't have a husband, they wouldn't be a widow, but a near kinsman, a brother-in-law, a son, a grandson, or a nephew, they were totally at the, they were beggars practically, they were at the behest of the public. And so often if they had a piece of land or some matter, they trusted the advice and the help of the scribes. And in any kind of situation like that, there's often the opportunity for graft and corruption And the scribes were known for taking advantage of them. This is exactly what the Lord is pointing out here. This is the whole setting here, devouring widows, going into their houses, talking them into giving of their substance to them. And so they were known for taking advantage of the helpless class of widows, gaining their property and their money. John Phillips writes, the scribes as a class had a holy false sense of values and they were eaten up with pride. Their spirit was completely out of harmony with the Lord's spirit of meekness and lowliness. The Lord warns the people who were listening to him to all of this about the mistaken notion that such things as the best seats in the synagogue and stylish expensive clothes had anything to do with godliness at all. On the contrary, all too often they were a cloak for something else. So our Lord warns the people about the scribes and how they operated. It's very interesting to me that he would use this opportunity just days, just hours before his crucifixion to do this teaching, to do this instruction. He mentions there in our text their love for elaborate ostentatious clothing. akin to the lavish priestly robes in the royal garb of the Old Testament, which by the time of New Testament, it was worn on special days, holy days, festival days by some people. But the scribes tended to distinguish themselves from all else by continually wearing these ceremonial clothes and robes. It would be, I was trying to think of an illustration. It'd be like, you know, men today being dressed in tuxedos all the time. It was just obvious. It was, you know, out of ordinary. It was certainly drew attention and are the most expensive clothes. It's kind of hard to have a comparison in our society. That's the best I could come up with. But they were, no, it was obvious they could see it and it was drawing attention to themselves. He says that they love these kinds of things. Our Lord does not condemn, hear, or forbid beautiful clothing or even dignified dress. That's not the point. But He condemns the using of it and the emphasis of it for showy display or simply to draw attention. of drawing undue attention to oneself. And all of us have to keep in mind these things, the choices we make and how we present ourselves to others. And of equating someone's worth with their clothing, which was totally in the mind of the scribes. See, we're distinguished and we're above everyone else because we alone can afford to have these kinds of clothes. Weiss notes the scribes were also fond of salutations of honor. in the marketplaces. They expected people to address them by their titles. Rabbi this, teacher that. It'd be like today requiring people who have a doctorate to call me doctor so and so and the emphasis on that. And so I guess that's the best way I could equate it. But they love the salutations. They love to be singled out. They love the titles. And again, our Lord did not refuse such titles or say they were absolutely wrong, but He did not demand them. He did not desire them. No one has more titles than the Lord Jesus Christ or could command those names being brought forth. But they were fond of these titles and the chief seats reserved in the synagogues. The synagogues were places of worship. They were like the local churches of Judaism. The temple was for the sacrifices. Synagogues were not for that. They were for instruction of law and weekly worship. And in the synagogues, facing the people, like the choir, were the seats carved in marble of the highest honor. And the scribes would come in ceremoniously to be seen, file in and seat in these seats, dressed in their garb, facing the people. You couldn't be more out there. You couldn't draw more attention to yourself. And to think that they loved it and counted on it and insisted upon it. They loved the uppermost seats in the synagogues. And in any kind of dinner where they were invited, In the more lavish homes, there would be a raised platform. The people of that day reclined when they ate on couches around the table. All this is very hard for us to picture. But again, the scribes would require to have the most exalted position in the house so they could be seen. That was the reason for it. In verse 40, our Lord said that they were known for devouring widows' houses or widows' households. Again, quoting Weiss, people often left their whole fortunes to the temple. And of course, that's not what the Lord was forbidding here, but a good part of that money went financially, at last, to the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes were employed to make out wills, so sometimes they would use that as an opportunity to take advantage or to persuade the conveyances of money. They convinced the widows to give their homes to the temple, and then they took the proceeds of the sale for themselves. And in order to do this, they offered, if you can imagine, the trade was Almost superstitiously, they would come to the widow's houses and say these long, protracted prayers. And I guess the widows felt their prayers were higher than other people's prayers, and that somehow or another, that God would favor them for this whole situation. It's very sad, and our Lord sees right through it. And he's wondering that the people cannot, and he's pointing it out to them. Henry Sweet notes, men who rob widows and use prayer or spiritual matters as the means of securing opportunities for committing a crime shall receive a sentence in excess of that which falls to the lot of the dishonest man who makes no pretense at piety to the sentence of the robber will be added in their case the sentence of a hypocrite. Our Lord was teaching in the court of Gentiles when all this is going on. The scribe has just asked him of the greatest command, which was a trick question. Our Lord answers it. And then he openly, see how bold our Lord is to openly, publicly say, oh, by the way, the scribes are known. Beware of them. They're known for this behavior. It had to have been an embarrassing, situation if you can embarrass those types of people. I found they often are not easily embarrassed or have a conscience, but they should have been. And our Lord's teaching in the court of the Gentiles was through. And then he passed within this low marble wall, which fenced off the inner precinct of the temple from the Gentiles. A Gentile could be a proselyte to Judaism, but was never even going through the rite of circumcision and going through all the loops. hoops, if you will, they were never considered a full-fledged Jew. They could only go so far in the temple, and there was this low marble wall with signs on it that said, at the point of death, shall a Gentile or a woman, for that example, go any farther in the temple complex. And now our Lord moves into what is called the court of the women. Interestingly, that's where the treasury boxes were, and there was a colonnade surrounding the Court of the Women, and at various points throughout that colonnade were the treasury boxes. There were 13 chests, each of them designated for a certain type of offering, a benevolent offering or the offering to the poor, the offering to various, probably to the building program, the upkeep of the temple. There were 13 of these, And each of them had a specific purpose and to which the offerings would be made. This colonnade under which these chests were placed was referred to that whole area was referred to as the treasury. That's where the people came and they would publicly give their offerings. This went on all the time. It wasn't just on the Sabbath. It wasn't it was open any time the temple was open and people would make their way there to give their tithes and offerings. is each of these treasury boxes had a horn-shaped, if you'll picture an old-fashioned phonograph, a horn-shaped receptacle made of brass, and they would throw their money into that horn, and it would clang and make a noise as it went down into the treasury chest. Of course, you can't, and there was no paper money at this time. All the money was gold or silver. You can't throw money into a brass receptacle without it making noise. You can imagine what that sounded like. And so this is what is being described in Matthew chapter six, where our Lord says, take heed, be careful that you do not do your alms before men. In other words, to be seen of men. They had to give it in that way if they're going to give it, but he's warning, don't give your offering to be seen or to draw attention to it. Otherwise, you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Jesus is saying, if that's the way you do it, the only reward you'll get is the sound of that clinking money. And everybody's saying, I wonder how much he's giving. you know, to draw attention to it. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee. That's what is, that trumpet-shaped receptacle would sound every time a coin, and the more coins you got, can you imagine somebody with a bunch of them just cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, and it just resounding throughout the court complex, and it would be heard. And again, our Lord said, I say unto you, they have their reward. That's their reward, that sound of clinging, uh brass but when thou doest alms to the true worshiper the reverent lover of the lord who is giving of their sustenance and obedience to the lord's command and to our great love and affection for him Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." Now that is a phrase that says we should be very judicious and careful in all of our devotions, in all parts of our spiritual lives, but especially into those areas that we call undue attention and the praise of men. And there's nothing like getting people's attention than money and the giving of money. And in this regard, we're not to be negligent in our giving, but we're to be very careful that it's not for the praise of men or for an ulterior motive, a la Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament. We see what the Lord thinks of that kind of thing. When thou doest thine alms, let not thy right hand know what your left hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. And thy father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. That's a biblical principle about giving. The Lord sees and knows everything and he promises to reward openly. But it's not in that way. It's not an immediate recognition. It's not in people oohing and aahing over our stewardship or what we give. The Lord has his ways, does he not? And we all can testify of blessing and helping and encouraging us. in our giving and even giving sacrificially to Him. It's between us and the Lord. Now, sure, there has to be records. They just pass an offering plate. We put things into the offering plate. But great care should be done in how we do those kinds of things and in examining our motives in doing so. So here we have our Lord's view of an estimation of our giving of our stewardship. One commentator, amazing to me today as I was studying this, said, this is not about stewardship at all. To which I thought, what is it about if it's not about stewardship? Now, it's not solely about that. And we're going to see some lessons here. But it does have, of course, with the giving of money and our Lord's teaching about it. Just because something has been or can be corrupted are abused and everything that's good can be. Can we say that? There's nothing so sacred that Satan will not get involved with, tempt us with it. There's nothing in your life so intimate and so sacred, your devotions, your prayer life. He will corrupt any of it. He knows no bounds. He doesn't say, well, I'll just won't bother that because that's really sacred. He hates the sacred and he tries to corrupt our motives. These things we have to struggle with. daily, just in our interactions with one another, our testimonies, our praying, our devotions, because pride is like a just like an oozing, you know, something that gets into every area of life. We have to kill it. We have to deal with it. We have to fight it. But that's part of being in these bodies and dealing with ourselves on a daily basis. But just because something has been or can be corrupted or abused doesn't mean that the principle or practice should be abandoned. The Lord does not brag about how much those rich people gave. The Bible says they gave an abundance out of their abundance, and he doesn't commend the widow giving everything or saying that everybody should emulate that. Those lessons cannot be drawn here from this teaching, but you might ask, what can be? I'll remind you that, and some people would say, well, widows shouldn't give. They shouldn't be expected to give. But when we see in stewardship, no one is exempted in the area of stewardship. Let every one of you lay by him in store is the apostolic command. You may not recall, but I try to point it out often because it's kind of obscure, but you might wonder how the Lord and his disciples in those three years of ministry, how were they supported? How did they, you know, he was a carpenter, but there's no record that during that time of public ministry, that he was building things and selling them. Peter and Matthew, all the fishermen and Matthew, the tax collector, they left their occupations to follow Jesus full time. They did not stop eating or have needs or even having to pay taxes during that period of time. All of those things carried on. In Luke chapter eight, there's a verse there you might want to mark because it's a very interesting verse to me. And this is what the Holy Spirit records for us in Luke chapter eight, verse two. certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits, and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, was among this group of women. And Johanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward. So a high-ranking steward is the business manager for Herod. His wife was a believer, and she was in this group. And Susanna and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. Obviously, there was a group of women And solely women, as far as we know, that's all that's mentioned in that group, who financially supported the Lord and his disciples with their money. This is how the Lord's work is done. The corruption is not in giving or sacrificial giving or even widows doing it. The corruption is taking advantage of those situations. But I just point out, even our Lord was supported by women. Some of those may have been widows, for all we know. And so it's just a very interesting thing to me that our Lord, the owner of all things, submitted himself not only to, as Philippians tells us, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took on a body, had nowhere to lay his head, no home, no pillow, and yet he calls these disciples to him and they ministered and he received the giving of these gracious, believing women who supported them during his ministry, and that's noteworthy. That's how the Lord's work is done. Amazingly, some of these offering boxes there in the temple treasury for charity are what we would call benevolence, as we receive a benevolence offering whenever we have the Lord's table, offerings for the poor and indigent. Matthew Henry says, where God is honored by our worship, it is proper that he should be honored by our giving. I want us to point out some observations here. I don't want to rest the scriptures or to test the point. Some people can go in to create fantastic ways with this text about abundant giving, but that's not the point. I don't think, but we do. There are some points to note. So I want to point out some observations about Christian stewardship and giving and our Lord's view of stewardship based on this incident that he calls to our attention and the Holy Spirit records for us. And Mark and Luke of the two gospel writers record this event. First of all, please keep in mind, our Lord is the unseen witness of all things. He's at every service where his name is mentioned and people are gathered. What does he tell us? Where two or three are gathered, what? There I am. If you want to know where the Lord is, he's always in the midst of his people. Isn't that a comforting thought tonight in this prayer meeting in downtown Birmingham on this cold winter night where we have gathered for prayer, our Lord is here. That's a very precious thought. And I know the Lord especially loves prayer meetings because we're calling on his name and asking for his help. And so we see here as the Lord saw this giving by the rich and the poor widow, our Lord witnessed it and saw it. And he sees everything done in his name. Our Lord is the unseen witness. That ought to be a very comforting and a very sobering thing for us as I stand here as your pastor realizing that I will give an account for every word spoken, that I will stand before the Lord for this prayer meeting and for every time I stand in this sacred desk. He is the unseen witness. He saw the preparation. He saw the prayer that went into the teaching of this word. He sees the delivery. He knows the motive. He knows the thoughts and the intent. And he knows your reception of the word here tonight. So it's a two way street, isn't it? I have a great burden on me. Your burden is just as equal in the receiving and the obeying of the word as well. Verse 41 tells, and I always remind you this verse, Proverbs 15, 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Verse 41, Jesus sat over against the treasury. He has sat down here and is watching this crowd, it must be an ongoing line of people for all we know, some, several, very rich, clanging their coins, drawing attention. We would call that sounding the trumpet. That's what they would say is the money would hit that brass receptacle. Cling, clang, cling, clang. And the people were observing. Can you imagine the discussion? Others are standing on the side. Look how much he's given. Boy, that's a bag of money. Look at all that. Our Lord is sitting over against the treasury and watching all this. He beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. Now, Paul's admonition to the Corinthians in his instruction about giving, we mentioned on the Lord's Day, if there first be a willing mind. That is the condition of all spiritual service and worship for the Lord. There must first be a willing mind. We're not to give out of constraint or grudgingly. I'm not to do what I'm doing tonight because I have to or it's expected of me. We lavish our efforts and our abilities and our calling back to the Lord who's enabled us to do what we do. If there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath what we have and not according to that he hath not. And again, that's the biblical standard. We give what we have or out of what we have. Again, to quote Weiss, God cannot afford to lavish his gifts upon the stingy believer, for he would only squander them upon his own selfish desires. James 4 and verse 3, you ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. Now, we have no reason to think anything but that this widow's motive, it was obviously pure and sincere. out of worship for the Lord and her concern for those worse off than she was. And we might think, how can you be worse off than this widow? She was the poorest of the poor. She was at the, in fact, She was giving everything. For her to even eat again, she would have to find money, make money, do something to get it. This is cleaning her out. She's emptying out her bank account, so to speak. She did not calculate a gift, as the erroneous so-called seed-faith teachers claim. You sow a seed is a very popular teaching, false teaching, among the seed faith or the word of faith prosperity theologians. They teach if you sow us, you determine how much you want to receive from the Lord, and if you sow a certain amount, his duty bounds to give you that and more back in return, and they'll give you the formula. They'll tell you how much to give. It's always to their coffers, if you know. If you send it to that organization, to that seed faith, and there are many of them. There's Oral Roberts, he's dead, but the whole Oral Roberts, he was one of the founders of the seed faith movement. Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes, and others. There are many, many others. It is the most popular thing in evangelicalism because it teaches God wants everybody to be rich and prosperous and to have luxurious things. It defies the mind that you can read this Bible and come up with that theology, especially when you read this text that we're studying tonight. And yet that's the most proliferating teaching in evangelicalism today, the prosperity theology. Run from it. It is false. God has not promised a hundredfold for your seed faith, planting a seed. If you put ten dollars in it, you'll get a thousand dollars by the time you get home tonight or next week in the mail. And I'm not trying to be facetious. That's the kind of erroneous teaching that takes advantage of people. And that's what Jesus is talking about here. That's what he's condemning. And there's no difference in that and what these scribes were doing. Now, the word for poor here, he talks about the poor widow, describing the widow is used for an indigent pauper, a beggar. And in fact, that may be how she got the money that she put into the treasure. We don't know. It means poverty stricken without hope of income at all. Now, two mites, the Bible tells us she gave two mites, this very difficult, to equate biblical money and the money of our day, it's almost impossible. But to describe what she gave, it was the smallest copper coin in circulation. It was less than a cent. And okay, in American money, a cent is the smallest thing in circulation. Just so you'll know, a mite was less than what a cent would be in our circulation. In fact, a mite was an 80th part of a denarius, so it was a teeny tiny amount of money. And the widow's offering was a total of one-fourth of a cent, if you can imagine. So we see that the Lord is the unseen observer of all spiritual things, whether it's giving, teaching, reading your Bible, witnessing, whatever it is, the Lord sees and knows the truth about it, okay? And that should be comforting and it should be something that would cause us all to walk carefully. I'm not trying to put you on a guilt trip or scare you. That's just holy, sober, balancing things out. This is what we need to know. Secondly, we see his comments about her giving. Our Lord does make some observations about this woman's giving. And we read there in verse 43. Verily I say unto you, he's getting down to brass tacks here. Truly, I want you to know this, he's telling his disciples and all that are listening, this is what I want you to know, that this poor widow, this indigent beggar widow, hath cast in more than all they have cast into the treasury. We don't know how long he sat there, but he must have observed many people go by and dump bags of money clanging into the brass receptacles over and over again, the cacophonous sound. And this little lady goes in and puts two little pink pinks in there. And our Lord said after, I want you to know what she gave was more than all of that that preceded her. So what we see is heaven has a far different standard of judging things than we do here. The economy of heaven is a different economy than what we have here. Now these people, keep in mind, our Lord draws attention, it must have been a group of scribes that had come by and poured in the coins, because our Lord had just talked about, beware these people, look at how they're dressed, look at what they require, you have to shout their, you know, hello teacher, hello rabbi, blessings upon thee. They love to be called out. They love to be seen. They love to be heard. They love to be watched. They love to be people to think about their clothes. And so they were doing in light of all that in the context, they were giving in the same way to be seen, to be heard. And they were primarily concerned with perception, how they were perceived in the eyes of others, particularly in the matter of their giving. Now, all this seems very, you know, crass and unbelievable to us, but the Lord records it here for us to take note and to be careful. None of them, not one of them, nobody, not even the disciples would have been impressed by this woman's giving, but our Lord was. Notice in verse 41, Jesus tells us, The Bible says, Jesus beheld how the people cast in their money, not what they gave or what they looked like as they were giving it. He took note of how they did it. To be sure, we do everything in a certain way. We have procedures. We're creatures of habit. We live our lives. And in every area of our lives, we do things a certain way. Over time, they become habits, and we do things habitually, and sometimes in the spiritual realm, things can get to be that way. The call here is for us, I think, to examine all that we do all the time. Not in a hypercritical way, but just honestly and sincerely before the Lord. Lord, search my heart. Know my heart and try me. See if there'd be any wicked ways. Show me if I'm not doing this in the right way or from a pure motive. Remember, the heart is deceitful, isn't it, above all things? and desperately wicked, who can know it?" Who can know it? The Lord can know it, and His Holy Spirit will show it to us. Jesus beheld how, the manner, how they drew attention, the way they did it. He drew attention, they beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. I don't know, I don't want to read more into it than there, but I just kind of think that the woman who gave the two mites very discreetly put the money, what she had to give, into the treasury. Many of them drew attention to the whole process. They had groups of people around them, oohing and aahing as they were doing it. They no doubt made sure that they gave at a time when the largest audience were there. I mean, if you love the praise of men, you're gonna time it at a time where most people would be there to see it. Verse 41, and many that were rich cast in much. And that's all the Lord says about it. Oh, by the way, they're rich and they gave a lot of money. The response is, well, they should have. They had a lot to give, but they didn't give all, did they? And the teaching is not here is that we should give all. The Lord doesn't say they should have given all their money, and he doesn't say that the widow should have given all of her money or not have given. He merely makes the observation of what they did. Now, when many that were rich cast in much, why is it that we're so preoccupied with the rich and famous? They're on the list, the Fortune 500. So often, you'll read the richest people in the world, how much they have, the richest families in America. And people, it's just interesting. All of us are interested in that. Money has a way of catching our attention. And so when we read, many that were rich cast in much, we can't help but think about it, wonder how much, how much money did they give that day, and how impressive, what did they have on, how impressed it was. And so we think about that, but we think about what we do and we should concentrate on it and consider it. But no one is exempt from supporting the Lord's work, not the rich who have too much they may think to give or the poor who have too little. Again, our Lord did not condone or approve the lavish giving of the rich, nor did he commend or condemn the lavish giving of the indigent widow. He just makes note that he saw it, that she gave all that she had. Our Lord does not commend lavish giving here. Many who poured out, remember Mary who poured out her alabaster box. She realized that he was on the way to the cross. She broke that casket that contained this aromatic anointing perfume that was so lavishly expensive. It would be used just a few times in her life, at her wedding, at the birth of her children, the preparation for bodies for burial. And she broke it. It was often sealed with the seal. She broke it and poured it all out on the Lord's feet and lavished it upon him every bit of it. Even the disciples said, wow, we could have sold that and connected a spiritual thing to it and given it to the poor. I remember Judas was all about that, but she was criticized. You remember what our Lord's response was to Mary's lavish gift? Leave her alone. I would just like to hear the Lord say that. Leave her alone. She has done what she could. And by the way, that is the standard of Christian service, doing what we can do. That's all the Lord expects, what he's called us to do. If he's called us, we can do it, doing what we can do, no matter how simple or unnoticeable it may be. We answer to the Lord, not to the masses and not to each other. We answer to the Lord. The point is the Lord sees and knows and understands our sacrifices. Others may never understand why we do what we do. It doesn't matter. We answer to the Lord and look to him. Now, this woman in the story here didn't know that the Messiah was watching her. She probably didn't know he was there that day. I don't, I don't know her cognizance of, she may have, but I don't, I don't know. Watching, observing, but he was, as he always is. Look in verse 44. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want, out of her great need, out of her lack, did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Now that's what the Lord says about it. He makes note of that for his disciples' hearing and learning and for ours, whatever you make of it. Isaac Watts took the 23rd Psalm and wrote it into poetic form, which is a beautiful hymn that says this, My shepherd will supply my need. Jehovah is his name. In pastures fresh he makes me feed beside the living stream. He brings my wandering spirit back when I forsake his ways. and leads me for his mercy's sake in paths of truth and grace. The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days. Oh, may thy house be mine abode, and all my work be praise. There would I find a settled rest while others come and go, no more a stranger or a guest. but like a child at home. Well, may the Lord bless his teaching to us.