Reference, sign 93. Psalm 93. The Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed. He has girded himself with strength. Surely the world is established so that it cannot be moved. Your throne is established from of old. You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. Your testimonies are very sure. Holiness adorns your house, O Lord, forever. I left the newspaper cutting on my desk for some reason, but I did see in the paper back in 2019 that there was a crisis at one of our expensive private schools where it costs 37,000 a year to send your child there. that they had done an English literature exam only to discover when they got into the papers that they had studied the wrong book and the teachers had had them studying a book that was not on the curriculum instead and of course that meant that when the questions came the kids weren't able to answer any of those questions. So it was quite a crisis for those young people. When I saw that newspaper story, I couldn't help thinking to myself, what an illustration of what's going on in the world today. that actually people are not studying the book they need to study and that's why when the crisis comes and we're not ready to face it. Well I don't want us to be like that and so I want us tonight to look again at the Word of God, at the Bible and learn the truth that matters for our lives. And the message tonight is summed up in the first three words of Psalm 93, the Lord reigns. the Lord reigns. That's what this psalm is about, that's what this message is about tonight. It's about the sovereignty of God, God reigning over all of his creation. In fact this isn't the only time it's mentioned in scripture, it's mentioned many times but there's some notable times that especially are important. This comes from the Exodus first of all in Exodus 15 verse 18 when the children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea and Miriam with her tambourine leads the ladies in worship and says the Lord shall reign forever and ever. That's where the declaration is made. It's made in 2 Chronicles 20 verse 6 with the great battle in the days of Jehoshaphat and the full quote of this is marvellous but it says are you not God and do you not rule over the kingdoms of the nations? And then finally the consummation of the age in Revelation chapter 19 verse 6 when Babylon is judged and the Lord comes back the cry goes out from heaven hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. And this is the message of scripture, that the Lord reigns. He is a sovereign God. What does it mean that God is sovereign? Let me give you two quotations. One from A.W. Tozer, one from A.W. Pink. I didn't choose those two names especially, but they're both A.W. A.W. Tozer says, God's sovereignty is the attribute by which he rules his entire creation. That's what it means. But I like the A.W. Pink quote best. He says, divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that he is on the throne of the universe. And I love that description of the sovereignty of God, the God who raised her. He is God not only in name but in fact as well. He is God. And that's what this psalm is bringing home to the children of Israel and to you and me today. Now we're not told anything in the inscription about when this psalm was written But putting it together with what we know about history, there's a couple of places where this seems possible to be authored from. And the one that I lean towards is the Assyrian invasion of Israel in the days of Hezekiah. Remember when Sennacherib brought his armies down, they surrounded Jerusalem. And Rabshaker, the representative of the Assyrians, was mocking the Lord and calling out to the people on the wall to surrender because we've defeated everybody else. And of course, God then defeated them. And it was a testimony to the Lord reigning over everything. probably my favourite view of when this was written. Others believe it was written when the children of Israel came back from captivity having been in Babylon and they were rebuilding the temple in the days of Ezra and it looks like that maybe the Lord hadn't been reigning but this is a confirmation that he is. well I as I say I lean towards the first view but the point is the statement of scripture the lord reigns and this psalm was so important that the Jewish people read it and they still read it actually they read it today on the eve of the sabbath the friday after the sabbath now if you look at the psalm before this psalm 92 you'll notice the inscription on the psalm there it says a psalm a song for the sabbath day the sabbath is saturday and so this psalm is read in conjunction with this and this is read on the friday night when the sundown uh sabbath service takes place and that tradition goes all the way back to the days of the second temple the days of herod's temple In fact they had a program of different psalms that were read every day in the temple when the morning sacrifice was offered. On Sunday, first day of the week they offered psalm 24, Monday psalm 48, Tuesday psalm 82, Wednesday psalm 34, Thursday psalm 81 and Friday Psalm 93, Saturday Psalm 92. And that's where it fitted in and still fits in in the modern Sabbath with their routine today. And it's one of a collection of Psalms. There's actually three Psalms in this area of the 90s that all begin in the same way. Psalm 93, Psalm 97, and Psalm 99. If you just turn over the page you can see that for yourself. Psalm 97 begins, and psalm 99 the lord reigns let the peoples tremble he dwells between the cherubim let the earth be moved what's also interesting is all three of those psalms also end on a statement of god's holiness And they all begin, the Lord reigns, they all end with a statement of God's holiness. And the conjecture of some Bible commentators is this, that when we come to the book of Revelation and we see the angels around the throne of God crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, as you know they do, where are they getting that from? their theology is in the Psalms. They're getting it from these Psalms. And the reason they're singing it in Revelation is because the Lord is about to take his power and reign over the earth, as the book of Revelation reveals. So what a fascinating speculation that is, based on these three Psalms. But there's more to it than that as well, because these Psalms fit in with other Psalms around them as well. And there's a fascinating structure here. You know, I love the structure of the scripture. The structure of scripture is this, okay, you have Psalm 93 which talks about God reigning, then you have Psalm 95 and 96 which talk about sing to the Lord, sing to the Lord, and then Psalm 97, so you have a sort of sandwich there, and then Psalm 98, Sing, Psalm 99, reign, and Psalm 100, sin. So you can see the structure there, and Scroggie points that out in his commentary, and I think that's really amazing. And you can see God's design in scripture. But the most important thing tonight we take home is the message, the Lord reigns. This is a message for our age today. It's a message for all time because we're going to see God is reigning eternally and many people see this psalm as having its ultimate fulfilment in the millennium kingdom when Christ reigns on the earth and ultimately all these things will be visibly true to the rest of the world as they are to us by faith. But we need to take this message into our hearts right now because you know what, we're living in a day and age which we need the assurance that the Lord reigns. Saw this in the newspaper in 2024, MI6 boss says, I've never seen the world in a more dangerous state. And you have to be honest with you. Think about it. It probably is, isn't it? You know, with the war in Ukraine, the Middle Eastern wars, terrorism, you know, it seems every week there's another child stabbing another child in our country. And it's just like the world has gone mad. And if you're a Christian, especially, you can look at the world and say the world is losing its moral sanity as well as its security. And what is going on? Well, we need to remember the Lord reigns and he's not out of control. He is on the throne. I like the song by the Newsboys, the band the Newsboys, Hallelujah He Reigns, and I've been singing that this week as I've been thinking about this. All God's children singing Hallelujah He Reigns, and I'm hoping you'll go home singing that in your heart, even if you don't know that particular song, you'll get this psalm into your heart. Because you know what, you will need to know this for your life as well as what's going on in the world in general. I know situations face you and me, that we need the assurance, Lord, you're in control. Though I don't understand what's going on, though I can't, I don't understand why this doctor's report has come, why this phone call has come, why what's happened at work has happened, why this is happening in my family, I don't understand. But I do know this, the Lord reigns. and I put my trust in you. This will cure your anxieties better than any tablet. The Lord reigns, and to have a revelation of it. And I want to tonight see you, I want you to see, I want to see you too, but I want you to see tonight how the Lord reigns as it's spelt out in this psalm. And you know I always try to do my preparation with the Holy Spirit's leading as I'm putting it together. uh and work out the outline and then I go to the commentaries and I was really thrilled after I'd worked all this and and yesterday as I was plowing through some commentaries to see Matthew Henry had almost the same outline as me so uh I'm not there yet folks but uh you know that was encouraging to me. But the Lord reigns in several ways that are revealed in this psalm. First of all the Lord reigns in majesty. Have a look at the opening verse it says the Lord reigns He is clothed with majesty. Now we have here what is called an anthropomorphism. Now that's a very big word, but what it basically means is we see God in human terms. Now God is a spirit, of course, but he is revealed here in human terms as having been clothed. And this was something which in the Old Testament was just a description that was usable for conveying doctrinal truth a bit like when Paul talks about the armor of God in all the different pieces you know we don't literally put on I'm putting on the belt of truth and stuff what it really means is you know you get these doctrines and you'll be in a suit of armor to fight the devil that's what he's really meaning And these things here are truths about God, which are describing him in language. It's a vehicle for communicating a truth that the Lord is clothed in majesty. But having said that, when we come to the New Testament, we find it's not just a literary thing for helping us understand something about God. It's a reality. Because when the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John the Apostle on the island of Patmos, how was he dressed? in majesty and glory and suddenly the scriptures that we realize now why he is called the word because he fulfills everything in in the old testament and the lord is right reigns and he is clothed with majesty and it's a beautiful picture of the glory of god being revealed And this is something which is spoken of many times in scripture. You'll remember Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says of the Lord Jesus, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 says, where Peter talks about the mount of transfiguration, he says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. Young's literal translation says excellency he hath put on and this is something which is absolutely breathtaking to realise the truth about our God and one day we're going to see it we can't see it now There was a famous Roman emperor by the name of Trajan and on one occasion he said to the rabbi Joshua. There's a rabbi, all the rabbis have different names by which they're identified. Rabbi Joshua, he said, you teach me that your God is everywhere and that he resides among your nation. I should like to see him. God's presence is indeed everywhere, said the rabbi, but he cannot be seen. No mortal eye can behold his glory. The emperor still insisted. The rabbi then took him into the open air at noonday and asked him to look on the sun. I can't see that, said the emperor. The light dazzles me. Then said the rabbi, thou art unable to bear the light of one of his creatures. How then could you look upon the creator? Well, one day, folks, when we get to heaven with renewed bodies, we're going to have eyes that are going to be able to look on the Lord and his majesty. Isn't that a wonderful thing? And I'm looking forward to that aspect of heaven very much. But don't think he's a common God. Don't think he's like the gods you see in picture books or in statues that the false religions worship. No, the Lord is glorious. He is clothed with majesty. but then we're told that he reigns in potency as well because it goes on talking about him being clothed and it says in verse 1 And the image here is not only of the Lord being dressed in glorious robes, but he's also dressed in armor. And he has his armor on. It's a description of his potency, a picture of his strength. his power, his omnipotence, and his might. And this is something that we often, we know this truth about God, but I wonder how much we really understand it. You know, the Asian weaver ant is able to carry its own weight a hundred times over. You think about that, just a little ant. You see some of these pictures of the Asian weaver ant, it's able to carry its own weight. I couldn't carry 100 men on me. Especially not the weight of John Iken. 100, and this is it, get this right, an Asian weaver ant can do that hanging upside down. It's phenomenal, isn't it? That's just one of God's little creatures. And that is nothing compared to the power of our great God, who clothes himself with strength, with omnipotence. And he is girded with such great power, an inexhaustible power that will never grow weary. You know, you and I have power and strength, but we grow tired, don't we? And as the day goes on, we look forward to bed at the end of the day. God never experiences that weariness. It's absolute power. It's not limited in any way. And it's self-sufficient power. It's power which is his own power. It's not reliant on other people. You know, I'm reliant as a human being on food. My torch is reliant on batteries. Even my phone has to be charged. And this whole system here tonight, the lights, the computers, everything, the projectors, all relying on the power grid system. But God relies on nothing to give him strength. God has self-sufficient power and he has girded himself with strength to rule. I love that story about Abraham in the Talmud. And this is not a scriptural story, but it is a story I can believe is true. One of the things we read about Abraham in the Old Testament is that his family were a family of idol worshipers. We see that in the statements in Joshua chapter 24. And there's a story in the Jewish writings called the Talmud about Abraham, that his father Terah was actually a man who made clay idols. and one day he came back to the shop in Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham lived with with Terah and his family and he came into the shop and believe it or not all the clay idols all the idols were smashed to bits except one and the hammer was lying in front of this one And when this had happened, then Terah said to Abraham, he said, Abraham, he said, what on earth happened here? And he said, father, you should have seen it. This idol got up and with the hammer, he smashed all the others. And he said, oh, don't give me that. You don't really expect me to believe that. That idol got up and did that. And he said, no. He said, but tell me, father, then, why do you worship it? Why do you worship it? You know it can't do anything. But the Christian knows his God is omnipotent and almighty. At least we know that most of the time, don't we? Until we get in a fix. I heard that there's a man who's got a fear of car tires, and I don't know if that's going around. But, you know, we all have fears that come round to us, don't we? And they cause us to wobble. There's a story in one of Warren Wiersbe's books, he has a book called Classic Sermons on the Attributes of God. And he tells this story, well it's not actually him, it's another preacher who tells the story, back in the slave days of America. And the story goes like this, forgive me for reading it. It says, when the northern states of America braced themselves up for that gigantic struggle on behalf of the freedom of the slave, there were plenty of people, and among them many Englishmen, to prophesy defeat. But there were some men like Ward Beecher, Whittier, Lowell, and the great Lincoln himself, Abraham Lincoln, who contemplated the issue with confidence. They believed that they were on God's side and that God would not belie his own character by permitting the triumph of iniquity and wrong. And first, it seemed as if the prophecies of those who foretold defeat were all going to come true. Things went badly for the North. And after one fierce engagement, in other words, one fierce battle, in which victory rested with the South, the hearts of the bravest failed them. It happened that a meeting was being held in Washington at the time the news of the defeat arrived. Frederick Douglass, the slave orator, was speaking, and I've read a book recently that had about Frederick Douglass in it, and he was a man who had been a slave, and he was giving, he was raising support for the courts against slavery. The news was brought to the platform, and when he heard it, Frederick Douglass gave way to despair and burst into tears. The news passed from seat to seat through the hall, and as they heard it, the hearts of the people stood still with fear. But there was one old black woman, sitting way in the back gallery, whom temporary defeat could not dishearten. When she saw the meeting fall into something like a panic, with even Douglas in despair, she cried out with a shade of reproach in her tone, Frederick Douglass, God is not dead. The author says it was a single word, a simple word, but it brought the courage back to the hearts of all because it reminded them of him in whose hand the destinies of nations are and by whom kings rule and princes decree justice. The northern cause was a righteous cause. The event in time showed that God was not dead. And you know what, that story relates to me because you know what, I feel very brave until something goes wrong, till there's that phone call, till there's that worry. But we need to remind ourselves and get this revelation, the Lord reigns and he reigns in potency. He is girded with strength for the things that we face in the days ahead. Third thing we see here is that the Lord reigns in eternity and we see this in verse 1 in the last part of verse 1 it says surely the world is established so that it cannot be moved and in verse 2 says your throne is established from of old you are from everlasting And what this scripture is doing is reaching back into the past and looking into the future, like we did with the text this morning, and it's comparing two things. It's looking back to how God created the world by his decree in the first part at the end of verse one, where it says, the world is established so that it cannot be moved. That doesn't mean the world doesn't spin like some people used to think it did, but it means that God has set the order for creation. and God has established it is you know the world isn't going anywhere whatever the global warm warmongers as they call them tell you that the world's going to die out in the next few years or you know a nuclear bomb is going to explode and destroy all the earth the bible says no the the world is established it can't be moved it's in the hands of God creative power but then it also says by comparison not only the the thing god created but his throne is established from of old and you are from everlasting the lord's throne is established just like the world is and the Eternal God is still here and going to be here. The God who was way back in the beginning of creation will still be here at the end of this creation and into the new creation as well. He is the Eternal God. He is the Eternal God. Now I heard about some boys who saw a particular name of a preacher up on the notice board and they groaned because he preached longer than me. And it said, Reverend Smith. And one of the naughty boys changed the first letter from the R with a piece of chalk and changed it to N. Neverend Smith. He never ends. He goes on forever. Well, what is said about a mockery about that preacher is the reality about our God he doesn't he won't ever come to an end and his reign will be an eternal reign it will go on forever and you know what dear friends that's not something i can prove to you There's no apologetics for this truth. There's no apologetics. You know why? Because to test something or to have something to prove it, you have to be eternal. You have to last for eternity to prove that something is eternal. And of course, if it's eternity, it's never going to end for you to finish the test. So we have to take it on trust. It's a statement in the word of God. But I know God has been ruling from eternity. and God will rule for eternity as well. He is the everlasting God and his reign will never end. And I love this because you know what this means for me? This means that God is in charge of time. God is in charge of time. Now, he's outside of time. He's not like us, a creature bound by time. But he is in control of time. He's not a time lord. He's the lord of time. And as a result of this, he is able to plan all the things that happened. I didn't get a chance to put the picture on. favorite missionaries I've been reading about in the last few years was a man by the name of Alexander McClain who went to, Mackay sorry, who went to Uganda and helped open up Uganda in the early days and he worked around the great lake there and he was an engineer and he built a boat to get across to the islands where there were lepers on those islands, and he wanted to take the gospel to those people, and things like that. But to build the boat, he had to chop down trees. And to do that, he required a lot of work. And while he was working, he was thinking. And he said this, he said, mission boats, unfortunately, do not grow of themselves. They have to be built every inch of them. But he said, trees have been growing for ages of the Lord's planting and as we fell them I like to think that he ordained them for this purpose. I love that story you know how far back was those trees planted that they should be chopped down yeah I believe he was right you know he God knew Alexander McCain's gonna need a boat to go and reach the people I'm gonna make sure there's some trees there so that he's got some wood and he planned that in advance. I can think of one tree that was planned from eternity past can't you? and fulfilled in time, the cross. And how great is our God to be an eternal God. And therefore we can trust him with our future and we can say, I don't know what's ahead, but I know God's already been there. God's in charge of what's gonna happen tomorrow. Like we sing in that song, I do not know what the day will bring or whatever. So, praise the Lord for that fact. And then fourthly, we see he reigns in superiority. In verses three to four, it says, the floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. Now, the superiority here is illustrated. The Lord's voice is compared to the waters. And his voice, you'll notice in verse four, the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters. And verse three has a list of these waters. It talks about the floods three times over. And it's an interesting reference because it's talking about the floods and it's talking about waves. Now normally you talk about floods with rivers, when rivers flood, you don't talk about floods with the sea, not normally. But of course there was a great flood, the flood of Noah when the Lord reigned over that and Psalm 29 also tells us the Lord sat enthroned over the flood in the days of Genesis and when we get back to Genesis we're going to see how he did in wonderful ways I trust. But here this is language which is describing not literal water, I don't believe, although God does reign over the actions of the sea, but it's talking, I believe, about the nations. You see, when we were studying prophecy last year, one of the things we saw again and again, so many prophetic passages, is that the Bible uses the sea as an image of the nations, the Gentile nations. And Daniel, for instance, sees these great beasts coming out of a storm-tossed sea. John on the island of Patmos sees the Antichrist beast coming up out of a troubled sea. and Revelation 17 15 tells us about the harlot that sits on many waters and verse 15 tells us those waters are many nations peoples and tongues it's a picture of the nations and he's saying here the nations that the the peoples around have lifted up their voice and there's a past tense Here, in the first two clauses of verse three, the word have is used twice. They have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. And it's the nations rising up and making a loud sound in threat against the people of God. Going back to the Assyrian invasion that I talked about, when Sennacherib came down around Jerusalem and I talked about Rabshaker, his representative, he came to the wall of Jerusalem and he called out to the people in the Hebrew tongue so everybody could understand blood-curdling threats against the people and things to make them tremble. And it's almost certain that the psalmist has this in mind. The floods have lifted up their voices. And it's not just something in the past, it's something that's still happening now because the third clause in verse three doesn't have the word have. It just says the floods lift up their waves. This is present tense. They're still doing it. And I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, they're still doing it today. You know, across this world, there are Islamic mosques every mosque that has a minuet has the call for prayer go out I think it's five times a day and the call goes out Allah is greater and that is even when you're in Jerusalem the holy city you have this awful wailing sound. Those of you who've been to Jerusalem, you'll remember it. It just feels so wrong there of all places. But you hear this wailing cry. And what is that? That's the floods lifting up their voices. And the nations, the foreign gods, they're saying, Allah reigns. Allah is greater. Greater than who? Greater than the Lord. That's what it's a statement about. Now the Christian at this stage could worry about that, but the Christian who knows the Lord reigns says in verse four, the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. He doesn't deny they're mighty, and we would never deny the power of Islam is a mighty force in the face of the earth. There's one who's superior, one who is greater, who reigns on high, and his name is the Lord, and he is on high. I like what Warren Wisby says in his commentary on the Psalms. He said, when things happen, you need to not look at the threats around you, but the throne above you. And the Lord on high is mightier. And he reigns over all these things in his power. And he isn't afraid of what the nations are doing. There's a little story I read. I used to read Dave Hunt's books a lot. Dave Hunt was a prophecy teacher. He's with the Lord now in glory. And I found this in one of his books, which really, really He said, during the 1990s Gulf War, Saddam Hussein launched Scud missiles at Israel as an attempt to broaden the war. In one case, the Jewish people ran to a bomb shelter during an air raid, only to find no one had a key and they couldn't get in. So they all ran to other shelters. Amazingly, the locked shelter was the only one to get hit. You see that? The Lord reigns. Sovereign, isn't he? In superiority, even over the enemy. And we need to remember that with the affairs we're facing in our lives this week. Fifthly, we see the Lord reigns in certainty. Verse 5 says your testimonies are very sure. Now I like this little statement, I'm not going to say too much about it, but the statement your testimonies means basically God's word, the Bible. And God's word is very sure. and uh you know really and truthfully what this is saying is i hear so many things from the news so many news reports that worry me but i have something that gives me peace God's testimonies are sure. The ground we all stand on in the world is sinking sand, but on Christ the solid rock I stand, and on his word we have a security with all that's going on. Your testimonies are very sure. and he reigns in certainty he is able to fulfill everything that he has said he will do and his word will come to pass so whatever the newspapers say about the president about the prime minister about mr putin listen god's testimonies are very sure don't worry about what the newspaper says and the next time something comes along like covid You know, I had one dear Christian brother. I felt the Lord was laying him on my heart and I phoned him up and I said to him, you all right? And he said, I'm just sitting here watching this. Have you been watching the news? And I said, no. I said, I mean, I do know what's going on. But he said, look, he said, just since lunchtime, all these people have died or in hospital because of COVID. And I said to him, brother, you know what's happening? You're watching the floodwaters rise around you and you're panicking. You're not looking at the right thing, you're listening to the news reports. Get your eyes on the word of God. You know what, that's what we need to do, isn't it? His testimonies are sure. The next time something like this comes along, let's make sure we embrace his word for our security, because the Lord reigns in certainty, and we can rest on what he has said. The final thing we read in verse six is that the Lord reigns in sanctity. In verse five, holiness adorns your house, O Lord, forever. The house of God here being the temple in the days of the psalmist has a beautiful description that it is adorned or as one archaeologist said that phrase adorned might well mean actually decorated. it's a decorated house and the temple was a decorated house and it was decorated with palm trees and cherubim and so on and all those things were designed to convey an atmosphere of holiness when you come into this temple you're you're coming into the presence of a holy god this is not something you take superficially or lightly you're coming into the presence of a holy god And holiness adorns your house, O Lord, forever. Well, the temple doesn't stand anymore, but holiness still is the way in which God rules. He rules in sanctity. He is a holy God. And holiness adorns the throne room of heaven, and it should adorn the church on earth as well. And you and I are called to be a holy people. I like what C.S. Lewis said. C.S. Lewis said the most frightening statement in the Bible is that God is holy because I'm not. That's true, isn't it? And that's why we need a saviour, and that's why the Lord Jesus came, to die on the cross for our sins, so we could be forgiven, so we can go to heaven made clean by his saving death, if we will trust in him. And he becomes our holiness, as we saw in 1 Corinthians 1.30, a few weeks back. Christ, our righteousness, sanctification and redemption, praise his name. But he rules in holiness, So let's make sure we're studying the right book. Let's make sure we're studying the word, which reminds us again and again of the sovereignty of God. The Lord reigns. He is a ruling God. And let's make sure we take this to heart. George McCausland was a man who was in the Lord's work in America, in Western Pennsylvania. He was the director of a Christian outreach, a YMCA ministry. At that time it was a Christian work. And he was losing a lot of sleep over all the problems in his organization. And there was a lot to worry him. One day, he just got so underneath all the problems, he took a pen and paper and his Bible, and he went off for a walk in the country. He sat down under a tree, he read some Psalms, and then he wrote God a letter. He said, dear God, today I hereby resign as general manager of the universe. Love, George. And he said, looking back at that moment, he said, wonder of wonders, God accepted my resignation. Friends, you and I need to hand in our resignation too. It's the Lord who reigns, not us. Let's put our trust in him for the days to come.