Psalm 31 is the portion of Scripture we read this morning in connection with the instruction of the Catechism in Lords Day 10. Psalm 31 is a good psalm for those who are craving the Lord's help. Let's read the whole psalm. Psalm 31. To the chief musician, a psalm of David. In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in adversities and has not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou hast set my feet in a large room. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors and a fear to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. While they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord, I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. Save me for Thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon Thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee, which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. So far we read God's holy and infallible word on the basis of this passage of Scripture, on the basis of many. We have the instruction of Lord Zatan in the back of the Psalter. Found on page 7, in the back of the Psalter, Lourdes Day 10. Lourdes Day 9 mentioned, made use of the word providence as we considered the first line of the Apostles' Creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and now Lourdes Day 10 goes on and explains what that word providence means. What dost thou mean by the providence of God? the almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby, as it were, by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures, so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created and by His providence doth still uphold all things? That we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and that in all things which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love. since all creatures are so in his hand that without his will they cannot so much as move." Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Psalm 31, David is sorely troubled, especially in the middle part of the psalm. We do not know when David wrote Psalm 31. David had so many troubles in his life that when you read a psalm of David in which he's speaking about his troubles, it's hard to know when he's writing this psalm. He could have written this psalm as a young man when he's being chased by King Saul. He could have written this psalm as an old man when his own son Absalom was trying to kill him. But whenever David wrote this psalm, it is clear that David is sorely troubled. David is in distress. In verse 9, David says that he has been crying and he has become sick to his stomach because of his griefs. Verse 10, David says that his very bones were being consumed, aching because of all his trouble. And I personally think the last part of verse 12 is maybe the most striking phrase of all. I am like a broken vessel. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. David is shattered. He's shattered with grief, like a vessel that has been dropped on the ground, shattered into a million pieces. And perhaps there are some of us who know what that feels like. to be like a broken vessel shattered with grief. But in the hour of David's deepest grief and sorrow, what does David do? In verse 14, we read that in his deep grief, David uses the best resource that he has, his faith. He says in verse 14, but I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my God. In his trouble and sorrow, David cast himself upon the Lord and he looked to the Lord as his refuge. If his enemies were going to slander David and try to ruin his life, David would not respond with railing accusations of his own. If the enemies are going to devise to take David's life away, David would not take up his own sword and meet violence with violence. No, what does David do? David throws himself upon the Lord. Listen to what he says at the end of verse 14. I said, thou art my God. Oh yes, the enemy might have their slanderous words which they hurl against me so that I am made a reproach of all men. Yes, the enemy might have their ruthless ungodly tactics and they fear up worry within my heart so that I'm stick to my stomach. Yes, the enemy might be so cruel that they might make me as a broken vessel so that I am shattered. And yet, what does the enemy have compared to the man who can say this? Oh Lord, thou art my God. Because if I have God, what else is there to have? If I have God, well, the enemy then can have all the world, but I have the one who holds the world in his own hand. I have the maker of the world as my own God, and that is far, far more than everything in the world put together. And then having made that most beautiful claim, thou art my God, David goes on to steady himself. He goes on to steady himself upon one of the most cherished doctrines of the Christian faith, the doctrine of providence. In verse 15, David says, my times are in thy hand. My times are in thy hand. My times are not in the enemy's hand. As much as it may now appear that way, my enemies are not the ones in control. God, Jehovah, who is my God, my times are in His hand. He is the one in control. He is the sovereign one. I'm not trapped in the corner. at the mercy of my enemies who know no mercy. I am not without hope. I am not without courage. I am not utterly defeated because I know it is my God who rules in the heavens. It is my God who's directing all the affairs of men. It is my God who's arranging and appointing all things. It is my God who can and who will deliver me out of the hand of the enemy. It is my God who is the God of all goodness and mercy, and it is my God who is working all things together for the good of them that love Him, to them who are His elect, the called according to His eternal decree. My times are in Thy hand, and therefore I can pray and have peace and confidence. Beloved, this is not only the faith that God has given to David, this is the faith that He has given to you and to me through our union with Jesus Christ. This is what true faith believes. And this is what we look at this morning as we consider Lord Zaten of the Catechism. We take as our theme, my times are in thy hand. And we look at that theme under three points. First, we see that this is a beautiful confession. We look at the meaning of it. It's a beautiful confession. Second, we see how this is a very helpful confession in our time of need especially. And then third, we see how this needs to be a personal confession. In Psalm 31 verse 15, David is talking about the secret providence of God. And the secret providence of God is the most comforting and beautiful doctrine. We know what God's providence is. The catechism students know God's providence. The catechism does a beautiful job of summarizing it. What do you mean by the providence of God? Answer, the almighty and everywhere present power of God, whereby as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures. God upholds all things. God is the one who at every moment in time continues to give existence to all things. He continues to give existence to time itself so that we need to understand without God upholding all things and sustaining all things, all things would disappear back into nothingness. He's upholding all things. He's governing all things so that God is the one who at every moment in time is controlling, directing, ruling over all things so that everything works towards the fulfillment of His purposes. God has created everything with a purpose. He has His eternal decrees, and He created it with a view to His eternal decrees to fulfill them, and by His providence. He is at work carrying out His eternal decrees. The word providence refers then simply to the power of God to uphold and govern all things to realize His eternal decree. And Psalm 31 verse 15 uses the figure of a hand to capture this idea, just as the catechism does. My times, David says, are in Thy hand. And that figure of the hand of God is familiar to us. It's used elsewhere in Scriptures. Daniel 4 verse 35, Nebuchadnezzar himself is given the words in his mouth to say, no one can stay thy hand, can stop your hand, or say unto you, what do you do? For one example, for another one, in Job 19 verse 21. We know what Job went through, and in Job 19 verse 21, Job says to his friends, "'Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me.'" You remember what Job said in chapter 1, after he lost all his animals, he lost nearly all his servants, and he lost all his children? Right there in Job chapter 1, Job knew what was The reality, the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job was confessing God's providence already there. And now, 19 chapters later, in the midst of the pain and the heartache, and his body is filled with boils, and his friends are being sorry comforters to him, what Job says is this, the hand of God hath touched me. And there you see how God's hand is a picture of His almighty power, the power to control, the power to rule, the power to govern, the power to give, and the power to take away. That's the providence of God. When we talk about the providence of God, it's sometimes helpful for us to describe it as the secret providence of God. Because when we look at the world around us, it isn't always so plain to see that God is governing all things by His hand to fulfill His purposes. God's purpose, as we know, is to glorify Himself through Jesus Christ, to gather a church unto Himself. But in this world, when you look at it with all its sin and its wickedness, it sometimes doesn't seem as if God is glorifying Himself at all. God says that He works all things together for good to them that love Him. But when you look at your situation in life sometimes, it doesn't always seem as if God is working all things for our good. So that sometimes we do ask, how can this be for my good? Sometimes we ask, why does God do this? Why the death of a loved one taken so suddenly? Why the loss of a job? Why my son or daughter is going a wayward direction? Why such a difficult way for us? Why? And then maybe I say, it doesn't have to be so hard, does it? I don't understand why it has to be this hard. And then this is where we need to remember this kind of a doctrine. We need to remember what God says in Isaiah 55 verse 9, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And we need to remember a verse like Psalm 77 verse 19, where the psalmist says, thy way is in the sea, O Lord. The Red Sea, thy paths are in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." We would have gone in this direction. This is the way to Canaan, but God sends us in this direction towards a huge body of water so that we feel trapped before His stretched out arm delivers us. And this is where we must simply remember that God has His everlasting love towards us. He says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. And this is where sometimes I need to come back to home base, you might say, and remember the only reason I am a Christian is because God's everlasting love has drawn me to Him. And how has He drawn me to Himself? Well, part of the answer is according to His secret providence. He's working all things in history so that I right now know Him as my God, as my Father. I have a relationship with Him. I'm saved. And He's worked all things with that in mind. God's providence is secret also because the only way that I can understand these things is by faith. Despite all that I see around me with my physical eye, I know He is in control of all things, fulfilling His purposes, working all things for my good. And how do I know it? By faith." That's what all of Psalm 31 is about. I trust in You, God. Don't let me be ashamed for trusting in You. I trust in You. This is what true faith believes. So, in Psalm 31 verse 15, it's exactly this secret providence of God that David is confessing when he says, my times are in thy hand. My times are in thy hand. What David is saying is this, all these constantly changing circumstances of my life, the circumstances of my life right now are in God's complete control. These are his circumstances. David says, I see men huddled together there in a circle, right there in my sight, plotting how they might bring me to my death. And David says, that's in God's control. David says, I see how my life is being spent with constant grief, and I am constantly consumed with sorrow and high stress situations day after day, And David says, that's in God's control. David says, I see that I have no friends, no companions. Everyone has abandoned me just at the time when I need the most encouragement and the most support. And David says, that's in God's control. And what David is really saying is this, whether today is the day that I die, or whether I live to see another day, my days are in God's hands. The day that I was born, the time of my birth, that occurred at the Lord's appointed time. And the day that I will die, the time of my death, that will occur at the Lord's appointed time as well. I know that I will not die a day before my time. All my times, my times are in His hand, from the beginning of my days to the end of my days. My times are in Thy hand." And what David says back in verse 14 is so important. He says, "'Thou art my God, my God, my Jehovah, covenant-keeping God. My God who loves me with infinite love, my God who is the Lord of infinite wisdom, who knows my own heart, who knows my love for Him, who knows this relationship of friendship He's established with me, my God who's loved me so much that He gave up His only begotten Son to stand in my place on the cross bearing the punishment I deserve, my God who worked all of history so that that might be at the crux of all history, my salvation in Christ, my God who's in complete control of the enemy, so that even their hammer blows, nailing his son to the cross is all in his hand, my times are in his hand. And they are not in the hand of anybody else's. David must have said it to himself many times before it. I can't see it with the physical eye. I don't see why it has to be this way. I don't see why it has to be so hard. But, David recognizes, so be it. Because there are many things that I cannot see. And my heavenly Father certainly knows better than me. Let me simply cling to this thought. Oh Lord, thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand, I put my trust in Thee." That's a beautiful confession, beloved. It's not only David's confession, it's your confession. The Heidelberg Catechism students are essentially confessing this every week in the Catechism class. What is your only comfort in life and death? It's the same confession. that I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ." And you see, beloved, when you belong to Jesus Christ, that makes all the difference. Then you are constantly under your heavenly Father's careful government. Why is that true? Well, it has everything to do with who Jesus is. It's because your heavenly Father thinks of Jesus more than He thinks of all this world. Right? Hopefully that helps us understand for ourselves why God cares for us so much. Everything that concerns Jesus Christ touches the heart of His Father. He loves His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And the reality is you are in Him and you belong to Him. And when God looks at you, He looks at you in Jesus Christ. He looks at you as belonging to Jesus. That's always how He looks at you. And then He has the same thought towards you that He has towards Jesus. He truly thinks of you more than He thinks of all this present world. Then everything that touches you touches the heart of your heavenly Father. You are never outside of your father's mind. You are never outside of his watchful care. His heart is constantly beating with love towards you. He breathes after you with love, and you can be sure, with that kind of a love, He is exercising His powerful hand of providence for your good. We heard it last week. He is able because He's almighty, and He is willing because He is faithful, Father, to work all things for our good. Everything you see happening before you, everything happening in your life right now, it lines up perfectly with what God decreed for you in love in His eternal decree. There's no discrepancies between now and His loving eternal decree. Nothing is outside of His control. There's absolutely nothing in your life right now that God has not first decreed for you in love to serve your eternal well-being. And that is true, not just for the things around you, but consider this, that's true even for the things within you. That's the extent of God's providence, even the things you carry in your own heart, right? How your heart has been shaped by your life experiences, who you are as a person. He is governing it all, working it all in His love for you and working it all for your eternal salvation. As the Catechism says, so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, all things. All things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand." This confession that God puts in our hearts and on our lips is a beautiful confession. It's also a very helpful confession. Now, here in the second point of the sermon, I want to point out just four ways in which this doctrine of God's providence is helpful for us. You may have other things, but these are the four things I have this morning. The confession of God's providence is helpful in this way. It works within us a greater sense of the nearness of God. The more that I'm living out of this confession that God is upholding and governing all things, the closer God will be to me in my day-to-day activities. Nothing happens by chance. There is no such thing as fate. There are no such things as accidents. Truly, when we understand that idea, everything comes by God's fatherly hand. As Job said in the midst of his deep pain, God has touched me. Job didn't say, what an accident. What a wretched consequence all these things were. Oh, Job said, God has touched me. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job understood God's providence and he understood the nearness of God. And in Psalm 31, it's the same thing with David. David did not say, this just hasn't been my day, or my week, or my month, or my year, whatever it may be. David doesn't say, what a wretched hand I've been dealt. No, but for Job and David, when they looked at the circumstances around them, they understood, this is the hand of my heavenly Father. My God is carrying out His goodwill. My times are in thy hand. God does not just ordain things and then they happen and God is far away from us the whole time. No, providence means this, God is right there in your life making these things happen. God is a God, not only a far off, He is also a God near at hand. He's near at hand in every moment of life. In Him we live and move and have our being, and He's working all things in mercy and pity towards you. He is near unto you in every circumstance of life. He's right there, beloved. Whether you are conscious of it or not, God is always right there. And the more we live in the light of God's providence, not only will it work within us a greater sense of the nearness of God, and we will see God's hand, but then it will also draw us personally closer to God. Right? When you see that everything comes from your Father's hand of providence, that gives you reason to seek Him out in prayer. He's right here with me. Lord, give me strength. Give me grace. And Lord, I praise thy name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's exactly what David experienced in Psalm 31, my times are in thy hand. Therefore, heavenly Father, hear my prayer, show me mercy, and change these dreadful circumstances, for I trust in thee. Let me never be ashamed for trusting in thee. Prove thyself as my God who is present with me. So living in the light of God's providence works within us a greater sense of the nearness of God. Second, the confession of God's providence is helpful in this way. It keeps us from temptation. I mean, falling into temptation. What kinds of temptations? All kinds of temptations. And Satan knows how to tempt us, doesn't he? Or our old man knows how to tempt us. Maybe we're struggling to make ends meet financially, and Satan says to you, just cheat the system. Cut a few corners here and there at work, be a little shady and dishonest with your customers. And I might be tempted to despair and start to agree with Him and say, well, maybe this is how I'm supposed to be providing for my family. But with God's providence before your mind, you can say this, Satan, my heavenly Father holds everything in His hand. It's not my business to provide for my family. That's my father's business. That's our father's business. Yes, I will work faithfully and diligently and honestly. I will use the means that God has provided. But Satan, I am looking to God to provide for me and my family. Satan, my times are in God's hands. It is his to provide for me. I'm his child. It's his to provide for us. We are his children. And it is simply ours to walk before him in faithfulness and trust him. So put your wicked temptations away from me. And we must give that response to every temptation that Satan presents to us. Satan, I am trusting in the Lord. My times are in his hand, in his providence, and in his grace. He will provide, he will lead, he will protect. It keeps us from temptation. Third, the confession of God's providence is helpful in this way. It gives us a cure for anxiety, for worry. So often with anxiety, this is the case. At least this is how I experience it. I want to be in control. I want to make sure that everything is going to be well. I want to have security in one way or another. I want to have a guarantee of something. And then I look to myself to provide that kind of guarantee, to provide that security. And then this is what happens. Through the course of events, one way or another, it becomes very obvious that I am not in control. I can't give myself that security I'm looking for. I can't guarantee myself that everything's going to be all right. And so then maybe I look to others to relieve my anxiety. And it's so often only after I exhaust all my earthly hopes that I'm finally driven to God in prayer and I realize I need to start putting my trust in Him more. I need to look to Him. But my point is, when I live in the light of God's providence, Well, then the thought is already before me. At the beginning of my anxiety that, you know, ideally that we all have our sinful natures, but this is the idea. This is what David is doing in Psalm 31. My times are in thy hand. Right? God will watch over me. My stomach, I am sick to my stomach with grief and anxiety. That's what David's going through. But I'm looking to you, Lord. And that might be for us with whatever our circumstances. I have worries about my children, about the grandchildren. What about them? This is not in my hands. How's God going to take care of our spiritual needs? We have spiritual needs. How will things go with me in old age when I have to retire? How will the needs of the family be met? My times are in Thy hand. Don't worry about tomorrow. He's got it under control. Just trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will carry you through. Focus on the responsibilities and the callings and the blessings He's given you today. Whatever tomorrow brings, He will carry you through. No man can pluck you out of His hand. You are in His hand. Your times are in His hand. I must be praying. And if that means constantly praying, praying without ceasing, and I even become weary in that hard spiritual work of praying. Well, that's how God would have it. If it's a sickness or disease, I must remember, I'm the redeemed child of God, bought with the blood of Christ. With this sickness or disease, I will not die one day sooner than God in His infinite love has determined. He knows the perfect day of my death. Think of that. The day that is perfect for me to die and to go to heaven. And He knows not only that, but He knows the perfect way to lead me to my death. And He will see to it that it takes place just as is perfect for me. Not one day sooner, not one day later. My times are in His hand. So it gives us a cure for anxiety, a prescription for my anxiety. The fourth and finally, the confession of God's providence is helpful in this way. It gives us a sense of peace concerning our regrets, concerning our past mistakes, concerning our daily shortcomings and failings and even our sins, our past sins, when we understand this properly. Beloved, I think that's an important point. We can carry regrets with us for a long time, can't we? Little burdens of guilt that make us sad and miserable, and maybe they are the reason for much of our inward mental unrest. We look back at certain points in our lives, maybe even the things we said yesterday. We can have all kinds of regrets. I wish I had never done that. If only I had done things differently. Maybe I was doubting when now I see I should never have been doubting my father's care, but I did it. And not only did I do it, but now there are consequences, maybe even lifelong consequences that I have to live with, lifelong consequences for me and for others. And we have regrets. We can beat ourselves up about little petty things as well, even on a daily basis. We beat ourselves up about little failings. If only I had done things differently, right? You want to be a perfect parent, you want to raise your children the right way, and then you look back at certain times, maybe after you've grown in your spiritual walk with the Lord, and then you look back and you say, I really wasn't doing that right at all, was I? You wanna be the perfect spouse. You wanna be the best employee. You wanna be the best teacher or the best student. We often want that, that we are the complete package, right? So that I have all the gifts and I have all the abilities combined into one perfect package that's perfectly put together. And how inclined wouldn't I be to pride then? But the reality is, that's not how it is. Well, it's good for us to want to do our best and give our best, of course, for God's glory. We do it all heartily as to the Lord. But when I remember God's providence, that's a helpful reminder of this fact. God has given me my unique gifts and abilities. God has given me some gifts and some abilities, and He hasn't given me others. And I should not beat myself up for the gifts and abilities that the Lord has not worked within me at this point. I don't want to minimize our responsibilities, but, right, we have to recognize God's providence as it pertains to how He's shaped us. Think about this, when it comes to my work, God's only given me 24 hours in a day to do all my work and then to care for my body, be a steward of my body, to eat right and to sleep well. And at the end of the day, when I've worked my hardest and I still see all my failings and all my shortcomings and I have my regrets, then I can take it to the Lord and I can say, Lord, I know that Thou art merciful and understanding. And Lord, I know that Thou art in control and Thou would use even my weak efforts for the glory of Thy name and the gathering of Thy church. Even this whole experience of my human frailty and weakness and finitude, finiteness. is an opportunity for me to trust God and give Him worship. Child of God, you don't have to act as if you're in control or become discouraged when you see in a new and a fresh way that you aren't in control, that you are not in control. God's in control. Your failings, your regrets, God in His perfect wisdom, God was governing those things too. Again, that doesn't excuse us of sin or mean we don't have to seek forgiveness when we sin. It doesn't mean there won't be lifelong consequences. But at the same time, it ought to give us peace and a sense of contentment and even a zeal to press onward. Because we can then say at the end of each day, it's in the Lord's hand. And the Lord knows what's best, and the Lord knows how things should go. And all my work, it's not in vain in the Lord. That's the beauty of these words, beloved. My times are in Thy hand. My past mistakes too, what I from my earthly point of view regret doing, and my present inadequacies, it's all in the Lord's hands. I'm thinking right now of Paul, murdering God's people before he was converted. I can find peace in this. Every single thing in my life right now, it's in the Lord's hands. That's how I can live in liberty and in peace. That makes the confession of God's providence a very helpful confession. It's a helpful confession. It's a beautiful confession and a helpful confession. But now for the third point, for all of this to be true, it most certainly needs to be a personal confession. My times are in Thy hand. God is the God of providence. He upholds and governs all things, and that needs to live in my thinking on a personal level. I need to experience God's providence for myself. That needs to be real in my life. Right? For you who are sick, maybe you're waiting a report from the doctor. Maybe you're going through radiation. Maybe you're looking for healing. Remember this, your times are in the Lord's hands. He holds you in the hollow of His hand. Nothing can touch you, but it is in accordance with His love for you. And not only that, but it's because of His love for you. For us who look to the reality of death before us, remember, whatever befalls us, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Death itself is in God's power, Christ's power. Maybe for some of us who are looking for a new job or a better job. And there's one barrier after another. The Lord has you in His hand. He will take care of you, and He will provide you with that work, that work that He knows will work for your eternal welfare. Maybe for others of us who have more private, personal troubles in our lives. Remember, there are no accidents. There's no blind fate. There's nothing outside of our Father's perfect control. Maybe for some of us who are struggling with being discontent, and, right, every subject we could bring up, there's that issue. Who doesn't struggle with being discontent? But for those of us who are struggling with being discontent in one way or another, then remember this, your heavenly Father is in control. Put your quiet trust in Him, be in prayer. Memorize the 24 verses of Psalm 31 if that's what you need to help you. Put your quiet trust in Him, be mindful that what you have on your plate right now, the circumstances in your life right now, it's all coming from Father's hand. Rest, rest in that. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Oh, love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. My times are in thy hand. I put my trust in thee. Jehovah's the God of my salvation. He's given me Jesus. He's given me faith. He is my Father who loves me. May God cause you to experience the peace of those words. My times are in Thy hand. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for Thy word. And we thank Thee for Psalm 31. We thank Thee for Thy spirit at work in David, not only so that he wrote this, but He had this confidence, and we pray, give us that same Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, so that we experience these same joys and comforts as well. We thank Thee for The confession Thou has put on our lips and in our hearts, we pray again, strengthen our faith that we might give Thee praise and honor, the glory due unto Thy name as we confess these things and live according to these truths. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.