The way Kay is with the kitties tonight, she thought time better spent with the grandkitties and with her husband. Yeah, because she's my navigator wherever we go. So I launched out on my own. But I'd like to thank Pastor Glenn for allowing me to occupy the pulpit this evening. Actually, in how many years I've been a pastor, I've never asked to preach in a pulpit anywhere. Following, I think, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, you're never supposed to ask. If you're invited, fine. But for some reason, I thought, well, perhaps Brother Glenn would I appreciate a night free and opportunities to do other things because there's many things besides preparing a sermon. So that's what happened. And I hope I don't disappoint. It's good to be with you all again. I enjoyed the summer month. I was with you and and your hospitality your kindness and Actually, uh the result of it all was that I have prayed more earnestly for sovereign grace Uh than the community church that I have ever in the past just being with you seeing seeing you and some of the things that you shared with me and some of the folks you're praying for for salvation set me up praying for Glenn and Sonia and the church and so it had a good result and you're much at our hearts and minds in that regard. So tonight I'm inviting the disconsolate to come. And I don't think that we pass this way in our pilgrimage without the Valley of Despair or the Slough of Despond and the various other pilgrim experiences that one goes through. And here in Psalm 13, I've been reading it and memorizing it, and it's not a psalm that I paid a lot of attention to, and I don't think most people do. But it struck me that as everything in the Word of God, there are lessons to be taught, and sometimes souls to be touched who without us realizing it, or perhaps they have shared with you that they are downcast and they cannot seem to get out of the slough of despond. So with just a word of thanks, then we'll launch into the sermon. Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we bow before you with thanksgiving and praise. We thank you for the hymns that we have sung. We pray, O God, that they were heard in heaven, and we rejoice, O God, to praise you and to thank you and bless you for all of your mercies, all of your goodness, and all of your grace toward us who are undeserving. For we have sinned, we have transgressed, we have fallen short, O God, of your glory. We are conscious of that. And yet we give you thanks, O Lord, that you lifted us out of the miry pit and you set us upon the rock. And so, Lord, tonight, as we come to you, we give you thanks, O God, again, for the pastoral ministry here and the witness of this congregation here in Sarnia, where you have placed them. And we give you thanks, O Lord, how your spirit is at work here. And we thank you, Lord, for the maturing of the saints and the salvation of souls. And we pray indeed, O God, that we would be a church that opens our mouths wide with expectation, Lord, that you will fill it. Bless us, Lord, as we share for a moment this evening and the Psalm 13, as we realize that there are times when we pass through that dark tunnel and there doesn't seem to be any light at the end. And yet, oh God, we see in this psalm how David broke forth and the psalm ends in a glorious triumph and victory for the disconsolate. And so we thank you that that is true for our lives as an experience and for any who might be passing this way, oh Lord, that they might be encouraged from the psalm itself. May you speak to us now, Lord, through your word, we would pray in Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior, amen. Well, everybody, as I said, knows the darkness sometime of the soul. Everybody also knows Psalm 23. How many can say the same thing for Psalm 13? Many have memorized Psalm 23. How many have memorized Psalm 13? Psalm 23 sparkles. Psalm 13 is a sort of, well, doom and gloom. Psalm 23 shouts, the Lord is my shepherd. Psalm 13 moans, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? Psalm 23 skips and hops, the Lord leads me by still waters and green pastures. But Psalm 13, Here the psalmist cries every day, I have sorrow in my heart. Psalm 23, the Lord sets a table for his flock in the presence of their enemies. But in Psalm 13, the psalmist is in danger of being swallowed up by his enemies. So it's no wonder that Psalm 23 gets top billing. Yet both Psalms, interestingly enough, are written by the same person, David. And so it reminds us that in life not all is sunshine, that we do at times pass through the cloud and the mist. It is important perhaps that we do so. God has lessons in both. Places, whether in the sunshine or in the rain, the Arabs have a saying, all sunshine and no rain makes a desert. And so there is a place indeed for being disconsolate. I suppose we ought not to be surprised when our faith is tested, but we usually are when the winds of adversity blow against us, when thunderclouds shut out the sun and the earth is iron and the sky is brass. when everything perhaps that we hoped for, we worked for, we prayed for, we strove for, crumbles in our hands like flaky pastry. Or that moment when we cried, how long, oh Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? I was reading of a couple who were visiting Mount Rainier, I think that's how you say it, which is the highest elevation in the continent of America. For two days, the clouds obscured the mountaintop and they were unable to get a picture so they could send it to their friends. Here's what the wife said. Our vacation caused me to question the way I portray my faith to people around me. Do I present a postcard view of Christianity? She had to buy postcards so that her friends could get a picture of the mountain, but it was all clouded in. She says, do I give the false impression that my life is always sunny, that my view of God is always clear? Yes, some author of Psalm 23 and Psalm 13, David, same author. One moment in his life, still waters and green pastures. And then the cry, how long, O Lord, how long? Four times he cries out in this psalm, how long, O Lord, how long? He lays his agony before the Lord. Today, it may be sunny for you, tomorrow cloudy. Yesterday may have been sunny for you, and now, today, your life has entered into a bit of confusion. We're not sure what induces David to cry this cry of dereliction, if you like. Is he fleeing from Saul? Are there foreign enemies that are making his life miserable and seeking his life? Is there palace intrigue? Is there a gathering storm and the gathering storm of Absalom's rebellion? Is it something physical? Is it something spiritual? Is it the tack of dark forces, the devil and evil? We cannot say, and perhaps it doesn't matter, perhaps it is not important what the circumstances were, but whatever it was, it was not brief. Here today and gone tomorrow, clouds had shifted. No, the clouds had remained. The rain had continued to fall and he cries out, how long will you forget? God forgets. Now David knows that God is omniscient. David hasn't lost insight in regard to that. He knows that God does not really forget anything. But that is what it seems like to David. It seems to David that God has forgotten him, that the clouds, if you like, have covered the mountaintop, and they've covered the mountaintop for a long time. He's had to rely on postcards. And worse, it seems permanent, you notice, in Psalm 13. He says, how long, O Lord, will you forget me? Forever? It seems to him as if it has been forever, and still there is no clarity in the sky, and there is no cordial, there is no note, there's no shaft of light. And he's asking God the question, when does this nightmare ever end? Or will it? Or will I die? And you have forgotten me. Now people forget, don't they? When you're counting on someone and they say, oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot to pick you up. Friends forget. I forget, believe it or not. I forget more now than I've ever forgotten in my life, I think. But what happens when God forgets? Now this is the Lord. He does not tie a string to his toe. Oh yes, David, yes, yes. Forgot for a moment, busy elsewhere. He never forgets. Nevertheless, David thought that he had forgotten him. But the eye of the Lord was still on David. The Lord had not moved. The Lord was still there. The mountaintop, despite the clouds, was still there. But in the midst of troubled waters, it sure seemed that God was asleep in the boat. I was reading, and perhaps as you go through the Bible for your Yearly reading came to the life of Joseph. And we know that Joseph is unjustly confined in jail. And while he is in prison and has become head of everything in the prison, as it were, he receives the butler and the baker. The pharaoh has been upset with him. And when the butler and baker have been there for a while they have a dream and in the morning they're troubled despondent disconsolate and joseph asked what is the problem he said well we've had dreams and we can't figure out we don't have interpretation for the dream And the butler told his dream, and the baker told his dream, and the baker, as Joseph said, would hang, and the butler would be released, and he would go back to Pharaoh. But he said to the butler, when you go back to Pharaoh, tell him that I'm imprisoned here and it's unjust and I want to go back to my people. And we read in the word of God, he forgot. He had this great blessing and he forgot Joseph. Well, there's a reason for that because God intended he should forget. But Joseph now is in prison for another two years. How long, oh Lord, how long will you forget forever? Maybe someone here like that tonight, passing through troubled waters, the skies seem grim and the future seems rather hopeless and you cry out to God. Not that you don't realize or know that God is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, but he seems to have forgotten. See, the text ends with forever. And we think, should there not be a time limit? Joseph said there ought to be a time limit. There must be a termination when the storm subsides and the sun shines. Matthew Henry writes, long afflictions try our patience and tire it. It is a common temptation when trouble lasts long to think it will last always. Despondency then turns to despair and those who have long been without joy begin at last to be without hope. No light at the end of the tunnel for David, darkness, darkness of mind and darkness of counsel. The abyss is bottomless, and David cries, forever, forever. And that's not all. Again, how long will you hide your face from me? Israel's priesthood. You remember they were commanded that they should bless Israel in this fashion. May the Lord bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you. And perhaps David is thinking of the blessing. Perhaps he went to the temple on that very morning and heard the blessing. And now he cries out to the Lord, how long, God, before your face will shine upon me again? The idea of a face shining, of course, is the idea of approval. It's the idea of blessing. It's the idea of friendship and warmth. But the clouds remained on the mountaintop, obscuring the view. This exacerbates David's woes, doesn't it? It is one thing to have your best human friend turn against you, to have enemies who work to do you harm. It is another thing to have satanic assault and troubles or grease of pain or be tossed in the waves of doubt and fear. But when the sun stops shining, when heaven's portals seem shut, when the Lord is asleep in the bow of the ship. Well, that's another matter, isn't it? In Ecclesiastes 12 and two, before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark and the clouds return after the rain. fitting text for David's despondency. Just to hear a whisper from God, just a heavenly smile would do it, David says. Just a voice from heaven, some comfort, some understanding, some little alleviation, if you like, of the burden of But heaven is brass and the earth is iron. That's not all. There is inner toil. He says his thoughts are in turmoil. How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? Every day, every day I have sorrow in my heart. And you've been there when you've tossed and turned on your bed. You've been there when one thought bounces off another thought. When you plan this and then you have realized that will not work. Here is David and he wrestles with his thoughts. They start him awake at night. They are like Job's comforters, attacking and condemning. And he cries out. Where's the wise man? Where's the philosopher for me? All advice only adds to more fuel to the conflict, the turmoil within. Am I saved? Have I lost my salvation? Has God abandoned me forever? Have I angered the Most High? Are my sins forgiven? Have I committed the unforgivable sin? Every day my heart is weighed down with grief. Woe is me. Has the world seen any grief like my grief? Has any sorrow like my sorrow? In fact, it's almost as if David is saying my situation is so unique, no other pilgrim has ever passed this way. I'm blazing a trail that no one has ever passed. No one has ever sinned like I have sinned. Perhaps, yes, even this unpardonable sin. So every day, every hour of the day, it increases in length. I have no counselor, no one to understand my condition, or as Matthew Henry puts it, anxious cares are heavy burdens with which good people often load themselves more than they need. And I think that is very wise. Anxious cares are heavy burdens with which good people often load themselves more than they need. Am I saved? Are my sins forgiven? Does God love me? Has God abandoned me? Back and forth it goes. There's no Christian postcard here for David, is there? He's letting it all hang out for us. His despair is palpable. We can hardly, hardly not weep with Him. It seeped into His very bones. It has gone into His very marrow. His cry was echoed on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And now we come to the crux of it all, don't we? How long will my enemy triumph over me? He wants to know. How long will he have the victory? How long will he have the bragging rights? How long will he boast over me and taunt me? Boast and brag that David is about to topple from his throne, from his heights. Oh, David says it, tell it not in Ekron, share it not in Ashdod, Let not glory be given to Dagon, who mocks David's Christianity." And sometimes we ask the question, don't we, how long will abortionists win the day? So my wife was reading to me, sharing with me that $55 million from the federal government in United States of America goes to pro-abortion groups. 300,000 are slain every year. You say, how long will the Lord put up with that? How long will parliamentarians champion euthanasia and infanticide, and how long will they push homosexuality and false genderism? How long will they, atheists, mock the Church and Jesus Christ, call it weak and irrelevant and even anything but beneficial, a blot on the face of the earth? How long will the atheist spew out his violence and boast of evolution over creation, even while their castle is being destroyed by the very science that they put their trust in? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Do you have any enemy triumphing over you? Any lust, any sin? Yes, sometimes it just doesn't all go away at once, does it? There's a struggle that goes on. And sometimes it seems you're more losing than you're winning. And I don't believe that David is trying simply for himself. His dishonor is in some senses God's dishonor. on God's power and God's promise. And his dishonor also affects the church of God. And how long is God going to let this go on? How long will Christianity continue to ebb in the West? Thank God it advances in the East. This was David's darkest hour, if you like. I don't know if any of you have watched the film, Winston Churchill, Their Darkest Hour or something like that. And I saw it the other night and here I thought when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England that he had his face set against the Nazis and he just charged forward. But it shows the conflict that went on in Churchill's own heart. Europe had collapsed under the weight of Nazi horror, England stood alone, and Churchill was just made Prime Minister, and the War Cabinet was trying to sue for peace. I didn't realize that. They weren't ready for war. They didn't want war. And they tried to sue for peace with that evil, evil regime. And Churchill was torn and they were going to go through Mussolini, that arrogant man. And they threatened to bring Churchill down if he didn't sue for peace with the devil. And Churchill was shaken. And it made me realize again in the history, how God was at work. Everything looked against England. There are 300,000 troops trapped in Dunkirk. God stops the Nazi army. They send out their little boats under Churchill's insistence. But the one thing that I remember, or two things as you watch the film, the king comes and visits Churchill and he's awake and he is torn. King sits down beside him and says, I'm with you, Churchill. I'm with you. God was at work. I don't know Churchill's spiritual place now, but God's working against the evil. And then we see that the king said to him, the king said, he said, what should I do? He says, tell the truth, tell it the way it is and trust the people. So the next day, he's on his way to the parliament, and he has to speak to the parliament about the whole matter. And as we see, the chauffeur stops for a minute. He jumps out, and he goes down on the tram. And he gets on the tram, and he starts talking to the people. And then as they recognize Churchill, he begins to ask them, well, you don't have an opportunity here to have peace. Go with Mussolini and have peace, he called him, with that man. And here God steps in. He said, do you want peace? Do you know what you're headed for? They said, no, fight, fight, fight. He went back to Parliament. You see, this is the hand of God. And back to Parliament, that famous speech, we'll never surrender, we'll never give up. Fight them on the beaches, we'll fight them in the plain, we'll fight them on the hills. It's amazing. See, sometimes we forget God's at work. We think, but he's working. He's working in parliaments. He was working with sinners. The devil does his service. What's what happened to David? Note in verse three, he got a hold of himself, didn't he? And he prayed and he says, look on me and answer. Oh Lord, my God. Look on me and answer, oh Lord, my God. Look on me. My wife and I were in Zurich and we went to the town of Mount Pilatus. It's called Mount Pilatus because they say that's where Pilate died. But we were disappointed. because it was covered in clouds and it was snowing and we couldn't see the glorious landscape below. So in the afternoon, nevertheless, we were on a boat on Lake Lucerne and we could see to the top of the mountain as the sun was shining and the clouds had dispersed. Mount Rainier, when visited for two days, the top was covered with clouds, but the citizens at the feet of the mountain knew the top was still there. And David knew that the top was still there, that God was still on his throne. He may have had Satan blow smoke in his eyes for a week, month, year, but God had not moved. I collect notes wherever I can, from any place I can. And I collected this note, to be willingly ignorant of those things which our great master refuses to teach or reveal is to be at once ignorant and wise. You get that? God doesn't reveal everything he's doing with us, does he? And if we were willingly ignorant, then we're wise. He doesn't tell us what he's doing in his church all over the world. We get glimpses in the world, in the future. But if we're willingly ignorant, then we're wise. Why the pain? David wants to know. Why the sorrow? God doesn't say, there, there, David, let me explain it all to you. David now learned to be ignorant, that he might be wise. So the last four verses of Psalm 13, they're like night and day, aren't they? You think, what happened here? From defeat to triumph, from gloom to joy, from darkness to light, from doubts to certainty. Well, what happened? You want to know, don't you? What happened? Did God come down? Did He split the heavens? Did He bring the angelic choir to David? Did He do a miracle? Did He speak in a still, small voice and say, there, there, my boy, don't worry? And that's how I feel sometimes. Well, Lord, if He would only say, Hello. Some voice from heaven, right? Some indication that we're still together. That's what we might ask for. No, the difference is David activated his faith. He put it into practice. He put into practice what he knew was true. He cries out, look on me. That is Lord, have pity, have compassion, have mercy. Don't let my enemies triumph over me. Look at me. I'm your child. I'm your loved one. I'm your blood-bought one. Look on your servant in his distress and remember your promise and implement your promises. Lift me from the miry pit and set my feet on the rock. Answer me, Lord. Give ear to my plea for help." He put his faith into action. He'd been allowing circumstances to control him. He'd been allowing the situation to overwhelm him. He had been allowing himself to look at the problem and not at the Lord. And now he cries to God, look on me, your servant, your blood bought one. I'd encourage you if you're disconsolate tonight, You're expecting some sort of miracle to make it all go away? That you do as David did and exercise your faith? What do you know about God? Ebenezer, hitherto you have helped us. What do you know about his attributes? What do you know about your relationship to him as a child of God, adopted into the family of God? Well, as we say, my dear wife wanted to meet our great-grandchildren and she wants to dandle them on her knee and hold them and hug them. Man, we have great-grandchildren now. I can't believe it myself. Where has time gone? But don't you see, they're precious to us. And you're precious to God. And David then makes a request. He says, Lord, give light to my eyes. You see, David had sand, if you like, thrown in his eyes. His vision had become clouded, as it were. He had been directed to look at the problem, his circumstances, his fears, the times he lived in, as it were, his enemies. Oh, these enemies out there. Oh, there's so many enemies. And now he says, Lord, open my eyes. to see and light to see by. Give me eyes open and give me the light to see by. I remember a Puritan, Cromwell Days, was sitting at the desk in Parliament. The debate was fierce and they were going back and forth, back and forth. And he was sitting there and he was just writing and writing and writing and writing. And finally it came his turn to speak and everyone's silent. And he made a brilliant speech and summed it all up. And then when they were done, they went over to the desk and they looked at what he had written. And it was a prayer, Lord, give me light, give me light, give me light, give me light. Like Jonathan of old, remember him in the forest when it was dripping with honey? And as he went by one of the honeycombs, he stuck his rod in the honeycomb and lifted it to his mouth and his eyes became bright. They were energized for the battle. Foolish Saul said, don't eat anything. But the God had provided the honey for his troops. And so God gives light, honey from heaven. When we're despairing, we read the scriptures and suddenly a promise leaps from the scriptures and we see something we've never seen before and we rejoice and we give thanks to God and suddenly the top of the mountain is clear again. Remember, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, were they not disconsolate? Were they not despairing? Were they not in the throes of utter despair? Why, we had thought that this Jesus who they crucified in Jerusalem, we had thought that He was the Messiah! We had thought that He was going to bring the Kingdom in. We had thought that He was going to triumph over all our enemies. Don't you see? He just triumphed over death, but they didn't know. So as Jesus walked along, what did He do? He gave revelation. He opened the Scriptures. What did He do? He, it says, opened their eyes. suddenly the disconsolate became joyous that they go back seven miles to Jerusalem. And there in Jerusalem they knock on the door, the door opens, there's the disciples, we've seen the Lord! And the disciples say, we've seen the Lord too! That's our God. Opened the scriptures, opened their eyes, that's what we need tonight, we need light. And if you're in darkness, cry out to God for light. When you don't know what to do, ask yourself, what do I know about God? What has Pastor Glenn been teaching me all of these years? My Sunday school teacher's teaching me. I'm certain he will not begin at work and then not finish it. Is He going to work in you? Do you think He will not finish it? Is He not the author and finisher of our faith? Start to think of what you know, what the Scriptures have taught you. Has our Lord ever lost one of His lambs? Do you know if one lamb has ever been lost? Would not His kingdom fall? Would His failure to save not mean His enemies were more powerful than He? Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and why does God allow war? He wrote this in 1939, when the war clouds were coming. He said, the great principles, he said, the mighty background, the intellectual and theological content of our faith have not been emphasized. And indeed, he said, at times dismissed as being non-essential. We have been so intent upon ourselves and our moods and our feelings. Inward states that when we are confronted by an external problem that nevertheless affects us profoundly, we do not know how to think biblically or where to begin. Great confusion of faith. Because We have dismissed those glorious creeds from mind and church. You don't have to apologize here. You don't have to apologize under the pastor that you have. Never have to apologize, for here you get doctrinal preaching. Faith, like a house, needs studs and rafters, so that when the hard times come, you fall back on what you know about God and His greatness. Oh, Paul, David says, and I'll conclude soon, my enemy will say I have overcome him. My foes will rejoice when I fall. They will triumph. In this petition, David challenges the Lord. He challenges the Lord. It's not just David's well-being, it's God's reputation is tied up if David falls. First, God's power and mighty promises Will they shout in the temple of Dagon that they will praise their God because David has fallen? And then the people of God, David is concerned for the church, will also be weakened. Their faith will be shaken. For one Christian to fall at the hands of the church's enemies makes headlines. And so David challenges God, not that God is dependent on clay and anything that can diminish His glory, but the eyes of the world. See, one more proof, there is no God. David is concerned about that. He said, my enemies will triumph over me. He is pleading with God. Brothers, we can take God's promises and we can use them with God. We can open our mouths wide. and he will fill it. As a church, are we opening our mouths wide? Do we expect God to do great things? Well, pastor, I've been praying for so-and-so for five years and nothing is happening. I'm losing heart. Then shout all the louder, Lord, like Jacob, I will not let you go unless you bless me. I have a niece and her name is Lisa and she's married. She has a girl that's in university now and Lisa and I have been writing letters back and forth and she believes that everybody's going to heaven and the core of religion is love your neighbor as yourself. And we've been going back and forth on this. And my heart has gone out to her. My wife and I pray for her every day, and we pray for her husband, Keith, and we pray for their daughter, Maddie. Lisa's a nice girl, but... Well, not everybody's going to heaven. Our pastor, she calls me, Uncle Brian, Uncle Brian, you gotta understand, everybody's going to heaven, Uncle Brian. I don't believe in hell. I don't believe in eternal torment. I don't believe in that." I asked her the question. I said, well, just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it isn't true. Who decides what is true unless you come to the word of God? But the other day I got a letter from her after all of these letters that I was so discouraged, disappointed, I thought, I might as well give up. You think the devil was whispering something? Oh, why are you going on? Let it go. And then I thought, no, I'm going to ask God all the more. I'm going to open my mouth even wider. Sometimes we come to a place of unbelief. It's impossible. It won't happen. Pray for Lisa if you think of her. Pray that God will grip her. It's not my wisdom, it's not my knowledge. It's God that's going to do it, but maybe He'll use something of the word which I send to her that will suddenly smite her, a polished arrow from His quiver, something that'll take away the pride and see the horror of her future without Jesus Christ. Well, Psalm 13, I'll trust in your unfailing love. That's what he comes to, isn't that? Wait a minute, all his enemies are gone. No, it doesn't say that. Wait a minute, all his troubles, no, it doesn't say that. Maybe, I don't know, we don't know. But David says, I'll trust on your unfailing love. That's where my confidence will be. What's he doing? He's lifting it from his problems. He's lifting up to God and saying, we sing some hymn, don't we? If every man were ascribed and every quill, a quill, whatever it is, and the sky, a scroll, the ocean, ink, all working together could never, could never write the love of God. It's height, it's depth, it's length, it's breadth. Isn't that what Paul says? Never! I'll trust in your unfailing love. It's a covenantal love here. The love that God has for His people will not be broken. So if you're disconsolate, remind yourself of His unfailing love. Not just love. It doesn't fail. It doesn't even fail in crisis. It doesn't even fail in despondency. It's there, the buttress. It's there, the rock. It's my heart rejoices in your salvation. Wow, and this is all sunshine now, isn't it? Because now David's got it straight again. Notice, what is it? It's your unfailing love, not my love. His love was being shaken. He says, no, no, I trust in your unfailing love. I trust in your salvation. And what a salvation it is. Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ ascended, Christ glorified, Christ ruling, Christ coming. That's our salvation. The blood shed that purifies the heart and makes atonement for our sin, reconciles us to the living God. Boy, you get out of your despondency then. We're not just living just a life here. We're not just living a little piece of time and that's it. We're going to be living for all eternity. Sometimes these things, the pain or whatever it is or whatever is troubling us, it's going to be in the past. It's going to be forgotten. I'll trust in your unfailing love. then he says, I'll sing. We're singing tonight. Well, it might not be very large, but we're singing tonight, giving thanks and glory to God. I will sing, he says, for you have been good to me. And oh, hasn't God been good to you? Hasn't God been good to you from the moment you believed, even before you believed? Even before he brought you to saving knowledge, he's been good to you, he's been good to your family, he's been good to your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren. God only knows how to do good. He doesn't know any other way. I will, he says, sing to you, because you've been good to me. And in that is the confession of David. I'm undeserving. I'm undeserving. All the goodness of God is the grace of God, a gift from God. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design thy dross to consume. and thy gold to refine. That's all I'm doing, David. There's dross yet. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Amen. Almighty and gracious God, there may be someone disconsolate tonight. Lord bless them. Cause them to cast their eyes heavenward, to reflect on their Ebenezer and reflect, oh Lord, on the glory to come. To recognize, O Lord, that that soul who has cast itself upon Jesus, you will never, never, never forsake. O Lord, we bow before you. Perhaps someone tomorrow will suddenly find that life had radically changed from today. May they take hearth in David's own distress. and how he looked to the Lord. And Lord, you filled him with praise and wonder so that his enemies were simply pygmies as he realized the greatness of his God. And then remind us, O Lord, that sometimes when we pass through trials and difficulties, it's not all bad. We're not postcard Christians. There's dross. And that dross has to be refined so that our faith can come out of the furnace seven times pure. So Lord, we pray once again, let us rely wisdom on your wisdom and not on man's. Let us rely on your son and not in ourselves. And let us give you the glory for our Lord. You will never forsake us. You will never leave us. And you will bring us safely home. Amen.