We're going to continue with our look here at Psalm 131. I appreciate the feedback that I received between services and I hope it will continue to be a blessing to you. A lot of comments on just how short the psalm was and how it is so easily passed over. But how much is really there? It is just almost a perfect picture of human nature and where we are and the things that we really struggle with in our day-to-day lives. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forevermore. I want to stay and make one more comment about this whole idea of I do not handle great matters that are beyond my capabilities. and then move from there. But before I do that, I did this a couple of Wednesday nights ago. I'd like to do it again because I think it gives us a better understanding of what this psalm means and what David's talking about and how it fits in our lives. And what I want to do is read the opposite of Psalm 131. So if David were to have written the opposite of what he did write, this is what he would have written. It says, My heart is proud, or I'm absorbed with myself. My eyes are haughty and I look down on others, and I chase after things that are too great and too difficult for me. So, of course, I'm noisy and restless inside. It comes naturally. Like a noisy infant fussing on his mother's lap, like a hungry infant, I'm restless with my demands and worries. I scatter my hopes onto anything and onto everybody all of the time. That's the opposite of Psalm 131. I think it's pretty helpful to read that to try to see what Psalm 31 says, as opposed to the flip side of the coin to try to make the applications in our life. So I hope that'll be helpful. And I know it's just one reading is sometimes not very helpful. So if you want a copy of this, I'd be glad to give it to you after services. OK. I do not try to handle great matters that are beyond my capabilities. This whole idea of great matters. This is one area where the word study was really helpful. The word that is translated or that we have translated as things that are too high. The definition goes like this. It's beyond one's capability. It's unsolvable and it's inaccessible beyond our capabilities. It's unsolvable and it's inaccessible. And it says we must give these issues to the Lord, and it gives two references, and here they are. Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 8. God says this, if there arises, Deuteronomy 17, 8, if there arises a matter too hard for thee in judgment, Between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke being matters of controversy within the gates, then shall thou arise and give thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come into the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days and inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose. shall show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee." And so here's the picture. There's a case that comes before them and it's too hard and they don't know. The equal sides are as convincing as the other. He says, when that comes up, when the case is too hard for you to judge, you bring it before the Lord and the Lord will show you and the Lord will choose through the Levites. And then the other is this. This is the word, or I guess the picture, of the matter that is too great. By the way, when I was reading in the definition, it said that these things, as far as things being too great and too high, the word great and the word high is always used when giving attributes about God. Never in any other area is the word great translated as far as an adjective trying to describe something or someone, except where it talks about things that are too great for us. And so the other verse that I put was Genesis 18 verse Fourteen, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? If we were to ask ourselves that question, the answer is an obvious yes. And whenever we ask that question, even about the Lord, our answer is an obvious no. But to be reminded of that and to really believe in that and to hold on to that, whenever we find ourselves in places that are just beyond our capabilities, Is is a great comfort, a great truth, and it's the comfort of the scriptures where I hope comes from. So I do not try to handle matters that are beyond my capabilities and. First, Peter. Chapter five. We have this. Familiar passage of scripture. First, Peter, Chapter five, verse five, likewise, you younger submit yourselves on the elders. All of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and give grace to the humble, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. I do not try to handle matters that are too great for me. I do not try to handle those because I trust and I know that I am resting in the strength of a God whose hand is not shortened, who has never ever scratched his head at a problem, who has never asked a question to receive information that he didn't already know, who has never lacked the strength to do anything that he wanted to do, even with just a breath of his mouth and the word that comes from his tongue. He says, casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you, and he says that is a result of humbling ourself before God. When you're casting your cares on God, it is a sign of humility. When you're not, and you keep them all upon you, and you try to sort them out yourself, and you do what David says here, whenever you try to do things that you have not been called to do, and go after things that God has never meant for you to go after, it is a result of pride. There's a lot of ways this could work in our lives, us trying to handle things, trying to do things, refusing to admit that we can. But also, there is a sense to where we say, well, I wish I could cast all my cares upon God, but I don't know how to do that. I've tried, I've tried to let this go, and I've tried to let that go, and I've tried not to worry about this, and I've tried not to worry about that, and I've tried not to try to control every little thing that happens, but I just don't know how to do it. And the answer is this. Again, we go back to the fact that this is a process that you're going to have to go through. There are no quick fixes with God. There are no quick fixes with life, period. As far as problems go, I talked about several times ago that I was reading a book and it talked about a man who was addicted to pornography and his solution came through taking Prozac. If he took Prozac, he was not tempted anymore and he broke that habit. Well, the problem was never solved. That was a quick semi-fix, but the man is going to have... It's humongous, humongous results and humongous effects that he's going to have to deal with because he hasn't dealt with anything. What do you do the next time when a problem comes up? You get yourself another. And I'm not I'm not anti-medicine. I'm not a doctor, and so I'm not going to tell anybody to go get anything, but I'm sure not anti-medicine. But I am pro repentance. I am. for doing what God has told you to do in the first place so that the physical symptoms can either be lightened or done away with. I am that. I am trusting in God over trusting in technologies. And when I say that, I don't mean that God doesn't use other things. So He says, humble yourself and cast all your cares upon us. The idea is this, we've trained ourselves already to be the way that we already are, whether you know you have or not. We've trained ourselves to think the way that we think. And so what God says, and the whole idea in Romans chapter 12, when we're renovating our mind, is that we're training ourselves to think in a different way. We're training ourselves to respond in a different way. It's a familiar thing for us to know that repentance, to repent, means to make a U-turn, to go the opposite way. We're used to going this way, but if we're going to repent, we're going to make the conscious effort to turn around and to go the other way, no matter how hard it is. That's what we're striving for. To not continue to do the same thing. Now physically, it's probably, I don't want to say it's easier, but it might be a little easier physically than it is mentally. For us not to let our minds wander down tracks that they're used to wandering down. For us not to let ourselves Think about people and think about things in a way that is not glorifying to God for us to let go and say, I can't do anything about this anyway. I'm giving this to God and trusting that he will provide and do what he said he would do. It's not a snap of the fingers, not a light switch that you switch on and say, oh, yeah, I forgot I should have been doing that all along. It's not it. We've got to train ourselves to do that. In the midst of pursuing after that, the Holy Spirit blesses it. So we have the whole idea of Luke chapter 11 of seeking and trying to find and the Holy Spirit coming and God giving us what he promised he would give us. Results if we would pursue after his will. OK, I'm going to finish with that. Now on to verse two. He says this in Psalm 131, verse 2. He says, I have become like a weaned child on its mother's lap and quieted my soul. Now, I wish I would have gotten to this part this morning, because this is really the meat of Psalm 131. This really defines the hope that we have in God. I have become like a weaned child in his mother's lap and quieted my soul. Here's a comment that Spurgeon made about this. There comes a time when a child must be denied the nourishment and comfort that once came from his mother's breast. And therefore, the child frets and worries, flies into fits or sinks into salts. Yet time brings not only alleviations, But the ending of the conflict, the child becomes quite content to find his nourishment at the table with his brothers and does not wish to return to that which he once loved. Isn't that amazing? An amazing picture there? I don't know anything about this, but you mothers do. A child that once found its nourishment at a place that is cut off. And the Jewish culture there, they waited a good bit longer than normally we do before they decided to wean their children. They were a good bit older than our normal age here. And so they said it was much more difficult, a much more difficult process. But this is how David compares his soul. The state of his soul. after he has followed after God, after he has pursued and God has blessed him to be able to humble himself, to be able to quiet himself, to be able to not go after things that he shouldn't go after. He says, it's like a weaned child. In other words, he says, the things that I was hoping for at one time, the things that I thought I needed at one point, I do not have. And that's okay. And that's okay. where at one point I had demands and thought I needed this and knew I needed that and obsessed over this. God has brought me to the place where I do not have that, but I do have God. I'm not throwing fits over what I don't have. I'm not wringing my hands and worrying myself to death about what I can or cannot do. David becomes content with where God has placed him. I'm going to say that whenever we think about hope, contentment is usually not. Let me say it this way, contentment with where we are and the trial that we may be going through is usually not the answer that we want. What we want is for someone to fix the problem. What we want is for someone to change our circumstances. But I want to tell you this, and I want to tell you this because a lot of the times we have false expectations. Our hope in God is not a hope that God will come and change everything around us to suit our fancies. That's not our hope in God. Our hope in God is not that He's going to make our outward circumstances better over here, or He's going to give me what I want here, or everything's going to be smooth sailing from here on out, or I will never feel another painful moment because we lost this loved one, a rebellion of this loved one or anything else like that. That is not a biblical hope in God. But the hope in God is that His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. That's our hope in God. It's not that bad things don't happen. It's that when they do happen, God gives you the strength to endure that. is that when they do happen, God reveals Himself as the God that you probably never ever knew before. God reveals Himself as a sustainer and as a strength that passes all understanding. You know, we talk about that verse a lot, but to experience that. Philippians chapter 4. in Philippians 4, verse 4. It says, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true and whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you." Here, Paul speaks about this whole idea with the Philippians. You notice what he does here. First, he says, rejoice in the Lord always. Let your moderation or let your self-control be made known unto all men because the Lord's at hand. Be careful for nothing, but by everything, prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known. And then the peace of God, which passes all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds. But then he does this. Throughout, really, you're going to have to think about some things. You're going to have to force yourself to think about some things. Whatsoever things are true, you think about those. Whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. How difficult is it to go through a trial To go through something that is just nagging and nagging, and force yourself not to dwell on it. On the bad that's coming out. Or on the exaggerations that happen in your mind, and you come up with all these things, and you can't do this, and you can't do that, and my goodness, the way things are going now, never get any better. We talked about Limitations 3, whenever Jeremiah got to the point where he said, I do not remember what it's like to be happy and I never, ever expect to have any joy again in my life. That's what Jeremiah said. He says, all I can remember and all I can think about is my bitterness and my troubles. And I'm going to tell you, if we allow ourselves, and I do not say that it's easy not to do this, but I'm saying if we allow ourselves to dwell on bitterness, and all we can think about is who all has wronged me, and who all has not done this to me, and this situation is more than I can handle, there's nothing I can do about it, even though I'm trying to do something, it just doesn't work, and everything's just blowing up in my face. If we let ourselves dwell on that, Who wouldn't be restless inside? Who wouldn't be overwhelmed? Who wouldn't be scared to death if all we thought about all the time were the things that we couldn't control to begin with? Paul says, and there's some practical ways you can do this. If you want to get you out a little book or a piece of paper and you write down these things are true about God, whatsoever things are true, write them out. Whatsoever things are honest, write them out. are just right amount and you go down to the list and you make a list under each heading of what these things are and you force yourself to meditate on those things. I'm telling you, this is not something that we read and we say, oh, OK, so Paul says this. Well, let's see what else he says. This is something that we get that Paul gives out as a remedy, not a remedy to take away your problem, but a remedy for your perspective on the problem. Because you see, our problems are never as big as we think they are. They're big and they're overwhelming sometimes. But the thing that we just failed to, especially in difficult times, the thing we failed to realize is that we are not the only person on earth that has ever gone through a bad experience. And I would never, ever say that to someone going through a bad experience. But I'm just saying, if we can realize that the earth does not rotate around us and everyone's not standing still because of the magnitude of our troubles, we can start to get over it. We can start to move on. If we can think on things that are just, if we can renew our mind and think about who God says He is and what God says He'll do. Also, Paul goes over in 2 Corinthians 12. Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7. This is Paul talking, he tells his experience here and then in chapter 12, verse 7. He says, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to bump at me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me, and he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong. What changes for Paul? First, he's praying that God would remove the thorn in his flesh. Then at the end of the thing, he's praising God because when he's weak, he's strong. What changes for Paul is his perspective on the whole thing. What changes for Paul is that truth, truth is unveiled and he can see things clearly. I'm going to tell you that the hope that we have in God is that God will remove the veil from our eyes and that we might see our circumstances clearly. That's our hope. Our hope is that we might be like Paul. Not that we're fake and say, oh, these troubles don't bother me. I just usually don't have trouble. I was talking to somebody one time and they said, well, you know, I don't believe in problems. I believe in providence. I thought, yeah, I'd make a good sermon, but that's not much of a real life deal. It's not. I believe in Providence just as much as the next guy, but I believe in problems, too, because we're real people that live in a real world that's really fallen with real problems. And so we don't fluff it off and say, well, there's no problems anyway. I'm just too spiritual for trouble. It doesn't work that way. But what we do is we look at where we are and we look at what it is that we're having trouble with or the trial that we're going through. And we eventually come to the place where David comes when he says, my soul is like a weaned child. And by the way, that word soul is also translated cravings. It's kind of weird. It's an interchangeable word. It was soul and his cravings. And so you can put that word in there. My cravings are like a weaned child upon its mother's lap. And so I would ask you, what are your cravings? What are the things that you obsess about? Because we all obsess about something in one way or another. Sometimes we obsess about what we hope doesn't happen, but a lot of times we obsess about things that we want, and things that we just can't imagine not having. I don't know about you, but for me, the internet doesn't help out. I can get something on my mind that I think I need, and man, I'll get on the internet and start looking and looking and looking, and I'll get on the next day and start looking and looking, and I'll get on the next day and start looking, and I don't know... It seems like everything I see that has anything to do or relate with that becomes something else that I just need. I have to have it. It's a craving that is never ever satisfying. Because I'm going to tell you, as soon as I get it, I'm going to be craving something else. And as soon as you get it, you're going to be craving something else. So I was trying to think about this, I was thinking about my vehicle, my car that I've got. I'm not much of a car guy as far as thinking vehicles are neat. They're not very neat to me. I like to get in them and drive, but I don't know what you're talking about if you start telling me about an engine or details about something that's souped up or something that was done after the factory or anything else like that. I don't know anything about it. If I see a shiny car, it looks good to me. So I'm not very picky about that. But I'm going to tell you, you don't have to be picky to not be content. You know that? You don't have to have high standards to not be content. I don't care if my car can go 500 miles an hour. Abigail tells me I'm a slow driver anyway. I would never get it up to 100. I just want something that will get me to A to B. Until the air conditioner goes out, and then I want air conditioner. Until my radio starts getting kind of fuzzy, and then I want a new radio. Until I have a cassette tape of some great sermon that I can't listen to because I've got a CD player, and then I want a duo cassette CD player. And then the list goes on. You get these little bitty things that maybe you might use one time, and for whatever reason, they become the biggest things in the world, and oh, if I just had them, if I just had this, it would be so much better. Well, those are the petty things. Those are the petty things. But then we get into the hard things, like losing a spouse, or someone that you love, or going through some illness that you will struggle with for the rest of your life, or... I don't know any others. There are plenty out there. I'm just blanking on them. Things that are really serious. And Paul says that he experienced a peace here, because this is where Paul is. We don't know what the element was, but he's got a thorn in his flesh, an element that he would deal with until the day that he died, as far as we know. And he says this is the peace that passed all understanding. This is where God met me in my trouble. He allowed me to accept my circumstances and to be content with His will for my life. It's a picture of Christ in the garden when He says, not my will, Lord, but Thy will. It's coming to a place where we can see and really believe and really hold on to the fact that God's will for our lives, God's care over our lives is much greater than our own. You see, that's the piece that passes all understanding. It's not that you're removed, but it's that God gives you the ability to deal with and to remain. And as Paul would say, I glory, I take pleasure in my infirmities for Christ's sake, because when I'm weak, then I'm strong. See, what happens to Paul here, what happens to David in Psalm 131 is not that there's some kind of radical change in what's been going on around either of two people's lives. is that they found God's grace sufficient. David says, I've humbled myself. God, I've got you in proper perspective. I know where you are. And because of that, because of that, my soul has been weaned. My cravings have been weaned as a little child who at one time fussed and threw fits over what it wanted, but now has accepted that it will not get that anymore. and then eventually gets to the place where Spurgeon says, does not wish to return to that which he once craved. To some extent, if you're born again, you understand what that means. To some extent, we've all experienced that. A place where before you were converted, you had thought that something was just it. You could never live without it. You look back now and you can't ever imagine going back to it. That's how God deals with us. That's how God works in us. Spurgeon would also say this, it is a mark of spiritual growth when we can forgo the joys which once appeared to be essential and can find our solace in Him that denies them to us. Did you get that? It is a mark of spiritual growth when we can let go of the joys that we once thought were essential and find our solace in this very One that denied them to us. It's an amazing quote, I thought, amazing insight. If you look or if you listen to the Baptist Bible Hour this morning, you heard what Brother Bradley, you heard the message and it was on going through trials and having patience. He quotes this in Habakkuk chapter three. Goes great with the quote that we have here. Habakkuk gets to the end of this book and he says this. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the olive tree shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls. In other words, Habakkuk says, every single provision that we thought we had be taken away. That's what he's saying. All the grocery stores run out. All the gardens not produce anything. All of the livestock die off. All of your wells dry up. He says if all of this happens, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds feet. He will make me to walk upon my high places, the chief singer on my stringed instruments." What could you say about what Habakkuk says here? And by the way, Habakkuk's not coming up with some exaggerated hypothetical. Habakkuk's in the middle of some bad times in Israel. And it's the grace of God that's sufficient to back its life. He says, all these things that I see that are essential, I've come to the place where if they were all taken away, I'll still rejoice in God. If they were all taken away, I recognize the fact that God is much more than these material things that I think I find pleasure in. Also, in Romans chapter 15, This will be the last one we look at. Romans chapter 15. Verse 13. Paul would say to the Romans, now the God of all hope, I'm sorry, the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. I want you to notice this. There are a lot of times in Scripture, especially in the New Testament, where Paul would talk about the God of something, the God of comfort. Here he talks about the God of hope, and when he says that, that little phrase means that He is the source of hope. When he talks about the God of hope, not just a God that you can hope in, but He is the source of hope. Hope springs from God. He says, now the God of hope, or the source of hope, which is our God, He prays that He will fill you with all joy and peace. Now that sounds pretty good. Sounds pretty good. I don't think there's anyone here that would say, I don't want any of that. I don't want to be filled with joy and peace. We all have our own idea of what that means, but Paul doesn't just leave it there. Be filled with joy and peace in believing. In believing. Patience. Comfort of the Scriptures. Patience. Comfort of the Scriptures. That you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. That's my prayer for you this afternoon. That's my prayer for myself this afternoon. That the God of hope would fill us with joy and peace in believing. In Ephesians chapter 1, he would say that he wished and hoped that God, his prayer for the Ephesians was that God would unveil their eyes and bless them with the knowledge of the hope that they have. There's a direct correlation between what you know and how you hope. If you do not know what God has said, there's not a whole lot that you can hope for. But if you do know what God has said, if you do know God's promises, we have something you can believe in. If you do know God's precepts, what God would have you to do, the actions that God would have you to take, well, then there's hope in that. If you're a husband that's trying to become a better husband, I said this last time, there's not a whole lot of hope for you at all if you do not plan on trying to love your wife more than you do now. If you're a wife trying to become a better wife, there's not hope for you if you are not willing to submit yourself to your husband, not because he's some great guy and not because he deserves it, but because that's what God has called you to do. If you hope to have a good marriage, you can be confident in the fact if you submit yourself to your husband, God will bless you. Now, I want to say this. It doesn't mean that your husband will treat you the way that you think he ought to treat you. But it does mean this, God will give you the grace, if you submit yourself to Him, God will give you the grace to bear whatever your trial is. It does mean that. Hope makes not ashamed. I want you to remember that. Anyone who hopes in God, who hopes in God's Word, will never be disappointed. That's a big claim. That's an amazing claim. I'm going to tell you, we serve an amazing God. I hope that if we look at Psalm 131, one of my biggest goals is to try to present clearly what it is that we're hoping in. It's not some foggy, undefined something to where you just say, hope in God and move along. But it's some real concrete things. Number one, and I forgot to say this, but I'm going to say it now because at the end of Psalm 131, it says, Oh, Israel, hope in God. That word hope means patiently wait in confident expectation upon God. You can't have one without the other. You're patiently waiting in confident expectation. So you can't have one without the other. It can't be that you're waiting in confident expectation. But I started yesterday and it didn't happen today. And so my hopes are all shattered. Can't be that. And it can't be, I'm just going to wait patiently, not really believing that God is going to do anything that He said He would do. Well, there's no hope in that either. And so you have to be ready to wait, ready to endure. In Lamentations chapter 3, He would say it is good that a man wait upon God. You remember, we have patience, experience, then hope. Most of us want hope, experience, and then if we ever need it, patience. But that's not the way it works. patiently waiting upon God. That's our hope. Not that God will do what we have laid out for Him to do, but that God will conform our will to His will, whether the circumstances ever change or not. That's the peace that passes all understanding. It's not some hocus-pocus thing where all of a sudden things start to line up and you become a millionaire and all your worries fall away and you have perfect health for the rest of your life. It's not it. It may be that, well, that may be tomorrow, that one of us here, that I come down with some sickness that I will die with and will have to struggle with for the rest of my life. If that happens, I'm not saying I'm happy about it, because I wouldn't be, but I'm saying this, I believe that God's grace would be sufficient to carry me through that. I believe that. I'm not saying that I would always give up and give a good testimony. I'm not saying I would never complain about it. I'm saying God's grace would be sufficient Not that he could take it away if he wanted to, but if he didn't want to, his grace is sufficient to carry me all the way through. And that's a hope. That's hope. Does it mean that things go away? Does it mean that everything else changes except you? That means that you become more like Christ. It means that you get to the point where you can say, Lord, if this is your will, then I accept that. It's not my will, but it's your will. As painful as it is, and as real as it is, and as much as I do not want to do this, if it's your will, I submit. That's the peace that passes all understanding. And I'm going to say for a lot of people, that is not a very pretty painting of hope. Matter of fact, that doesn't sound very hopeful at all if you don't know the Lord. But it's what we have. And it is a great, great hope for those who love God. A God that said, I will never leave you disappointed if you put your trust in me. I will give you what you need to go all the way through and to be what I've called you to be to begin with. So one last time, I'm going to read Psalm 131. By the way, I would encourage you. This is a short psalm. I'm not saying you can do what you want to with it. I would encourage you to write this down and put it somewhere. Find yourself in a struggle? You find yourself having a hard time? Just read over it. Read over what David writes there as he pours his heart out to God. Lord, my inner being is not full of pride. My attitude is not arrogant. I do not try to handle matters that are beyond my capabilities. And because of that, I have become like a weaned child on his mother's lap and quieted my soul, my cravings, My soul has become like a child weaned from its mother's milk. Let the upright patiently wait in confident expectation on God, now and forevermore. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You again for Your Word. We thank You for the hope that You've given us. A real hope, Lord. A hope that is unchanging. A hope that will never fail. I do pray that you would be with those who are in the midst of trials and struggles. I pray that you would bless your word to take root in their hearts. And I pray that it would comfort them and that it would help them. Lord, I pray most of all that you would bless everyone here to act in a way that would glorify you, whether we are in a good season or a bad season, whether we are struggling with whatever it is that we struggle with. I pray that we would not be guilty of Hearing Your Word and just going along and saying, who cares anyway? I pray we wouldn't be so set in our patterns that we would refuse to put on the things that You've told us to put on, to take off the things that You've told us to take off. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would apply these things to our lives and to our hearts. And where our hearts are cold, I pray that You would warm it up. I pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Anyone have anything they'd like to say before we close out? If nothing else, Brother Steve, will you pray for us? We'll be dismissed. A lot of the things that we think that we can satisfy ourselves and satisfy our flesh, we can't. We satisfy ourselves. And according to the Buddha's teaching, his heart is for the world, not for you. PRABHUPĀDA Śrīla Prabhupāda, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,