But we're going to be looking today at Exodus 14. So if you have your Bible or your phone, would you light up your phone to Exodus or your Bible, turn it to Exodus 14. And we're in our series, Safe and Secure in Jesus. And the message today is really about how God builds our faith in impossible situations. Now, if you're a Christian, you've been a Christian any length of time, you've come up to impossible situations in your life where there is no earthly answer. That is the time that God wants to build your faith, and he wants to make you stronger. Now, I must say, this hurts. The other night, my daughter couldn't sleep, Ava couldn't sleep. She said, Daddy, I have growing pains. And we have spiritual growing pains as well. So God wants to put us in a very impossible situation. If you read the story of the Exodus and the Red Sea Crossing, can you just imagine being there with your livelihood, your children, you have everything that you own with you, and it looks like God has told you to go to a place where you will be utterly destroyed and utterly ruined, and this is it. That's how they felt. But I want to get the correct perspective, not only on the Exodus, but also on our lives. Because the Exodus is the Old Testament story that reflects our New Testament salvation. This exodus is the original salvation story for Israel. It's a prequel to Jesus rescuing us on the cross. But when you talked about deliverance and salvation in the Old Testament, you talked about the Exodus and this event at the Red Sea. And Jeremiah tells us in the 32nd chapter, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Is there anything too hard for the Lord, saints? I want to present this proposition. that God himself, on purpose, places us in impossible situations that, from our perspective, look like they are intended for our ruin, but from God's perspective, they are intended to grow a radical faith and trust and dependence on the Lord God. And we see this in the first four verses of this chapter. Now remember, two to three million Israelites are leaving Egypt. They have made a city of mud bricks. Now this was very unusual, but we think we know where this city was. There's really only one major archaeological dig that has a pharaoh building a city of mud bricks, and it's right by the Nile River. So we can imagine where they were, and it's not far from the Red Sea, and so we think we know where this is, but notice in verse 1, God leads them on purpose to an impossible situation. It says, then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdal and the sea, in front of Baal-zefron. You shall encamp facing it by the sea, the Red Sea. I just want you to notice God's direction. That now that they've been set free, 10 plagues have visited Egypt. God brings the children of Israel to this place of a rock and a hard place. And they have a sea in front of them, they have mountains on the backside of them, and they have Pharaoh's armies coming at them on either side. And It's important to realize that Moses is not leading this group. God is leading this group. Moses is following God, but following the fiery pillar. We read this back in chapter 13, verse 21. The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. And we read later on that God does battle with the Egyptians, that God fights for them. And so we see that in verse 14, the Lord will fight for you, chapter 14 and verse 14, and you will only have to be silent. And so we need to understand that all of our difficulties in the Christian life are authored by God, by a sovereign God. Now, God is not the author of sin, but he is the actuator of our sanctification. He is the agent of our sanctification. And so, what is God's desire in this, and what is the children of Israel's desire? We read in verses three and four, Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land, the wilderness has shut them in, and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, and they did so. What was God's desire? in the Red Sea crossing and bringing them to a place where they are defenseless and they have the most technologically advanced army in the world at that time coming after them and they are completely defenseless. God led them right in front of the Red Sea to put them in an impossible situation. And what is God's desire for this? I know what Israel's desire was, let's run, let's get out of here. Why are we gonna die here? They say that. later on in the passage. Why are we going to dig graves for ourselves right here? We could have been prospering in Egypt as slaves. Isn't it amazing how messed up the mind of the flesh is? We think that sometimes things are easier for lost people, not realizing that the most precious treasure that anyone could ever have is given to us by grace, the very presence of God by the Holy Spirit. But what is God's desire? They want to get out of there. What is God's desire in all of this? I will get glory. Let's say that together. I will get glory. God says to you, child of God, I will get glory. I will get glory in you and I will even get glory over my enemies. And God does that, how? How does he do this? He hardens Pharaoh's heart. Now understand, we do not believe in a fatalistic God, where God just arbitrarily hardens this one and hardens that one. We're all dead in trespasses and sins until we come to know Christ, amen? But the scripture talks about Pharaoh's heart being hardened 10 times. in the Exodus, and the first seven times, the Bible records that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. But there comes a time when God will judiciously harden people's hearts. And so this is a plea, if you're listening online or if you're here today, and you have not yet received Christ, don't harden your heart. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Today, if you hear his voice, Do not harden your heart, because if you do, there may come a day when the door is closed. Oh, may it never be. Come to Christ today if you don't know him. Can you testify, saints, that there's nothing like knowing Christ? My wife and I talk, what would our marriage be like if we didn't know Jesus? Would we even have a marriage? You look at the trials that you all have gone through in our own church, and those of you who are listening at home, think about those trials. Do you think you could handle that without Christ? handle it with grace and humility. Now, we don't always do that as Christians, but what amazing grace the Lord gives us when we're so weak, when we're in that impossible situation. I've been there, and I've been there many times with you all as you're in an impossible situation, and I've seen the Lord break through. So, I wanna emphasize good theology here. Because often when we get to an impossible situation, because we have such a works mentality from the old life, from the flesh, like I've got to do better, I've got to pull myself up by my bootstraps, we really have bad theology. Often when we get into an impossible situation, we think that God is punishing us, that God is mad at us. Can I just say God cannot be mad at you as a Christian, all right? Because what does it say that There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Based on the fact that Jesus absorbed the full wrath of God for you and for your sake, there can be no condemnation. Is there anger in the sense of a father who loves you and who wants the best for you? Is there a zeal like that for you? Yes, but it all comes out of love and goodness. You need to understand this and have good theology, because if you think God is punishing you, then you're gonna think, I need to be punished. I need to, as they did in the old days, they would whip themselves. And we don't have literal whips, but we do in our minds have ways of punishing ourselves. And we need to get that out of our mind and get good theology that every impossible situation that you have come to is there to build your faith and to give glory to God through your life and to give glory to God over the Lord's enemies. That's the theology of this passage. But when we're here in the midst of this impossible place with the children of Israel, they've been released from slavery, they have been given things from the people of Egypt, they've taken their gold, and they've taken their possessions, and they've plundered them, and they're on their way to Canaan, but right in front of them is a Red Sea, and behind them is a mountain. And what is God's impossible promise? We just mentioned it, say it with me again. I will get glory. One more time. I will get glory. That's right. God's gonna get glory from your life. And you may come to this heap of chaos. It may not be today, it may be a week or a month or a year from today, but you're gonna come to a place, a heap of chaos in your life, and it looks like a raging sea. And you need to understand that when you say, well, you know what, I can't even imagine how God's gonna get glory from this. Aren't you glad that God's mind is bigger than your mind? Often we come to a Red Sea and we want to micromanage God. Now God, now this is my proposal. This is how I think we should get through this situation. Do you think God needs your proposal? We don't need to micromanage God. We need to surrender to the living God. And our focus should not be on the raging sea in front of us, or the armies beside us, or the mountains behind us. Our focus ought to be not on God's enemy, but on God's face. We need to look into the face of God. Look at this, in verses five through nine, we see that God's enemy When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, what is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him and took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with the officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them and camped at the sea by Pi-Hahiroth in front of Baal-Zephan. Understand, that God has ultimate unlimited power. Theologically, we reject dualism. Dualism says there are two equal forces in the universe. There's evil and there's good. And they are equal. And what we say is that there is only room for one omnipotent being. Because if there's two omnipotent beings, then by math equation, you're not omnipotent. So there's only one omnipotent, almighty, in other words, God, and we know who he is, and he's not Satan. Satan is much more powerful than us. And Pharaoh is a type of Satan. He is of his father, the devil. And what we find is that Satan, though he's much more powerful than us, He's a flea compared to the almighty power of God. So here's what we learned from this passage. Don't put your eyes on God's enemy. You put your eyes on God's face. Don't be hyper-consumed, hyper-scrupulous about your trials. Don't focus on them. Don't focus on the impossible. Don't focus on the evil that's coming at you, the wrong that is done to you. Don't focus on that. That will drive you crazy. That will drive you into spiritual schizophrenia. Does he love me? Does he not love me? Can I just settle this? The cross settled it. He loves you. He loves you. He's for you. And if God be for you, who can be against you? But there are parallels between Pharaoh and our enemy, the devil. We find out that he's coming after us. He's like a roaring lion, Peter says, seeking whom he may devour. As far as the Christian goes, he roars, but he cannot ultimately harm us. Could he take the body? Yes, he can, but don't fear the one who can take the body. Fear the one that can take both body and soul and cast them into hell. Our Lord is greater than any of our enemies. And so what do we need to do when we come to an impossible situation and we have the enemy of our souls against us, trying to counsel us and get an opportunity and to make us fear and be paralyzed? What do we need to do? The scripture tells us clearly in James 4. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. We hear in Ephesians that we don't wrestle against forces that we can see, like flesh and blood, but against evil and cosmic darkness, principalities and powers that are governed from hell. But we need to put on the whole armor of God. I'm not up to the task, but my God is. And in Ephesians 6, we're told to stand firm in Christ by putting on the whole armor of God. And that's where God is the great warrior, and God fights the battle for you. You put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the loins girt about with truth. You take up the shield of faith. You've got your shoes, your boots of peace. ready to go marching, and you wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And so you resist the devil the same way Jesus resists the devil, by the Word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So our focus is not on our enemy, our focus is on our great God and on his word. And then we need to have fellowship. And we see a little taste of this in verse 10 of Exodus. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them and they feared greatly. And look at this, the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. Good. That's a good thing to do, is to ask the Lord, to cry out to the Lord when you're afraid. Unfortunately, we find out that their motives are wrong. You see, what we often pray with wrong motives, we often pray, God, get me out of this! You ever pray one of those prayers? My flesh, that's all my flesh can pray, but I need to walk in the Spirit. I need to stop, using my own dim eyesight, which if I take my glasses off, I can't read this book in front of me, I can't see you. All of you look really wonderful right now, because I can't, I mean, but if I, no, you all look even better now, because I put my glasses on. perspective. And I need to put my heavenly glasses on, my glasses of faith, because the sight of the flesh is dim and dark. But when I put on my glasses of faith, I can see clearly. The children of Israel needed that sweet fellowship to know that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I love what David said in 2 Samuel 22, 7, William Carey said, And that's why God puts us in an impossible place, not to paralyze us with fear, but to build our faith. And we see that the children of Israel failed at this test of building their faith. Verses 11 and 12, Moses said, it is because, they said to Moses, I should say, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Isn't that insane? I'd rather be enslaved. But you know, there are some hard days in the Christian life when you just want to run. When you just want to get in your car and never come back. I've had those thoughts. I've even gotten in my car, drove around the block, and then walked right back into my house. But you have that temptation to escape, don't you? The children of Israel failed. We often fail, but this is not why God puts us in impossible situations. The reason that God allows the Christian to fail is to build their faith. You know, the righteous person falls seven times. Seven is the number of perfection, so your failures are not limited to seven. But I'd be in trouble if that were the case. The righteous man falls seven times and gets up again. but the grace of the Lord. And so God wants to build our faith. And Moses has a message for the people. Moses, verse 13, said to the people, fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord. The next verse, he says, the Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. There comes a time in an impossible situation where God says, be silent, I don't need your ideas. Your idea is to surrender to the Egyptians and go back to building edifices made of mud bricks. But God has greater things in store and in mind for the children of Israel. He wants them to conquer the promised land. And so there are going to be times when We are naturally afraid. Someone said that it says in the Bible not to fear 366 times. I think that is wonderful for all the days of the year and leap year as well. But I did a search and it was more like 500 times. God wants to get something across to us. We have no reason to fear. Now we're good at fearing, but the problem with fear is it paralyzes us, it stunts our growth, and it shatters our faith. And it is toxic. And ultimately, it is sinful, it is the opposite of faith. Fear is essentially not trusting in the Lord. The only one that we are to fear is the Lord in awe and reverence because he loves us. So you are going to be taken to the brink. I just want to get you prepared in case you're not already aware that in the Christian life, the way God grows your faith is by bringing you into impossible situations. that you have no knowledge or wisdom for. You have no answer. That's why the Bible tells us in Isaiah that God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, His ways are higher than our ways. In other words, His wisdom is far beyond your wisdom. And God doesn't need your advice. He's wise, He's God all by Himself. I think of the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7. He says, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. He says, we have this power, this message of the gospel. God has chosen fragile, easily shattered jars to carry the precious oil and this is a picture of the oil that would be transported around the Roman Empire, olive oil. And that comparison is made to us, why does God choose such fragile jars of clay? And His answer is that God would get all the glory because He has all the power. There would be no question that if that jar got there safely and delivered the special oil, that it was all from God. It was a very good delivery because it was all from God. And he says this, we are afflicted in every way but not crushed. Perplexed but not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. struck down but not destroyed. He says in verse 16, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. Saints, Get your glasses of faith on. Put them on. See all of your impossible situations through the eyes of faith. Why? Because we know that God is working out an eternal way of glory. That is, He's conforming you to the image of Jesus through all this suffering and all this pain and all this perplexity. The things you don't have the answers for. So he says, fear not. He says, stand firm. In other words, don't retreat. The Christian life is one of moving forward, not backward. We must always hold our position. Now we cannot do this in the flesh. We have to walk by the spirit, and we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Walk in the spirit, keep in step with the spirit, and he will lead us. And that means we need to wait on the Lord. It says this so many times in the Psalms, wait on the Lord. God is not always going to give us the plans for our impossible situation ahead of time. We need to know the character and the heart of God going into the trial. And you can speak from experience. I know that you can. At home, here, in our small little group, you've been through some deep waters. And the only way you got through those deep waters was that you knew that God was for you ahead of time. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And so then he says, see the salvation of the Lord. And the essence of this is what Jesus said in Luke 18. What is impossible with man is possible with God. In other words, the impossible situations are God-size situations. They're not things you can fix. You can't pick up a book and find some five steps to get through this. The only way that you can get is if you pick up the divine book and you hear the voice of God. He has the wisdom and he will deliver you. And so God has a plan in his own wisdom to conform you to the image of Christ. But we often want to inform God of how to do that. We often have an idea of how God should bring us through this trial. And I want to warn you, saints, I want to warn you. that when you come with an expectation to God, and you tell God how to be God, you are always going to be disappointed. We say in our family, expectations ruin relationships. Now there are certain expectations that we have of each other, but I understand that human beings are going to fail me. My problem with God is not failure. My problem with God is that my wisdom is a gnat compared to God. I have a gnat brain, and God has an infinite brain, and I can't comprehend the beautiful things that God wants to do. And so when I come with a prepackaged expectation to God, I'm setting myself up for disappointment. So when you come to a Red Sea and you say, you know, the scientists say the way to get through the Red Sea is A, B, and C. Toss that out the window. We're not living a life of calculation, human calculation, we are living a life of faith. It's exciting. This is when God comes into our realm and opens up the atmosphere. He does things that are God-sized. And we see this, how do the children of Israel get to that place where they can see the salvation of the Lord? They can obey the command not to fear, to stand firm and not give up their position and run away, and truly see what God can do. Well, the first is that there's sometimes in our life when we need to stop asking God and start walking in action by faith. This is what he says. In verse 15, the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. We need to understand that prayer is not a mere hollow posturing to God. You know, I must have faith because I'm praying. No prayer leads to action. Faith without works is dead. And so there comes a time when you need to stop praying and asking. I mean, we're always in communion. Of course, pray without ceasing. But there needs to come a time when you stop petitioning the Lord and you start marching forward. And you realize the Lord has answered that prayer. Now, where is that line? You need to figure that out with God. I don't know. But you will know if you ask the Lord. He'll give you wisdom through his word and through the spirit and through wise counsel. When it's time to stop asking and you need to start walking in action by faith. And then we see that God diverts the glory cloud. He gives direction, and then he diverts the glory cloud in verse 19. The angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. and it lit up the night without one coming near the other. So there was thick darkness on the side of where the Egyptians were, but on the other side, there was light so that they knew where to walk and where to go. God's word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path. And there is a time when we need to stop asking and start acting. and start walking in the direction that God is leading us. Can I just say that God cares about you? And Jesus said it this way in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, 26. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Don't you know that God, the God who polished the rings of Saturn this morning, loves you more than all the other things that are in the universe? For which other being did God give his only son? Only for us did he give his son. Oh, how God loves you. Know that the pillar of cloud is with you, not outside of you, but inside of you. He is before you, He is behind you, He is on the side of you, He is above you, He is beneath you, and He is all around you. He is with you and He'll never leave you, He'll never forsake you. And then we see the dividing of the waters, verses 21 and following. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land. And the waters were divided, and the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them. Now, when God had brought them to encamp in front of the Red Sea, and when they could see Pharaoh's armies coming to destroy them, and there was absolutely no way of escape. Can I just say, God did that on purpose. And God will often bring us to a place that looks like utter ruin, in order to build our faith. You know, sometimes I have my glasses on and I still can't see. And you know what that means? I need a new prescription. Sometimes we need a new prescription. Our faith has grown dim, and our faith glasses have gotten cloudy, and we need a new prescription. And that's what these impossible situations in our lives do. They give us a new prescription, a new appreciation for the mighty hand of God. I'll say it again with Jeremiah, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Saints, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Jesus says what's impossible for man is possible with God. There's nothing too hard for the Lord. So the waters are divided. How do I face this trial? How do I face it? I don't walk away from it. I don't retreat. I look that problem, I look at that impossible situation straight on, and now it's hard. Sometimes it's so painful to look in to that situation. One lady who lost her husband years ago, she said, I can't accept. This is one of the godliest women I know, a very well-trained Christian counselor. And she said, I can't accept yet that my husband has died. I can't pick up that rock, it's too hot. And she would walk with God and God would just carry her, just carry her. But there came a day when God put her on her feet to walk again. And she came to me and she said, Pastor Matt, I picked up the rock today with just tears streaming down her face. I picked up the rock. I know and I accept that my husband has died. And that does not change the fact that God is good in all things. Now God's goodness is so amazing. but he often uses suffering and difficulty beyond your imagination in order to renew that prescription of faith so that you can see that God isn't just good at solving little things. God can do anything, and his motive is, I will get glory. Amen? God's gonna get glory from your life. And you may be looking at your own life saying, how in the world is God gonna get glory from this mess? There are days I look in the mirror, I say, how can this happen? How can God get glory? You know, God can take a lump of clay, and he can form it however he wants to. Amen? He's the potter, we're the clay. Well, then we read in verses 23 through 29, God drowns the Egyptians. It says in verse, 23, the Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watched the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud look down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove And the Egyptians said, let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. And then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, upon their horsemen, So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. The people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." What a victory that God brought to Israel. And they didn't have any of the fine weaponry that the Egyptians had. God's greatest victory was not at the Red Sea. It was not by the mountains at the base of the Red Sea. It was on another mountain, Mount Calvary. where God's son, this one who had lived a perfect life, this one who had never sinned, this one who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, oh, what a salvation he wrought on that tree. He stretched out his arms as if to say, I love you. He said, it is finished. He dealt with our sin there. His righteous life made him the perfect sacrifice. and his death, receiving the wrath of God, atoned for our sins, for all who will believe. And that means you, little children. That means you, dad or mom. That means you, single person, whatever age you are, God wants you. Not to simply have the faith that God can part a Red Sea, but have the faith that God can take away your sins, give you a new heart and a new life so that you can live as a new creation for Jesus. And you don't have to wait. You can call on the name of the Lord today and be saved. And little ones, if you're not in Christ, and even older ones, if you've not yet put your faith in Christ, do it today. And it's so simple to trust in Jesus, isn't it? Now, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. You have to humble yourself and be done with your old life. And you need to say, I am a sinner. I deserve hell. But I believe that Jesus, when he died on the cross, he died for me personally, because he loves me. And it's as if he's on that cross calling out my name. God so loved Matthew, God so loved your name that he gave his only son. Come to him by faith and he'll give you eternal life. Now, when the Israelites saw this great salvation, what do you think they did? they praised the Lord. In the last part of this chapter in verse 30, it says, thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians so that Israel feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. When God works, he establishes you as people of faith, just like he did his servant Moses. And your friends and your neighbors will tell a difference in you and in your family. Your loved ones, because of your faith, you're teaching your children, they're going to radiate, you're going to radiate the aroma of Christ. And to some it's going to be an aroma of life, to others it's going to be an aroma of death. Some of your friends who don't know Christ are going to reject you. But some will be hungry to learn more because of God's work in their hearts. Now, in chapter 15, verses one and two, the scripture says that they started singing the song of Moses. And it talks about how the Lord triumphed gloriously. And then in the book of Revelation, the scripture says that the saints, when we're all gathered together in heaven, we're going to sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. And look at how the song goes in Revelation 15 verses two and three. Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. When we see the Lord in heaven, we're gonna be able to look down upon our lives. You know, from this point of view, it's kind of like taking a journey to the top of the Grand Canyon from the bottom. It seems like sometimes you're going down, but you're going up, and you just don't know where you're going. You have to trust your guide. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but this is what a friend told me. And he said, you just don't know which way you're going until you get to the top. Then you can look down and go, oh, I see. It looked like we were going down, but it was leading up. And that's how it's going to be when we see the Lord. We're going to make sense of it all, but not until then. Until then, we have to walk by faith. Until then, we have to put our faith spectacles on and glory in our majestic God who is greater than all things. Now, that makes me wanna sing. And one of the things we need to do when we face an impossible situation is praise God for all the victories that He's already given us. Now, you may be facing an impossible situation, but it's not the first one. If you've walked with Christ for any length of time, you've faced them before, and He was faithful then, and He'll be faithful to you today, and tomorrow, and forever. He never changes. Let me close with this. A couple of years ago, I visited my sister in Louisiana. I remember taking off in the plane. Now, before I got on the plane, I noticed, you know, you're supposed to check the weather, right, before you get in a plane, is that right, Mr. Nathan? And it was angry clouds and ferocious lightning and dark and foreboding skies. But apparently it was okay to take off, but I was, You know, I'm not normally uncomfortable in adventures like that, but, you know, I was a little uncomfortable. And we ascended sharply when we got into the plane, and, you know, 35,000 feet, looked down, and the clouds are glorious and the sun is shining. You know, that's often how our life is. Very foreboding on the ground, but the scripture tells us in Colossians, that we're not to have our eyes on things below. Fix your eyes on things above where Christ dwells at the right hand of God. Set your affections, fix your eyes on Christ. And that's where our eyes need to be. The scripture says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. Where are your eyes? Where is your focus? Stand still, stand firm, don't retreat, don't fear, see the salvation of the Lord. Amen? Let's pray.