You're listening to audio from Ascend Church. For more information about Ascend or to access more gospel-centered tools to grow as a disciple of Christ, visit ascendkc.org. All right, so we're gonna be looking today at Psalm 55, and again, this is part of our whole series in the Psalms. And what you have to remember about Psalms is, again, they are a collection of songs. So we are going to look at another particular song. What's important is to remember is that songs oftentimes have a special impact or purpose on our life. In fact, if I was to quiz you and start talking to you about what are the impactful songs that are in your life, you'd probably start reflecting. I even have a top 10 list and might be able to share with me, like, oh man, this song really gives me energy. It's my hype song for life. Like, this is the one I'm going, if I'm tired and down, like, man, it's gonna just wake me up and give me the energy to go on with life. So there's songs like that. There's other songs that are more nostalgic. A song that you hear on the radio and maybe you're driving down the road and it just, oh, takes you back to a day. Like I can hear songs on the radio that takes me back to times of high school when I had this red Camaro, T-tops off, letting my, just the wind go through me, like it was a great time, a refreshing time. But there's also other songs of nostalgia. Songs that we listen to and bring back memories. Memories of a time where you're hurting. One of those songs for me is actually Build Your Kingdom by Wren Collective. And it's a wonderful song, has wonderful truths, but for me in particular, it reminds me back to a time where it was very hard in my life. is that there were circumstances around me that really were weighing down. It was a time of feeling like, Lord, how do I get through this day? Those type of feelings. And I remember that each day I would go to a stressful job, I was very much extended, what I felt like was beyond my energy, and I would sit with my oldest daughter, who was three at the time, and we would stand in our living room, play this song, and dance. And I just remember it was just a joy. It was the happiest point of my day that was going to be a very long day. And so there's songs like that at times where you reflect back and it just was the one thing that would get you through that certain day. And that's really what we're going to be looking at in Psalm 55. See, Psalm 55, if you can see, it's even titled as a maskill of David. And what that reflects is that this is a song of contemplation with instruction. It's not the song that's gonna get you hyped up. It's not the song that's gonna give you lots of energy. No, it's a song to actually take a breath, reflect on what is personally impactful for life. As we look through David, it's a very honest song about the troubles he's going through. But it also provides us the opportunity to be instructed in how to navigate those hard times. So you are gonna need your Bible today, so if you don't have one, or Psalm 55, there's one in front of you. It's gonna be on page 475. And so before we actually dive in, I just wanna help you have a context of what David is writing in Psalm 55. This is a very hard time, tumultuous time. David is no longer a fleeing Saul, he's actually king. And during this kingship, Life was just not roses for David. In fact, in this particular circumstance, what's the conjecture is this is probably when David is actually in conflict with his son, Absalom. In fact, Absalom is trying to actually usurp David's kingship. Absalom wants to become the king, and he's even okay if David gets killed in the process. So you can imagine just the heaviness that has on David. There's some other things. As Absalom is trying to get momentum, he's taking people with him, he's gaining momentum to actually have enemies against David, and one of those people is Ahithophel. What's important about Ahithophel, Ahithophel was a very close counselor to David. In fact, if you study scripture, he actually heaths a lot of the counsel, a lot of the advice that he gives them. And he actually is fearful when Absalom is able to get Ahithophel in his camp because he knows him so well that he actually could overthrow David's throne. Imagine the hurt of that. As the scenes play out, as eventually Absalom does get defeated, and he actually starts running away. What happens as he's fleeting, he's actually caught in a tree and left helpless. What's important to know about that is that David had specifically given a command to his general Joab to say, make sure Absalom's life is preserved. And so we have this scene, Absalom caught in a troop because he has this long hair. He's actually in a very vulnerable position. Very easy for Joab just to go capture him and bring him home. Instead, Joab kills him. In fact, what Joab eventually does is, when he does return to the city, and he doesn't share the circumstances, he doesn't give the details, he's very deceptive in it, but David obviously wants to mourn his son. And Joab actually rebukes him. Rebukes him because he's like, how could you? How could you in this war, in these loss of life, that you would mourn the enemy? And so you can see David's weight in surrounding these circumstances. Because when we look at what David's going through is that he is going to write this psalm to reflect on this time of his life. But he's also going to give us a guide for how to live through troubled times. So the big idea for today is in the weight of trials, avoid pursuing escape. by focusing on the reality that leads to personal dependence on God. So open up your Bibles, and as we go through Psalm 55, it's actually probably a little bit different than you're used to, is that you're gonna have to stay attuned reading it, because I'm going to explain some words in here that we might lose the definitions of in our modern understanding, and so be following along very closely as we go through. And so, in Psalm 55, starting in verse one, and what we're gonna first see is that we need to reflect honesty in our heaviness like David does. So he starts in verse one, he says, give ear to my prayer, oh God. Hide not yourself from my plea for mercy. He says, hide not yourself. He's like, stop ignoring me, God. Like, listen to me, stop ignoring me and give me the mercy that I need in this moment. In fact, he continues to go, attend to me. It's like, wake up, pay attention, listen to me and answer me, grant my request. In fact, we're gonna get further in the psalm. We're gonna see specifically his requests. He goes, I'm restless in my complaint, and I moan. He's restless. This inward pacing that he has in his heart, it's keeping him awake at night. He can't help not think about it. just stirring over and over. He says in my complaint, and I moan. You know, you can't help but cry out. It's like if you've ever got hit in the stomach, right? It's like, you have to make a noise. And that's why he's saying in this, I can't help make a noise of the pain that's caused in my life. And you see next, it says, because of the noise of the enemy. And that word for noise is actually shrill clamor. It's a noise that penetrates your ears so hard that there's nothing you can do but listen to that noise. It's like, you know, the nails going across the chalkboard. It's like when the mic has this boom, you can't but concentrate on that. It hurts. The same thing is this noise is so piercing that there's nothing else that David can focus on. It's because of the oppression of the wicked, the pressure that keeps coming on him. In fact, he talks about, for they drop trouble on me. They just continue to pour it in. Just when I think I've had enough and think that's all that there's going to be, there's more that they bring upon me. In anger, they bear a grudge against me. And this grudge isn't that they're holding back, like, oh, they have a grudge, they're not talking about. No, it's like there's a persistent assault that they are making on my life. Like they just are out to hurt me and won't stop. So what we see here is that David is honest about how he feels. He's honest about how he feels about the lack of response that God has given in his circumstance, the lack of what he's perceiving as answers that are necessary, and it's that God's voice is quiet to him. while the noises around him are very loud. See, noise from the circumstance and the people combined with the perceived quietness of God actually leads to a growing sense of fear in David's life. We're picking up in verse four. He says, my heart is in anguish. This word for anguish is meaning it's speeding up. It's actually a word that's often used with childbirth. Like, I haven't been through many childbirths, in fact, none, but I've witnessed them. And you see just the pressure and the physical toll it takes, and the heart beats fast. And so you know how that feels. The heart is like, feel like it's beating out of my chest because of the fear that's in my life. He goes, the terrors of death have fallen upon me. It's like crashing down upon me. It's like a wall that's fallen, like the weight of it. It just, the terrors of death, the dread, it's just upon me and it's heavy. Fear and trembling come upon me, which means like, when it come upon me, it's really referring to like it's continually entering into my life. Have you been in that moment where there's nothing you can do except quiver, and it shows up in your voice? Like, you start speaking, and it's like, and you can hear the quiver in your voice. Your hands start shaking, right? That's the fear of trembling that you're talking about. It's entered into my life, and I can't help but tremble. I can't help but be fearful. The horror overwhelms me. The best description I can give, it's like if you go to the ocean, and you're out there, and you get stuck in the waves, it's like there's a wave of horror that crashes down upon me, and I get back up to breathe, and guess what? Another wave of horror comes upon me. It just shows the weight that David is. In fact, he combines all these terms of anguish, terrors of death, fear, trembling, horror, to express just how deep and controlling this fear in his life is. And some of you might share these same thoughts and expressions, that this is maybe what you would describe as a time in your life or even the current circumstances. So how do we actually deal with that? Because I think when we read Psalm 55, and I think as believers and Christians and maybe people who walk with God and think about God, it's like, well, Do I really need to bring this to God? Or it can feel like, well, he's not listening, like it doesn't feel like he's listening, so I just don't, I'm just gonna stop. What I would say is that actually you need to, need to and have the opportunity to express honestly with God about the weight that this truly is in your life. What's great is that God doesn't just shirk it off. He's not like, oh, how could you bring this to me? No, He wants to hear it. He wants to hear it personally from you. I think we need to have some guidelines on how we share it. First, I think it's important that we do bring questions to God. Bring them incessantly to Him. We gotta be careful not to actually question God. Not to start to question His character. Not to start a question whether he's living up to his promises. We can express our concerns to him without actually having to doubt him. That's what we see in David, and then we're actually gonna see David even unpack that more. It's like, he doesn't doubt God. Doesn't feel necessarily like he's present, doesn't feel like he's answering, but he doesn't make any accusatory comments to God. So the other thing we can see in what doesn't come off these pages is we get to be emotional before God. Here, modern day Bible, copy of what has been translated over the years, like you don't see the tear stains of David. I'm sure when he was writing this, that tears are overflowing. God has wired us in such a way to actually be tearful, to be emotional. And so we can get to a vulnerable place, have the opportunity to be emotional before Him. God actually loves that. He embraces that. And then He promises to give the comfort in that. So here's an opportunity for us. As we continue to unpack, what can happen if we're not careful is that fear can actually lead to a hope or a request for actual relief when we're under pressure. So we need to really resist the delusion of relief. In fact, in the next several verses, this is what David's actually expressing. He's like, Lord, here's my request. Bring relief into my life. So look at verse six, he says, and say, oh, that had wings like a dove. Oh, that I could fly, right? I would fly away and be at rest. He's like, wouldn't we all love that at times? Like, God, just give me the ability to fly. Get me out of this place. Get me out of these circumstances. Oh, how great that would be. But he says, like, I would fly away and be at rest. And this rest isn't like, oh, I'm gonna recoup, get some strength. There is a biblical rest where we do get strengthened by actually taking a seat back and resting to be recouped, but this is not what he's talking about. The rest he wants is like, have all my problems stop. Have all these circumstances just go away. And I can do that by escaping it. In fact, he goes on, yes, I would wander far away. I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest. That's fine because we just sung, right, about shelter. But it's not the shelter that's often defined in scripture. In fact, if you look back, you actually see Psalm 46, where it says, God is our refuge and strength, a very help, very present help in trouble. And so that refuge is a similar word of shelter, but it's not this word. In fact, the word that's used here in Psalm 55 is the only time it's used in the Old Testament in the original language. It's a shelter of escape. He wants to be away from the storms. He wants to be away from the trials. In fact, the team's gonna put a picture behind me, but we can say this is really what David is picturing in his mind. You can see it's this nice little cabin, this nice little shelter, and it's removed from everything. There's no people, there's no way to contact me, there's no way, it's just quiet. I think we look at that and be like, oh, For me, it might be that I'd be on a beach. We all have a place where we can imagine what shelter looks like that's a shelter of escape. The problem with this shelter and the reason we can't put our hope in it and it has to resist the delusion is because guess what? As long as I can be in a cabin like that or a place on the beach, my problems don't go away. The troubles are gonna still be there. and I'm actually not going to be completing my responsibilities God has called me to. David was king and needed to be king, even though all these trials were here. So he's like, okay, Lord, here's one way of relief. Help me escape. Get me out of here. Another avenue of perceived relief is that God would act to make his problems go away. Look at what verse nine says. He says, destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues. Talking about his enemies. Like, divide their tongues. And this is actually an allusion to Genesis 11. If you guys don't know, just read that passage. But basically, these group of people trying to build a tower of Babel against God's plan and design to stay in one location. And you know what God does? He's like, all right, they wanna do this? I'm gonna intervene. I'm going to disrupt their plans by confusing their languages so that they will have to separate. The same thing is what David is hoping for. He's like, these people who are against me, confuse their plans so that they can't come against me anymore. Because look, he says he identifies the things that are wrong. He says, Again, David is making the right assessment. He hates violence and strife. He hates iniquity and trouble. He hates oppression and fraud. But the thing that David got wrong is that he might have a right assessment of wickedness, but David wants his timing for those judgments to happen instead of God's timing. In fact, you can see even why a little bit deeper. So you look in verse 12, it says, because this also involves personal betrayal of David. He says, for it's not an enemy who taunts me, then I could bear. It's not these Philistines, it's not these other countries. Those aren't the people who are after me in this moment that I'm so worried about and concerned. He says, it is not an adversary who deals in insult with me. Then I could hide from him. But look at what verse 13 says. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. So what David's basically saying is, as my equal, he's my brother. It doesn't mean he's another king. It means I view our relationship in such a way he is my brother. that I love, who's close to me. It's one, a familiar friend. We know each other. I know him. He knows me. We have an intimate relationship. This is the guy who's against me. This is the one who's trying to hurt me. He says, we used to take sweet counsel together. Someone, again, in his close circle that was helping him. He goes, within God's house, we walked in the throng. Look at that word, what's a throng? Well, a throng is just a gatherer of worshipers. So in Old Testament sense, we are in our throng right now, being a part of the church. And he's saying, like these days, I would go to the tabernacle to make sacrifice, to worship God, like he was right there with me. And we would talk and reminisce. And look at what David says. David gets the point. Again, my close equal, my companion, my familiar friend. Look where verse 15 shows the hurt. He says, let death steal over them. Let them go down to Sheol alive, for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart. You all can write down, number 16, 23 through 33. What this is a scene of is this is Moses is leading Israel, and God has called him to be the leader. So Moses is actually a leader, and then he has some people who come to him and say, what makes you so special, Moses? Why are you the leader? And so basically the scene goes on that these people, Moses goes before God, God has a conversation with him, and Moses finally says, all right, we're gonna have a judgment day. He's gonna say, all right, if I'm not supposed to be a leader, if God has not called me a leader, like these men, nothing's going to happen to them. They're going to live their life, be happy, and die a normal death. But, If I am the leader God has called me to, then God is going to do a miraculous judgment to prove that to you all. As the story goes on, God does a miraculous judgment. These group of leaders actually are separated from the rest of the crowd and guess what happens? The ground opens up and boom, they go down and die. You're like, wow, but this is what David is talking about. David's like, God, wake up and judge these people. Make sure, make my problems go away. Make the problem people go away in my life. So we look at that and say, oh, David, that's so harsh. Brothers and sisters, think about it. Oftentimes, people who have personally hurt you, the people who cause this hardship in your life, How do you respond to them? Because I think many of us, we might not say, oh, I wish God would open up the ground and they would die. But what do we do? Remove that person out of my life. Help me be distanced from them. Keep them away from me. So that's what David's looking at right now. Because he thinks that will bring relief in his life. So before we move on, my question to you is like, how are you looking for relief? Because there's many ways to get perceived relief in this life. One is to go to a thing of escape. And that escape can look many ways. It means that you can go on social media and look at all the lives that you want but don't have. It can be a way of escape to actually binge watch TV or Netflix. It can be pornography. It can be books you read. It can be about anything. Again, some of those things are rest. A vacation can be restful. But if you're pursuing relief to escape out of your problems, it's like, it's not gonna give you that. It's false. It's a delusion. So like David, let's not get caught up in the delusion of it. Let's not look for judgment. Let's not look for people to be taken out of our life. Let's not look for that. Instead of putting our hope in the relief, let's focus on what the true hope is. That's what we're going to find in verses 16 through 21. And how we do that is that we have to remember the God-centered reality in our turmoil. So what you're going to see is that David's perspective shifts, and the reason it shifts is because he remembers God's character and God's promises for his life. Look at verse 16. He says, Evening and morning and noon, I utter my complaint and moan. What's interesting, focus on that. Day, evening, morning, and noon. He's doing this continuously each day. Doing what? I utter my complaint and moan. Remember, verse two, he says the same thing. It's the same activity he was doing in verse two. The activity has not changed, but the mindset has. Look what it says, the next phrase. And he hears my voice. Get that? And he hears my voice. David has moved from, God, you need to stop ignoring me, to God, oh, no, you're a character. You promised to hear me, and so now I have confidence you hear me. This is what's a hope for all of us, because the same promise shows up in Hebrews 4, 14 through 16. Ben shared this morning, but it's a reminder, like, when we think about Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is our Savior, but He's also a high priest who actually sits on the throne to hear our prayers. So listen to this. Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. And then we'll get 16. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy. and find grace to help in the time of need. What's great about this promise, great about this truth, is one, God hears, but God understands, and God acts. Problem is, he's not always going to act like we want to, but he acts and actually gives us grace and mercy to actually help what we're going through. We have that as a promise. And one of those graces that we find that God consistently delivers on is actually a promise of peace. In fact, look at verse 18. It says, he redeems my soul in safety. And what I think is interesting, he says he redeems my soul. He's reflecting on the spiritual reality he has with God. He understands he's a child of God and understands that relationship and says he redeems my soul in safety. I don't love this translation, Because the word is actually in Hebrew, shalom. It's actually better translated as peace. And he's not talking about external peace, he's talking about the inward peace in his heart. Because look, the battle continues to wage, or from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. Like those circumstances and difficulties have not changed, he's still having to battle, he doesn't have quietness on those fronts, but he has peace. What is peace? Because if you start thinking about that, you probably start coming up with your own definitions of what peace look like. In fact, we saw with David, his peace is like, hey, being away from all this. That's not the biblical peace we're promised. Instead, the biblical priest that comes through Christ is defined more like this. So there's gonna be a definition behind me. It says that God provides an inward settled disposition rooted in satisfaction in Christ because of the provisions that come from a relationship with him, even though the outward circumstances may not change. So a couple things to gather from this definition. One, it's God's provision. It's God's grace given into your life. This isn't something we can manifest from the world. It's God who has to be able to provide it. He provides it in such a way that it gives us an inward settled disposition, a calmness in the storm. But it's not calmness because the storm goes away. It's because we are ultimately satisfied in Christ. Everything that we need and everything is given to us through salvation in Christ, and that's a great peace to have. Because then we can understand we have the provisions to work through and navigate whatever it may be. We have the grace to help in the time of need. That is a grace to live through it. So we rest in that grace, and we rest in that reality, and we also rest in the reality that God is almighty. He's sovereign of the universe. He's in control. In fact, you look at verse 19, it says, God will hear, give ear, and humble them. So this God, the term here is El, and it's to really reflect that he's the almighty God. He is the God on the throne. In fact, look a few verses later, or the next section, it says, he who is enthroned from old. It's showing that God's in control. And what's crazy about what God being in control is, again, he hears us as his children, but he also hears them. Again, who is David talking about? The enemies. Those speeches, the words that they are given, he has ear for them. In fact, he talks about it in verse 20. He defines how God sees that. He says, my companion stretched out his hand against his friends. He violated his covenant. God saw it. God knows about it. God's taking account of it. It says his speech was smooth as butter. His enemy, his companion, his friend. His speech, man, this guy can talk the talk. So good to listen to. His words were softer than oil, it says. It's like, ah, there's just something nice about what he's saying. It really encouraged me, energized me. And this is what these speeches of this companion, his enemy, were doing in Israel. But look, God being sovereign sees the hearts. Says, yet war was in his heart. So he might have talked the talk, but he, God, sees that this man wanted to do violence and create conflicts. His words are softer than oil. Yet, we're drawn with swords. He wanted to injure. He wanted to hurt. He wanted to do evil against David and others. So God sees that. God just doesn't see it. He actually acts on it. He talks about He will humble them in verse 19. Because they do not change and do not fear God. God is not ignoring what's going on. God is not ignoring what's going on in your life. He is going to take care of it. He will humble them. He will bring them to account, but just not sometimes in the timing that we think it should happen. And so we need to remember God's character. We talk about that, we even might throw those terms around, God's character. But the thing that can happen as we do an exercise, say, well, we know God is sovereign. We know God is loving. We know God is faithful. He keeps his promises. We say those truths. But then when it comes down to our life, we pause, right? But it doesn't feel real in this right now. God, if you loved me, why am I hurting? God, if you were faithful, why don't you deliver? Why don't you actually remove these circumstances from me? And so we have to be reminding ourselves constantly of who God is and that his character is evident and active in our circumstances. So you gotta make sure that your heart is geared in that way. Because by recognizing God's character and work in turmoil, then we can respond. And the way that we respond is the same way David responded. He remained close to the Father in the turmoil. He's actually going to instruct us in the same way. So the first thing that we see is that David actually says, cast your burdens on the Lord. He says, pray to God to take the burdens of your soul that will help you remain committed to your responsibilities. That's why it's showing up. And he will sustain you. He will give you the energy. He will give you the provisions to what? To live faithful. That's what it means He'll sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. It's like, oh, but I moved several times. Or no, I got to keep going on activity and day. It's not that the Lord stops us. It's actually the word moved is that we won't be shaken or deviated from the course if we make that pursuit a focus on God. And so he will keep us on course. He will give us the provisions necessary to do it. So nothing, nothing will keep you from living holy and faithfully pursuing him if you're trusting and casting your burdens on God. In fact, that's what we see next, is if we trust in obedience, that we can have trust God that leads to obedience as we experience his plan. You see in verse 23, he says, but you, God, oh God, will cast them down. Again, judgment scene. He's going to take care of it. He's going to, it says, into the pit of destruction. Men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. Like, judgment scene, right? But one thing we could miss is, again, the timing. Notice it says that God will not allow them to live out half their days. Remember what David wants? David wants immediacy. Today, Lord, take care of it. But what he's reflecting on this truth is that, oh, Lord, you might let this go on for a while, but you're not going to let it go on forever. So I'm relying on that truth for what? That very next phrase, but I trust in you. But I will trust in you. In fact, that's the whole emphasis of this verse. He's seeing the circumstances, but his emphasis isn't there. He's saying, no, Lord, I know what I need to do. And that, what I need to do is trust in you. To put the weight, put my faith in you. He's being emphatic about that, not emphatic about the judgments coming on unbelievers or on the enemies of his life. He's putting on the fact that I'm going to trust you no matter what. And so I recognize that right now that you could be very much in a weird state. Because you look at David's life, you hear about the things, you hear about his words, and you're like, man, it reflects my soul. It reflects the hurting I'm going through. So we can read this text and say, oh, OK, but how do we move forward? I'm actually going to have the team put a diagram behind me. I love this diagram. It's been very impactful in my life. It's now original to me. It's actually a couple authors have developed this over the years. This version is actually Garrett Higbee's version. So this diagram is a circle of responsibility. So as you look at the circles, the big blue circle and then the tan circles, is that this represents responsibility. But what we have to remember, the big blue circle is God's responsibility. These are all the events, all the relationships, all the people, all the what could occur in our country. Those are the blue events that God is over. And here's the thing, you have no control. There is nothing you can do to actually change those events. As much as I love people, there is nothing I can do to bring change in their life. I can speak the word of God, talk about it as my responsibility, but that's not what's going to change them. And so we need to make sure that as we are looking at this is that we understand what's in God's responsibility. But then we can look at the tan circles and that's our personal responsibility. That is what we are called to do. And this shows up in obedience to God. God has a lot to say about what you need to do and how you need to act in this life. And so we need to look at this and be reminded like, all right, I do have a personal responsibility of what I am called to. Because like I said, I might not be able to change anybody, but I'm called to speak truth and love into their life. I'm called to rebuke them in sin. I'm called to different things and called, like for my children, I'm called to raise them in a way that God has ordained. And so I have to fulfill that responsibility as well, knowing that God, you will have to change them. You will have to mold them into your image, into your glory. But you can see there's some ways that we actually can move outside of our responsibility or just not do our responsibility. So one thing is that if you try to control these blue events, if you try to control the blue area of your life, is you're going to worry. You're going to get anxious. You might even get angry. Because you're trying to control things that you have no control over. Time-consuming, it sucks your energy, can lead to despair. And so you have to remember, like, what do we do with those? We cast them upon the Lord. They are weights in our life, but we take that weight and we bring it before the Lord. Cast it upon Him, challenge Him. Say, Lord, You are the faithful, You are loving. Handle this, work through this, help me with this. So you cast those burdens on there and be very honest. But then when it comes to our responsibility, guess what? We still need God's help. We need God's grace to actually help us, to fuel us, to give us the right tools, the right provisions, to actually walk through the circumstances. What's great is if we're able to have the right perspective, and I would pray, or you should pray, should pray for God to give you discernment in this, because it's not always easy, but His word provides discernment in that. But by having the right perspective, by casting those burdens on Him, you will alleviate the weight of concerns in your life. There's something knowing that if I entrust God with what is His responsibility, there's a weight that will actually be lifted off your shoulders. But the other thing is then you depend on God to give you the grace and mercy that you will find that there's joy and peace in pursuing God and obeying Him when you function in the realm of your responsibility, which includes these monster trials that are going to happen in your life. So today, as you move forward, as you leave, you're going to have to take this opportunity to really reflect. Because the opportunity is there, but what you do with that opportunity is up to you. And so we should be like David, ready to cast our burdens and then act in a way that trusts in Him. Let's pray. Father, I'm just thankful for this opportunity to reflect on Your Scripture. to reflect on your word, to reflect on your truths. Father, I hope that people don't, through everyone who's here today, doesn't walk away with somehow they are wrong to actually struggle with concerns, with struggle with fears, and are wrong to actually be honest with you. I pray that they would actually be emboldened to be honest with you because they remember that you are the Father who cares and loves and wants to hear what is going on in their life. But then, Father, I also pray that we want to have a mentality just to absolve ourself of our responsibilities. that we would actually look to you for the help that's necessary for us to actually act in our responsibilities. Father, that can seem so hard, seems so impossible, and Father, you don't even promise that you'll provide the feelings necessary to actually move forward, but Father, what you do promise is that if we move forward, that your grace and mercy will show up, just like it showed up for David and gave him an inward peace despite all the circumstances that are occurring around him. And so Father, I pray, I pray that that would also be true in our life. As we pursue you, as we rely on you, as we put our faith in you, Christ, that we would see that real effect. So I'm thankful for today, thankful for what you're doing. Do you stand by and pray? Amen.