Good morning. Good to see everybody. If I have not gotten a chance to meet you, please say hello, particularly to my wife and my baby, and you will not leave this place without a smile when you see them. Just before we jump in this morning, just wanted to say that you should be excited for me. I got a new Bible. When I got saved, I had a study Bible with a lot of footnotes, and I realized that preaching and teaching from that Bible is kind of difficult with all the footnotes there, so I got a new one. Single column, references in the middle, a lot of space on the page for my eyes to see. But the reason I bring that up is because I opted for a more recent translation called the Legacy Standard Bible. and they translate that name of God in the Old Testament, we often see Yahweh, they translate it as Yahweh, rather than the traditional way of that capital L-O-R-D, Lord, that you would see in your Bible. And so we're in a psalm this morning, Psalm 113, so I just wanted to bring that up because you'll hear the name Yahweh rather than the name Lord, but don't be alarmed, it's still the same Bible, okay? So please open your Bibles to Psalm 113. Psalm 113. There will come days when you don't feel like worshiping. I'm sure you've already had those days. See, the irony in life, about life in the world, is that life often leaves us empty. You would think that since we call it life, that it would be satisfying. but it can leave us bored. The days don't give, the days take. The days don't fill up, they let down and leave us empty. You would think that since we call it life, that it would be kind of therapeutic, medicinal, that it would leave you healthy and well. But it can leave us feeling poisoned and bitter and toxic. Overheard news, it does not encourage, but it discourages. Overheard conversations, they do not build up, but they at times tear us down. And if we're not careful, we can let worship be just another letdown part of a letdown world. Brush my teeth, make the bed, get the groceries, go to work, say something polite to the cashier, worship God. And sometimes worship leaves us bored, so we look to something else for satisfaction. And sometimes worship seems irrelevant, so we look to something else to make us well and to give us help. But the truth is that I wanna commend to you this morning from the scriptures is that there's nothing more gripping than worshiping the living God. There is nothing more needful for your heart than worshiping the one true God. And the question I have for you this morning is, do you know what it is to be amazed by this God? Do you know what it is to be amazed by the triune God of the scriptures? God saves people to become worshipers. If you've ever read Exodus, and especially if you as a church have been going through Exodus for over two years, then you know that God saved a people out of Egypt to become his own possession. Exodus 19 says, You yourselves have seen, Israelites, what I did to the Egyptians, how I lifted you up on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, rescued to be God's worshipers. And to the New Covenant churches, we read in 1 Peter 2, 9, it says, you are a chosen family, church, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. You were saved for worship. God saves people to become worshipers. And that's where the Psalms come in. The Psalms are the songbook of Israel. They give expression to all of who God is and all of what God has done for them. But it goes further. The Psalms record the human heart, giving praise and adoration unto God, not just in the highs of life, in the joys of life, but in every human experience your heart goes through. The Psalms teach us that wherever we find ourselves on a given day, it's always a day to worship God. Whether it's joy or sorrow, grief, temptation, anger, apathy. Each day is a day to sing. And just to clarify, we're not necessarily worshiping God for what we're experiencing, but this is the gem I want from Psalm 113 this morning. We're worshiping God for the way his character and the way his glory perfectly minister to us in the midst of whatever we are experiencing. So we worship God in what we're experiencing, not for what we're experiencing. The Psalms teach us that the lofty truth about God himself become ground level, practical for us every day. They're the most needful thing for us, these truths about God's perfections. And so I'll ask you again as we jump into Psalm 113. Do you know what it is to be amazed by this God? There's a gap between the perfections of God and the experience of your heart sometimes. On those days when you drag your feet to devotion, there is a gap between what you believe and what is true about God. This building's not a sanctuary to protect you from the world, it's a training center for life in the world. And so the heart of worship is simply believing that God, in all His perfections, is always worthy of devotion, is always worthy of adoration, as we encounter these truths by faith and whatever we're experiencing. So that's what Psalm 113 is here to do, to give us a picture of God so that we see His perfections, we believe them, and we're changed by them. So read along with me as I read Psalm 113. starting in verse one. Praise YAH. Praise, O slaves of Yahweh. Praise the name of Yahweh. May the name of Yahweh be blessed from now until forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of Yahweh is to be praised. Yahweh is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens. Who is like Yahweh our God? the one who sits on high, the one who brings himself low to see the things in heaven and on the earth, who raises the poor from the dust and lifts high the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, with the nobles of his people. He makes the barren woman of the house sit as a glad mother of children. Praise YAH. I just want to show you this morning two of God's perfections to amaze our hearts and praise. We're not just looking at God in a theoretical way, but we're looking at God's perfections as we experience them in space and time. The first one is pretty simple. Let's look at His majesty. Majesty can be described as the lofty, immense, and royal greatness of God. As we consider the measure of God's worthiness and His greatness in all creation, our hearts should find ever new inspiration to meditate on the majesty of our God. Praise is primary, so we have to sing of His greatness. Look down with me at verse one. It says, praise Yah, praise, O slaves of Yah, praise the name of Yahweh. He repeats it three times. It's a call to worship, as is common in the Psalms of praise. So more important than a worshiper thinking about the greatness of anxieties and concerns, more important than a worshiper speaking about the greatness of hobbies or interests, more important than a worshiper planning the great responsibilities of the day, what's primary for the worshiper, for the believing heart, is that praise is first and foremost of His greatness. And commands like this can be touchy things. We're not a people who naturally like to be commanded, are we? It's easy for us to feign obedience but neglect the heart. But true worship from the people of God must never be hollowed out like that, because we are God's redeemed. And so praise is not just a command, but it's a privilege. If you look down with me again at verse one, it refers to the Israelites, O slaves of Yahweh, it addresses Israel as servants of the Most High God. Their relationship with God was what made this praise an absolute privilege. Who were they formerly slaves to? You remember, a wicked master, Pharaoh in Egypt. But now who do they serve? A perfect master, God Almighty, They've gone from slavery to Pharaoh, to slavery to a good and righteous master, their God. And if you've been freed from slavery to sin, then you know what a real burden is. Sometimes we can treat worship like a burden, but worship is no burden. Worship is a privilege. It's a privilege for those who have been freed from slavery to sin into the light of the gospel of God's glory. And if you do belong to Christ, if you are of His servants, His slaves, then let me ask you, from day to day, is His name on your heart? Verse two, may the name of Yahweh be blessed from now until forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of Yahweh is to be praised. We're talking about His name, and it's very specific. To be blessed and be praised, they're talking about the same thing, just to clarify. I was helped by one writer who put, when we say God blesses us, what we're saying is he takes note of our needs and meets them. But when we say we bless God, what we're doing is we're not taking note of his needs, we're taking note of his glories and praising him for them. God calls our affection to be very specific. Specific enough to have his own name on your lips rather than any other name. Not anything else, but him alone. And for the heart, whatever is most upon our lips is indeed what's first on our heart. Consider the person, brothers and sisters, who constantly says, I just need to move. I gotta get out of here. I need to find a new place to live. and that's what's constantly on their heart or on their lips, that might just be what's first on their heart. What they might be saying is, blessed be the location of my home. May the location of my home be praised. Or the person who says, I'm not getting paid enough. I just need more money. If only I got an advance or a raise. What he or she might actually be saying is, blessed be the size of my salary. May the size of my salary be praised. And just to be clear, we do have freedom to move and we have freedom to find a new job, but if that's what's constantly on our lips, then that might be what's first on our heart. But the psalmist calls us to take praise away from those unmajestic things in the world, those unmajestic things not worthy of your praise, and to give praise to the truly majestic God, the name of the Lord. And how majestic is this God? It's a good question to ask. So we say God is majestic. We say he's great. How great is he? How majestic is he? Look down with me again at verse two. He's so majestic that we should forfeit no opportunity to praise him. May the name of Yahweh be blessed, it says, from now until forever. What kind of God? deserves infinite praise. An infinite God deserves infinite praise. As many days as there are ahead from now until forever, it is right that every single one be filled with the praise of one, the majestic God, filled with the blessing of God's name. He is worthy in all seasons. Sometimes praise can seem boring. but the majestic God is not a boring God. Sin is what explains our boredom with him, but he himself is not boring. In fact, it's God who makes the ordinary days of the present heavens and earth into glorious ones. You ever have that experience, just an ordinary day going through the normal tasks, and then you remember who God is. and your life just turns like that. Because your life from that moment went from forgetting the majestic God to remembering the majestic God. So we should forfeit no opportunity to praise him. When you get up, when you go out to eat, when you gather, it's his name that has to be blessed. When you do it again the next day, it's his name that has to be blessed. In the chores of life, worship must never be a chore. It is privilege and not boring, but exciting because of the majestic God we worship. Like how one writer put it, he put it this way, when we receive life as God's gift, we see the glory in the ordinary, the glory in the ordinary. And again, let's ask the question, how majestic is this God? How majestic is the one we're called to praise? Look down at the beginning of verse three. It says that you should praise him from the rising of the sun to its setting. From the rising of the sun to its setting. And at first glance, when I first read this, I thought it was essentially saying the same thing as verse two. From the rising of the sun to its setting, all day, every day, the name of the Lord is to be praised. language of rising and setting in the sun elsewhere in the Bible, it actually speaks of the directions. Isn't that interesting? One of the facts I think I liked to rehearse in my mind, it was one of those things that I could tell people when I was younger that I knew, right? So I was a Boy Scout and I always knew that the sun rose in the east and it sets in the west. And so the rising of the sun to the setting In the Bible, in the Old Testament, doesn't really refer to all day as in time, but in every place. From east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised. So not only is God worthy of praise at all times, but also in all places. And at present times, I'm sure you know the feeling of being out of place as a worshiper of God. Hopefully not in this church, But when you go about your day, when you go around in the world, you might feel out of place as the only believer in the family, the only believer at work, the only believer in the school. But if the name of God is to be praised in all places, then we should fear no awkwardness praising him. It is his name that is due praise in every place, so we should fear no awkwardness praising him. Because the truth is, and we always need to keep this in the forefront of our minds, that when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven and he returns, and he established his reign upon the earth, what's gonna be the reality? From the rising of the sun to the setting, his name is gonna be praised. And so we should fear no awkwardness here and now praising him. We will praise him in any place without fear. And I think that should excite us. I hope that excites you. The prospect of unending days of worship, of feeling at home in worship in any place that we go in the world. The prospect of all creation giving worship and glory to the majestic king. And we should think about it often because his glory is greater than we can imagine. His glory is greater than we can imagine. Look down at verse four. It says, Yahweh is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens. To speak of the person of God is to speak of the glory of God, the invisible, exalted, majestic, and unapproachable king of all creation. He's not a God you can be trite with. He's not a God you can be flippant with. He is the majestic King. His glory surpasses all other glories. It says He's high, and it speaks of His glory higher than the tree line, higher than the horizon, higher than the sun, moon, and the stars, higher than our thoughts can even go. Beyond that place where even our thoughts can go, that's where the majestic God lies. That's where he dwells. It says he is high. Our hearts and minds can't fully get a hold of him. We can know him truly and savingly, but we can never know him fully because this is the infinite God who is high above us. He leaves us wondering at the heights that our hearts can never really reach. He leaves us wondering at the mysteries that our hearts can never truly penetrate. You will never be able to wrap your mind fully around this infinite God. And that's good news, because when we encounter what we can't comprehend, we hit the wall of worship, where we come confronted with the greatness of God, and we have nothing left to do but to stand there in awe and wonder. at the majestic King. So we stand there with our hearts and minds open and in awe before Him. And our heart needs to be kept amazed by Him. It needs to be kept amazed by Him because we're not in glory yet. We're not perfected yet. We're not given the glorified heart that will always be in awe of its Lord and creator. There's rival majesties. You ever think about this? There's rival majesties that vie for your heart, that vie to amaze you with their glory, with their honor, with their heights. And they try to capture your heart, but you can't let it capture your heart. There are lesser majesties in the world. And just to make the point, I'm sure you've heard, but November's coming. And when election season rolls around, we need to guard our hearts when we vote. And I'm not making that up just to make the point. I think it's something we can see in the text. Look down with me. There is only one majesty worthy of your heart. It says Yahweh is high above all nations. Every single nation. There's not a nation There's not a people on this earth whose glory can match the glory of our God. It says he's high above every single nation. And when elections roll around, look at what the human heart can do. We can be amazed in anger. We can be amazed in horror. And we can be stolen away if we're not careful from true worship. We can be stolen away from true worship. The greatest concern for the greatest country in the world is like an anthill compared to the majesty of our God. It's like an anthill compared to God. And just a question for your heart, is an anthill worthy of your affection? Is an anthill worthy of your adoration? No. The majesty of the true king is the majesty of the true king. But maybe you're more like me. Maybe you're more of a live-under-a-rock kind of person. Don't really watch the news, don't really pay attention to what's going on in the world. Found out recently there was a hurricane. You keep away from all the hubbub. You like it under the rock because it's quiet there, right? I like it under the rock because it's quiet there. You just like to get away from it all. Well, just to preach to your heart and mine, who are more vulnerable to that, to put it in a humorous kind of way, don't just guard your heart when you vote, guard your heart when you vacation. Another V for you. It says, Yahweh is high above all nations. Look down at verse four. His glory is above the heavens, above all creation. That's how high God's glory goes. There's not a place on this earth There's not a place in the heavens that outshines the glory of God himself. God is glorious above all creation, and our hearts can be amazed by the creature comforts we get down here. We can neglect, at some points, the creator of the creation. But we have to let the majesty of God above the heavens. Think about this with me. We have to let the majesty of God above the heavens grip our hearts no matter where we find ourselves below the heavens. So that's the first of God's perfections to amaze our hearts. God's majesty is what we should be amazed at. His is the heights that we should wonder at. His is the glory and the royal greatness that we must come to. Praise Him. And now we look at the second one. We look at the second one, which comes closer to home. The perfections of God that aren't just high and lofty, but they come closer to our hearts. It's His mercy. Verses five through nine speaks of the mercy of this King, His mercy. One way to describe mercy is compassion for those in misery. Compassion for those in misery. And so as we consider the remarkable willingness, God's willingness, His eagerness, His desire to dwell with those so far below His glory, what should our hearts do? They should be renewed in tenderness. because this is the God who has been so kind to us and he has renewed us by his mercy. Look at verse five and let me ask you a question. Can anyone rival him? And the answer you should say is, of course not. Verse five says, who is like Yahweh our God? The one who sits on high, who is like him? After the first four verses on God's majesty, His greatness, the answer should be obvious. There is no one like the great God that we have. There is none like Him. And yet, look carefully at the Psalm with me. Because I think verse five is really just a setup for verse six. We've talked about the greatness of our God above us. And then it says in verse five, who is like Yahweh our God? The one who sits on high and yet the one who brings himself low. We might expect someone who's got it all to keep it all. That's the way it works in the world. We might expect someone who's high and lifted up to stay there. But what does this God do? What does he do from such a high place of prominence and from glory? It says he brings himself low. He brings himself low. Look at verse six with me. God is the one who brings himself low to see the things in heaven and on the earth. Now I think it's worth exploring what this might mean if we left it at verse six. What might this mean that God brings himself low to see things in the heavens and on the earth? The idea we might expect, especially if we're burdened by our sin and we know the reality of falling so far short below His glory, that He might come down to see sinners and judge them. And He has the sovereign right to do that. And He's done that in history. Let me remind you from Genesis 11.5, it speaks of a city in the Old Testament, not by the name of Babel. And in the arrogance and wickedness of Babel, it says in Genesis 11, 5, listen to the similarity here. Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men built. He came down to see it. And then what did he do after he came down to see it? He judged it and scattered them. But there's another city that you may have heard of from the Old Testament, the city of Sodom. And Sodom was characterized by, again, wickedness, evil. And in Genesis 18, 21, listen to the similar language here. It says, God says, I will go down and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, the outcry of the city, which has come to me. And if not, I will know. And then what does he do to Sodom? If you know your Old Testament, he destroys it. He judges Sodom. look closely with me at verse six. There's something a little bit different there. The one who brings himself low is a different word than the one who comes down. This word is an interesting word, the one who brings himself low. It's not just coming down like you would go down the stairs. It's not just coming down physically speaking, but it's used elsewhere in the Old Testament to speak of coming down from a place of prominence and of glory. First Samuel 2.7 uses this word, and it says, Yahweh makes poor and rich. And here's the word, he brings low and he exalts. That's not talking about physical location, that's rich means and humble means, status. A place of prominence and glory, A place of humble means. He brings himself low. He makes low. It's the same word we read in Isaiah 2.11 with reference to proud men. The lofty look of man, Isaiah 2.11 says, will be made low. And the men made high will be bowed down and Yahweh alone will be exalted on that day. That's not talking about God saying you're on the second floor and now I'm gonna put you on the first floor physically. That's in your pride and arrogance, I'm gonna bring you down. Because you're not worthy of that. And so what's this verse saying? What's brought down? Is it a proud man who's brought down in verse six? Is it a poor man in verse six? It says that God is the one who brings himself low. God is the one bringing himself to this humble state. And obviously God has no pride that needs humbling. That's a ridiculous idea. He's the sovereign God, and rather this is his willingness to step out of his rightful, glorious place above the heavens, where he belongs, and he steps out from there in a free act. Nothing compelled him. No one forces him. But in humility, verse six says, he brings himself low. He brings himself low to see the things in the heavens and on the earth. It's the self humbling for the purpose of showing mercy. It's the self humbling not to come down in judgment, but to bring himself low to those unworthy of him in order to show mercy to the things in the heavens and on the earth. And that's good news. I'm gonna give you a verse that I think you would do well to burn on your heart. It's Isaiah 57 verse 15. Isaiah 57 verse 15 says, for thus says the one high and lifted up who dwells forever. This is God himself talking, whose name is holy. And what does God say about himself? He says, I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the crushed. This is a God who brings himself low in order to show mercy. The glorious God moves toward shameful sinners in order to revive us. Can you believe it? Did you know that humility was so divine? Did you know that humility was so godly? that it's the characteristic that He Himself exhibits, not just a characteristic, but a perfection? It doesn't speak of any defect in God, but it is an attribute of His glory and greatness to be humble? How unlike the world is that? How unlike our sinful flesh is that? Humility is divine. And doesn't God's humility amaze your heart? Aren't you amazed in worship not when you just can consider God and His majesty high and lifted up, but when you consider the great condescension and humility He shows to you when you're crushed and lowly of heart, that He's willing to come down and be with you? That's a God worth worshiping. He is a merciful God. We rightly ask with the psalmist, not just because God is majestic, But because God is merciful, who is like our God? There is no one like Him. Think about it this way, there's none higher, and so there's none who have been more humble than Him. You ever think about God that way? That He's actually the most humble being in the universe? That even though He was higher than you, more glorious than you, He came lower than you ever will. for the purpose of serving you, for the purpose of showing mercy to you. God's humility is the greatest humility there will ever be. And I hope this sounds familiar if you're my brother and sister in Christ. Because when we hear of God himself stooping low to show mercy, there's really only one place we can go. And so we're back again to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ made himself low. Philippians 2, 6-8 says of our Lord Jesus, that he is the one who, although existing in the form of God, up high, mind you, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. You hear that? He brought himself low to the point of death, even death on a cross. Who is this Christ? He is the infinite, eternal Son of God in the human flesh. And what did he do? It says he brought himself low. He humbled himself. No one took his life, but he laid it down. That's what the Bible says. humbled himself to the point of death on a cross, and on that cross he took the punishment for your sins, he took the punishment for my sins, he became our substitute. And all those who repent and trust in him alone for salvation will receive his mercy. His mercy. This is the greatest mercy that there ever was. There is no greater, more humble mercy than we've seen in our Lord Jesus Christ. But back to Psalm 113. Back to Psalm 113. Mercy comes from a glorious God willing to dwell with the lowly. Now we're a people and we're a culture that actually loves underdog stories, aren't we? We love the Rockies of the world. We love those who by their own blood, sweat, and tears come from the bottom to make something of themselves. But that's not the story of the Bible. The story of the Bible is not you come from the bottom by your own blood, sweat, and tears to make something of yourself. The story is that there was a man in a garden, sweating drops of blood to save you from your sins. That's the story of the Bible. The clearest pictures of God's mercy are pictures that can only be explained by God. If we can say he did that because he was so great, She did that because she worked really hard. That doesn't magnify God as much as they were helpless and God showed mercy. Mercy are pictures that can only be explained by God. That is God's mercy. The lowly don't rise on their own. Look down at verse seven and eight as we get a picture of God's mercy. He lifts up the lowly. It says in verse seven, God is the one who raises the poor from the dust and lifts high the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, with the nobles of his people. There are no self-made men in the kingdom of God. There are only helpless ones whom God has saved. There are no self-exalted men in the kingdom of God. only the lowest of the low, the poor and the needy who have been lifted up. Where are the poor and the needy in this? Look what it says. It says they're in the dust. They're in the ash heap. And this location is probably describing what you would call a dump, a place where garbage dwells. And notice where the Lord brings them. He brings them from that dump to sit with nobles, to sit with the nobles of his people. This is a shocking transformation. This is a transformation from a life of shame and isolation, not just from God, but from others, to a place of honor and belonging. That's a picture that actually explains the mercy of God. You go from a life of shame and isolation to a life of honor and belonging. And notice where the Lord brings them. He brings them to sit with the nobles. That's a place of belonging. So if I'm applying this to my own heart, and we're applying this to our hearts this morning, to be amazed at the mercy of God, let's ask the question, is your heart low? Be amazed. He can lift you up. Is your heart ashamed? Be amazed. He can give you honor. Is your heart groaning from isolation? Be amazed. He can give you belonging. He can bring you to a place of belonging. Now as we look to the next picture of God's mercy, I want you to notice something about it. I want you to notice that God's mercy is so tender and precious that he doesn't just reserve it for the public square, so to speak. He doesn't just reserve it for the place and the prominence for all the world to see. Instead, he doesn't just bring himself to the public square, but he dwells in the privacy of a single home. That's how deep and intimate God's mercy is. He brings it to the privacy of a single home. He blesses the barren. Verse nine says, he makes the barren woman of the house sit as a glad mother of children. What a wonderful image. What a wonderful reality. Some of you might know this trial of barrenness from personal experience, but each one hearing my voice this morning, we need to sympathize with this trial, because it's in our text. Imagine in the place that you long for new life, the womb. It's as if all is dried up. What would that trial be like? That longing to bear children, and yet there is barrenness. Imagine in the place you long for fullness, it's as if all is empty. Barrenness is a unique sorrow. A sorrow that is very particular, specific, and unique. But here's the good news. To unique sorrows, God supplies a unique mercy, a specific mercy, a mercy fit not just for the world generally, but to the one who dwells in that house, to the one with that heart, to the one in that condition. God gives a unique mercy. In a wonderful way, God's not just concerning himself with kings at court. He concerns himself with the woman of the house. the woman of the house, the one whom no one else may see. This is a stunning transformation, because look what it says about her. He says, God makes the barren woman of the house sit as a glad mother of children. He's able to do that. It's a stunning transformation from barrenness to fruitfulness, from sorrow to gladness, from emptiness to fullness. And so, let's ask the questions again, not just of the woman, but of our own hearts. Is your heart barren? Be amazed. He can give you new life. Is your heart sorrowful? Be amazed. He can make you glad. And your gladness won't be explained by a better day? Your gladness won't be explained by changed circumstances? Are you getting what you want? Your gladness would be explained by you getting what you need, a taste of the mercies of your God, a fresh experience of His mercies. Even when nothing else in the world changes, you can go from sorrow to gladness simply from meeting with your God, from meeting with His mercies. Is your heart empty? Be amazed. He can fill you up. And I trust that He's done that for you many times and He'll continue to do that. Now we would err, I think, if we were to look at this as a guarantee that all those who are poorer in the world, or all those who would like children but are not able to have children, we would be an error to think that this is a guarantee, that if we name it and claim it, then it's ours. We should certainly bring our burdens before the Lord. We should know that He often and does, well, He always hears our prayers, and yet it might be His will in our life to leave us in that particular portion with that kind of bank account, with that kind of family situation. It is possible that He would leave us in that way. And before you ask, what about me? Why hasn't God done that for me? I wanna direct our hearts to what really is the greater mercy. The greater mercy than a full house, the greater mercy than a full bank account, than a storehouse full of resources, is the mercy of salvation. The mercy of salvation. While we wait for the new heavens and the new earth. Think about how this language is used in the new covenant. To be among his people in his church. That's a mercy of salvation available to all. To be seated, not necessarily in the nobles of court in this world, but to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ, that's a mercy that's available to all who would repent. To be in the household of God, maybe not a mansion, maybe not with eight to 10 kids, if you'd like that, But to be surrounded by brothers and sisters, mothers and children, it's a quote from Mark 10 30, speaking of discipleship in the new covenant church, to be surrounded by that spiritual family through discipleship, brothers and sisters, that's the greater mercy. And it's available to you. If you're in Christ, it's yours. It is a mercy that is yours. And so how should we respond to this? Just like to draw your attention to one more detail. One more detail. So I think the Psalm commends us that what we should do in response to God's mercy, first and foremost, is to sit and rest in it. Look at this. Look at verses eight and nine again. What does he do to the man who is in the ash heap? It says he makes them sit with nobles. What does he do with the barren woman? He makes her sit as a glad mother. To sit is to cease striving. To sit is to rest in the mercy of your God, knowing that He's done it all. He's done it all for you. Don't need to work for it. Don't need to labor to keep it. It's yours. You're at rest in His mercy. He makes you sit. So if we could say it in a kind of more humorous sort of way, there's that hymn that I'm sure you're familiar with, that worship song, I Stand Amazed. Stand amazed at his majesty, but sit amazed at his mercy, and rest right there. Those are two of God's perfections that I think should amaze our hearts. His majesty and his mercy. And the psalm ends with a, all we can do. It says, praise Yah. Praise the Lord. When we think about all our God is, we realize that he truly is the only majesty, and his is the only mercy worth worshiping. So would you pray with me? Father, we do thank you for the majesty and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is to us your majesty and your mercy. He is our king, and yet he is our tender shepherd. We thank you for the mercies we find in him. We thank you for the sacrifice that has redeemed us from slavery to sin. We pray that wherever we find ourselves in this present season, in these present circumstances, that no matter what happens in this world, it would be your majesty that changes our heart. No matter where we find ourselves in this world, it would be your mercy that gives us new hope each morning. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.