Psalm 13 is when David felt not alone, not sad. He felt that God had abandoned him. It's actually the worst time of his life. He felt God was gone. And it's probably one of the hardest lessons for us because most people don't want to talk about times that are their worst time in life. But we're going to see what happened to David, the man after God's own heart, when he felt He was abandoned by God. So Gold is gonna pray that we have a great time learning that. Now we're looking at David's lowest time. David felt abandoned by God. Now this is similar to what I told you earlier. What is, besides couples having troubles, what do most people come to pastors for? They don't feel like they're a Christian. Remember I told you that a couple days ago? Most Christians, when they stop following the Lord obediently, don't feel like a Christian, and they come to me and say, I think I've lost my salvation. Have you ever heard of someone saying that, that they feel like they lost their salvation? I will meet with them and show them in the Bible that that's good news. Think about this. If someone says that they feel like they lost their salvation, what does that mean? That means at one time they had it. You understand what I mean? I can't lose my phone if I didn't have it. So whenever someone tells you they lost the car keys, you look at them and say, well, when's the last time you remember you had them? When they say, I lost my phone, you say, when's the last time you had your phone? When someone says, I feel like I've lost my salvation, what does that mean? At one time, they had it. They're confessing that they know at one point they were saved. When David said, I feel God has abandoned me, what does that mean? At one point, he felt that what? God was holding him. And so what we're going to see in the 13th Psalm is this Psalm, and let's all turn to Psalm 13, and we're going to read it together. It's only six verses. David is saying, I feel abandoned by you, God. And I love this picture. It's like you're walking off into the mist, and it's like there's no future. You're just nothing. That's how David felt, okay? Now, you follow along. Look at Psalm 13. First of all, it has that superscript, and all of you that have Bibles that show it, it says, to the chief musician, a Psalm of David. So this is one of the 70 to 80 Psalms David wrote, but this is one that historically All Jewish people feel that this came from David's cave times. Now listen to the words and you know it is. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long am I going to feel abandoned by you, God? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Now, when we're little, when we're little, we like to play a game. In fact, I do this all over the world. Where we travel, we'll be somewhere, we were just in Beijing, you know, by the Forbidden City in China. And there was the cutest little Chinese boy, about this high, on his parents' shoulder. So they were walking, but his face was looking at me. And he was there, and I went... And pretty soon, he's giggling and laughing and doing this with his hands, and his parents turn around and look at me, you know, like, what are you doing to our child? And I would, I just smiled, you know, I wasn't doing it, but kids like to play this peek-a-boo, they call it in English, you know. I'm peeking and, you know, saying hello and that. David, look what David is saying. It's not fun, Lord. How long will you hide your face from me? It's like God had done this and had not done that. And David only felt this. See, Psalm 13 is the deepest hurt of David's heart in this time. Now, remember, I've already shown you how this started. Now, beware when things seem smooth in your life. Everything was going so well for so long for David. He had killed the giant, the bad guy, Goliath. He had become the worship leader for the king. Do you remember how Saul asked him to come and play? And when David played his harp, Saul was comforted and refreshed and renewed. He had become a warrior He actually was in charge of a whole detachment of special forces troops. David was a military leader. He was the worship leader for the king. He was the most well-known person in Israel. When they sang, they sang that David has killed 10,000s of people of enemy warriors. He was the king's son-in-law. Wow. He's married into the head of the country, the king. and then everything fell apart. Now, this reminds me of once in my life, I was flying on an airplane to go to a pastor's conference. And I fly a lot. I've been flying. In America, we fly a lot because the country's so big, just like you fly between the islands or take the ferries. And so I was so used to flying on an airplane that I knew what you do. You get on the airplane, you put on your seatbelt, and you just work. And so I had my Bible out, and I was working. And the first time this has ever happened to me, the plane was flying like this. And all of a sudden, the plane shuddered and it went down so fast, everyone made a sound. Everyone went, and then it went up so fast that all of the luggage compartments opened, the doors popped open, and things started falling out. And all of a sudden, the masks that we never have seen before, most of us, on these little cords. They're a face mask so that you can breathe. They all pop down. People started screaming. It was, the whole plane was going. And when life gets turbulent, the first thing I thought about was, who is flying this plane? See, it made me think about the pilot in the front. Okay, what had happened to David? David's life was like me on that airplane. Things were falling, it was dangerous, he felt so far from God, and he had to learn to trust God to pilot his life. Now, there's something I wish my pen was a little darker. Can you guys see the light colored pen when I write up here? Even though it's so faint. Can you see this? When I draw like that. You can see it even though it's faint. This is my new pen and it doesn't work. But this is us. So I'll just narrate it even though you can't see it. This is us. And these are our problems. We feel abandoned by God, we feel lonely, we don't have enough money, we get sick, we have relational problems with people, all kinds of stuff like that. And let me try the old pen. Maybe the old pen will work a little bit better. We forget the pilot. God has attributes. his character. All of you know those attributes. God is loving, God is omniscient, God is omnipresent, and God is omnipotent. Okay, the Lord, his attributes never change. Here is my life. Here's David's life. David is being hunted by the king. David's wife told him to leave so he didn't get killed. David's family is in danger. He sends them to Moab. David is living in a cave. Now David feels that God has abandoned him. All of that is happening inside his life. Now, look at this. When David felt all of these things, did God still love him, yes or no? Say it out loud. Try it a little louder together. Did God still love him? There you go. Why? That's one of his attributes. God doesn't change. Omniscience means, does anybody know what omniscience means? all-knowing, omniscio is the Latin word put together. Did God know Saul was gonna try and kill him, yes or no? Did God know that David's wife was gonna tell him, go, get out of here, and it was gonna disrupt his whole life? Yes. Did God know that he was in a cave? Yes. What does omnipotent mean? That's true. Could God have stopped Saul from trying to kill David? He could have. How? Could have killed Saul, could have killed the men he sent. He could have put a rock around David. God is omnipotent. He could do anything. God could have moved David. To the Philippines, where he'd been safe, okay? Did you know he could do that? God can do anything, that's what omnipotence is. What is this last one? What's omnipresence mean? Ah, do you know what that means? God was in the cave with David. Just like God was in the library with me when I was smuggling Bibles. Just like God is in your dorm with you. And when you go home for Christmas, he'll be with you. You understand? Omnipresence is what Joseph understood with Potiphar's wife. These attributes, what's that other one I haven't talked about? God loves him. Yet God allowed Saul to try and kill him. But God still loves him. God knew Saul was going to try and kill him. God didn't stop Saul from killing him. Do you understand? Every day, When problems come into our life, this is us right here, when problems come into our life, every day we're making a choice, either you believe God or you don't. Either you believe God loves you, even though they happen, Either you believe God is all-powerful and allowed that to happen, either you believe that God knew about it and still allowed it to happen, or you think that God doesn't love me, doesn't know everything, doesn't have all power, and isn't with me. That's what David goes through. Look what he does. Now let's go to chapter 13 and the first two verses. In chapter 13, David starts saying, How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? It's sorrow because of his uncertainties. He's saying, God, I don't feel that you love me. I don't feel you're all powerful. I don't feel that you know everything going on. I don't feel that you're here with me in this cave. And he's crying out to him. Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face? How long shall I take counsel in my mind? Oh, where is all this problem going on? It's in his mind. See, remember I told you last hour about the Japanese police that patrol the parks? Those students, long before they get rope from the store to hang themselves or out of their parents garage, They've been thinking about this. See, all of our struggles are in our mind. We're troubled in our mind. We're troubled that someone doesn't like me anymore, or someone doesn't pay attention to me anymore. Someone thinks badly of me, and we're troubled, and his mind is troubled. And how long shall I take counsel, verse two, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? And then, David, shows us something. Here's all his problems, but who is he talking to? Out of his problems, he's talking to God. See that's, remember I told you that no matter You know, if you say you lost your cell phone, I just start asking when's the last time you remembered it. When you say you don't feel saved, we go back to, okay, when you did feel saved, why did you feel saved? Why did you? Now, if my pen worked, I would draw another picture for you. Do you guys have, I haven't seen any trains here. You must have trains. You have trains. Did you know a train has the front, the engine, then it has usually behind it, the power source, if it's oil or coal, and even if it's electric, it doesn't usually, but long haul trains aren't electric. So it has the engine, then it has the fuel, then it has everything else, you know, the people and the caboose. There are three parts to our Christian lives. The front part, the engine, are the facts of the gospel. The fuel is faith. And then the rest of the train, which in America we call the caboose, you know, what follows, are feelings. Now listen. The facts are Jesus Christ died in our place on the cross and offered a once and for all sacrifice for our sin. All I have to do is believe that, faith. I can be saved and never have feelings. See, that's the problem with most people. They totally live by what they feel, not the facts of the gospel, not faith in the God who doesn't change, who is all-knowing, always present, all-powerful and loves them. They forget the facts, their faith dims, and they live down here in the feeling zone. That's exactly what's happening to David. Yes, sir. You are amazing. Not only do you provide for me my favorite food, milk, but Joseph, oh, let's give Sir Joseph a hand. Saint Joseph. Here we go. This is my life. Here I am with all my problems. God loves me. God knows everything about me. By the way, God's omniscience means he doesn't learn anything, he doesn't discover anything, he doesn't count things. He knows everything completely, all the time. And it says in the book of Isaiah, he knows the end from the beginning. He knows everything at once. He doesn't learn, discover, find, look for. He knows it all. Omniscience. Omnipotence means He has all power. And omnipresence means He will never leave us or forsake us. He is always with us. So, facts, the engine, the truth of the gospel, connected by my life, It connects to my life by faith. So this is my train, and there's the steam. And then connected to that is feelings. And guess what? The train runs without this. You don't need any feelings. Did you know that there are Christians that went through their whole life and felt far from God? One of the most famous, do you guys sing, There is a fountain filled with blood. Is that a hymn you guys have ever learned? There is a fountain with blood. You know that one? Drawn from Emmanuel's veins. It's a communion song. How many of you ever heard that song? Just faith and me, okay? That is one of the most famous English songs in American Britain. Do you know who wrote that? A man. who his whole life, he didn't just write that song. He wrote hundreds of British hymns. His best friends were the Wesley Brothers and George Whitfield. Those were some of the greatest preachers of the English-speaking world in the 1700s. So the guy that wrote that song, those were his friends, and John Newton, if you've ever heard of John Amazing Grace Newton, that time period. This guy never felt like a Christian. And all his friends did to him is say, you don't have to feel it. You believe the facts. Believe that God loves you, that God knows everything, God is with you, and God is all-powerful. David, in the first two verses, showed that. By the way, what causes cave times? What causes people to feel abandoned? What are some of the common causes of cave tithes, of being abandoned by others? Here are just a few doorways. Some people start feeling that way when they're sick for a long time, and they go to the doctors, and they ask everybody to pray for them, and they stay sick. Now, when I start out in ministry, my first ministry after seminary was I was a senior adult pastor, which means only to older people. And my first group at Grace Community Church, I had almost 900 people that were over 65. They were like 70, 80, 90, 100. That's how many were in my group that I watched over. Now the church had 12,000 people. My group had almost 1,000 old people. Did you know every week I did a funeral? Every week I had two people on respirators. Do you know what a respirator is? It's where they put a breathing device down into your lungs and it breathes for you. I had all kinds of people on chemotherapy. Do you know what that is? That's where they're pumping drugs into you to kill cancer. I had all kinds of people that were on dialysis. Do you know what that is? That's where they connect. It's very painful. They put a tube into your kidney and they act like a kidney because your kidneys are failing and there's this giant machine as big as this desk that's filtering your blood. And you only stay alive if you're connected to that machine. And when it's filtering, it hurts. It burns. It's just like a fire right there. I had almost 900 people that either were in wheelchairs, or they had that machine connected to them, or they were in the hospital with one down their throat, or they were getting chemo, or they were just normal old people that were taking pills and had headaches and their heart hurt. And you know what? One of the doorways that can lead us to stand in David's shoes over and over again, feeling far from God, is if you're sick and you don't get well. Now, all of you are young and strong and you can jump up and down. In fact, you run up and down stairs. You're at the peak of life. Just wait. It says in Ecclesiastes 12, the day is going to come where the grinders don't work, that's your teeth, where the windows don't work, that's your eyes. It says where the pump doesn't work, that's your whole circulatory system. And all of a sudden you're cold all the time and you're tired all the time and you feel weak all the time. That's called old age. Did you know? When people get that way, they descend into, have you ever met an older person that's depressed? Do they get depressed in the Philippines? When I go to the nursing homes, that's what we call it in America, where the old people are and they're taking care of them, many of them, they just are like this. They look angry. And you talk to them and you know what they say? No one visits me. And you know what I think? I wouldn't visit you either. You're so mean. You know what I mean? Because they are. But you know what's happened to them? They feel so horrible. That's a doorway. Another thing, people, it's not only protracted sickness, problems with your husband or wife. Did you know many people feel far from God when their marriage has trouble? How about your children? How about if you have invested your life in your children and your children don't want anything to do with you? That's a real pain. your heart. Where kids say, I don't like you, I don't like my family, I don't want to be around you. These are doorways that lead to what can be called spiritual depression. Now basically what David is going through is spiritually he feels far from God. That's depression. By the way, he writes more Psalms from this time period than anywhere else in his life. David writes during this cave time of 1 Samuel 22, he writes Psalm 4, these first two verses we're looking at in 13, 40, 57, 70, 141, 142. In fact, we're gonna take a whole hour to talk about that last one, Psalm 142. Now basically, What is going on with David's life? I call this four deep wounds. Did you know if you cut yourself and don't put anything on it, it can get infected? It just gets red and then it swells up and everything. That's a wound that hasn't been cared of. Did you know spiritually that happens? If you have a spiritual problem, here's the first wound David had. My life feels like an endless struggle. It's like I do the same things. I get up, I read my Bible, I go to class, I do my jobs. It just seems like everything is hard. It's hard to get up, I'm tired. It's hard for me to do my work, I can't think. It's hard for me to do my job, I don't have enough time to do everything. It's hard for me to go on, I don't have enough money. Do you understand what I mean? It's an endless struggle. Now guess what? The apostle Paul in the New Testament In the book of Philippians. Calls Christians. Now look at this. I'm gonna write a Greek word on the blackboard. I bet you'll know it. How many of you have learned Greek? A few of you? I'm gonna write a Greek word. I bet all of you will recognize it. Here it is. Agonizomai. Agonizomai. What does that sound like in English? Agony. The English word agony comes directly from the Greek language. There are many words like that that go right from Greek into English. Probably into a lot of other languages too. Paul takes the word agony, actually is a description of one of the races that they used to have in the Greek. Olympics. It was a great big racetrack that was called an Agon. And it was this long race where everybody would sit in a stadium and these racers would have to run as fast as possible in a circle seven times. And what would happen is, the first lap was great and they were beating everybody. The second lap, you know, they were starting to feel it. The third lap, they were starting to get a little tired. The fourth lap, they were starting to And the fifth lap, and what happened is the Greek games knew the human body can only sprint so long before it actually starts killing you. Because your heart is beating too fast, you're not able to get enough oxygen in, the blood cannot get the oxygen to your muscles in your leg, and you can't breathe fast enough to get the oxygen down there. And that last lap of the seven laps, I mean people would collapse, they would vomit, they would fall over, they would go unconscious. It was called an agony. And so they named the stadium Agon, A-G-O-N. And it was, can you believe that they actually enjoyed this? People trained their whole life to be in that, to get sick and pass out, because some of them developed where they could run all seven. And that became the goal. Everybody would agonize through and win the race. So Paul takes the word for agonizing racing, and he did this. This is the word in Philippians. Soon. Agonizomai. The word soon in Greek means with, together. And he said in Philippians, we are fellow laborers, fellow servants, fellow and the translators didn't know how to translate this one. And so they just left it like we're together because they didn't know what to do with that word because it was a racing word. That's what Paul calls Christians. He said the Christian life is an endless struggle. Do you remember I told you about when I was little that they used to drive our whole church down here to the edge of the river, put us in a canoe, the river is flowing, and we would just float all the way down the river all day and splash each other. And at the end of the day, they had moved the truck and the bus down here and we put our canoes there. It's not any trouble to float down the river. What's hard is to go against the river and to paddle against it. David says, Lord, how long? 13.1, how long are you going to do this? How long? How long? My life is like an endless struggle. He repeats himself over and over and over. He's repeating himself. Secondly, at the end of verse one, how long will you hide your face from me? Now we have another problem. Not only did life seem like an agonizing struggle, And Paul talks about that. Paul said, I mean, David said in 13, one, look at the end of verse one. He says, how long will you hide your face from me? Do you know what he's saying? I don't feel blessed. Now, you might right now sometimes feel like the Word of Life Bible Institute's an endless struggle. Just when you get your verses done, now you have another project, and you have that done, and you're on the crew that's supposed to clean the kitchen, and you get done with that, now you have to go to Christmas hymn practice, and you get done with that, and you still have to read, and then you have a quiz tomorrow, plus you're expected to wash your clothes once in a while and clean your rooms, and then you've got your other jobs. You go through that. But boy, is this hard. You go to your ministry. You know, youth ministry, Sunday school, church, work. What do you call that one where you go out and talk to a million people? Open air. But there's like a big one that Jack Wurzen started and you guys. Yeah, Eternity Week. And you know, you go to Eternity Week or Open Air or to the local church ministry or sports ministry, and nothing happens. It's like nobody you talk to listens. It's like you don't lead anybody to the Lord, the little kids won't listen to you when you're teaching children's church. It's like you go to church and you don't even get anything out of the message. It's like, you feel like you've lost God's blessing. Did you know this happens a lot with pastors? The pastors study all week, they prepare, they preach the message, and everyone just sits there like this. And the church service goes over and everybody goes like this. And the pastor goes, I've lost God's blessing. Nothing's happening. in my ministry. Now, do you remember? This whole psalm is about this box. Did God still love David? Yes. Did God still know everything going on in David's life? Yes. Did God still accompany David through life? Yes. He was in the cave with him. Did God still have the power? Did you know the Lord has enough power? If Pauline goes out on open air and hands out one track, a hundred people could fall on their faces, start crying and get saved. Wouldn't that be amazing? Does he do that? Not very often. Could he do that? Every time. When he doesn't. We start feeling. See, this is one of the wounds that David had. He said, it used to be that armies fled from me. Here, you wanna know something else? Have you ever thought about this? If you read the Bible carefully, David never lost a single battle he was in. David was never even wounded. In any of the battles, how close did the people have to get to fight with swords? You're this close to each other. David is in battles where they're swinging their swords all around him. He wasn't the only one fighting. There's people all around him. They're swinging their swords. People are shooting arrows. They're coming along with spears. They're doing slingshots like that. David, according to the record, never even got wounded. battle. He didn't just never lose. David never faced off with anyone. He didn't defeat them. He didn't kill them. He didn't defeat the army. David was never defeated in any military situation or even hurt. Wow. God really did have a box around him. But in Psalm 13, He didn't feel like it. Now look at verse two of chapter 13. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? What David was saying is, what is counsel in my soul? What's our soul? In English, this is the soul of my shoe, the soul of my shoe. What is, is David talking about his shoes? No, Joseph. What's he talking about? Yeah, the inner part of him. Actually, it's our mind. That's our soul. Actually, actually, actually, our soul is our emotions. You know, the inner part of us, the invisible part. And what David is saying is, I'm so troubled inside. My mind is so troubled. And look at the end of verse two, he says this. How long will my enemy be exalted over me? What did I just tell you? David never lost what? Never lost a battle. What does he say in verse two? His enemy's winning. My life seems to have lost God's victory. Did you know there's some people that struggle with the same sins over and over again, be it anger, be it fear, be it bad thoughts, things they say they shouldn't say, bad actions that they do, and they go through a period of time where it's like they're winning. They're not angry. They don't lie or they don't get afraid. but then they go through these times where they feel they've lost God's victory. That's what David was going through. Well, 3,000 years of blessing. Look at Psalm 13, starting in verse three. David now, the tone changes in this Psalm. I imagine he's in the cave and he walks out. Do you know what a cave is? You guys ever been in a cave? In America, they have caves that are miles long. I mean, miles. You can drive through them. You ride trains through them. They're just long things. And what they do to us in America when we go through them, you go to this visitor area and you sit 300 feet or 100 feet underground, and they turn the switch with the electricity off, and boy, is it scary down there with the lights out. Because you don't know how to get out of there. And so as soon as they turn the lights on, everybody's looking for the exits. Look over there, fire exit. And everyone starts going like this, because they don't want to be caught down there. David walks. It's almost like he walks out of the cave. Look at verse 3. And he says, consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Look at verse three, enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. See, David was not thinking he could go on living like this, he was so bad. Verse four, lest my enemies say I've prevailed against him, lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Look at verse five, but I have trusted in your mercy, my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Whoa. Whoa, what is David doing? David now, from his problems, he's saying, Lord, you're here with me. He starts talking to the Lord. Lord, you know what I'm going through. Lord, you still love me. Lord, you still are all-powerful. God, I trust in you. See, David, David, he makes a 3,000-year-old blessing for us. Verse five, but I have trusted your mercy. What is mercy? When God doesn't give us what we deserve. That's mercy. What is grace? When God does give us what we don't deserve. But what is mercy? When God doesn't give us what we do deserve. What do we deserve? We deserve punishment for our sins. We deserve separation. We deserve hell. Look what he says. I've trusted in your mercy, and my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. See, David is still in 1 Samuel 22 one through four. He's in that cave. That's what I have written in my Bible to remind me David is still in the cave, but he starts believing the attributes of God. Have you all ever heard of the English book called Pilgrim's Progress? Is that something they talk about in the Philippines? Pilgrim's Progress? You ever heard of John Bunyan, the author? John Bunyan wrote a book called Pilgrim's Progress in 1600, so 400 years ago. He wrote it in jail because he was put in jail because he was a pastor. His wife was sick. His daughter was blind. He was the only support. They went to the poorhouse. That meant that they lived like in a homeless shelter. He was in prison for 13 years for preaching the gospel. Every day his wife would walk, back then, 400 years ago, they allowed the wife to come and visit the prisoner once a day and bring him food. And the wife would come like this and bring a bottle of milk. Joseph, I'm just like John Bunyan, I love milk. In the bottle was a cork. You know what a cork is? You know, it's like a cork. spongy that would plug the so the milk wouldn't spill. John Bunyan had a pen knife because they used to sharpen their pens with a knife, the nib of the pen. And they let him in prison have ink and a pen and a pen knife, but no paper. So he took the cork out of the milk bottle and shaved it. into really thin paper and every day he wrote Pilgrim's Progress. Did you know that is the second largest published book in the history of the world only surpassed by this one. It's the number two in the English language most published book in the world written on milk corks for 13 years and you know it's exactly like Psalm 13. What it's about is, John Bunyan said, God, I preach the gospel, why am I in jail? I have a handicapped daughter, why are you keeping me from taking care of her? My wife is sick, my wife is so sick, the only thing she could do is to walk the three miles to the prison every day to bring her husband his milk so he could write his book. Do you know what happened to John Bunyan? He got out of prison. That book became so famous, he was as well known as the king and queen of England. And when he got out of prison, they started inviting him to speak places, and he would accept every invitation and speak. And one time he went to speak in a place, and it started raining. And when he left the place, he went home in the rain, and he got so wet that he caught cold and he died. It's like everything's going wrong in his life. Yet today, people consider him one of the most influential Christians of all time because of that book he wrote that has blessed so many people about this. Well, David ends with this, and this is what we'll end with. Look at verse three. Three big requests. Consider and hear me. Basically, what the Lord gets from David is, David says, hey, look at me. Look at me. I'm in my cave. I know you're watching. You know everything. You're here with me. I know you're all powerful. I know you love me. Look at me. Secondly, David says in this, consider and hear me, oh Lord, my God. What he's saying is, Lord, answer me. Do something. Help me. Now, remember what I told you? Remember this? What I used to do to my son? I loved that my son reached out to me. By the way, that son is now an executive in this gigantic, amazing industry. And when I look at him, I mean, he is so successful in everything he does. But yet, I remember when he needed me, like this. What's David saying? That's what David's doing, answer me, I need you. Did you know that God is the perfect father and he wants to be needed by us? Do you know what prayer is? Prayer is saying, I need you, God. So prayer equals how much we need God. Fasting, you ever heard of fasting? Do you guys talk about fasting very much in the Philippines? Fasting, do you know what fasting is? In America, fasting means a diet. I want to get skinny, you know, so my body looks better. Or I'm old and sick and I've got something wrong with my heart and I've got to fast for a blood test. In the Bible, fasting was an urgent call to deny myself so I could seek God. There are many spiritual things that Jesus said could not happen without prayer, seeking God, and fasting, which is denying myself, denying my flesh, denying my way. That's what fasting is. Sometimes, fasting is this. Say, I'm going to spend less time on this and more time on this. It has nothing to do with potato chips or food or whatever. It's denying myself. Finally, look what David said. David says this. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. David says, restore me. Enlighten my eyes, I want to see you. Real quickly, a parting truth. To feel abandoned means once you were not. If you ever feel far from God, do you know what that means? There was a time you weren't. Now watch, here's my last illustration. This fan is God. I'm going away from him. I feel so far away from him. I feel he's abandoned me. I feel he doesn't love me anymore. I feel I'm not even a Christian. No matter how many steps I take away from God, how many steps is it back? One. And that's all we have to do is cry out to him. Have a good break. At the end of this next class period is when my great photographers are going to help me take a picture of us all together. See you in 10 minutes.