Let us hear God's word. Psalm 107 and verse 1. I'll give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. That the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. and they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, and he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. The man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons, because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down and there was none to help. And they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. Other men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. They so abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep, for he commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wit's end. And they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm so that its waves are still. And they are glad because they were quiet. So he guides them to their desired haven. Other men will give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders. He turns rivers into a wilderness. and the water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He turns a wilderness into pools of water and dry land into water springs. There he makes the hungry dwell that they may establish a city for a dwelling place and so fields and plant vineyards that they may yield a fruitful harvest. He also blesses them and they multiply greatly and he does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and brought low to oppression, affliction, and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. Yet he sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. Whoever is wise will observe these things. They will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Amen. Well, as we begin here today, we come now to the last section here of Psalm 107. And so as we reflect on the things that we've already seen, hopefully you've had some opportunity to reflect on some of the troubles that you have faced. Maybe you have been in prison, maybe you have been in a storm, maybe you've been hungry to the point of death or gotten lost in the woods or the desert. But the question for us is, whether we apply that literally or figuratively or spiritually, the question for us is, have we learned from it? These things don't happen randomly. God is in control of all things. And so the hardships that we face, as well as the blessings, are from God's hand, ultimately. So we often hear on television, say there was a flood or a tornado or something like that. Somebody's interviewed, and you often hear the saying something along the lines of, well, Mother Nature had a bad day today, but my insurance is already talking to us. We're going to get it worked out, and the government's going to send money, and we're just going to rebuild. And it's really nice that people come together and help out in a time of need and those kind of things. Now some of those things aren't necessarily bad or anything, but rarely do you hear anybody say, God sent this and He's teaching us something. But Psalm 107 says that needs to be our question, that needs to be our thinking. We need to have wisdom in regard to these different hardships that come our way. So whether they happen due to our sin, whether they happen due to somebody else's sin, or whether they just happen, so to speak, God is in control. And so the Psalm ends here with this focus. So we began Psalm 107, of course, verses one to three here a few weeks ago, with this call to praise Yahweh and to give Him thanks. And the overall reason here for the psalm has to do with Israel coming back from exile in Babylon. And God then, in these four different ways, gathered Israel back to themselves, to the promised land and to himself. And so he brought wanderers back home. He brought prisoners out of prison and the oppressed and the sick were healed. The storm-tossed were brought into port. And there's definitely a literal application of these words for Israel. And there are times where that happens for us too. Maybe not all four of these, maybe not in literal ways, but certainly at times it does happen. But spiritually, these ideas do apply to all of us. All of us are imprisoned to sin. All of us are wandering from the Lord. All of us are sick to the point of death in our sin and so forth, and we need to be gathered back to the Lord, and God graciously does these things. Figuratively, of course, we can apply this to all kinds of wanderings, imprisonments, illnesses, and storms that afflict us. So over the last two weeks in particular, we've looked at these four ways, and I've briefly pointed to various ways we can find some application for ourselves here today. But in all of them, whether the problems we face are due to our sin or somebody else's, or again, it just kind of happened in God's general providence, when we cry out to him for help, And when we are crying sincerely to Him, maybe imperfectly and weakly, but sincerely nonetheless, then God hears us and God helps us. Whether we deserve it or not, He does. He may not help us right away. He may not help us in the way that we are anticipating, but He does. And when He does, we should give Him thanks. We should give Him praise. Now, as we've seen in this refrain in verse 8 and verse 15 and so forth, right? The first hymn we sang is based on that refrain. Even unbelievers are responsible for giving praise and thanks to God when God helps them in their times of need. But it is especially true for us as God's people to give God the praise and the thanksgiving that he deserves. Simply, we've seen this call to praise over and over again in the praise refrain plus verse one. And at the end of this third and fourth section that we saw last time, two more commands are given in each of the sections. And so we're constantly being told that we must praise. And so the few minutes a day that we may give praise to our God at home, or the few hours all together that we do today, here together as God's people, this is just the beginning. There's so much more that we can and should give to the Lord in terms of praise and thanksgiving. So, we come now to the end of the psalm. And let's turn here in our handout on the back with the outline that you see there. We see the four sections, verses 4 to 32, and now here, verses 33 to the end. And I like the first outline because this section really goes back and forth, back and forth. And we'll see that here this morning. And I think putting it all together is helpful. You'll see the second outline, it divides it in half, which is sort of true. If you want to divide it, we need to do it more than that. But anyway. One of the things that we're going to see in this section of verses is all the ideas that we've talked about in the last three weeks are now brought together in this way. We started with, if you will, examples of God gathering and restoring. And now, in this section, let's talk about the principles. Let's talk about the overall way to think about it. All right, well, let's look then here at verses 33 and 34. Again, using my translation here. Again, the purpose here is just to help us understand what the text actually says. And since it's so often in Hebrew poetry, things get smoothed out and we miss stuff and so on in the English. So anyway, verses 33 and 34. Let him make rivers in regard to a desert, and springs of water in regard to thirsty ground. I land a fruit into a salt plain because of the evil of those who are dwelling in it." All right, now, obviously, these two verses go together. And you'll see that the two lines of verse 33 and the first line of verse 34 are in parallel. Now, remember, this has to do with the rhyming of ideas. And so all three of these lines are basically saying the same thing. And in fact, so much so that you could call it synonymous with the first two. When you add the third one, you could maybe argue that that's synthetic, because it's a little bit different. But the point is the same. God is taking something that is good and turning it into something that is bad in all three of those lines. Note also the ellipsis. That let him make is assumed in the second and the third line. Okay? And so you see how it's arranged. Now, let me talk just a moment here about the key verb, let him make. If you look at the New King James, or if you have another translation, they're going to put it there as a statement. New King James says, he turns rivers into a wilderness. Now, there is debate on how we should understand this Hebrew word. You could translate it either way, as a petition, a request, like I have done here and other commentators, or as a statement. Well, I'm inclined to think of it as a petition for two simple reasons. One, the second vowel. Okay, those who have Hebrew might follow here a little bit, and the position of it. It's actually first in the Hebrew line, and that points us to the idea of it being a petition, a justive as we call it. But either way you go with it, you do get the ultimate point, but I do think this is a request. But if we start with the statement idea, note the thought. The thought is simply this, God has in the past at some point turned blessing into cursing. He has turned water into dry ground, fertile places into barren ones. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah, for example. Now, before we continue, let's now bring in the last line of verse 34, this subsection of four lines. And it says, because of the evil of those who are dwelling in it. The reason why God takes blessings and brings curses is because of sin. Because of the sins of those who dwell in that land, in that place, God takes blessings and brings the opposite. Surely, this is true for Israel. At this time, the land flowing with milk and honey became a barren place. The Northern Kingdom was taken into exile and was overrun. The Southern Kingdom was taken into Babylon and was overrun by the Babylonians. Everything was reversed. We can think of other times. Think of when Israel during the time of the judges would not obey and they were worshiping the Baals and God brought curses. Think of Naomi and her family having to go to Moab because of this. Or think of Elijah during the days of Ahab and Jezebel and there was a drought because of Israel's sin. So this is something that we've seen quite regularly in the scriptures. It's something that we see happening even today. Because of sin, a place of blessing becomes a place of barrenness in one way or another. But as I've said, I think we should understand this as a petition, asking God to do this, not just a statement saying that He does or has done, but that we are asking God to reverse blessing because of sin. Now we know God can do this. He certainly has the power and ability. And we can even say that God should do this because sin deserves to be punished. Allowing evil to flourish doesn't help anybody. If there is no reprisal and no punishment of sin, then It is not a pleasant place to live, okay? Just go to any of these woke cities with the woke DAs and you'll understand it. It's exactly what's happening, whether it's D.C. or Chicago or wherever it is. It's not a nice place to live right now. And so asking God to judge sin is actually a good request. It's not being mean. It's not being unchristian, but asking God to punish sin actually then will reduce evil and increase blessing in the end. And so this is a good prayer for us to pray. It may not be all that is in our prayer, but it certainly is okay for us to pray. And we talked about this even last week in 1 Samuel 25. David had a similar sentiment. So whether we're talking about Babylon here, whether we're talking about Israel even after they came back to the Promised Land, or whether we're talking about the evil that takes place in the media today, or in the corrupt politicians in Washington and Harrisburg, or the greedy woke corporations, or our neighbors, or with our boss, or extended family, or whatever it is. Asking God to punish the wicked is most fitting. Yes, pray for grace and salvation, too. If He chooses not to do that, then pray that He will judge the wicked, because in the end, this will lead to blessing for the people of God. Ultimately, of course, we see this at the very end. God will judge the wicked, and we, then, as God's people, by God's grace, will enjoy blessings forever. And so we're praying for that, you might say, in a small way today. Now, of course, we've talked about imprecatory psalms before, and we've spent a fair amount of time on that. And I think this, then, is just a short version of that, you might say. So here, notice then, we go from blessing to cursing. Now, let's look at verses 35 and following. Verse 35, let him make a desert into the reed pools of water and dry land into springs of water. Well, now we're going the other way. Hey, taking things that are barren and cursed and have blessing. And notice here, too, this is in parallel, rhyming, saying virtually the same thing. Note again, the verb is assumed in the second line, so we have the ellipsis there. And notice, actually, the exact same verb as verse 33, let him make. So the same points are made here. Some will take this as a statement, some will take it as a petition. I think the petition makes most sense. And so now, we're not just praying that God will bring judgment because of sin, but that God will take a place of barrenness and bring blessing. It's the opposite. Now surely God has done this multiple times throughout history, in Israel's history and even beyond. Yahweh has reversed the curses to bring blessing. They are now back from exile, of course. They are now back in the promised land. But possibly, they're in the promised land, but now they're asking God for something more, some more blessing. Obviously, it's a great blessing to come back from Babylon, but you remember when they came back, it was rather barren, and it took them some time to rebuild their homes. It took even decades to actually finish the temple and to rebuild the wall. Remember, there was opposition. There was indifference even. And so maybe now, if we take this in some kind of chronological way, maybe that's what this petition is emphasizing. But as I've said before, the psalm is written generally enough for us to not be able to say for sure what the original point was. And so that then allows us to apply it in a variety of ways. All right, now let's bring in verses 36 to 38, and read them all together here. Then he made hungry ones dwell there. Then they established a city, a dwelling place. Then they sowed fields. Then they planted vineyards. Then they made a fruit of a yield. Then he blessed them. Then they multiplied exceedingly, and their beasts he does not cause to become few. All right, see one thing right after another, all put together here in this way. You'll see, especially in the last two lines in verse 38, we have some parallelism there. Note the chiasm, where they switch the order of the words there, subject and verb and so forth. And so note some of the creativity. Now, one of the key things that we see here in these three verses is that notice that all of the verbs, except for the last one, are completed action. It's already happened. So how do we understand this? Well, the NIV actually keeps that pattern, past tense, completed action. Your other translations don't. The New King James goes back and forth with something that has happened, something that is happening, something that may happen. They actually vary up the verbs here. And the ESV and the NAS do the same kind of thing. So how do we understand this? Well, it may simply be this. Verse 35, we are praying, we are asking God to reverse cursing and bring blessing. And you know, He's done it before. This is something we see over and over again in the scriptures. We are asking for something right now, and then we remember how He did it before. And this gives us encouragement, this gives us confidence today in our time of need. And so God has brought Israel from the wilderness to the promised land. God did bring Naomi and Ruth back to find blessing with Boaz. Elijah and the widow and the rest of Israel eventually did receive rain. So we've seen these things over and over again in the scriptures. And so maybe that's all that's being said here. Other people suggest that we need to narrow our focus to the time after the exile. And that God has brought them back, there is blessing. And he's brought some restoration, but they're asking for more. And so this list here, verses 36 to 38, is that God has given them some blessings. Their houses are being rebuilt, they're starting to plant again in the promised land after Babylon and so forth, but they're asking for more blessings. And again, if you read portions of Ezra and Nehemiah and Haggai and Zechariah, it fits that idea. That is certainly a possibility. Other people make this point. And I'm not sure that all of these are mutually exclusive. But some have said, the reason why we have past tense verbs here is because it's so sure to happen, we can speak of it as already happening. even if it hadn't happened yet. You know, Paul does this in that famous passage in Romans 8, when Paul says, those whom he has foreknown, he has predestined. Those he has predestined, he has called. Those he has called, he has justified. Past tense, right? These things have already happened. But do you notice how he finishes that? He says, those he has justified, he has glorified. Past tense. We haven't been glorified yet. But it's so sure to happen, for those that God has foreknown, that we can speak of it as if it already has happened. And so some have taken these verbs in that way. We are asking God to bring blessings, verse 35, and we know that He will. Hasn't that been one of our themes here in the psalm? We cry out to God. He helps us. We know he's going to do that, even if it hasn't happened yet. So whichever one is actually the point of the psalmist, I'm not sure we can say. But all three of them have points of great encouragement for us, don't they? And so, hence, going through all of these options here with us, because whichever one it is, it's a great encouragement. God brings blessings on His people. Now, notice this contrast. In verses 33 and 34, the reason why blessing became cursing is because there was sin, right? Well, now here in verses 35 to 38, we have cursing becoming blessing. Why? It doesn't say, does it? Is it because we've been faithful? Well, the Bible does say, yes, there are blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. But what have we seen through the psalm? Why does God bless us? His covenant love, His grace. Ultimately, the reason why we receive any blessings is because of God's goodness and grace to us, not because we deserve it, not because we've been good enough, but because He has entered into that relationship with us by way of covenant, and He is keeping His promises for His people. And so note that contrast. God gathers, God helps, God delivers, God restores, God reverses, because He is being gracious. Now, let's also look at this here in this way. In verses 36 to 38 especially, those words are written for those who have a farm, a garden, agrarian lifestyle. And some of us have that, at least maybe to some degree. Some of us do not. But whether we're talking about sowing fields and planting vineyards in a literal sense or a figurative sense, the point is still ultimately the same. We are praying here for God to bring blessings. to expand on the blessings that He has given. And that certainly includes food, especially now with the way the economy is. I'm sure more of us are praying that God would provide us food. It's getting quite expensive. I just bought some chips yesterday, and it's $4 a bag now. I mean, that's ridiculous. It was $2.50 not that long ago. And so we ask God to provide in this way. Certainly we pray for God to provide a shelter, God to provide us work, maybe not sowing a field, but providing us work, providing us children, and see that in verse 38, and so forth. And so whether we're talking about actual beasts or those machineries that have horsepower, we are praying that God would bless. And we have the assurance that because he did it in the past, he will do it again for his people. And we have the assurance that even if it hasn't happened yet, God is definitely going to fulfill his promises to us. And so this, as we try to apply it across the centuries and into a different kind of culture, the point ultimately is the same. And so cry out to him, pray to him, Maybe that cry refrain we saw included words like this, and maybe that's why it's included here in the psalm, that these are some of the things that they were asking for. But as we cry to Him, God will reverse our situation and bless us. Now, do you see how Verses 1 to 32 are, you might say, specific in these different ways God gathers and helps. These verses, you see how it's a bit more broad in the way it's presented to us? Because the psalmist here, God ultimately wants us to see the broader principles. He wants us to apply this in all kinds of things. And note, one of the key ideas in it all is that God is in control. God is in control of all of these things. Suffering comes from God's hand. Blessing comes from God's hand. Suffering, yeah, our sin's part of that. Blessings, God's grace is fundamental. And so let's petition God in this way. All right, let's keep going and look now at verse 39 because you see now it switches back again. Verse 39, then they became few, then they bowed down from oppression of evil and trouble. Now, who are they? Well, I think we have to go back to verses 33 and 34 again. They are those who are practicing evil, and that's why they become few. Well, certainly this could apply to Israel before the exile. And surely they became few, surely they were bowed down. Verse 40 then says, after pouring out contempt upon nobles, then he caused them to wander in nothingness, not away. All right, your English translations obviously are going to smooth those things out and make them sound a little bit more natural for us here in English. But that's what the Hebrew says, more literally. Once again, the NIV actually communicates the completed action here, these verbs. Your other translations do not necessarily. But certainly, God has done this. They became, they bowed, right? It's already happened. And because of verse 40 with the nobles and so forth, it seems like we should apply this initially to Israel and how God punished their nobles, their leaders. It does seem like we're applying this before the exile. And certainly, we can see this, right? Their nobles were taken into exile in 605 BC. That included Daniel and his friends. And then again in 598, and that included Ezekiel and others. And then, of course, in 586. And even then, Jeremiah was taken to Egypt. So their nobles were taken, but the ones I just mentioned, they were not ungodly, but they were caught up with the other ungodly nobles as God brought judgment against Israel. And maybe this is our point of application initially for Israel. Maybe it applies to something else. Some try to see a progression of thought here, but it's hard to nail it down because there aren't a lot of details. But let's approach it this way. Isn't it frequently the case that life does this back and forth for us? That there are times where we have blessings and all of a sudden we don't have those blessings anymore. And there are times where life is pretty rough and then God brings blessings. And then it goes back the other way again. Life can be very confusing. The sufferings that we face can be very hard to understand. And we may be left bewildered. We may be left with lots of questions that we can't answer. But do you see the overall point here? The overall point is God is the one who is in charge, right? He caused them to wander, verse 40. He is the one doing this. And so, when we have blessings and they become hardships, or hardships have become blessings, and maybe it goes back and forth, and especially for those of us who've lived a few years now, we've seen this repeatedly. But the psalm here is not only calling us to praise God for who he is and what he does. The psalm is calling us to think rightly about the ways of God. And so in this back and forth, however it applied initially for Israel, I'm not sure we can fully answer, but God's in control. So in this case, we're talking about leaders, right? Nobles and such. So whether we're talking about Nebuchadnezzar or the sinful leaders of Israel or the Pelosi's and Schumer's and McConnell's and Cheney's of our day, Whether we're talking about civil leaders or we're talking about church leaders who fall into sin and lead people into error, the point is God is going to bring judgment against those people and those, unfortunately, that are caught up along with that. God eventually causes them to wander in a way that is a non-way. It is a nothingness way. that word for nothingness is actually the word in Genesis 1 verse 2. When God first made all things, right, you have the spirit hovering over the waters, and it was formless and void. That's how we translate it, but it's the same word here, nothingness. There was nothing there at first, and then God started forming and filling, right? Well, God, because of our sin, takes us from a place of blessing and leads us to nothingness. And so this is our point here in this verse, and it takes us back to verses 33 and 34 and says very much the same kinds of things. Well, let's now look at verse 41. You see, we now go back to the other. Then he exalted poor out of affliction. Then he set, like a flock, clans. So now we're going from bad things to good things, from curses to blessings. And so God here exalts the poor, lifting them out of their affliction. God sets clans. Now, what we mean by this is your broad extended family, right? Not just your parents, not just your siblings, not even just your aunts and uncles, but, you know, your great, great, great whatever, and, you know, your fifth cousins or, you know, whatever it is. We're talking about the big family here. God sets them like a flock. He brings blessing like a flock of sheep and so forth here. Now let me say this, we've been talking about the critical race theory and so forth, and how in particular it's impacting the church. That's what the conference is all about, right? Well, I've been saying this for years. Here it is again. Note the word poor. There are many who will say, well look, see here's biblical evidence to prove That God is on the side of the oppressed and he's against the side of the oppressor. And we should have this Marxist view and the Bible supports it. Here's a verse that would say that, right? Well, as I've said over and over again, no, that's not how we should understand it. God is not on the side of all poor necessarily. God is on the side of the poor in spirit, but not necessarily everyone who is economically poor. And so we must think carefully, verse 43, let's have wisdom here, even in this way. The Bible is not a socialist book, you might say. All right, it's like a pendulum swing here, right? Blessing to cursing, cursing to blessing, blessing to cursing, then back again from cursing to blessing. And so verse 42, we put it together, upright ones are seeing and they are glad, but all unrighteousness, that should say, shuts. its mouth. I omitted that S there on shut, sorry. Notice they both are given here, obviously. God blesses the upright with joy. God blesses the upright with sight. But God shuts the mouth of those who are unrighteous. And so notice then, the godly are filled with joy, they are praising God, thanking Him, they are seeing rightly with wisdom, but the ungodly refuse to praise God. Their mouths are shut. They don't want to praise God. Which brings us then to his final thought, verse 43, who is wise? and let him keep these things and let them understand the covenant loves of Yahweh. Psalm 107 begins with a call to praise, but it ends with a call to wisdom. Psalm 107 is in the category of psalms of praise, hymns they're often called. But Psalm 107 is also in the category of wisdom literature. Let's think rightly. When we're in trouble, whatever that trouble is, the wise person cries out to God for help. When we cry out to God for help, we know that God is able and willing to help his people, and sometimes even helps the unbeliever. When we see this back and forth, blessing and cursing, some days are good, some days are bad, some years are good, some years are bad, this back and forth, back and forth can be very confusing. But the wise person, well, note that second line, let him keep these things. Let's keep this. Let's understand this. Let's hold on to this truth. That there is blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience, yes, but even more so, God's in control of all these things and His grace is what brings those blessings, ultimately. And so for the way of the righteous, the way of the wise, we recognize these things. We see them in the events of life. We don't stand there and CNN interviews us and says, well, you know, we'll just rebuild. Yeah, the government will give us money and we'll move on. We don't say those kind of things when hardships come. We say God is in control. I trust Him. He has brought this hardship. He's trying to teach me something. God will bring blessing because I'm trusting in Him. This is our mentality. It's a totally different one. And we are filled with praise and thanksgiving, even in the hardships, but especially when he turns them around. And so when the hardships come, do not run away. Cry out to him. When he brings those good things out of the hardship, thank him and praise him. And in this last line, in the end, It's all about God's covenant love. And notice here, covenant love is actually plural. This is a Hebrew word, hesed, that we've talked about over and over again. All the various ways that God shows us grace and mercy and love, let's understand that. Not just what God has done for us on the cross in Jesus Christ, but what God does for us every day. Let's seek wisdom in this way. Let's think this way. Learn from Israel. Learn from the psalm. Learn from the ways of God for his people. When and how God blessed them. So, you remember Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10. There he says, basically summarizing it here, learn from Israel. They've been given to us as an example. And we see that here in this psalm. And so the wicked are punished, the needy are blessed. God keeps His commitments to His people. God is in control of all things. Don't just have that in your head. Have that, if you will, filter out into everything and the events of life. Blessed are those who see these things from day to day. Blessed are those who have this kind of thinking, this kind of theology, this kind of understanding, because it brings solid peace in the midst of hardships, it leads to a holy life, it leads to joy and suffering, it leads to praise and thanksgiving when God does deliver us. So again, the psalmist here is ending the psalm by calling us to think rightly about these things. And so whenever I hear people on television giving their spiel about all the stuff I've said, I just feel so sad for them. There's no hope there. This is hope. This is where we can find encouragement, these ideas here, because of who our God is and his love for us. All right, well, next time, Lord willing, we'll turn to Psalm 108. Let's pray together. Our Father in God, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for what you teach us. We thank you for giving us this psalm, especially, we do praise you, Lord. We do give you thanks for you alone are worthy to receive our praise and thanksgiving. We praise you, Lord, for who you are, our covenant Lord, the one who has entered into relationship with us, not because we deserve it, but by your grace. We are thankful, Lord, that in all events of life, you are over each one. You are sovereign in these things, and we praise you for this. And so may we learn from this. May we look to you. May we trust in you. Help us, Lord, especially in our times of weakness, in our suffering, but also in our times of apathy, when things are going well. Lord, help us. Draw us to yourself. Help us to see your covenant loves day in and day out. Help us to see your hand of providence and rest in you, trust in you. So Lord, we again are thankful for your word and what you've taught us here in this way. And so we pray all these things then in Jesus' name, amen.