A Joyful Song

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning, everybody. You know, we've been in this series on the songbook of the Bible, the book of Psalms. And in that you find all of the emotions that you and I could ever hope to experience are really recorded in that book of psalm. Music captures emotion. Music brings us into an experience. Music connects an experience with us. I promise you, everybody in the room, when you hear certain songs, it'll connect you to a memory. Maybe something going on in high school, maybe somebody special in your life, maybe something even that was difficult in your life, and you found that this particular song really connected with you. It's because those artists typically are writing the song out of some experience that they've gone through in their life. They're sharing that. I always love listening to the behind the music stories. I love those things. To hear these incredible songs and to hear what motivated them, what inspired different artists to write the songs that they have written. That's true on the sacred side, and that's true on the secular side as well. And David was a Psalmist over 3,000 years ago. He had written many of the songs that you and I have been looking at. And these songs connect us with emotion. These songs connect us with experiences. I remember when we were having our babies, our first baby came along. When Shannon was born, Cindy would be rocking her in the rocking chair, and I remember hearing her sing. I've been waiting for a girl like you to come into my life. Remember that song? When Billy came along, she would hum Hell's Bell. No, she didn't do that one. No, that was a different deal. No, when Billy came along, she would hum, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. And I remember when I hear those songs now, I connect those two memories. And when our babies were little and maybe you mamas are out there and you had some song that kind of connects you to your child when they were in that season of life. But I'm just saying that songs and music have powerful meaning. And when you read the book of Song, you are reading a song book of the Bible and you're reading things that came out of the experiences of other people like David, when he writes. This particular song that you and I are going to talk about this morning is called a wisdom song. A wisdom song. Now, wisdom is something that you hope you acquire the older you get. Because when David wrote the particular psalm you and I are gonna look at today, he was an older man. And many believe that he was imparting wisdom, probably into his son, into his children. He was basically saying, here are some of the things, son, that I have learned through life, and I wanna impart these things to you. And the thing of the psalm, the theme of the song that he's talking about, are really ways that you and I can have joy and have peace in our life. And that's one of the things that he's imparting to his son, a wisdom song. Now, understand, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. Both are essential, both are important. You need both to be effective in life, but you can have one without the other. I know a lot of people who have a lot of knowledge, but not a lot of common sense. I know some people have more degrees than a thermometer, but you gotta help them get out of the rain. I mean, they just don't have any common sense. So knowledge is something you inquire on your own. You get knowledge from school, from the books, you read, podcasts, you listen to some of the studies that you follow. That's knowledge that's increasing, and you need information. Someone has well said that leaders are learners, and you never or you should never stop learning if you're gonna be effective. So you need knowledge. But wisdom, on the other hand, is the practical application of knowledge. Knowledge will tell you what to do. Wisdom will tell you when to do it or not to do it. You may know what you need to do this morning, but you just don't know when to do it. Well, you have knowledge. You know what to do, but you need wisdom to know when to do it. And that's why when you read the book of James, James says, if you'll ask of God, he'll give you wisdom, and he won't withhold it. One of the prayers that I pray every day is I pray God, give me wisdom for whatever you have me to do today, for the emails that I respond to, for the conversations that I have, I need your wisdom. And so I'm suggesting to you that David was writing a psalm that's called a Psalm of wisdom out of his experience. Now, living older doesn't necessarily guarantee you that you will be wise, but as you live older, what you find is you have the opportunity to be wise. Because the older you get, the more of life experiences that you've had, the more things that you've done that worked, the more things that you've done that didn't work. And so you can impart those experiences, hopefully to your children, or you can mentor someone even at work and say, hey, I've tried this, this just didn't work. This is a great idea, but it's just, it's not effective anymore. Well, that comes out of wisdom. So knowledge and wisdom go hand in hand. They're essential and important. So this is a wisdom song, but it also is a song that speaks of joy. Now, joy and happiness, much like wisdom and knowledge, go hand in hand. But there's a very big difference between the two of them as well. Happiness. Happiness comes from the Old English word happenstance. Now we don't use that word anymore. We use words like circumstance. But the idea was in the old English language, if your hap was good, you would be happy. If your circumstances were good, you would be happy. So happiness a lot of times is predicated upon where you are at this season of life. Even where you are in this moment in life, you can be happy one minute, not so happy the next moment. It's just, it's surface, it's circumstantial. Happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is different. The Bible speaks of the joy of the Lord, and that is our strength. The joy runs much deeper. You can have joy when you are unhappy. Joy is that deep sense and that deep seated sense of peace that a Christ follower can have. That regardless of the hap and regardless of the circumstance, deep down inside, you know it's going to go okay. You know God's in control. You know he has you, you know he has it, whatever it is. And so that brings you joy because you believe God's word when he says in Romans 8:28, all things will work together for good to those who love God. Those are called to his purpose. So you stand on that promise. And in standing on that promise, you can give joy in the midst of that difficult season. So let's put this together in terms of understanding where David is coming from. He's coming from experience. He's writing out of wisdom. He has the knowledge of what he's been through, but he's also learned some wisdom. He's learned how to apply that. He's not talking necessarily about happiness, but he is speaking a lot about joy and rejoicing in the Lord. And so look at this Wisdom psalm with me. It's in the 37th Psalm. If you have your Bible, look there. If not, take a look at the screen. Let's read about eight verses here and you'll see some of the secrets to joy. In fact, if you wanted a subtitle for what I wanna share with you this morning, I would say these are things to do when you don't know what to do. I mean when you're just at a point where you say I've outputted my coverage here, I don't know what to do. Well, here are some things you can do when you don't know what to do. Here it is. Open us up. Verse 1. Do not fret. Do not fret. And I'll explain what he means by what he said there. Don't fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. Now let me stop long enough to say. He's saying that son, don't focus on on people in your life that are gonna do wrong. Don't focus on the people in your life that are going to deceive you, that are gonna be crooked. They're gonna cheat. That's how they get through life. Don't let your focus be on them. Sometimes our focus is on the things it shouldn't be on. We look at people. How are they getting by with that? Well somebody needs to call em out on that. That isn't fair. I'm doing the right thing. They're cheating and they're getting farther down the road in their career than I'm getting. They're bending the rules and they're getting by with it. I follow the rules and it seems like it's harder for me. Well, well that was the dilemma that his son was having and David is simply imparting him. Don't get worked up about these things. Don't fret about these things, understand? Look at verse 2. For they shall soon be cut down like grass and wither as the green herb. He's saying the law of nature is gonna catch em. You reap what you sow. That's what the Bible says. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. If somebody lives by deceit and cheat, they're going to eventually it's going to catch up with them. Trust God, don't worry about that. That's out of your control. So don't get worked up about it and fret about it. So they're gonna get what's coming to em eventually. So verse 3. Here's what you do instead. Trust in the Lord, do good, take care of you. Quit focusing on them and what they're not doing or what they are doing that they shouldn't be doing, and focus on you. Trust in the Lord. Do good, he said, and dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Now that just simply means bloom where you're planted and trust the faithfulness of God. Dwell in the land means God's planted me here. I'm in this career, I'm in this job. I'm gonna do the best that I can with the abilities God has given me. And I'm gonna trust God to take care of me. That's the idea of it. In verse four, Delight yourself also in the Lord. And when you do that, he'll give you the desires of your heart. Verse 5. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him. He will bring it to pass. Quit fretting and quit worrying about this stuff. Verse 6. He'll bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Verse 7. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him. Here it is again. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings evil schemes or wicked schemes to pass. Verse 8. Cease from anger, forsake wrath. And here it is, number three and eight verses. Do not fret. It only causes harm. You're ruining your joy. You're hurting your heart when you are fretting. Have you noticed? Three times he says, don't fret. He starts out and he ends in verse eight. Don't fret. Don't fret. Don't fret. What does it mean to fret? To fret is the idea in the Hebrew of a slow burn. It is the idea of getting worked up over. Over something that is not in your control. It is allowing yourself to obsess about something or to obsess over someone to the point that you can't get them or you can't get it out of your mind, and you have empowered them to take the joy out of you. And all of a sudden, that person and that problem that you can't fix, that person or that problem that you can't change, you've given them the power in your life that to affect your joy and your peace. And so he's saying, son, I've been here, I've had opposition and I've had oppression. And I know what that looks like. You gotta chill. You gotta quit fretting about this. You gotta Quit allowing yourself to get worked up over things that are not in your control. Control what you can. You can't control what other people do. So don't get worked up about that. Don't let it offend. Do not fret. If I were to summarize the first three verses in terms of great advice that'll bring about joy that comes out of wisdom, I would say David is communicating principle number one, Rely on the Lord. Rely on the Lord. Just trust God. Trust him with the things that you can't change. Trust him with the people that you can't change. Just rely on the Lord. Trust in the Lord. Do not fret. Don't allow these things to spin you out, to work you up. Instead, how do you keep from fretting? Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. Just say, God, I can't control them. I can't control this. So I'm gonna put my complete trust in you. Now, how do you increase your trust in God? Well, think about it. Practically, you and I only trust people that we know. You're not gonna trust a ranked stranger. You're not gonna leave your credit card on a counter and walk off. Cause you don't know who may come up behind you. You're gonna say to your son or your daughter or your spouse or somebody you love, here's my card. You know. Cause you know them, right? You'll trust people that you know. And number two, you'll trust people that you love. That's why when somebody violates your trust, it's so hurtful and painful. And it takes time to rebuild that trust. That's why in God we trust. But everybody else, you know, I mean, it's shaky sometimes, but I'm just suggesting you that if we put our trust in God, he will never violate our trust. He will never abuse that trust. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. God doesn't just love all of us, he loves each one of us. He has a plan and a purpose for our life. And David is saying, here's how you keep from getting spun up about people in your life that you can't control. And you don't agree with them. Quit focusing on them and put your focus on the Lord. Fret not. Instead, trust in the Lord. Put your trust in him. A great verse is one of my life verses is Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Now, he didn't say that. You're not to have understanding. Understanding is knowledge. Comprehension. Understanding. Think of the word. This Way. Understanding is the truth that you're standing under. In other words, here's my understanding of this situation. This is my grasp of the facts. Here are the facts as I know them. My understanding is I'm standing on these facts based upon what I know. That is my understanding. Now, the reason he says lean not on your own understanding is I don't have all the facts. I don't know everything. I mean, there was a time in our country when a lot of people in Medical Science thought. Dr. Burke, they thought at one point that people needed to be bled when they got sick. They would bleed them a little bit. And I know to some extent I've been bled. They took about a pint of blood off me for some. I don't know why did I tell you that story? This is the stupid. I've done some stupid things. This was one of the stupid things I did. They had to. My blood count was off. And so they had to. They had to draw blood. And so what I didn't think about. I thought about when you do blood work, you don't eat. Well, this was about three in the afternoon and they're gonna pull a pint of blood off of me. I forget what that word is called, that they do that. But anyway, they pulled this pint of blood. So after I'm sitting there in this oversized chair in the doctor's office and he says, after they had drawn the blood, they said, now, you did eat today, right? I said, no. And they said, you didn't eat? She looked shocked. And I said, no, I thought it was blood. She goes, no, it's a blood draw. We're not doing blood. You're supposed to. I mean, here I am nearly 68 years old and you'd think I'd have more sense, right? No, no. And then he says, well, let me get you some crackers and orange juice. Just sit there. That's the last thing I remember him saying. When I woke up, I had nurses doing this on my chest. And they were about to call an ambulance to go cart me off. I don't know what happened, but I'm just telling you. It used to be common knowledge that if a person got sick, they'd bleed them. They'd just bleed them. Regardless of what the illness was, they'd bleed them a little bit. But that was the common idea of the day. In fact, many people believe George Washington actually died anemic because they bled him too much. Well, now, if you go to the doctor with a sinus infection, he's probably not gonna pull a pint of blood off of you. Medical science has advanced. But I'm saying at the time of our understanding, at our understanding, at that moment. Cause we didn't have, or we didn't have science to take us farther or to advance us. We followed our understanding. You see my point. My point is you and I have a certain amount of understanding based on our knowledge. But if I lean too heavily on that, I don't have all the facts. That's why we should never judge each other. Because you don't know the circumstances. You don't know what this person is going through. You don't know what drove them to make the decisions they made. You don't know where they're coming from or where they've been. [00:17:02] Speaker A: You. [00:17:02] Speaker B: You don't have that knowledge. So back to my life verse. Proverbs 3, 5, 6. You trust in the Lord. Why, he's got all that knowledge. I trust him. I don't lean on my understanding and all my ways. Acknowledge him. And you know what he says in verse six? I'll keep you on the right path. I'll direct your path. So what was the advice that David was giving here 3,000 years ago? He's saying, trust the Lord. Don't get spun up about things that are out of your control. You're gonna fret and you're gonna stew and you're gonna get upset. Instead, trust in the Lord. And then notice the second piece of advice in that same verse. He said, and just do good. Do good. Just do what you're supposed to do. Just get up tomorrow and do what you're supposed to do. Just go about your day and say, I know what my day is. I looked at my schedule. I know what my plans are. I'm gonna do the things that God has called me to do, and I'm gonna do. Dwell in the land and I'm going to pursue faithfulness. I'm gonna bloom where I'm planted. I'm gonna trust God. I'm gonna rely on Him. This was the first piece of wisdom that he's giving us from this beautiful psalm. Here's the second piece. Not only rely on the Lord, number one, but number two. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Look at verse four. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he'll give you the desires of your heart. He's saying, find your joy in the Lord. Delight in him. Desire to be in God's presence. One of the things that Paul wrote about in Philippians, he said, my Heart's desire is that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. Paul said it's not just knowing about God. We can teach you about God. Hopefully we're learning something about God from a message this morning. You can get in a Bible study or listen to a podcast and learn about God. And learning about God is important, but there comes a point when you don't just need to know about him, you need to know him. I mean, if you meet your spouse and you wanna know about them, or you meet somebody you're interested in, you wanna know about them. But eventually, if there's a real interest there and a connection, you wanna know them. Not just know about them. You wanna know them. That's where intimacy happens in a relationship. You know what intimacy could be called? You could call the word intimacy. Into me, I see intimacy. It's when you can look into someone's heart and you know them. Into me, I see I am connected to this person. I can see in their heart. That's why somebody could come to you about somebody you love and say, hey, I wanna tell you what he said or what she said. And you'd say, now what exactly did you say? They said, well, they said this. Well, give me the exact words. They said these words. How did they say it when they said that? Well, they said these words this way. Now, if you know them real well, you're gonna know one of two things. First of all, you're gonna say, if they would have said that, that's not how they would have said it. And if they would have said it that way, they wouldn't have said it with that attitude. How do you know that? You didn't have to have been there, but you know them well enough to know what? They wouldn't have said it that way. And they wouldn't have said that. Now, they might have said something else, but they wouldn't said it that way. Why? Because you know them. There's an intimacy there, a connection there. Because you know, well, that's the relationship that God desires to have with his children. That's why he said in Exodus 23, one of the top 10, he said, I don't want you to have any other gods before me. Before me. Think about that in front of me. In other words, nothing should be between you and me. To have other gods or have other things we love more than God standing between us and him, whatever that is, becomes the object of our affection, and it becomes our God with a little G. And God Is a jealous God. He wants to be priority. How does he look at the Bible? How does the Bible open in the beginning? God, it opens there. He wants to be the preeminent one. He wants to be large and in charge. And so what David is simply saying is, man, when it comes to God, delight in him, get to know him and get to spend time with him. And I would recommend on a practical level, how do you delight in the Lord? Make sure you start every day with God. How do you do that? Spend time in His Word. Before you get out of bed in the morning, grab your phone or your Bible and spend some time. What I try to do is I'll read a proverb, there's 31, and I'll read a proverb that corresponds with a particular day. And then I'll read a psalm, because it's the praise factor. I'll read a psalm that corresponds with that particular day. And that's part of my morning devotional regimen and routine. And in doing that, I pray that God gives me wisdom as I face the day that he protects those that I love and our church and the work of the CRC and all those things that I pray for each day, our team. I pray for our church, family. So those are disciplines that I have in my life. But I'm just simply saying what keeps my delight in the Lord is when I purposely, intentionally make him the priority. I mean, if you walked in your house every day and never talked to the persons you love, they're gonna pick up real quick that there's something wrong with this relationship. You walk in and you out, and there's no connection. There's no conversation. There's no intimacy in that. You're gonna pick up on that pretty quick. Well, that's true with your spiritual walk with God. When I read the Bible, that's giving him an opportunity to speak to me. When I pray, that's me speaking to him. If a conversation's gonna be intelligent, it oughta go both ways. So when I spend time with God, then I'm open to what his spirit would say through his word to my heart. And then when I speak to Him, I'm doing what he said. He said, cast all your cares. Pray to me. Pray about all things. That's what he desires me to do. What's my point? My point in following those disciplines, God will give you the desires of your heart. He'll change the desire. You say, is that a blank check? God's promise, as I desire him, he'll give me the desires of my heart. Well, that's not what it's talking about. Because when you desire God, you'll desire what he desires for you. God will not want anything or wish anything or give you anything that would be harmful to you. That's why you need to be thankful that he didn't answer every prayer you've ever prayed in the way you prayed it. Have you thought about some of the crazy stuff you prayed for? I have. I mean, thank God for unanswered prayers. Do you love that old hymn? I mean, it's just a wonderful thing. Aren't you glad you didn't end up with some of the people? You said, oh, God, this is the one for me. Aren't you glad that didn't happen to you? Now they get to be somebody else's little blessing today. Turn a page. I'm just thinking, man. God will change the desire of your heart when your heart is aligned to him. And he will not give you anything that isn't good for you. Sometimes people look at the Ten Commandments as negative. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not. Listen, think about it this way. God has never said no to anything in my life that would prevent me from having something that was good for me. Just like you as a parent would not allow your child to do anything that would be harmful to them. That's how you show their love. Sometimes it's the release of the Holy Spirit. God says, go. Go for it sometimes. Hey, it's the restraint of the Holy Spirit. He says, hey, hold off on that. Remember when you're teaching your kids to drive. I've got two grandkids that just turned 15, and Shannon and Rick, they're driving somewhere. I hadn't quite, quite gotten there yet with my nerves. Usually you'll get older, you should get wiser, but your nerves get a little more frazzled. Have you noticed that? And so I'm just trying to work myself up where I'm very comfortable. Riding with one of my grandkids, driving. I'll get there. Pray for me. But I'm not quite there. But when they turn 15, when they turn 15 and you go to driver's ed. I took driver's ed od Wyatt High School back in the day. I took driver's ed. And can I tell you the first thing they show you the first time you drive that driver's ed car? You know what it is? The brake pedal. They don't show you the gas pedal. I asked an instructor one time, I said, have you ever had to point out the accelerator. He said, never needed to. He said, if you'll notice, there's a brake pedal on this side of my car. Now, back in the day, there was a brake pedal over there for the instructor. Smart thing to put that over. Cause kids didn't need to know how to go. They needed to know how to stop. Well, that's true in my life and yours. Sometimes it's not the release of the Holy Spirit, it's not the go. It's the restraint of the Holy Spirit. It's the woe where he slows us down. And I'm saying, all that comes when the desires of my heart, when I align myself to him. I understand. God will give me the things and he'll bring the people into my life that is best for me. All things work ultimately for my good and his glory. I trust him. What am I driving at? I'm saying rely on the Lord. I'm saying number two, rejoice in the Lord. Here's number three. I'm saying resign to the Lord. Resign to the Lord. Look at verse 5. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him. He'll bring it to pass. Commit. Where do I get resigned from? Commit? Well, the word commit in the Hebrew means to roll into. It means to take your life, have momentum, and roll everything you have onto him. Just simply say, lord, I surrender is another word. God, my life is in your hands. I trust you. I'm gonna roll my cares upon you first. Peter 5, 7. Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. The idea of commit is momentum. It means that every day I wake up, I'm gonna rely on the Lord. I'm gonna commit myself to him. I'm gonna roll it into him. I remember as a kid in Sunday school in my dad's old church, we used to sing, Rolled away, rolled away, rolled away Every burden of your heart Rolled away We need a little science to it. Roll away, roll away. All right. Every sin had to go Neath the crimson flow. Hallelujah. Roll away, roll away, roll away. I also remember I'm in the Lord's army. Anybody do that? I may never ride something by fly or the enemy. Yeah. Shoot with you. Thank you. You did that and then you remember. Stop and let me tell you, okay? I'm 100 years old. Those are real things. But the idea of rolling, rolling, rolling, we were taught that. Even though I never made that connection, but the idea of rolling into rolled away. Roll. It's committing. It's just saying, God, today I'm Committing my life to you. I'm committing my anxiety to you. I'm committing my cares to you. I'm rolling this onto you. I've resigned myself. Not your will, rather my will, but your will be done. How did Jesus pray? Jesus said, not my will be done, but thine. A lot of times when we pray, we say, God, I want my will to be done in heaven. Instead of saying, God, I want your will to be done on earth. So resign to the Lord. What is this? This is advice from wisdom. This is David talking 3,000 years ago in the song that he had written. He's saying, rely on the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, Resign to the Lord. Here's the last one, and we'll go home. He said fourthly, verse seven and eight, rest in the Lord. Just rest in God. Just chill out. Notice what he said. Rest in the Lord. How do you do that? You wait patiently for him. And again, don't be angry. Don't get worked up. Don't fret. Here you go again. You're doing it again. And I think the reason we kind of book in that do not fret on either end of the message is cause that's typically how we do. Have you ever been in a service like this and you feel like you've gotten victory over whatever that issue was? And man, you don't get the roundabout. And it's gone. Whatever you got in there is gone. And I think that's why he opens there in verse one. Don't fret in the middle. Don't fret. And he ends, don't fret. And he's kind of closing here by saying, just rest in God. Chill out. Rest in the Lord. Rest comfortably in God. You say, well, how do I really rest in God? And he gives you the qualifier, by waiting patiently on him. Now, wait. The idea of wait in the Hebrew is not. It's not passive, it's active. Isaiah 40. Those who wait on the Lord, renew their strength. They mount up with wings as eagles. They run. They're not weary. They walk and they not faint. That's not passive. That doesn't. Waiting on the Lord doesn't mean I just kick back when I get home and do nothing. That doesn't mean tomorrow morning, the alarm goes off. I go, oh, I need to go to work. But nope, I'm gonna wait. I'm waiting on God. I'm waiting on God to meet my financial needs. I'm waiting on God. That's not what the word means. It's not passive. It's active. The idea of waiting on God is to give attention to when you leave. In a little while, some of you will go to a restaurant and you will have a waiter, a waitress. What are they doing? You ask anyone. And we have a lot of people in food service in our church, and they will tell you that is not a passive job. That's very active. They're working for tips. And you should tip them. They're working hard to make sure you have a great experience. And they are waiting on your table. Well, if they're good at what they're doing, that means waiting on you, means they're giving you attention. That means they're seeking to meet your needs. That means they want you to have a great experience. So what does that mean, to wait on God? That means, lord, I'm listening. I'm all ears. I'm attentive to you. What do you want me to learn from this experience? God, I'm waiting. And then he gives this word, waiting patiently. Oh, my. That's different. People ask me from time to time about patience. Cause when I say something like this, they don't understand. So I'll say it again, hopefully not to create confusion, but to explain some things you shouldn't pray for. Okay, you shouldn't pray for patience. And I'll explain why. The Bible says tribulation brings about patience. Don't pray for patience, pray for trouble. Cause that's the only way you're gonna get patience. See what I'm saying? If you really want patience in your life, patience is the indirect result of going through trouble. If you wanna be a patient person, then you get patience by how you navigate through trouble. Tribulation brings about patience. So what does the word patience mean? It is the first cousin to the word endurance. Here's what that looks like. When you go to God in prayer and you're looking for an answer in prayer, he will do one of two things. He will either answer the prayer in the way you prayed it. He'll lift that burden off of you immediately. And thank God, I love it when that happens. When you pray and all of a sudden, man, the answer is there. You pray for provision and there's provision. You pray for an opportunity and there's that opportunity. You pray for whatever and you get that great report. He does that sometimes. Sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he lifts the burden from his child. Now follow me. Sometimes he gives the child the strength to carry the burden. That's endurance. That's patience. Patience mean waiting. Patience means God, I'm looking to you. I'm listening to you. I'm attentive to you. And wow, you haven't lifted this burden from me. I'm still dealing with this. I'm under something that's heavy. But, God, you've given me strength to patiently wait on you. So while I'm doing that, I'm gonna rest in you because I know you're the answer. I can't get myself out of this. I've out punted my coverage. I recognize, God, you are in control. I'm not. So I'm not gonna get spun up about it. I'm not gonna fret about it. I'm gonna let it ruin my job and ruin my joy. Instead, I'm gonna rely on you. I'm gonna rejoice in you, God, I'm gonna continue to look to you and lean on you, and I'm gonna commit to you and I'm gonna rest in you because you have all the answers. You're in control and I'm not. So I trust you fully. I trust you completely. That's why I said, cease from anger. Just don't get angry about it. Walk out of this room this morning going, okay, God, for some reason, you hadn't answered my prayer yet. For some reason, you haven't lifted my burden yet. But I'm gonna rest in you. I'm gonna keep doing what I need to be doing. I'm gonna keep being faithful. I'm gonna keep giving you praise. I'm gonna praise you in the storm. I'm gonna praise you when it doesn't make sense. I'm. I'm gonna be faithful because I know in your time, you're gonna bring me through. This is not a cycle that I've brought on myself. This is a season. And you will bring me through this season. And it's trusting in him, believing that God loves you more than you could ever imagine. And God only wants what is best for you. And God can be trusted. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your faithfulness. When Jeremiah wrote in lamentations, great is thy faithfulness. Your mercies are new every morning. And, Lord, we pause on this Sunday morning while there's just a few minutes left in the morning, we pause to say, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your mercy. I pray for my friends in this room and many watching online, Father, that they have learned something today that will help them navigate some of the difficult experiences of life that will bring true joy and true peace in the circumstances that they're walking through today. Father, we just give all of that to you. We trust you. And Lord, I pray for my friends who may never have trusted you as their Savior, I pray this might be the moment, the closing moments of this service when they simply pray and say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life. And Father, we'll give you thanks and praise, for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. [00:35:27] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.