2 Samuel 17

That is page 268, if you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles, 2 Samuel 17.

I wonder whether you've ever felt like you are in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, weary,

maybe physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually.

That's a situation David and his followers are in during this chapter.

In fact, that's how they're described in the last verse.

And this evening, we're in a section of 2 Samuel where basically David's life, his kingdom,

his family has been falling apart, largely due to David's own moral failure.

David was in a very vulnerable place for a whole bunch of reasons.

But what we see in this chapter is that even when we failed, and even when our life is falling

apart, God doesn't abandon us to our enemies, but rather he mercifully provides for us.

Now, maybe you've been coming here and through this whole long series in 1 and 2 Samuel, but

maybe you haven't.

So let me just bring us all up to speed on the story of David as it's written in the book

of Samuel.

So the book of 1 Samuel, we see David's suffering.

We see David is anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the future king of Israel.

But then for the rest of the book, for like 16 chapters, King Saul is pursuing him, persecuting

him.

He has to flee into the wilderness.

He's running for his life.

And King Saul's trying to kill him.

He's suffering.

The first 10 chapters of 2 Samuel, after King Saul is killed in battle, we see David's

rise to power.

And David is raised up to reign over the United Kingdom of Israel.

The people come together under him.

He defeats their enemies.

He brings peace.

And God promises that his kingdom will be established forever.

And everything seems great.

And then we see David's fall, starting in chapter 11, when he commits adultery with Bathsheba,

and when he arranges for her husband to be killed in battle.

And after that, David's family begins to fall apart, and David's kingdom begins to fall apart.

And that's what we've seen over the last few chapters.

Chapter 16, David is tricked, and then cursed, and then betrayed.

And so he's not only reaping the consequences of his own failure, he's also being unjustly

treated and attacked.

And even in this situation, David doesn't give up.

He entrusts himself to the Lord.

And here we are in this chapter.

What's happened in this chapter is that David's son, Absalom, has organized a conspiracy and has

rode into Jerusalem, the capital city, and declared himself king.

And David has had to flee.

And so David's gone, and his son, Absalom, has seized the throne, completely against David's

wishes.

And that's sort of what's going on.

And David is in the wilderness again.

It seems like he's right back where he was in 1 Samuel when Saul was pursuing him, and when

he was persecuted again in the wilderness.

Seems like he's risen and fallen, and he's right back there.

So here's where we are tonight.

So I want to walk us through the passage and show us three main things.

Now, the first thing is God doesn't abandon us when we've been betrayed.

We see this in verse 1 through 14.

Now, before I read these verses, verse 1, we see Ahithophel.

Sorry, Ahithophel.

Let me just explain so the story will make sense when I read it.

Ahithophel was David's counselor.

That means his trusted friend and his political advisor.

Ahithophel was widely respected.

If you look at the last verse of chapter 16, it says people took his words like they were

the word of God.

It literally says that, right?

He was widely respected, and his words were weighty.

So he had been David's counselor, David's friend, but then he defected.

He betrayed David.

He joined Absalom's conspiracy.

When Absalom tried to seize the throne from his father.

And when David heard about that, he was devastated.

And he prayed.

He said, Lord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

He realized that unless God intervened, things weren't looking good.

Because Ahithophel was a wise and strategic counselor.

And now he had deserted David.

All right, so here we are, chapter 17.

Ahithophel is in Jerusalem with Absalom, David's son.

So moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, let me choose 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue

David tonight.

I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and

all the people who are with him will flee.

I will strike down only the king, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride

comes home to her husband.

You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.

And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

Then Absalom said, call Hushai the archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.

Now Hushai is David's friend, and he's hanging with Absalom, but he's actually like a spy.

And so he's trying to give Absalom bad advice to trick him, because he's actually on David's

side.

So let me briefly run through Ahithophel's plan.

So Ahithophel, if you look at what his plan is, he's basically like, let me take care of

this.

Okay?

I'll choose 12,000 men.

That means 12 military units.

Sometimes 1,000 was a word referring to a military unit, even if it didn't have, even

it didn't always have 1,000 people in it.

But he says, let me take 12 military units, sort of representing all the 12 tribes of

Israel.

We're going to go target David, finish him off tonight, and the kingdom's yours.

Clean.

I'll take care of it.

I'll take the risk.

I'll take responsibility.

I'll make sure it happens.

I'll do it.

His plan is careful, calculated, and concise.

He knows that David is in a vulnerable position, and he is saying, I'll finish him off.

Okay, second plan, Hushai the Archite.

Verse 6.

When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, thus has Ahithophel spoken, shall we

do as he says?

If not, you speak.

Then Hushai said to Absalom, this time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.

Hushai said, you know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged

like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field.

Besides, your father is expert in war.

He will not spend the night with the people.

Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place.

And as soon as some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say,

there has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.

Then even the valiant man whose heart is like the heart of a lion will utterly melt with fear.

For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are

valiant men.

But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand by

the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.

So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon

him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and all the men with him, not one will

be left.

If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall

drag it into the valley until not even a pebble is to be found there.

Now, if you compare these two speeches of advice, they're almost completely opposite.

And his fellow's like, I'll do it.

I'll do it now.

I'll take care of it.

He's crisp.

He's clean.

He's a military guy, and he knows what he's doing.

Hushai the Archite, his speech is three times as long.

Absalom, it's full of flowery metaphors and grandiose ambitions.

And he doesn't say, I'll take care of it.

He says, Absalom, you, you know best.

You know your father.

You should lead the people into battle.

You should gather all Israel to you from the far north to the far south.

And you lead them majestically.

And don't just kill David.

Wipe out everyone who's on his side.

If they're in a city, you put ropes around that city and drag it to the ground until it

doesn't exist anymore.

Well, verse 14.

Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the council of Hushai the Archite is better than

the council of Ahithophel.

Hushai successfully appealed to Absalom's pride, his vanity, his desire to be at the center

of everything, even though Ahithophel's advice was actually militarily the more prudent advice.

The advice that would have worked if he took it.

But then we have the end of verse 14, which says, for the Lord had ordained to defeat the

good council of Ahithophel so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

Now, if you read the book of Samuel, if you read most biblical narratives, there aren't many

statements like this one.

That explicitly reveal God's sovereign purposes.

And so when you see one, you should stop and notice it.

It's sort of like if you're hiking.

If you're hiking on a trail in the woods, most of the time, you got to look for those little

dots, right?

On the rocks or on the trees in front of you.

And if it snowed, then you got to look even more carefully or follow the footprints, right?

And you're sort of looking one at a time.

But then every once in a while, you might come to a clearing or a trail junction or a major

landmark.

And there's this like big wooden sign, right?

That says summit 1.4 miles.

Waterfall 3.6 miles.

This trail, you know, West Trail, North Trail, whatever.

Right?

And so when you get to one of those markers, you're not just sort of going step by step,

but you can sort of see the big picture.

And you get an idea, that's where I want to go.

That's where this trail is leading me.

And that's like what this, this statement is one of those big signs that says, here's

what God is doing in the midst of all this, you know, human acting and reacting.

You know, because if you just read these stories, you know, it can sometimes be confusing.

Who's on whose side?

And who's right?

And who's wrong?

And should we, you know, is Ahithophel right?

Is Hushai right?

And what about David?

I mean, David's the anointed king, but then he does this terrible thing with Bathsheba.

And I mean, is he good?

Is he bad?

Like, it's a little murky.

All right, but what does this statement say?

So first of all, it says Ahithophel's counsel was good.

Now that doesn't mean it's morally good, but it means it was strategically effective.

Or functionally effective.

It would have worked if Absalom had followed it, but the Lord had arranged to frustrate it.

You see, God had chosen David to be king and not Absalom.

And the main point of Samuel, if you want to summarize the book of Samuel in one sentence,

it's God brings down the proud and he raises up the humble.

And Absalom is one of the proud who exalts himself and lifts himself up.

And so God says, I'm going to bring him down.

And I'm going to, even though David has failed, he had repented.

And God says, I'm not done with David yet.

I'm not going to bring David down forever.

I'm not done with him.

I'm going to uphold him because he trusts in me.

So we see God didn't abandon David.

Even when David was betrayed by one of his closest advisors,

by one of his, when he had lost one of his best resources,

God didn't abandon him.

So that's the first point.

Second point, what we see in this passage is God judges those who remain unfaithful to his kingdom.

If you look down at verse 23, we see Ahithophel's reaction to his advice not being followed.

Verse 23, when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed,

he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city.

He set his house in order and hanged himself.

And he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

So Ahithophel saw that Absalom didn't follow his advice.

I think he realized Absalom didn't follow my advice.

Things aren't, and so Absalom's not going to succeed.

And if David comes back on the throne,

I've just betrayed the king and committed treason against the king.

So I'm going to deserve the death penalty.

There's no future for me in David's kingdom.

So I'm going to end it myself.

So Ahithophel, I want to spend a little time thinking about Ahithophel.

Because his life ended tragically.

He was David's counselor.

High official in David's kingdom.

Powerful, close to David.

Trusted confidant.

David relied on him.

And his life ends in a tragic way.

When he saw no hope for his future.

So let me ask this question.

Why would Ahithophel join Absalom instead of remaining loyal to David?

Why did he betray David?

You have to think about this.

You might think, well, maybe Ahithophel gave David some advice

that David didn't listen to.

And so Ahithophel was like, I don't want to advise you anymore

if you're not going to listen to me.

Well, that's probably actually not right.

Because chapter 16, verse 23 says,

both Absalom and David highly esteemed Ahithophel's advice.

So it's probably not because David didn't listen to him.

You might think, well, maybe Ahithophel was being pragmatic.

Maybe he was like, David's getting older.

He seems indecisive.

If Absalom's young and handsome, charismatic leader,

I'm going to side with the winner.

Possibly.

But at the same time, Absalom was a risky bet.

And he didn't end up listening to Ahithophel's advice.

And he didn't end up succeeding.

There's one very likely factor that motivated Ahithophel.

And we can't be 100% sure,

but I think this is the most likely reason

that would have motivated him to do what he did.

If you look in 2 Samuel 23, 34,

it's an obscure verse.

It says, Ahithophel had a son named Eliam.

Now, there's only one other place

where a man named Eliam appears in the Bible.

And that's 2 Samuel 11, verse 3.

2 Samuel 11:3

Right?

These are two verses you'd sort of never notice

unless you do a Bible gateway word search.

Right?

And you realize these are the only two.

And you've got to have somebody

who tells you to do that word search too

because you wouldn't guess it on your own.

Right?

I didn't guess this on my own.

Right?

Eliam was the father of Bathsheba.

Now, if this is the same Eliam,

which it probably is,

Ahithophel is Bathsheba's grandfather.

Now, imagine if you're Ahithophel

and you're David's counselor

and Bathsheba is your granddaughter.

And then you see what David does.

That he steals her from her husband

and violates her

and then gets her husband killed.

And then you think,

am I going to stick with this guy or not?

Maybe we can understand

why Ahithophel defected.

He was furious with David.

And in one sense, he was right

because God was furious with David too.

And that's why God sent the prophet Nathan

to rebuke him

after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

But when Nathan confronted him,

what was David's response?

David said,

I've sinned against the Lord.

And he wept.

And he wrote what we have now as Psalm 51

where he said,

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love.

I'm full of sin and iniquity

and I need your mercy.

And I rely only on your mercy.

And the prophet Nathan said to him,

The Lord has put away your sin.

You shall not die.

In other words,

God's not finished with you yet.

God saw that David's repentance

was sincere.

It wasn't just a show,

but it was sincere

and enduring.

And God said to David,

I'm not going to totally remove you

from my kingdom.

And I think that's what Ahithophel

couldn't accept.

Ahithophel couldn't accept

that God would forgive

and even restore David

after such a serious moral failure

involving his granddaughter,

of all people.

But here's the irony.

In Ahithophel's animosity toward David,

Ahithophel ends up advising Absalom

to be even worse

than David was.

David had violated Bathsheba.

But the first thing Ahithophel

advises Absalom to do

is sleep with all of David's concubines

in a tent on the roof of the palace.

The end of chapter 16.

David had violated one woman

and Ahithophel counsels Absalom

to violate a whole bunch of them.

to establish his kingdom, supposedly.

David had intentionally arranged

for Uriah to be killed in battle

and targeted.

That's exactly what Ahithophel says

to do to David.

He says,

come upon him when he's weary

and discouraged

and in a panic

and kill him.

And then at the end,

Ahithophel couldn't fathom

the possibility

that God could forgive

and restore David

after he had sinned

so grievously.

And so when Ahithophel

saw that he had failed

grievously

and his advice wasn't listened to,

Ahithophel couldn't imagine

any possibility

that David

would ever forgive

and restore him

and include him

in his kingdom again.

Now here's another irony.

In chapter 19,

when David returns

to Jerusalem,

he forgives all his enemies.

He forgives the guy

who tricked him

in chapter 16.

He forgives the guy

who cursed him

in chapter 16.

And most likely,

he would have forgiven Ahithophel

if Ahithophel was still there.

You see,

Ahithophel's unwillingness

to forgive David

poisoned his career,

poisoned his judgment,

and poisoned his life

and his end.

So I think there's a warning here.

If there's someone

that you're unwilling

to forgive,

if there's someone

that you're holding

a grudge against,

if there's someone

that you don't want

to be reconciled with

even if they repent,

beware.

Hebrews says,

don't see to it

that no root

of bitterness

springs up

and causes trouble

and by it

many become defiled.

That's why Jesus

taught us to pray,

forgive us

our sins

even as we forgive

those who sin

against us.

Because,

you see,

when we're unwilling

to forgive others,

we can become

as bad

or worse

than the people

we refuse

to forgive.

And that's the warning

that we see

from Ahithophel.

Perhaps a warning

we wouldn't have expected.

But there's also

an invitation

to come to the king

and be forgiven.

To receive forgiveness

from Jesus Christ

and by his spirit

living in us

to have the power

to extend his forgiveness

to others

and to be reconciled

to someone

when they also

express repentance.

There's only one other

character in the Bible

who's like Ahithophel.

Maybe you can see

the parallels.

A trusted friend

who ended up

betraying

the Lord's anointed king

whose counsel

was turned to foolishness

and who ended

his life in despair.

Judas.

Of course

unlike David

Judas had no

Jesus had committed

no sin

that Judas

had to forgive

or overlook.

But it's certainly

possible that

one of the things

Judas resented

about Jesus

was his teaching

about forgiveness.

It's possible

that Judas

was one of the zealots

that may be

what his last name

means

Iscariot

and the zealots

were people

who wanted to kill

the Romans

and overthrow them

and Judas

may have been

disappointed

that that wasn't

Jesus' agenda

and that Jesus

even talked about

forgiveness

for enemies.

That may have been

part of why

Judas

decided

I'm not going to

follow this king

anymore.

And just like

David

and Ahithophel

well

well

Jesus offered

Judas his

friendship

to the very end.

He gave him

the piece of bread

at the last supper

reaching out to him

offering him

his friendship

his loyalty

and yet

Judas rejected it.

Anyway

God

provides

God

doesn't

abandon us

when we're

betrayed

God judges

those who remain

unfaithful to his

kingdom

and third

God provides

for us

through faithful

friends.

So we've seen

God's purpose

to bring down

Absalom

and to rescue

David

but we also

see in this

chapter

some of how

God accomplished

that plan.

If you read

verse 15

let's look at

verse 15

then Hushai

said to

Zadok

and Abiathar

the priests

thus and so

did Ahithophel

counsel Absalom

and all

the elders

of Israel

and thus and so

have I counsel.

Now therefore

send quickly

and tell David

don't stay

tonight at the

fords of the

wilderness

by all means

pass over

lest the king

and all the people

who are with him

be swallowed up.

It seems like

Hushai doesn't

know

what Absalom's

going to do.

He doesn't know

if Absalom's

going to listen

to Ahithophel

and start

pursuing David

immediately

or if he's

going to listen

to Hushai

who's basically

getting him

to delay.

And so Hushai

sends a warning

message to David

through some people

that he had

previously arranged.

And so in this

chapter we see

how that happened.

There are

at least

five different

people involved.

Zadok

and Abiathar

the priests.

They tell their

sons Jonathan

and Ahamaz

in verse 17

and there's

a female servant

involved as well

who's passing

the message to them.

They almost get

found out.

Verse 18

a young man

saw them

and told Absalom

so both of them

went away quickly

and came to the

house of a man

at Behurim

who had a well

in his courtyard.

They went down

into it

and the woman

the man's wife

took and spread

a covering over

the well's mouth

and scattered grain

on it

and nothing was

known of it.

When Absalom's

servants came to

the woman at the

house they said

where Ahamahaz

and Jonathan

and the woman

said to them

they have gone

over the

brook of water

and when they

had sought

and could not

find him

they returned

to Jerusalem.

After they had

gone the men

came up out

of the well

and went

and told

King David

and David

flees.

So you might

ask well

okay so what's

the point of

that whole

paragraph I

just read?

Why doesn't

the author

simply say

Absalom didn't

follow Ahithophel's

counsel he

followed Hushai's

counsel and so

David was safe.

Why does he

tell this whole

story about two

guys and being

seen and being

hidden in a well

and the woman

saying no they're

not here they're

over the water.

here's what I

think the point

of this paragraph

is.

Not only that it

would make a good

action movie scene

right?

Narrow escape

they barely make

it but we see

in this chapter

we see God's

sovereign purpose

verse 14 and we

also see the

people whom God

uses who take

risks to be

loyal to David

whom God uses

to accomplish

his purpose.

So we see that

God has sovereign

purposes and that

we're also

responsible to

play our part

in them.

And God uses

people who step

up and do

their little parts

even if it's

passing on a

message to

somebody else or

hiding two guys

under a well.

Sort of like

Rahab did when

the spies came

into Jericho

back in the

book of Joshua.

So we see

both these things

in the midst of

a hostile world

God has a

sovereign plan to

preserve his

kingdom and we

see that God

uses us when we

take risks and

step out in ways

that are loyal to

him.

Verse 24

David arrives at

Mahanaim

that's about 30

miles north of

where he'd crossed

the Jordan

and we come to

the end of the

chapter verse 27

when David came to

Mahanaim

Shobbi the son of

Nahash from

Rabbah of the

Ammonites and

Mekur the son of

Amiel from

Lodabar and

Barzillai the

Gileadite from

Rogalim brought

beds, basins, and

earthen vessels,

wheat, barley,

flour, parched

grain, beans, and

lentils, honey, and

curds, and sheep, and

cheese from the

herd for David and

the people with him

to eat for they

said the people are

hungry and weary

and thirsty in the

wilderness.

So we see God

provides for David

when one of his

closest advisors has

betrayed him.

God provides several

faithful friends.

All these people who

pass along the

message so that David

can be warned and

flee to safety and

preserve his own

life and the life of

the men with him.

And we see these

three men in verse

27 to 28 who come

to provide a place

for them to rest and

some food and drink to

refresh them in the

wilderness.

And so we see God

provides for David

through faithful

friends.

Now these three guys

at the end, let me

just introduce you to

them briefly because

they're an interesting

bunch.

Shobbi, son of

Nahash from Rabbah

of the Ammonites.

Now he's interesting

because he is from a

pagan background, an

Ammonite, right?

The Ammonites were

another group of people

who were not part of

the people of Israel.

And Shobbi's brother

appears in chapter 10.

Basically David had a

sort of some kind of a

treaty or David was

loyal to Nahash, the

father of Shobbi and

his brother.

And Nahash had been

loyal to David.

And so when Nahash

died, David sent a

delegation to express

condolences to the

family concerning the

death of their father

who had been the king.

And Shobbi's brother

rejected this kindness.

And he was like,

yeah, right.

David's, this is fishy

business.

And so he shames David's

men and he sends them

back home and treats

them very badly and

rejects them.

But Shobbi here must have

seen David's kindness and

loyalty.

And we see that Shobbi

responded positively.

Right?

So Shobbi's brother was

like, yeah, right.

Don't deal with this guy.

You know, he's tricking you.

And Shobbi's like,

actually, no, he's not.

He's the real stuff.

He's good to his word.

And his, he was won over

by David's kindness and

loyalty, even though he

was from a non-Israelite

background.

So that's the first guy.

Second guy, Machir, son of

Amiel from Lodabar.

The only other thing we know

about him is that the

beginning of David's

kingdom, he was taking care

of Mephibosheth, who was

one of Saul's surviving

relatives.

So most likely, he was also

not on David's side from

the beginning.

He was on Saul.

He was probably loyal to

Saul.

That's probably why he was

taking care of Saul's

grandson, Mephibosheth.

And yet, what did David do

to Mephibosheth?

He extended kindness and

loyalty to him and brought

Mephibosheth into his court

and was faithful to his

covenant with Jonathan,

Mephibosheth's father.

So most likely, this guy

Machir became loyal to

David because he saw

David's kindness again.

Kindness to an outsider.

And the third guy,

Barsili, the Gileadite, in

the next chapter we learn

he's a wealthy, retired,

80-year-old man.

This is the first time he

appears in the story, but

later on, David is also

kind and loyal to him as

well.

And so these three guys,

from all different

backgrounds, have

been won over by David's

kindness.

They've become part of his

kingdom.

They're his loyal followers

because of David's

kindness and David's

loyalty, his steadfast love.

And, you know, isn't that, in

one sense, isn't that a

picture of who we are as a

church?

Right?

We're all different kinds of

people from all different kinds

of backgrounds, and some of us,

you know, would never have grown

up seeing ourselves in a church.

Some of us might have grown up

in another kind of church and

never saw ourselves in a

Baptist church or whatever, and

some of us don't really care that

it's a Baptist church, and

that's fine.

Right?

But we're coming from all

different backgrounds, but

we've been won over by the

kindness and loyalty of our

King, Jesus.

And so we come to follow him,

we come to give our treasures

to him because he has shown us

his kindness, and he has shown us

his faithfulness.

So in conclusion, three things.

God doesn't abandon us when we've

been betrayed.

God judges those who remain

unfaithful to his kingdom.

God provides for us through

faithful friends.

We see how this is true for

David.

Now you might, your last, one

last question, you might say,

well, how do we know it's true

for us?

Okay, it's true for David.

Nice story back then.

How in the world, why in the

world should I assume that it will

be true for me?

Just because it happened to

David doesn't mean it's going to

happen to me the same way.

And here's your answer.

It's not just because it was true

for David, it's true for us.

It's that because, it's that David,

it was true for David, and it was

also true for Jesus.

When Jesus was betrayed, God did not

abandon him.

God did not abandon him to Judas's,

Judas's, or the Jewish leaders, or

the Roman authorities' purposes.

But even through their betrayal, God

accomplished his purpose for Jesus, and

to bring us salvation.

God didn't abandon Jesus when he was

betrayed.

God brought judgment on Judas the

betrayer.

God provided for Jesus.

Even through faithful friends.

Interestingly, most of his followers

abandoned him, but there were a

couple who remained with him to the

end, and who were there with him even

at the cross.

And you know, it's because these things

are true of Jesus, and because Jesus

promises, I will be with you, even to

the end of the world.

That's the reason why you can be

confident these things are true of us,

is if you trust in Jesus as your king,

if you have put your trust in him, even

if, even if like David, you have failed

in the past, even if your life feels like

it's falling apart, even if you're hungry,

thirsty, weary in the wilderness, if you

say, yes, King Jesus, you are my king,

God won't abandon you, even if you're

betrayed.

God will bring judgment on those who

remain outside his kingdom, and God

will provide for you through faithful

friends.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for these stories in

the Old Testament that are so realistic,

Lord, that don't shy away from showing the

messiness of life, the failures that we

often get ourselves into, and the troubles

that we face as human beings, but we thank you

that we see in them your faithful and

steadfast love.

We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ,

and that he is our merciful and faithful

high priest who has drawn near to us and

who has experienced these trials with us and

who's died on behalf of our sins so that we

can know your promises, so that we can know that

you won't abandon us, that you are our friend who

sticks closer than a brother, and you are the

one who provides for us through faithful

friends.

Lord, we pray that we would experience your

provision, that we would trust in your

provision through Jesus Christ, and that we

would be the means of your provision and your

grace for others as your spirit dwells in us.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.