40 Days in the Word: 1 Samuel | March 8 2026 (Part 4)

Once you turn with me in your Bibles to First Samuel, we'll

continue on in our Lenten series.

First Samuel, how are we doing with an hour less?

We get an hour more tacked on the end, which is great, but now

we're less good that you're here.

Great. Let's stay positive, right,

going right on. That's good.

Hey, we have intercessors missing this this morning.

They're at the Alpha retreat is a good group of people at the

Alpha retreat and a number of people that are praying on site

for the people on the Alpha retreat.

So those who are willing, would you pray?

Let us pray this morning that God would move in our midst and

that His Word would be heard right to the depths of our soul.

Amen. Lord, hear us, hear our prayers.

Amen, Amen. For those of you who want to so

we've been walking through Samuel and, and reflecting on

the, the, the text of First Samuel.

But for those of you who want to study a little more deeply, I

want to recommend three resources that I've found

particularly helpful, one from David Sumera.

So this is the new National Commentary on the Old Testament.

Pretty heavy volume, but if you love study to go deeper, this

would be a great one for you to do.

To pick up Joyce Baldwins from the series Dial Old Testament

Commentary. A little shorter, a little

briefer, but still great scholarly work.

And then another one was a little bit is more expository, a

little lighter, but still powerful.

Very effective, very practical. From the Focus on the Bible

series from Dale Ralph Davis, you might want to pick one up.

Actually, I failed to acknowledge Dale Davis's word

last Sunday. Archaeology used that and it was

in my notes they forgot to refer to it, but that that term

actually came from him. So we are in the middle of Old

Testament history. How are you guys doing with it?

How are you doing? Doing OK?

Yeah, if you're not a history buff, do not despair.

There is a reason why this is in the Bible.

God wants us to hear this. These accounts, these are so

significant in helping us that there's there's a reason why

they're there and there's a reason why you're here this

morning. If this is your first time to

force you, we just say welcome. We're so glad that you're here

and we trust that God will speak to you through these very

ancient texts that continue to be relevant to us.

The, the, the chapter we're looking at today is chapter 8,

Isaiah 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 in First Samuel. And this chapter is extreme.

It is an extremely significant chapter with regard to the

history of Israel because it chronicles the point in which

there was a transition from leadership from the judges to

kings. So kingship begins right here.

So before the judges were raised up by God, when they were

needed, Moses was raised up by God.

And there's through through the book of judges, you see leaders

that are raised up by God, and then he raises up another one

after that. We're now gonna read where

there's a transition to kingship, where and one

individual has sons and those sons carry on.

It's like it's a monarchy, right?

The sons carry on from from their father to to lead the

people of Israel. So really keep pointing in

Israel's history, but in particular for those of us who

are not history buffs and couldn't care less about

monarchy and all that kind of stuff.

We do not want to miss the relevance that is here for each

one of us. This this stuff is speaking

directly to our hearts. You know, the the book of James

James 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, James talks about scripture is being like a

mirror. When we read scripture, we see

ourselves reflected back in the scriptures.

We begin to see ourselves rightly.

All of us have false conceptions of ourselves and the only way we

can get that cleared up and to be able to see ourselves the way

that we should is through our reading of the Holy Scriptures.

So last week we referred to the fact that the scriptures reveal

God, reveal the character of God, but it also, along with

that, reveals our own character and helps us to see ourselves

the way that we should be seen in, in relation to God in order

to align ourselves a right, we're going to look at

characters in the Bible. And, and this is no exception

that we're going to think in our deepest places of heart saying,

you know, these people are bozos.

Like how on earth could they be doing stuff like this, right?

It just seems almost ridiculous. But we have to be really careful

that we're not making judgment calls on people from the past or

even people in the present. You know, Jesus warns us, right?

Do not judge, right? You might see a a problem in

somebody else, but he says that's a spec compared to the

log that's in your own eye. So the problems that we see in

others are actually actually reflections of a problem that we

already have ourselves. And so we need to, we need to be

very cognizant of that. Be very careful as you approach

the scriptures and ask God to show us, OK, Lord, how is this

me? What, what can I learn about me

and in humanity in the midst of, of, of the stories that are

being relayed through the scriptures.

So Lord, I pray and if you will join me in frame, Lord, as we

open up your word this morning, that you would reveal yourself

to us and ourselves in relation to you.

Help us to see ourselves a right that we could move past those

areas that are that are stumbling blocks for us and to

honor and magnify you with our lives.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen. So we're in chapter 8 of First

Samuel, and last week we looked at chapters 4 to 6, which were

essentially Samuel lists, right? Chapters 4 to 6 describe how the

glory of God had departed from Israel, how the Ark of the

Covenant, which was a symbol of the presence of God, was

captured by the Philistines and taken out of Israel.

Now as we were reading last last week, we realized that this was

God's intention along the fact that the arc disappeared was a

sign of the fact that the people had already lost their awe of

God and and did not value his presence.

And so the fact that the arc was gone was kind of a symbol.

It was it was a it was a it was a metaphor almost of this is

this is how things are actually for you, Israel.

So as a wake up call for them, well, God of course is fully in

charge. He wanted the art to be

captured. He revealed himself to the

Philistines. He actually brings the ark back

into Israel and he's fighting the battle all by himself.

He doesn't even, he doesn't need his people to fight his own

battles for him. He's doing it all himself.

And so there was this massive wake up call.

So was Adriana was referring to in Chapter 7?

There is this moment where the people realize we've sinned and

it's time to return to the Lord. And so there's this mass return

to the Lord. They're they're getting rid of

their idols and they are now wholeheartedly devoted to God.

And they assemble in Mizpah. This is Chapter 7 and the

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

Philistines, they get, they catch wind that that the, that

the, that the people of Israel are all in this one place

worshipping God there. There's a sacrifice, there's

intercession going on. And they say this is a great

opportunity to destroy them. And so they're, they're ready to

pounce on Israel, but in the middle of the sacrifice, God

actually, he he he he he he completely demolishes the, the,

the Philistines. Just read it here in verse.

Uh, verse 10 says while said this is Chapter 7, verse 10.

Isaiah 7:10

While, well, Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering,

the Philistines drew nearer to engage Israel in battle.

But that day the Lord thundered with loud Thunder against the

Philistines. Not sure what that actually

means, but something happened and, and threw them into such a

panic that they were rooted, rooted before the Israelites.

And and so there's this this absolutely crystal clear example

of God get winning the battle for them.

Victory was, was was was purchased for them.

And then verse 12, it says, then Samuel took a stone and set it

up between Miss Punchin and he named it Ebenezer, not Ebenezer

Scrooge, but Ebenezer, which means the stone of help, stone

of stone of our help. And it says he's saying, thus

far the Lord has helped us. So there's this mass returning

to God. There is a, a monument that is

set up in recognition for what God has done.

And then we get to chapter 8 and there's no, um, there's no

mystery as to why the author puts these two chapters so close

together. It's to reveal the tendency that

we have in ourselves is to show us as great contrast between

where our hearts go and as well and as as the backdrop, the

graciousness of our God in the way that he responds.

We just see the, you know, just the apostle Paul talks about

the, in the, the, the, the immense patience of God for him

as a Sinner, the way that he shows his mercy.

And we see this displayed here in so many ways.

So it's great for us to reflect on this.

So we're going to read through chapter 8 and we're going to

highlight a few ways really essentially our tendency.

What does this show us about our tendency as human beings?

So let's start in verse one. When Samuel grew old, he

appointed his sons as Israel's leaders.

The name of his first born was Joel and the name of his second

was Abuja and they served at Beersheba.

But his sons did not follow his ways.

I they, they turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted

bribes and perverted justice. Just pause there for a minute.

Here's Samuel, very godly man. I'm not sure exactly how he was

as a parent, but he was a godly man.

And still his sons did not follow the Lord.

Our our children. There's no guarantee as we raise

our children in the ways of the Lord, no guarantee that they're

going to follow, follow the Lord.

And some of us may be feeling, you know, very guilty about what

have we done or what have we failed to do.

We can do everything right and our kids are gonna make

decisions, right? Good example here.

Keep going. So all the all the elders of

Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama, and they

said to him, you are old. That's that's quite a way to

start a conversation and your sons do not follow your ways.

Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations

have. But when they said, give us a

king to lead us, this displeased Samuel.

So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him, Listen to all

that the people are saying to you.

It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected

me as their king, as they have done from the day I brought them

out of Egypt until this day forsaken me and serving other

gods. So they are doing to you verse 1

to 8. Our tendency is to reject God.

We, we, we were just kind of look at what is our tendency.

It is to reject God. Now I I wanna take a little bit

of extra time on this particular point.

When I hear that, I think I don't reject God, I love God.

Does that? Does that sound familiar?

Typically, if we're, if we're, if, if we're, if we have any

desire at all to serve the Lord, it's like, no, I do not reject

him. Well, that's exactly how the

people of Israel thought of it as well.

We're not rejecting God, we love God.

We're just asking for a king and there's this subtle shift that

has taken place here. There is a replacement going on

where suddenly the even the God held in their lives was now

being replaced by something else.

So we look that right in, in Chapter 7, after watching God

single handedly give them a victory, now they're now they're

looking for another king to lead them.

God's led him to victory and now they're looking for another.

There's a replacement going on. And, and the fact that this

happens just just like that, just like a switch should tell

us something about us, that we have a tendency, a natural

tendency, propensity to reject God, to turn away from God, to

replace God with other things. What was going on for them?

What was going on for them? If you, if you here they are,

they're worshipping the Lord and the Philistines are creeping up

on them. And in Chapter 7, it's like

suddenly their weaknesses were exposed.

Anything happened to you before in your life where you thought,

man, you know what? I was a sitting duck there.

And it was so lucky that I got out of that.

So I have to make sure that that never happens to me again.

This is kind of what's going on. They're trying to eliminate

their vulnerability, vulnerabilities.

Now they're they had good reason to be anxious.

And you know what? In this broken world, we all

have very good reasons to be anxious.

Think about it. In their case, Samuel, their

judge, their leader is getting really old and his sons aren't

following the Lord. And the Philistines are super

strong and they are organized. What are we going to do?

Yeah, we know God. God is sort of a pickle in

Chapter 7. But here in Chattanooga now,

today is a new day. We gotta figure this out.

And so the requesting a king for stability, this king will unify

us. A king is going to make us

strong. He's gonna enable us to survive.

That's entirely reasonable. I get that.

Do you get that? I totally get that.

That's reasonable. That is logical.

And that is absolutely, according to God, godless.

Because where's God in the middle of all that?

I think it's a really important thing for us to, to to ponder

for a bit. There was a subtle shift that

took place where they were leaning on God suddenly and

realizing just acknowledging their dependence on God.

And now they're leaning on something else.

They're gonna lean on a king. They wanna lead, lead on a lean

on a different king. But God is the true King.

And this is what's communicated again and again in scripture.

I love what Gideon. Gideon summarized it really well

in Judges chapter 8 after he won the victory over the Midianites.

Judges 8 · chapter mention

The people came to him and said we want to make you the king,

and Gideon told them, he says I will not rule over you, nor will

my sons rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.

Why? Because he is the true King.

The Lord is the true King. God has proved himself again and

again and again throughout their history that He is dependable.

He is the one that is raised up leaders in His name, and He's

the one that has led them into battle.

He's the one that has helped them with every decision and

he's gonna get them out of it. And so for the people to say we

want a king, it's like treason. We want to overthrow the current

government, which is headed up by by the Lord God Almighty, the

King of the universe. So it's it's quite a statement.

Now, Deuteronomy chapter 17, we won't go there, but there's

Deuteronomy 17 · chapter mention

there's an allowance for in the future.

So this is in Moses time that there may be a need for a king.

And the way that it's spoken of is actually positive terms.

If the king, if it's done properly, it will be OK.

So the request for a king in an in and of itself is probably not

so bad, but it's the motives that lay behind that request.

Suddenly what we're trusting in has shifted.

We're no longer trusting in the Lord.

We're trusting in a king to look after all these things for us in

Scripture gives us these warnings.

Psalm 118 says it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to

trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in

the Lord than to trust in Princess and some 146 verse

three do not put your trust in Princess, in human beings who

cannot save. Leadership is important.

It's important in a country, it's important in a community.

It's an important in the church. Leadership is absolutely

critical, but we need to be careful not to put so much trust

in the leaders because why? Because they cannot save and

they are not flawless, they will fail us.

And so often, even in the in the in the Christian Church, when

when very prominent and powerful and effective leaders fall, it's

crushing to the human spirit. And particularly so if that's

where our hope is. Our hope is in one liter, my

friends. And his name is Jesus Christ.

He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, and this is his

church. And we have to have our eyes

focused on him and realize that a king, a Prime Minister, a

ruler, a leader, an elder, a pastor, whatever that

leadership, wherever that leadership is, they're going to

disappoint us. And so as important as the gift

of leadership is, it's not a replacement for the living God

himself. And this is the point that's

being made. You know, I, I, I just, I think

about for myself where I have leaned in the past and continued

to lean like, for example, other pastors who I deeply respect,

some of whom have disappointed me greatly and in, in, in those

disappointments have shown me where is your, what are you

leaning on, John? What?

What? What are you trusting in?

Because every human being is going to fail us.

Where are you leaning right now? Who are you leaning on?

Who are you trusting? Who you really putting your

hopes in? Bless you.

Definitely don't put it in me, and I know you're not, but think

about the people in your life. Think about the things in your

life. Where are you leaning?

Where is your hope place? What are you trusting in?

Consider that deeply and make sure that our eyes are put on

the Lord. He is the King of glory.

So first tendency is to reject. Let's look at verse 9.

Continue on here. So this is the Lord speaking to

Sam, who says now listen to them.

So they've asked for a king. He says now listen to them, but

warn them solemnly, and let them know what the king who will

reign over them will claim as his rights.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were

asking him for a king. He said this is what the king

who will reign over you will claim as his rights.

He will take your sons and make them serve with his Chariots and

horses, and they will run in front of his Chariots.

Some he will sign to be commanders of thousands and

commanders of 50s, and others to plow his ground and reap his

harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and

equipment for his Chariots. He will take your daughters to

be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive

Groves and give them to his attendants.

He will take a tenth of your grain and your and of your

vintage and give it to his officials in attendance.

Your mail and female servants, and the best of your cattle and

donkeys, he will take for his own use.

He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will

become as slaves. When that day comes, you will

cry out for relief from the King you have chosen, but the Lord

will not answer you in that day. But verse 19, the people refused

to listen to Samuel. No, they said.

We want a king over us. A second propensity.

A second tendency that we have is to ignore wisdom.

It's to ignore wisdom. The Lord gives a very stern and

clear warning through Samuel to the people, and yet they resist.

They're gonna tax. You know, for those of us who

are actually should be, almost all of us, maybe the exception

of a few, are doing taxes right now.

It's tax season. We remember.

Hey, this is what's gotta be going to the government.

Some of us are really upset about that, right?

Yeah, the warning is given the the the the people at that time,

they enjoyed incredible freedoms.

And now if you put a king in that, in that, in that position,

this is what's going to happen. And you see, you see the

arguments on both sides of the political fence going on here,

right? Like, I mean, the, the, the, the

conservatives are are kind of kind of harping at the liberals

for their heavy taxation of the people, like stop interfering in

our lives, right? And then, but you also have the,

the, the liberals who are down on the conservatives for

investing so much money in the war machine where it should be

placed in social programs for people, right?

All of it's right here. You're getting all of that stuff

right here. Huge warning.

No, no notice. Notice how many times the word

take shows up in these scriptures in in these in these

verses. Like 6 times in the NIV.

I think in other translations as well, there's a lot of taking

going on. The king is gonna take, take,

take and not giving a whole lot in return that at least taking

more than he's going to be giving.

So warning, what's the response? No, we still want to king.

They've heard it, but no, now that no is pretty significant is

if you remember back to chapter 3, verse 19.

This is the this is the, this is the statement that it makes

about Sam. It says the Lord was with Samuel

as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall to the

ground. In other words, Samuel was

faithful in delivering the Word of God to the people, and here

he is in chapter 8, delivering the word of God to the people.

And they say no, ignoring the wisdom, and they're gonna cry

out in verse 18. When that day comes, you will

cry out from leaf relief, not from your enemies, but from your

king. And we see this full blown in in

Solomon's reign, actually. I mean, it's just a train wreck

of a history with the kings in Israel.

But even Solomon, the people were crying out because they

were being oppressed. This was not too not too far

after this this event. So I think about this for

myself. How prone I am to resist wisdom,

to ignore wisdom. You know, I, I think in pastoral

ministry, some of the, some of the moves that I have made have

been moves that I've made that were kind of away from the

ministry of Jesus, that I saw other people doing things that

seem to like other pastors and other ministries that hey, you

know what that looks like that's effective.

And the wisdom from the word became less important to me then

the results that I was seeing in the world.

And how often is that the case for us, huh, where we're kind of

lured away and we think we've got a better way than what God

has given to us? It's like, no, Lord, I think I

got, I think I got a better way. I've got a better way.

And my ears are just deaf to it. That is, that is a

characteristic of the human heart is summarized in in

Proverbs chapter 12 says the way of fools seems right to them,

Proverbs 12 · chapter mention

but the wise listen to advice. We get stuff in our mind and

it's like, yeah, this is the way to go.

And we will not hear anything. We won't will not hear the word.

The the, the, the, the, the the voice of wisdom.

And yet Scripture is continuing to speak to us, to depend on

that wisdom. We need to be people that are

teachable. We need to be willing to learn

and to cry out to God for that heart.

That is a teachable heart. Let's keep moving last few

verses back to verse 19. But the people refused to listen

to Samuel. No, they said.

We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the

other nations, with a king to lead us, and to go out before us

and fight our battles. When Samuel heard all that the

people said, he repeated it before the Lord.

The Lord answered, Listen to them and give them a king.

Very gracious. Then Samuel said to the

Israelites, Everybody go back to your own town in the motive had

some recommendations as to who that king might be, but Samuel

just kind of cuts the agenda short and says, everybody back

to your hotel, right? I gotta be a I gotta be bringing

this before the Lord. What's this last tendency?

Last tendency is just to avoid holiness.

To avoid holiness? No, we want a king over us.

Then we will be like all the other nations that desire to be

like all the other nations back in verse 5.

Is is is is very similar When when they when they said give us

a king to lead us. Nope, Sorry.

Back up a little bit. Verse five Yeah, um, appoint a

king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.

This is this desire to be like like the people around us, not

wholly set apart, unique as God has created us to be, but to be

like everybody else. We want to copy what we see

around us. There's no regard here at all

for the holiness of the leader. Notice right, will be like all

the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us

and fight our battles. What is the what is the primary

character quality of that leader?

That they've got to be fearless in the battle.

That military, military strength is what we were after.

But of course, there's so much more to what lead good

leadership is there. They weren't concerned about

godly leadership. They just wanted to survive the

Philistines and never do we see in their own strength or they

are capable of doing that. It's only the the Lord who is

his working victory for them in that regard.

So there's always this pressure, right, to kind of be up with

everybody else, kind of keep up with the people that are around

us, keep up with the times. It's like, guys, you know, this

is the Stone Age, right? Or actually, it's not the Stone

Age. This is the Iron Age.

You know, let's keep up with with with the conventions of our

day. And we're no different, right

that that pressure is always there.

Romans 12/2 reminds us, do not conform to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Don't be conformed to the pattern of this world.

That pressure is always going to be there, and we need to remain

steadfast. If you're a follower of Jesus

Christ, if you've received Jesus as Lord and Savior, you have

entered into the family of God and that you are special, you

are anointed, you have been chosen, you have been set apart

to be different from the world. You are now a representative of

heaven itself and the King of Kings to reflect His beauty, His

Majesty, His purity to the world.

And so we have to resist that temptation to kind of throw away

that incredibly special status that we have as his people and

to be able to stand firm and be OK with being different in this

world. You know, there's there's a lot

of lot of effort put in to trying to be different from

everybody else. But in a sense, we're all just

the same. But it's God's chosen people.

We are a peculiar people. We are meant to be different.

We stand out because we are in some ways revealing a piece of

heaven to this earth, and we never want to throw that away.

That's why holiness is such an important thing.

It's not a not a popular word today, but it's something we

need to continue to, to bring into the middle of our lives.

You know, I just just think of the the pull in my own life to

do things the way that other successful organizations do that

are following worldly kind of worldly patterns.

And we can learn a lot from anybody, but when it pulls us

away from our distinctiveness, distinctiveness as a church, we

know that we're losing ground. And so very seriously, we need

to consider this. How are we going to bring purity

that the holiness into the things that we're doing, into

the leisure activities that we're committed to, what we're

watching on the tube, the way that we're conversing with other

people, the kind of conversations that we have,

resisting those temptations, that temptation to gossip and to

kind of operate the way that the world does.

Think of just the the kind of, you know, the kind of

relationships, the way that we relate to one another, keeping

pure in our relationships, in our marriages, to be sure, but

also dating relationships, etcetera, staying pure before

the Lord and even the way that we treat the less fortunate.

There's a holiness demands of us something different than the

world, the way that the world thinks and the way the world

operates. So the Lord is is is leading us

into we need to resist that flow of our culture and to swim

against the current. That's the call that was been

placed in our lives. So that's our tendency.

How is the Lord respond to this? I, I just thought I'd be well

worthwhile that just despite, despite our rebellion, despite

our folly, despite our ingratitude, all of this kind of

stuff, God stays faithful, gracious, kind through it all.

I mean, just just notice the way that he deals with Samuel.

This is, this is fascinating to me.

Samuel's miffed that the people wanted another king.

Give us a king. It's like, aren't I good enough,

right? He's displeased over this, so

it's an affront to him. But interesting that Samuel had

already appointed his sons as leaders, that that had never

happened before. God raised up judges.

It wasn't natural that the sons would be appointed, but Samuel

had already appointed his sons. It's almost like he was leaning

toward kingship himself. It's almost like he said, OK,

you know, he, he was actually following a pattern that he's

rebuking God's people for following.

This is what we do, right? As leaders, as parents, as as,

as, as, as Christian leaders, no matter what we say, no, don't do

that. But we're doing it ourselves,

right? That's kind of what's been

happening with Samuel, but God doesn't pin him to the wall.

He's gracious and he comes along.

Samuel, when he says, hey, you know what?

It's not against you the rejecting me.

They're rejecting me. You just stands in the gap there

and speaks this word of encouragement to Samuel's

powerful, powerful. And then the people who are, you

know, doing their thing. God gives them this gracious

warning because He wants to keep them liberated from oppression,

and they refuse. So God says, hey, let's give him

Samuel. Give them a king.

We're gonna do this. We're going to let them see

sometimes we a good leadership is we're, we're just gonna let

this play out what the people want and they're gonna learn

something from this. But even in the middle of it,

God is doing he just, it's always the most kind thing that

he can do. Do you know how many prayers

that you've prayed that God has not answered and that we should

be celebrating? I think some of the things that

I've really wanted and have prayed for and I look back and

think, oh man, if he answered that prayer, I'd be toast.

He is so gracious. Everything that he does do every

good and perfect gift comes from above.

He's always looking out for our good and he's always at work and

he's still gonna be at work. He's gonna give them a king and

he's gonna work through the kingship model.

He he's in, he's in complete control.

That last scripture, I'll just point out Psalm 132, and this is

a promise given to David, says one of your own descendants I

will place on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant

and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your

throne forever and ever. Beautiful promise.

So Saul, we're gonna read his sons.

Don't assume the throne, David. His sons start to, but there's a

huge interruption in that. Ultimately, one of David's sons,

one of his descendants, does ascend to the throne and his

name is Jesus. And that's why it's so important

that we know that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, took

on flesh in the midst of all of our mess, all of our rebellion,

all of our ignorance toward wisdom and avoidance of

holiness. Pure holiness has come to meet

us in Jesus Christ. He's despised and he is rejected

and he's crucified. And through that rejection we

gain an acceptance into the family of God.

I mean, it's just, it's just unbelievable when you think

about it, the cross, the cross. It's, it's, it's foolishness to

the Greeks. It's a stumbling block to the

Jews, but it's the wisdom of God.

And so we say, Lord, thank you, thank you, Lord, who can stand

against the Lord Almighty? We sang that this morning.

Who can stand against the Lord of mighty?

Nobody can stand even in the midst of our horrific decisions

in the in the midst of of course, that is completely going

the wrong direction. God is at work and I think this

is something give us great hope. He is the ruler of all and he

cares about us so much. And then if your life feels like

a train wreck, or if you feel like it's off the rails or maybe

you're going the wrong direction, you can pause right

now and rest in the fact that God has got you.

Acknowledge him, return to Him, do an about face with him and he

is going to be magnified through your life.

A hymn This is my father's world.

Many of us know that that that old him just gonna read to you

the last couple stanzas multi Babcock is the the writer of the

poem originally and was published after his death in

1901. Listen to this.

This is my Father's world, so let me never forget that though

the wrong seems often so strong. God is the ruler, yet this is my

Father's world. Why should my heart be sad?

He is the King. Let heaven sing, and let the

earth be glad. Father in Heaven, we declare the

truth that you are our King, You are our Lord.

Forgive us where we have not acknowledged that.

Forgive us, Lord, where we have rejected you and we have looked

for replacements where we know where our hearts take us.

Cleanse us now. Wake us up to this truth and

lead us in that path of receiving your wisdom into

living lives of holiness that your greatness would be made

known on this earth, for we pray in Jesus name, Amen.