God's Redemption

We are meditating upon and considering one simple but extremely important truth, and that is this. God is kind. God is kind. His steadfast love endures forever. That's why we opened our service with a call to worship. That's what this story that we just heard read, we may have talked about last week, is pointing to, is the kindness, the steadfast love of the Lord. He is with us. He is for us. Now, of course, God's steadfast love is set over against a very difficult story. Naomi, if you weren't here last week, or if you're not familiar with the book of Ruth, in chapter 1 it reveals that she's lost her husband. She's a widow. She's lost her two sons. She's a woman in despair. She's gotten to the point of saying, even God is against me. He's brought this calamity upon me. She seeks to push her daughter-in-laws off, to isolate herself. And there we see in chapter 1, verses 15 to 17, Ruth, Her words are so important in this book. They're few, but precious. She makes a covenant commitment to her mother-in-law. Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your God is my God. Your people, my people. Don't tell me to go away. I love you. And then they enter Bethlehem and Naomi makes a, it's a heart-wrenching confession. Don't call me Naomi anymore. which means pleasant one. Call me Mara, which means bitter. For the Lord has testified against me. That was in chapter one, verse 20. We see there in Bethlehem and in Ruth, the daughter-in-law wants to go and provide food, so she happens upon the field of Boaz, and then Boaz appears in greatness and is very kind. He's kind to Ruth and Naomi. He protects her. He sends her home with an abundance of food. And what we're seeing here is how God is orchestrating a redemption. He, the Redeemer, He, the One who is full of Hesed, He is in this small story that's very personal with Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. He is declaring His own kindness and His own redemption. If you're taking notes, the simple statement that I think we see in this passage is this. God's kindness is on display among His people and the nations. God's kindness is on display among His people and the nations. We're right here in Bethlehem, the place where the King will be born, David and Jesus. right in the center of Israel. And we have to remember that Ruth, she's not an Israelite. She's a Canaanite. She's from the nations, and God here is demonstrating his grace for all people. We've heard the story read. Verses one to five, I wanna call this Naomi's strategy. Here's a good mother trying to found a spouse for their daughter. Right? She's now taking on Ruth as her own daughter. They're obviously in-laws, so she's trying to say, here, my daughter, I need to find you protection. I need to find you a stable life with a husband where you'll have children and a more stable provision. And so in verse 1, Naomi states the problem. I need to find rest. I need to find protection that things may go well with you. This is not a culture like ours where a woman can go and find a job easily and find protection, provision easily. Oftentimes a woman is dependent upon some kind of a man, a relative normally, to provide. Nehemiah's solution, notice here, Boaz, our relative. It's important in this context that we, people just didn't sell and buy property randomly to strangers like we do. We actually buy and sell land from strangers using a stranger. You know the, we try to keep it as impersonal as possible. But here you couldn't do that. There are actually laws because the land is, is, is precious. It's God's land. And it needed to stay within the families. There needed to be a relative that would be able to redeem. And we'll get into that a little bit more later. Is that Boaz, our relative, with whose young women you were with? See, he's winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now, a threshing floor is typically up on a hill, because the idea is you want the grain to fall and the chaff to blow off in the wind. So you want an open air on a hill so the wind helps the work Easy. It helps you work easily. So he's doing this at night. So now the strategy, verse three. We've got a problem. We need to give you rest, protection. We have a solution, Boaz. Now the strategy. It's basically get cleaned up, get dolled up, wait until he drinks up, and then go lay down on his feet. Right? I mean, go anoint yourself. It's very possible, and it's actually likely, I think, that what she's actually telling her daughter-in-law to do here is to take off your mourning garments. Anoint yourself to show you're out of the mourning of your dead husband, my own son, and make yourself available. She puts on a cloak because this is the season when it's cold, I believe. I don't know if there's anything we need to read into that garment beyond that. and wait until he is tired from working, eats and drinks to the point of merriment, and falls asleep. Now, the real question in the text that has caused all kinds of interesting interpretation and hypothesizing, and there's some good other options that I'll talk about today, but the text that says, uncover his lower legs and lie down. Now it does appear that this is an odd place for a woman to be in the threshing floor outside of the city at night. And this seems like an odd instruction. Uncover his feet or his lower legs and lie down. Many have argued that Naomi is actually presenting to her daughter-in-law to act like a prostitute. go and do what the prostitutes would do and making yourself available as a sexual approach. And what they're doing here is they're taking what is vague, it's a possible interpretation. But the data here is vague and they're interpreting it in kind of the most sexual way. I think it's not taking what's clear in the text and interpreting what's not clear. What is clear in the text is that Boaz is a man of honor and integrity. Chapter 2 introduces him that way. He's a worthy man. He's a man of respect. He's a man of honor. Getting your daughter to go approach him like a prostitute doesn't seem to be the way that you would attract a worthy man. Naomi loves her daughter. She's seeking rest for her. Why would she encourage her daughter to go and act like a prostitute if her desire is to help her and protect her? Third, Ruth embodies chesed, steadfast love, kindness, commitment to integrity. I don't think she's gonna associate herself with the kind of lust related to a prostitute. You see, what we know about these characters, I think, should help us interpret these actions. I believe the most basic thing that's happening here that we need to cling to is that Naomi is saying, go make it clear to Boaz, you're available. You're not mourning your dead husband anymore, my son. You're available. The point of the message is, I want you to marry me. Now, I want to step back for a moment. I want to make it very clear. I wholeheartedly believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. God's Word tells us everything we need to know regarding godliness. 2 Peter 1 tells us that. It's a principle that we cling to, I hope, as much as possible. But I'm not sure that what Naomi is giving Ruth is a good ongoing prescription for all people on how to found a spouse. I don't think we need to go build threshing floors as modern-day biblical dating parlors. I believe the Bible is very clear on what's important. What kind of spouse, what kind of Christian, what kind of character you should be pursuing so that you will be a good spouse. What kind of person you should be looking for in a spouse. It actually doesn't tell us how to go about that. OK, you can look and say, should you smell good? Yeah, that's a good idea. But not prescribed, necessarily. Should you look nice? OK, that's fine. Should you wait until he is merry with drink and uncovers feet? I'm going to go out on a limb and say no. Women do not go anywhere near another man's feet or lie down with him until you both say I do. This does seem like an odd practice as to what she's doing. The basic strategy here is making it clear to Boaz, the Redeemer, I want you to marry me. Now, I also want us to see here, and this is still named as instruction, chapter three, she replied, all that you say I will do. Verse six, she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. Ruth is very, choice words, very few words, but very important, significant words. Very, very intense, and we're seeing here a woman of steadfast character. Her mother gives us all these instructions, and she responds, this is what I will do. And then we see she does what she's told. She's a woman of great character. Second, we see Ruth's execution of this plan. She goes down, it's midnight. We're gonna jump back to verse eight. At midnight, the man was startled and turned over, and behold, okay, so she waited till he drank. Mary, she uncovers his feet, lies down. At midnight, he turns over, and remember, behold, right? He's getting our attention. A woman lay at his feet. Now, sometimes in the middle of the night, one of my children will just be like right here. And I'm in a deep sleep, but I sense this. And it startles me. I'm always afraid I'm going to do one of these. It's at least this, right? He's gotten married. He's now asleep. And there's a presence there at his feet. Who are you? There's a startledness here. And notice again how few words Ruth uses. Go through the text when you're at home tonight, or today, and underline the very few words of Ruth, the person the book's named after. Very few lines, but what important words. I'm Ruth. She identifies herself. Your servant. Okay, he has let her come alongside of his servants and feeding and gleaning. I'm here, your servant. And these next words really get into a clear point. Spread your wings over me, over your servant, for you are a redeemer. If you go back to chapter two, verse 12, One of the first things that Boaz says to Ruth is, the Lord repay you for what you've done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you've come to take refuge. All right, so he's given this blessing. You have done what is honorable and right. You have pursued refuge under the provision and protection of the Lord. And now she's using that same language you be the instrument of that provision and protection. Actually covering one with a garment or covering one with wings is, is actually a metaphor oftentimes used in marriage. It's used in Ezekiel 16.8. She's ultimately saying, I want you to marry me. I want you to take me into your home and provide for me and protect me. I want you to be the place where I take refuge as a wife to a husband. And she gives the answer. You're a redeemer. You're close enough in relation so that you can buy Naomi's property and take us into your household. You can help fulfill the liberate vows which are continuing the line of a dead spouse. A redeemer would purchase a property and protect those in that household. Look at verse 10. How does he respond? And to be very clear, this plan is risky. This is a vulnerable act of love. This is a vulnerable request. Spread your wings over your servant, you our Redeemer. Verse 10, and he said, may you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. Now, the first act of kindness he's referring to, I believe, is her committing herself to Naomi when Naomi's trying to push her away. That was her hesed. That was her steadfast, kind, love commitment to Naomi. This second act is even greater. Well, what is the second act of kindness? I believe what he's saying here with, you could have gone after rich or poor, He's saying, you're done mourning your widow, you're a free agent. You're immobile. You could go date any other dude in the county, in the state, in the nation. You could go and find a spouse from any other person. But you are focused on finding a spouse who's going to continue your commitment to Naomi. She's limited her prospects to say, I'm going to marry someone who's going to help me keep my commitment and covenant with Naomi. He's telling her, blessed be you, because you're, you're, you're just continuing to act as a steadfast woman. As a kind woman who keeps her word. You're a worthy woman. Verse 11. And now my daughter, do not fear. I'll do this. I will go and I will seek to be your Redeemer. You're, you're, everyone knows that you're a worthy woman. Verse 12, and now it is true that I am a Redeemer, yet there is a Redeemer nearer than I. We've got a complication. This is where the romantic comedy starts getting complicated. Right? Yes, you have a woman who loves a man, and a man who's committed to being with this woman, but then there's that other person, this other complication. Here's the fact that he's not the closest relative. There's a relative closer. So he tells her, remain tonight. In the morning, If he will redeem you, good, let him do it. That will be good for you. There will be wings of protection. But if he's not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning. She lies at his feet. We see that she's told to wait there after he gives her much barley. She goes home. And Naomi, after reporting everything, verse 18, waits, my daughter. Everyone loves to wait, especially when it's something of this importance. I wanna stop here before we go on into the next section where Boaz actually executes his promise. This is a difficult situation. We've got a dead spouse, we've got dead sons, we've got a difficulty with Naomi and her bitterness and what's going on there, but we see this as the story that sets up perfectly God's great love. And I wanted you to see that this is over against judges. Right? Samson's a guy who goes and he likes what a woman looks like from another nation, and he goes and demands her from her parents. And when she dies because of his foolishness, he goes and lies with a prostitute. And when that doesn't work out, he then goes find somebody else he likes with his own eyes. We see this kind of like ridiculous going after whatever looks good and feels good in Samson, but in contrast, Ruth, covenant, steadfast love. A reliable kind of love. I want us to see here the consistency of their character, Ruth and Boaz, is rewarded. The author is giving us very clear points. He's not trying to hide a message here. Boaz is described as worthy. Ruth is described as worthy. They both have trusted the Lord. They both are committed to walking in His ways. In most sermons, the main point I try to emphasize is how God saves us from being sinners who hate Him. That is a major theme that runs throughout scripture. That it shows how great God's love is. That, that because of, even over against our sin, even while we were sinners, God loves us. There's a clear gospel truth that we need to embrace first and foremost. But we see here another gospel truth. Once we walk, once we commit to, to, to, to believing by faith that we're saved by grace, we then seek to walk in that faith. We seek to promote good works in our own lives. We seek to live worthy of the gospel. The basic message of Judges, God does not bless our disobedience. No, he saves us from our disobedience. The basic message of Ruth, or one of the key messages of Ruth, God blesses obedience. God blesses obedience. We have to stop presuming upon grace as an excuse for being lazy sinners. God calls us to faithfulness to walk in His faithfulness. This story doesn't happen if God doesn't save Ruth and Ruth doesn't act as a woman of virtue and character and integrity. This story doesn't happen if Boaz isn't a godly man who keeps his word and is willing to make sacrifices for the glory of God. Character. Obedience. Walking worthy of the gospel matters. We've got to stop asking God to bless our disobedience. I believe in a prosperity gospel. I believe God will truly prosper us if we seek to obey Him and love Him and trust Him the way He commands us to. Amen, I'll give you a bigger house, nicer car, better family. That's what we all really want. But we could see the face of God. We could behold the righteous beauty and the glory of God. You can't do that if you're playing in sin. You can't think about the things of Satan and long to delight in the glory of Jesus Christ. You want to receive the blessing, the prosperity of a righteous life. Commit to it. Praise God, He blesses obedience. Chapter four, we see how Boaz executes this plan. Boaz goes, he sits at the city gate. The city gate's kind of the main place you conduct business. You see, as you heard earlier, the elders are going to gather there. Let me read verse 1. Now, Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. You normally don't stop at a gate unless you want to do business. You go in and out. But he sits down intending to say, I'm going to keep this promise I made to this woman today. And behold, right again, God gives us this clue. Something's about to happen. Pay attention. Behold, the right person shows up, the Redeemer, that Boaz had spoken about. He just happened to come by again. God is orchestrating something. Boaz said, turn aside, friends, sit down here. He turned and sat, and he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here, he needs witnesses. So they sat. Everyone is aware some official business is about to go down. Then he said to the Redeemer, Naomi has come back from the country of Moab, and she's selling a parcel of land that belongs to one of her relatives, Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you'll redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. So he's offering here the redemption. Ruth has said, well, you redeem Ruth's property and marry me as part of that. And now we see this exchange. We see the one problem to the whole beautiful love story flowing out. And look at the end of verse four. The other Redeemer says, I'll redeem it. No! This is like in The Princess Bride when Kevin from Wonder Years, I forget what his name is in the movie, you know, the wedding happens and the marriage is declared to be between Prince Buttercup and Humperdinck. You're like, no, you can't say that! Is this the way it's supposed to happen? Well, Boaz, he's a good businessman. He's got a trick up his sleeve. He's held back that most important piece of information. Well, the day you buy the field at the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the malebite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. He will have to impregnate Ruth, and that child will be that line of the family, not his own. Let me think about this. Buying land, I don't mind that, but this is a different situation. You want me to take on another wife, whose children will not be my own, I can't redeem it for myself. Lest I impair my own inheritance." Now he appears to already be married. Somehow this will be a difficulty in his own home, in his own life, for his own children. So he says, take my right of redemption upon yourself. We all say, whew, praise the Lord. Boaz has conducted his business. He has fulfilled his end of the deal. He now has the rights and privileges of the Redeemer to go and pursue Ruth now. Okay, verse seven. Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and there was the manner of attesting in Israel. Our narrator is even telling us, I'm not quite sure why they did this. We just know they did this. There wasn't a signing of a contract, but they would exchange sandals as a way of saying, deal done, business finished. So the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. He drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to all the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech. and all that belong to Chileon and Malon, also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses. May the Lord You are witnesses. The people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. We agree. So we see here that there's a beautiful transaction taking place. Boaz is making it clear, you understand what just happened. And now there's witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah. Well Rachel and Leah are the two women who produced by conception, or through their own maidservants, the 12 tribes of Israel. So it's a full house. May your house be greatly blessed by God, just like the very mothers of Israel, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah, and to be renowned in Bethlehem. So we see blessings taking place, and then we get to a very interesting blessing. Rachel and Lehi get, may your house be like the house of Perez, verse 12, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman. We haven't really heard much of Perez since chapter 38 of Genesis. And to mention Tamar specifically, what is going on in this story? Well, I believe the connection is Tamar was a Gentile Canaanite woman through whom was born the promised son. In the same way, Ruth is a Moabite, non-Israelite woman through whom the promised son is going to be born. In order to really appreciate this, let's go to some background here. Let's go to Genesis 38. That's on page 32 of a Pew Bible. Genesis 38. The key here is that Tamar Her husband died. No son. So her father, the father of the man, Judah, he's supposed to give her the second son, and he dies. He then will not give Tamar a third son. And Tamar, she's a Canaanite. She makes herself look like a prostitute. She offers herself as a prostitute to Judah. He lies with her. She becomes pregnant. And when Judah finds out, he's ready to punish her to death. And then she comes out and she says, well, the husband is to whom these things belong. Here's your signet ring, Judah. Here's your staff. He realizes he's as guilty as she is. He actually realizes that the reason she's done this is because he has withheld his third son, whom the Lord has actually commanded him to give. It's a wicked, gross story. Nothing in there is in any way prescribed or condoned by God, but yet God, who is using evil for His goodness, He uses it in a glorious way. Look at verse 27 of chapter 38. When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb, and when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, This one came out first. But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, would a breach you have made for yourself? Therefore, his name was called Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. This is where we get the scarlet thread theme. It's how God is connecting a promise and a fulfillment. And it's a scroll of thread that runs throughout Scripture. It's how God is keeping His promises. God made a promise in Genesis 3 that a child would be born that would reverse the curse. We see here how this child is going to come about in 38 of Genesis. A Canaanite woman pretending to be a prostitute. God saves sinners through His own Son. What we see in Ruth is from a Moabite woman, who is a faithful woman. If you go to Matthew, you'll see that there are three Gentile women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. God is seeking to bring in those who are outside and marginalized by the world. He brings the foreigner in to his story. This is a great testimony of God's kindness. He is redeeming a people who are sinners, who were once not a people to be His own people. Naomi has said that the Lord has testified against her. If we look at all this, the witnesses, the Lord is bearing witness, God is doing something good. He has provided a Redeemer. If you remember last week, Naomi, she tried to isolate herself. She's renamed herself bitter. She's identified with her own sin, her own grieving, her own suffering. And she's testified, God's against me. So at this point, I love to just look at Naomi and say, do you realize what the Lord's testifying here? He's testifying He's with you and He's for you. So the Lord is making a grand testimony. And yes, it is in the midst of difficulty and calamity and suffering and despair, but He's testifying that He is full of chesed. He's kind. Naomi, your life is being played out as a testimony of God's love. Christian, I ask you, do you want to be a testimony of Jesus? Do you want to be a testimony of Jesus? And what do you think that'll look like? It's kind of frustrating, because what I want that to look like is, I'd like to be able to go out, pick up the city gates, carry them up on a mountain, and throw them down, and flex and say, glory to God. I would love for God to make a testimony of himself in the midst of my strength. It would be great if I could flex, show my strength, and that's how God would testify about himself. Not really how he testifies about himself. That's how I seek to be a glory thief. That's how I seek to try to be in the, in the, in the light of his glory, as if I too am glorious. It's interesting. We're in football season. There's gonna be a lot of glorifying of God and testifying on the football field. A lot of touchdowns. Something I'm willing to wager you will not see is when a quarterback gets sacked from the point up to God and say, I testify to God. When He fumbles a ball. When He gets, when He throws an interception. We want God to be glorified in our strength, but we don't want Him to be glorified in our weakness. But that's exactly where God seeks to be glorified. That's where God presents a wonderful testimony to ourselves and to others. It's not where we're flexing. It's when we're on our knees. Naomi is a testimony. Would she ever wish for her husband or her sons to die so that she would be a testimony? No, but what's happened here, God uses that moment of suffering. God uses that weakness. God even uses that sin of she's saying, God is against me. To make it very clear, Naomi, I am not against you. I will provide for you. I will protect you. I am your loving God who will redeem you. And we get to enjoy watching this testimony play out. Finally, God's fulfillment. So Boaz took Ruth. She became his wife, as it is supposed to be. It is happening. And he went into her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Now something that's interesting here is Ruth was married for ten years. No child. This seems to happen very quickly. Maybe God had closed the womb for this story, and now the womb is open. She bears a child. And notice what happens. The women say, not to Ruth, to Naomi. Blessed be the Lord. He's not left you this day without a Redeemer. You who said you've come back empty, we want you to see the Lord's blessing is that you are full. You have a Redeemer, and may His name be renowned in all Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. Your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is more than you seven sons, He has given birth to Him. What we see here, the women coming together and saying, God's provided for you. You say God's testified against you. We are testifying. No, God has shown you His great love. And then we see she takes that baby and she puts him on her lap. Named it to the child and laid him on her lap. The word there is actually bosom. As close as possible. I don't believe she's a wet nurse. I believe she's here the guardian. She's the one who's going to raise this child as her own. If we just look here in the moment, right? So let's just focus in. We're going to narrow in, narrow in, narrow in. Village, we're going to go straight into her hut. Inside that hut, we see this grandmother who looks rough, because that's what bitterness does to the expression. She looks hardened, but we also see this sweet smile. She's holding her baby boy on her lap. She's holding her own grandchild. that God has given her. And we see just a sweet picture from how she confessed that God was against her. She confessed she was empty. She confessed she wanted to be alone. And now we see this sweet grandmother in this hut. What a beautiful picture of how God changes stories. How kind He is to change very specific people and very specific stories. Life has been restored to her. She now has this child. She has joy. She once again can say, I have a pleasant life because of the way God has now worked. God didn't give her a husband back. God has given her joy. Now that we're inside that little hut, we can see what's happening in the Pacifics. The woman who lost everything now has a grandchild. What a sweet ending. But we need to look outside the window and look to the horizon, because this points to something way more. There's a bigger picture because this child is in the line of David and we know that David is in the line of Jesus. This child is born not just to give great comfort to Naomi, this child is born to give us great comfort this morning because we know that God is sovereignly working out His plan of salvation and it is perfect. He blesses us. Jesus has come to be our Redeemer. Last thing I want us to consider here is this theme of Redeemer. God's kindness is revealed, not only that Naomi now has this child, but God's kindness is revealed in that He is continuing His promise to bring a child into our lives who will save us. A Redeemer is a closest relative. A Redeemer is somebody who comes alongside and helps you when you're in need. The Redeemer is someone who says, I'm going to take your burdens, your sorrows, and I'm going to take them on as my own, and I'm going to give you my blessings. You come into my house. My house is your house. My provision is your provision. My protection is your protection. I want us to see here that Boaz is a type of Christ. By type, I mean he's a foreshadow. He's a sweet sample, a little bit of what Christ is going to come and do. Right, the reason you go and you get samples at like Costco is you just get like a sweet taste of it. And the goal there is to make you buy more because that's completely unsatisfying. When it's something good, by the way, it's just a simple, sweet sample. of what Christ is as a Redeemer who comes alongside of us and loves us and provides for us and protects us. Christ is one who truly loves us perfectly, takes us out of our own darkness, takes away our sin, takes away our guilt, takes upon Himself so that we can have new life, so that we can have new joy. He takes the curse we're living under so that we can have all of His blessings. And it's perfectly satisfying. If we looked at this text, we're amazed at what Boaz does for these women. We should be even more amazed as to what Christ does for us as our Redeemer. Our response is to rejoice. God is kind. He does not fail in any promise. God is kind. He loves us. And we know He loves us because He did not withhold His own Son from us. This is our great security and sanity. Jesus Christ came to walk among us. He died for us. He rose again for us. He now sits in the right hand of the Father to intervene for us. He has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us. He is with us to care for us. And He's coming back. Victory is sure. Let us pray. Father, we thank You that You are a good and gracious God. That Your love, Your kindness, while we are so tempted to question it, we're so tempted to worry and fear and have anxiety about who You are and what You're doing. We thank You that when we look to Your Word, it is clear. You're with us and You're for us. We thank You for your great love. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.