WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.280 Good morning. 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.279 My name is Matt. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:09.199 I'm uh an associate pastor here at Redeemer, and um just about coming up on my one-year anniversary. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:19.120 Started in mid-July last year, and it's been uh a real joy and evidence of God's grace and provision in my own life and the life of my family to be here. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.960 So thank you. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:30.079 Um this morning we are beginning a new short summer series in the month of July in the book of Ruth. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:34.000 Um and if you're not familiar with the book of Ruth, I highly commend it to you. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:34.960 It's only four chapters. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:40.159 You can read it in a sitting, uh, and it is a beautiful and powerful book. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:52.399 It's uh it's a book about grief and loss, it's about unexpected faithfulness, and ultimately it's about God's startling grace in the midst of the lives of God's people. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:58.560 Uh, and since it's a new book and an Old Testament book, I wanted to give you guys some background before we jump in. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:08.640 As Roger just read in those first five verses, we're told that this book takes place in the days when the judges ruled in the land of Egypt. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.040 Uh, this book comes right after the book of Judges. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:18.000 And if you're familiar with the book of Judges, you know that it's not a very hopeful book, the book of Judges. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:30.799 It's it's really a downward spiral as we look at the nation of Israel after the generations of Moses and Joshua as God has led his people out of slavery and into the promised land. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:35.680 This is really where, you know, the story should say, and they lived happily ever after. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:47.439 But if you live in the real world, as the Bible does, what we see is that God's people kind of slowly devolve as what the Lord warned them about happens. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:59.519 They they uh they get they are tempted, they are drawn to worship other gods, they kind of intermingle with uh the other uh tribes and and peoples in there. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:11.840 And the book ends on this down note in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and not in a good way. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:12.879 Right? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:20.159 So it's a real, it's no real wonder that as the book of Ruth opens, we find that Israel is experiencing a famine. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:34.719 Famine is one of the ways that God said and promised to his people if you wander away from me and chase after other gods, I will send famine into your land as a way of drawing you back to myself. 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.039 And this is where our story begins. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:55.599 And because of the famine is so severe, this one family that the story zooms in on, uh a man named Elimelech took his wife and his two sons and sojourned in the land of Moab, the neighboring land of Moab, where the famine uh had not struck. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:03.840 While they're in Moab, uh Elimelech dies tragically, leaving his wife Naomi and his two sons. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.960 Now his sons come to marrying age and they each marry, one woman named Orpah and one named Ruth. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:16.719 These are Moabite women, these are not Israelites, and that will be key as the story continues. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:23.680 But then they they continue to live in the land about 10 years, but then Naomi's two sons die. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:33.520 Now, on some level, we recognize that this is a tragedy, but but for those of us living today, we need to know it's very important for us to know that this is a calamity. 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.479 This is uh the worst thing that could happen to Naomi. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:41.520 She lives in a world where everything happens through men. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:45.280 They literally live in a patriarchal society. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.280 She is destitute. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:52.479 She really only has two options begging or prostitution. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:04:07.120 Or what she chooses is to return home where maybe in Bethlehem, her hometown, there will be a bit of a social safety net to care for her, because she really has nothing, culturally speaking, to care for herself. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.280 And that brings us to our first point. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:17.600 At the beginning of this book of Ruth, we see that in a fallen world, suffering and loss is part of life. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:29.600 Um, by the end of chapter one, we've we've gone through about 10 or 12 years, and Naomi is a woman whose life has turned from a dream into a nightmare. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.000 Despite the famine, she had a husband and she had two sons. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.160 She was culturally wealthy in her day and age. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:43.759 And a few years sojourning in another land probably didn't disturb her very much. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:49.040 But as she returns home, she has lost everything. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:55.360 She returns bitter, she returns shamed, she returns uh sad. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:05:01.680 Now, like any good story, this one begins very quickly by this rising tension, right? 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:07.360 There's a crisis that emerges that needs to be resolved. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:18.160 But before we move too quickly on, I believe that it's important for us to sit with Naomi in her loss for a moment. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:31.439 We talked about this a few weeks ago, but who among us can't relate to either our plans or our whole lives not turning out the way we had hoped? 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:33.120 I'm now over 40. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:41.120 I'm closer to 50 than to 40, and I relate to the story in a way I don't think I could have 10 or more years ago. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:45.279 But all of us have experienced our plans not coming to fruition. 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:52.319 Last week, my daughter and I went for her to take her driver's test finally to get her driver's license. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:53.439 We were all so excited. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:55.439 She's put in hours and hours. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:01.279 There are so many more hoops and tests to take today than there were when I turned 16. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.199 It's kind of incredible. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:14.800 And we got there uh full of anticipation and excitement, and because of some red tape and some bureaucratic black holes, we had to leave without taking the test. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:21.360 The last thing I said to the to the worker there was, there are no open exams until August. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:26.319 I just wanted her to feel my pain and frustration. 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:41.600 Um so whether it is simple plans in your life that have not come to fruition, or you have found yourself in a place where you're experiencing something, your life has gone down a path that you did not expect. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:45.519 Ruth uh bids us good company. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:54.480 Sometimes Christianity can be framed or even sold as the victorious life or a way to live your best life now. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:07.360 But if you really read the Bible and you look at the people and the lives that they lead, there are very few heroes, if any, and very few victorious lives. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:20.160 And I think, if we're honest, that's very good news because these are people and these are circumstances, though hundreds and thousands of years old, they are stories that speak to us, relate to us. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:27.680 What I love about Naomi and the way the author of this book depicts her, is how human and raw she is. 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:34.639 And that's our second point, that sometimes grief becomes visceral and even unmooring. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:46.399 On the journey back to Bethlehem, Naomi's hometown, she realizes that as she's going with her two daughters-in-law, she realizes uh this would not be good for them. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:52.079 As they return to Bethlehem, there there are no prospects for these uh widows. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.800 And so she urges them strongly, return to the house of your mothers. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:01.759 Go back to where you grew up, because you're young enough to still get married if you go back there. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:06.399 If you go with me, things may not turn out very well for you. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:13.600 And in that encouragement, we get to see how deeply affected she has become by her loss. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:19.759 In chapter one, we read, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:24.399 Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:33.039 No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me, for your sake, that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.360 Later in chapter one, she continues to express her grief in this way. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:41.600 When they returned to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.159 Remember, Bethlehem is a village. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:49.840 Uh it is a small town where everybody knows everyone and everybody's business. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:53.200 So the whole turn town was stirred. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.440 And the women said, Is this Naomi? 00:08:56.080 --> 00:09:03.600 And she said to them, Do not call me Naomi, which sounds like in Hebrew the Hebrew word for pleasant or joyful. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:09.120 She says, Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:10.960 Mara means bitter. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:15.440 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:24.159 Why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:30.240 Do you hear the rawness in Naomi's voice and her words? 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:32.799 She is full of sadness and grief. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:36.080 She's angry, and she's angry at God. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.399 There are some truthful things that she says in her grief. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.559 She confesses that the Lord is sovereign over all things. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:53.840 And yet she is wrong about other things, that the Lord, his hand is against her, that he has become unjust and unloving. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:03.440 But what I want us to see here is the emotions that emerge, that naturally emerge, out of grief and loss. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:10.399 You see, I believe we live in a culture and a time where mourning and grief are avoided at all costs. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:11.919 Suffering is avoided. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:20.000 We use technology to distract us, we use medical developments to avoid and forget about death. 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:22.159 Now, these things can be great. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:35.039 I don't want us to go back and live in the stone age, but there is something inherent in every human heart that when we have the opportunity, we will flee from suffering death and loss. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:40.960 And when it inevitably comes, because we are so uh ill-equipped, we don't know what to do. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.519 And so we run from our grief. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:47.519 We run from our sadness, we self-medicate. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.159 We self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, right? 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:51.519 That's that's an old story. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.159 We know that. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:57.919 Behind every alcoholic, there is some kind of sad story, something to be running from. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:06.000 But we also self-medicate with Netflix, with Candy Crush, with Twitter, uh, with work. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:07.919 Become workaholics. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:13.679 We can self-medicate and run from God through serving in our local church. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:22.639 The human heart uh runs from the Lord in all sorts of ways. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:27.360 And we see this in Naomi's expression of real emotion. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:38.879 But too often we shame ourselves and we shame one another, somehow expressing our deep grief and sadness and even anger at God is a form of unfaithfulness. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:45.039 You see, God already knows what's in your heart. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:54.879 And as Jesus taught us, it is better to bring out of darkness those emotions, those feelings, those words that we may even be ashamed to admit are there. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:56.799 But again, God knows. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:08.240 And it's only as we draw them out into the light and actually lay them at his feet that he can deal with them. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:12.559 And so this is what I love about Naomi and the author here. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:18.240 She gives us her authentic self in all her bitter glory. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:27.840 And so I believe this book of Ruth, and especially this opening chapter, it's an invitation from God not to be afraid of those emotions. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:34.240 Not to run from them, not to stuff them, not to hide them, not to be ashamed of them, and certainly not to see them as unchristian. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:39.840 You see, God gave you all of your emotions, and they are there for a reason. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:42.559 They play a purpose, they are neutral. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:49.519 When our emotions come out, what they are doing is revealing what is going on deep inside our heart. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:55.440 So we do well to look at them, to pay attention to them, not to ignore them. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:03.279 One teacher uh explained it this way that our emotions are like the dashboard lights on our car. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:08.639 When the light comes on, it says, hey, there's something going on in the engine that you need to be aware of. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.480 How much sense does it make to like put a piece of tape over that light? 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.799 Or to like bash in the screen so that this light doesn't come on anymore. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.240 It does no good, right? 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.039 Because it's simply telling us what's there. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:28.799 And so the Lord, through Naomi, he invites us to feel those emotions, not to run from them. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:42.000 And Jesus himself, he models this at the tomb of Lazarus, knowing that Lazarus will be resurrected, yet he weeps, he rages against the reality of death, even knowing resurrection will come. 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:44.480 So it's okay to be angry. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:49.600 It's okay even to be wrong about God in our anger and our grief, right? 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.919 Naomi shows that to us. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.320 And the book doesn't judge her, neither should we. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.200 This is the signal that the famine has ended in Israel. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:28.639 And though it's a passing comment, and this signals to Naomi, I can return home now because there's food and sustenance there. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:37.039 This is uh a message from the author saying that God has not uh left his people. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.440 All right, he sent a famine into the land, and yet he did not forget them. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.960 He returned to them, and he provided for them. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:54.399 We get another little glimpse at the very end of the chapter, which we didn't get to read, but at in verse 22, this is the close of chapter one, we read this. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.159 So Naomi returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:01.120 Right? 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.840 Not only has the famine ended, but as Naomi returns home, she's coming at harvest time. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:13.360 It's a time of sustenance, of abundance, of grace. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:19.759 This is a hopeful end to uh this literary end to chapter one. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.840 The author is giving us a bit of literary foreshadowing of what is to come. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:29.360 The Lord is bringing life out of a dead ground. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:33.600 But the clearest evidence of God's grace in chapter one is Ruth herself, right? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:39.679 She's the one that this book is named after, even though if you read this book, she is not the main character. 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.039 Naomi is the main character. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:48.000 So Naomi presses uh both her daughters-in-law to return home. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:50.879 Um, and Orpa eventually concedes. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:52.480 She does return home. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:59.919 But Ruth gives an amazing display of faithfulness, totally unexpected, from a non-Israelite woman. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.559 Listen to what she says to Naomi. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:07.200 She says, Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.200 For where you go, I will go. 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:11.360 Where you lodge, I will lodge. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:15.600 Your people shall be my people and your God my God. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:21.120 Where I where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.879 Even if you're not familiar with the book of Ruth, you've probably heard these words. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:26.080 They are incredible. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:37.440 These are the first words recorded in the book from Ruth, and they show a depth and complexity to her faithfulness that marks a special Hebrew word. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:43.200 Uh, you're not usually supposed to talk about original languages except for this one word in the Old Testament, Hesed. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:44.879 H-E-S-E-D. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:49.679 Hesed, it means uh faithfulness, covenant faithfulness. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:50.960 It describes God. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.919 It's a faithfulness that goes beyond kind of rational understanding. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:01.120 And that is what Ruth is showing to her mother-in-law Naomi. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.759 But here's the thing, Naomi can't see it yet. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:08.720 As she returns to Bethlehem, she is bitter and angry. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:18.799 And yet we, the readers, can see amaz God's amazing faithfulness even in the midst of this deep tragedy. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.920 Deeper grace is present. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.240 Um, there's a great movie uh with Will Farrell that I love. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:27.519 It's from 2006. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:28.559 Here's a little uh thing. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:30.400 It's called Stranger Than Fiction. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.200 Um, it's actually not a comedy. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.559 Will Farrell is always funny, but this is actually kind of a serious movie. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:38.559 I highly recommend it to you. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:44.559 Um the premise is that Will Farrell is kind of a boring, lonely IRS agent. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:52.559 And as he's going through his life, uh he suddenly begins to hear a woman's voice narrating his own life. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.279 She can't hear him, but he can hear her. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:08.720 And as she begins to narrate his life and he realizes that she's, you know, she's narrating what's actually going on in his life, she tells, or she says, that uh he's about to die. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.440 He's gonna die a sudden and tragic death. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:18.000 And so he begins to freak out, of course, because he realizes this voice knows uh some true things. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.160 And so he uh goes to find a professor of literature. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:33.440 I won't get into why he does that, but he goes to this college professor played by Dustin Hoffman to try to get some help to understand why this narrator uh says that he is about to die. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:44.720 And and Hoffman just thinks this guy's crazy and he's he's about to tell Will Farrell to get lost until he he says one of the things that the narrator, in narrating his life, she says, little did he know. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:46.640 Little did he know. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.920 And this this catches Dustin Hoffman's character, and he begins to help Will Farrell. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:58.480 Um, and in helping him and trying to figure out what's going on, this is what Dustin Hoffman's uh character eventually says. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:05.119 He says, the last thing we need to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:16.400 To quote Italo Calvino, the ultimate meaning to which all stories refer has two faces the continuity of life and the inevitability of death. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:20.240 Tragedy, you die, comedy you get hitched. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:24.799 These are the two stories that we all live or that exist. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:29.680 So, what kind of story is Naomi living in? 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.839 At this point, she believes she is in a tragedy, right? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.680 All her loved ones have died. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:37.839 She has very good reasons to believe this. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.799 She is destitute, and she believes God has turned against her. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:48.480 But for those of us who know the rest of the story, we know where things are going. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.400 Uh, we know she's in a comedy. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:51.759 We know things are gonna work out. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:20:01.039 We know that her daughter-in-law is gonna get married and is gonna produce a son, and that son will be uh the grandfather of King David. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.880 So we know where she's where she's living. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:13.279 Um for all of us who call the name of Jesus, this is true for us. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:18.319 As we walk through our lives, we experience suffering and loss, we experience grief. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:27.200 And there are times when it is deep and we can only imagine and believe that we live in a tragedy. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:34.559 But here's the thing: the story of our lives has been written, and we've actually been given the book, right? 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:38.400 Here's the thing we have the end of the book. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:44.880 Now, our part, our daily lives, it's not written here, and most of us don't hear narrators narrating our lives. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.960 But we know how things are gonna end. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.440 We know that Jesus is gonna come back. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:21:03.839 We know that he's gonna make all things new, we know that he's gonna wipe away every tear from our eyes, and we will live with him for eternity, apart from sin and apart from death. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:09.519 And all the sad and hurtful things of this life will become untrue. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:16.319 Now, I think this is one of the hardest things for Christians to believe and to live in light of. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:24.400 That we know that our lives are ultimately a comedy, even as we experience the reality of death and loss. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:27.039 But that's why the book of Ruth is here. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:41.839 The Bible is full of people who have lived in this fallen world and have experienced tragedy and loss and despair, and God met them, and God made promises to them, and they all doubted. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.759 Just like me, and just like you. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:57.119 But you see, little did Naomi know that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was doing something incredibly beautiful in her life. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:10.880 Little did she know that her grandson, again, would be King David, and that one day her daughter-in-law's name, Ruth, would be included in the genealogy of Messiah, of Jesus himself. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:15.039 And beloved, the same is true for all of us. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:26.720 Even as we continue to experience grief and loss and visceral emotions, believing that God has turned his back on us at times, God's goodness and grace is always present. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:34.480 He remains with us and faithful to his promises, and his grace is present in the midst of our suffering. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:37.839 So let's keep our eyes open. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:49.359 Let's look for those places of grace and believe, hope against hope, that all of God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:57.680 Let's bring our bitterness and our questions, our anger and our sadness to the Lord and allow him to meet us just there. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:06.720 Because little do we know that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us in time. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:08.240 Let's pray. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:16.400 Our Father and our God, so many of us need to remember your promises. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:17.920 We need to hear your promises. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:21.599 We need to be reminded that you are always faithful. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.400 Lord, some of us are experiencing extreme suffering. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.000 Some of us are experiencing bitter loss. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.799 And we are hoping against hope that you are true, you are faithful and good. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:39.440 Lord, thank you for Jesus. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.279 Thank you for your Holy Spirit. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:46.000 Thank you for the scriptures that tell us the story of our own lives. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:52.720 And Father, we ask that even now as we turn to the communion table, that we would taste your goodness. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:55.440 You would restore and refresh our faith. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.359 And we ask it in Jesus' name. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:23:58.160 Amen.