Well, good evening. Turn with me in your Bible, if you have one, to 2 Samuel chapter 1.
If you're looking in one of the Pew Bibles, it is page 254.
We are starting a new series tonight in the second half of the book of Samuel.
If you were here this past spring, we did the first half of the book of Samuel, called 1 Samuel.
And now we're at 2 Samuel.
Before we dig into the passage, let me introduce our passage by asking this question.
Have you ever had an enemy?
Have you ever had an enemy who drove a wedge between you and your spouse or significant other, which resulted in them leaving you?
Have you ever had an enemy who tried to poison your relationship with your best friend and permanently isolate you from each other?
Have you ever had an enemy who undermined your opportunities to get a stable job that you were well qualified for?
Have you ever had an enemy who literally gathered an army to hunt you down, intimidated you into leaving your home country, chased you into the desert, and tried to kill you over and over again?
Well, that was King David's experience of Saul.
Or David's experience, before he was king, of King Saul.
No less than 16 times in 1 Samuel, Saul tried to kill David.
Besides that, Saul literally stole David's wife, Michal, from him, effectively isolated him from his closest friend, Jonathan,
drove David into the forest, then into the wilderness, and finally into exile, living among the Philistines.
Now, maybe some of you can relate to having an enemy in one or two of those ways.
But probably for most of us, maybe we have to deal with people who are annoying.
Maybe there's people who say mean things behind our back.
Or occasionally get mad and yell at us.
But most of us have never had to deal with an enemy at that level.
Now, the good news for David is that his great enemy, Saul, is now dead.
King Saul has been killed in battle.
That's the last chapter of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 31, along with his son Jonathan.
For the people of Israel, it was a national crisis.
It's sort of like if the president and the vice president got assassinated on the same day.
Right? It's never happened in American history.
But for David, it was his golden opportunity to rise up and lead the people of Israel.
To unify them and become their king.
The prophet Samuel had already anointed David back several years ago, 1 Samuel chapter 16.
Halfway through the book, he had anointed David to be the future king of Israel.
Now, this evening, what we're going to look at is David's response.
And what we're going to read and what we're going to look at is David's response to the death of Saul, his enemy.
And as we look at his response, we'll see David's character begin to emerge.
Because one of the clearest ways that we can see someone's character is how they deal with enemies and people who oppose them.
And cause trouble for them.
So let's read together 2 Samuel chapter 1.
And after the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
When he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.
David said to him, Where do you come from?
And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel.
And David said to him, How did it go? Tell me.
And he answered, The people fled from the battle.
And also many of the people have fallen and are dead.
And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.
Then David said to the young man who told him, How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?
And the young man who told him said, By chance, I happen to be on Mount Gilboa.
And there was Saul, leaning on his spear.
And behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him.
And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me.
And I answered, Here I am.
And he said to me, Who are you?
And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.
And he said to me, Stand beside me and kill me.
And for anguish had seized me.
And yet my life still lingers.
So I stood beside him and killed him.
Because I was sure that he couldn't live after he had fallen.
And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm.
And I have brought them here to my Lord.
Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them.
And so did all the men who were with him.
And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son.
And for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel.
Because they had fallen by the sword.
And David said to the young man who told him, Where do you come from?
And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner and Amalekite.
David said to him, How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?
Then David called one of the young men and said, Go execute him.
And he struck him down so that he died.
And David said to him, Your blood be on your head.
For your own mouth has testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed.
And David lamented with his lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son.
And he said, It should be taught to the people of Judah.
Behold, it is written in the book of Jashar.
He said, Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places.
How the mighty have fallen.
Tell it not in Gath.
Publish it not in the streets of Askelon.
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
You mountains of the Golboa.
Let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings.
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled.
The shield of Saul not anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back.
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely, in life and in death, they were not divided.
They were swifter than eagles.
They were stronger than lions.
You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet,
who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle.
Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
I am distressed for you, my brother, Jonathan.
Very pleasant have you been to me.
Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.
How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished.
So in tonight's passage, we see two responses to Saul's death.
We see first the Amalekite messenger.
And second, we see David's response along with his men.
So let's look at these two responses in turn, and what we can take from them.
First, the Amalekite's response to Saul's death.
Now initially, this Amalekite appears to be a loyal and compassionate ally.
Right?
He arrives with his clothes torn, dust on his head, traditional expressions of grief.
He says, I've escaped from the Israelite camp.
He traveled over 80 miles to Ziklag, where David was sort of hiding out, or where David
was staying, just to bring him this message.
And he presents himself as a compassionate human being.
Saul was in the middle of the battlefield, already wounded.
No way he could survive.
He put him out of his misery.
He ended Saul's suffering.
But when we look closer, it becomes clear that this Amalekite is actually not loyal and
compassionate.
Instead, we see that he was self-serving and deceptive.
Now turn back a page if you're looking in the Bible.
1 Samuel 31, verse 3 through 5, describes the death of Saul.
Verse 3 says,
So Saul's badly wounded.
He says to his armor bearer, please, don't let me be killed by one of these foreigners.
Kill me yourself.
And the armor bearer says no.
And so Saul falls on his sword himself.
Now the Amalekite story is a little different.
I saw Saul leaning on his spear, chariots and riders almost upon him.
Saul asked me to end his suffering, and I did.
But you know, there's something a little fishy about the Amalekite story.
All right, verse 6 of chapter 1.
He says,
By chance, I happen to be on Mount Gilboa.
That's sort of like saying,
By chance, I happen to be walking through Newhallville at 2.30 in the morning.
And I got mugged.
Just by chance.
No, it probably wasn't by chance.
Right?
And there was Saul, he says, all alone in the midst of the battlefield,
leaning on his spear and people, the chariots and riders were upon him,
but none of the Israelites were protecting him.
Really?
That would be very unlikely for the whole Israelite army to completely abandon
the most important person, their commander-in-chief, their king,
in the midst of the battle.
And if the Amalekite really wanted to honor Saul,
he wouldn't just swipe Saul's crown and armband.
He would have at least tried to give Saul a decent burial.
That was what the men of Jabesh Gilead did.
Again, you can read it at the end of 1 Samuel chapter 31.
They went and retrieved Saul's bones from the Philistine temple,
where the Philistines had taken them the next day,
and took them back home as an expression of honor to Saul.
That he wouldn't be defaced and hanging on the wall of a Philistine temple,
but rather given a decent burial as an Israelite.
So what really happened?
Well, most likely, this Amalekite was sort of scavenging, right?
The battle had ended.
It was sunset.
The Philistines didn't do their looting until the next day.
And so he thought, hmm, maybe I can grab some things.
And he comes upon Saul.
And he says, ooh, I know who this is.
And ooh, I know that David and Saul have been rivals.
And I bet if I bring the crown from Saul's head
and bring the other royal insignia to David and present them to him,
I will surely get a high place in David's kingdom.
And David will know that I'm loyal to him and not to Saul.
You see, the Amalekite was trying to take advantage of a national,
of what was really a national tragedy for his own personal advancement.
And David wanted nothing to do with that.
He saw through this guy's hypocrisy.
Verse 13, he says, where do you come from?
And he says, I'm the son of a sojourner.
Now that word, sojourner, it basically means a resident alien in Israel.
It means a foreigner from another nation who chose to settle and live within the borders of Israel.
So in other words, this guy has grown up in Israel.
He knows what he's doing.
He's not just sort of a random visitor passing through,
doesn't really know what's going on, doesn't really know what he's doing.
He knows who Saul is.
He knows who David is.
He knows exactly what he's doing.
And he wasn't afraid to, he was bold and shameless.
And David says, why were you not afraid?
Why did you have no fear of God in you?
That you put out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed.
Or perhaps that he concocted this whole deceptive story that he actually had when he actually hadn't,
but he was wanting to boast about it.
And wanting to use it for his own personal gain.
And David orders his men strike him down.
Now that might seem like a very harsh response.
But as David said in verse 16, your own mouth has testified against you.
You said, I killed the Lord's anointed.
If you kill the Lord's anointed king, you deserve the death penalty.
There was no such thing as life imprisonment back then.
It wasn't even possible.
We can debate about the death penalty.
That's another topic for another day.
But if you kill the king, what else?
And you see, David was on his way to becoming the king of Israel.
But he wanted to make it very clear from the start.
That my kingdom and God's kingdom will be marked by loyalty and truthfulness and the fear of God.
And so willful deception and shameless disobedience and rejoicing over an enemy's demise must not gain a foothold in my kingdom.
That's the point that David was making.
That he didn't take advantage of this event.
He didn't think, finally, Saul, my enemy is dead.
He wept.
Saul, the king.
Has been killed.
I think it would have been very tempting for David to simply rejoice over Saul's death.
Rejoice over his newfound freedom.
Perhaps immediately proclaim himself king.
Before anyone else could.
Immediately exterminate anyone who is connected with Saul.
That was the typical practice of kings back then.
You sort of clean house.
And get rid of everyone else who is connected with the former kingdom.
When you're replacing someone.
But David didn't do that.
David wept.
And that's really the central emphasis of this chapter.
If you look at the story in verse 1 through 16.
It starts with the Amalekite arriving.
And then David questions the Amalekite.
And then in the middle of the conversation.
When David realizes that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.
He stops the conversation.
And he just weeps.
And it says they wept.
And they mourned.
They fasted until evening.
And then later on David continues the conversation.
And asks him a couple more questions.
And then the Amalekite departs.
Or he's struck down.
Right?
But right in the center of this narrative.
Is David weeping.
And the author wants to draw our attention to that.
That this whole conversation back and forth is interrupted.
By David weeping.
And then.
In the rest of the chapter we see David's lament.
For Saul.
And Jonathan.
And this lament.
Marks the midpoint of the book of Samuel.
The book of Samuel is really one book in two parts.
First and second Samuel what we have.
Probably just because it was too long to fit on one scroll.
And so they divided it into two.
For convenience.
Because they couldn't fit it all in one scroll.
But at the beginning of first Samuel.
There's the song of Hannah.
It's a song about God raising up the humble.
And bringing down the proud.
And at the end of second Samuel.
There's a psalm of David.
About how God has exalted him.
And how God is my rock.
And God is my fortress.
And he has raised David up to be the king.
And David's giving glory to God for that.
And right in the middle.
We have this poetic lament.
And those are the three poems in the book.
The rest of the book is just a long story.
But this lament sort of marks the midpoint of the book.
And the key line is repeated three times.
Verse 19, verse 25, verse 27.
How the mighty have fallen.
Now I think there's a few things that we can learn from this passage about grieving.
And about responding to loss and tragedies.
So first, it's right to mourn the loss of a loyal friend.
Who stood by you all the way to the end.
This is what David does for Jonathan.
David's, verse 18.
There's a, verse 18 says,
He said it should be taught to the people of Judah.
There's a note down at the bottom.
If you're looking in the ESV.
And it says, in Hebrew, it says the bow.
He said the bow should be taught to the people of Judah.
That's probably the name of the lament.
And Jonathan was particularly known for being an archer.
A skilled archer.
Verse 22 refers to that.
And so he probably named this song sort of as a reference,
as a remembrance of his friend Jonathan.
His loyal friend.
In verse 25 and 26, he really expresses his grief for Jonathan.
You know, if you remember, in the book of 1 Samuel,
Jonathan stands by David when nobody else does.
Jonathan was Saul's son.
So if the kingship is passed on hereditarily,
Jonathan is next in line to be king.
But Jonathan realizes that God has anointed David.
And God has chosen David to succeed Saul rather than him.
And instead of being jealous and envious, as Saul was,
he sort of gives his total allegiance to David.
He makes a covenant with David,
which basically means an oath of allegiance to,
and he says, you're going to reign.
I'll be second to you.
So he gladly says, I'll gladly serve under your leadership.
So Jonathan protected David from the irrational anger of Saul.
He went to visit David when David was all alone in the wilderness.
It said he helped him find strength in the Lord.
He stood up for David in ways that others were unwilling or simply unable to do.
He was the most loyal friend that David ever had.
And that's what David laments here.
He says, I'm distressed.
He says, your love has been better than the love of women.
David had many wives.
It was one of his flaws that almost led to his downfall.
We'll see that later on.
And his wives supported him and comforted him.
But none of his wives stood up for him in the way that Jonathan did.
And none of his wives really could have,
were in the position that Jonathan was to protect him from Saul,
to really save his life,
and to be loyal to him as a friend.
And so that's what Jonathan did.
One person said, the more we love, the more we grieve.
And David grieved for Jonathan as a loyal friend.
But David didn't just grieve for Jonathan.
David also grieved for his enemy Saul.
And, you know, this was the same Saul
who, when David was playing the harp in his court,
threw a spear and tried to kill him.
The same Saul who gathered his men
and pursued David into the remote parts of the wilderness.
The same Saul who caused so much trouble for David
that David had to basically go and live in enemy territory.
Couldn't live his own, couldn't be safe in his own country anymore.
And the same Saul whose frantic attempts to hold on to power
had made Israel weak and helpless before her enemies.
David wept over Saul's death.
David didn't see Saul only through the lens of his own experiences of him
as his enemy.
David saw Saul as God saw him,
as a man that God had created in his image,
as a man who had been called to greatness,
as the first king of Israel,
as a man who had once been powerfully used by God
to defeat Israel's enemies,
as a man who had tragically fallen through his own willful rebellion.
David knew that one day God would judge Saul.
But David also knew that it wasn't his responsibility
to carry out God's judgment against Saul.
When David was younger,
when he was first brought into Saul's kingdom,
he was Saul's armor bearer.
That means he was Saul's trusted assistant.
And Saul ideally could have become his mentor,
his teacher,
and his guide,
but instead Saul turned on him
and became his enemy,
his persecutor.
And their relationship was never restored.
At the very,
at the best,
at best,
there were isolated instances
when Saul recognized his folly
and repented of his madness.
But it was never safe
for David to remain close to Saul for very long.
And yet David responded
to the news of Saul's death with weeping.
Not with rejoicing,
not with indifference,
but with weeping.
It's right to mourn
not only when a loyal friend
who stood beside you all your life dies,
but also when someone dies
with whom you've had a broken relationship.
Maybe you were married once to them
and are now divorced.
Maybe you were once close,
but had a falling out
and were never reconciled.
Maybe someone in authority
abused you
or treated you wrongly.
Part of the right response to that
is to grieve.
To bring the pain
and the injustice of that
before God Almighty.
Lay it out before him.
It's also right to mourn
when the leaders of God's people
fail
and when their failures are exposed.
Saul was appointed
as a leader over God's people,
over Israel.
He had a high calling.
He did not live up to it.
Sometimes Christian leaders
don't live up to their calling.
Sometimes it tends to make the headlines
when one pastor steps down
because of an affair
or another takes the church's money
or another abuses his power,
mistreats people.
Sometimes our response
can be to become cynical
and withdraw.
Sometimes our response
if you're in the church
and maybe if you're a leader in the church,
sometimes our response can be
that's them, that's not me.
You know, we're not like that.
I think part of the right response
is simply to weep
and see that this is not
how God has called us to live
and this is not glorifying
to the name of our Lord.
That's what David did here.
He mourned over Saul.
He mourned immediately.
When we hear tragic news,
sometimes it's helpful to,
I mean, David seems to sort of
stop everything he's doing
and mourned and wept
fasted until evening.
Sometimes it's helpful
to stop what we're doing
and let the news sink in
if possible to gather with others
and express sorrow.
But David doesn't just grieve
sort of reactively and immediately
in the immediate aftermath
of hearing bad news.
He also sits down
and writes this lament.
He put words to his grief.
It wasn't just a stream of consciousness
but an orderly expression
of his grief.
The song was taught
to the people of Judah.
It was actually handed down
for generations to come,
included in the Holy Scriptures.
others.
And I think this can also be
a very helpful practice
in the wake of loss
or tragedy.
To express our grief
which tends to be
disorderly and chaotic
and unpredictable
by its very nature.
To express our grief
in some kind of orderly fashion.
Maybe it means write a poem
or a song
or draw a picture.
Gather together
a collection of photos.
Compose a tribute.
The song is
has an order to it.
Has a refrain
How the Mighty Have Fallen
repeated three times.
Has three distinct parts.
Verse 20 and 21
are sort of negative warnings.
Verse 22 and 23
describe Saul and Jonathan together.
Verse 24 through 26
calls
are sort of invitations
to weep for them individually.
You know,
I think
I think grieving
and mourning
is something that we
we don't
naturally learn to do
if you grow up
in this culture.
Right?
Because
most of the time
we either try to avoid
death and sickness
and just
push it away from us
and stay far away from it
as much as we can
or simply fight against it
and that's all we
try to do
but we don't often
have these
ways
of
mourning
and grieving
and
walking forward together.
And so
it's something
we need to learn.
And I think
that this passage
can teach us
something about that.
Notice also
David doesn't
immediately jump
to words of comfort
and peace
and joy
and assurance
of God's presence.
The lament
is focused on
remembering
Saul and Jonathan
their greatness
as warriors
and the tragedy
of their loss
to the nation
of Israel.
And you know
there's a time
to mourn
and sometimes
the way to get
to a place
of comfort
and peace
it means
we have to
pass through
that
dark valley
of mourning.
So as
a pastor
I periodically
have to officiate
funerals
and
in a traditional
Christian funeral
or memorial service
people gather
to honor
the memory
of a dear friend
to mourn
in the face
of death
both realizing
someone else's death
but also that
we're all going
to die
and sort of
facing that reality
and also to find
hope
and comfort
in the promise
of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
and the faithfulness
of God.
That's basically
what a traditional
Christian funeral does
honor someone's memory
expresses grief
in the face of death
and hope
in the light
of resurrection.
But today
something that's become
more and more common
is to have
not just
not a traditional
funeral or memorial service
but what's often called
a celebration
of life.
To remember
and as much as possible
try to relive
and recreate
someone's unique
personality.
To celebrate
the activities
they enjoyed doing
and the foods
that they loved.
Basically
to have a party
that they would have
enjoyed being at.
I remember
going to one of these
for a friend
of my wife
someone who was
in college with her
and had died
in a tragic accident
and that was
sort of the goal
to remember
who he was
as a mountain climber
and to have a party
but there wasn't
there was only
one moment
in the whole ceremony
where people
were really given
permission
to grieve
and you could hear
some people
just breaking
into tears.
Now
what to say
about this?
It's appropriate
when someone dies
to give thanks
for their life
and to honor
their accomplishments.
That's what David
does for Saul
and Jonathan here.
But it's also
actually important
to really mourn
and to face
the reality of death
and not to
celebrate someone's life
while pretending
that death
and mourning
isn't a reality.
That can sometimes
just be an expression
of denial
and reflecting
sometimes the fact
that we don't know
how to deal with death.
And one of the things
that the Bible
invites us into
is
to learn
to mourn
and to lament.
David called
that's what David
does in verse 24
he calls upon
the daughters of Israel
to mourn for Saul
he also mourns
personally
pours out his grief
for Jonathan.
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 7
verse 2
says this
better to go
to the house
of mourning
than the house
of feasting
because death
is the destiny
of every person
and the living
should take it
to heart.
In other words
the only way
to genuine comfort
and deep healing
from God
involves going
through
mourning
and lamenting.
Now this is hard.
I acknowledge
this is
you know
I was thinking
about this sermon
I was like
this is sort of
the first sermon
of the new school year
and you know
people are excited
to be here
and I'm like
and I've got this text
and I tried to frame
it in other ways
and I tried to think
about it in other ways
and I'm like
this is really
a lot of what
this text
is teaching us to do
is to learn
to lament
and learn to mourn
and Jesus said
blessed are those
who mourn
for they will be
comforted
and he doesn't just
mean blessed are
those who mourn
when your friend dies
that's part of it
but also those
who mourn over
our own sin
and our own fallenness
and turn toward God
and those who mourn
over the tragedy
that sin has wrecked
in the world
that our rebellion
against God
and all of its
terrible consequences
part of the right
response to that
is to mourn
over that
and to bring that
before God
and to call out
Jesus
let your kingdom
come
Jesus
let your will
be done
come
we need you
we long
for you
now this doesn't
mean that we should
remain paralyzed
by grief
David went on
to do many things
he went on
to rule over Israel
he went on
to fight great
battles
and bless
God's people
and bring them
together
as united people
he went on
to reign
as king
so there's a time
to stop everything
and mourn
there's a time
to get up
and continue working
even if you still
feel the loss
of a loved one
very acutely
and deeply
so this is what
we see in David's
response to the
death of Saul
he responds
not by pursuing
his own self
interest
not by rejoicing
that his enemy
has fallen
but by mourning
over him
and you know
we see this
in David's life
but in the
New Testament
we see Jesus
Christ
the true
and everlasting
king
and we see
the same thing
with Jesus
many of us
think about
Jesus mourning
for Lazarus
his friend
who got sick
and died
and Jesus
went to his grave
and he wept
but Jesus
also wept
over Jerusalem
he said this
Luke 19
41
when Jesus
drew near
excuse me
when Jesus
drew near
and saw the city
of Jerusalem
he wept over it
saying would
that you
even you
had known
on this day
the things
that make
for peace
but now
they are hidden
from your eyes
for the days
will come upon
you
when your enemies
will set up
a barricade
around you
and surround
you
and hem
you in
on every
side
and tear
you down
to the ground
and they
will not
leave one
stone
upon another
Jesus warned
the people
in Jerusalem
that there
was a coming
destruction
because of
their rebellion
against God
and their
rejection
of his
Messiah
but he
wept
over that
city
and he
wept
over those
people
he wasn't
indifferent
and cold
to them
he wept
over them
in the book
of Revelation
Jesus is
described
as a lion
who will
rule the
nations
a strong
king
but he's
also described
as a lamb
who laid
down his
life
in humble
sacrifice
you see
more than
David
more than
anyone else
in the history
of the world
Jesus had
enemies
we think
about
the Pharisees
who plotted
against him
and the
Roman officials
who were
happy to
have him
crucified
so it would
cause less
trouble for
them
but in
some sense
the whole
story of the
Bible
is about
God
and how
God will
deal with
his enemies
because from
the beginning
Satan and
the angels
rebelled
against God
Adam and
Eve
in the
garden of
Eden
rebelled
against God
and all
of us
have followed
in their
footsteps
and really
the big
question of
the Bible
is how
will God
deal with
people
who
in all
kinds of
ways
are trying
to
exclude him
from our
life
and dishonor
him
and put
ourselves
in the
center
where he
should be
and glorify
ourselves
and get
the glory
and honor
for us
and for
I mean
we sort of
want to be
the king
when he's
the rightful
king
and the
question is
how will
God deal
with us
and the
good news
is what
Paul says
in Romans
chapter 5
God shows
his love
for us
in that
while we
were still
sinners
Jesus Christ
died for
us
if while
we were
God's
enemies
we were
reconciled
to God
by the
death
of his
son
much more
now that
we are
reconciled
shall we
be saved
by his
life
we'll
go on
to see
more
of
David
how
he
deals
with
his
enemies
how
he
deals
with
all
kinds
of
other
things
but
the
main
message
of
the
Bible
is
that
though
we
were
enemies
of
God
that
God
has
come
and
reconciled
us
to
himself
and
he
invites
us
to
be
reconciled
to
him
let's
pray
Lord
God
we
thank
you
for
your
scripture
that
speaks
to
us
about
many
things
that
we
might
otherwise
neglect
or
ignore
Lord
we
thank
you
for
how
you
call
us
to
mourn
over
the
fallenness
and
rebellion
and
brokenness
of
this
world
we
thank
you
Jesus
for
how
you
came
in
your
compassion
and
laid
down
your
life
for
us
on
the
cross
so
that
we
might
be
reconciled
to
you
so
we
might
be
at
peace
with
you
so
that
we
might
belong
to
you
and
be
part
of
your
kingdom
forever
Lord
we
pray
that
you
would
we
pray
that
you
would
teach
us
how
to
mourn
and
how
to
hunger
and
thirst
for
your
righteousness
how
to
mourn
not
because
we
have
no
hope
but
because
we
have
hope
in
you
that
one
day
you
will
come
and
make
all
things
new
and
for
all
who
turn
to
you
one
day
we
will
be
part
of
your
kingdom
and
we
will
be
healed
and
we
will
rejoice
and
there
will
be
no
more
mourning
Lord
we
pray
that
you
teach
us
to
walk
in
the
path
of
the
cross
Lord
knowing
that
you
have
gone
before
us
and
pay
the
great
price
on
our
behalf
we
pray
this
in
Jesus
name
amen