Good morning. Welcome to Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church. My name is Matthew Capone
and I'm the pastor here and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today. If you are new or visiting
with us, welcome. We are glad that you're here and we're glad that you're here not because we are
trying to fill seats but because we are following after Jesus together as one community and as we
follow after Jesus together we've become convinced that there's no one so good that they don't need
God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it which means that God has something to say to
everyone in his word whether we've been Christians our entire lives, whether we maybe have been
Christians for a few months, whether we would call ourselves not Christians, whether we have doubts or
questions or objections to Christianity, God comes and speaks to all of us in his word and so that's
why we come every week and take a look at what God has to say to us. We are finishing up a series in
the book of Psalms and as I've been telling you the book of Psalms is the hymn book and the prayer book
of God's people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, and continues to be used as all of the New Testament,
all of the Old Testament by God's people in the New Testament, the church. It's a guide for us in how
to worship God, how to talk to him, how to pray and like any song book it has all kinds of different
angles on it, all different ways we could think about it or look at it. And one thing we talked
about last week was the fact that the Bible, the Psalms, talk about our emotions. God uses them to
shape our emotions, to help us understand what to do with them, how to have right emotions, how to stir up
all kinds of emotions that we need to have, godly emotions, how to deal with emotions that
come and surprise us. And as the Psalms do that, one of the things that's unique about the Psalms,
maybe not unique but true, it's true of other parts of scripture, is that it's
incredibly raw and brutal and honest. The psalmist doesn't pull punches about what it's like to live
life in this world. In fact, I would suggest that the Psalms are more honest about the life of faith,
about the Christian life than we are sometimes. The psalmist is more likely to call a spade a spade
than we are. And we're going to come to a passage this morning, Psalm 73, which talks about one way in
which the psalmist has doubt. The Psalms are a reminder to us that God knows that we struggle with
doubts. He knows that sometimes we wonder if it's a good idea to continue following after him. Sometimes we
wonder if it would be easier and better to just step away, to not be call ourselves a Christian
anymore. And God also knows that when we look around at the world around us and we see people who
aren't following God, and we see how well they're doing in their lives, we're tempted to wonder whether
it's really worth it or not. And because the Psalms are so brutally honest and raw, the psalmist is going
to bring that specific struggle before us this morning in Psalm 73. And when we see people who
aren't following God and are doing well, we're tempted to give up on the Christian life and give
in to sin. We're tempted to give up on the Christian life and give in to sin. And so it's with that that
we come to Psalm 73. I'm going to read it now. You can follow along in your worship guide. It's printed
near the back or in your Bible or on your phone. And as we come to God's Word, remember that He tells
us that His Word is sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb, and it is
more precious than gold, even the finest gold. And that's the reason that we come to God's Word reading
now starting with verse 1. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me,
my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked. Verse 4. For they have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore, pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness.
Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue struts through the earth. Verse 10.
Therefore, His people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, how can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the wicked. Always at ease, they increase in riches.
Verse 13. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I discerned their end.
Verse 18.
Truly, you set them in slippery places.
You make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors.
Like a dream when one awakes.
Oh Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant.
I was like a beast toward you.
Verse 23.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Verse 27.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish.
You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
Please pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Dear Father in heaven, we thank you again, as we do every week, for your word that you've given to us.
That you haven't left us alone, but you've spoken to us.
And we thank you even more that you don't ask us to plaster on happy faces.
You don't ask us to pretend.
You don't ask us to ignore our doubts.
But instead, you name them for us.
And you help us to see them and discuss them and address them.
We ask that you would come this morning and that you would help us to do that very thing.
That you would use your word to speak clearly to us.
That we would leave understanding it more and knowing and loving and trusting you more as well.
So, we ask these things not because we have earned them, but because Jesus has earned them for us.
And so, we ask them in his name.
Amen.
If you are a sports fan at all, you know one of the great frustrations of sport fans.
Especially, I would say, if you're maybe a football fan or a basketball fan.
Not just one of the great frustrations, but one of the great excuses.
If your team doesn't win, there's always an easy scapegoat, right?
You can always blame the refs.
In fact, this is something that people constantly discuss and get outraged about.
There was a bad call in this game or that game.
We experienced it recently last year with the Broncos.
There was a big uproar about one of their games against the Kansas City Chiefs.
And how if the ref had made a different call at a different time,
they would have stopped the momentum from the Chiefs and the Broncos would have been able to win.
I'm sure many of you are going to carry that bitterness with you for years to come.
And one individual compares Psalm 73 to exactly that.
This is the psalmist accusing God of being a terrible ref.
When he looks at the world around him, he has his head knowledge.
Verse 1,
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
But then when he looks around, what he knows in his head doesn't seem to be true of the world around him.
That's what he thinks is true.
He says theologically God's good to Israel, but it just doesn't seem to be true in his experience.
In his experience, it seems like God actually is not good.
He's making some terrible calls.
And so that's why in verses 2 and 3 he tells us,
His feet had almost stumbled.
His steps had nearly slipped.
Why?
Because verse 3,
I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
God knows that there are many times when we're going to question his goodness.
And God knows that there are times when we will look around and wonder if being a Christian is really worth it.
And God knows what the psalmist sees in verse 73,
that sometimes it seems like it's people who don't follow God who prosper and flourish the most.
And so that's where we get what the psalmist heads into in these following verses.
He sees all these terrible calls that God's making.
There are these evil people, these wicked from verse 3, verse 4.
They're incredibly healthy.
They have no pains until death.
They don't experience the problems that other people experience, verse 5.
And they do this even though they are violent and proud, verse 6.
Even though they're filled with foolishness, verse 7.
They seem to have all they need to eat and more.
Their words are terrible, verses 8 and 9.
And yet it seems like God isn't doing anything about it.
Instead, they're prospering.
And so this leads the psalmist to have all kinds of doubts.
We saw in verse 3, he's envious.
He wonders why those people have these things and he doesn't.
He's tempted again to wonder if God is really just.
Verse 11, how can God actually know everything?
If God was truly omniscient, if he was all-knowing,
why would he allow these things to happen?
And then he wonders, verses 13 and 14,
if it's really worth living the righteous life.
If it's really worth the sacrifice of following after God.
If this is what he gets for it.
Now, not all of us may face this kind of doubt,
although I'm sure many of us do some of the time,
and maybe all of us have at some time.
But there's many kinds of situations and places where we look around
and we see that those who don't know God,
who don't follow God, who don't trust him,
appear to be doing exceptionally well.
Now, it might just be a place where it feels unfair.
It may not have anything to do with sin.
It may be you and your spouse have struggled to have children
and you see people who are not Christians all around you
who are having children all the time.
And you wonder, how in the world could God be just?
I've given my life to him.
I'm following after him.
And yet he's giving his blessings, not to me, but to other people.
You may be facing all kinds of medical needs as you reach a certain age
and you look around your friends who are the same age that you are,
people who don't love God and follow God,
and they seem to be having these carefree, active lives.
And you wonder, God, why haven't you given that to me?
I'm the one who's following after you.
You might be struggling to pay and finance your life in retirement
and you see people around you who have not a care in the world.
And you wonder why God did not help you store up in the same way that they did.
It might be that you're struggling to find a job that has purpose and power,
work that's actually going to pay enough for you to support yourself and your family.
And it seems that the doors are closing.
And yet you see people who do violent things and deceitful things.
And it seems to be not a problem at all for them to find a job that gives them enough.
Maybe it's something that is the result of sin.
You've committed, you've followed God to be ethical in your business.
And it only seems to be harming you rather than helping you.
All you're doing is falling behind.
You've decided to honor God by remaining faithful in your marriage.
And you look around and you see people who've chosen to not do that.
And it seems like they are having an amazing life.
You go and you watch videos about and movies about people whose lives become better
when they forsake their marriages.
And so you wonder,
why is God asking me to do that?
Maybe you have decided you are not going to commit your life to work.
You're actually going to observe a Sabbath.
There are going to be times when you rest.
And all it does, it seems to be getting you behind as other people sprint ahead.
Maybe you've embraced God's call to sexual integrity and faithfulness.
And when you're at work,
your coworkers are constantly discussing the sexual experiences that they're having.
And it seems to be harming them in no way.
And so you wonder why these are the blessings that other people are experiencing
and you are not.
The psalmist here in Psalm 73 sees that the righteous suffer and the wicked flourish
and he is confused.
He's confused and that's what leads him to this envy.
Verse 3, this questioning of God and his goodness.
And then his wondering whether it's really worth it.
He says in verse 13,
all in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
All this trouble that I've been taking to live a faithful life
and do what God's asked me and commanded me to do
has been for nothing.
Because when I look at the world around me,
it's clear that the calls that God's making,
when God is a ref,
he's actually giving the blessings to the wicked.
And so that's why we're told in verses 2 and 3,
his feet had almost stumbled,
his steps had nearly slipped.
Why is God allowing the world to work in this way?
Why did he tell us in Psalm 1
that if you're righteous,
you're going to be like a tree planted by streams of water
and everything you're going to do is going to prosper,
but not so the wicked.
If that's true,
why does the world look as it does?
And the psalmist is honest enough to say this and write it down,
and God is good enough to us
and knows enough that we're just dust
to put it in the book of the psalms.
And the psalmist comes with the entirety of his doubts
and his fears,
and he brings them to God.
But then he has a turning point.
He has a new perspective,
and what is it that brings his new perspective?
Well, verse 16,
he tells us how difficult this is.
I thought, how would I understand this?
It seems to be a wearisome task.
He's exhausted with thinking about this.
Verse 17,
until.
Until what?
What is it that gives the psalmist clarity?
Until I went into the sanctuary of God.
In other words,
the psalmist was overwhelmed and confused,
tempted to abandon God in his ways
until he showed up to worship.
And when he showed up to worship,
he gained a new clarity and a new perspective.
It's like someone who's not been able to see
for a long time.
Things have been getting blurrier and blurrier.
And maybe you experienced this
if you're someone who wears glasses like me.
The first time you got them,
you put them on,
you thought, wow,
everything is much more clear
than it's ever been in the past.
And I can see farther away
than I've ever been able to see before.
That's what happens to the psalmist here.
When he shows up to worship,
he's able to finally get a new perspective.
He's able to see reality as it is.
So I'll just pause here for a second
and say part of the reason
that we come to worship every Sunday
is it helps us get back in touch with reality.
That we live in a world
where we have all sorts of messages
being given to us all sorts of,
all the time,
some of which are true
and some of which are not true.
And we come to worship every Sunday
because God has commanded us to,
but also because he loves us.
It's for his glory
and it's also for our good.
He uses worship to help us
remember and understand
what is most true in this world.
He uses worship not necessarily
to change our circumstances,
but he uses it to change our perspective.
And that's what happens here to the psalmist.
He has all these questions about God.
He sees the circumstances around him.
He comes into the sanctuary.
His circumstances don't change.
He doesn't suddenly become someone
who's fat and sleek, verse four.
He doesn't necessarily become someone
whose eyes swell out through fatness,
but he does become someone who understands.
Because, verse 17,
what is it that he gives him new vision?
He discerned their end.
In other words,
the psalmist begins to have
an eternal perspective
of everything that he's seeing around him.
And that's what he tells us
in verses 18 through 22.
How is it that I can make sense
of the fact that the people around me
who don't follow God
seem to be flourishing?
What is it that worship helps me understand?
Verse 18,
Truly you set them in slippery places.
You make them fall to ruin.
Verse 19,
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors.
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself,
you despise them as phantoms.
Before, the psalmist was maybe
only remembering part of Psalm 1.
The part of Psalm 1 that says
that the righteous are going to prosper.
Everything that they're going to do
is going to prosper.
But he'd forgotten the other part of Psalm 1.
That the wicked are like the chaff
that the wind blows away.
And so we see why Psalm 1
is the introduction to the Psalter
because it's the psalm
that sets out at the beginning
that there are only two ways to live.
And that those who follow after God
will live with God.
But those who rebel against God
will perish.
And so the psalmist sees
that all these things
that are happening to the wicked,
their wealth,
their prosperity,
their health,
is temporary.
And while they experience it now,
God's judgment is coming.
And so while he thinks
he's tempted to believe
that God is a poor ref
making bad calls,
he actually sees that God
is the ultimate ref
making good calls.
Verses 18 and 19,
these are people who are not going
to get away with what they're doing forever.
And so their prosperity
is only for a moment.
If someone is prospering,
no matter how much
they're prospering,
if they don't know God,
it will all disappear in a moment.
It's of little value.
On the other hand,
the psalmist doesn't just understand
the end of the wicked,
he also understands
that God is with the righteous.
Verses 23 and 26,
The psalmist realizes something
that maybe some of you
have experienced at times,
especially if you're a parent.
There are times
when you have a child
and the child wants
maybe your things,
your possessions,
your support,
your finances,
but the child doesn't want you.
A child is interested
in the things
rather than the relationship.
When the psalmist comes
into worship,
he understands
that he has been interested
in the things
that God can give him,
but he's not been interested
in God.
He's been interested
in the things
that God can give him,
but he's not been interested
in God.
Notice what he doesn't say
in verses 23 through 26.
Oh, I understood
that God is actually
going to give me a blessing
on faith in a few years,
and if I just wait
for it patiently enough,
I too will also prosper
in my health
and my finances.
No, he doesn't see
God's justice
as giving him
what he sees
the wicked as having.
Instead, he realizes
that God's offer
to him isn't stuff,
but God offers him himself.
As one person puts it,
what the wicked get
is this wealth
and this health.
What the psalmist gets
is God.
The wicked get health
and wealth.
What the psalmist gets
is God.
And so the wicked get health
and riches temporarily.
The psalmist gets God
permanently.
The wicked get riches
and health temporarily.
The psalmist gets God
permanently.
Verse 23,
he has God's presence.
He gets God.
He's in the sanctuary.
In the Old Testament,
the sanctuary would have
been the place
that represented
God's presence
among his people.
And that foreshadows
when God would become
even more present
with his people.
We don't have
a sanctuary anymore.
The curtain of the temple
was torn in two
when Jesus died
because Jesus came
to be God's presence
with us.
That if we have
any doubt
of God's presence
in his relationship
and his love
for us and with us,
we only need to remember
that his presence,
as the psalmist
experiences it
in part in the sanctuary,
we see it
and know it
in full
because Jesus came
and actually lived
as a man
on this earth
in a human body
with us
to show us
God's presence.
Now you might be thinking,
well that doesn't do me
a whole lot of good,
right?
Jesus isn't here
right now.
But Jesus tells us
in John 16
it's actually better
that he would leave
because he's given us
the Holy Spirit
to guide us
in all truth
is what he says
in John.
And so the psalmist
has God's presence here.
We, people in the New Testament,
have God's Holy Spirit
that he gives us
to guide us
and be with us
and comfort us.
The Holy Spirit
empowers us
to obey God.
It enables us
to do what God's
commanded us to do.
If we're in difficult
circumstances
like the psalmist
and discouraged
and afraid
we can pray to God
to send his spirit
to help us.
If we don't know
what to do
God tells us
in James chapter 1
that we can pray to God
and he will give us wisdom.
Notice the psalmist
doesn't say
that he looks at the wicked
and he sees all the wisdom
that they have.
He doesn't even say
that he sees the peace
and joy
and contentment
that they have.
All he can see
is their health
and their wealth.
24,
you guide me
with your counsel.
God gives us
his word
to show us
how to walk
in this world.
And that's not
what the wicked have
in Psalm 73.
Instead,
they have a very bad
surprise waiting
for them
because verse 19
they're destroyed
in a moment.
And then finally,
verse 24,
afterwards you will
receive me to glory.
The psalmist realizes
that while the wicked
will perish,
while they've set
in slippery places,
he is in a solid place.
Because he's taken
refuge in God
even though he doesn't
experience all the benefits
and prosperity
that he wants to experience
now,
he has the hope
that he is going
to be with God
forever.
that when he dies,
God's going to receive
him to glory.
He's going to take part
in the new creation.
When God comes
and makes everything
right in this world,
the psalmist
is going to be
a part of that.
And so he has
something greater,
far greater,
and far more glorious
than those in the world
around him
that he looks at.
That's the realization
he has
as he comes
and he comes
into the sanctuary
and discerns,
verse 17,
therein.
He understands
that God
is bringing judgment
and destruction
on the wicked,
but bringing salvation
to the righteous.
And so that's how
he comes to understand,
to give this new perspective.
He has an eternal perspective
now on the circumstances
around him.
Again,
his circumstances
haven't changed,
but his perspective has.
Coming and worshiping God
helps him to understand
what is most real
and most true
in this world.
I said earlier,
if some of you
are parents,
you've had this experience
potentially of a child
being interested
in your stuff,
but not in you.
But you also know
if you've interacted
with young children
that often
the opposite is also true,
especially when they're
small and little,
that they will choose
their parent
over anything.
that a young child,
the weaned child
that we talked about
last week
in Psalm 131
would rather be
with its mother
than with anyone else,
no matter how much wealth
and health
and prosperity
that they have.
And that's what happens
to the psalmist here.
I am continually with you,
verse 23.
He would rather be with God
than have all the prosperity
with someone else.
He'd rather be with his parent
than anywhere else.
He understands
that there's something
more important
and valuable
than wealth
and status.
If you're not a Christian,
this psalm is telling us
no matter how much money
and health you have,
you lack God now
and you will one day
have ultimate poverty.
No matter how much health
and wealth you have,
you lack God now
and you will one day
have ultimate poverty.
If you are a Christian,
it doesn't matter
how much you lack.
You have God now
and you will have him forever.
It doesn't matter
how much you lack,
you have God now
and that is ultimate wealth.
Notice that the psalmist's solution
is not for God
to give him things
he doesn't have now,
but for God
to be with him
and for him.
And so if you're struggling
as the psalmist is,
if you're struggling
in verse 3
being envious
of the arrogant
and the prosperity
of the wicked,
if you're struggling
with verse 11
wondering if God
is truly just,
if he truly knows
what's going on
in this world,
and if you're struggling
with verse 13
wondering if it's actually
worth it to live
a holy life,
then on the one hand
you're in good company
here with the psalmist.
But God never
leaves us where we are.
He always takes us
somewhere
and he does that
in this psalm.
And he shows us
that our hope
and our trust
is not in a change
in circumstances,
but a change
in perspective.
The psalmist here
reassesses
what is valuable
and worthwhile.
Verse 1,
he says,
truly God is good
to Israel,
to those who are
pure in heart.
So theologically
he believes
in God's goodness,
but experientially
in his heart
he does not see it
or know it
until he comes
to the very last verse.
If you've heard me
teach and preach
for a while,
you know I'm a big fan
of bookends.
And the word good
shows up in the first verse
and the last verse.
verse 1,
this good
is just a theological
statement
that's completely
divorced from
the psalmist experience.
I know God's good.
I don't see it
because he seems
to be giving his goodness
to everyone else.
In 28,
the very last verse,
he now knows,
but for me
it is what?
Good
to be near God.
I have made
the Lord God
my refuge
that I may tell
of all your works.
As he goes
through this psalm,
as he pours out
his lament,
as he reassesses
everything in the
perspective of eternity,
the psalmist gets
a new definition
of what good
is.
And so he can say,
not just with his head,
but with his heart,
verse 1,
truly God is good
to Israel.
Why?
Verse 28,
because it is good
to be near God.
I have made
the Lord God
my refuge
that I may tell
of all your works.
His refuge
is the one
who protects him.
And he's telling
of all of God's works.
That's part of what
he's doing
in the sanctuary.
And so as he understands
that God
is his safety
and his hope
and his treasure,
that the things
that the people
around him have
that he doesn't have
are temporary
and the things
that he has
that they don't have
are permanent.
He's able to take
refuge in God
and sing of God's works.
Now for those of us
who are in the New Testament,
the people of the church,
taking refuge in God,
we would talk about this
as having faith in Christ.
In the Old Testament,
he knew that God
was the one
who was going to save him,
that would receive him
into glory,
verse 27.
But he did not know
exactly how that
was going to happen.
We now know
that God's refuge
to us
is a refuge
that he gives us
through Jesus.
That because Jesus
had no refuge
when he died on the cross,
because God
poured out his wrath
and his punishment,
the destruction
in verse 19
that the wicked received,
Jesus received
on our behalf,
we can look to Jesus
as our refuge.
And no matter
what happens,
no matter what other people
have that we don't,
we know that that's something
that we cannot lose.
While wealth and health
are things that we can.
And the work,
verse 28,
that we tell of,
the work that we praise God
for more than anything else
is his work
of sending his son,
of sending Jesus
to live as a man
in this world,
to live a perfect life
that we didn't live.
to die the death
that we deserved
so that everyone
who has faith and hope
and trust in him
would be able
to be near God,
to make the Lord God
our refuge
and tell
of all his works.
If you were
following the news
last fall,
you may have
not just heard
about the Broncos,
but you may have
also heard
a strange
story in the world
of art history.
There's an artist
named Banksy,
it's his nickname,
and he painted
a painting called
Girl with a Balloon,
and it was sold
at auction
for 1.4 million.
And there's many
auctions that happen.
This was at an auction
house, I think,
somewhere on the east coast,
probably New York City,
and usually these auctions
end without event.
The person who wins
the auction
takes their prize.
They take what they've
earned and paid for
and bought,
and they keep it.
They have it.
But something very
different happened
at this auction.
As soon as it was over,
and this 1.4 million
dollar purchase
was completed,
an alarm started going off
in the auction house.
And immediately
after the alarm
went off,
the painting started
dropping out of the
bottom of the frame.
And as it came out
of the bottom of the frame,
it came out in pieces.
In other words,
as soon as this buyer
purchased the painting,
it was destroyed.
Come to find out,
the artist had planted
a shredder in the frame,
and he had decided
that if his painting
was ever set up
for auction,
he would destroy it.
And so he waited
until the moment
when it was done,
he planted someone
in the audience,
and they had a remote
control that they could
press it.
So as soon as the purchase
was complete,
the artwork would be destroyed.
This great investment,
this 1.4 million dollar purchase,
was gone in an instant.
The psalmist is telling us
in Psalm 23
that if we put our hope
in health and wealth
and prosperity,
it may work for a time,
but it will be gone
in an instant.
that what seems precious
to us will be destroyed.
Those who put their hope
and their investment
and their trust in God
will have something
that cannot be destroyed
and that will last forever.
And so Jesus tells us
in Mark chapter 8,
in calling the crowd
to him with his disciples,
he, that is Jesus,
said to them,
if anyone would come to me.
If anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself
and take up his cross
and follow me.
For whoever would save his life
will lose it,
but whoever loses his life
for my sake
and the gospels
will save it.
For what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world
and forfeit his soul?
For what can a man give
in return for his soul?
For behold,
those who are far from you
shall perish.
You put an end to everyone
who is unfaithful to you.
But for me,
it is good to be near God.
I have made the Lord God
my refuge
that I may tell
of all your works.
Please pray with me.
Dear Father in heaven,
we thank you
that you're a good Father.
You don't give up on us
when we doubt you
and we question you.
But instead,
you've given us
the words
to do that very thing.
But you also don't leave us
in our doubts
and our questions,
but you call us
to hope and faith
to follow after you
and walk
in the way
that Jesus has set
for us to walk.
And so we ask
as we struggle
with doubts and fears,
as we wonder
whether you're good
and just,
that you would use
your word
and your spirit
to build us up
and give us faith
and trust in you
as we understand
that what you've given us
is more valuable
than anything else
and that what we envy
from others
are things
that will not last
and cannot satisfy.
We ask these things
not because we have
earned them,
but because Jesus
has earned them for us
and so we ask them
in his name.
Amen.