Would you turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Psalms,
right in the middle of your Bibles,
and please find Psalm 90.
It will be important that you listen carefully as I read,
follow along in your own Bible.
This is God's Word, Psalm 90.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
You return man to dust and say,
Return, O children of man.
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood.
They are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning.
In the morning it flourishes and is renewed.
In the evening it fades and withers.
For we are brought to an end by your anger.
By your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
For all our days pass away under your wrath.
We bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80,
and yet their span is but toil and trouble.
They are soon gone and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So, teach us to number our days,
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord.
How long?
Have pity on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us.
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you so much for your love for us.
We know ourselves at least well enough to marvel at your love for us.
And you know us even better than we know ourselves.
And yet, you have loved us,
and you continue to love us,
and you have promised that you will never stop loving us.
And so we thank you.
We pray this morning that you would speak.
Father, I pray that you would help me to minister your word for your people.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I don't know what it's like for you as you think about the days ahead.
And when I say the days ahead,
I have in mind both your days ahead as a church,
but also, maybe especially,
your days ahead personally,
each one of us.
For some, as you look ahead,
it might seem like a fairly pleasant path,
at least as far as you can see.
For some, the days ahead might look kind of bleak,
unpromising.
For some, it might look like an obstacle course,
maybe a very challenging obstacle course,
one filled with all kinds of barriers,
some of them daunting barriers.
But the fact of the matter is,
for all of us,
we are walking forward into the days ahead,
and that walking forward is going to require some courage,
some going forth in faith.
And to help us with that,
I want us to consider this psalm this morning.
It is a psalm of remarkable wisdom.
This is ancient wisdom.
This is the oldest psalm that we have.
Most of the psalms, as you probably know,
were written by David or by his contemporaries.
This one was written by Moses
some 500 years earlier than David.
And as we look at this psalm this morning,
I want to make just two very simple points.
The first point is what occupies verses 1 through 12.
The second point is found in verse 12
to the end of the psalm.
In fact, let me just tell you right away
what the points are.
The first point,
life is short.
Like really short.
The second point,
live wisely.
Or we might say,
make sure not to waste your short life.
or any part of it.
Teach us,
Moses says in verse 12,
all of us,
no matter what your age,
teach us to get a heart of wisdom.
That's the second point.
But first,
point number one,
life is short.
Moses starts his psalm
talking to God
about what He is like.
Look at verse 1.
Lord,
You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
We read that
and we're immediately drawn
to this dwelling place idea,
right?
Lord,
You have been our dwelling place.
That sounds
really nice,
comfortable,
attractive,
kind of secure,
especially if the circumstances
of our lives
have been a little challenging.
And it's true
what Moses says here.
God is the true
dwelling place
of His people.
We live in God.
The Bible wants us
to know that,
deeply know that,
experientially know that
about God.
But for Moses,
speaking here,
that is like a given.
He's operating with that
as a given.
What he's stressing here
is that
in all generations part.
Lord,
You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
For my generation,
for my father's generation,
for my father's father's generation,
as far back as we can reach,
and that will be true
for all of the generations
to come.
You see,
Moses is not here
in Psalm 90
marveling
at the fact that
God is our dwelling place.
He knows that.
He loves that
as He should,
as we should.
But that's not
what he's marveling at here.
He's marveling
at God's
unchangeableness.
His
eternal
unchangeableness.
And that becomes
even more clear
in verse 2.
Before the mountains
were brought forth
or ever you had formed
the earth and the world
from everlasting
to everlasting,
you are God.
Now,
it's really important
that we see
that emphasis.
What exactly
about
God
Moses
is emphasizing,
but it's also
very important
that we see
Moses' purpose.
Why is he emphasizing that?
Because even though
Moses is stressing
the eternality,
the unchangeableness
of God,
his purpose
is actually
to confront us
with our mortality.
He's emphasizing
God's eternality
to heighten that
in stark contrast.
Just listen to the flow
of thought here.
Lord,
you have been
our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains
were brought forth
or ever you had formed
the earth and the world
from everlasting
to everlasting,
you are God,
you return
man to dust.
You hear that contrast?
And now in verses
four through six,
he proceeds to unpack
that point,
which really is
his main point.
Look at what he says
in verse four.
For a thousand years
in your sight
are but as yesterday
when it is past
or as a watch
in the night.
The point there
in verse four
is that even if we were
to live a thousand years,
even if you were
to live as long
as Methuselah,
still that is just
like a day
in God's sight.
In fact,
not even that long.
It's like a watch
in the night,
a mere four hour span
of time,
even if you lived
a thousand years.
And the fact is
we don't live
anywhere near that.
Look ahead to verse 10.
The years of our life
are 70
or even by reason
of strength,
80.
Obviously,
some people live longer
but not much.
I mean,
we get the point,
right?
We are not everlasting.
We are mortal.
Our lives are really brief
and then we return
physically to dust.
He goes on
in verses five and six
and says to God,
you sweep them away
as with a flood.
They are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed
in the morning.
In the morning,
it flourishes
and is renewed.
In the evening,
it fades and withers.
What's the point
of all of those images
in verses five and six?
Life is really short.
The Bible says that
repeatedly
so that we cannot
miss it,
at least if we're
paying attention.
In fact,
let me just give you
a little quiz
this morning.
You know those questions
where they give you
a list of
apparently unrelated things
and your job
is to find out
what all of those things
have in common.
You've got to kind of
figure it out.
Let me give you
a question like that
this morning.
What do these things
that I'm about to list
have in common?
You ready?
Mist,
the width of your hand,
a weaver's shuttle,
a runner,
a boat going down a river,
an eagle swooping
on its prey,
a dream,
and a plant that flourishes
in the morning
and withers in the evening.
What do all of those
have in common?
Well, I'm pretty sure
you either know
or can make
a pretty good guess.
Those are all images
that the Bible uses
to communicate
the brevity
of our lives.
What is your life?
For you are a mist
that appears
for a little time
and then vanishes.
James chapter 4.
Behold, you have made
my days
a few hand breaths.
Psalm 39.
My days are swifter
than a weaver's shuttle.
Job 7.
My days are swifter
than a runner.
They flee away.
They go like skiffs
of reed,
like an eagle
swooping on the prey.
Job chapter 9.
You sweep them away
as with a flood.
They are like a dream,
like grass
that is renewed
in the morning.
In the morning
it flourishes
and is renewed.
In the evening
it fades
and withers.
Psalm 90.
The point is clear, right?
Life goes by
very quickly.
It's not very long.
And not many of us
would argue the point,
right?
I mean,
you feel this.
You feel it more
as life passes.
I am 57 years old.
In three years
I'll be 60.
Which right now,
to be honest with you,
just feels kind of cool
to me.
But the thing
that can throw me
is that in 13 brief years
I'll be 70.
And that can throw me a bit.
Because that's the number
that gets named here.
70 years
or by reason of strength,
80.
When I was 20
it was just unfathomable
to me
that I would ever
be 70 years old.
Now obviously
I knew that
as a fact
but it didn't register
at all anywhere.
I couldn't imagine that.
Actually,
I wasn't so much
that I couldn't imagine it.
I wasn't even trying
to imagine it.
I wasn't even thinking
about trying to imagine it.
It was far from
my concerns
and now
I'm 57
and I'm thinking about it.
Or to put it differently,
all things being equal,
I've lived two-thirds
of my life.
All things equal,
I've got just one-third left.
I'm not panicking.
It's just like,
wow,
where did it go?
So let's bring this
home a little bit
to you.
If you're in your 50s
or 60s
you're probably
already tracking with me.
But let's say
you're in your 40s
or your 30s
or let's say
you're in your 20s.
Let's just say
you're 25.
All things equal,
you have lived
close to one-third
of your life
and you should know
by the way
the second third
goes by a whole lot faster.
So it's not too soon
to come to terms
with this reality
that God's Word
is setting before us.
In fact,
it's good to come to terms
with this
younger than that.
One of my children
reminded me recently
of a time
when they were maybe
eight or nine years old
that I had,
apparently,
as matter-of-factly
as I could
at the kitchen table,
said to them,
there's my three children there,
and I said,
you know you're going
to die someday.
Great parenting, right?
And this particular child,
just like a month ago,
told me that she remembered that
and that as an eight
or nine-year-old,
that struck her.
She hadn't realized that yet,
and something registered for her.
Now, you might be sitting there
thinking this morning,
man,
why are you laboring this point?
I come to church
to get encouraged.
And part of me
wants to say sorry,
but the wiser part of me
wants to very quickly say,
no, I'm not sorry at all.
It's really important
we think about this.
Now, I learned
in my church history classes
way back when I was in seminary
that certain medieval theologians
would regularly place
a human skull
on the shelf
above where they were studying
so that it would remind them
of the brevity of their lives.
In our own history
as a culture,
as a country,
it was common practice
to tell about 70 or 80 years ago
for a church to have a graveyard
right next to the church building
so that every Sunday
there would be a regular reminder
of this truth.
Listen, God's word
is very clear here.
Life is short.
We will die.
And actually,
that raises
a very interesting,
philosophical,
kind of existential question.
Why?
Because somehow
the brevity of our lives,
our mortality,
just doesn't feel right.
We resist it.
There's something in us
that is not easily resolved
with that reality.
Why is death so hard?
Why is there death?
Why is life so short?
Well, verses 7 through 11
tell us.
They answer that question.
I just want you to know
these verses are not easy.
They're not easy to understand,
but then once you understand them,
they're not easy to accept.
Good verses 7 through 11.
For we are brought to an end
by your anger.
By your wrath,
we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins,
in the light of your presence.
For all our days pass away
under your wrath.
We bring our years to an end
like a sigh.
The years of our life are 70
or even by reason of strength 80,
yet their span is but toil and trouble.
They are soon gone and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger
and your wrath
according to the fear of you?
Listen.
Verses 7, 9, and 11
give us an explanation
for the shortness of life.
Now let's be very careful here.
These verses are easy to misunderstand.
When verse 7 says,
we are brought to an end by your anger,
that is not talking about some
kind of event of God's active anger
directed toward me during my life
like some kind of malevolent deity
striking me dead.
That is talking about a decision,
a judgment that God made
in his righteousness,
the result of which is
our mortality
and the brevity of our lives.
There was a little clue to this
back in verse 3.
Look there.
You return man to dust
and you say,
return, O children of man.
Does that remind you of anything?
Turn back just for a moment
to Genesis chapter 3.
You remember after Adam and Eve
sinned in the Garden of Eden,
God came and he pronounced a curse
and part of that curse to Adam
are these words.
Genesis 3 verse 19,
by the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
till you return to the ground
for out of it you were taken
for you are dust
and to dust you shall return.
In Psalm 90,
Moses is very clearly alluding
to Genesis chapter 3
which he wrote by the way.
He would be very familiar
with those words.
And do you see that phrase
back in Psalm 90 verse 3,
O children of man?
Do you know what the Hebrew word
for man is there?
Adam.
So Moses is very clearly
alluding to Genesis chapter 3
and he has his mind on the curse,
that righteous judgment
that God made on Adam
for his sin
and we see that echoed
in verse 10.
The years of our life are 70
or even by reason of strength 80,
yet their span
is but toil and trouble.
There's the language
of God's righteous judgment
again in response to man's sin.
That's why that reference
to our sin in verse 8.
You have set our iniquities
before you.
Our secret sins
in the light of your presence.
Do you see how that explains
verses 7 and 9?
For we are brought to an end
by your anger.
All our days pass away
under your wrath.
Our mortality
and the shortness of our lives
is a result of God's judgment
as a consequence of our sin.
And that also explains
that question in verse 11.
Who considers the power
of your anger
and your wrath
according to the fear of you?
In other words,
Moses is saying,
who thinks about this?
Who makes that connection?
You know, in all of my years
I've never once
had an unbeliever
come up to me and say,
you know,
I'm really experiencing
the wrath of God today
as my life hastens
towards its end.
And yet that's exactly
what's happening.
The Apostle Paul says
very clearly,
the wrath of God
is being revealed
against all unrighteousness
and a major part
of that wrath being revealed
is the brevity of our lives.
The shortness of our lives.
People don't typically think
of the relationship
between their mortality
and God's sovereign power
and His judgment.
Most people are too busy
living for the moment
to think about that.
Who considers
the power of your anger
according to the fear of you?
Our mortality
and the shortness
of our life
is the result
of God's just judgment
on the human race
due to our sin
and it puts us
in this place of dismay.
Did you see that
in verse 7?
We are dismayed.
We think and we feel
regarding the shortness
of our lives,
oh, how I wish
it wasn't this way.
So, point number one,
life is short.
That's not the way
it was originally
meant to be
and we feel that.
However,
all is not lost.
Verse 12.
So,
teach us to number our days
that we may get
a heart of wisdom.
So, here's the second point.
Live this short life wisely.
Wisely.
Live your short life wisely.
First part of verse 12
is simply reemphasizing
the point that Moses
has already made.
Teach us to number our days.
Teach us to recognize
that our days are,
in fact, numbered.
Help us to realize that.
That's the main thing
that Moses is teaching
in verses 1 through 11
and here is,
at the start of verse 12,
he's simply asking God
to help us get that point.
Teach us to number our days.
That's the main truth
so far.
But even in that restatement,
Moses is beginning,
I believe,
to suggest
what the rest of verse 12
says explicitly
so that
we might get a heart
of wisdom.
Point number two,
we want to live
our short lives wisely.
Life is short
and everything,
everything is at stake
in this short life.
Your life is like this, folks.
It's gone.
And that makes you,
when you realize that,
it makes you ask,
why am I here?
What is my life for?
How should I live my life?
And that calls for wisdom.
The place God wants us to go
with that reality
is to wisdom.
Teach us to number our days
so that we might get a heart
of wisdom.
Now please notice,
it's not,
life is short,
so
party hard, man.
And it's not,
life is short,
so
just give in to despair.
And it's not,
life is short,
so get as much stuff
as you can
or get all of the
adventurous experiences
that you can.
You know that company
that started
the stand-up paddleboard craze?
You know these
paddleboards
that you stand up on?
The company that started that,
it's called YOLO.
You know what that stands for?
Y-O-L-O?
You only live once.
I hate that.
I mean,
I really hate that.
You only live once,
life is short,
so make sure to go paddleboarding.
Or make sure to climb some mountain,
or make sure to try this,
or try that
before your life is over.
I've actually suggested
to my children
that we should start up
an alternative paddleboard company
and name it YALT.
Not Y-O-L-O,
but Y-A-L-T,
YALT,
which stands for
you actually live twice.
One short life
with a lot at stake,
so don't be foolish
and limit your life
to adventures
and experiences
and accomplishments
or cynicism.
And then a really long life
called eternity.
Two lives,
the dot
and the line.
And Psalm 90 says,
Moses says,
I mean,
this is ancient wisdom.
Teach us to number our days
so that we might get
a heart of wisdom.
So that we might live
this one short life well.
Be fully prepared
for eternity.
And the big question,
of course,
is how?
How does that happen?
What is living wisely?
And the answer
is right there
in verse 14.
And the rest of this psalm.
Listen,
Psalm 90 verse 12
is not by any means
talking about
merely human wisdom.
No,
it's God's wisdom
he's speaking of.
This is being
in right relationship
with God,
Him,
being,
our dwelling place.
God's wisdom
is true wisdom
and it is found for us
in only one place.
Verse 14,
satisfy us
in the morning
with your
steadfast love.
So that we might rejoice.
and be glad
all of our days.
Listen,
let's back up
just a bit.
Right at verse 13,
something turns.
I don't know
if you noticed that
when we were reading.
Something dramatically turns.
While Moses is very aware
of the situation
that we live in,
that he's been talking about
in the first 11 or 12 verses,
he also knows
that that's not
the end of the story.
There is something
in him,
something very strong
in him
that cries out,
verse 13,
return,
O Lord,
how long
have pity
on your servants.
Translation,
do something,
God.
Don't leave us
in this situation.
Have pity on us.
In fact,
he just continues on
in that vein.
The rest of this psalm
is a prayer
with Moses
pleading with God.
I mean,
you could take those words,
O Lord,
from verse 13
and just distribute them
down to every verse
from that point on.
Verse 14,
O Lord,
satisfy us.
O Lord,
make us glad.
Verse 15,
verse 17,
O Lord,
let your favor
be upon us.
O Lord,
do something
to save us.
And that is not
just some desperate
prayer in the dark.
Moses knows
what he's asking for.
He knows what he wants
and he knows
what he needs
the Lord to do.
It is best summarized
there in verse 14.
In fact,
this is one of the
great summarizing
verses of the Bible.
Satisfy us
in the morning
with your steadfast love
so that we might rejoice
and be glad
all of our days.
That's what is needed.
Now,
the key thing there
is that little
two-word phrase,
steadfast love.
It's actually
just one word
in Hebrew
and it's a beautiful word.
It's the word hesed.
When I say beautiful,
I don't necessarily mean
beautiful sounding,
although I'm sure
after people understood
what it meant.
They came to love
that word.
Sometimes that word
is translated into English
by the word mercy,
sometimes by loving kindness.
You might see that
in your Bible,
but I think the better
translation is this one,
steadfast love.
It speaks of God's
eternal,
unbreakable commitment
to love his people.
Grounded in his being,
in his character,
in his heart,
it speaks of his eternal
and absolutely reliable love.
Sometimes it is spoken of
as his covenant love.
But the key idea
is the love
that flows out
of his heart
of love
for his people.
You see,
despite the reality
of his judgment,
there is still
this commitment
of God
to love his people.
And you see that,
how critical that is
to the thought
of verse 14.
And satisfy us
with your steadfast love
so that we can rejoice
and be glad
all of our days.
You can feel
the weight of that,
especially after what
verses 1 through 12
have said.
It's not just critical
to the thought
of verse 14.
It's critical
to our existence.
We have been wrecked,
just devastated
by our sin
and by God's judgment.
Our lives are short
and we sense
that's not the way
it's supposed to be.
Our lives are filled
with toil and trouble.
And we sense
that's not the way
it's supposed to be
and we live all
of our days
under the judgment
of God
with the reality
of death
always there
whether we think
about it or not.
So we cry out,
O Lord,
have pity.
Rescue us.
Bring us out
of the hopelessness
of all of that.
Show some favor
to us.
Instead of dismaying us,
satisfy us.
And we know
what will do that.
At least Moses knows.
It's your love
for us, O Lord.
the expression
of the demonstration
of your deep-hearted
commitment to love
your people,
your steadfast love.
That is the only thing
that will cause
a people who have been
so devastated by sin
and by your judgment
to be rescued
and therefore
to be able to rejoice,
in fact,
to be glad
all of our days.
The expression
of the demonstration
of God's heart
of love,
his purpose
of love,
his promise
to love
his people.
Some time ago,
a friend of mine
shared this story
from his own life.
Now, admittedly,
it wasn't the most
dire of circumstances,
but he felt it.
And I think we can relate
as we listen to this,
and it serves wonderfully
to illustrate the point
that I'm trying to make
from Psalm 90,
verse 14.
Here's what he said.
When I was going
from high school
to college,
I was going
to a university
in a town
I had never visited,
a college I had never seen,
and my father took me.
We were driving
from St. Louis to Chicago,
driving up Highway 55,
and I started out
real excited,
talkative,
but the closer we got
to the university,
the more scared I got.
At some point,
my father looked over to me
and said,
you're scared,
aren't you?
And I said,
I am.
We were driving
up Highway 55,
we were in the cornfields
of southern Illinois,
and my father simply
pulled off to the side
of the road,
stopped the car,
turned off the engine,
and he said,
now,
you look at me.
You are my son,
and nothing is going
to change that.
I don't know
if you will do well
at that school.
I don't know
if you will do poorly,
but my home
is always your home.
I am your father,
and nothing you do,
nothing you fail to do
is going to change that.
I love you.
You are mine.
He goes on to say,
did that take all the problems
and struggles away?
No,
but it was a comfort,
and it was security,
and ultimately,
it was strength.
And then he makes this point.
God says to his people,
I love you,
and you are mine.
I have loved you
with an everlasting love,
and I have called you
with loving kindness.
What you do
did not get you
into that relationship
with me,
and what you do
will not get you
out of that relationship
with me.
You are mine.
This is God's commitment
to us.
It is God's steadfast love
for us,
and I want to just
come right out now
and say it.
That steadfast love
from God
for his people
is expressed.
It is demonstrated.
It is shown
particularly
in Jesus.
The whole Old Testament
anticipates it.
The New Testament
celebrates it.
It's there
in his coming.
It's there
in his living
a perfectly righteous life
for us
in our place.
You know,
we make so much
of the fact
that Jesus died
in our place,
and he did,
but his life
was in our place as well.
He fulfilled
all righteousness
for us,
and then,
yes,
he died in our place
swallowing up
the judgment
of death
so that those
who run to him
and trust in him,
their lives
are no longer defined
by being under
the judgment of God.
What a difference.
What good news.
God's judgment
on us
poured out
on Christ
in our place.
God's mercy shown.
God's steadfast love
demonstrated,
and because of that,
instead of being
under the sentence
of death,
we have life.
Listen,
if God doesn't show
his love for us,
we're still in verse 7
and verse 9.
We are brought to an end
by your anger.
All our days pass away
under your wrath.
If God doesn't show
his love for us,
we're stuck
in verse 10.
And then,
the terrifying prospect
of eternity
separated from God.
But now,
because God
so loved the world
that he gave
his only begotten son
so that whoever
believes in him
should not perish
but have everlasting life.
God's steadfast love.
And instead of
not giving any thought
about these things
like verse 11,
now we say,
verse 16,
let your work.
That's speaking of
God's salvation,
his steadfast love
shown in Christ.
Let your work
be shown to your servants
and your glorious power
to their children.
Jesus is what we need.
And living with wisdom
in this short life
is facing our need
and then looking
to God's steadfast love
for us in Christ.
That's what we are able
to be satisfied by.
And I don't know
that there is a greater
statement of that
in all the Bible
than in the book of Romans,
chapter 8.
Just listen to these
incredible words.
What then shall we say
to these things?
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
Who shall bring any charge
against God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one
who died,
more than that,
who was raised,
who is at the right hand
of God,
who indeed is interceding
for us.
For I am sure
that neither death,
nor life,
nor angels,
nor rulers,
nor things present,
nor things to come,
nor powers,
nor height,
nor depth,
nor anything else
in all creation
will be able to separate us
from the love of God
in Christ Jesus,
our Lord.
In Christ,
in Jesus,
the steadfast love of God,
the eternal kindness
of God for his people
has come to us.
And it is the ground
we stand on
to say,
with David,
as individual Christians,
and,
may I say,
as a local gathering
gathering of believers.
It's that ground
we stand on
to say,
satisfy us in the morning
with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice
and be glad
all of our days.
Make us glad
for as many days
as you have afflicted us,
for as many years
as we have seen evil.
Let your work
be shown to your servants
and your glorious power
to their children.
Let the favor
of the Lord,
our God,
be upon you.
and establish
the work of your hands.
Yes,
establish the work
of our hands.
Even in this life,
with all of its uncertainties
and its ambiguities
and its frustrations,
even in this life
with its struggles,
there can be gladness
in our days
because of the steadfast
love of God
poured out in our lives
in and through
Jesus Christ,
the King,
to Him be glory.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, thank You
for Your Word.
Thank You for Your Spirit
who takes it
and brings it to us.
Thank You for Your church,
gathering of believers.
I pray that You would
take Your Word
and by Your Spirit
bring it to us
as Your people
and give us strength.
Put faith in us.
Help us to obey.
Help us to persevere,
we pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.