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The mission of Church & Family Life is to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture for both church and family life.
God’s Hand In My Suffering
May. 22, 2022
00:00
-57:24
Transcription

It is a privilege to bring the Word of God to you this morning. And I want to remind you what a privilege it is to hear the Word of God. This past week, these last few days, you've heard the word of God preached to you over and over and over again. What a privilege. What a privilege.

There are people, there are Christians in this world who would give almost everything to taste just a little bit of what you've tasted and so do not to despise the word of the lord receive it with gladness with eagerness you might say to yourself there was so much I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose I would remind you that the power of the Word of God preached and Jonathan Edwards is is the one who who articulates this so powerfully the power of the word is not in in what you necessarily remember about each sermon the power of the Word of God preached is the deep impression because of the encounter with the Living God that takes place through the ministry of the Word I would suggest to you that the most powerful and life-changing sermons are not sermons that you can go back and remember every point and the poem the sermons that make the deepest impact are the ones in which God has dealings with your soul and it makes a lasting impact well I'm gonna pray just ask the Lord to help me and to help you and then we will open this text together father what a glorious thought that the ransomed Church of God one day will be saved to sin no more.

Oh Father, we pray that you would hasten that day. We thank you, Father, for your word. Father, truly, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. And we pray, Father, even this morning that like newborn babes, we would long for the pure spiritual milk of the word we pray father for the help and the power of your Holy Spirit for apart from you we can do nothing Oh Father how we believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life and we pray even now that he would use your word mightily in the lives of your people father we pray for those who are without Christ and without hope we pray that even today you by the power of your sovereign grace would draw them irresistibly into your everlasting kingdom through our Lord Jesus Christ help us now we pray in Jesus name amen in 2016 I noticed that I was losing vision in my left eye fairly rapidly at at first I just sort of thought it while I'm getting older maybe my eyesight's going a little faster than it had in the past and yet really with each passing week it got demonstrably worse.

And this went on by the way for about five months. Men, I want to tell you that we have a tendency not to go to the doctor when we should. I should have gone much earlier. Finally, by the time I went, the vision in my left eye was almost completely washed out and to spare you a multitude of details I went to my optometrist he said your eyes healthy I don't know what's wrong but we need to get you over to the Center for Advanced Eye Care. I went over there, got an appointment.

He got me an appointment that very day. I went over there. I was there for over three hours, saw all kinds of specialists and at the end of those three hours, I was told by the director of the center, we don't know what's wrong with your eye but it seems that there's something pressing on your left optic nerve I said what is it he said I don't know I said well you know what it could be right and he said well it could be a blood clot I said could it be a tumor and he said yes but we don't know and so I had an MRI that evening the very next day went and saw the finest neurosurgeon in northern Nevada a man by the name of Michael Song and as I walked in my wife and I and of course there's a sense of trepidation you don't know what's what you're going to hear and as we walked into that into that exam room Dr. Song was already sitting there in front of his computer with my MRIs up on the screen and he turns around and he looks at us and I know Dr.

Song he's a he's a wonderful man and he's the first thing he says is you have a very large tumor in the middle of your brain. It is spread into both optic nerve canals And as he's trying to show us on the MRI, he says the tumor has wrapped around both carotid arteries in your brain. This has to come out now. But I can't do it. It's too intricate of a surgery, but I know who can." And he started taking pictures on his cell phone of the MRI image on his screen and he starts texting And he says, I have a friend at UCSF, for those of you on the East Coast, that's the University of California at San Francisco, it's one of the finest teaching hospitals on the West Coast.

And he sent that image to Dr. Michael McDermott. And he said, Dr. McDermott is an expert in these kinds of tumors the very next day I got a call from UCSF they made arrangements and that very next day I ended up having a consultation My wife and I drove to San Francisco, which is about a four-hour drive for us. And as we got there, we went into the hospital, and we were going up to the offices.

And as we saw the signs, said neurosurgery, brain surgery. And all of a sudden, the reality of what was happening fell upon both of us. Went in to meet Dr. McDermott and he said, yes, this is a very big brain tumor and in fact, I don't know anybody at least on the West Coast that would be willing to try to go in and get it, but me. Now, I didn't know whether he said that to make me feel good or to scare me to death and I had no idea actually how big the tumor was at that point it was about the size of a silly putty egg, but it was spreading out and and I said so are you gonna do radiation he says no we're not gonna do radiation we're gonna go in and get all of it I said can you go up through my nose and he laughed and he said no and he took a model skull and he says we're gonna cut from here to here pull your face back and cut the top of your skull off and I said that's enough I don't need to know anymore God's people prayed people that I didn't even know prayed at 6 a.m.

We were in the pre-op room and my wife started getting texts and one was a picture of the church parking lot at 6 a.m. The parking lot was full of people who had gathered to pray for their pastor 11 and a half hours later yes it was an 11 and a half hour surgery I came out of that surgery and I want to tell you my head hurt very badly and as I struggled through that first night I was relieved to that point I didn't know what would happen to my ability to remember my Greek verb conjugations. But I was thankful because leading up to that day, the real trial in here was for my wife and for my children and for my grandchildren the next morning I was laying there and they had me absolutely flat, they want to try to create as much, get as much blood pressure going to your brain as possible, get the blood flowing. And I was nauseous and a marvelous nurse by the name of Jeff who had taken such good care of me was walking by my room and I said Jeff I'm gonna be sick he said I'll be right there and as he was tending to me elevating my bed just a little bit.

I felt my life ebbing away quickly. And I knew I was going to die. There was no question in my mind I knew I was going to die you know there are times when life becomes so heavy and the trials seem to be so burdensome and so ominous and it seems as if our world is is collapsing all around us and it's in those times that we find that we need to go back and and and it's not that we need to find some sort of super duper spiritual experience what we need to do in those times when our life is crashing down all around us is we need to go back to the very basic truths that we know to be true about God I have no doubt that this morning there are many of you who are under a load that may seem to be unbearable for some of you it may seem like all the oxygen has been sucked right out of the room and and and and you are gasping and what I want to tell us all this morning is that we need to have our hope in God revived and so a conference theme like knowing God is by the way directly related to the idea of hoping in God and brothers and sisters in my own Christian experience there is no better place to have our hope in God rekindled than in Lamentations chapter 3 verses 19 to 26 this passage has been used by God to comfort me in so many ways and it's so many times in my life and it's my prayer as I was praying this morning I was pleading that God the Holy Spirit would take this text and use it today in your life so that as you leave this place as you go back home that your hope in God would be revived the Jeremiah wrote this book of lamentations and this book is written in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem there's something about the historical context that is that is riveting here's Jeremiah who had labored for decades to warn the people of God even as we heard yesterday the message was submit to this yoke and you'll live and the people rebelled and the Babylonians came in and they and they destroyed Jerusalem they destroyed the temple they raised it to the ground and as Jeremiah stands there as it were in the aftermath of that destruction he writes this book and this book is a book of mourning think of the title lamentations the title of this book in the Septuagint could be rendered wailing's by the way this is not a book that you're gonna see TV preachers preach on you're not gonna see prosperity preachers say take your Bibles and turn to the book of Lamentations but the fact is is that mourning and grief is a part of this life and so as Jeremiah experiences this he writes this book that's composed of five poems as a side note it's it's astonishing to me that Jeremiah in the in the wake of untold grief as he writes doesn't just ramble he writes poems for those five poems are acrostic alphabetic acrostics as is our text in chapter 3 lamentations in later Jewish history would be read every year in the synagogues to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem and the book itself deals with some of the most dreadful events and yet it stands as a testament if you will that is applicable to God's people in times of difficulty, trial, grief, mourning and pain the book of lamentations is a book written for people going through tough times now in verses 19 and 20 the the suffering is described and and in a sense 19 and 20 is sort of virtually the the summation of the first 18 verses I'm glad that the whole section was read because you read those first 18 verses and it is it is a daunting passage it is a dark passage and the suffering that's described in verses 19 and 20 is in a sense the culmination and and the sufferer says remember remember my affliction and my wandering the wormwood and the bitterness and so the culmination of the first 18 verses is now the prayer of the sufferer and the prayer that the the sufferer wants God to remember what does he want God to remember there are four words that are used my affliction and my wandering the wormwood and the gall my affliction and my wandering by the way did you notice the very way that this chapter starts out I am a man who has seen affliction that very word affliction it's a it's a broad word in the Old Testament the root is used over 200 times here the idea is to find oneself in a stunned humbled lowly position to find oneself in a place of deep inner pain but it's not just affliction it's also wandering Your translations may say something a little different there, but the idea of wandering is this idea of restlessness, a tossing and a turning, the inability to find any relief.

Have you ever been in a place in your life where the the inner pain the inner turmoil has been so intense that you feel absolutely restless you toss and you turn I had back surgery in 2007 and I have a bad back and I will tell you sleeping is always a pain and you sleep on this side you wake up you turn to that side you wake up you turn back to the other side you try to sleep on your back you tried to sleep on your right side and you do all kinds of stuff through the night to try to get a little bit of sleep what that is a picture of is what Jeremiah is describing of what goes on in the soul a tossing and a turning the inability to find that spot of rest he says God I want you to remember my affliction I want you to remember my restlessness and then he says the wormwood in the gall wormwood is this is a poisonous root but it often in the Old Testament would take on the representation of kind of a bitterness and an affliction and then he says gall and gall of course is this the unpleasant idea of the bile secreted in a liver but it could also be used metaphorically of the poison of asks and what you have is you have four words two phrases making up in a sense one intensified thought a depth of sorrow and despair an intensity of affliction that was virtually unbearable now for the the sufferer to say God remember that the sufferers not saying God I have a feeling that you might have forgot it an omniscient God doesn't forget anything in the Bible when we call upon God to remember whether it's to remember his covenant or remember his mercies to remember anything is is actually we're pleading with God to to to give attention and to act to show mercy and to intervene we're asking him to do something then Jeremiah says this verse and then Jeremiah says this verse 20 surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me God I want you to remember the suffering the affliction the wormwood in the gall because I remember most certainly my soul remembers the Hebrew text uses up uses a certain infinitive construction the idea could be something like remembering I remember I continually think of it have you ever noticed that in those in those dark moments in those dark times there's a sense where there's there's nothing else on your mind if you do get a moment's respite the memory comes back roaring Spurgeon makes this interesting comment he says memory is very often the servant of despondency despairing minds called to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past and every gloomy feature in the present memory stands like a handmaiden clothed in sackcloth presenting to her master a cup mingled with gall and wormwood as the sufferer remembers as the sufferer says certainly surely my soul remembers what he is saying is my memory is serving to simply torment me my soul remembers notice the next description and is bowed down within me downcast you know downcast doesn't seem quite to capture it have you ever been have you ever been punched in the solar plexus just have the wind just completely knocked out of you I grew up Catholic I went to Catholic school we used to fight a lot at Catholic school I got punched in the solar plexus numerous times and I will tell you it's an unpleasant experience you get that that shot right here and all the sudden the wind goes out of you and you double over and it's as if Jeremiah is saying something like this my soul has been gut-punched the Holman Christian Standard Bible I continually remember them and I've become depressed even that doesn't seem to capture it this section by the way of lamentations to me ends up having ends up echoing in DePaul's description of his own life in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 8 and 9 where he says I don't want you to be ignorant brethren of the affliction that came upon us while we were in Asia that we were that we were burdened excessively beyond our ability to bear and we had the sentence of death within us burdened excessively beyond our ability to bear by the way that's the Apostle who said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me at that point in his life the affliction that he suffered in Asia whatever it was was could be described as not just a burden but an excessive burden and a burden which was beyond his ability to bear you've got the burden bearing meter and Paul says this one was off the charts as our sufferer complains in this text so bitter was the anguish so oppressive the burden of suffering that the author could not banish it from his thoughts says RK Harrison I just want to just take a moment and just pause and just ask if have you ever been there you say no we're at a church and family life conference, we don't go there.

That's not true. That's not true. All of God's people, at one time or another, will be right here. Sometimes our hymnody makes liars of us, like every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before it's not always true is it maybe you're there today you've been sitting here you've been listening to preaching singing and you are you are struggling because you know that this is supposed to be good for your soul and yet it seems like there is nothing that can pull you out of the pit of the spawned what in the world does Jeremiah do here's the glorious thing is that in in in light of these first 18 verses and then verses 19 and 20 here's the reality is that Jeremiah the sufferer does not stay here but he actually moves and he moves from despair to hope and so as you know he moves from despair to hope what you want to say is you want to say this how do you do that how do you go from dark foreboding trials how do you go from from anguish and from inner pain and from the the weight of crushing circumstances how do you move from from despair to hope and the answer is right here in the text in verse 21 this I recall to mind therefore I have hope notice that we're gonna we're gonna just take this slowly because it's so important notice recall I'm in the pit and what do I do?

I start to recall something here memory is not the tormentor here memory starts to serve faith here memory starts to reignite hope you could you could quite literally translate this this I cause to return to my heart Spurgeon says in that same sermon that memory is also the handmade of hope and by the way this is so incredibly powerful so incredibly important how we think what goes through our minds what we bring to our minds can either sink us deeper into a pit of despair or it can be a life preserver of hope to us in our darkest nights what you think is what you think is so vitally important now it's easy when you're in the pit of despair just to sit there and to be passive and to let the pressures and the pain just weigh on you heavier and heavier and actually to have hard thoughts about God and hard thoughts about life and to let those sink in in such a way that you actually go from one low point to the next lowest point and so to to recall to mind to actually think and to think rightly to think biblically takes effort and determination this doesn't happen automatically there must be a determination in the midst of the affliction and the wandering to be able to say, I am going to lift up my head and I'm going to lift up my eyes and I'm going to think about that which is true and so Jeremiah says this I recall to mind therefore I have hope what a marvelous word hope is right I mean hope is just like one of those those words you know the by the way the world doesn't know how to use the word hope so I live over on the western side of the United States I grew up in Sacramento so I am by by birth and privilege a San Francisco Giants fan.

Now I know I have to say a San Francisco Giants fan because if I just had a Giants fan you'd think of some dumb football team. And I could say I hope the Giants win the World Series this year it may happen it may not happen my hope in that sense is is a wishful thinking right the Bible never uses the word hope in the sense of wishful thinking the Bible never uses the word hope in connection with God as something that may or may not happen hope is is confident expectation that all that God has said he will do and all that God is he will be hope looks to God with a sense of confidence and unwavering confidence it's actually filled throughout the Bible it's filled throughout both Old and New Testaments Psalm 130 verse 7 Oh Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord is loving kindness and with the Lord is plenteous redemption the very next Psalm 131 in verse 3 Oh Israel hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore so you ask yourself what could possibly breathe what could possibly breathe hope into Jeremiah's situation or if you wanted to ask it more personally what could possibly breathe hope into my situation what could I possibly bring to mind which would take me from the depth of misery which is profound to a place of hope Jeremiah is absolutely explicit as to what he recalls to mind he doesn't just say have happy thoughts it'll probably work out he doesn't say pick up the next self-help book and see what you can do he says in the midst of despair you recall a particular thing or particular things to mind those particular things breathe hope into you and what are those particular things number one Yahweh's loving kindnesses indeed never cease that marvelous Old Testament word chesed is the idea of God's loyal covenant love by which he he binds himself to the good of his people whom he loves here in this text it's plural the lovingkindness is indeed never cease that is specific acts of loyal love and a limitless nature of loyal love it never ceases God's covenant kindnesses God's covenant love God's covenant loyalty to you indeed never cease in fact they are abundant they are plenty is they are a plurality coming to us in our need in our moment of need and so what do you bring to mind when you're in that in the pit you bring to mind that God's covenant love to you never ceases his covenant loyalties never ever cease do you know why they never cease jeremiah would have seen this in a sense prospectively we see this retrospectively the reason that god's loving kindness is plural never cease is because in the fullness of time God sent his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the curse of the law what Jesus Christ does for us as our covenant head as our mediator as our surety is he secures the covenant blessings and the covenant kindness of God for us both now and forever and the loving kindnesses of the Lord will cease the moment that Jesus is no longer at the right hand of the Father as long as Jesus is there at the right hand of the father yours your covenant blessings and your covenant kindnesses from your God will indeed never cease because they are as secure as the position of Jesus Christ the Son of God at the right hand of the Father next line his compassion's never failed again notice the plural abundant and specific suited to each situation now, it is a marvel to me that we could say that God is a God of compassion compassion is the idea of a deep inward feeling of pity that moves somebody to action so so having pity for somebody is nice you're sympathizing okay but compassion moves you past that to actually act and again notice his compassion's never fail and so right in the midst of life seeming as if it was falling apart Jeremiah says this is what I recall to mind this is what brings me hope the Lord's loving kindnesses never cease and his compassion's even when he doesn't look compassionate chapter 3 1 to 18 he does not look compassionate there are times where you take where you take his compassion simply by faith if you need proof of his compassion do not judge the Lord by outward sense you need proof of his compassion look to Calvary that is the exposition of God's compassion to us and then Jeremiah says his compassion has never failed and he said they're new every morning God never says hey you know what I I gave you like a pound of compassion yesterday and you should have rationed some of it so that you could use it for today you used it all up yesterday I guess you're just out of luck today it doesn't work like that his compassion's are actually new every single morning he never asked you to live on yesterday's compassion the compassion that he promises to give you he promises to give you it is it is it it is it is renewable it is renewable never runs out Matthew Henry says these rivers of mercy run fully and constantly but they never run dry now at this point once Jeremiah has started to think right thoughts about God who he is what he is like and who he is for him then he makes this magnificent declaration great is your faithfulness this is this is a declaration of confidence in God great is your faithfulness great is your faithfulness yes I'm standing in Jerusalem I'm standing amidst the rubble I'm standing amidst the the smoldering buildings and and and maybe even the dead bodies.

I'm standing in absolute ruins. And you know what I can say? Not by sight, but by faith. Great is your faithfulness God's faithfulness is his firmness his fidelity his steadiness he is our faithful God the God who promised his faithful faithful as he who calls and even Moses reminds the children of Israel know therefore that the Lord your God he is God he is the faithful God who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments his faithfulness is great abundant all sufficient more than enough you do know that even in the dark night of the soul God's faithfulness to you is more than enough and then Jeremiah says Yahweh is my portion therefore I have hope in him and so when he says Yahweh is my portion he is saying Yahweh or Jehovah is my share he's my allotment he is my inheritance and so there's this there's this magnificent realization that he recalls to mind and that is the God who made heaven and earth he's mine he's mine oh most certainly I am his but you know what he is mine and so the psalmist celebrates in Psalm 73 whom have I in heaven but thee and besides thee I desire nothing on earth and though my heart and my flesh may fail God is the strength of my heart and my inheritance my portion forever I have him and he's mine forever and this trial may be the last trial I face in this world this trial may be the end of me this trial this trial may be unsurpassed the rest of my life but here's the reality this trial cannot separate me from the God who is my inheritance therefore hope rises and leaps in this believing heart Spurgeon again so good you've lost much Christian you have lost much Christian but you have not lost your portion your God is your all and here's a little Spur John ik logic your God is your all therefore if you've lost all but God still you have your all left since God is all sometimes you just need to preach that kind of logic to yourself and then it says finally we'll stop on this verse Yahweh is good to those who wait for him he's good for those to those who wait for him now sometimes our Bibles when it talks about waiting on the Lord translates this phrase we see in the Psalms I waited patiently for the Lord I want to say that I'm not exactly sure you know maybe a Hebrew scholar can come correct me afterwards but I'm I'm not really sure that patiently is like the best way to put it because the phrase is often just waiting I waited waiting I waited my wife is such a she's such a beautiful wonderful person I love her she is she is the treasure of my heart.

But she grew up in the Caribbean on an island. My family is Germanic stock. We value punctuality in a way that Islanders don't. And so, there have been many times where I've thought to myself, waiting? I waited.

And there wasn't really anything necessarily patient about it. I just had to wait. There was no alternative. It was that or just leave her there. And even threats of you know what we got to go.

I'm going to have to leave you behind. It didn't seem to taunt her. Waiting I waited. Waiting I waited. Waiting I waited.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him one of my favorite verses is Psalm 119 in verse 68 you are good and you do good and so we sing sure you guys do too I will wait for you I will wait for you through the storm and through the night to wait for him is to be still and to know that he's God and to rest knowing that he's good in really one of the worst and darkest times of my entire life I was a seminary student and Western Seminary in Portland Oregon and it was the it was the darkest period of my life I'd go through ten brain surgeries in order not to go through what we went through in Portland. And I'd do my devotions and I'd read my Bible through tears. And I'd pray through tears. And then I'd have to walk to school as a short walk was only four blocks but Portland is a rainy city mostly clouds overcast drizzly rain and I remember like it was yesterday getting out of the house and walking up the hill to the school and just looking at the sidewalk in front of me with the date stamps on the sidewalk 1929 and with each step I would say father you are good and you do good by faith I know you're good and I know that you're doing good although I don't see how father I believe help my unbelief you are good and you do good you are good and you do good you are good and you do good and God didn't deceive me God didn't fool me the God of whom I could not see how he was doing good did good and so wait for him brothers and sisters if this passage teaches us anything it teaches us first of all that suffering and affliction are real cancer is real and wickedness in high places is real and marriage troubles are real and sickness is real and wayward children are real and broken hearts are real don't ever think that evil or suffering is simply an illusion it's real but just as sure as that comes from this text here's what comes with a brighter glory and a glory that that outshines the suffering and the affliction and that is this God is both faithful and he's good and he's faithful in the midst of our afflictions and he's good in our darkest of times and his loyal love never fails it never ceases it's a roaring overflowing river of divine love and his mercies are renewed to us every single day giving us what we need and so brothers and sisters we must recall these things to mind and therefore we have hope in him how the reality of knowing who God is and what he is like instills a deeper faith in a Psalm 9 10 those who know thy name will put their trust in thee to know God's name it's to know his character it's what he's who he's what what he is who he is what what he's like and so be confident in his character confident in his promises confident in his goodness and so yes go to him with your tears go to him with your broken heart go to him with your fears take to him your wormwood and gall go to him bowed down and in anguish and then remember the one that you're going to the God who loves you more than you could ever imagine the God who did nothing less than give his only begotten son for your salvation the God who sees the God who hears the God who knows and the God who cares and then in stillness before him say great is thy faithfulness Oh God my father there is no shadow of turning with thee thou changest not thy compassion's they fail not as thou has been now forever will be so that morning as I felt the life going right out of me certain that I was going to die this little nurse never saw her before never saw her after she walks by my bed is slightly elevated and I know I'm dying her eyes catch mine and she hollers something and within really a matter of six seconds I had ordered chaos going on in my room they had rolled the gurney in they grabbed the sheets that I was on and they they hoisted me quite rigorously onto the gurney so much so that I rolled off to the side my face on the cold steel of the gurney thinking they don't care about my head anymore I am in deep trouble that little nurse stood over me and she's yelling at me breathe mr.

Borgman breathe And I'm thinking I'm in serious trouble because as far as I know I'm breathing. She then said I'm going to put an oxygen mask on you and get these weird thoughts. She put this oxygen mask on and I thought, oh, they got a kid's size. This is too small. I can't breathe through this.

And then these words came into my mind father my life is in your hands no fear hands no fear none none and then I hear the ominous sentence starting compressions and I think to myself I think this is gonna hurt and the very next thought with crystal clarity Father, my life is in your hands. They take my, pull my gown off. They put gel on me. And I'm thinking to myself, I know this is going to hurt Lord my life is in your hands that's the last thing I remember it's the last thing I remember my wife had got to the hospital that morning just like every morning this was right during shift change she's waiting in the waiting room they won't let her in she says is everything okay we'll send somebody out to tell you so she and my sister and my daughter are out there praying and pacing wondering you have any news can we go in yet not yet not yet not yet they finally let her in and I laid there She had a hold of my hand when I came to And I looked at her and I said See what happens when you're late you miss all the excitement she looked at me and she said you're not nearly as funny as you think and brothers and sisters these were the very next words that came out of my mouth accompanied by a flood of tears I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and we wept together and we wept together with joy celebrating great is thy faithfulness one of my favorite hymns of all time is a hymn that ministers to me be still my soul the Lord is on thy side bear patiently the cross of grief or pain leave to thy God to order and provide in every change he faithful will remain be still my soul thy best thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end be still my soul thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past thy hope thy confidence let nothing shake all now mysterious shall be bright at last be still my soul the waves and wind still know his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below brothers and sisters recall to mind the loving kindness the compassion and the faithfulness of your God and feel hope rise up in your soul hope in God Jesus Christ our living hope has secured all of the promises of God none of them will fall to the ground they're all yes and amen in him and you can hope in him without ever being disappointed let's pray our father and our god we pray that you would take your word this morning and use it to strengthen those who feel like they're sinking we pray that you would use your word today to be a life preserver for those who feel the waves going over their heads and we pray father that the things that we've heard about you this week the truths that we know that we would recall to mind and have hope father how we love you but father how we take great comfort in the fact that you loved us first receive our praise you're worthy of our trust in Jesus name amen

Speaker

Brian Borgman is the founding pastor of Grace Community Church. He earned a BA in Biblical Studies from Biola University (La Mirada, CA), a Master of Divinity from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary (Portland, OR) and a Doctor of Ministry from Westminster Seminary (Escondido, CA) and a ThM from Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Historical Theology.

Brian and his wife Ariel have been married since 1987. They have three wonderful children, Ashley, Zach and Alex and three grandsons.

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