The Secret of Spiritual Strength — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge PO Box 260 Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

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The Rebellious Children of Isaiah 30

Turn with me to Isaiah, please. Isaiah, the 30th chapter. The message tonight, the secret of spiritual strength. The secret of spiritual strength. Trust we'll learn it tonight. 30th chapter. Just leave it laying open on your lap.

We're going to a number of scriptures tonight. Please keep your Bible handy. Everybody that comes to Times Square Church brings their Bible. We are a Bible preaching church, a Bible reading church. So if you intend to come back and make this your church, be sure to bring your Bible.

You'll be more comfortable. Lord Jesus, I need you. Holy Spirit, I've got to have you tonight. I can't preach this of my own strength and power. No man in the Bible, not one man ever did anything unless the Spirit of God came on him.

Lord, we think of the times all through the scripture and the Spirit of God came on him. The Spirit of the Lord fell upon him. Samson could do nothing until the Spirit of God came on him. Spirit of God, come upon me.

Spirit of the Lord. We learned this morning. It's not in loudness. It's in the heart. It's in the heart. Lord, we worship you and praise you from the heart. Let me preach from the heart tonight. Lord Jesus, I pray that this simple little word that you put in my heart will find a place and leave its mark on us.

When we walk out of here tonight, we will know that the Holy Spirit spoke to our hearts. The Spirit of God spoke to us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 30th chapter, first few words. It says, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord.

Woe to the rebellious children. These are his people. These are people of God. These are not he. And he says, woe to them. Now, that woe means a deep sorrow and a grief. Now, why does God call them rebellious?

What's the awful sin these people have committed that Almighty Holy God would call his own people rebellious? The Hebrew word for rebellion here means backsliding, stubbornness, turning away. What were they turning away from?

What was their stubbornness that God should call them rebellious? Here it is. They take counsel, but not of me. And not of me. And that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit. Cover of a covering with a covering means making their own plans.

But not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin. He said, my people don't consult me anymore. My people go ahead and make their own decisions. They do as they please. In other words, Lord, this is not that important.

I don't need to bother you. And he said, they're adding sin upon sin upon sin and it becomes rebellion. You know, we think of rebellion as being one of those totem pole sins with, you know, turning away from the Word of God, drugs, alcohol, we rebel against the revealed Word of God.

But folks, this rebellion has to do with something far more grievous than that. So much so that God calls it, he turns to his own people and says, this is rebellion in my eyes. This is absolute rebellion.

David Inquires of God Before Battle

They go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth, verse 2, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and the trust in the shadow of Egypt. Now he's speaking to a people that have already in their possession the Psalms of David.

And David, I'm sure, reminds them of a time when they trusted in the shadow of Almighty God in the wings of the Lord because the psalmist wrote, How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings, not under the shadow of Egypt, not under the shadow of men or the arm of flesh, but under the wings of God.

He said, My soul trusteth in thee. Yea, I trust in the shadow of thy wings. I will make my refuge there. The psalmist said, Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Now you see they're in a great crisis. Israel in the 30th chapter, Isaiah in a terrible crisis approaching them. The Assyrian army is coming down with thousands of chariots and they really are in dire danger.

They don't go to God to seek his word. And rather they send ambassadors to Egypt and asking for their help and they take all of the wealth they can find from the house of God from the king's treasure and everywhere they can find it and send ambassadors to Egypt asking the Egyptian army to come to sell them horses, to loan them horses, and to come forth.

In other words, they were bribing Egypt to come and fight the Assyrians. And it makes me wonder why no leader, no prince, no priest stood and asked of the congregation of the people and of the political leaders, what did our fathers do in a case like this?

We have a whole history of deliverance. What did they do? How did they get out of a mess like this? What is the history? Why didn't somebody speak of the time when the Philistine armies came against Israel?

David had just been appointed as king and they come and they spread themselves out a huge army. They gathered against Israel at Rephraim. And the Bible says, and David inquired of God saying, shall I go up against the Philistines?

Will you deliver them into my hand? David turned to the Lord only. He didn't seek advice from any counselor. He didn't seek advice even though he had to hit the field. He had other counselors, mighty wise men.

And David is a man of valor. He's an army man. He's a captain. He's a commander. He's got wisdom. He goes to God in prayer. And he said, Lord, what shall I do? Here is the historical evidence at their disposal.

They could have very easily looked at the evidence of the past. The Bible says, shall I go up against Philistines? Will you deliver them in my hand? He sought the Lord. He asked specifically of God and God answers in specific.

I've always believed if you want specific answers to God, you get specific with him. And the Lord said unto him, go up for I will deliver them into your hand. David won a great victory because he inquired of the Lord.

He got the mind of God. He got on his knees. He didn't ask a man. He didn't go to a counselor. He went directly to the heavenly father on his own knees. He got his own answer. Shortly after that, the Philistines regrouped and came back with a stronger army.

And once a day, once again, David, the scriptures of David, inquired again of the Lord. Again, he goes. He could have said, well, our strategy worked quite well. Let's just use the same strategy. God never uses the same strategy.

He never has two plans that are the same. God is always surprising everybody. You can't figure out. You think you know the answer. You think you, you go to God and say, well, I know how you do this. You got five different ways that God can do it.

You got a financial plan. Lord, somebody can write me out a check just like that. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. He's got other ways. Beyond our ways. David inquired again of the Lord and God said to him this time, go not up after them.

He had a new strategy. And here was the strategy. Incredible. What army captain? I'm sure when he got this plan, he didn't tell anybody. He didn't tell any captain. He didn't tell anybody around, but not his best army buddies or anybody.

Nobody, not his counselor, because nobody would believe it's a strategy. Everybody said that is crazy. The Lord said this time you come up against them by the mulberry trees. There was a stand of mulberry trees there evidently and it shall be when you hear the sound of a going.

There's a rustling in the top of the trees. That's your signal. You shall go out to battle for God shall go forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. Now you tell me where an advisor would advise him to do that.

Where was a counselor? Where was any army captain or commander that would say, David, I've got a plan. You see the little hillside over there in those trees? Let's just go over there and hide behind those trees and over the hill.

And let's wait till the wind blows and you'll hear a rustling in the trees and then let's go get them. What kind of strategy is this? You just go up there and you wait for the wind to blow. Just in the top of the trees.

You see the leaves moving. Go! And I'm going to give them into your hands. God has a plan. God has a strategy that you and I know nothing about if we would trust him. David inquired of the Lord again.

Hallelujah. God only works supernaturally through his own plans. Don't for a minute think he's going to walk more miraculously or supernaturally through your plans. He's not going to do it. Because it's rebellion.

Asa's Trust and Self-Reliance

Now, we have also the example of King Asa. A million man army of Ethiopians with 300 sheriffs came against Judah. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power.

Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest in thee. In other words, we trust in you. And in thy name we go against this multitude and the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah. Turn to 2nd Corinthians, please.

2nd Chronicles. 2nd Chronicles, the 14th chapter. I'm going to show you this. 2nd Chronicles. 14th chapter. Let me hear the rustling of the leaves, please. Top of the mulberry trees. Now, this man Asa, just keep it right there for a minute.

This man Asa, this king Asa, is a godly man. The scripture says to him, he did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord his God. Chapter 14, verse 2. And in verse 4, it says, he commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law.

Now, look at me for just a moment, please. Here's a man who who goes to God in simple prayer. He doesn't have to stay up all night scheming, manipulating, planning. He goes to God. He goes to prayer. He goes into the secret closet and he simply inquires of the Lord.

This man again is surrounded by experienced soldiers, by strategists, by politicians, by so many wise counselors, by those who have scouted the enemy. He knows everything about the enemy. He's had input from all sides and he's not sitting in a committee meeting.

He's not strategizing with his people. He is on his face before God and says, God, what shall I do? And God gives him a word and God delivers him miraculously without any other counsel, but his own word received from the Lord himself.

But, just like us, we see God do something in a crisis. He delivers us marvelously and we shout and praise the Lord and said, God, from now on I won't go anywhere. I won't do anything till I talk to you, till I inquire of the Lord.

I am not going to call a counselor. I'm not going to call the pastor. I'm not going to call anybody. I'm just going to pray about it. And the way you met me last time, you're going to meet me again and again and again.

No, don't clap because you're not there. You are not there and I'm not there because the next crisis that comes, here we are. We've got our own plan and that's exactly what happens here in the 16th chapter.

In the 6th and 30th year of the reign of Asa, Bashar, king of Israel, came up against Judah. Now the Israelites are coming now against him. But this time, this time he doesn't inquire of the Lord. This time he's got his own plan.

In other words, this is, you know, yeah, that big million man army, that's fine, but this is not a big deal. I think I can handle this on my own. So what he does, he gives the gold out of the, as much gold and silver out of the house of God, as you read on here, and out of his own treasury and he goes to Ben-Hadad, king of the Syrians, and he said, break your covenant of peace with Israel because they are trying to hedge us in and he bribes Ben-Hadad with money.

And it worked. Ben-Hadad moves against Israel and Israel stops building Ramah. He goes back and possesses the city and it works. Sometimes God'll let your plan work to a certain degree until it brings you to total confusion.

That's exactly what we see here. Look at verse seven. He's, you see, it worked and he's congratulating himself. I really, I really had the wisdom of God. He didn't have the wisdom of God. He hadn't even sought the Lord on it.

I've heard people say, well, God's given us wisdom to figure things out. You got a good mind, use it. God gave you a good mind. I'm going to show you where you use that good mind without having been shut in with God and getting his divine mind implanted in you.

Not the spirit, not the physical mind, but the spiritual mind. The carnal mind doesn't understand the spiritual mind. You have to have the spiritual mind and at that time look at verse 17. At that time Ananias the seer came to Asa, king of Judah and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

Were not the Ethiopians and the Lupans a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts is perfect.

Interpret that trusting toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore from henceforth thou shall have wars. And Asa was wroth with the seer. The prophet put him in a prison house. For he was in a rage with him because of this thing.

Boy, the prophet hit him right in the between the eyes. The truth hurt. And the reason he's in a rage because he knows that he didn't see God. And God is God is not going to just take it. God's not going to take it sitting down.

He said no, this is not the way it works and I will not allow it. He said from now on because you're doing it yourself, you're trying to figure it out. You're using and trusting the arm of the flesh. I'm going to let you get by with it.

Yes, but it's going to lead you to nothing but war and confusion. Confusion. You keep going this way and you're not consulting me. You're doing your own thing, your own plans. Just because it looks right or feels good or because you figured it out or because it looks wise.

He said no, no, no, that's not my way and I will not let it go that way. He said from now on you're going to have wars. There's going to be confusion. He's saying at one time you trusted me. And one time you relied wholly on me, but now you're relying on your own wit and wisdom.

God says I won't take that. He won't take it from us either folks. He will not take it from his beloved. Sometimes we conceive our own plans. We scheme a scheme. And God apparently it looks like apparently that he's let us get by.

Manipulation in Relationships

For example, you're a young woman in this church or a middle-aged woman or any age woman. But you're single. And you've been praying for a husband. That's good. The bible said it's a good thing. A good wife is from the Lord.

So is a good husband. Now, why would a woman laugh at that? That's true. I'm a good husband. And I'm from the Lord. Sometimes I need a lot of prayer, but I still get there somehow. But you see you've waited and waited.

And there was a time you prayed and you trusted the Lord and there was peace in your heart. You said I'm going to wait God's time. Because I always believed if you just do God's work his way, he or she will cross your path.

And you don't have to do any manipulation or anything else. But when you try to set a trap. Uh-huh. You get on the phone to somebody that knows him and say, I'm going to be in such and such a block in a corner.

And I want to bump into him and you introduce me. Just an accidental on purpose. You might get your man. But you're going to have war. You're going to have war. Same goes for the man who's looking for the wife.

Same thing. I do believe in miraculous ways that God introduces people. Yes, I believe that with all my heart. But not with manipulation and not with planning and scheming. Not at all. Folks, if you're in that position, I say it lovingly.

You've heard it from Pastor Carter and other pastors here. Right now, settle your mind. Lord, I'm going to trust you with this matter. Because I don't want to live a life of hell. I don't want a warfare the rest of my life.

I want the man or the woman that you've chosen for me. And I want nobody else. Let's go back to Isaiah 30. Verse 3. Therefore, shall the strength of Pharaoh. In other words, your own manipulation be your shame.

And the trust in the shadow of Egypt, what? Confusion. Manipulate, plan, do it your way. It always ends up in shame and confusion. Terrible confusion. Now, God now instructs Isaiah in verse 8. He instructs, let me read it.

He instructs him to write it down in a book. Now, go write it before them in a table and note it in a book. That it may be for the time to come. That includes the last days. Forever and ever. What did he ask him to write down?

His grief over the rebellion of his own children. Write it down so that this generation, the next generation, every generation, till the end of time, will understand my woe, my grief, my sorrow against this kind of rebellion.

The rebellion being leaning in the arm of the flesh and not seeking the mind of God in all things. All things. Not just the big things, but the small things. The family things, the hurting things, the personal things.

The spiritual, physical, mental, everything. Rebellion is disobedience against authority. An act of defiance. It's resistance to God's total rule and authority. And rebellion is, it says, I can do this by myself.

No need to bother God. God wants to be bothered. Isaiah is told, warn my people and even to the last days that I call it rebellion when they do not rest and rely on me alone. It is rebellion to take matters in your own hands.

It's rebellion to attempt to solve your own problems. It's rebellion to look elsewhere for help in a time of crisis. It's rebellion. In light of that warning, listen to me, please. Is it possible that you may be living in rebellion?

Even though you have a wonderful walk with God, you pray, you may even fast, you come to church, you're faithful, you have a righteous holy walk before God. But could there be rebellion? And could that be the reason there's still some confusion in your life and some warfare in your home and on the job?

Could it be that as pastor, preach righteousness and holiness and still have this woe in me that God will look upon me and say, David, there's still a sin of rebellion in you. Because there are times you still do things without me, without seeking me, without calling upon me, without shutting yourself in with me.

Because I want to be totally involved from the hairs of your head to the soles of your feet, everything to do with your life. He said, it's rebellion. You're going to see that in the past few weeks. This has been building up and building up for weeks in me.

God's been speaking to my heart about the need for me to just lay everything on Him and not to carry any burden. To lay everything in my life, everything in the ministry, everything on Him in total trust and confidence.

And not to make a move without seeking His mind and His will. And if I make a move, be convicted of that move, if I've done it without Him, get back to the prayer closet immediately and repent of it and say, God, take this rebellion out of my heart.

Noted in the book that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. He said, they ask not at my mouth. He said, I spread out my hands all day to this rebellious people, which walketh in a way that's not good after their own thoughts.

The Lord as Keeper and Protector

He said, walking in your own thoughts is rebellion in my eyes. Turn to Psalm 121, please. I'm going to read the whole chapter, all eight verses. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.

I'm going to show you that God wants to be your keeper. God is jealous over His revelation of who He is as your keeper in mind. Keeper means protector, director, give you direction, protection, everything.

I'm your keeper. Psalm 121. I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is what? Thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon the right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from evil.

He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve what? Thy going out, thy coming in from this time forth and every, even for every move you make. The right hand to the left. He said, I'm your keeper.

I'm your keeper. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Now, let's see where I want to go. Let's go to the secret, the spiritual power. Get right to it. Before we do that, let me give you another scripture I want you to go to.

Saul and the Danger of Seeking Other Counsel

Go to 1 Chronicles quickly. I'll show you how that God killed a man for this. Did you hear me? God slew him. Say, well, that's the Old Testament. Well, he slew a few in the New Testament too, the day of Pentecost.

1 Chronicles 10th chapter. Did I say something wrong? I'm just hearing the leaves move now. Oh, I didn't give you the chapter. Chapter 10, 1 Chronicles. Chapter 10, verse 13 and 14. So Saul died for this transgression.

And you'll find that that transgression was seeking counsel from a witch rather than the Holy Ghost. So Saul died for this transgression, which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not.

And also for what? Asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit to inquire of it and inquired not of the Lord. Therefore, why did he slay him? For not inquiring of the Lord, inquiring from some other source.

Therefore, he slew him and turned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse. Now, folks, I think this is serious business. Okay. Now, having said that, let's go to Isaiah 30. Back to Isaiah 30. I hope you have your finger there.

Quietness and Confidence as Spiritual Strength

Folks, let me set the stage for this because this is the very heart of my message now. You see, Israel is being invaded, as I said. Isaiah has just warned Israel of the awful consequences of this rebellion of relying on someone else other than the Lord and not seeking Him, not trusting Him to be their keeper and protector.

And from verse 9, I'm not going to have you go through it, but from verse 9 all the way down to verse 14, you'll find Isaiah warning what happens when you lean on the arm of the flesh for answers. Here's what happens, and it happens in every one of our lives.

You see people today that are backstabbed. You see ministers in the pulpit that have no word from the Lord. You have whole charismatic groups now not even opening their Bibles, saying you don't even need to bring your Bible to church now.

The scripture says very clearly, verse 9, you will not hear the word of the Lord. This kind of rebellion will cause you to close your eyes and ears to the word of God. Secondly, you will turn from the paths of holiness.

You'll despise the convicting word of truth. Because of this, God says He would break down all your walls. I will break to pieces all that you trusted in. Everything in your life will be given to collapse and sorrow and shame.

He said you will reject prophetic warnings. You will clamor for a smooth gospel. You will accept deceitful preaching as the truth, because it justifies this kind of rebellion. Folks, look at me please.

If you will not seek God for everything in your life, if you will not turn to Him and inquire of Him and depend upon Him, wait for the word and act on that word. This is exactly, he said, if you reject that, you're going to reject my word.

You're not going to want to hear any holiness preaching at all. And that, we see this all over the land today. And he said, you're finally, you're going to build up your own walls. And God said, I'm going to come and tear them all down.

I'm going to tear all your walls down. All these protective walls that you put around, your own thought life and everything else, that's all going to come down because the flesh cannot stand up against the demonic powers that are unleashed in the world today.

It's impossible. Then Isaiah reveals the heart of God. He's saying, now you don't have to go that pathway. He said, I'm showing you what happens. The wars, the shame, the confusion, if you lean on the flesh.

But he said, that doesn't have to be the way. God has a better way. He said, I'm going to give you this secret now and how you can have strength in this time. Because you see at this time right now, there's nothing but frenetic action, helter-skelter, ambassadors running to Egypt, committee meetings, everybody wailing, what's going to happen to us?

The army going to come and wipe us out. There's nothing but confusion everywhere. Every home, every house in Jerusalem, in Judea is upset. Everybody's in turmoil. Everybody's, it's anxiety time. There's not a calm person anywhere.

Everybody's running around. Then Isaiah comes. He said, you don't have to come under that judgment of sudden breaking and sudden ruin of everything you've planned. Verse 15, please look at it. For thus saith the Lord God to host the Holy One of Israel.

In returning and rest shall you be saved. Read this next line with me. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Folks, nothing could be clearer in the scripture than that.

Where do you get your strength? In quietness and confidence in the presence of the Lord. Quietness means, is interpreted in Hebrew as repose. And repose means relaxed, freedom from all anxiety, a calm spirit, learning how to be still, to lay down with support underneath.

Beloved, there are not many calm Christians in the church today. Running from bookstore to bookstore and from convention to convention, seminar to seminar. Everybody looking for an answer. Everybody looking for direction.

They want a prophet to give them a word from God. I got to learn to say God, not God. My wife's been checking me on that. I just caught it. I'm sorry. You know what I mean. My God. Flocking everywhere to get a word, to calm their spirit, get a word of direction.

And that word of direction is about nothing but sorrow and shame and confusion. Just as the prophet prophesied. The word of God says the work of righteousness shall be peace. The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever.

What is righteousness supposed to accomplish in us? A quiet, calm spirit. That's the fruit. That's the fruit of righteousness. The righteousness of Jesus Christ, the true righteousness of Jesus. He said the fruit of it is a quiet, calm spirit and peace with God.

Peter speaks of the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. This quiet spirit has nothing to do with nature or personality. There are some people that are morbid.

I mean, they're always morbid. They just run around with a long face. And everybody, what a calm. And they got a noise. Heart can be raging inside. Usually morbid people are raging inside. I'm not talking about people that have a natural tendency to just be a rather calm, shy person.

Has nothing to do with shyness. Has nothing to do with natural calmness. Not at all. It's something the Holy Ghost does in you once you commit everything to him and trust in him completely. The Holy Ghost implants in you a quietness and a peace and a confidence.

A quietness, a calm spirit. I enjoy being around people like that. They have nothing to prove. They have no agenda. They know who they are in Christ. Because they have cast all their cares on him. They know who he is.

They know his names. I'm working now on the book called Hallowed Be Thy Names. I preached those nine names of God here that we went over. And as soon as I get it done, I'm going to study it and restudy it.

And just absorb it until I know everything that God has revealed to my heart about his names. And I'm just going to lean on those names. I'm going to trust in those names. And as Pastor Garber was preaching, intelligently worship the Lord and intelligently learn to trust him through Holy Ghost intelligence.

Hallelujah. Confidence. There's one word used in Hebrew and it's simply trust. Absolute trust in God. Isaiah is speaking to rebellious people that are fleeing down to Egypt and trusting in man and hoping in chariots.

And God warned them the Egyptians are just men. They're not God. Their horses are just flesh. They're not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, both he that helps, help us shall fall. And that he is being helped shall fall down.

They shall all fail altogether. He said, you do it your way. You seek to counselors. Now, there's nothing wrong with counseling. But folks, if you're going to go to counseling, you better get on your knees first and get a word from the Lord whether you should even go to a counselor.

And if he instructs you to one of our godly counselor, you go there and I would tell you, what are you going to tell you? What God's already told you. He's just going to confirm something God told you if you're seeking him.

It's just going to be an amen. And you'll say, hey, God spoke that. Folks, I get, my secretary's here and my wife reads thousands of letters from our mailing list from all the United States. And people will say, boy, I just got your newsletter.

And just last week, God revealed that to me. And it was a confirmation because they'd been seeking the face of God. The Lord opened it to them. And along came the newsletter and said, you got it right.

Just an amen to something God revealed in the secret closet of prayer. There's a release of strength when we release all our problems and begin to trust God with everything. There comes a great calm. I want, I saw an illustration of this and quickly, I want to go to the book of Ruth.

Ruth, Naomi, and Resting in God's Timing

I want to show you something that Lord just gave me for myself, but I'll let you have it. I don't know if it's going to mean as much to you as it does to me, but I just, I got so blessed with this. You know this story, don't you?

Ruth and Naomi. Naomi is the daughter-in-law. Ruth is the daughter-in-law of Naomi. And Naomi is of age now. And go to chapter three. Now, of course, you know, Ruth's husband is dead. He died. And she's living with her mother-in-law, Naomi.

And Naomi is now an elderly woman. And she's concerned about the welfare of her daughter-in-law. And in verse two, chapter three, It's not Boaz of our kindred and whose maidens thou must behold. He winnows barley tonight at the threshing horse.

I'll tell you what, I want to go back and set the story on this just a little bit better. I don't have it underlined, but you can read it when you get home. Here's the setting of it. She's concerned about it.

And she says, there's a kinsman of ours. His name is Boaz. The very field in which she was gleaning grain. And she's concerned about it. She says, I want you to go to Boaz and ask him. And she gave him the whole plan.

She'd evidently been in prayer. And only through prayer could she have gotten this, the kinsman-redeemer revelation. And the knowledge of this. She knew it was there, but God reminded her of it. God reminded of her.