When You Melt Down

LaRue Baptist Church, OH

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We want to consider scripture, what God has to say to us there, so you listen as I read from the book of Job.

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There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared

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God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

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He possessed 7 ,000 sheep, 3 ,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

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His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with him, and when the days of the feast had run their course,

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Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed

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God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the

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Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where have you come?

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Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it, and the

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Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears

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God and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the

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Lord and said, does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side?

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You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land, but stretch out your hand and touch all that he has and he will curse you to your face.

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The Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your hand, only against him do not stretch out your hand.

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So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking, drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, the oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the

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Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you, while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you, while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, that Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you, while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

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Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped, and he said, naked,

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I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the

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Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this,

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Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the

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Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord, and the

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Lord said to him, from where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it, and the

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Lord said to Satan, have you considered, my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears

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God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.

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Then Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, all that a man has, he will give for his life, but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.

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And the Lord said to Satan, behold, he is in your hand, only spares life.

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So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loaths and sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, and he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

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Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity?

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Curse God and die. But he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women would speak.

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Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?

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In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. I'll be reading from 2

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Corinthians chapter four. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways.

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We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. By the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

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And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

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For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

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For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

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We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair.

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Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.

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Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

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For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

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So death doesn't work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written,

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I believed and so I spoke. We also believe and so we also speak. Knowing that he who raised the

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Lord Jesus will also, with Jesus, will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

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For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

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So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

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As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things, but to the things that are unseen.

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For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

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Psalm 13, to the choir master, Esau of David. How long,

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O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

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How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

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How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me,

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O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.

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Lest my enemy say I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

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But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

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I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. Second Corinthians 3 to 11.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

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For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

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If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

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Our hope for you is unshaken. For we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

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For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experience in Asia.

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For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

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He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

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On him we have set our hope, that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

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Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Psalm 119, this great psalm that speaks to us of the word of God.

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You follow now as I read verses 25 through 32. My soul clings to the dust.

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Give me life according to your word. When I told of my ways, you answered me.

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Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

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My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word.

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Put false ways far from me, and graciously teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness.

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I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies, O Lord. Let me not be put to shame.

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I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. Let's pray.

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God of heaven, today we call upon you as the God of hope and the

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God of all comfort. We call upon you because we desperately need your help.

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We are lost and confused in our thinking. We are a cauldron of emotions.

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We, Lord, need you. We have confidence in you because we have a high priest who sympathizes with us, who makes his appeal on our behalf.

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We are confident because you count us as your children, as we have trusted in that one. Our heart cry today is strengthen us and give us hope.

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We need it, and so we depend on you now as you speak to us through your word.

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We ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. This has been a week unlike any other.

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Our Beth is gone, and the reality of that is more than we can bear.

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We have emotions we've never experienced before. Thoughts we've rarely entertained have now taken center stage.

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We've wept until there's no tears left. Each day is dark, and hope is out of reach, but hope really is not out of reach because our

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Heavenly Father is the God of hope, and he communicates hope to us through his word, and through that hope in his word, he strengthens us.

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So today, I want us to look for hope in his word, and particularly his strength as he strengthens us in his word.

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I wanna do that today by just meditating on one verse, Psalm 119, verse 28.

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My soul melts away for sorrow.

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Strengthen me according to your word. Now, sorrow will melt you.

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We all know sorrow, and sometimes it comes in overwhelming waves. Over the last few days, we have felt those waves breaking over us.

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You might feel okay for a while, and maybe even have an occasion for laughter, only to have the wave hit you and knock you down with weeping and an overpowering sense of loss.

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You melt down, you melt down. My soul melts away for sorrow.

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He's describing for us, us, or telling us, we melt down.

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Sorrow does that. You know, when I fry or scramble eggs, I take a piece of butter, or I take this stick of butter out of the refrigerator, and it's what?

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It's square, it's solid, right? And I whack off a chunk of that, and it's square and it's solid.

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You could toss that back and forth, it's got that property, it's that way. But you put it in the hot pan, what happens to it?

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It melts down to a shapeless, fatty spot in the pan, right?

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So it happens to us in sorrow. Sorrow can take a person who is happy, who's confident, who's articulate, who's dependable, who's prudent, who's friendly, and melt them like butter.

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They can't talk. They can't formulate the words they want to say.

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They're so stunned in the moment that they don't want to talk. They can't think.

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A person, here's a person who has every minute of his day planned out for the entire year.

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That's the way she is. Doesn't know what to do in the next hour, much less the next day.

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Confusion reigns. A million thoughts run through their mind. They just can't focus.

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Doubts intrude. Truths like God is good no longer seems plausible.

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They're possessed by a tumult of emotions. Overwhelming sense of loss just swamps them.

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The next minute, as someone recalls a good memory, they can chuckle and they can laugh, only to break down in tears a minute later.

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Physically, their bodies just don't do what they're supposed to do. Grief produces an ever -present feeling of exhaustion and fatigue.

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In grief, their limbs go numb and they collapse. Many of you have felt this way over these last few days.

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What I've said is true, isn't it? My soul melts away for sorrow.

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The psalmist can identify with you. He knows what it means. My soul melts away for sorrow.

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Is there hope for those in the throes of such disintegration? Can you recover from a meltdown?

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Yes. Sorrow can melt you, but God's word will strengthen you.

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It's what he says, right? My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word.

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Now, first of all, notice this. This is a plea addressed to God. This is a prayer.

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He cries out, oh God, oh God, please strengthen me according to your word.

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Please strengthen me according to your word. He cries out to God in the midst of this meltdown.

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Now, let me tell you something. In tragedy, in tragedy, our temptation is to run from God.

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I can tell you that. In tragedy, in the horror of these events, the temptation will be to run from God.

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I just can't face him. How could God allow this in our lives?

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What is he doing? God has forsaken me.

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Why should I go to him? With all this grief, I just don't feel like talking to God.

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Mark it, write it down. When tragedy strikes, the temptation will always be to run from God.

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But note, in his sorrow, in his disintegration, in his doubts, the psalmist cannot help but turn to God.

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He turns to God, not away from him, but to him. He's like the disciples in John chapter six.

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You call the story in John chapter six, Jesus feeds the 5 ,000.

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And then the next day, he goes across the lake, and there's the same crowd. In talking about this chapter,

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Jim Bennett has called this Jesus of the other side of the lake. This is a

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Jesus different than this one. This one feeds the 5 ,000. This one's on the other side of the lake, and they're going, feed me, feed us again.

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And he says, ha, you're only looking for a king who's gonna feed you.

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You've missed the point. You've missed the point of all of this, he says to them.

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He says instead, he says, look, let me tell you this.

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Let's put it this way. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, me, you won't have eternal life.

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And the scriptures say that people started abandoning him, and great multitudes abandoned him.

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And you remember, Jesus turns to the disciples, the apostles, the 12, and he says to them, do you wanna go away as well?

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And Peter responds with this. Lord, to whom shall we go?

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You have the words of eternal life. Now, my guess is that the disciples were also befuddled by it all.

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Drink your blood and eat your flesh. What are you talking about? What is going on, right? They don't understand it either, but at least they understand this.

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Where else are we gonna go? Where else could we go? You do not understand at this moment.

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You are filled with doubts. God seems far away, but where else are you gonna go?

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Is there any other system of thought or person who could give you hope?

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Oh, they try. But can they really give you hope? Can anyone else tell you there's purpose in this?

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Is there anyone else who does that? Is there anyone else who tells you that death's not the last word?

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No one else can tell you. Where are you gonna go but God? And so when you're tempted to turn away from God, you need to run to him.

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You may not understand, but where else are you gonna go? He's it.

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And so God sends you his word for strength. How does God's word strengthen us?

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That's what we need to ask. And I can just skim off the surface here this morning.

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We could spend hours in here talking about how God's word strengthens us, but I'm just going to give you a few things.

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A few things is enough at this point. God's word strengthens you with Jesus.

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You meet Jesus in the words of Scripture. The pages of Scripture is where you'll find him.

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He's not gonna make a miraculous appearance to you. He's not going to suddenly appear and start walking down the streets as he did in the incarnation.

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But actually, we don't need that. We have the Holy Spirit whom he sent and the word where he reveals himself.

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And we can meet the living Jesus in the pages of Scripture. God strengthens you with Jesus.

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Jesus is a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

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He knows tragedy. Listen, Jesus knows tragedy at an even deeper level than we have ever experienced.

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When it says that he experienced everything we did yet was without sin, can you imagine perfection?

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What perfection feels in the midst of a fallen world? I say to you today,

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Jesus knows tragedy at a much deeper level than even we know it. He's walked in our shoes.

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Death is the antithesis of what God is about. And he can't help but sympathize with you.

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He cannot help but sympathize with you. Think about that.

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That's what the text of Scripture says. He cannot help but sympathize because he has walked in our shoes.

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He knows what we experience. And he is not some distant king demanding your allegiance, caring little for what happens to you, but one who feels every bit of your heartache.

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Please understand that this Jesus is not a distant deity who sits in heaven on his throne and says, glorify me, you knuckleheads.

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It's all about that. You know, it is all about glorifying Jesus. But that's not coming from a distant king who doesn't know what you feel like.

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It's coming from one who has suffered like you. Tim Keller has said this.

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All other religions have gods which are distant. We have a God who has suffered with us.

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We have a God who has suffered with us. In Isaiah 63, verse nine, this little statement is made that has always remained in my mind.

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As it talks about God's people, Israel, it says, in all their affliction, he was afflicted.

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In all their affliction, he was afflicted. Just does Jesus care? Does Jesus care that you miss

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Bethany? Does he care about the void that seems unfillable at this moment?

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Does he care about that? Absolutely. You know, we almost joke about the verse in the

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Bible in John chapter 11. Shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept.

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Well, just think about that for a moment. He comes to his friend, his dearest friend, and he's dead.

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And by the way, he knows he's dead. It's no surprise. Our brother's dead,

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Martha says to him. It's not a surprise to him. But can you see him there?

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His friend died like your friend has died, and he wept.

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Do you see him bowed down, holding his face in his hands, and weeping?

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He's been there. He knows it. And he knows it now.

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You should find strength in Jesus. God's word strengthens you with the gospel.

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How so? The gospel promises reconciliation. Hear the words of Romans five.

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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

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We know that at this very moment, Beth sings with and sees

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Jesus living a life like she's never lived before. And how do we know that?

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How do we know that? Because she has peace with God. She trusted in Jesus.

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She was an example of growing in faith, and growing in righteousness as God transformed her from glory to glory.

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Listen, death is not God venting his anger, because we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ that should give you strength when you feel that void.

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The gospel gives you a father. You ever thought about that? The gospel gives you a father.

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For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry,

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Abba, Father. Through God's son, we are now

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God's sons and daughters. He's our father. And Paul, when he writes that in Romans chapter eight, is drawing a picture for us.

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We can cry out like a child who needs her father right now. That word cry, okay?

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It's not like we use the word, let's cry out to God. Go, God. The word cry that he used there is a word that can be translated screams.

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He's drawing the picture of a child who's in danger, who's injured, who is terrified, who's lost.

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Just picture a child in horrible circumstances and they start screaming, Daddy, Daddy!

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That's what he's telling us. When we are at the darkest point and we don't know what to do, we just say, just scream for Daddy.

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The gospel gives us this father. And in your loss, you find a father who loves you and embraces you and strengthens you.

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The gospel assures you of resurrection. Now, we all go to funerals and we're not nearly as moved as we are now.

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Oftentimes, let's admit it. But death right now, death right now seems to be the ruler.

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Takes a young mom, a wife of only 30. Looks like death's winning, doesn't it?

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Looks like a winning score. But death isn't the victor.

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Death hasn't won. Here's what we read in the gospel. You heard it already today, but it bears repeating because these are words that are intended to give us hope.

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Here's what we read. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised, what?

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Imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and the mortal body must put on immortality.

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When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

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Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus conquered death. He is alive right now and guarantees that we will have bodies that are imperishable.

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Too often, and right now, Bethany is, and we don't know how this works. I don't know how this works,

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I should say. Beth right now is experiencing great joy without a body.

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I don't know how that's possible, but we know that from the scriptures. But I can't help but think the joy is gonna be greater when she is joined once more with her body.

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The body that she had here, she'll be recognizable. We're not all, we will look like we look now.

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Well, you know, there won't be any imperfections. Okay, right? I won't be bald, or maybe all of you will be bald.

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I don't know, but listen, we will have bodies that don't perish.

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See, we're used to talking about the immortality of the soul, which is kind of an oxymoron, because immortality is speaking of something physical.

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We will have bodies that will be imperishable. And someday, in the resurrection, we will have these imperishable bodies, these bodies.

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Think about that, bodies that will never die. We can't wrap our mind around that, but bodies that you will recognize.

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Beth, Beth will recognize you. We'll be living forever in these bodies that will never die.

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That's the final word. Death does not have the final word, and we need to live in the future more.

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We need to live in the future more. Now, hear me now.

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I'm not saying this isn't a time for grief. It is horrible grief. It is a time for weeping.

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But we need to also live in the future, and we need to say, I'm weeping now because this death is so, is so real.

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It is so real. She's gone. And yet, we must believe there's a guarantee that we will live forever and eternity.

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Oh, dear people, you look at eternity. When we're all in eternity, praising our triune

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God, living lives as humans were always intended to live on this new earth, can you think of eternity?

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When we look at eternity, we will look back at this. We will look back at this, and it will not be as big as it is now.

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And we can kind of, in a way, bring things back to perspective as we look to the future and say,

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I will live forever in complete joy. That brings us to the next thing. The gospel guarantees glory.

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The gospel guarantees glory. Again, these words, we're familiar with them, but boy, we need to get real familiar with them.

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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

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And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

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He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their

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God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

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Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

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Do you really believe that we will inhabit a world with no pain, no sickness, no death, and not one tear?

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Can you imagine that? A world in which we will live in complete loving harmony with one another, no more being irritated, no more being angry with one another.

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We will live in perfect harmony with one another. All this because Jesus overcomes the curse.

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He has overcome it, living in perfect harmony.

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Isn't that amazing? We had a number of conversations this week, right, about this.

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Think about this for a moment. The person sitting next to you, or the person across the congregation that, you know, they just tend to rub you the wrong way and irritate you, they won't anymore when you're in glory.

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I mean, we've had some conversations, you know. You know how it is, we, you know, you talk about Beth and the different things we experienced with her.

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It's like, yeah, Beth thought that he was right, but he just always kind of irritated her.

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To which I would respond, doesn't irritate her anymore. Right?

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Although the person that caused her irritation is not perfect, she is. That's the way it's gonna be.

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No pain, no sorrow, no sickness, no death. Again, we have no categories for thinking about that kind of life, but it's true.

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The gospel guarantees it. Believe that and you will find strength. Believe that that is true.

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That that day is coming, a day that will last forever. You will find strength.

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The last thing I want to point out to you, and again, like I say, we could go on and on and on, but here's one last thing

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I want you to see. God's word strengthens you with truth.

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Look at verse 29. Put false ways, here's part of his prayer. Put false ways away from me and graciously teach me your law.

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Why in the meltdown of sorrow would he ask that? Why would he ask that? Why would he ask, put false ways away from me and graciously teach me your law, and when sorrow is melting him down, why would he say that?

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Because when you melt away in sorrow, you have a tendency to doubt God and to start believing lies.

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The temptation is going to be great in that area. When times are good and happy, you believe

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God is good, but when you lose what's most precious to you, you entertain the lie that God is not good after all.

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You begin to flirt with the lie that life has no purpose after all.

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You begin, you start to accept the lie that no good could ever come from horrific events like these.

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Teach me your word, teach me your law, teach me truth. And so you pray that as you run to God's word for strength, he will teach you truth in the face of soul -destroying lies.

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You need truth. In Psalm 42, the psalmist writes, my tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long, where is your

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God? Why are you cast down on my soul and why are you in turmoil within me?

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Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my

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God. Tells truth. I was with Pastor Andrew in a conversation one day with another person and he said this to them, you will be tempted to believe lies in your sorrow, so you must remind yourself, you must say to yourself, you must preach to yourself every day some truth from God.

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Find some truth from God and do that every day. How will you find strength today?

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How will you find strength tomorrow? How will you find strength in the days ahead?

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Through faith in God's word. When God seems far away, when he seems to you far away, you must believe what he says.

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I am your father. I may seem distant to you but that hasn't changed anything.

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I am your father. I am your father. You have to believe that. When you despair because of the awful, universal, seemingly unstoppable power of death, you must believe that resurrection is the final word.

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You must believe that, that it's true. When the lies seem so reasonable, you must believe the truth and the promises of God even as sorrow overtakes you.

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Find strength today in God's word. Oh God, I pray that I have communicated the strength and the power of your word.

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Oh God, this dear family,

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Beth, and Cam, Gwen, all the Bennetts, God, we can't imagine the darkness and the anguish.

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And yet, Father, I pray that we would look to you and find strength to love them.

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I pray that they would look to you and remember these truths. God, there is purpose in this.

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We know what your word tells us. It's ultimately for good. It's ultimately to be like Jesus. It's ultimately to cause us to find that sweet place of dependence on you.

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But Lord, in these particulars, in these minutes and moments of life, of loss, we are confused.

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We are perplexed. We are downtrodden, it seems. And so we beg you, please remind us of your word.

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Please, Lord, let your spirit in each one of us remind us of these truths and what

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God is like so that we will have hope. We want to live for your glory.

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We want to mourn in a way that honors you. For Lord, when we seek your honor, we will find comfort.

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And yet, Lord, it's difficult. We openly admit that to you. Work in us.

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We beg you. In Jesus' name, amen.