Warrior, Protector, Provider — Shane Idleman

God as Warrior, Protector, and Provider

God, warrior, protector, and what else? Provider, and go through, hear my voice. Now, any time I look at the Psalms and what we're doing on Wednesdays, I'm going to keep going through the Psalms. It's going to take probably a few years.

The Psalms as Encouragement and God's Living Word

Because it is such an important book of the Bible. It's where David and many others poured out their heart. And we can relate to that. Pouring out their heart. And they went through struggles and difficulties and their enemies coming after them.

And they have it harder than we do many times. And if they can get through life, we can get through life. So number one, it's an encouragement for me. Number two, and I have to remind myself of this a lot, and it's really important, is that God's Word is actually living.

It's active. The Bible says it's living and it's active. What does that mean? It speaks to us now. It gives insight now. And when we think of this as the words of the living God, that will really spice up your reading life.

It's not just a good book. God can actually speak to you profoundly and specifically. And it nourishes your soul at the same time. And now when you open the Word, it takes on a little bit different meaning than the next bestseller on your bookshelf.

This one is dead. This one is living. Big difference. So he's saying here, hear my voice. Do you ever feel like that? God, please hear my voice. Oh God, in my meditation. So he's reminding us the importance of meditation.

Meditation on Scripture

I talked about that last Wednesday. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly and sit in the path of sinners and all those things, but he meditates day and night on the Word of God.

And here's why that is so important. We're meditating on something, aren't we? Have you ever just not thought about anything? If so, tell me how you did that. Because it never goes blank up here. It's either thinking about, you know, I think about different things than you do.

I think about the chairs and the views, right? And not everyone was a fan of that and trying to talk to them and navigate those waters. And also what's for dinner later tonight? Maybe some of you are thinking.

Or issues with the kids tomorrow. Or, I mean, we're meditating on something. But it's very healthy to meditate on God's Word. What you do is you, I bring it into certain situations. You know, I'm getting worked up a little bit.

A slow answer turns away wrath. Or, you know what, I don't want to open up that can of worms just recently. I hope they don't listen. It's very unlikely they do. But a neighbor moved in across the street and he's got a very, very loud new Mustang.

And they really want you to know how loud and powerful it is. I know what's under the hood. You don't have to remind me. And he leaves for work at 4 .45. And yesterday I hear it coming down. It's his friend.

He comes down. We're on a cul-de-sac. He hits that cul-de-sac and just turns. Wah, wah! Like right in front of my house. I'm tempted to walk down there. But Lord, how's that going to go? You know, and so meditating on God's Word.

Not wanting to get that last word in. Or, what's going on in the news? Lord, You're on the throne. You are in control. I don't know what's going on in Colorado or anywhere else. Some of you will get that, some of you won't.

But Lord, You know what's going on. And you're meditating. Because where your mind goes, your feet often follow. You don't get in trouble. Well, actually, you get in trouble when it's first thought up here.

For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. My thoughts become words. My words become actions. My actions form habits. And my habits shape my character and my destiny. And what are we meditating on?

It's so important. That's why the more you're in God's Word, you're meditating on God's Word. And you're memorizing God's Word. And a lot of times when I'm preaching, it just comes out from the time I spent in God's Word.

Meditating on that. And that's what he's saying here. Hear my voice, oh God, in my meditation. I'm gonna be meditating on Your Word. I'm gonna be praying as well. Preserve my life. Preserve me, God, from fear of the enemy.

Praying for Protection from Hidden Evil

And these guys were under severe attack. I don't know if you've had anybody hunting you down lately. And gonna take you out. But that's what was happening here. So he's asking God to hear and to preserve and then also hide me.

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked. I don't pray exactly that, but I pray something similar. Lord, keep evil away from me in this church. Because there's so many things being worked on in secret that we don't even know about.

Possibly against us or family members. Not all employees are happy that you're a Christian at your workplace, if you haven't figured that out yet. Especially if you're a teacher. And plotting and different things.

The Colorado Supreme Court system was plotting for a while, right? That's what he's talking about. That hide me from these secret plots of the wicked that God knows about. Thank God God knows about it.

And I don't believe the enemy knows future plans. I don't think he's omniscient, omnowing, or omnipresent, omniscient, all-knowing, all-powerful. He's not. And so God knows what they're planning and he can stop them before they're even planned and carried out.

And I pray that. Lord, have no evil or wickedness even get over that little hill. Don't even let it get here. He knows. He could give somebody a flat tire and they not show up. And then from the rebellion, so he's saying hide me from the secret plots and from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity.

Basically, people who work iniquity, work sin, they are in rebellion against God. Lord, keep me away from them. And they sharpen their tongue like a sword. You know the tongue. That unruly thing. The Bible talks about it.

The Power of Words and the Tongue

James, it's like even a little rudder on a ship can turn a massive ship. And our tongue can set things on fire with our words. Do you ever get in trouble by your words? Just zip it. But they have these enemies.

They have a sharp tongue like a sword. And they bend their bows to shoot their arrows. So he's giving the picture that he's actually not physical arrows, although that is gonna happen with the enemy. But the words, the bitter words are like arrows that hit the heart.

I mean, even some of us tough Christians with thick skin, we don't wanna always be attacked by words. Do you? I mean, you can water off a duck's back and roll with the punches and okay. But at some point, it gets a little frustrating.

The bitter words and they're shooting at you. And that's why he says like a bow that pulls back and it shoots the arrow. That's what words do. And that's why it's called the fiery darts of the enemy as well.

Words carry weight. Now, parents, remember that with your kids. Or your grandchildren. Or if you're not yet parents, your words will carry a lot of weight. There's a lot of pain in this room. There's a lot of pain of people listening because of things that were said to them at a young age.

I dealt with that. Many of you I'm sure dealt with that as well. Words, words can either build up or they can break down. And he says that they may shoot in secret at the blameless. Suddenly, they shoot at him and they don't even fear.

They don't even care about their evil. That's what we see today. There was a time in history where people actually kind of feared God and they feared authority. They feared the police department. Now, all of that is being eroded.

There's no fear of God in this place. And without a lack of fear of God or a fear of a respect of authority, all kinds of hell breaks loose. And then verse five, they encourage themselves in an evil matter.

In other words, they encourage one another to do evil. They encourage one another to do sin. You see that mainly in young adults. They will encourage each other. The strong leader can either encourage them away from sin or into sin.

So they're encouraging themselves. Let's do this evil thing. They talk of laying snares secretly. How many of you know what a snare is? Not too many? Any hunters out there? And that's what the snare is, something that they would put in the ground to catch an animal.

And usually when it got caught, it couldn't go. It was tied to something and it would die there. And it was a snare. And so he's giving that picture here that that's what evil does. They try to snare you secretly.

They try to hide and set up traps for you. They say, who will see them? Nobody's going to see my secret snares. Nobody's gonna see how I'm coming after this person. But that's why at the beginning he said, and what I love, but God, you see.

God, you see the workers of iniquity. You see how they're coming against me. So you put up a barrier, Lord. You stop them. And this is really what Psalms is, is a prayer. A lot of these Psalms are prayers.

We're getting to see the prayer life of David. We're getting to see the prayer life of some of these writers of the Bible. Prayers that were answered. And they devise iniquity, they devise sin. We have perfected a very shrewd scheme.

In other words, they're feeling pretty good about themselves. Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep. Both the inward thought, what man is thinking, and the heart of man are deep. And then verse seven.

But God, you shall shoot at them with an arrow. See, I like that. They're shooting at me, God's gonna shoot back. And when he shoots back, he doesn't miss. Let me tell you about the God who doesn't miss.

He's the God that hits straight on. He can take somebody out. He can shoot them, get rid of that evil. Did you see that video that's viral? Is it the Turkish ambassador from Turkey? He is condemning Israel and praising Allah, and then he dies of a heart attack.

Right there, right there. You can see that. He just falls down. Oh, that's just a coincidence. Okay, you can believe that. But God doesn't mess around. I've seen him before too. I mean, there's tons of testimonies of just where he'll stop evil, he'll stop the plans, he'll thwart the plans of the enemy.

God will protect you. Somebody I kind of know, he's an acquaintance of mine, he's been on my podcast, I've been on his. You probably follow Victor Marks. I don't know if you ever follow him. But he was talking, it looked like two weeks when he went to, he's saving girls from trafficking, and he showed they had ballistics, I think they call it, of the strings of where the three bullets went and just missed his head.

He was in a mobile home and he was gonna take the guy out, I think, and the guy shot back three shots and just missed him on each side. God is in control. Doesn't mean we're always protected, doesn't mean we don't go through challenging situations, doesn't mean we don't die.

But it does mean that God will have the final say. So he will make, I'm getting excited, I don't know about you guys, but man, I just get excited when we think about how awesome God, he doesn't play games.

He doesn't miss, he doesn't, oh, I almost hit that mark. It's not like horseshoes and nuclear bombs where you can be kind of close. God is spot on. Sin means missing the mark. God always hits the mark.

That's the difference. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow. Suddenly, they shall be wounded. Finally, finally these guys get wounded. So he will make them stumble over their own tongue. You'll see this now in the news and different political parties, they're eating their own, they're getting backed into a corner.

They can't answer the truth. They get in trouble by their own tongue. All who see them will flee away. In other words, they're seeing how God judges them and they run. When God begins to judge and God begins to show himself strong, it brings fear, the right kind of fear among people.

All men shall fear because they see God working and they shall declare the work of God for they shall wisely consider his doings. That is basically what he does. And the righteous shall be glad in the Lord.

See, here's the difference. The wicked, the evil got judged. They got rebuked. They got knocked down by God. But the righteous, they stand as a strong testament to who God is. Even when the storm comes, they still stand.

Standing Firm in Spiritual Battle

Having done all, stand. That's what God says in his word. When you've done everything you can do, just stand. That's the whole point of battle. But Lord, aren't I supposed to fight? Just stand. And having done all, stand there with your loins girded about with truth.

Hold the line. Stand, don't fall back. And so the righteous are glad in the Lord and they trust in him. And all the upright in heart show glory. That word glory is a word in the Hebrew here, I believe it's a weight, weighty.

There's this weight about righteousness. It's not looking like an angel in glory and we look and we worship you. It's the weight of what God has done. And then verse 11. We can go to verse 11 and continue.

Oh, is that it? That's a short psalm. Where's the next one? I'm still ready to go. Psalm 65. Oh yeah, okay, key takeaways. Key takeaways from what we just read. Thanks, Sarah. She's on it, I'm not. Hear my voice.

Applying Psalm 64 Through Prayer

Here's what we can take away. It's okay to ask God to hear my voice. Hear my voice. It's a pleading. It's a petitioning to God. It's asking God, please hear my voice. We do this with people. You look at your spouse.

You look at them and say, listen. Listen to me. Or your kids. Don't you? I go sometimes, I'll grab my Tina, listen. No, look at me. Listen. And it's the same kind of thing. It's because it means there's gravity.

It means the situation is serious. It means this is important. God, hear my voice. So maybe you can begin tonight or even tomorrow morning and say, preserve my life. Preserve my life. God, preserve me.

Hide me from secret plots of the enemy. That can be your prayer life tomorrow morning. Lord, hear me, preserve me, hide me from the secret plots of the enemy. The secret of the evil behind the scenes.

Because we don't know what's gonna go on this year. This year's gonna be pretty interesting, I think. But God can protect us. And see, here's the thing. I know He protects and His sovereignty and things like that.

But there is something dynamic that takes place when we actually pray and petition God and intercede. It's like prayer is raised up to a whole new level. It's like if you don't ask, you don't receive.

So Lord, protect us, protect us. And then Psalm 65. Praise is awaiting you, O God, in Zion. So praise is awaiting you, O God. In other words, I'm gonna praise you, God. And Zion was when they would get to the temple, they would get to the holy place.

And to you, the vow shall be performed. Whatever they vowed, it will happen. And that's a good reminder to us today what Jesus said, let your yes be yes, and your no be no. The New Testament doesn't really encourage making a vow to God and vowing this, but let your yes be yes and your no be no.

O you who hear prayer, to you all flesh will come. Lord, my sins, my iniquities prevail against me as for all my transgressions, but you will provide atonement for them. Even the Psalms was thinking about Jesus.

Atonement and the Fulfillment of the Sacrificial System

And there's a lot of references to Jesus in the Bible we should go through sometime. But back then, remember, how would they cover the sins of the people? How were your sins covered in the Old Testament?

They would shed the blood of bulls and goats and rams, and this blood would provide a temporary covering of the sin. So there's always the blood, always the blood, never enough, it's never going to be satisfied.

It was a temporary foreshadowing of what was to come with Christ. The final sacrifice, blessed is that man whom you choose, blessed is the man you choose and cause to approach you, that he may dwell in your courts.

There's another verse, dwell in your courts. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place, He who has clean hands and a pure heart and who has not lifted up his soul to an idol.

It is possible not to go into the courts of heaven now, but you can experience God in more profound and powerful ways than the normal Christian. If you seek Him, you find Him. Who may ascend into my holy hill and have my presence there.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart and He's not sworn to an idol, but He loves me. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple. Then verse five, by awesome deeds and righteousness, you will answer us.

Oh God of our salvation, basically saying God is going to answer us by righteous deeds. You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the far and far off seas. Basically, He's just reminding Himself.

He's not reminding God, He's reminding Himself how awesome God is. You establish the mountains by your strength, being clothed with power. You who still the noises of the sea, God can make the seas calm.

God's Sovereignty Over Creation and Nations

And the tumult of the people, that word is like a tumult is confusion. It's like an uproar of the people. God can calm all of that. They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of your signs. You make the outgoings of the morning and the evenings rejoice.

He's basically pondering and taking all this in. Then verse nine, you visit the earth and water it. Isn't that interesting? Have you ever studied that cycle of how the earth gets water? I mean, that in and of itself shows there's some design here, you know.

Let's see, it's this evaporation from the ocean goes up into the clouds and the clouds kind of come over to where we're at. And then they go over and then they go into Big Bear and Arrowhead and up towards Mammoth Lakes and tons of snow, hopefully more again this year.

And then that snow melts and provides water for the whole summer and then makes its way back to the ocean. And that cycle is repeated again and again. God knew what He was doing. So He visits the earth and waters it.

He enriches it. The river of God is full of water. You provide their grain. So now we're seeing God as a provider. That's why the title of this message, God is warrior and provider and protector. So He's providing the grain.

God's Provision in Every Season

If you think about it, God provided, and still does of course, but provided everything. Without the rain, they couldn't grow the crops. Without the seed, they couldn't do anything. Without the soil having the nourishment to feed the crops, they wouldn't grow.

If the rain was too late or too early, if it was too much water, not enough, it's just enough to keep everything going. You water it abundantly. You settle its furrows. You make it soft with showers. You bless its growth.

Verse 11, you crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks.

The valleys are also covered with grain. They shout for joy. They also sing. So He's reminding Himself and He's reminding us of God's provision. So important. And then verse 14, that's it too. Okay, so next slide.

Praise, Commitment, and the Discipline of Faith

Key takeaways from verse one. Find a place of praise. There needs to be somewhere in your life where you need to go and you need to have that alone time with God. It can be in your car. If you're me, then you can go in a room and put earplugs in.

Because I have five kids. Or an office. Or take a walk. There's a place, like you said in verse one, I go to Zion and I worship You. Find that place. Jesus said go into your secret place and shut the door and there, God will begin to reward you openly.

Folks, there's a place. I know I say this a lot, but there's a place where God will meet you. There's a place where God will sustain you. There's a place where God, the Creator of heaven and earth, will hear your prayers.

We might not get them answered as quickly as we'd like or even answered at all because God knows what's best for us. But find that place. Number two, keep commitments. Keep commitments. We learned that about the vow.

Blessed is the man who keeps them. Actually, the psalm says, blessed is the man who swears to his own hurt. You know what that means? It's like, oh, I know I said that. How often do we do that now? And I've seen it in my lifetime from when I was a little kid, my dad's era of a man's word meant something and that's all you really needed, to now it's pathetic.

I mean, hey, I'm going to be there to help you set up whatever. And then no show. Or I'll do this and no show. I'll start this and no show. It's like it's no big deal now, but in Bible times and even now, I believe, God doesn't change.

Our word still means a lot. I don't know about you, but I want to be a person who they know, okay, when Shane says this, this is what he means. Because if you don't have that, you don't have a lot. You don't have a lot.

If you can't keep your word, if you're always making up excuses, always sick so you can't go do this and I'm too busy, and keep your word. God will honor that. God will bless that. Very good takeaway.

Sin, Provision, and the Difference Between Wants and Needs

And then number three, sin fascinates before it assassinates. Always remember that about sin. It always looks enticing. It always looks appealing. It always fascinates before it assassinates. And then there is something I want to talk about on the next screen because we spent a lot of that chapter about God providing.

God providing. Anybody need God to provide anything? Provision? And isn't it interesting, as a pastor I see this all the time. Somebody's very well off, but not very close to the Lord. And others are not doing great financially, but they're on fire for God.

So we cannot ever rate it, provision on spirituality. The more spiritual you are, the more blessed you are. It doesn't work that way, but there are some keys for God providing for you. Because he talked about God will provide the rain.

He will provide the things that you need. But when it comes to this topic, it's important, number one, we have to distinguish want versus need. There could be some hindrances to why God is not providing right now for you, whether it's financially or something.

Want versus need. How many can relate? Especially at Christmastime. I want versus I need. I haven't seen God fell on the I needs. Because He promised. There will be difficult seasons, but He will keep a roof over our head and food.

But it's the wants, the wants that we seem to cry about sometimes. Well, God's not providing. I want this. I want this. We have to make sure. Is it a need? A genuine need? And then number two, there are seasons of provision, but there are also seasons of famine.

Seasons of Famine and Trusting God's Timing

So sometimes when you're in a very hard spot, it could just be a season. It doesn't mean God doesn't love you. It doesn't mean you're in sin. It doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. It's just a hard season.

Amen? Anybody been there? I mean, because I've had different jobs before this and construction and different, you know, I saw the, well, when we're doing really good and then uh-oh, kind of put on the brakes.

Provision. And there are different lifestyles. Some people have a really good job for a really long time. Other people don't. It's where God has them at this particular junction. So you have to always keep that in mind.

There are seasons for provision. And they come and go. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Number three, this is, I have to talk about it because it's so true. Sin in our life, besetting sin, you know what that is?

Besetting Sin, Repentance, and God's Discipline

Sin that you don't want to deal with or you just keep caving in like, I'm going to just, I don't care. I'm going to keep, I'm unrepentant. I'm not really changing. Besetting sin. Sometimes God will withhold things to get our attention.

Has God ever woke you up by withholding things? Sin has consequences. And if it's not dealt with, He might begin to withhold. He might begin to, because without God spanking us, we sometimes don't change.

So you get that notice. Hey, we're going to have to let you go. Oh, now that doesn't mean it's always connected to sin. Of course not. But sometimes the lack of provision, and we can go through some Scriptures on how throughout the Deuteronomy and the children of Israel, when they're in rebellion or in sin, God would withdraw, withhold their provision.

And then when there's a repentance took place, they would again, God would again bring provision. And I've seen it. Even our attitudes can be sinful. Did you know that? We forget about the secret sins that are inside the heart that can really, really begin to manifest themselves in ugly ways.

For example, you know, bitterness. If we're just always bitter or envious or jealous, or we're just a critical heart or we're a gossiper. And we know these things, but we're not working on them. Could it be that God withholds some of the provision to get us to really wake up?

Yes, sin will definitely, definitely hinder our prayers if we're not repentant and asking God to cleanse us and Lord, help me in this area, if we're just in rebellion. What about the verse that says, my hand is not short, that I cannot save you, my ear is not heavy, that I cannot hear you, but your sins have separated me from you so that I can't hear you.

I know you need that provision, I know you need that prayer answer, but there's something separating us and you need to deal with it via repentance. There's so many Scriptures on that. And again, it's not the only way, but it is one.

I know in my own life, God has really changed course over the years, especially when I was younger, because of sin, He would withdraw things until it really woke me up. Because when we're comfortable, we don't really want to change much.

Comfort, Wealth, and Spiritual Vigilance

That's why it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Have you ever thought about that? Why is it hard? Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. And then the disciples said, well, then who can be saved?

That's impossible, who can be saved? Why is it hard? Because when a person's very wealthy, they have no need for God. They're self-sufficient. They are self-reliant. They're comfortable. They're comfortable.

And I know this is a hard topic, but it needs to be said, sometimes God gets us out of that comfort zone to wake us up. Comfort is not always good for the Christian. Comfort is what got the children of Israel in trouble.

Comfort is what got the Corinthians in trouble. Comfort is what, because we're comfortable, we become automatically kind of lazy. We lose our vigilance. We lose our fight. And for many of you, if you're watching a lot of these videos now, they're going viral on, do you ever see those guys jumping in cold ice water baths?

It's real popular right now. You know what I'm talking about? Cold water therapy. Yeah, there we go. But yeah, the reason that is important and it's kind of good, I mean, I haven't tried it yet. I've tried, but it's a little tough.

But it shocks the body. It shocks the body. And as a result, the body, there's an immune response. And if you ever try it, you can't get angry afterwards. There's like an excitement, a joy, a rush, and it shocks the body.

There's an immune response. And you're not comfortable or you're kind of walking a lot and the body has to do it. It's not used to that. Or you fast. Fasting turns the body into a machine because it's not comfortable.

And so it responds. And usually the more healthy a person is, the more active they are. The more uncomfortable they are. The rock climbers or the hikers or the guys that are doing hard things and their body's not comfortable.

And they're saying that as a former couch potato and still struggle with it, anybody relate? That's not good for the body. What's the old saying? If you don't use it, it's very true. So in the same way, spiritually speaking as physically speaking, that's why I often say the physical and the spiritual run pretty close parallels.

So in the same way, spiritually speaking, we need to come out of that comfort zone. And God will wake us up sometimes by doing certain things. Number four, do all of you know what sanctification is? I'll just assume not.

Sanctification in simple terms is the process of becoming Christ-like. And I don't want to give you bad news tonight, but you never arrive on this side of heaven. You agree? Anybody arrived yet? You want to give a testimony to how you accomplished that?

So it's a process. So salvation, saved. The Holy Spirit comes in. You're saved. You're a believer. You love the Lord, but now sanctification is a process of, and sometimes walking forward, you take a couple steps back.

You need to get back up. And so you change. I hope I'm a little bit more like Christ than I was five years ago, or 10 years ago, definitely 20 years ago, right? So it's a process of change. And as you get older, you should be more like Christ.

You should be more humble, more gracious. The things you used to say, you're not as critical. You know, you're growing in the Lord. And if you're not growing, you're stagnant. And that's not a good spot to be.

So when it comes to provision, God will often use challenging times to grow us spiritually. How many can relate to that? You probably grew spiritually not when it was easy, but when it was difficult. You don't grow spiritually often when it's just easy and comfortable all the time.

It's almost like the muscle training for the body, spiritually speaking. So sanctification multiplies, increases during the difficult season. So sometimes it's good that we're going through a lack of provision because that lack of provision drops me to my knees, cleans my heart, repentance takes place.

I grow spiritually. Lord, I have to trust You. I have to trust You. And you can see a marked difference when somebody knows God as Healer. All the names they had for God in the Old Testament, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Sikhanou.

Knowing God Through His Names and Trials

They knew Him as their banner, their shield, their warrior, their healer, their redeemer. They knew God as all these different names because He brought them through these difficult challenges. There could be a time God is really sanctifying you and conforming you and changing you because during that time also, that's where He gets out the chipping hammer.

And let's knock some of that pride off. Have you ever been on the block there with God chipping you? Or the potter's wheel? That's how it works. Get humble, He just chips that away, chips that away as we get older too.

You start to realize this body's kind of falling apart. Keeps you humble. Going through difficult seasons. And remember, you don't eat the fruit right after you plant the seed. I remember when the kids were young, you've probably seen this, it's so cute, you plant a little watermelon seed.

Those things can grow. You saw it right up by our driveway. Unbelievable. But every day they go check that thing. I'm like, guys, what are you doing? And they're like just sitting down on the grass. Every day, where do the watermelons come from?

Well, let's look online. Ninety days. Ninety days! Dad, oh my gosh, that's like forever. And they hop out of the car every time. Check, check, check, and then finally, see that little green just kind of come out of the dirt.

And they're all excited. And they think, now when's the watermelon grow? How's the watermelon grow on that? It takes time. It's going to be a while. But we kind of get like that, don't we? God plants the seed.

And it takes time. It takes time to come to fruition. So just remember that tonight. No matter what you're going through, it takes time. Or God might be wanting you to repent of something He's been convicting you of.

Maybe it could be an external sin where we walk, where our hands, things, actions people see, or it could be an internal sin. And Jesus rebuked that a lot with the Pharisees. The hardness of their hearts, the pride in their hearts, and the critical spirit, and not very gentle and loving.

And that's just a time to repent and let God cleanse us and restore a lot of things in our lives that might have been damaged or that we lost.