Psalm 90
Ministry Associate Calvin Chu preaches from Psalm 90. Discussion points: The brevity and hardship of life make life hard for us, God is both loving and powerful to protect us, we should invest our limited time in understanding who we are in light of God.
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Scripture reader: [Psalm 90] A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man, for one thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening it fades and withers.
For we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence, for all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days that we might get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Preacher: Morning church. Very often people kind of categorize people into like two different categories. It's like, oh you're a dog person, a cat person. The one thing I want us to start thinking about here is list people. There are like list people and there are non-list people, and some of you, some of you think, oh yeah, that's definitely you're the list people because you keep track of your lists, and there are the wait what? That's the thing though you are the non-list people, because you have no idea what I'm talking about.
I am not a list person by nature, to be honest with you, and so, being surrounded by many list people over the years, I've now learned that, oh, lists are very, very useful, and all the, all the, the list people are in their minds saying amen. Yes, preach brother we're gonna love this sermon, but the thing is for me what we're gonna be talking about or where I'm starting today is. I think even if you're a list person or a non-list person, I think that every single person carries a list, not like a list of like a to do list or like a checklist of, you know, things that they're trying to remember or whatever. I think all of us. Unless most of us keep a a tally of things that like are hard for us like that we have a a list of things that we we struggle with or things that cause us to spiral and so I think if we can for some of us we look externally and we see and when when certain things happen we, we kind of feel a certain way like oh that's, that's really, really heavy and honestly. Looking back the past few years, I think no one would be surprised looking kind of globally all the things that are happening, there's more conflict, more war than prior to a few years ago, maybe you look at the environment and the climate, you go, man, that this is just so hard it breaks my heart that this stuff is happening.
Or maybe you can look nationally we as a country are more divided than ever. There's like infighting there, there's there's just a lot going on, even within our own streets here in Massachusetts, Somerville, Cambridge, we can, we can feel the tension. It's, it's not elsewhere, it's here and the sort of like locally. But then I think a lot of us also can look internally we can look at the things that are happening within ourselves, in our minds and in our hearts in our lives and when as things happen we experience something or we're reminded of something that we're struggling with and when something checks off that list, it kind of sends us, it kind of, you know, some of us maybe spiral into into ourselves and maybe some of us lash out when some of these struggles occur in our lives.
And I think most of us, if not all of us, have a list whether we're actively knowing what that list is or we sort of subconsciously are holding this list in our minds. And so You know, I, I I think the thing that's challenging about it is that We keep these lists, but we don't necessarily think about like why we focus on the hardship of life like that, right? And I think today's passage, I think will really highlight for us a couple things.
The first thing I think is why is life hard, you know, great Calvin, you just listed all of these things that are really hard, and as you were saying that, my mind went to my list, and I thought of all these things. Why do we need a reminder or a a theological thought process of why life is hard? What we're gonna see. And then from there, we're gonna shift from our perspective so that how we're gonna shift to how we can reframe and rethink our perspective, so we can live not ignorant of life's difficulties. Not pretending like those things don't exist, but living fully aware of them but not be overwhelmed. And so I hope and pray, and I, I will pray because I will definitely need the spirit to, to move amongst us as I preach, pray that as we journey through the Psalm, yeah, that, that we will really hear from God, not from a, you know, a man reading from an iPad, so let's, let's pray and then, we'll we'll take really take a look to see what this psalm is talking about. Let's pray.
Father God, I know it's really hard to start a Sunday like this, thinking about heaviness and difficulty and hardship, when God maybe it's already front of mind. Maybe this is the moment that we were just like, no, God, I'm, I'm excited to come to service so I can actually be distracted, remove the concerns and the struggles that I have so I can really focus and, and, and not have to deal with it, but God. Maybe this is the moment where you're having us to understand and not to, not to hide those things or tuck those things away, but to be fully aware of of how hard life can be. But not get stuck there. And Lord we know that comes only through the power that comes from you. And so God we pray that as we read and study your word a little bit this morning, that we would change our perspectives, that you would change our hearts as we read all over scripture that you give your people new hearts. And so God, would you do that this morning? I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
OK, so, why is life hard? And again, we, we all have our list and, and, but the thing about them is. When we have our lists, they're really specific to us and, and there's almost like a relative nature to it. And, and so for instance some person will, will read an article about the environment and they, they will literally be brought to tears because they're like, oh my gosh, like this is so sad, but someone might not even like read that article at all because it doesn't even register something that's interesting to them, right? or and and I I hate, I hate to say this because it's really sad, but. Obviously if you've been following the news this past week, there was another mass shooting and it was in a church. It was in a Catholic church and, and, and two children died. They, they, they lost their lives because of a mass shooter and some people will read that and and see that and again they will be just be completely shattered and some people will read it and they go, wow, that's so sad and then they're going to keep scrolling, not because they're they're hard in their heart, but just it doesn't register in the same exact way.
And in the same way that in our own particular things in our own particular lives, some people might struggle with it, some people might get laid off and then they're just completely wrecked because their work was so essential to how they understood themselves. But some people get laid off like, oh great, that's another opportunity. Now let me hop back on LinkedIn and let me, let me refresh, rebrand, right? So, but so then, and then, and I think you can see that this happens when you go through hardship and you look at other people around you or you look at other people and how they go through hardship and you go, that's not that hard. That's not. I've done, I've I've dealt with harder, you know, that's not really a struggle, that's not really difficulty.
And when we do that, it, it really shows us that if we categorize the difficulty of life by the circumstances and the things that happen in our lives, well, we're gonna have a situation that we have in in our world where people think, no, I have it harder than you, you don't actually have it hard, you're so spoiled, you're so entitled. But if we look at the lens that God has for us, what makes life hard through the the lens of this Psalm. I think we're actually gonna see two things. And I think the two things here are kind of brings together this universal truth of what makes life hard regardless of your circumstance, regardless of your perspective, regardless of an outlook. And here's the, the two things we're gonna, I'm gonna read verses 3 and 4 for a little bit of context and I'll jump to 9 and 10 to really focus here verse 3 and 4.
You return man to dust and say, return oh children of man, for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. For all our days pass away under your wrath. Sorry, 9 and 10. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away.
What are the two factors that I'm talking about here that I think this passage is highly for us. Number one, that toil comes with life, that we know, that's the list, right? That's our list that that we have. We know that life is hard. There is toil, there's trouble there. But then it's that combined with the second part we really see in this this part of this passage is that life is short. There's a shortness to life and combined, that's what makes it hard. We have hard things in life, but also we have limited time, right? And so in verses 3 and 4, we talked about how for God a thousand years is but, like nothing, you know, it, it's, it's, it's a, a tiny bit for God in contrast, but for us it's again from the, the, the perspective of the writer, 70 years is a full life and if you could really get your work out, get your, your, you know, you you follow all the right influencers and you get your life nice and healthy, you could maybe get 80. But the thing that's what it says is that Our life, the maximum life that we could have is like part of a sneeze for God, not the whole sneeze, the beginning of the sneeze, or maybe just the end of the sneeze. Right?
And so it's really easy to hear that and go, OK, well, OK, well, OK, OK, so you're saying that life is hard. We all know that life is hard. There's a hardship there and so really we're focusing on, OK, so then I guess the the what what the passage is saying is this it's the shortness of life that's really the thing to focus on, but I really think it's the combination because. Shortness of life is not necessarily itself a bad thing. this past week for some reason, and I still don't know what it is and still kind of irks me we've been having these house flies kind of flying around our house. they're all, I think they're all gone. My, my two sons were very active at finding them, getting the little bug zapper and teamwork. It was just amazing teamwork. I've, I've never seen them come together like this. It's amazing.
And so there, there are these house flies and so and so for me like, OK. The, the average life of a house fly is, let's see, 7 to 10. OK, there we go, they take 7 to 10 days from fertilized egg to adult, right? So that's like a very, very short period of time, right? And, and their main objective is to find food, and if they can find food, then they'll probably live about 3 weeks. If they can't find food, then, then they kind of die. And their main goal then is first find food, and then once they find food is to procreate. And so, as far as lives go, I think that many people go, wait, all I need to do is find food and procreate. Like some people like, yeah, that, that sounds OK to me. OK, now I, I, I know that now they are listening, this, there are, there's children here this week, so if you, if you're picking up what I'm saying. You'll get it.
And so basically the whole idea is that you have to just get up, get a bowl of cereal, and then you live for, you know, 3 weeks and then you cease to exist. That's, it's not the shortness of life that, and they, I, I'm sure someone here has a PhD in some sort of biology thing. Well, Calvin, actually, and I know this is being recorded and, you know, maybe someone in the can get at me at the Calman section like, but what about the predators? Your sons, for instance, are making their lives a lot more difficult. And so yeah, OK, I, I'm exaggerating a little bit, but, but you get the idea.
It's not the, the, the thing about the hardness of life, it's not about the brevity of it. It's not, that's not the, the point of the issues of incredibly short lives. And all things considered, it's not so bad. Yes, they face predators, but it's, there is simplicity to their lives. They don't have to worry about heart disease or diabetes. They don't have to worry about dating apps. They don't have to worry about climbing the corporate ladder. Right? They don't care about the political landscape in the country. They they don't have to worry about that there's a simplicity there, and again, so it's not the shortness of life here.
So then What, what are we seeing here then, right? What is the combination of the shortness of life and the difficulty? What, what makes it the thing that's really, really hard? And I think again I'll read verse 10 1 more time. Actually, let me read 9 to 10 for all our days pass away under your wrath, we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. The words toil and trouble here is the same as like disaster, right? And so it's like our lives are, are disasters. There's struggle, there's pain.
And so I think this combination of the two of them, whenever we think of a disaster, national disaster, again, I, I referenced the this, the active school shooting. It's the 20 year anniversary of Katrina Hurricane Katrina. If you remember that, when there are disasters, very often people look to the skies and go, Why God? Why is this happening? And again, if you reframe it and really think about this, the idea is, God of how short my life is, how many days, weeks, months I have is so limited. Why are you sending this to me now? I only have so much time. Why do I have to deal with this? Couldn't you be loving and gracious and generous and give me the smoothest 70 or 80 years ever? Why God? And it's really the combination of the two. Right? And life becomes this difficulty.
Because when we realize that these things can happen when we realize we can face disaster and the moment that I feel that's when you kind of become like a a child and then you slowly become an adult is when you realize that hardship can come, right? And not to say that the lives of children are, are, are all easy. I think that honestly kids now more than ever have a lot of hardship. But there's this thing that really turns over when you realize that disaster can come.
And I think for a lot of us, especially for those of us who are list people or driven people or even not list people but we just don't think about it until it happens. We start to control. We start to say, OK, well I'm gonna, I'm gonna spend my money, I'm gonna collect money here or I'm going to, to, to, to spend my time doing this. I'm going to manage my health. I'm gonna manage my friendships, I'm gonna manage my calendars. And we were all there when 5 years ago it didn't matter how well you managed your life. When COVID-19 pandemic came it uprooted everything. It didn't matter. You may have had the best gym regimen ever. Gone. I woke up every single morning, not, not me, this is, this is just a hypothetical person. I woke up every morning at 5 I ran to the gym and then I lifted weights and then I ran back and, ah, strong. And COVID came and then you had to, you had to troll online to see, hopefully, can I find some used 5 pound dumbbells, right?
You, we can plan and plan and try to control, but we can't. And it's really the combination of those two things that makes it really difficult. Because if there was hardship in life, but we had millennia to live, what's the lay off? What's the, what, what's, what's breaking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend? What, what's having to, you know, figure out how to eat healthier? What's any of those things? What's another you know, Katrina? Well, OK, well, that's the 3rd 1 this millennia. Right? But it's the combination of those things. That makes it brutal. And it's because we are not in control. We come face to face with our limits. And being limited in the face of disaster is what makes life hard.
Awesome, Calvin, this is great. What a happy Sunday. It's, I feel bad cause the sun is shining and it's like it kind of feels like there's hope, but then you're hearing me and you're like, ah, Calvin, man, there's hope, hope is coming. OK. but to answer that kind of think through that hope, you know, the question I think is, OK, we're limited. OK, I get that, and I didn't need you just to kind of pile on to make me think about that. But again, looking through this scripture here, the passage. What can we actually do? In light of the disaster that we feel and we face, the toil and trouble that we go through day to day. Week to week.
I think we continue here. I'm actually gonna jump back to the beginning, verses 1 to 6 here. Let me read it for us. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth in the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust and say, return oh children of man for a thousand years in your sight are but a yesterday when it is passed, or as a watch in the night you sweep them away as a flood. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed in the evening it fades and withers. In the midst of the summer, because this is written, you know, from, from the, the Moses again, struggling in the wilderness.
So in the midst of of God's people struggling in the wilderness, what does the writer do? He goes to help. The goes to God to ask for help. That's what he does here and some of you are thinking, OK, go up, you just told me life is difficult because of the disaster that we experience and that there's a shortness of life that kind of compiles it and you're, you're reading Christian Hallmark cards to me. Go to God, right? You, it's the equivalent of going and telling a friend of some really, really incredible hardship and they go, you know what? Let go and let God. And it's like, OK, like fine like theologically that's correct, but like that's actually not helping me navigate this.
But I think especially if you grew up in the church or you've been in church for a long time or or or or or you're you're in this space a lot, it's really easy to forget. That This is something that is actually weighty, that we can go to God, right? I think the first reason that we struggle to go there is. I think God I think we see God as like. Just as powerless as us. I think sometimes we apply our lens to God. Well, well, you, I can't do anything, and I'm living this life, and I've tried all of the things. So God, what else could you do? Because if you could do something, you would have already done it, it would have been a lot faster, probably much more efficient, so you're leaving it up to me to do it, and I've done everything. So I'm not gonna go to you, God. Right.
Or maybe we think that God just won't do anything. Maybe we just think, God, well God, you must not really love me because I guess you wouldn't have sent this to me in the first place if you loved me, if you cared about me. So maybe I'm not gonna come to you because you're responsible for this, and I guess this is just something for me to take care of myself because well, clearly you're asleep at the wheel. Maybe God, you don't have time for my problems. You're obviously very busy. You've got a lot of things going on. Taking care of the world. Answering prayers, and I guess mine is just not that important or maybe it's, I'm not in the queue yet.
But I think we can go to God. Because God is outside of time. He's not limited. He doesn't live for millennia, he's forever. He's always. And always has been. Verse 2 says, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. God was there before anything else was, and it will still be. When everything else is gone. Not only did God see the creation of the world, he created, he spoke it into being.
It's really easy to forget the power of God. When we're struggling. Cause either we think he's doing it to us, or he thinks that it's our responsibility alone that we have to pick ourselves up by our bootstraps. But no, if this Psalm is a model for us to look at, he wants us to go to him. Psalm 90 confronts the lies that God doesn't care. That God is not powerful. From everlasting to everlasting, he is God. He is not powerless. He's not limited. He's not indifferent. He is the eternal one. And that's why he can be a refuge.
Verse one here says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. That phrase dwelling place means shelter, protection, even like the den of an animal like that that's how the word was used in the original context. And so if you ever come across a bear's den in the wilderness, you should be very, very terrified. OK, I don't know why you're going so deep and trying to find those spaces, but if you do, back way very slowly because the mama bear's gonna come and defend the cubs at any cost. Right? The, the den is her home. She will protect it. It's where her little ones are safe. And she will go to great lengths to make sure that they are safe. This is the picture of God with us. He has been our dwelling place. He has been our den, our safety, our home for all generations.
God being powerful alone isn't enough. He could have created us, but without that deep parental sacrificial love, he's a bad source of hope. Or he could have an incredible love for us but wasn't powerful enough to do anything that's also bad because then he couldn't protect us. But thank God that he's both. And that's why we can go to God in the midst of our struggle. He could do anything Anywhere, anytime, and with that unlimitednessness. He chooses to protect us. That, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, church, that should move us, should it not? The fact that God is our powerful protector is the reason we should go to him. In the midst of the disaster that our list reminds us of every single time.
Sounds great. We went from like really basic Christian Hallmark card to like slightly more elevated Christian Hallmark card, right? Like, OK, we go to God because he's your protector. OK, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's good, that's good. But what do we go to God for? We, we can ask and pray for protection. That's, that's baseline. But what, what can we go to God to, to ask for and go to God to expect, right? What does his protection look like in the middle of our short, hard lines? What can we get, what can God give us to get us through the struggles, the losses, and the pain? Up to this point, the Psalm has really been focused on God, his power, his eternal nature, his role as our, our dwelling place, but the, the Psalm actually shifts in, in the next few verses, particularly 7 through the, the, the end 11, 12, and so it turns our, our, our focus to us, who we are in, in light of God.
So let, let me read verses 7 to 11 here. For we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath, we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you.
Verses 7 to 10 here really show us the relationship of our lives to God and. It's not great, right? If you really see here we talk about God's anger, his wrath, our iniquities, secret sins, right? and and and and God sees them all it's really what this part talks about. Nothing is hidden from the Lord ultimately it tells us that we don't have it all together and we don't know it all, but, but we, we live and we move like we do. And then I think that the the the the normal thing that or the common thing that people would normally ask is for better control. God, give me the, the, I mean, don't, don't just change my circumstances that would be something like a young, like a kid would ask for, but no, as, as a, a more mature follower of Christ, I'm gonna ask not for to change my circumstances, but God give me the, the, the tools and the skill set and the ability to change my circumstances.
And again, but that just feeds into more of the desire for control that we have. Right. And it's, but God doesn't want us just to have better control. That's not what he has put on our heart, but what he tells us through this passage is in verse 12. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. I'll read it one more time. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. What does it mean to number or to count our days? I, I think normally when we think, OK, well I should just think about how much time I have left again really focusing on the shortness of life, that again that I don't think that's actually what it means and that you'll see it kind of in the next few verses.
I think it goes deeper than just counting like literal counting or thinking about how much time I have left and the last few verses really clarify this because I, I think what it tells us is to ask God for a deeper understanding of who we are in light of who we who he is. And I think it's really to help it's, it's to ask God to help me really understand. Where we have fallen short in the past, help me understand that we need God in the present. And help me understand what God has prepared for us in the future.
Read here verses 13 to 17. Remember, oh Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfying us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we've seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us, and yes, establish the work of our hands. And the hope of the writer of the song is that people go from experiencing God's wrath. To experience in God's favor. And at the end of the day when we struggle in life. I think that's what we want. We want to be in proximity to God, to experience His love.
And I think ultimately, when we struggle, really what it is is we want to avoid the consequence of sin. Sometimes it's a personal sin. God, I stepped in it. Would you please help me avoid as much of my own self-deserved consequences as possible. But even in the situations that are done to us, God, this person is sinning and now I'm living the consequences of it. God, would you help me not face the consequence of their sin? Right? And I think that probably embodies most of the brokenness of the world. That sin brought into it. God help us not experience the consequence of sin.
And what these verses tell us. Is that there is a request from the writer of this Psalm. God, would you Would you help us not feel the consequence of sin. Friends. Brothers and sisters in Christ. God has done that. God has done that the prayer of the writer of Psalm 90, who prayed this happened in the person and work of Christ. The end of those in Jesus is not God's wrath and anger. Christ is a sign of God's return. That they talk about in verse 13, return, oh Lord, sign of God's return and the pity on his people have pity on your servants. He is the physical embodiment of God's work. He is God's favor manifest because of him, the work of our hands can be the work of God's.
And thus we have counted our days and know how to make the most of the few years we have, and since we have seen the future that God has set for us in Christ. We can go through struggles, not wondering what will happen. But confidently knowing that Jesus has already taken the wrath we deserve. And that the future has already been set and is bright. It's really easy when we think about the gospel to think about the past. I once was lost, past. Now I'm saved. It's very easy to think about the future. When I, for all those who are in Christ, we will, we will be with Him, we'll be in heaven, we'll experience the end of mourning and suffering and pain. And those are all true. But the gospel changes right now, like changes the present moment.
Church, do you believe that? I know it's hard to believe, especially in the face of the list, the struggle. So whether you're sitting here in front of me now, whether you're watching this on the internet, and maybe you're looking at this a few years down the road. You feel it. Time is ticking. Every second counts. Each moment is an opportunity passing. And there was another one. And another one. And this passage accurately describes the reality that we only have so much time and with that little time, we should not maximize money, power, control, influence. But to really maximize to fully understand who we are in light of who God is. That's what we should really be investing in our time, our money, our effort.
That's not to say you can't spend those other things either, but if what's the, what's the primary driving factor in your life? Are you trying to better understand who you are in light of Christ? You're trying to understand the secrets of what to invest in. You're trying to understand the secrets. Of how to get a better job. You're trying to find the secrets. Of how to find a romantic partner. Those are all fine. But what is driving you? So if you only have a small bit of time to deepen that understanding of who we are in the light of God. Every time we come together, church, every time we come together, it matters. Every CG gathering, every prayer meeting, every worship service, they all matter. Because at each of these gatherings we count our days, we gain life giving wisdom that helps us better understand our powerful protector. We gain wisdom that helps us in the moments of struggle and disaster. And we deepen our trust so that we can actually go to him. Not wondering what he might do. But confident that there is nothing he can't do.
And if we sit back uncomfortable with just the gospel past and assume the gospel future awaits. Friends, I really think we're gonna miss out on the gospel in the now. And I hope that as CG starts to kick back up, prayer meetings start to kick back up service people start to really come back from being away on vacation and all that. I really hope that when we pass the peace of Christ, when we meet, when we pray, when we do Bible study, when we weep and mourn over the struggle in life, and that's OK. Don't not pretend that that doesn't happen. But when we do gather, church, I hope that we continue pointing to our powerful protector. Who laid down his life. To protect us.
With that being said, I'll move to a time of communion. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he, he took the cup. Ah, he took the bread, he broke it. And he said, this is my body, do this in remembrance of me. And then he took the cup and he said, this is my blood, do this in remembrance of me. Let's pray.
Father God, I, I'm truly truly moved. That you are our protector. When we read in scripture of all the powerful and amazing things that you have done, it's pretty remarkable that you care about me The collective mes. That all the nuances of the things that are happening in our lives. You care. And that in the power that you have, God you, you love us. And you want to protect us. And so God, as we take communion and as we leave here, God, would you help us to know that when we go out of these church walls when we do remind ourselves of the list or we get hit in the face with all the struggles that we have God that we are not alone. We can come to you because you know us you love us, and you can and will and have protected us. So, would you help us remember that as we move forth from here. I pray all this in Jesus' name, Amen.