And it's been a blessing to me to look at it from different aspects. And so here's one as we try to think through Thanksgiving and the giving of thanks that we've had at least thematically last week. Try to think about that in light of this short but very powerful psalm. Let me just read it in its entirety, just the six verses here. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. Yet though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23. Now this is a psalm that most of us are familiar with. It's one that even if you're not familiar with its contents, you know the address. You know Psalm 23. You've heard that before. Most often, and I say this every time we come to Psalm 23, but most often you'll hear this psalm read, quoted, cited at a funeral as someone's life has ended. But Psalm 23 is a psalm for the living. It's a psalm where a living person is praised, that's David, is praising and just rehearsing these realities about a living shepherd who has cared for him, who has guided him, who has protected him, who has provided for him, and who will be with him all the days of his life. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 tells us that God's will for us is to give thanks to Him in everything. 1 Thessalonians 5.18, "...in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." Now, at times, it can be difficult to understand how this is possible. How do we give thanks to God in all things? We, this morning, mentioned Spencer again. It seems like we mention him every Sunday, and there's something new to mention. Or we think about a little baby like Isabella Jewett, who has leukemia and is undergoing treatments. You think about the difficulties and the hardships that their parents are going through, and I mention those two because those are the two things that have really gripped us for the last month or couple of months. And how do you give thanks in those kinds of situations? Extended trials. We all have things that we've prayed about for years that seemingly have gone unanswered, or at least not answered the way that we were hoping. There are situations in all of our lives that can be difficult for us to even know what do I give thanks for in this situation, in this circumstance. And Psalm 23 really does help us with that. Because Psalm 23 lifts our eyes up above the circumstances and puts them on the One who is shepherding us through those circumstances. Helps us to interpret what's really going on when it seems like those prayers are being unanswered. helps us to know what we can expect and look for and hope in in difficult times and just in life in general. So I want us to think of several things out of Psalm 23 that help us know how we can give thanks in everything. Giving thanks that goes really beyond our circumstances. So number one, Giving thanks for a good and faithful shepherd. Giving thanks for a good and faithful shepherd. That's not a circumstantial thanksgiving. That's something that we can give thanks for any season of our life. because God has committed Himself to us. The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23, 1. I shall not want. Really, the better translation of that for our ears in 2024 would be, the Lord is my shepherd. I have need of nothing. I lack nothing. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack would probably be a better way if we were to say it in the old English. But it just simply means this, it means that God has provided for us anything and everything that we need, we have. Now, if we think about the word want, you know, in 2020 rather than 1600, then we're thinking maybe the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not desire anything. There's nothing that I want that I do not have. And that's not what this psalm means. That's not what this word means. There may be plenty of things that you want, but if you don't have them, it's because you don't need them. God knows what you need. He's provided. what you need. And while we have things that we desire and it's fine to want things, we must have, we're thinking about God accurately and we're thinking about Him as a good and faithful shepherd. We must have this reality in our minds and in our hearts right alongside those things that we want. That in God's good time, we will either receive them or it wouldn't be good for us to have them. One of those two realities. Now, let's think about God's good and faithful shepherding of us and how He lays this out for us in Scripture. First, I want us to just think about, I want to remind you of the fact that whenever we think about God as being our good and faithful shepherd, we know based on John 10. We were here, I don't know, maybe a year ago. That Jesus Christ really is the fulfillment of this Psalm 23, Good Shepherd. Jesus says of Himself in John 10, verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. See, as we give thanks for God, the One who has cared for us, the One who has shepherded us, the One who has made sure that we do not lack anything that we need, we have to first and foremost recognize that all of that care and all of that shepherding has come to us through Christ. You have received nothing. outside of the merits of Jesus Christ from the hand of God. So not only is Christ the Good Shepherd, the one who laid down His life for the sheep, but it's through the work of the Good Shepherd. It's through the mediator, the mediatorial role of the Good Shepherd that you receive any blessings from God at all. I mean this in an exclusive sense. The reality is those who come to God through any other way aside from the person and work of Jesus Christ, cannot claim the promises of Psalm 23. They're not for them. Because these promises come to us through Christ. He's the one, as we mentioned this morning, who's laid down His life for us, who's secured our forgiveness. He's the one. If we think about verse 14 of John 10, I am the good shepherd and know My sheep, and I am known of Mine. Not only has He laid down His life for us, but Scripture tells us that He knows us. He knows us in the most intimate way. A shepherd that is providing, not just in some sort of an assembly line, everybody gets the same. God's not that way. He knows us. He knows what we need. He knows when we need it. He knows our makeup. He knows the different things that bring comfort to different people. He knows the different ways that He can bring strength and that He can bring courage and so forth and so on to every single one of His children. It's as it were a one-on-one dispensing of the blessings that His people need as they need them. Isn't that a wonderful thought? That God's not just indiscriminately raining down blessings, hoping that the right one falls on the right person. It's not a one-size-fits-all with God. If you're His sheep, He knows you by name. And He cares for you according to your need. Not only that, but as we think about the Good Shepherd who has provided for us, not only does He know us, but He has made Himself known to us. I want you to think about what a blessing it has been in your life to know God. For God to be part of the equation in whatever season of life that you were in, Maybe it was a very busy season of life where you needed help and you needed strength and you needed endurance. Maybe it was a very difficult season of life, full of trials that seemed like they would never end. Maybe it was a new season of life, an exciting season of life. Whatever the season is, I want you to think about how dark your life would be if you didn't know the Lord. If you didn't know anything about God, if you had no idea that it was the Lord who was the one behind the joys of life, that it was the Lord who was the one who would carry you through the trials even in difficult times, that it was the Lord who would give you the wisdom when you needed it, as you needed it. Brothers and sisters, the greatest blessing that we have ever received and that we will ever receive is the fact that we have come to know God through the person of Jesus Christ. Everything else is downhill from there. You remember Jesus tells the disciples when they get excited about the abilities that they had been given when they went out to minister, and He said, don't thank God for that. Thank God for this, that your names are written in heaven. this chiefest of all blessings that God knows us and He has made us to know Him. Now, we think about, again, this good and faithful shepherd, the one who has made Himself known to us. Not only has He made Himself known to us, but He's also made His ways known to us. And so one of the things that we know is that our good and faithful shepherd supplies our need through His providential work in our lives. Now, when we're talking about God's providence, we just simply mean God's sovereignty. God using His sovereignty for the good and the care of His people. So God's sovereignty, it just means that He is, He does what He wants to do. He's all powerful. He's all wise. He's all knowing. And God uses this power, uses this sovereignty in order to care for the needs of His people or in order to orchestrate all things together for our good. So think about a reality like this. Psalm 31. Psalm 31. Verse 15. Psalm 31 verse 15, David says this, My times are in thy hand. Deliver me. from the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me." David starts out here with just a principle or just a reality. That is, my times are in His hands. Think about that. If you've come to know the Lord, you can claim the same thing. Your times are in His hand. What does that mean? Well, it means a whole lot more than just we all have an expiration date. We're all going to die one day. You know that. I know that. If Christ doesn't come back first, we're all going to die. This means a whole lot more than God knows the day you're going to die. It's your times, plural. It's saying that every season of your life is in the hands of God. There's not a time that you spend here on earth that you're not in God's hands. That's meaning both in the security of it, in the providential leading of it. There are times in your life, seasons in your life where the Lord has opened doors that you had no idea were even there. There are other times in your life where the Lord has closed doors that you thought you were going to be walking through. In all of the days and all of the years of your life, your times are in His hands. He's guiding you. Not only is He guiding you, but through your times being in His hands, He's molding you. Think about all the providential things that have come into your life that have changed you. The reality is experiences in life do change us. They're supposed to change us. Sometimes they change people for the worse. Sometimes they change people for the better. Sometimes we respond to circumstances and we grow bitter and we grow cynical. But if we understand that our times are in God's hands, then we understand that God has a good purpose for every difficult season that we ever go through. And that God's goal in all of those things is to conform us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And so God knows just exactly the ingredients that you need and that I need in order for that purpose to be accomplished. You know, not everybody goes through the same things in life. And that's because God has a different road, and I'm talking about road of sanctification here, for every single one of His people to get to the place that He wants them to be. And that is Christlikeness. So that some of us need to grow in being merciful. And so God will put us in circumstances where we need mercy. Some of us need to grow in compassion. Some of us need to grow in being more gracious. Some of us need to grow in endurance. And we could go on and on and on and on. Some of us, I say some of us, I guess we all need to grow in those areas to some extent. But God matches the trial for the character need every time. We all need to grow in trusting God. And you know, you would never feel the urgency of trusting the Lord if you didn't have those seasons in life where the rug didn't seem like it was pulled out from under you. Where you knew that the only one who could save you, the only one who could care for you, the only one who could deliver you was God, your faithful shepherd. And brothers and sisters, your times are in His hands. He knows what you need. He closes doors, He opens doors, and He uses circumstances to shape you into the person that He wants you to be. Your times are in the hands of a faithful shepherd. Not only are your times in His hands as we think about God and His faithfulness and His goodness to us, but 1 Peter 5-7 tells us we are to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us." This is a very basic reality, but it's one that really can slip our notice if we're not careful. It can become all too familiar, and so it just becomes meaningless. When's the last time you stopped to consider the God of heaven and earth cares about you? The word there just means He's interested and takes concern over you personally. Isn't it something that God knows your name? God knows your address? God knows the things that you're struggling with both outwardly and inwardly? I mean, He knows the thoughts of your heart. And He cares. He takes interest. In Psalm 8 v. 4, we have a similar expression. Psalm 8 v. 4, David asked, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? What is man that you're mindful of him? Now, the word mindful here in the Hebrew is close to the Greek word for care. It just means to attentively think about, to attentively think about, to be concerned over. Think about someone you've been attentive to, someone that you attentively think about. This is a very common way for us to act toward our children, particularly whenever they're small, but it can be any season of life. To be attentive to them. Think about a newborn. Your ears pick up the slightest sounds, particularly the mother. Your ears pick up the slightest sounds. Your schedule is rearranged, really, around theirs to make sure that they're getting what they need as they need it. They have your full attention. And if you're not right in front of them, you're attentively thinking about what's next. What do they need? How can I care for them? Well, Christ said, if we being evil Now, I'm paraphrasing and applying this, but if we know how to give good gifts or if we know how to be attentively concerned about our children, how much more does God know how to be over us? He's mindful. The second word is that He visits. He visits. That just means He cares for. He's actively caring for us in our needs. Psalm 34.15 would say it this way. Psalm 34.15, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. Again, we're thinking about this attentiveness, this concern, this interest, this care. Our shepherd's eyes and ears are on us all the time. His ears are open to our cry. It doesn't just mean that God hears what we have to say. It means He's attentive to what we have to say. It doesn't just mean that He sees us. God sees everybody. He sees everything. He hears everything. This is a very special kind of hearing and seeing that's reserved for God's people that's being spoken about in Psalm 34, and that is God sees and He hears with the intention to respond for our good as He cares for us. You can see that if you would read Psalm 34 as a whole. as the psalmist here, as David talks about God delivering him out of all of his trials, all of his fears. So he's attentive, he cares, he's concerned. As it relates to the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want or I shall not lack. God is a provider for His people. Look in Deuteronomy 2. Deuteronomy 2. Now in Deuteronomy 2 verse 7, Moses is rehearsing the way that the Lord had blessed the people up until this point. And in Deuteronomy 2.7, he says, "'For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee "'in all the works of thy hand. "'He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness. "'These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee. "'Thou hast lacked nothing.'" Now, this is a great passage to frame what Psalm 23 is really talking about. Think about how these people might have understood this. They lack nothing as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. That doesn't really seem like it goes together, does it? I mean, these people wandered 40 years wanting to get out of the wilderness. recognizing that they were there because of their own foolish decisions, and they were waiting for the Lord to lead them into the Promised Land, and yet the Lord says, as you've wandered and as you've walked through this wilderness, I've known you these 40 years, I've been with you these 40 years, and you have lacked nothing these 40 years because of those two realities. Can you look back over your life and see how that God has blessed you and provided for you in ways that you just can't really explain? Both materially, both spiritually, physically, emotionally, just ways that you just can't understand. Think about the early days of mine and Abby's marriage, and we were working and making very little money. I don't even remember it being that hard. I wouldn't want to live off what we were living off of then now, but as I look back, we lived fine. The Lord blessed us. We lacked nothing. You think about different difficulties and trials, and you think about different seasons that you wished would end and that you were trying to go through. When you're in the moment, it just seems at times helpless and hopeless and so urgent, and you look back and you can see the invisible hand of God. It doesn't make you want to go through it again, but it does make you thankful. but God gave me what I needed as I needed it, and in miraculous ways. In Matthew 6, Verse 26, Jesus says, Jesus points to the fowl of the air just to, again, teach, emphasize, give a picture of God providentially caring, feeding, in this instance, feeding the fowl of the air. Are you not much better? He says. God has been through his providence providing for his creation from the very beginning. And if you've come to know him and he's revealed himself to you, you aren't just part of the creation. You're his prized possession. So as we think about this in relation to the good shepherd, we have a shepherd who has provided, we have a shepherd who is providing, and we have a shepherd who will provide everything we need all the days of our life. Now, the nature of the relationship between a shepherd and a sheep is not that the sheep have to keep up with the shepherd. It's the shepherd's job to keep up with the sheep. Aren't you thankful for that? There are times where we think we might not make it. There are times where we don't know what to do. We're confused. We're trying to discern God's will. We're trying to discern what God would have us to do. And there is a place for wisdom as we go through different seasons of life. But aren't you thankful that despite your wisdom or lack of wisdom, that God is keeping up with you? God is caring for you. God is providing for you. and He's not waiting on you to keep up with Him. We have a good shepherd. Think about all the ways in your life that God has faithfully cared for you through the years. All the good gifts. Think about this. Think about all the good gifts that you've received from God's hand, some of which you never thought were ever possible. Isn't it amazing how God can just change our circumstances just like that? thinking about bringing people into our lives, bringing blessings into our lives. All of these things come from the hand of a good shepherd. So, giving thanks to our good shepherd. Secondly, out of Psalm 23, verses 2 and 3, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Now really, the theme through these two verses is just the fact that God as your shepherd is leading. He's leading. And so giving thanks for God's providential leadership, we've already mentioned it, but we'll mention it again, God knows how and is actively opening and closing the right doors at the right time to get you in the right place. Aren't you thankful for that? Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, verse 9, A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. God's invisible hand is actively leading and directing our steps. Many times, despite our intentions, our plans, what we have set out for ourselves, In Proverbs 19, verse 21, we get a very similar expression. There are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Now, this is a helpful reality for us to remember whenever things are not turning out the way we were wanting them to, the way that we were hoping that they would. This little phrase, there are many devices, it just means there are many intentions, many plans, many thoughts in a man's heart. But the counsel of the Lord is what ultimately stands. You know what this is like. You have plans, you have intentions, you have things that you're going to do, things that you want to do. You have thoughts about how something ought to be taken care of or something ought to be responded to. and then all of a sudden these things just don't work out. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into a meeting with planned thoughts about how it was going to go, and then at the last minute, the Lord blessed me to know this is not the way you need to take this. And it went far better than it would have otherwise. You know this experience as well. If we were to go around and take a survey, and the question is, How many people actually ended up where you thought you were going to end up? Now, I'm talking about people who are, let's just say, 30 and older. How many people ended up where you thought you were going to end up the day you graduated high school? Probably nobody. You're probably not doing what you thought you were going to do. You're probably not married who you thought you wanted to marry at the time. Maybe you are, but probably not. your family is probably not what you pictured at that time. As a matter of fact, you probably don't, maybe some of you do, but some of you don't even live where you thought you were going to live. The Lord led you. He directed you and has you where He wants you. Aren't you thankful for that? I mean, I am. You know, when I graduated high school, I didn't even know Ripley, Mississippi was a dot on the map. I had no idea. I didn't know anything about Ripley, Mississippi. And through God's providential dealings, 23 years ago, He dropped me right here. I praise God for it. I could have never ended up at a place I didn't even know existed. And there's all kinds of stories like that with places and people and so forth and so on. Proverbs 20. Verse 24, man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand his own way? Man's goings are of the Lord. God's invisible hand is on you and on me. And He is leading. You need a little fodder for giving thanks to God? Think about all the ways God's providential hand has led you in your life. Now, you may think back and say, you know, there's a lot of things I wish he would have done differently. A lot of hard things. A lot of things that maybe I'm in right now. But I want you to think about all the good things that God has given you. That you didn't expect. and that came out of places that you didn't even know about. Think about the people that you consider to be essential in your life right now. You had no idea who they were before God providentially crossed your paths. Think about the plans, the intentions that you had that never came to fruition, that you look back now and thank God for. I know that on some level, at some point in your life, you thought there was something that you had to have or had to do. And God said no. And you look back now and say, thank God I did not go down that road. Thank God I did not get what I was wanting. And that's all due to his providential leadership. So giving thanks. to God's providential, or for God's providential leadership in our lives. Number three, again out of Psalm 23. Verses four and five. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over." Third thing from Psalm 23, giving thanks for God's presence in our scariest and most difficult trials. Giving thanks for God's presence. in our scariest and most difficult trials. Two pictures here that are laid out. Number one, the valley walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The second picture is a picture of being surrounded by your enemies. to difficult, difficult circumstances as we think about these figurative expressions. Notice in verse 4, "...Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Now, the part to zero in on is this. The psalmist is walking through. He's walking through the trials. There are going to be times in life where we do walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There are going to be times in life where we are surrounded by our enemies. But brothers and sisters, God doesn't just drop us off in the middle of those things. God walks us all the way through. We're not stagnant. He's leading us through these trials. There's perpetual movement. Every trial that we experience has an end, and that's because God is leading us through that. We can have confidence that in the worst of times, God has not just dropped us off. As Brother Davis has said often, He's not asleep in the back of the boat. He's with us, and He's leading us through those things. Now, look in Psalm 34, because David here is going to pick up on some of this. Psalm 34. In verse 19, David says this, "'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.'" Many are the afflictions of the righteous. God's people go through all kinds of different afflictions. God's people go through all kinds of different pains and difficulties and scary, scary circumstances and difficulties. and yet the Lord delivers them out of every single one. If you back up in the same psalm and look at verse 6, David said this, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. Part of the comfort of God's presence in the midst of difficulties and in the midst of trials is the reminder that we're going through these things. That the Lord will not drop us off. He will lead us through. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He says, "...thou art with Me. I will fear no evil, for thou art with Me." Your shepherd will never leave you. Even when you can't see Him, He's caring for you. Look in Isaiah 41. We could go to all kinds of promises in Scripture, these I am with you promises. Isaiah 41 v. 10, Isaiah 41 v. 10, "'Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. God begins here by just saying, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And we might ask, on what basis? What is there to keep me from being afraid? Now here, He's talking to His people who are going to undergo His judgment, His chastisement. What's the basis? For or because I am with you. Now one of the things that's helpful as we think about this in a personalized way, is to put all these things in the present tense. This is not just something that God promised for them back then. This is something that God's doing for His people right now. So fear not. I am with you. Be not dismayed. It just means don't look around anxiously. Don't look around. Don't be on the prowl looking for something to be anxious about. Don't do that. Why? Because I'm your God. Now, if we put this in the present tense, we would say it this way. I am strengthening you. I am helping you. I am upholding you with my right hand. That's the right hand there. The imagery is of His powerful hand. of my righteousness, it just simply, this little phrase is, I'm upholding you with my powerful hand that always does what's right. You don't have to be afraid. I'm with you. And if I'm with you, that means you have my help, you have my strength, and I'm upholding you. Or Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. Verse 9, "...in all their affliction." He was afflicted. "...And the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His pity, He redeemed them, and He bared them and carried them all the days of old." In all their affliction, He was afflicted. You know what that means? You never go through an affliction on your own. God is with you in every single affliction. Not only is God with you, but God is intricately involved in that affliction. Not only in the outward circumstances, but we think about the way it's talked about in Hebrews chapter 4 about Jesus Christ, our great high priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. When you're afflicted in some way, God is afflicted right along with you. He's that involved with you in the trial. He's that close to you in the trial. He's with you. He's with you. Think about all the ways that God has assured you and provided strength, comfort, wisdom, and endurance even peace in trials through the power of His presence. If you've been living life very long and you've known the Lord very long, I know this resonates with you. Those times where we just have peace that is beyond understanding, strength that we can't explain, comfort that doesn't make sense, because of God's faithfulness to being present with us in our most difficult times. And then lastly, back in Psalm 23, verse number 6, Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Iving thinks that God's pursuit of us never slows down. God's pursuit of us never slows down. That is, He is never after us more at one time than He is any other time. Now, we could think about this as far as God providentially pursuing us. We could think about this as far as the intensity of God's love for us. We could think about this as far as the intensity of His faithfulness or His provisions or so forth and so on. You know, the reality is you are never receiving more from God at any one time than you are any other. Now, His provisions do suit your needs and your circumstances and so forth and so on, but the point here is God doesn't slow down as it relates to pursuing and helping His people. Now, David starts out with a key word here in verse 6. Surely, goodness and mercy. Surely. That's an expression of certainty. David says, if I don't know anything else, I know this. that God's goodness and mercy is going to be pursuing me. Surely, this is the case. Goodness is just God's favor, God's kindness. Mercy just is an expression of His faithful help, His compassion, His covenant love. We talked about this. I guess it was last week, but as it relates to mercy, we can't demand that God be merciful to us. But we can expect it. Before he is, David expects it. Surely, he says, God's mercy. Is going to be pursuing me. Is going to be chasing me. David uses the word, or at least it's translated in the King James, surely goodness and mercy will follow. It just means to follow after, to pursue. Same word is translated persecute in other places, or to hunt. And if you've been here for a little bit, you already know how I like to translate this. surely His goodness and mercy will violently hunt me down all the days of my life." God's goodness and mercy is hot on your trail. You can't outrun it. You can't exhaust it. You can't get away from it. It is absolutely certain that God's kindness and that God's steadfast covenant love is going to be pursuing you all the days of your life. Now, we could do a lot with this, but one of the more helpful applications is thinking about this reality in light of all the what-ifs. What if the worst case scenario happens? Well, there's more to it than this, but one thing that you know for certain is that in the worst case scenario, God's goodness and mercy is going to be violently hunting you down. His kindness to you, His help to you, His covenant love for you. In all the what-ifs, Romans 8, 35-39 speaks this reality. Romans 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? I mean, this really is the question. This really is the substance of verse 6 of Psalm 23. God's goodness and mercy, His love that's pursuing us. The question is, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now this is just an expanded version of God's goodness and mercy pursuing you all the days of your life. Nothing can get in the way of God's love finding God's people. That is His covenant loyalty, His help, His strength, His comfort, His provisions. When we think about it from Psalm 23 6, we're giving thanks that God's pursuit of us never slows down. So, just in a recap, thanksgiving in Psalm 23, giving thanks for our God who is our good and faithful shepherd, giving thanks for God's providential leadership, giving thanks for God's presence in our scariest and most difficult trials, and then giving thanks that God's pursuit of us never slows down. Brothers and sisters, these realities have nothing to do with your circumstances. These realities can be given thanks, or you can give thanks for these realities in everything, because they don't change, because God doesn't change. May these stir our hearts to give thanks to God. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful that You are our Good Shepherd. Father, You have been caring for us every day of our life. You've been leading us. Lord, Your presence has been with us. And You've given us assurance through Your Word that we can expect good things from Your hand. And so, Father, I pray that as we think about these things, that our hearts would be stirred to give thanks as we meditate on how these general principles have been true in our own life in very specific ways. Lord, would You stir our hearts this morning and this afternoon to reflect on Your goodness and then in turn give thanks. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.