If you're joining us through the live stream, we wanna welcome you to our service. And basically all that you missed was our prayer time. And we did spend a significant time in prayer today. This is a time where we need to get on our knees, a time where we need to really go to the Lord and petition him, not only for our own health and strength, but those around us. And so we spent a good bit of time this morning going to the Lord in prayer. And we're going to look at a very, very important text in front of us. Before we look at this passage, I want to mention two items that I did not mention during our opening. First of all, your hymn books, if you could, leave those in the pew. We're going to actually clean those after the service. So if you used a hymn book, make sure that you set that there. That way we know which books were used. We'll get those cleaned. Also, we're not taking up an offering during our normal offering time, but there'll be two plates in the back, and if you wanted to participate in the offering, those plates are there. So please do make sure, if you're planning to do that, to make sure that you leave that there. But we won't have a time where we pass out our offering. and we're asking that you put your handbooks to the side so we can make sure those are cleaned. Psalm 91, I'm gonna go ahead and read the psalm in its entirety. I know we've already read it in two parts, but I think it's such an important passage that we'll read it again, and we're actually gonna look at this entire psalm today. Half of it will be in the morning worship, and then half of it will be in the evening service. And I think as we work through this psalm, it'll be very, very practical and very, very encouraging. Psalm 91, verse one says this. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. "'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, "'even the most high thy habitation, "'there shall no evil befall thee, "'neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. "'For he shall give his angels charge over thee "'to keep thee in all thy ways. "'They shall bear thee up in their arms, "'lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. "'Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder. "'The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath said his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to really help us to understand this passage as fully as possible and to the intent that we need it to minister to our souls today. Let's pray. Father, help us this morning to walk out of this service having been fed from the Scriptures, having been taught, having been focused, so that when we walk out, our minds are glorying in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're glorying in our God who is fully in control of every detail of the uncertainties that we face. Father, I pray for those who have strength and confidence at this moment that they would recognize the only true source of their confidence where it should lie. I pray for those who are very discouraged, very fearful, very uncertain. I pray that you would help them to be ministered to through the word of God. May each of the things that are said today minister to their soul in a very special way. Father, help me as I communicate this text to do it with simplicity, with clarity, and in a very practical manner. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. As we open up this text, we should ask the question, what's the big picture? What is the point that the psalmist is trying to communicate? And this is what I believe the purpose of the psalm is. He wants to remind God's people, since God is the only source of true safety, they must cultivate a daily pattern of trust in God's care and encourage others from this source of strength that they have in the face of terrifying uncertainties. In other words, this psalm really has several different levels of application. On one level, it's to remind the Christian to be confident in the Lord. On another, it's to remind the Christian that if they're confident in the Lord, there are other people that are not. Some of them are believers, they're genuinely saved, they love the Lord, but at the moment, they're dealing with tremendous uncertainty, doubt, and fear. And there's an application for how to address those kind of individuals. There are also people that don't know the Lord. They have rejected His authority, they've rejected His offer of salvation, they don't rest in His sovereignty. In their minds, they're not even fully convinced of that. And there's an application for a person in that scenario. But what we're gonna see in this passage is that God wants us ultimately to daily trust in his providential care. I wanna ask this question. Do you believe right now God is in complete control? Do you believe right now that God is in complete control? If the answer is no, there's absolutely no reason for you to have any confidence at all. It's the truth. If God is not in the dynamic, if God's ability to control the circumstances, to protect his people, to manage what happens during these troubling times, if God's not in the picture, if he's not sovereign in your thinking, you're in deep trouble. Now you may not literally be in deep trouble, but in your thinking you're in deep trouble. And the psalmist wants us to understand that no matter how we feel, God is constant. God is in control of circumstances. And even when we struggle and even when we doubt, He's still there and He's still working and He's still managing. God wants us to daily trust. in his providential care. And so the question is, how can we do that in the light of the passage that's before us this morning? Well, what I want to do is I want to begin by talking a little bit about the introduction of the Psalm. You might think that that's not all that significant, but actually it is when you think about the details. The truth is, when we read the 91st Psalm, there's no indication of who it is that God used to pen these words. If it was there, it would help us to know a little bit about the circumstances that surrounded the motivation behind why this individual wrote these words. There are two people that most believe are likely the writer. One would have been David, and one of the reasons for that is because David pens so many of the Psalms. Another would have been Moses, and one of the reasons for that is because the Psalm immediately before it, the 90th Psalm, was written by Moses. It was a prayer of Moses, the man of God. In fact, if you're gonna ask my opinion, probably I'd lean toward Moses. But here's what we see. We see that both individuals, David and Moses, face some of the very circumstances that are mentioned in this passage. We know that Moses knew what it was like to be assaulted in the wilderness by the Egyptian army as they were bearing down and the nation of Israel was pressed against the Red Sea. People were in terror because the Egyptians were coming. We know what the nation of Israel experienced when they're wandering in the wilderness and the Amalekites came and they began to attack the oldest people in the nation, the youngest people in the nation, those who are the most vulnerable. We know that Moses faced that kind of an adversary. We also know in Numbers chapter 16 that Moses knew what it was like for a terrible plague to come into the nation. In fact, we know that in a very short time, over almost 15,000 people were killed in a terrible plague. And I'm going to refer to that in just a moment. We know on the other side that David knew what it was like to be attacked by the Philistines. David knew what it was like to be attacked by his father-in-law, believe it or not, and the armies that he commanded. David knew what it was like to be a warrior and to be in the thick of the battle. And many of the details we find in the 91st Psalm would fall into that category. We also know that David knew what it was like to be leading the nation when a terrible plague breaks out in that land. In fact, we see in 1 Corinthians 21 that over 70,000 men died in a terrible plague near the end of David's reign. In fact, what's really sad about that scenario is that David was part of the cause for why that plague came. Interestingly, in both places, these people were in a very desperate situation. The reason there was a plague in those contexts was ultimately because of people's rebellion against God. But in both cases, God intervenes in mercy, he stops the plague, people stop dying, it stops spreading, and it was all the result of God's people coming in at the right time and interceding on the behalf of the nation. In fact, it's interesting, this morning, today was declared as a national day of prayer. Many of you are aware of that, some may not be, but many churches are taking time, either collectively as a body, or via a live stream, or maybe in small groups, taking time to pray. And the reality is, in those two situations, when God stopped the plague, it was a direct result of man's prayer. But I want to invite you to look at Numbers 16, because I believe this is really the backdrop of what we find in Psalm 91. In Numbers chapter 16, it says this. Moses said unto Aaron, in the midst of this terrible plague, This is not a time when medical science was at the level it is today. Nobody was wearing face masks. Nobody was wearing surgical gloves. People were dying quickly in great numbers as a huge group of people are moving through the wilderness. And Moses tells his brother, take a censer, put fire thereon from off the altar, put on the incense and go quickly into the congregation. Now we've been asked as a nation to keep distance from people so that we don't spread infection. That's actually pretty good sense right there. Moses tells his brother, go into the middle of the congregation and do something that's very significant. Would have taken a little confidence if one of you got asked to do that, right? Confidence in the Lord. It says that he did it. And it says he ran quickly into the congregation to make an atonement for them and quickly the wrath of God was gone. I'm sorry, he says, for the wrath is gone out from the Lord and the plague has begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, ran into the midst of the congregation and behold the plague was begun. And he put on incense and made an atonement for the people and stood between the dead and the living and the plague was stayed. And so in this situation, we have a man who is healthy, going into the midst of those who are not, and he stands before God and pleads on the behalf of those people. As we move into the details of Psalm 91, I hope that you'll keep that picture in your mind, because I think that that's a very appropriate backdrop for some of what we'll see. Let's move to the second part of what we're looking at today, and that's this. We need to break down the psalm into its basic thought progressions. And there are actually five very simple divisions that we find in this psalm. When I talk about divisions, basically we'll say this. First of all, the psalmist speaks. And then from the psalmist speaking about something, then he goes and he refers to somebody else. And basically what we see is, it's as if we're watching a dialogue. God talks in part of the dialogue, the psalmist talks to God, the psalmist talks to his friend, the psalmist talks to himself, the psalmist talks to you. And it's very important that we kind of understand that progression of thought as we look at this psalm. If we don't understand that progression of thought, we do miss some very important details, and I think some very practical applications. So let's begin in the first division. The first division really is just one verse, and here's what it says. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Who is talking? It's the psalmist. Who is he talking to? Well, he's talking to himself. He's talking to a friend. He's talking to you. He's simply making a statement. He's declaring a wonderful promise from God that is true then, it's true now, it's true for all times. And really there's several different parts or aspects of this statement. The first part is this, there's a condition that he declares. He says this, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall. There's a very important thing for us to consider here. The statement is probably a reference to one of two possible things. Either one, he's talking about an intimate communion with God, and so when he says he's dwelling in the secret place, he's basically saying this is a person who spends time, quality time, consistent time, they live in the presence of God. They commune with God, they learn of God, they're in fellowship with God. That could be potentially what he's saying. Another aspect or possibility is that he's saying in addition to the fact that he communes with God, he flees to God for refuge. And I think that's really the sense. It's not just that he communes with God, but this communion with God presses him into a position where he rests in God's care. And he does it consistently. He does it over and over and over again. It's a habitual practice. It's a way of life. In other words, it's not just that at these critical moments, like right now when everybody's in panic, now I'm gonna go to God. In other words, it's his way of living all the time. In fact, he's always feeling this sense of need to be in God's presence. In fact, let me give you some essential facts that are true about a person whose heart is in this place. One is this, that's the person who personally knows the Lord. You know, if you're not a child of God, if you've never placed your faith in the finished work of Christ, where you've come face-to-face with the fact that you're a sinner, your sin has earned the debt of eternal destruction, and God sent his son to die on the cross for your sins, and he paid in full your sin debt, and by placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for your sins, who rose from the dead, by depending alone on his finished work, you have salvation. If you've not come face-to-face with that reality, there's absolutely no way. that this passage applies to you. You cannot take it and say, well, I can take this and I can live in the light of it if you don't at least meet that very basic condition. There's really more to it, though, than simply being a Christian, knowing the Lord personally. There needs to be a continual sense of vulnerability and dependence on God. You know, one of the biggest things that we see about a time like we're in, you know, I went on vacation a couple weeks ago. And when I went on vacation, all the talk on the market channels was that this stock market just seems to keep going and going and going and going. And everything's good and growth is expanding and there's no chance that we could ever have a recession anytime soon. When I came back from vacation, it was a really different scenario. We're in a bull market. When are we gonna climb out of this? People are panicked. Some of the most volatile days in the history of our financial markets happened in the last two weeks. I don't mean on just one day, I mean like every single day. You know what that tells me? People went from feeling confident, Feeling good to absolutely terrified. It's true. There are people that cannot sleep at night right now because of what's happening to their money. There are people that cannot sleep right now because they're afraid to go to the grocery store. They think they're gonna get sick and they're gonna die. There are people who believe if they were to contract this illness, there's gonna be so much pressure on the hospitals. that they would not be able to get the care that they need. And let me tell you something. I have no idea what's going to happen. I really don't. I am not here to predict good or bad. I'm simply here to say this. If all you have is you, then that totally makes sense. If it's just you, that totally makes sense. Because you have no control over the will of the people. You have no control about who you're gonna come in contact with. You could sit in your house and you could stay there for the next month and still get sick. It can happen. We feel a sense of vulnerability at this time like many of us have never felt in our lifetimes. Our country has been so insulated from these kinds of pandemic issues. 1918 was the last time in this area people were told, don't meet for church services because of the wellbeing of our society and their health. 1918, there are very few people living in this country who were even born at that time. There may be none that even remember it because of how young they were. My point is this. It makes sense to be fearful at a time like this. To be feeling a sense of vulnerability and dependence. But folks, we need to always feel that way. When times are good and times are bad, we need to recognize we haven't become all of a sudden immune to sickness. We haven't already all of a sudden become immune to financial disasters. We haven't come to a place where we can control governments and who comes to, we can't do those things. We are vulnerable people. But the one who dwells in the secret place is one who continually senses his vulnerability. He continually senses his need to depend on the Lord. Thirdly, he must see that communion with God and trust in his providential care is their greatest need and continual hope. It is possible to prosper and still feel vulnerability. It is. It's possible. It doesn't happen often. It's not common. It's possible. In fact, it's healthy, it's right. We should always feel that trust in God and the need to commune with him, it's our greatest and most important place to be in life, no matter what's going on. We then come to a second part of the statement, and that's the promise. He says that this person who knows the Lord, has this continual sense of vulnerability and dependence on God, and walks in communion with God and trusts in his care, this person has a promise that they can fix their confidence in 100%. And here's the promise. This person shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. This is a very interesting statement. In fact, we read in our Bibles, we go, what in the world does he mean abide under the shadow of the Almighty? And in my studies, what I believe it's saying is that it's a reference to the fact that there's a person that has chosen to put themselves under the loving care of God. In other words, they're under his covenantal care. And I'll give you an example of this. If you go with me in your Bible to Romans, excuse me, Ruth chapter two, you're gonna see a statement made about Ruth to Ruth by Boaz when she came from Moab, left her homeland, left her gods and left her family and she went with her widowed mother-in-law back to the land of Israel. In fact, as she came back, I guarantee you, that small community of Bethlehem, everybody knew who Ruth was. They're all talking about Ruth. They didn't need Facebook. They didn't need social media to be able to talk about Ruth. In a small community, the word spread. You know what people said? You remember Naomi who went to Moab? She went with her husband. She went with her two boys. She's back. Her husband's dead. Her boys are dead. But you know what? She brought somebody with her. Ruth. People said, Ruth, what's this all about? She left her family in Moab? Yes. She left her gods? Yeah, she did. Doesn't she know that her mother-in-law is a widow? There's no hope for this woman. She has nothing. What's she gonna do? But you know what she did? She went out into the fields and she gleaned. And she distinguished herself as a person of tremendous character and integrity. People recognize that. And when Boaz speaks of Ruth, this is what he says in Ruth chapter two, verse 11. Boaz answered and said unto her, it hath fully been showed me all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband. How that thou hast left thy father, thy mother, And the land of thy nativity and art common to the people which thou knewest not hithertofore. The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel. And notice the next phrase, because it's really important. He says, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Do you know what that statement was indicating? Boaz believed that Ruth came to that land primarily, not just out of a love for her mother-in-law, most certainly not for opportunity, but because she believed in Israel's God. She believed that he was the one true God. She wanted to enter into that covenant community. She wanted to enter and be a part of a group of people that worshiped and served the one true God that were rightly related to him, that experienced his protection and his blessings and all of those things. And like a mother hen takes care of her chicks when they are so vulnerable, that's what God does for those people. And Boaz is expressing that that is what you have done, Ruth. I think that's what the statement is all about, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. It's interesting, later on in Psalm 91, he refers to the same statement, but he states it a little differently that gives us the picture even more. In Psalm 17, verses five to eight, he says, hold up my goings in thy paths, my footsteps slip not. I've called upon thee for thou will hear me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech. Show thy marvelous loving kindness. Thou that savest by the right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. And listen to the next statement, he says, keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. It's a reference to the exact same thing. In other words, what the text is telling us is that the person who recognizes their dependence on God and they walk in communion with him, he protects them and they are under the cover of his wings. That's an amazing, amazing thought. In other words, God's very personal in the lives of his people. In the midst of the most terrible circumstances, God looks at his people with compassion and in mercy and in love. In other words, he doesn't push us out, he pulls us in, where he cares for us and protects us. We then move to a second division in this psalm, and the second division is this, the psalmist is resolved to continue to live in the light of the promise he's just proclaimed. Look down at verse two, he says this, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in him will I trust. In other words, this psalm, the psalmist is not only saying, over the course of my lifetime, I've begun to develop this capacity to depend on the Lord, and I walk in communion with Him, and I trust Him, and He cares for me. He says, because of what I've experienced, I'm gonna continue to do that. And so what does he do? He publicly expresses his confidence in the Lord. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and fortress. There are a lot of people at a time like this in a culture that's become so much more secular than it was 40, 50 years ago, do not want to publicly say, oh, I'm trusting God to keep me safe. They don't wanna make that statement. It was interesting, I was on the radio with Tori yesterday, and somebody was texting into the conversation that we were having on the radio, and if you could have read what the person said, you'd probably get higher blood pressure, I don't know. They were just running their mouth about lots of different things. particularly related to churches and God and His sovereignty. And the truth is this, there are times that we need to just state, I am trusting God. We do, we need to declare that. That statement is exactly what the psalmist is saying here. He's saying he's my refuge and he's my fortress. A refuge is I'm out in the wilderness and I'm looking for a place to hide from the rain, from the snow, and I go and I find this place that's safe for just a period of time. A fortress is something that's built for safety. And he's saying there are times in my life that God is the one place I can run to in that moment, and there are times that I look at him as my fortress. And he says I declare that publicly. I'm not afraid to state that. Part two, the psalmist is committing to continue to live according to his former confidence. It says, in him will I trust. Folks, just because at the moment you feel confident in your trust in the Lord, doesn't mean that the next time you turn on the news, that doesn't get shaken a little bit. Or the next time you begin to look at your financial situation, it begins to shake a little bit. Or the next time you have a conversation with a friend or with a family member, you get shaken a little bit. Or you hear that one of the people that you know and love has contracted this illness. You might get shaken a little bit. The psalmist says, I have had this pattern of life. I state it publicly and I'm purposed to continue even in the midst of the difficulty. We then see a third division here, and that's this. The psalmist is purposed to be a comfort and an encouragement to those who are troubled. To me, this is one of the most interesting aspects of this entire psalm. Look at verses three to eight. I'm gonna read it, and I'm going to emphasize something as I read it. I want you to notice it. He says, surely he will deliver who? Deliver thee. from the snare of the fowler, from the noisome pestilence. He will cover who? Thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that weighs to the noonday. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and 10,000 at thy right hand. but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Why did I emphasize that thee, thou, you, ye, that kind of stuff? Why did I do that? Because he's actually talking to somebody. Not God, not himself, to a friend. He's talking to a friend because the friend doesn't have the same level of confidence that he himself has. And that's really important. You know, there are times, as Christians, that we get shaken. And you know what we really need at that time? We need an instrument in God's hands, a friend, a pastor, an acquaintance. We need somebody to come alongside of us who isn't facing the same terror and fear, and they give us encouragement. We need that desperately. There are times, under unusual pressures, that God gives a special grace to certain people. It's true. When nations are in tremendous turmoil, there are times that God will give incredible strength to a person, and he has unusual grace, and they're not fearful, they're thinking clearly, and they make the decisions that they need to make. And the reality is, you may be the one that needs the encouragement right now, you might be the one who needs to be the encourager. In this psalm, the psalmist is the encourager. He's not just thinking about his own well-being, he's not just thinking about his own state of mind, he's thinking about the people around him, and that's very important. 1 Thessalonians 5, 14 says this. We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, and listen to the next statement, comfort the feeble-minded. That word feeble-minded means very simply those who are discouraged. There are people listening right now, I'm sure, who could be in that condition, you feel very discouraged. You are afraid. You feel like there's no hope. I don't even know how to cope with all the pressures I'm feeling. I want you to realize something. If you are confident in the Lord, God may bring you across that person's path to be an arm of strength and encouragement, and they need that. In fact, in the church, we need that. We need that in our communities. We need that in our families. If God has given you confidence, then he wants you to use that to help others. In fact, let me give you a couple of observations. One is this, the psalmist turns his attention to encouraging. He says, surely he's going to deliver you. The psalmist spoke about two different kinds of calamities. This is very interesting. He says, he's going to deliver you from the snare of the fowler. which is something that's motivated by premeditated evil. You know, we think about a situation like a war. Think about a situation like terrorism. You don't have an illness, you have people plotting to do bad things. They could get to the place where they decide we're not gonna do that anymore. You might be able to stop them with a military strength. But those things are terrifying. And he says, God will deliver you from those kinds of motivations of evil. The second category mentions is those that are not controlled by human will. Let me tell you, if there's a terrible illness wracking a culture, country, or community, you have no ability to stop it. Are you gonna sign peace with the coronavirus? Doesn't work that way, folks. In other words, it's gonna run its course till God decides it's time to stop it. That's really what it comes down to. And that's a terrifying thing. If you're facing a military might, at least you can stand up and forcefully stop what's going on. When you're dealing with something like this. Powerless. Sometimes the medical community can't even deal with the issue. And so the point is this. He says, I'm encouraging somebody who's facing those two kinds of situations. Terrifying things. A third observation is that the psalmist reminded his friend that in spite of his lack of internal peace, God would still take care of him. Listen to what he says. He shall cover thee with his feathers. You know, whether you're confident or not, God's still gonna do his work. You ever had this experience? You're terrified about what's gonna happen, and it happens, and you look back and you're like, oh, that was different than I thought. I thought about 100 different scenarios, and if I'd have gone to 101, maybe I would've gotten it. God's gonna do his work in spite of how we feel about it. And so he says, he's gonna cover you with his feathers. He's appealing to this person, he's encouraging this person because he believes that he's struggling, but he's telling him, in spite of your struggle, God's gonna do his work. He's in control. We're gonna get through this. It'll be a day we look back and we remember it. How we feel about it right now ultimately might not have a lot to do with what takes place between now and then. God will do what he's gonna do. And a fourth observation is this, when godly people struggle with anxiety about their current situation, being reminded that God's word is their greatest comfort. When you have a friend who is very fearful, you've gotta speak the truth to them. Lovingly, compassionately, a little at a time, when the opportunity is there, but you gotta take them to the word. You gotta take them to what is true. An assumption's not true, folks. An assumption is a possibility. What is in God's word is true. It's fixed. It's stated fact, and that's how it is. He says his truth will be your shield and buckler. He's talking about something that is a defense against those arrows that are being hurled. I'm gonna give you an example as we come to our closing here, and this is the example. What Jesus says in Matthew chapter six, verses 25 and following. I'm gonna read it, and I'm just gonna make some simple statements about the summary of what Jesus is saying. Because there might be somebody here today that this is exactly what you need. His truth is a shield and buckler. Here's his truth. Let it catch those darts that are coming at your soul. and let it stop and trust God. He says, Jesus speaks, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? After all these things that the Gentiles seek, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness. All these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Let me give you just a couple of simple statements, without a lot of explanation, but statements about what that text is saying. One, God commands us not to be consumed with worry. He says don't do it. Now it's easy for us to say, okay, I'll stop. Still there, okay? Our minds are active things. They continually work and they continually consider things. In fact, the more deeply we think, the more we often worry. That's the way it really works. But God says don't worry too. He says if God takes care of the most insignificant creatures that he's made, why wouldn't he take care of you? If God takes care of birds, takes care of flowers, takes care of grass, don't you have more value than that? He says, come on. God takes care of things that have no soul. God takes care of things that are completely incapable of relationship. He's gonna take care of you. Three, you know you're powerless to change anything by worrying, so don't waste your time. Can you make yourself a foot taller? Nope. You can't change certain things, folks. No matter how much your brain processes and plans and schemes and decides what you would or wouldn't do in a situation, you have no ability to control many of those outcomes. None. You can make all the right choices, you can make all the wrong choices, and God still does what he's gonna do. It's true. There's no point in worrying. It doesn't accomplish anything. Four, the way you face difficult times should be different than the way people who don't know God face difficulties. Let your faith shape how you react. The truth is that, as a Christian, I should face this situation different than someone who doesn't know the Lord. I should. It doesn't mean I will. It doesn't mean that I always will, but I should. I have something that gives me confidence and stability. I don't have to be driven back and forth. I can have trust in the Lord. Next, if we will put eternal matters first, God will take care of the temporal matters. Let this be a time, more than anything, As a society, we have slowed down. Maybe we need to slow down. Maybe it's good. Maybe we need to spend more time with our families. Maybe we need to spend a little less time at work. Maybe we need to take a little more time to focus on family, to focus on God, to focus on what's most important. And what does the passage say? If you look at what's important, eternal matters, God takes care of those other things. And lastly, don't try to bear the burden of tomorrow's unknowns. God's grace is daily. Don't try to bear a burden that is a potential tomorrow. All it takes is one little difference of outcome and all of a sudden what you were worried about, it's now something else. And so what does God do? He gives you the grace to deal with today. Carry today's burdens. Take one day at a time. This is what Jesus is saying. This is truth. And I wanna encourage you with that. In conclusion, God wants us to daily trust in his providential care. Let's develop the daily practice of finding our refuge in Him. Let's continue day by day in those good patterns of thinking. Let's be sources of encouragement for those who are discouraged and afraid. And let's be well equipped with the scripture to remind those whom we love of God's good hand of care in our lives. Tonight, God willing, we will continue with the second half of the psalm. And I tell you, this is a psalm that's worth spending a lot of time in. It's a wonderful hymn, a wonderful song. I'm going to put my notes online when this message ends up getting online. So if you were trying to take notes and you didn't get them, I'll put that out there, and I hope that that'll be a help to you. But this study has been very rich, and if I had another couple weeks, it would be probably four or five parts instead of two. Let's bow together for a word of prayer, commit our time to the Lord, and again ask him to work in this very troubling time for many people. Let's pray. Father, I thank you that today we were able to set our attention to heaven and to you. that we are able to remind ourselves of what is true, that you do not change, that you are sovereign and in control, that we can have confidence in you, and there are promises in your word that we can cling to when we are in the position that those promises are given to. Help us to be a group of people who find strength in you, and help us to be instruments that you use to bless others. Father, I pray for those who have joined us today and really should not be here because of health conditions and various other reasons. I pray that today they would have been blessed by this time joined with us. I pray that this time in your word would have been very encouraging and helpful to them. I pray for those who are in our midst here. I thank you for their desire to be gathered together with your people and really to create an environment where we can stream a service so that others can be blessed. Father, we pray that in our community you would provide wisdom to those in leadership. I pray that they'd make good choices, choices that are prudent, choices that will save lives, choices that will keep people out of harm's way. Father, help us as a community to have calm and order. Father, help people to use good sense and not to be terrified by the unknowns. Father, I pray that we would be a group of people that get through this season, not just to survive it, but to actually thrive in it. I pray that during this season of our lives, we would stop and reflect more on you, that we would think deeply about our souls and whether or not we're walking as we are with you, that we'll give more time and attention to healthy relationships, and that we would be reminded again of our frailty, reminded again that you are sovereign, and reminded again that you deeply love your people. Father, I pray that this season of life would be a time where we learn valuable lessons about your goodness. And we ask these things in Christ's name, amen.