Psalm 13, just by way of remembrance and context, as I always like to do. Psalms is 150 individual psalms. They were psalms that were sung and are sung by the Jews. And so it's not like you have one book with 150 chapters, there are 150 individual psalms. And the psalms are divided into five books or five scrolls. And book one that we're in is Psalm 1 through 41. And the theme that we've seen just repeatedly, we're gonna see it again today, for book one is human suffering and the need for divine deliverance. Aren't you glad that he knows what we need? Psalm 13 is another Psalm of lament. That's what we've seen most of so far. But in this short psalm, David asked the Lord four times, how long, O Lord? You ever asked that question before? What he's really saying is, Lord, where are you? You've been gone for a while. It seems like, how long will you let me endure this and feel like I'm doing it by myself? But really, David is asking in a rhetorical way, because he's not necessarily seeking an answer to that question. What he's asking for is the intervention and the presence of God. I love what Gerald Wilson wrote about this. He said, rather than information, these questions seek divine presence and action on the questioner's behalf. Such questions reveal a faith seeking to understand in the midst of a painful experience that shakes the very foundation of believing. You ever been there before? David is in great anguish and he feels abandoned by God. You know, I'm so glad that this is the Word of God. This is another reason we know that it's the Word of God because if man had wrote it and tried to make himself look good, he never would have put things like this in here. And it really helps me as a believer because I look at this and I say, wow, David was a man after God's own heart and he had bad days too. He had some fears, too, and some worries. He was in flat-out anguish sometimes. He even questioned where God was at at times. And I'm thankful that I'm not the only one that struggles from time to time. With that in mind, with that context, let's read the Word of God together, Psalm 13. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest mine enemies say, I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just come to you in Jesus' name. Just so thankful for who you are. Lord, thankful for salvation that comes through Christ alone, his death, burial, and resurrection. God, that if we would repent and believe the gospel, you promised to save us through your goodness and not our own. Lord, I'm thankful for protection and traveling mercies. Thankful for the home-going service for Derek's dad. And Lord, I just pray for that family in the days ahead. Lord, be with Bonnie especially. Lord, as everybody goes home and everything gets quiet, Lord, I pray that you would give her a special grace. Lord, I just pray that you would enter me as sin in self. I'm never adequate to preach your word. Well, Lord, certainly when I'm weary like I am right now, Lord, I pray that you'd be with my mind, give me clarity of thought, Lord, that your word would go forth with power and clarity, Lord. We pray that Christ would be magnified and, Lord, those that don't know him would come to know him in saving faith today. It's in Christ's name I pray these things, amen. I want to preach on the thought this morning of when God seems absent. When God seems absent. Has anybody ever felt that way? You're going through this just heart-wrenching trial, and you feel the pain, and you see and experience the loss, and you pray, and it seems like your prayers don't even go above the ceiling, and it just feels like God is absent. You know, He promised to never leave us nor forsake us, but it doesn't change the reality of the way that we feel. Now listen, we don't operate solely in feelings. I mean, at the end of the day, Christians live by faith. The just shall live by faith. And it cannot be that we're governed only by our feelings because as I often say, feelings can be very strong, but feelings can be very wrong. Our hearts can lie to us. Did you know that? That our hearts are wicked, desperately wicked, Jeremiah said. But that doesn't in any way take away the fact that God made us sensual beings and we do have feelings. And God is concerned about that. In fact, Hebrews chapter 4, when it talked about Christ being our great High Priest, it said that He's concerned with the feeling of our infirmity. He's concerned with the feeling of our weakness. And listen, I know sometimes as Baptists, man, we just, we feel like somehow we just need to shove that down and suppress that and God's not concerned about that. But it's very real and God is concerned about that. Aren't you glad about that? I mean, I'm glad that He knows that I'm dust and He loves me anyway. And so I want you to understand that David was having some strong feelings of abandonment. And he felt like God was absent in this situation. And so if you've ever been there, there's other good Christian people that have been there too. And so the question is, how do we deal with this? What do we do when God seems to be absent from the midst of our suffering? You know, I feel like If things are going good and life is going good, we ought to still pursue the presence of God. But I don't think it bothers us like it does when we just feel like we're going through the darkest valley of our life. That seems to be David here. But what do we do when God seems absent in our suffering? Well, I got a few things this morning and I'll be done. Number one, when it feels like God is absent from us, number one, we need to go to God. Go to God. Look at verse 1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? So in these two verses, He asked the same question four times how long. That's why Spurgeon called this the howling psalm. Because he said how long four times. Well here's the thing, when it feels like the Lord isn't near, go to Him. Come near to Him in prayer because we have that invitation. If you're saved today, If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have direct access to God the Father through our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. This is why we do not need an earthly priest, because He is our Great High Priest. This is why the temple was destroyed and there's never been another one built in its place. It's because Christ is the temple. You remember in John chapter 2 when He said, destroy this temple, and I'll raise it up again in three days talking about the temple of His body. Jesus is the greater Solomon. He rebuilt the temple. He raised up the temple before God, and His throne is an everlasting throne. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Everybody thought that when Nathan made that prophecy, he was talking about Solomon. But Solomon didn't fulfill all those things, but Jesus did. And so we have an invitation. But from a reader's perspective here, when we read Psalm 13, we should really be asking, Did David's suffering bring him closer to God or further away? Think about it. From reading these first two verses, did his suffering drive him to the Lord or away from the Lord? He's going to Him. He is in personal, passionate prayer before God, so his suffering brought him closer to God. One writer said, This psalm does not aim to reason the worshipers out of their anguish. Rather, it gives them the words they need to bring before God in anguish, implying that such intensity pleases Him who knows their hearts anyhow. And so in David's case, he mentions four specific things. When he asks this question four times, he points to four specific things that's weighing on him. The first one is, he feels forgotten. How long without forgetting me? He feels like God is hiding his face. How long without having thy face from me? He has daily sorrow in his heart. This is not just... David just didn't have a bad day. This wasn't something that just popped up on a whim. No, this is daily sorrow. This is something that's been building. How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily? He fears that his enemies will prevail over him. How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? And so David goes to the Lord in prayer and gets very specific with the things that are troubling him. By the way, that's a good idea. That's a good thing to do. And I think that sometimes, and listen, God can over... Do you know that none of us are sufficient to pray? That's why the Bible says in the book of Romans chapter 8 that the Holy Spirit helps us pray. And by the way, in groanings that cannot be uttered. It's not some, you know, super spiritual angelic gibberish that nobody understands. The church didn't understand anything about that. It never appeared until about 1800 years ago. But the Lord does help us to pray, certainly. And I'm thankful for that. But a lot of times I feel like we don't even really know what to ask for. But David's very specific about the things that are weighing on him. And if you can really contemplate the things that are weighing on you, the things that worry you, if you'll take those things to God in prayer, those are very helpful. David goes to the Lord in prayer, gets specific, and Christ invites us to come unto the throne of grace to find help in time of need. That's Hebrews 4 and verse 15. Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 says, Be careful or be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And listen to this, And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Go to the Lord. Be honest about what troubles you. Go to Him in the spirit of thanksgiving as much as possible. And he promises that the peace of God that passes our circumstances, it passes our understanding, will guard our hearts through Christ Jesus. There is peace in the presence of God that can be accessed through prayer to God. And let me say this, or I guess I could say, let me ask you this. When God does seem absent in your life, what is your response? What is your knee-jerk reaction? Because at some point in time, it's gonna happen. It's just gonna happen. But does it drive you away from the Lord or does it drive you to Him as in the case of David? I think that prayer, and listen, I'm speaking this because I know it's certainly been true in my life at times, but prayer is one of the most needed and yet one of the most neglected weapons in the Christian arsenal. We literally have an invitation to go to the creator of the universe. to go to our Heavenly Father, to go before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We couldn't even get that close to the President. And in our case, probably wouldn't do us much good if we could. But we have an invitation to go directly to God. We can go to God through our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, and tell Him all of our heavy burdens. So let me say this, when God feels absent, go to Him. When God feels far away, go to Him. And I know that sometimes when we really, I'm talking about we really hit the gutter. Sometimes that just seems like the hardest thing to do, doesn't it? You know, that's why they call it the work of prayer. Because it really is. It is a work. It's going into spiritual warfare. Satan hates it when God's children go unto him. He hates that. And so there's an old song that says, When you don't feel like praying, pray. When it's hardest to pray, sweet victory awaits. When you don't feel like praying, pray. When God feels absent, go to Him. But then number two, when God feels absent, not only go to God in prayer, but get a vision from God. And what I mean by that, I'm using vision in the sense of God's purpose and meaning in your life. Verse three, it says, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Light mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. And so getting a vision from God in the sense of God's purpose and meaning in your life. And one thing that I love about the Psalms, this is true of so many Psalms, but it is glaring in Psalm 13. You will notice a progression from the beginning of the Psalm to the middle of the Psalm to the end of the Psalm. When David begins this psalm, the first two verses, he is absolutely down in the dumps. But these next two verses, they're not quite as bad as the first two. There's a change taking place in David's heart, even in real time as we're reading this. You know, he is in total despair. He's ready to give up and die, but now all of a sudden, in verses 3 and 4, although he's obviously still burdened, he seems to have two desires that he didn't have just two verses earlier. I absolutely love this. There's two desires here in these verses that weren't there in the first two verses. The first desire he has is he wants to live. He didn't want to live in the first two verses, and now he wants to live. That's a good change, isn't it? That's not a small change. Verse 3 says, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. God, I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I want to live. He fights. Also, the second desire that he doesn't have in the first two verses is he wants to fight and prevail against his enemies. That's a good change, isn't it? He goes from not wanting to fight anymore, just throwing in the towel, to now he wants to live long enough to see the day that he prevails against his enemies. That's a good change, isn't it? That's a great change. These are, by the way, and this is really the crux of this second point here. These are clear goals that speak of purpose and vision. And you know, so many people that are living life without Christ, and that means that they are separated from God by their sin. God seems absent to them all the time. And while they're living it up, they don't seem to care. But the lost person never thinks about how to live their life for the glory of God. And when a Christian just goes about their life without thinking about the glory of God, they're just going to be out of alignment in their life. Listen, our constant focus and goal should be to live for the glory of God. And when we get in those dark valleys, and when we get weighed down by the burdens of life, a lot of times that singular goal becomes hazy, doesn't it? we begin to become inward focused and we think about me and when is my pain going to end and when is this going to be over with and Lord, you know, I could just serve you if this would go away. I could serve you better if the circumstances change. I could serve you better if you would just answer these prayers. We might not even say it out loud and sometimes we might, but you know what I'm saying is true. But it's all about the glory of God and when we lose sight of that, That's when we begin to sink. I think about Peter, who walked on the water out to Jesus. You know, Peter gets a bad rap, but what other man walked on water? I mean, really? I mean, I know what I would do as soon as I tried to step out of a boat. Y'all wouldn't see me again. And he was walking on the water, and when he had his eyes on Jesus, he was doing just fine. But what distracted him? It was the storm around him. And as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus and began to focus on that storm, that's when he began to sing. But again, giving Peter credit, you know what he said? Shortest prayer in the entire Bible, three words, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached down and picked him up. And so, our lives are supposed to be lived for the glory of God, even in the midst of our suffering, which by the way, our trials, have been sovereignly ordained by God, and there's a lot of comfort in that, too. Now listen to this. We've got to get this. The Christian that doesn't live their life for the glory of God is in a never-ending state of just hanging out. We're just chilling. You ask somebody how they're doing, we're just chilling. You know, I know this is my sanctified imagination getting away from me, but I thought, you know, that would just look and sound real good at the judgment seat of Christ. I see here, Mr. Vaughan, where you were just chilling for about 50 years. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord, you know. I want a little bit more on my resume than just chill. I'm just hanging out. We ought to be focused on the glory of God. And in every situation we find ourselves in, whether we're on the mountaintop or in the valley of the Lord, how can I glorify you in this situation? Every day, how can I glorify you today? How can I glorify you in what I'm going through? How can I glorify you with the resources that you've given me? David's wanting to fight. He's wanting to prevail over his enemies. He's wanting to live. He doesn't want to die anymore. So this shows some initiative and some desire that he didn't have just a couple of verses earlier. And so I want to say to you before I move on, in your life, even in the midst of your storms, seek clear goals. Prioritize and have a vision for what the Lord wants to do in and through your life. That's especially true in the storm. Man, what a great example of the storm we drove through last night. Man, it was terrible. I mean, it was wind gusts of upwards of 50 to 60 miles an hour. It was snowing. I mean, it was like, like I said, it was so clear. And then all of a sudden, it's like the white witch got in a fight with her husband and we got caught in the crossfire. It was awful. And I mean, it was so bad that I told you that, I mean, it's like I told Leah, if there was a blessing about that storm, is that I never got tired. I thought that was so interesting. I never got tired. That's what I was worried about. I thought, I might be good at two o'clock, but after that, there's no promises. I never got tired because the whole time I had to be ultra-focused. I got behind that 18-wheeler and I just followed his tire tracks. He could have drove off the side of a mountain and I'd have been right behind him because that just, But I was just in that storm, I was ultra focused on what was right in front of me. All that mattered were those tire tracks. That has to be what we do. We just double down in our storm and say, God, what is your direction? How can I glorify you? Where are you leading me? It didn't matter that I couldn't see anything else. I at least had a guide in front of me. We need to seek clearer goals because one great thing that comes out of our suffering, we see it in David's life here. Our suffering will not only drive us to the Lord, but it will force us to prioritize and figure out what's important. Man, just a couple of... These examples are so practical, and they're so basic, but I think they drive this point home. I just got through reading a book called The Crash of Little Eva. It's about a B-24 bomber during World War II. And they got in a storm. They were coming back to their little landing strip in the middle of nowhere, Australia. And they got in a storm and all their instruments went out. And it was at nighttime. They couldn't see where they were going. They couldn't find the airstrip. They had to crash land 500 miles from where they wanted to be in one of the most remote parts of the world. And there was four of them that were together. And for the first month, it was four of them. One of them drowned, it was three. After month two, another one died of starvation. And then month three, the third one died of starvation. And when that third one died, he died in the arms of the fourth one. That fourth man was a man by the name of Grady Gadsden. He was actually from Frisco City, Alabama, farm town, like 200 people. It's about two hours from where I'm from. And understand, he's been in the wilderness now for three months already. All of his comrades have died. They've been facing starvation, mosquitoes, snakes. It is a horrible place. And when that man died in Grady Gatson's arms, I mean, it's really one of the most inspirational things I've ever heard of. But when he died, he could have just, when that guy died in his arms, he could have just laid down and said, I'm done too. But something snapped in him when that happened. And he said that day, with that dead friend in his arms, he said, I'm not going to die here. I will not die here. I will go home. I will get married. I will have a family. I will have a car. I will not die here. And do you know, for two more months, five months in that Australian wilderness, he never even saw another human being. He was eating raw snakes, raw fish. He even came across a cow that was being eaten by wild dogs and he actually managed to fend them off long enough to get a leg and ate it raw. And you know, lo and behold, he got so weak that he got to the place where he could not walk but about a mile a day to try to find food. And lo and behold, there just so happened to be a rancher that was checking his property line a three days horse ride to the nearest human being. and he got out of there and he came back to Alabama and he did get married and he did raise a family. He didn't die till 1998. I know that sounds simple. That's a pretty clear goal, isn't it? I want to live. I thought about last year, I got a phone call. It really kind of shook me up. A dear friend of mine from back east and he saved, I know this guy decades. And I could tell even when he called me, he had been drinking. And that's just not him. That's not like him. And he told me, he said, I want you to pray for me. He said, I'm pretty much a full-blown drunk. I got to have at least, at least 16 beers a day just to function. And I've known this man long enough that the next question I ask him, I said, what are you trying to drown out? He said, well, if you want to know, he said, I cheated on my wife. He said, I couldn't tell her, and finally it got back to her, and he said, I had to, and he said, I just, I can't deal with it. And I had to walk him through who he is in Christ, and who he is in the gospel. It was a one-time thing, he messed up, just like David. Cut it off, you know, but the damage had been done, and you know, been trying to counsel and to help him, and I asked him, I said, what are your goals? What do you want? Where do you go from here? And he said, I want to be a good dad. That's a good goal, isn't it? He said, I want to be a good husband, and I want to be a good Christian. Three very simple, very clear goals. And I talked to him toward the end of last year, and listen, this is going to mess the Pharisees up, okay? Which doesn't hurt my feelings, but I'll just throw it out here like this. But he called me in December, and he said, He said, I'm thankful for the prayers. He said, I'm down to two beers a day. I said, oh, listen, that's going in the right direction, is it not? He called me this week and he said, I'm totally clean. And he said, me and my wife are doing the best we've ever done. He said, I stood before my church and kind of told him what's been going on without going into detail, but he said, I just want to thank the Lord for His grace and I want to be accountable. because I want to be a good dad, and a good husband, and a good Christian. Those are good goals, aren't they? You see, suffering, whether it's self-inflicted or whether God brings us in into those things, it really helps us to trim the fat and prioritize what's important in our life because we get so distracted by things that are not gold. They may glitter, but they're not gold. And if you're in a trial today, if you're in the darkest valley of your life, I hope and pray that you can prioritize and seek God's goals for your life and find God's vision for your life because it really just trims away those things that just aren't that important. What are your clear desires and goals right now concerning service to the Lord? I mean, it could be something as simple as sharing the gospel with a neighbor, a coworker. being more faithful in your reading and prayer, being the best godly wife and mother you can be, father and husband, who knows? But if you're struggling, listen, hey, people hate this advice, but it's some of the best advice I could ever give as a pastor, and I love to give it because I know how much people hate it. But if you're struggling and you're down in the dumps and you're just, I mean, the clouds of rain are following you around and you're like Eeyore off Winnie the Pooh and nothing's going right, get up and go serve somebody. Boy, it sure is a cure. Hey, if you want to know how to stop feeling so bad about yourself, go serve somebody at the cancer center. Just go in there and pray with them. Just go in there and comfort them. You'll stop feeling so bad about where you are. Go to the nursing home. Go to the hospital. Go to the orphanage. Whatever the case may be, that's how we get our mind off of ourself when we become Christ to others. And these struggles, man, they just give so much clarity to what's important. And that's how we can thank God for our trials. Number three. When God feels absent, you know what you can do on purpose? You can greatly rejoice in God. Look at verse 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. We see another great progression here. David goes from a desire to prevail over his enemies to rejoicing in the Lord and believing that he will conquer his enemies. David goes from despair to joy in less than six verses. I love that. David began with a question that he asked four times. How long, O Lord? But listen to this. He ends the psalm with four verbs concerning the Lord. He uses the verb trust here. I have trusted in thy mercy. He uses rejoice. I will rejoice in thy salvation. He uses the word sing. I will sing unto the Lord. And then he says, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. This is, I guess you could put the verb here, remember. He is remembering past victories that God has brought him through. And so David trusted in the Lord's character. Man, this is so good. When he couldn't see the hand of God, he trusted in the heart of God. He trusted in the character of God. Well, we could sleep so much better at night, even when we can't see the hand of God, if we would just trust the heart of God. It would give us so much more joy and peace. We have to get this. Notice that the first thing that David does When things begin to turn around, it's because he trusted God. Notice that's the first verb we see when things turn around. Before he could rejoice, before he could sing, he had to trust. He had to trust. He couldn't, I don't think it could be the opposite way and be as effective, certainly not. The singing and the rejoicing, the peace will never come without trusting. So let me ask you this, and this is what it really comes down to. Do you really trust the Lord? Do you really trust Him? Because if you have made up in your mind and heart that you have to have the tangible evidence and you have to have the tangible answer in your hand right now before you have any peace, number one, you may never have any peace. And number two, that's not living by faith, is it? It's living by fact. It's living by leaning on your own understanding. It's not acknowledging God in all your ways. I'm talking to a young man, again back east, just kind of counseling through text message. Man, just a good young man, just a godly Christian young man, but he has such a great desire to be married. He wants to be married and have a family. You know, he's a good Christian man, so he's looking for a good Christian woman. Shameless plug for some of the young single Christian ladies here. But no, seriously, it's really a hindrance to him. It bothers him. And he's honest about it though. He said, I've kind of made an idol out of it. You know, instead of just going to church to worship God, at least in the back of my mind, I'm constantly having to fight the thought of I'm going to church to meet Christian women. It's the same thing when I go to some type of church activity, or I go on some mission trip, he said, I do want to go for the right reasons, but it's always tainted by that desire to find a wife. And it's a struggle for him. He said, how do I put this idol down? And this is what I asked him. I said, if God were to send a calendar down to you from heaven, And in that calendar was an X marked on the day that he was going to bring your wife into your life. Would you ever worry about it again? He said, I hate you. The truth is, if we, listen, think about that concept. If we had a calendar that God gave us, or if we had a book that we could actually read ahead. I mean, if Joseph had had Genesis chapters 37 through 50 that he could have read in that prison, he probably would have looked at it a lot different. You know that. And we can read about Joseph's amazing life in 13 chapters. But it was decades for him. He had to live it. Our lives are the same way. We can't read ahead in the story. And by the way, I'm just going to say this. As a young man, if I could have had the book of my life from beginning to end, I'd have said, give it to me. I want to know everything. I want to read. I want to know whatever. I wouldn't do it. I'd throw it in the fire. I don't want to know. It's not living by faith. And honestly, I'll be honest with you. I think if we knew everything that was ahead of us, I think for the most part, instead of being full of great joy, it'd probably fill us with worry and dread. Think about Job, if he could have read his story. I don't know that it made him feel any better about the pain he felt. And so we have to live it by faith, but if we knew about maybe when this event would end, when our trouble, this particular trial would end, and we knew how He was going to bring us through in that sense, it would bring us comfort. So if we could just trust Him with all the days between here and there, then we could have the same amount of peace. Isn't that amazing? Think about the old hymn, Living by Faith in Jesus Above. Trusting, confiding in His great love, from all harm safe, in His sheltering arms, I'm living by faith and feel no alarm. That's easier to preach than it is to live. But if we just trusted Him, if our trust was where it should be, it really would bring us peace and joy, even in the storms. David asked the Lord, how long, four times. And four verses later, the Lord showed up. He answered that question really quickly, didn't He? But we have to listen to this and I'm almost done. This is so amazing to me. David's situation didn't change. The circumstances didn't change around him. But the Lord changed the spirit within him. Changed and strengthened him. We've got to learn to seek the presence of God over the deliverance of God. There's nothing wrong with asking God to deliver us. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But what if God hasn't decreed to deliver you in days or weeks or months or years? Here's the thing, God's promised that when we go to Him, we can find help. We can find grace. We can find wisdom. We can find peace. He promises all of those things when we go to Him in prayer. And if we had those things, then we wouldn't be so obsessed and consumed by the thought of deliverance, right? Learn to seek the presence of God over and above the deliverance of God. Listen, none of us are ever going to be upset when the Lord delivers us. That's not going to be a bad day. But we can surely make ourselves miserable by waiting on it. If you feel like God is absent, go to Him. Get a vision from Him. Greatly rejoice in Him. David went from despair to victory with a prayer that lasted six verses. There's been times in my life I just went to God in prayer and just laid it all out before the throne of grace. And before I got up from praying, the situation hadn't changed, but I had changed. Isn't that wonderful that he does that for us?