Rise as is our custom. Hear now the word of the Lord. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is late on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes. and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men." Please be seated. Thank you. It's nice to be with you again. I bring greetings from Cedar OPC. And we're enjoying a period of joy and blessing in the congregation. Lamentations written by the prophet Jeremiah. He had a very long ministry. His ministry lasted under five kings, Josiah, Jehoiah, Haz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. His ministry lasted at least 40 years. We can't be more specific than that. And before we get to Lamentations, I want to walk you through the book of Jeremiah and help you understand what his ministry was like. and you can appreciate better his book of Lamentations. And Lamentation is that, it's a lament. He's crying out to the Lord in this about the hardships he's lived through for 40 years and the abysmal state that Israel has been reduced to. and his heart is aching within him because the people of God had brought judgment upon themselves." You might think by the time he gets to the end of his ministry that his love for God's people would have diminished because it didn't matter how faithful he was, it didn't matter how much he cared for the people of God, God's people hated him and they went out of their way to demonstrate it. And isn't it amazing? We see such a Christ-like spirit in him. Despite all the wrong they did to him, he still grieved over their miserable end. I sometimes find myself gloating when people who are contrary to the Lord stumble and fall. You know, sometimes it's rather public, and they've been exalting themselves, and oops, they come to an end. Anthony Wiener comes to mind. Some of you read the news, huh? And you know, he just pled guilty and he's going to jail for a while. And if I were more godly, my heart would grieve for the man, his family, his children. Because when I was dead and my trespasses and sins, God's heart wept over me. And he had pity for me when no pity was due. And for me to train my heart in that direction would be a good thing. Lamentation helps us do that. It's not an easy thing. It's not a comforting message that comes to us today. Some of you have no idea what Jeremiah is talking about. You've not experienced anything like it, and you're going to have trouble connecting. But try to, because the day will come when you need Jeremiah's spirit. You will taste what Jeremiah has tasted. deeply as he did, but you will, others have been there. And when you hear these words, you can be thankful for them because they give you some comfort and direction how to handle the misery that God's been pleased to bring into your life. Jeremiah's ministry began when he was young. We don't know exactly what age. He was called a youth. It was under King Josiah, who was a good king. Jeremiah began his ministry about a year after Josiah had begun to make religious reforms. The outward signs of idolatry were removed, but the people's hearts didn't change. The book of the law was discovered. Jeremiah was very young and tender-hearted. He is called the Weeping Prophet. In Jeremiah chapter 1, I begin reading at verse 6, were told. Then I said, O Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am only a youth. For to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you, to deliver you, declares the Lord. Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up, to break down, to destroy, and to overthrow, to build, and to plant." Later in the same chapter, starting at verse 16, read, "'And I shall declare My judgments against them for all their evil in forsaking Me. They have made offerings to other gods and have worshipped the works of their own hands. But you dress yourself for work. Arise and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. And they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you." Wouldn't that be some ordination service? You're called to ministry and the Lord Himself comes and preaches the charge to you. We just had an ordination installation service at Harvest Church, Wayne Veenstra, when we approved our last presbytery meeting, was installed as an associate pastor there. And part of what we do, there's a sermon priest, there's a charge to the minister to remind him of the duties he's taken up and a charge to the congregation. You haven't had one of these in a long time. So maybe you're not as familiar with them. And we remind the people of the great thing God is doing and what it means to be a servant of the Lord and to have a servant of the Lord in your midst. And these are great reminders. And that's pretty much what's happening here. This is an installation service, and the Lord Himself comes to give the charge. And He says, I'm going to make you an iron pillar, a bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you. Man, if the Lord had suddenly appeared at my ordination and said that, I would have had visions of grandeur, you know? Okay, Spurgeon, you know, they used to print your sermons in the newspaper. I don't know what's gonna happen, but it's gonna be great. Except it wasn't. They fought against him. And when the Lord says you will prevail, I don't think of prevail. My interpretation of prevail and Lord's interpretation of prevail are a little different. See, I think of prevailing as coming out on top. Jeremiah came out, but he was never on top. They didn't destroy him, but they almost did. He prevailed, but not with the level of success that we would like to attach to that word. His ministry continued under Jehoihaz and Jehoiakim. Egypt became the dominant power in the area. The religious reform slipped away and what remained of Jehovah worship had deteriorated into mere superstition and formalism. The thought was that as long as the temple stood, they were safe. We've got God in the palm of our hand. Oh, He sends these bothersome prophets from time to time to say, quit worshiping other gods. It's not as though we've forsaken the worship of Jehovah. We just recognize that we're broad-minded, we're very accepting, we're tolerant. These are good qualities to have. And so we worship some of the other gods in the area, but we've never turned our back on Jehovah. And these narrow-minded prophets want to come and say that we're bad just because we're inclusive. Do you ever hear such a thing? And the temple is here. Where would God be without His house? These narrow-minded prophets, they threaten that God's going to destroy us, that another nation will come in and take over and destroy everything, even the temple. Oh, come on. Where would God be without His house? He's not going to let that happen. Therefore, we know that their message is false. Good reasoning. It doesn't have anything to do with anything happening today, but it's good reasoning. The thought was, Jeremiah chapter 7, superstition will rule the day, not the word of the Lord. The opinion of men will rule the day, and the desires of men will rule the day, not the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 7, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Amend your ways and your deeds and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go out after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered, only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord." Just as Christ used that very phrase when He cleansed the temple, so my Father's house become a den of thieves. So Jeremiah was called to proclaim the Word, which he faithfully did, and he prevailed so much that he can no longer show his face in public. Now the good of it is everybody knew what he was talking about because those who were not present, they heard about it through the indignation of those who did hear it. Did you hear Jeremiah's latest stuff? Oh, it's horrible. You know what he says? He says the Lord's against us. He says the Lord's not going to let us live in this place. And he said horrible things about us. He said we were deceivers and murderers and adulterers. Oh, how dare he say such things? But it is kind of true. Oh, you're a follower of Jeremiah, are you? See, there's no wrestling with the truth. There's no looking at things objectively. It's just hatred rained down upon anyone who would upset my apple cart and make me think twice. With public opinion against him, Jeremiah could not appear at the temple. The Lord commanded him to write down his prophecies. Eventually, it was read before the king, Jehoiakim. But Jehoiakim knew how to thwart the Lord. Ha, you write this down on parchment. And he cut it into pieces and threw those pieces in the flame. Ha, there God, now how you gonna make your prophecy come true? I just burn it up. Really, Jehoiakim? You think that can stop the Lord? Are you that foolish? Are you that superstitious? Are you that ignorant of who God truly is? So the command came, Jeremiah, write it all down again and add these words of condemnation about the king. And the king's end was not a good one at all. Jeremiah 15 verse 1, Then said Jehovah to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not be inclined toward this people, cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth." Remember how Moses interceded for the people? He was up on a mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, he comes down, and there they are worshipping this golden bull, an idol that they learned about when they were in Egypt. And the Lord's wrath burned against them, and He said, Stand aside, Moses, I'm going to destroy them all, and you're going to be my new Abraham. I'm going to start with one person again and raise up a holy nation. And Moses, the forerunner of Christ, interceded. Lord, not so, and he pled for the lives of the people. And the Lord relented, just as Christ intercedes for us day and night now, lest we be destroyed because of our own sins. Jehoiachim, Jehoiakim's son, came to the throne. It was only for three months, and he was carried away as a captive to Babylon. Zedekiah became king. He was the son of Josiah. Judah was going to come under the authority of Babylon, and nothing could be done about it. You see, the two great powers, Egypt and Babylon, were vying for power. Babylon was the up-and-coming great world power. Egypt had been one for a long time, and trusted in its glory of old to sustain it as it had in the past. In Jeremiah chapter 28, verse 12 to 15, we read, "'Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. And as you remember, the Lord told Jeremiah, you go get a yoke, you know, the one like they put on an oxen. And I want you to walk around the streets of Jerusalem saying, as this yoke is upon me, God's going to put the yoke of Babylon upon your necks and you will be servants to the king of Babylon. And the false prophet came, Hananiah, and he grabbed the yoke from off Jeremiah's neck, and he cast it to the ground, breaking it in half, and said, never, the Lord says the yoke will not be on our necks, contradicting Jeremiah. So we go on. Verse 13, go tell Hananiah, thus says the Lord, you have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they will serve him, for I have given to him even the beast of the fields.' Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you. You have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have been in utter rebellion against the Lord." In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died. Zedekiah, being the wise king that he was, aligned himself with Egypt to go to war against Babylon. The Babylonians came Destruction came, the Temple was destroyed, and 70 years of Babylonian captivity began. Daniel was carried off along with many others, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You're familiar with those stories. And after the fall of Jerusalem, immediately after the city was taken, immediately after everything Jeremiah had preached was proven to be true, those who remained got their revenge. They arrested him and they weren't gonna give him the pleasure of a quick death. They threw him into the bottom of a cistern that was nearly empty, muddy, deep enough he couldn't get out. And this prophet who brought this about upon us can die down there, a slow and agonizing death. He's too wicked to deserve a quick and merciful end. And they left him to die. And he was there for some time. But an Ethiopian eunuch rescued him. Jeremiah was treated with respect by the Babylonians because he had urged the surrender of the nation. Some of his supporters, as he did have a few, urged him to flee to Egypt to avoid the mess there. And he resisted them and said, no, these are the Lord's people. I will stay with them and I will suffer with them. But their hatred for him continued to grow. And finally, his supporters made him go to Egypt for his own protection. And there he wrote the book we're looking at today, Lamentations. And so we go to Lamentations chapter 3. Jeremiah, like Christ, spoke truthfully, sometimes even harshly, but he retained his love for the people because they were the people of God. And that's what gave them value. And we talk about what gives us value. It's because we're creating the image of God. Some of us have more abilities than others. Some, because of an illness or accident, are like vegetables, and we keep them alive, sometimes with machinery. Others have very few abilities, and we say, but they're creating the image of God, and we will spend what we need to spend, do what we need to do to honor them and protect them. We will not take their life. We will not euthanize them, a mercy killing to end their suffering. because they're made in the image of God, and we leave that in His hands. And because God's people had been chosen by the Lord, Jeremiah was just as committed to them. He felt the hurts of his people. He didn't look down on them. He felt compassion for them despite their sinfulness and foolishness. And as we read the first 18 verses of Lamentations chapter 3, we see the burden he bore to walk with the people of God when they were in rebellion, and he was speaking truth they didn't want to hear. Jeremiah wrote, I am a man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath. He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me he has turned his hand again and again the whole day long. He's made my flesh and my skin waste away. He's broken my bones. He's besieged and enveloped me in bitterness and tribulation. He's made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He's walled me about so that I cannot escape. He has made my chains heavy. Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayers. He's blocked my way with blocks of stone. He's made my paths crooked. He's a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding. He turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces. He made me desolate. He bent his bow and sent me as a target for his arrows. He drove into my kidneys the arrow of his quiver. I've become the laughing stock of all people, the object of all their taunts all day long. He's filled me with bitterness. He's sated me with wormwood. He's made my teeth grind on gravel, made me cower in ashes. My soul is bereaved of peace. I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say my endurance has perished. So is my hope from the Lord. For Jeremiah to say true to his calling, this is what it cost him. Some of you know what he's talking about. I know what he's talking about. I've walked through some dark times. There's nothing to brag about. If you're one of God's people, you will go through some dark times. You will share in the sufferings of Christ. I say, thank you, God, you did not call me to be a Jeremiah. My life has been so easy compared to Jeremiah's. I have very little to complain about. When I remember him and then I look at my life, I'm going, oh, I've been lying on the clouds. But I don't always look at Jeremiah. Sometimes I just look at me and the burden feels heavy. And the questions come and plague you. The why questions that we never get an answer to. That sense of victimhood that can grip you and you get caught up in self-pity and it's hard to turn away from it. You know it's wrong and you know you're being silly but it grips you and just won't let go. Jeremiah says, yeah, that happens. It's not because we lack faith. It's not because we're not a real believer. It's because that's how people created to be limited like we are created to be limited. Sometimes find life overwhelming. Jeremiah did. He writes all about it. And the Lord never scorns him for it. But there was something else going on in Jeremiah's life. We've read it. We're going to look at it again. Despite everything he tells us about, and if we want to take the time and read through the book of Jeremiah, we can see all the specifics of it. I just touched on some of the high points. He maintained a hope in the goodness of God. And so in verse 19 he says, Remember my afflictions and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall, My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him. In the darkest times, He would not give up this hope. The Lord is my portion. Does that mean I'm going to be prosperous in my life? I will one day. One day I will live and reign with Him. One day I will walk on those streets of gold. One day Christ Himself is going to come and wipe away my tears. And those hurts I can't quite get past in this life, He'll take them away. and the peace that I long to have, and the release from that struggle to want to take my own vengeance rather than the trust in God, to want to hide and cower instead of interacting with people that could hurt me again, He'll set my heart straight. And it'll be what it's supposed to be. I struggle now. Sometimes I get a little more right than other times. But I'm gonna keep struggling. because the Lord is my portion. His mercies are new to me every morning. He doesn't hold my failures from yesterday against me. He says, Ken, good morning. We have a whole new day ahead of us. Yesterday wasn't one of your best days. But you know what? I've taken it away from you as far as the east is from the west. I buried it in the depths of the sea. And I want you to remember, Ken, there's no condemnation for you because you were in Christ Jesus. Now go out today. and live your life for Him, who loved you and gave yourself for Him. And every morning, it's new, which is a good thing, because in one way or another, every day, I mess it up. Some days are a whole lot better than others. Some days worse. But God is with us. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Now young people, zero in on that one, because I see a very different attitude among the current generation. I saw it in my generation too, but we like to pick on the current generation and not admit that we were every bit as silly. And all the things we mention about the current young generation, We had the same problems, but we didn't see them because we were in the middle of them. Now we're a little older, and we're looking at the current generation, and we're kind of aghast, just as our parents were about us, not to mention our grandparents. We can't really pick on you, because you're no different than us. But he says this, he says, it's good for a young person to bear the yoke in their youth. This is my childhood. This is the time I have to be happy. Everything is owed to me right now. And this is a time of life where I should have a lot of frivolity and freedom because this is my youth. You're stealing my childhood away from me. You're stealing my youth away from me. I'm owed these things. I have talked to middle-aged people who have decided to get crazy and go back to living like they were a teenager, and they say, well, I had a very hard childhood, and I was never allowed to be a child. I had to grow up quickly in my family, and now it's my due. I'm going to get that childhood that was stolen from me. You poor thing. You mean in God's providence you had to learn to be responsible at an early age? Oh. Responsibility is such a horrible thing. Nobody should have to learn to be responsible until they're 42. No, 72, I still don't have to learn. It's good to learn to be responsible, not bad. I'm not completely without pity and shame. wishing you comfort for the hardships of your younger years. Some people have had it a lot worse than others. Some people have had to bear up under things that most of us think we wouldn't bear up under, but the Lord gives grace. And I'm sorry for those who've been abused. I'm sorry for those who grew up with one parent and weren't cared for as thoroughly as they would have been if they had two parents. I mean, some grew up with no parents. And I can't begin to imagine how hard that would be. But God was with you. It didn't spare you from everything any more than it spared Jeremiah from everything. But we can't let that I'm deserving attitude grip us. It's death. And Jeremiah didn't. And for that, I stand in awe of him because I'm not sure how I would have avoided it. Now, again, I'm sure God's grace would have been there for me if I was called to such a ministry. but it's just such a hard thing for him to do. He says, let him sit alone in silence when it's late on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust. There may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes. Let him be filled with insults. Don't run away from every hardship you can run away from. Step up to endure through it. Recognize God has a holy purpose in it. This is training your character in a godly way. And yes, training is often very difficult and unpleasant. But he says, when we learn these lessons in our youth, we're miles ahead. And so when they come, don't run away from them, step up to them. That's the wisdom he would impart to young people. Now, are there many young people who would heed it? Probably not. I can't look back and say, I was particularly wise as a young person and stepped into the hardships quite willingly. If I could avoid them, I avoided them. But God's telling you, don't make that your first thing. Why? Because the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause grief, he will have compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. For he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men." Meaning when he does not willingly, he's not toying with us, he's not doing it for fun. He knows that we're grieved by things. He knows things are hard for us, but he sees the bigger picture. Sometimes your cries for mercy fall upon deaf ears and your parents decide to show no mercy. But I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry. Please don't take all my internet away for a week. I'll die. Well, no. And if you're going to pester me about it, we can make it longer. My parents have no heart, no compassion. They don't care about me at all. I remember one time when my mother was making me go to bed. And I told her, well, when I grow up, I won't make my children go to bed. And she said, well, Kenny, they'll be your children. You can do with them whatever you want. And when I grew up, I made my children go to bed. But it's light outside. Yeah, it is. But it's bedtime. And you're going to bed. Because if you don't, I might strangle you. I've had enough of you all day long. It's time for you to go to bed. Finally. and they went to bed. It was also, if they stayed up late, they'd get up at the same time and they'd be crabby all the next day. And it was good for them to go to bed. They didn't see the good of it. I was heartless, except I wasn't. I was doing what was in their best interest, which is exactly what the Lord does for us at all times. In Lamentations chapter 39, Verse 39, he says, why should a living man complain? A man about the punishment of his sins. And he's arguing with us to say, can you really argue you're not getting something you deserve? Can you really argue that you don't deserve the hard things of life? Are you trying to argue that you deserve good things? Really? We all know what we deserve. We deserve to be in hell this very moment, and it's God's grace that we aren't and never will be. We deserve the wrath of God to fall upon us. I want prosperity. I want excellent health. I want to be marvelously intelligent. I want to have all the fun things. We don't get them all. But man, have I got a lot, and so have you. Everything I've always wanted? No, because you see, as a sinner, my covetousness is just never ending. You couldn't give me everything I want, because as soon as you give me something I want, I'm gonna want something else. I'm not satisfied with things. I'm not content. Well, now, by God's grace, I'm growing in that. because I see the wisdom of it and I'm trying to discipline myself in godliness, but outside of Christ I'm not that way at all. Neither are you, if you would be honest with yourself. We can see the wickedness and continue to care. We see wickedness in the king and God's right to fix the wrongs that have been suffered. and we wait upon Him. And in the closing verses of this chapter, Jeremiah wrestles through that. So he begins in verse 40, calling for self-examination. Let us test and examine our ways in return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven. We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. You have wrapped yourself in anger and pursued us, killing without pity. You have wrapped yourself in a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us scum and garbage among the people. All of our enemies open their mouths against us. Panic and pitfall come upon us, devastation and destruction. My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people." Though God's people were called to repentance for 40 years, 40 years God was patient, yet when the destruction came and God says that's it, you can cry for mercy now. I will no longer hear your cries for mercy. Your hearts have been hardened too long. And the prophet writes, my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. And it's not that his heart is holier than the heart of the father. It resembles the heart of the father. We've all heard it said, and it's usually said in a joking manner, but I've felt it, as I imagine you have too. The father coming with the belt, got to discipline the son, and he says, son, this is going to hurt me more than it does you. And that's where the punchline comes in of one sort or another. Have you ever had to take actions against your children that you didn't want to take? But you knew you had to. You had to face down their rebellion and their disobedience. You had to consequent them in a strong way for foolish action on their part. And you didn't want to be that person. They grieved you to be that person. But you knew it to be your duty. That's what we see in God disciplining His people. His eyes flow with tears as he sees the destruction, though yet he himself has brought it about. My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees. My eyes cause me grief at the fate of the daughters of the city. I've been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause. They flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me, water closed over my head. I said, I am lost. I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea. Do not close your ears to my cries for help. You came near when I called to you and said, do not fear. You've taken up my cause, O Lord. You have redeemed my life. You've seen the wrong done to me, O Lord. Judge my cause. You've seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. You've heard their taunts, Lord, all their plots against me. The lips and thoughts of the assaults are against me all day long. Behold, they're sitting and they're rising. I am the object of their taunts. You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them dullness of heart. You will curse, your curse will be upon them. You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord. And how does Jeremiah make peace with all the wrongs done to him? He says, Lord, they're in your hands and you'll do what is right. Beloved, never take your own revenge, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink. In so doing, you heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, overcome evil with good. And we press back against the hurts of life by determining, I'm going to love. I'm going to even love those who don't love me. and I will put them in God's hands. Do I know they're worthy of judgment? Of course I do. And I call out to God and I say, Lord, look here and see this wickedness and may your heart be angered by it and may your hand be stirred to action. But I'll wait on you. I'll put my heart, my mouth in the dust. I'll turn my cheek to be slapped again because I will trust in you. These are hard things. I'm a whole lot better at standing up here telling you what you ought to do than I am at doing it. I hope your heart rings true and you say, Ken, I hear what you're saying and I believe it to be true. And I hope by God's grace, I'll behave that way when the time comes. But I'll tell you when the time comes, it will be a struggle. Let us pray with you and for you. Let us encourage you through those struggles. Don't draw away. You'll feel ashamed and you'll feel like you have no value and you want to hide. But don't. It won't help you. Jeremiah didn't hide. He wrote it down and said, Ken, I feel embarrassed by these things, but I want you to know about them because I think it'll help you one day. And generations have been reading about them for centuries and saying, Jeremiah, I bless you for sharing your life with me. Because minds like it. Not as bad, but similar. Let's pray together. Father in Heaven, continue to bless us through this day. We've considered heavy things this morning. Lighten our hearts with fellowship with You and one another. And the lessons we've heard today, bring them to mind when the hard times come our way. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. We will