Springs Lighthouse Church

Pastor Brian Michaels: Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity to jump into it tonight, to relax and wallow in it. Lord, we pray that your word would wash us. Lord, that it would cleanse us, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would direct our path. By your Holy Spirit working through your word in our hearts and lives. Lord, we desire to honor you by the reading and the studying of it because you honor your word above your very name. You've told us that. So Father, I pray that you would speak to us and minister to us in Jesus' name. Amen.

As we pick up Esther chapter 4, we came as far as verse 15. Just a reminder of what's taking place in case you're just joining the study and weren't with us for the earlier parts of this. Esther is now the queen in Persia. The earlier queen had been deposed because she had disobeyed the king, King Ahasuerus, more commonly known in secular history as King Xerxes. He ruled a vast empire and he ruled it with an iron fist. This was a guy that had no problem executing anyone who simply displeased him.

This is now the situation that Esther comes into as his new queen. Mordecai, her cousin, had learned who actually raised her. He was a much older cousin, but he had stepped in to raise her when her parents were somehow killed. We don't know how they lost their lives, they died. So she was an orphan. He takes her in, raises her. She is a beautiful woman of great poise. That's how she was selected to be the new queen for King Ahasuerus.

Mordecai uncovered an assassination plot against King Ahasuerus. He gave the details to Esther, who told the king. So the plot obviously was foiled and the people that were plotting against the king were executed. But Mordecai, in the process of this, was forgotten, which was very unusual. The Persians were usually very good at honoring someone who had done something like this. The idea, of course, being that if we honor someone who saves the life of the king, then that instills greater loyalty, certainly for that person and their family, but also throughout the kingdom. They could see how someone who stepped in to help the king was honored in this way. But that didn't happen for Mordecai. I mention that because it becomes important later in our study.

Now, a bloodthirsty man named Haman has been exalted to the position of Prime Minister. Everyone, as he's passing by, they shake and they bow and they pay homage to this man. Everybody's looking to Haman as the number two man in the empire, except for Mordecai. We're not told exactly why Mordecai won't bow down to him, why Mordecai won't honor him. Likely because he was an Amalekite. He was from the tribe of the Amalekites and they had been brutal to the Jewish people when they came out of Egypt. There was a lot of hostility there between them.

Probably because of that, but we're guessing, Mordecai would not pay homage to him. As is typical of narcissists, Mordecai not bowing down to Haman bothered Haman more than the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that were bowing. For some reason, all of us struggle with this a little bit. We can have so many people tell us that they think that we're doing a great job or that we've been a blessing to them, but you've got that one person who doesn't seem to recognize how hard you've worked and what you've done for them. That's the one we constantly think about.

Early in ministry, that was a common thing for me to struggle with. You'd have all these people going out the door and shaking hands and saying, "Pastor, we really enjoyed your message. Pastor, we really enjoyed your message." But the one person who says, "Why didn't you tuck in your shirt?" That's the one that bothers you when you get home. We all struggle with that, but for a narcissist, this is a big deal. Haman was a clear narcissist. Just a very pompous, arrogant man.

Because there's one guy that won't bow down to him, Mordecai, Haman devises a plan to have him killed. Not just killing Mordecai, but all of his people, all the Jews throughout the entirety of the Persian Empire. He has a plan now and he talks the king into issuing a decree that on a certain day that turns out to be 11 months into the future, all of the people will have a purge day that they can go through and just eradicate the Jews. A large part of their stuff, the person who kills them can take for themselves. Some of it will be brought back into the king's treasury.

The problem for Haman is he doesn't realize at the time that Esther, the queen, and the king doesn't know this either at the time, she's Jewish. Neither of them, neither the king nor Haman, know this. So Mordecai hears about the decree. He sends word to Esther to go before the king and plead for the lives of the Jewish people. The problem is, and she points this out to Mordecai, you don't just go before the king. You don't just run through the palace yelling, "Oh king, King Ahasuerus, it's your queen, I need to talk to you." That didn't work that way.

You did not go into the presence of the king unless you were summoned. Now, if you did, the penalty was death, with one exception. If you came into the king's presence without an appointment or without being summoned, and he held out his royal scepter to you, then you were spared the death penalty. So just tradition in the court, the way that kings and queens often do. She tells Mordecai, "I can't go before the king. He hasn't even called for me in a month. So I'm just going to walk in there? If he doesn't give his scepter towards me, I'm going to be executed."

Mordecai says, "Well listen, if this decree goes through, you're going to be executed anyway." It's at that point that he utters these immortal words: "Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" In other words, Esther, have you considered that this is the very reason that God has allowed you to be elevated to this position as the queen of the king of the most powerful empire on the planet at that time?

Verse 15. I told you we'd get there. "Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai," the messengers, because remember in that day, they're not texting this back and forth. Mordecai is not texting Esther. Their version of texting is they tell a messenger, he runs to Esther, she gives a response, he runs back to Mordecai. That's how this is all taking place. So Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan," where the palace was, "and fast for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise."

Again, there's no specific mention that they're praying, but I think it's probably a safe assumption to say they were also praying during the time of this fasting for this situation. She says, "Get everybody fasting for three days, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." I love that attitude. The only way that they could see that God was going to spare the nation that he had chosen to bring the Messiah through, the only way this is going to happen is if she can get to the king and let him know there's a problem.

But she says the chances are he could just have me killed. The previous queen was deposed, so he can just have another big beauty pageant and get another queen. So he might kill me. But you know what? If that happens, that happens. I'm going to trust God. That seems to be the implication. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you remember their story how they were ultimately thrown into the burning fiery furnace. But what's seldom remembered is their response to the king. "Our God is able to deliver us from your hand. But if not, we still will not bow down and worship your gold image."

Our God is able to deliver us, but if he doesn't, we're still going to obey him and we're not going to bow down before your idol that you have proclaimed as God and worship a false God. So their attitude was if God delivers us, fantastic. If he doesn't deliver us from the fire and we die there, we still are committed to honoring God. That seems to be Esther's situation and Esther's position. If God doesn't deliver me, if I perish, I perish.

But what have we seen as we've gone through our text even so far? God has been orchestrating every single event with this all along the way, hasn't he? Getting Esther to this position, God was in it. Even for the last ten years have elapsed from Chapter 1 to here? Ten years have elapsed. God has been orchestrating all of this. In fact, I would say that for the few thousand years since God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and told him he would make him into this nation, to the time of Esther, God has been saving his people again and again and again.

From the Amalekites, from the Moabites, from the Egyptians, from everybody, he's been preserving them. I would say that even right up to the present day, to the moment that we sit in this auditorium, God is still setting out the course of history. We think we're making history. But God is ultimately the one who is planning all of this out. What that means for us, this should be so comforting. Even the details of our lives.

All of the details of your life that have made you who you are up to this point, God has been in charge of all of that. The good, the bad, and the ugly that have made you who you are so that you could be here in this country, a part of this congregation, in this community for such a time as this. God's been orchestrating it all. So when the difficult things happen, let's just say it, the bad things from our perspective, things happen that we would say that's bad. But God's in the midst of it and God is working his plan even in those situations.

Verse 17. "Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him." I bet he did. He got everybody praying and fasting, don't you think? I mean, listen, if an edict went out tomorrow that all of the Christians in Colorado were to be killed in 11 months, I think that we would have a lot more people here at the Thursday night Bible study. We'd be spilling out into the courtyard. Of course, I said just in Colorado, most of you would be like, "Nope, I'm going to Florida." But you get the idea.

If all of a sudden an edict went out that all Christians in 11 months are going to be put to death in our country, the churches would be full with people praying and fasting. Chapter 5, verse 1. "Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house." This would have been a large open portico that he would have been sitting in that the king could see out into the courtyard.

"So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight." Now this is what she wasn't sure of, right? If he doesn't find favor in me, then he won't extend his scepter to me. But God's got this under control. Proverbs 21:1 says the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He, the Lord, turns it wherever he wishes. God's in control.

So when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. This was just simply proper protocol in the court of the king. It's a sign of respect. The king said to her, "What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, up to half the kingdom." Wow, that could be extensive. "I'd like Saudi Arabia, please."

She could have said that. Now, of course, it's kind of diplomatic speak for "Anything you want, my dear, what can I get for you?" I mean, he wasn't expecting her to literally ask for half the kingdom, but he's saying, "What do you need? What can I do for you?" So Esther answered, "If it pleases the king," and watch what she does here. She doesn't just say, "We've got a problem. Your dude, Haman, has gotten you to sign a decree, you knucklehead, that commands that all of the Jewish people would be wiped out. And I'm Jewish. What were you thinking, hubby dear?"

She doesn't do any of that. She says, "If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him." What a wise woman. She doesn't just blurt it out and take her chances. She's got 11 months to deal with this before the day of purging comes throughout the kingdom of the Jewish people. She's going to take her time and she's going to do this right.

The king said, "Bring Haman quickly that he may do as Esther has said." So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. Don't you think this stroked Haman's ego? She has said, "Oh king, hubby, I've prepared a banquet for you and for Haman. Would you come to this banquet?" That's all I want. I don't want Saudi Arabia. I just want you to come to the banquet. Now, imagine you're Haman and you've just been invited to a banquet with the most powerful man and the most beautiful woman on the planet.

Because that's what they were. King Ahasuerus is the most powerful man on the earth at that time, and she is one of the most beautiful women on the earth at that time. You've been invited to a banquet with just the two of them. Boy, I'm sure Haman's like, "This is great. Look at the position that I am in now." Verse 6. "At the banquet of wine, my favorite kind."

Listen, this seems to be the only kind of banquet they had in Persia in those days. Remember how many we've already talked about this? The party that the king had when Queen Vashti got deposed, people were all drunk. Here again, we've got a banquet of wine and the king said to Esther, "What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom, it shall be done."

Then Esther answered and said, "My petition and request is this. If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king had said." So here's what I would like. I'd like to throw another banquet for you and for Haman. And then at that banquet, I'll tell you why I ultimately came to see you.

She's really buttering him up for this request. But she's likely also letting him know that she didn't just come to him only because she needed something. She's honoring him. She's blessing him. Probably part of it was Persian protocol and hospitality, but she is being a very respectful wife who's going to make a big ask of the king. Granted, this big ask was necessary because he did something stupid. He listened to Haman and signed that decree in the first place.

But rather than attack him for this, she comes with much respect and she's deferential to him, understanding that men can struggle with big egos sometimes. She's setting this whole situation up. Whatever the exact reason is that she's going through this process, a lot is going to happen in the next 24 hours in this story. Because the rest of Chapter 5, all of Chapter 6 and 7, take place in a 24-hour period.

So a lot is getting ready to happen because God's still in control. She knows she doesn't have to be in a rush. She doesn't have to run down the road and make everything happen right now. She takes a couple of days to go through this process until she gets to the place where she can make this big ask. Why do I think that's important? Because every one of us has those times where we feel like we want God to do something and we want it absolutely now.

In many cases, we want it done yesterday. But the fact that God doesn't show up on our timetable does not mean that he's no longer in control. All of this book, the entirety of the book of Esther, is showing us how God works in what man thinks he's in control of to ultimately accomplish his purposes. Could it be that God might have more information about a situation than we do? Could it be that God knows maybe there's more time to deal with an issue than what we understand is our timetable?

Verse 9. "Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart." He's pumped. He's full of good food. He's probably a little sauced on good wine. Now he's thinking, "I get to do this again tomorrow. Man, they really like me." So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. Well, that escalated quickly.

Some people are just never happy. No matter how much they have, it's never enough. He's got all of these people, and he has to know that most of them are not trembling and bowing because of him, it's because of his position, which is a very different thing. He's got to know this, but he still has all of these people that would do whatever he commanded them to do, if nothing else because they feared how the king would respond if they didn't.

He's just been at the home of the most powerful man and most beautiful woman on the planet, having a meal, just the three of them. He's skipping and he's jumping and he's happy and he's smiling and he walks out and there's Mordecai and everything changes because he can't deal with it. Why not just ignore Mordecai? I mean, who is Mordecai that it would bother him? Mordecai is nothing at this point. Why not just walk by Mordecai? If you can't ignore him, why doesn't Haman just walk by with a smile and go, "Hey, Morty. Have you checked my Insta? I've got pictures of me with the king and the queen. Pix of me with the royals on there." Give him a little wink and keep on going.

How about all of the bling that the king had given to him? "Hey Mordecai, check out my bling." See, he can't even do that. The fact that Mordecai won't stand or bow to him is eating him alive. Nevertheless, verse 10, Haman restrained himself and went home. And he sent and he called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.

Just the kind of guy all of us love being around, right? "Hey everybody, come on over to my house. We're going to have a get-together. Now that you're here, did you hear about my new acquisition? Did you hear how wealthy I am?" Don't you just love people like that? Let me point out to you just how much stuff I have. Let me talk to you about how powerful I am. Let me tell you how successful my kids are.

By the way, I do have pictures of my grandchildren if anyone wants to see them after the service. While I'm at it, why don't I just name-drop a little bit? Verse 12. "Moreover Haman said, 'Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared, and tomorrow I am again invited by her along with the king.'" Like the king was an afterthought. I was invited, and yeah, the king's going to, she invited him too, but I kind of get the idea she'd just like to spend time with me.

That's the way he's presenting it to his friends. But look what happens, verse 13. He just can't get away from this. "Yet all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." Let me tell you how wealthy I am. Let me tell you how powerful I am. Let me tell you how well my kids are doing. And by the way, did you hear about the banquet I just attended? It was just me and the royals. But that dang Mordecai. I can't walk by him without it completely upsetting my entire life.

Verse 14. "Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, 'Let a gallows be made, 50 cubits high,'" 75 feet tall. "'And in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the banquet.'" So his wife says, sorry, says, "Let a gallows be made, 50 cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it."

The thing pleased Haman. She says, "Look, don't stress out. Just build a 75-foot tall gallows on the lawn and see if you can get the king to let you hang Mordecai on the front lawn. Then just go with the king and eat, drink, and be merry." He probably looked at her and said, "You're so awesome, honey. I knew there was a reason I married you. You really know how to kill a guy." I mean, this is insane. So he had the gallows made.

Now, this may or may not have been the kind of thing we think of when we think of a gallows, because it wasn't common for the Persians to hang someone by the neck. I don't think the history records that it never happened, but it wasn't common. Generally, the way that they executed someone was to impale them, to have them slowly slide down a pole until it killed them. It could have just been a 75-foot tall pole that he wanted Mordecai to slide down. Or it was a 75-foot pole that maybe once he died, they would hang him from, we're not really sure. But the idea is he erects something on his front lawn that is 75 feet tall, so that when he kills Mordecai, pretty much everyone in the neighborhood's going to see it. That's the idea.

So verse 1 of Chapter 6. "That night the king could not sleep." Now, he knows nothing of this at this point. King doesn't know this. So it's not that he can't sleep because of the decree that he signed, that's not bothering him. It's not because he knows Mordecai saved his life, he doesn't know that yet. It's not because he's worried about what might happen to Mordecai with Haman. We aren't told why he couldn't sleep. I will call it divine insomnia.

Because this could have been the night before that he couldn't sleep. It could have been the next night that he couldn't sleep. But God determined that it would be this night that he couldn't sleep because of the events that are about to take place. Now, I don't know how God orchestrates this kind of stuff. I don't know if he had an angel standing at the foot of the bed invisible to everybody else just kicking the bed every time Ahasuerus kind of dozed off.

But he couldn't sleep all night. "So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the Chronicles, and they were read before the king." Now, of all the things he could have done to try and get to sleep. You know, he's not counting sheep. Sometimes when I'm lying there and I can't get to sleep, which is very, very, very rare, usually it's about 10 seconds from head to pillow and I'm out. Really frustrates my wife.

There are times that usually it's after I've slept and I wake up and I'm like, "I don't want to get up this early." And so I start with my toes, just thinking about relaxing my toes and relaxing my feet and my ankle. Anybody else do that? You've heard of that technique? Some of you have. I think of all the things he could have done. He could have gone into the kitchen and gotten a glass of wine. He could have gotten some warm milk. He could have called for somebody from his harem. I mean, so many things he could have done.

But he says, and this is probably a good idea if you can't sleep, try reading government reports. So he has someone bring the Chronicles in to read to him so that he could try and go to sleep. But again, imagine what he's going to find that very night because he can't sleep. It was found, verse 2, written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers, who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

Of all the historical records of the Persians that they could have been reading to him, this night, before this next banquet, they're reading the one where Mordecai finds out about the plot to kill King Ahasuerus and they're reading that to him. What a coincidence. If you believe in that sort of thing. I prefer to call them God-incidents because that is exactly what is happening here. God is working this whole thing out.

So look what happens, verse 3. Then the king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him." Again, very unusual in the culture. That's why the king is like, "Well if this happened, why hasn't he been honored?" Nothing's been done.

So the king said, verse 4, "Who is in the court?" If you haven't read ahead, anyone want to guess who's out in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. Talk about bad timing for Haman. He's just come in to suggest that Mordecai be executed. He doesn't even get the chance.

The king's servant said to him, "Haman is there, standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in." So Haman came in and the king asked him, "What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" So before Haman even gets to say, "King, I've got a request. I'd like to murder Mordecai in my front yard." The king says, he doesn't even care what Haman's there for. "Hey, come in here. Have him come in here. Before you say anything, what would I do? What would you, you're my number two, what would you suggest that I do for somebody that I want to honor greatly?"

Haman thought in his heart, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?" Well, that's a narcissist. Arrogant, pompous individual. Haman answered the king, "For the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head." Interesting little piece of history annotated there. Persian artwork, and you've seen it most likely, Persian artwork from this time period portrayed the horses many times with crowns on their heads.

So interesting that the Bible, dealing historically with the time period, says "Bring a horse that the king has ridden on that has a royal crest on the head of this horse." Then, verse 9, "Let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor." Put all these clothes on him, let him have the horse.

"Then parade him on horseback through the city square and proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'" He doesn't say, "King, if you want to honor someone, buy him a beach house." Because that's what I would have said. He doesn't say give him tax exemption in the land. Why? Because Haman thinks it's him and he wanted this more than anything else, more than any beach house, more than tax exemption. Nothing mattered more than for him to be paraded in front of people and have everyone see that he's close to power.

There is something inherent within us that likes to be close to power. Watch what happens when a powerful person loses his position of power and how many hangers-on scatter. When you're in a position of power, you have unlimited friends. But when something happens and you lose that position in people's minds, you find out who your real friends are because everyone else scatters and you realize they just for some reason liked the proximity to power. Haman is like that. He thinks he's being the guy who's going to be honored. So he says what he would want. He would want to be paraded around as being an exceptional man and all the people ooh and aah and he can just visualize himself upon that horse.

Then the king said to Haman, and imagine Haman's anticipation. He's standing there and the king says, "Hurry." Okay, okay. "And take the robe." Yeah. "And the horse." Yeah, yeah, got it. "As you have suggested." Right. "And do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate." And Haman's head exploded. That's what we should be reading right here. Wait, what? Mordecai? "Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken."

Verse 11. "So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square and proclaimed before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'" Can you just imagine this? The guy who wouldn't stand in Haman's presence, now Haman comes to him and Mordecai stands so that Haman can put the robe on him and so that he can put his foot in the stirrup and get up onto the horse.

Haman has to parade Mordecai through the city and he had to convincingly act like he meant this and he's excited to honor Mordecai or the king might have had him executed. So he's not walking Mordecai through the street saying, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor." No, he's yelling it out like it's the greatest privilege in the world to honor Mordecai.

Afterward, verse 12, Mordecai went back to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house mourning and with his head covered. Now he doesn't even want to be seen by anybody. He's not checking his Twitter feed to see who might have put pics of this event up. #HamanFail. Yeah, he's not interested now. He doesn't want anybody to see him. When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, because they're probably gathered waiting for him to come with Mordecai so that he could kill him.

They're all gathered at the house, waiting for Haman to come back with a warrant for Mordecai's death so they can hang him on the gallows. So he tells them everything that had happened to him. His wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him." So as they are all gathered around to check on this, he tells them what happened and they're like, "Yeah, you're toast. This is not going to end well for you, Haman."

While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs came and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. He doesn't even have time to take down the gallows, which will become significant next week as we continue forward in our study. But here's the thing because this is all we have time for tonight and we will finish this up most likely in our next study next Thursday.

God is setting everything in position to save his people. I know this is going to sound repetitive from our last two studies in Esther and it's going to be repetitive when we talk about it again next week, but it's the entire point of the book. God is in control. No matter what Israel's enemies wanted to do in this situation to wipe out God's people, they ultimately were powerless.

For Mordecai and for Esther, when this decree first came down, they didn't see any way out of this. It did not feel like God was in control. When Mordecai finally figures out, well maybe Esther is in the position that she's in because she can intervene with the king and he sends word to her. She's like, "I can't do that. I can't just walk into the king." They have this back and forth and he's like, "Well Esther, God probably put you in this position for this moment."

But it didn't feel like it at first. It might not even feel like it yet. How many times in our own lives does it not look from the outside or feel from our inside like God's got this in control? But he always does. Hasn't he proven himself to us again and again and again that he's in control? And yet our human nature, our carnal nature, is so quick to jump to panic. Some new event happens and some new trial and some new struggle and some new something hits us, and it's so easy to lose sight of the fact that God is in control of the entire situation.

This weekend, our study in Matthew, Peter does that very thing. He trusts in the Lord, he gets his eyes off the Lord, puts his eyes back on the storm and he begins to sink in the process. You know the event. Like, "Well I don't have to come this weekend then." Yes, you do. So much more detail we'll cover.

God is in control of the lives of his people. Even working in the lives of those who are not his people in order to preserve those who are. So don't ever lose sight of that fact. No matter what we're going through, no matter what illness, no matter what struggle, no matter what event, when we think, "I just don't get it. This is really hard for many of us many times."

But we don't need to get it. We don't have to have all the details. We know the one who does. When we trust the one who does have all of the details, then we can just sit back and we can say, "Okay, I don't fully understand this Lord, and it does not feel good. I really honestly don't like how this looks right now and how this feels right now, but I trust that you've got this."

We come back to that place where we don't know what our future holds, but we definitely do know the one who holds our future. Amen? Father, you are that one and we declare that tonight in all of our struggles, in all of our temptations, in all of our frustrations and all of the things that are going on in our personal lives or maybe even in the life of our society and our culture that we just don't understand why you would let these things take place. Lord, we know you've got this.

We declare that tonight, whether we feel it or not, because that's where our faith comes into play. So Lord, where we struggle with faith in these things, Lord, we believe, help us in our unbelief. Lord, remind us that you've got the events of our lives in your hand. Remind us that you've got these things under control and teach us what it means to as your little children just reach up and grab the hand of our Abba, our Father, our Daddy, and trust you with these things.

Lord, you know our flesh, you know our frailty. You know that we're just made of dust. So Father, knowing that, you still provided your son for us. You provided your Holy Spirit to comfort us, to strengthen us, to be the one who walks with us. So Lord, may we learn what it means to trust in you and to rely upon you. We ask all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless you guys.