Smith, Daniel H: Avoiding The Pitfalls 05 ~ The Faithfulness Of God

A good morning to you all. Great to have the opportunity again to meet like this, greet one another, encourage one another, study the word together, sing these praises. Wonderful to know the mercies of God day by day, as I often think in the mornings of that statement that the prophet made so many, many, many years ago. So the Lord's mercies, he said, we're not consumed. And passions fail not, they are renewed day by day. Tremendous to know a faithful God. The very issue we want to focus on today, because this morning we're looking again at another one of those biblical occasions in which God called an individual to take a spiritual inventory. And here, the first month of a new year now, appropriate time to think about inventories, and particularly spiritual inventories. As I said, I'm impressed as I read through the scriptures how often God directed, or in this case, as we're going to see it this morning, commanded a spiritual inventory. And it'll be good for us to take that spiritual inventory along with Jacob. We're going to read today from the Old Testament, the Genesis chapter twenty eight to begin with, a few verses from this chapter, and then we will go over to chapter thirty five. Because, you know, inventory always has the before and after concept. First of all, Genesis chapter twenty eight, beginning in verse eighteen. You recall he had just had the dream, the vision of the ladder up to heaven. So Jacob arose early in the morning. He took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top, and he called the name of that place Bethel. However, previously the name of the city had been Luz. And Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me, will keep me on this journey, I take that he will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house, and of all that thou dost give me, I will surely give a tenth to thee. Now over to chapter thirty five, just a few pages over in your Bible, reading the opening section of this chapter, beginning with verse one. Then God said to Jacob, arise and go up to Bethel. There's the command of God. Go back to Bethel. Live there, make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments. Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, the rings which were in their ears, Jacob hid them under the oak which is near Shechem. And as they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them. They did not pursue after J- sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, that is to Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, and he built an altar there and called on the pla- called the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel at the under the oak, and it was named Alon Bakut. And God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Padan-Arab and blessed him, and God said to him, your name is Jacob, you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. Thus he called him. God also said to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you. Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him, and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a libation on it. He also poured oil on it. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. Let's end our reading there. Take a moment to seek God's blessing. Guide us now, our Father, we pray. Give us understanding as we turn to the scriptures. You have said the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and we confess there is that which is natural in all of us. Give us, by your Spirit, an understanding of the Word of God. Speak to our hearts according to our need, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the very vivid memories of my youth was that our family was waiting for a man, actually my mother's cousin, to return from military duty in the Second World War. Uh, this man had been in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater and was in all of those great conflicts as we, uh, regained control of island by island in the theater in the Pacific. And particularly, we had heard some incredible stories of his experiences in Iwo Jima and the difficulty, the horror of that military conflict. And so we were waiting, I particularly as a teenager, oh, started with stars in my eyes waiting for this handsome, broad-shouldered hero to come home after the war. To our great surprise, when he came back, he would say nothing about the war. Nothing. In fact, it was years before we learned any of the details of his experience and all of those difficulties. And I suppose there were a number of factors that led to his silence. But one of them became apparent, and I remember an occasion a number of years later, in talking with him, in which he frankly confided in me that, uh, there was a time when he thought he was dead. One night in a foxhole in Iwo Jima, and bombs and shells were blasting all around, and he considered, even though he had been in combat before, that he would never live through that night. And in a foxhole on that sandy beach, he had made a vow to God. Now, here was a young man that had a father who was a militant atheist. In fact, his father was an executive officer in the Association for the Advancement of Atheism in America. An angry, bitter, difficult man. And yet, this young man also had relatives who knew Christ, and he had heard the gospel many, many times. And in the extremity of that night, thinking that he would not live through the night, he had made a vow to God that if he lived through that night, that he would give his heart to Christ. Well, the fact of the matter is he did live through that night. In fact, he's still alive today. But to my knowledge, he has never given his heart to Christ. And I suppose it may have been that that was one of the major reasons why, when he returned, he didn't want to talk about, he didn't want to think about, and he certainly was not going to tell stories about his experience in the military. And I have often wondered how many nights since then the Spirit of God may have reminded him of his unkept vow that night. On the other side of the coin, I think of about two months ago, a conversation I had with my four-year-old uh granddaughter. She had just had the story of Jacob's ladder in her Sunday school. And she was telling me about this man who used a stone for his pillow, and while he slept, he had a dream about a ladder going up to heaven and angels on the ladder. And this four-year-old granddaughter was telling me enthusiastically about this, which she was learning, apparently for the first time, the story of Jacob and his dream and the ladder up to heaven. And I reminded her, I said, you know, Bethany, that the man who had that dream many years later came back to that very same place, to that very same stone, because he had made a promise to God. Based upon God's faithfulness to him, and God was faithful to him, and he came back to that very stone. Well, I'm not sure she got that, because she was still talking about the ladder and the angels and all of that. But as we've seen in the scripture today, the word of God teaches us that there was a significant time in Jacob's life when he was in great distress. He was leaving his father's home and his mother, whom he dearly loved. He was leaving because his life was at stake. His brother was plotting his murder, and ostensibly he was traveling up to Padan Aram to find a believing wife because they lived in a pagan community and there were no God-fearing women around there. And that was the, that was the given reason for his trip, but the real reason was he was fleeing for his life. And as you see the narrative, the scripture, God reminds him that again and again and again, that the real thing that motivated that trip, that sudden exodus from Palestine, was he was fleeing for his life. And God met Jacob that night as he slept with a stone as his pillow and gave him a great revelation in that dream, the ladder going up to heaven. And you will notice the language very carefully that the angels were ascending and descending, not descending and ascending. The first thing he saw was angels ascending and descending, which means that they obviously were with him to begin with. That re- that dream revealed the fact of God's presence with Jacob. He had sent his angels to be with him. It was a revelation of the presence of God, and that's why the next morning Jacob said, surely the Lord is in this place. And that's why his vow had to do with the presence of God in his life. And you see he was saying if, you see that there in chapter twenty eight, you might want to turn back again, if God will be with me and keep me. Ha ha. Jacob had learned an important lesson that day, that the presence and the keeping power of God in his life was all important. And so here was his great desire, that this gracious presence and keeping power of God would continue. And while he didn't know what lay ahead, because he was going into strange territory where he had never been before, fleeing his home and his country, fleeing for his life. He knew one thing, he had enough spiritual sense to know that the important thing was the presence and the faithfulness of God. That was his concern. And it's very interesting that years later, after God had demonstrated his faithfulness, had not only protected him and given him the clothing and the food and the protection that he had desired, but gave him much, much more. Gave him a family, gave him wealth, gave him so much. And then God said, Jacob, you need to go back to Bethel. Why? Why did God send Jacob back to Bethel? Well, he had made a promise there. He had learned an important spiritual lesson there. He had learned not only the reality of God's presence with him, but he had learned the importance and the urgency of God's presence and protection. And at this strategic time in his life, the living God knew that Jacob needed to get back to Bethel and review, take an inventory of God's dealings in his life. Now, the interesting thing is, as we see this happening in verse chapter thirty five, that an issue became apparent in this time of inventory, Jacob anticipating going back now where he had set up that stone that he had slept on, and under the command of God returning there to review the faithfulness of God in his life. And remember, he tells his family, he says, I'm going to make an altar there, and because God answered me in the day of my distress, and he's been with me wherever I have gone. So Jacob understood why God commanded him to go back to Bethel. Jacob understood the real essence of that spiritual inventory. God was reminding him that he was faithful, the faithfulness of God. Let's pause there a moment. Have you ever done this? Could it be that in your life and mine, that it would be appropriate from time to time to take a spiritual inventory and to reflect upon the faithfulness of God. In your life, are there any tokens of God's faithfulness? Oh. The very fact you're here today, the very fact I'm here today, is evidence of the faithfulness of God. Do you have a hope that goes beyond this life? Have you enjoyed a sense of God's blessing and presence in your life? The faithfulness of God, how important it is, how appropriate it is. And while we may not get on a jet plane and go all the way back to Bethel, it is very vital, I think, for the people of God at regular intervals to pause and reflect upon the faithfulness of God. As I was saying, the prophet Jeremiah apparently did this every morning. He said, morning by morning, every morning he had a spiritual inventory, and every morning he came up with the same conclusion, God is faithful. And mind you, that was amid great difficulties, because at the time Jeremiah penned those words, Jerusalem was under siege. The Jewish people were about to be massacred. A Holocaust was descending upon him and the people around him. It was a dark, dark hour in history, and it was a dark hour in his own personal history. And in spite of all of that, every morning, Jeremiah had a spiritual inventory and came to the same conclusion. God is faithful. And we praise him. We honor him. We bless him for that. And Jacob had enough spiritual sense to know that when God put a command upon him, Jacob, back to Bethel, friend, Jacob knew why he needed to go back, and so he told his family, here's what's going to happen there. I'm going to build an altar, and I'm going to build an altar and sacrifice to God who heard me and who has been with me and has been with me in distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. Marvelous to know a faithful God. And I look at a world around me that is without God and without hope, and I don't care about whatever pomp or circumstance they may have. I don't care whatever wealth and clout they may have in life. I wouldn't trade places with them for all the tea and china. There is no substitute for going through life knowing the faithfulness of God. Now, the specific thing I want to point out from this passage in chapter thirty five is that on this occasion of a spiritual inventory, an issue surfaced. An issue surfaced. And interestingly enough, as I read the chapters in between and all of these incredible things that happened in the life of Jacob. Ah, what a story. The family life of Jacob blows my mind. Uh, there was polygamy there, there were, oh, there, there, what a complex family. How, what a complex family situation. In fact, it's very interesting that in the whole record of Jacob's family life, and a lot is told us about Jacob's family over a lot of chapters of scripture. There is only, for example, one recorded incidence of harmony. Tremendous conflicts, but there's only one recorded instance of harmony in the family life of Jacob, and that was the decision to leave the in-laws, and it was probably a good one. But there are so many things that I, that's only one of many, many, many things that I find in these intervening chapters. A tremendously, uh, complex situation in the life of Jacob. Uh, there are things that happen to him that, even though the Bible records them very carefully, I'm not sure I understand the significance of that. Uh, but it is apparent that of all the things that had been going on in his life, and of all of the complexity that he brought on himself in this polygamous marriage relationship, the deceit of his father-in-law, and on and on and on, at this time of spiritual inventory, there is one issue that came to the surface. We read about it. What was that issue? The issue of idolatry. The issue of idolatry. You know, it's interesting, when you do an inventory, you find things you may not have expected to find. Hm? I remember one time we did an inventory. I told you about doing an inventory every year in our correspondence school. And boy, the, the, the storage of the, the inventory of correspondence courses we have is really a bit awesome. I mean, we bring these things in on skids with a, with a fork truck. We, we go through almost a half million courses a year out of our Dubuque office, just in English. And that doesn't include the hundreds and hundreds of thousands in French and in Spanish and one hundred and sixteen languages we're dealing with. But at Dubuque, we only handle courses in English, and we go through almost a half million a year. Do you know how many boxes it takes to house a half million study courses? Rather astounding. And, uh, you do an inventory, and it's amazing what you will find. In fact, um, back in late December, we were doing an inventory, they found some courses somewhere back in there that were pretty old. They'd been there a long, long time. In fact, they were turning yellow. In fact, we recycled them. It's amazing what you will find when you do an inventory. And now Jacob comes to Bethel to do an inventory, and the issue that surfaces on the page of scripture is the issue of idolatry. Notice he called for his family. It was a pretty big entourage at the time. He had wives, he had children, he had servants, and he called for them to purify themselves. He called for them to put away any idols, any foreign gods that were in their lives, to purify themselves. And sure enough, they came up with some. Verse four. There were some foreign gods there, but these pagan rings that they had, it's interesting how our appearance many times betrays our spiritual condition. I'm thinking of a nephew of ours who, though he was saved earlier in life, got away from the Lord and had a few difficult years that he put himself through. And when the Lord got a hold of him and turned his life around, he began to be serious about spiritual things. He asked us if he could come and live at our home while he started to study at Emmaus. Didn't think he was ready for the dormitory situation. He was an older fellow. And it's interesting how he has struggled with some of the external things. It's interesting how, as the Lord has dealt with him in the last several years, which I'm praise God he does, uh, how he has recognized that some of the things, the outward things, like his hair and like his clothing and all that, are really symbols of his former condition and his former way of rebellious life. And it's very interesting. Now, our society doesn't recognize this, but it seems very apparent, this is one of those passages of scripture, that the condition of your heart is often reflected in your external appearance. It's interesting. But there was an inventory here, and they needed to put away these foreign gods and the symbols of their paganism and these rings, and uh, Jacob took them and buried them. Buried them. And of course, they journeyed on to Bethel, and there we ver- see in verse seven, he built an altar because their God had revealed himself to him years before. And Jacob came back to honor that God is faithful. But again, the point I want to make here is that this inventory caused a problem to surface that Jacob needed to deal with in his family, and it was the problem of idolatry. Now, the Bible has a lot to say about idolatry. Let's define it. I've looked at a number of definitions of idolatry, and probably the one that is simple and satisfies the biblical narrative is that idolatry is devotion toward any person or object other than the living God. Devotion toward any person or any object other than the living God. That's idolatry. And we know that idolatry has been a part of human history. For example, Paul tells us in Romans chapter one that there was a time when the human race knew God. Adam and Eve certainly knew God. They had had direct face-to-face dealings with him. And Paul tells us that there has been a process in human history from way back when they knew God, but something happened to the human race. And he describes in Romans chapter one some steps downward and steps away from God. It's significant to know that one of the first steps away was ingratitude. When they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful. One of the first steps away from God is ingratitude, and so on. But Paul describes that downward movement of the human race, and eventually he says, and they made for themselves images in the likeness of sinful man and beasts and creepy crawly things, and, and, and he describes for us that human propensity in moving away from God to move toward idols. The Bible everywhere ratifies the fact that this is really the option of the human race. It's either the true God or it's idols. Remember, years and years later, the Apostle Paul, when the Spirit of God moved him to sit down and write that first letter to the Thessalonians, he's reflecting upon what happened when he and his team went into Thessalonica, proclaimed the gospel, and these people got saved. And Paul says, and I reflected on how the fact, how you turned to God from idols. And it's always so. You turn to God, you of necessity turn from idols. But this is the propensity of the human race, Paul says, to turn from God to idols. Uh, there was idolatry in Israel. Oh my. Read the history of Israel through the pages and pages of the Old Testament, how often there was a problem in the nation of idolatry. One of the great struggles of God with his ancient people. In fact, God told them that this really is spiritual adultery. He appealed to them, and he chided them, and he sent his prophets, and he rebuked them and chastised them again and again and again for their idolatry. And there are times when I've read through the Old Testament, as I do at regular intervals, and and marvel at how readily these ancient people of God turned back again and again to idolatry, to idolatry. And I find myself saying, didn't they have enough sense? You'd think they would have had enough sense not to turn to idolatry. And yet it was the story of the ancient people of Israel. By the way, one of the great things that God accomplished in those years of captivity in Babylon, he rooted out of the people of Israel some very great problems that, interestingly enough, have never resurfaced, and one of them was the problem of idolatry. Prior to that Babylonian captivity, God was again and again and again and again rebuking his people because of their idolatry. But once they came through that first Holocaust, and in, in their seventy years over there in Babylon, when God brought them back under Ezra and Zerubbabel and those who brought them back into the land, you know, the interesting thing is, from that day on, the Jewish people have never been an idolatrous people. They've had their problems, but they've never been an idolatrous people. In fact, historians tell us that when General Titus, the Roman general who brought the army of Rome in to reconquer Jerusalem in seventy AD. They couldn't believe how tenaciously these Jews fought them, and they were looking forward to the day when they could break into that city. And one of the things that Titus said he was personally looking forward to, he wanted to get into that Jewish temple and see the Jewish God because he wanted to know what kind of a God would make people that fanatical. And historians tell us that when he walked into the Holy of Holies in the temple there and found an empty room, he stood in a state of shock. See, he was an idolater. He was looking for some idol to represent the Jewish God, and there was nothing there, nothing there. To this day, the Jewish people have not been an idolatrous people. God that rooted that out of their, their history very thoroughly in that captivity in Babylon. But it was a problem in Israel through history. Uh, the interesting thing is that there must, of course, also be an observation that we make in the scriptures that it's been a problem in the church. Do you believe that? It has. Uh, think with me for a minute. Acts chapter fifteen, that first so-called great council in Jerusalem. One of the significant things that came out of the council of Jerusalem, you might want to turn there, in Acts chapter fifteen. was a statement about idols. And one of the conclusions that they came to in that, in that council, as you see it in Acts chapter fifteen and verse twenty, is that, uh, write these things to the church, that they abstain from things contaminated by idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled and blotted. So right at the beginning of the history of the church, they had to deal with the issue of idolatry and the contamination of the people of God through idolatry. As we saw in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he said, this is really something that I remember going back there to Thessalonica, how you turned to God from idols. The pagan world, the idolatrous world, ah, when Christ came into their lives, when the gospel came to them, Paul summarizes it by saying you turn to God from idols. Uh, we read that the early Christians, um, struggled with this in another way. We see, for example, in Galatians chapter five and verse twenty, that Paul lists their idolatry as one of the deeds of the flesh. You thumb over a few pages back in your Bible, and you will find Paul saying to the Corinthians in First Corinthians six that idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God. In fact, Paul tells the Colossians chapter three and verse five, that greed is idolatry. You know, we don't see it that way. When I think of idolatry, I think of some other country in the world where people come before some hideous idol, wooden or stone or something, to rub his tummy or to bring food or something, you see? That's what I think of, but Paul says, wait a minute, greed is idolatry. And then, of course, pers- Paul says in Ephesians five that a covetous person is an idolater. And then there are some other very subtle statements in the New Testament about the problem of it. We're doing a spiritual inventory here, folks, so hang with me here. That, that, uh, in Romans chapter one we see a class, go there, if you will. Take a minute to turn back to Romans chapter one. We were looking at the statement of verse twenty three where Paul describing the ancient history of man is that they went down, down, down, down, down, their hearts were darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of... first thing he mentions. Creepy crawly things? No, no. Corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and crawly creatures. Notice the first thing he mentions in idolatry is an image in the form of corruptible man. And if you read on into the next chapter, chapter two, you will find in verse eight that Paul tells us that the darkest form of idolatry is the idolatry of self. Uh, probably greed is an unrecognized form of idolatry, uh, but self is perhaps the darkest form of idolatry. By the way, it's the idolatry of our society. See, now we don't, like some other nations, have religions that have images and statues that are worshipped. We don't have that much in our land. The idolatry of the Western world is the idolatry of self, which Paul describes, I say, in J- in Romans chapter two as the darkest form of idolatry. Uh, he's talking about humanism here, folks. Which is the ethical construct of our whole Western world, humanism, that holds man as the highest being. We are the most advanced in the evolutionary chain. So says our society, and a man is therefore the highest being, and therefore man is the end of everything, according to our humanistic society. And we even have Christian forms of humanism. I see that term. To me, Christian humanism is really like talking about Christian fornication or Christian embezzlement. Uh, the words don't go together. It's an oxymoron. But I find that expression used. But Paul warns us in this word that really self is the darkest form of idolatry, the idolatry of our Western world. Uh, we're told in First Corinthians five that we shouldn't associate with a brother if he's an idolater. Ooh, that's interesting. And then there are a number of direct warnings. Let me just thumb through them. First Corinthians ten. Look there. Just a quick review here. We're doing an inventory here now, very similar to that which Jacob did. And notice he says in First Corinthians ten and verse seven, and do not be idolaters. See, who's he writing this to? Church at Corinth. And he says, and do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. And what he tells us here is that in ancient Israel, one of the things that happened in their idolatry was their carousings, their revelries, because associated with idolatry, there is also some form of revelry and carousing. Ah, Paul says, don't be. Uh, go to verse fourteen where he says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Who's he writing this to? Pagans? No, he's writing this to the church at Corinth. Therefore, beloved, flee from idolatry. Now go to second Corinthians chapter six, just a few pages over, and you will see the appeal of the apostle in verse sixteen. What agreement has the temple of God with idols, he says? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their God, and there shall, they shall be my people. I, not idols, said the living God. Uh, go to, uh, First Peter chapter four and notice a statement there made again to the people of God. First Peter four and verse three. For the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality and lust and drunkenness, carousal, drinking, farce, and abominable idolatry. That idolatry was once a part of your life, Peter says, uh, but no, no longer. Uh, First John five and verse twenty one, we see the apostle here concluding his whole epistle with this appeal, little children, guard yourselves from idols. Well, those are enough, and there are more references in the scripture to remind us that we, in doing a spiritual inventory, need to also assess the focal point of our lives. Because in the final analysis, this is the issue of idolatry. We defined idolatry as devotion toward any person or object other than the living God. And like Jacob, I think it's good for us, the people of God, to often pause, and in searching our heart in the presence of God, in the presence of the word of God, to say, what is really the focus of my life. To what am I devoted? What really is central? What really has seized our affections? What really is important to me? What really is? And it's very easy to come up with someone or something other than the living God, isn't it? Very easy. I was talking to one of our Emmaus students the other day. He is very much taken up with a certain young lady, and wow, their relationship is, is all important to him these days. And it's interesting, he was telling me, he said, you know, he said he was talking with enthusiasm about this wonderful relationship he has. His statement was, I, I'm very uncomfortable when I hear any teaching about the rapture of the church because he says, ah, he says, there are so many wonderful things I'm looking forward to. I hope the Lord will wait a little while. Wait a little while. I don't often hear people who are brave enough to say that, but here he was in the exuberance of youth and, and in all his Twitterpation with this young lady. I hope the Lord will wait a while, will wait a while, because there are things in his life that are very important now. And if he were to be whisked away to glory, which most of us anticipate very eagerly, it would sort of spoil things for him. Jesus to have someone or something that really becomes the focal point of our personal devotion. One of the reasons I think why we need to read in the Psalms very often. To me, one of the great things that I derive in reading in the Psalms is to experience vicariously and then personally the focus of one's life on the living God. I love, for example, to read in David's Psalm one hundred and three, Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. As David, by the Spirit, turns his heart to the living God and all of his blessings. You see, that's what Jacob did at Bethel. He said to his family, look, the Lord has commanded me to go back to Bethel. I've been there before. There's a stone there, and at one time that stone was my pillow, and it was there that the living God made me aware of his presence in my life, and I made some promises to him. But what was important was not my promises to him, but the fact that he said he would be faithful to me, and he has been. And so I'm going back. So let's clean house here. Let's look to our lives. Let's get things refocused, because God has been faithful, and it's time for us to get back to Bethel. Good exercise of heart, friends, and I trust that you and I, at regular intervals, will refocus our hearts, refocus our lives, acknowledge afresh the faithfulness of God. And honor him and worship him as we should. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful today. Grateful that we, like Jacob, can acknowledge that God has been faithful to all of his promises. We thank you, O God, that whether or not we keep our promises, in a sense, is beside the point. We listen to the apostles say, though we are often unfaithful, yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. We thank you, O God, that you are infinitely faithful. We thank you that you have kept all of your promises. We thank you, Father, that you have dealt with us so bountifully in grace and love and mercy. What a God. What a Savior. And in this hour again, we would quiet our hearts and speak to you with joy and delight and devotion. You have been with us. You have met us in all of our needs. You have cleansed us and washed us and forgiven us. You have brought us into the family of God freely by your grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You have demonstrated the fact that you never leave nor forsake your own. And we realize that we, like Jacob, sometimes have put ourselves through a very, very unusual combination of circumstances by our decisions, by our actions, sometimes wise, sometimes not too wise. But through it all, you're a faithful God, and we give you our thanks. In Jesus' name.