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Text from Ecclesiastes 12
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Text from Ecclesiastes 12
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The speaker invites the audience to stand for the reading of Scripture and introduces the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. They express gratitude for the study and apologize for any shortcomings in their communication. The passage talks about the signs of aging and the inevitability of death. The speaker emphasizes the importance of remembering God and keeping His commandments. They summarize the main points covered in the study of Ecclesiastes and mention that the next sermon series will be on the book of James. The speaker concludes by encouraging further discussion and reflection on the teachings of Ecclesiastes. Amen. I invite you to stand, please, for the reading of Scripture. We are in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. Everybody say, yay! Now, it's been a good study. I hope you've enjoyed this study. And I thank you for putting up with my efforts, my inadequate efforts communicating it to you. But today we're in chapter 12. Solomon writing the text, this is God's Word. When the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades. When men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint. When men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets. When the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire is no longer stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets. Remember him before the silver cord is severed or the golden bowl is broken, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring or the wheel is broken at the well and the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Meaningless, meaningless, says the teacher. Everything is meaningless. Not only was the teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The teacher searched to find just the right words and what he wrote was upright and true. The words of the wise are like goads. I'm sorry, my screen here just went nuts. I apologize. The words of the wise are like goads. They're collected sayings like firmly embedded nails. Given by one shepherd. Be warned my son of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard. Here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment including every hidden thing. Whether it is good or evil. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. So our sermon series Ecclesiastes. How to embrace the fallen world. The fallen world among us. We live in it. It's here. This is what we're a part of. This is the truth that we know. How to embrace it. Today's message entitled Everything matters. And here's how we'll study the text. Verses 1 through 8. We look at the weakness of the world's wisdom in the light of truth. Verses 9 through 12. We'll study in defense of Solomon's words. Verses 13 and 14. It's the conclusion of the matter. Then we'll take a look, a quick look at what do we learn from Ecclesiastes. And then finally we'll see Jesus in Ecclesiastes. Now just to give you a bit of a heads up, as this is the end of our study of Ecclesiastes, next week we will find ourselves back in the New Testament. We'll begin a study in the book of James. So that's where we'll start next week. We've come to this morning to the final message in the book of Ecclesiastes. And as I said before, I hope you've enjoyed this study. I found it a challenge to preach through it. Certainly if you want to discuss any of the things that we've covered over these weeks, corner me somewhere. Buy me a cup of coffee down at the coffee shop. I'd love to discuss this with you further. To properly jump into Ecclesiastes chapter 12, let's do a bit of a recap. Let's look back as to where we've been, some of the real estate that we've covered over these weeks. Our study which began all the way back on April 23rd when we first started looking at this text. Recall these highlights, the wisdom that has been imparted to us through Solomon. We've looked back at the beginning of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 13. I devoted myself to study and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. And then we looked at chapter 3 verse 1. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. We looked at chapter 5 verse 1. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Chapter 5 verse 2. Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven, you are on earth, so let your words be few. Chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. Consider what God has done. Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, consider God has made the one as well as the other. Chapter 7 verse 29. This only have I found. God made man upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes. Chapter 8 verses 12 and 13. Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men who are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. Chapter 9 verse 1. So I reflected on all this, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands. Chapter 11 verse 5. As you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things. This is the path that Solomon has brought us through during this time of study. With all this background, chapter 12 therefore begins with this statement, this basic fundamental statement of the wisdom of Solomon, the wisdom of God through Solomon, and it is this. Remember your creator. Remember your creator. Now this title that Solomon is using for God is not new. Its origins are found of course in the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The first thing that God's word reveals to us about God is that He is the creator. He is the one who created. Now you and I can certainly create things. We can provide a product or a service or an idea or we can manage a project. I still marvel at individuals like my grandfather who by himself, and I mean by himself, built a house. He built a new house in the spot where the old farmhouse stood before it had burned to the ground. And he did this while still tending to that year's crop in the field, and he did this while moving his family for that time into the chicken coop. And he built a house. I don't know how many nails would I have to buy. I have no idea. I don't know where to begin, but my grandfather knew, and he built a house. I don't know if we have, of course there were many, many others back in that day who could do that then. I don't know if we have more than a precious few who could do that now. I wouldn't even pretend to say that I could do that, other than maybe with like Lincoln Logs or Legos. But beyond that, it's not going to happen for me. But my grandfather, and also you and I, can only create with materials that already exist. When God created, there were no materials. He created everything out of nothing. He designed it all. He shaped and formed it all, and he maintains and sustains it all. Now Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 describes the work that God undertook. And because of this, Solomon and a few others articulate the title that they've given to God as creator. We call him the creator because, of course, he is the creator. He's not merely a creator, he is the creator. Recall how the prophet Isaiah reverenced God as bearing the title of creator, the creator. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28, Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Or Isaiah 43 verse 1, But now thus says the Lord, your creator, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43 verse 15, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. Now we note especially in the second and third reference here from Isaiah that beyond being the creator, the prophet articulated the relationship between the creator and the people whom he has created. Isaiah said, thus says the Lord, your creator. I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. God's word is keen to declare and to demonstrate the relationship between God and man. God is your creator, God is my creator. And what a blessing it is to know that we enjoy this connection, this relationship to God. Certainly reminds me of the extent of the authority that God possesses over all things, and that God possesses over you and me. He is the creator, but He is your creator, and He is my creator. And the call and command here is that we remember our creator. The call to remember here is not merely to recall certain information about God, or to take the time to perhaps think back about God, or to reminisce concerning His work of creation. Those things are all good, but before that, beyond that, the call before you and me is that we would then worship our creator, and we would serve our creator all our days, thereby we would glorify our creator in everything we do. This is what it means to remember our creator. The apostle Peter makes reference to this as he describes for us how we would continue to relate and engage with our creator. 1 Peter 4, verse 19, Peter wrote, Therefore, let those who also suffer according to the will of God, well, that's all of us, let those who suffer according to the will of God, entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. Entrust their souls. When we find ourselves in the struggle, when we find ourselves in the suffering, when we find ourselves in the midst of the difficulty and the darkness of this world, when the weight of our own sin is too much to bear, the command here is to do this, entrust our soul to a faithful creator. Entrust our souls to a faithful creator. Don't turn our back on God, we're going to turn to Him in the midst of the difficult times that face us. And thus we heed the call of God's word, the command of God's word, declared through Solomon, remember your creator. Now it's important to see this, then, in the introduction, as the phrase here at the beginning of chapter 12, in verse 1, acts as a connection between chapter 11 and then chapter 12. Recall last week we read of Solomon offering his wisdom along two lines of thought, first in chapter 11, verses 1 through 6. Solomon used the imagery of agriculture, of farming, as a metaphor for our work in the kingdom of God. Verse 4 depicted this well, as Solomon teaches, Solomon wrote, whoever watches the wind will not plant, whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If a farmer is to be successful, he must follow what all farmers understand as the seasonal calendar. There is a time to plant, and there is a time to uproot, so Solomon writes. And for those who have a crop in the field, in the hope of a harvest, when it is time to plant, it is time to plant. And when it's time to harvest, it's time to harvest. That's how farmers work. God, our Creator, has set the seasons in place, and they work as we expect them to. And God has also set the growth of a crop in place. A seed needs to be in the dirt, and there the combination of water and air and sunlight and heat and barometric pressure and wind and a little thing called photosynthesis works just the way the Creator has designed each one of those things to work. And with some variation, hydroponics, for example, coming to mind, this is how we grow a crop. And the farmer has to work according to God's plan. Even though Solomon admits in chapter 11, verse 5, when he says, no one understands the work of God, the plan that God has put in place. So we really don't know how it works, but we do understand that it works. And the farmer works according to the plans put in place by God, the Creator. And then last week, verses 7-10, we were then reminded of the stark reality. Life itself, our life, has a limit. Verse 8 says, So creation in general operates within limits devised and assigned by the Creator. And then more specifically, we operate within the limits devised and assigned by our Creator. The limit Solomon focuses on, the limit of the years of our life. And this, of course, is indicative of the truth that everything about us, everything about our lives, rests under and abides under the will and direction and the plan and the purpose of the sovereign and holy God. God is the Creator, and you and I, all people, or everything in the universe, all fall under the heading of creation. So we are to remember your Creator, the One who has created and ordered the world, and the One who has created and ordered us. Now with that, we look at the text again today in chapter 12, verse 1. Remember your Creator. And we engage in the first section of verses here in chapter 12. And here, as you all know, we find some of the most dramatic and amazing prose ever declared by man. This is a tremendous passage. And certainly challenging for us beyond that, challenging in a number of ways. For we see here Solomon declaring a vision of the future, the future for his children who will rule and place over Israel, but also the future for all of God's children and the future for this world. Here it is, right in this text. But beware, my friends, for here we will certainly see the weakness of the world's wisdom in the light of truth. Chapter 12, verse 1. When the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few and those looking through the windows grow dim, when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades, when men rise up at the sound of birds but all their songs grow faint, when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets, when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along, the desire is no longer stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and the moaners go about the streets. Remember him before the silver cord is severed or the golden bowl is broken, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Solomon here reminds the readers that each person, during their youth, is to establish and grow in a true and faithful relationship with God, establish patterns of understanding and behavior, develop rhythms of worship and conduct, engage in this way while you're young and this will serve you well as you travel through life. I'd like to say I wish I had known that when I was young. Of course it was right here all along and I looked right at it and I ignored it anyway and I wish I had learned those lessons but here they are. Now from this vantage point of course, tragedy awaits. And do we not see this played out in several ways? So what is it that Solomon is pointing us to? What is he making reference to in this section of chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes? Well, with regard to Solomon's lineage and the continuation of the Davidic kingdom, we know that the days of trouble are ahead for the line of David, the line of Solomon. After the death of Solomon, you know that his son Rehoboam is to ascend to the throne. But as we read in 1 Kings, as we read in 2 Chronicles, the ten northern tribes of Israel rebel against Rehoboam and establish their own kingdom with Solomon's son Jeroboam as king. So they're dividing the people of God and bringing to an end the united monarchy which was over all of God's people. Dark days. And those dark days lead to these dark days. This leads, of course, to the eventual conquering of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., followed by the Babylonian conquest of the southern kingdom, and the destruction of Jerusalem, and that was in 586 B.C. Dark days. Recall the words of the prophet Jeremiah after the Babylonians were finished with Jerusalem. This is Lamentations chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations. She finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in a bitter anguish. Certainly, these must be the days of trouble of which Solomon speaks. Houses, which once were occupied with growing families, have become empty and begin to fall apart. Commerce in the community ceases, and the worship of God ceases, and so the city streets are eerily quiet, and yet crime is on the increase. We read verses 6 and 7 of our text, and it seems that everything is falling apart all around. Are these not the days of trouble? Another way, of course, in which we see this vision playing out, where we see the days of trouble, is in our world today. Talk about everything falling apart. We cannot help but notice that our culture and society in this world is collapsing before our very eyes. Things that were always understood as sin are now lauded as virtue, and the degradation forced upon us on a continual basis is truly abysmal. And I use the word abysmal with every intent and purpose. Now the keepers of the house tremble, as Ecclesiastes writes, as Solomon writes. Now the keepers of the house tremble, now the strong men stoop. When men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets, it seems that the years have approached, the years we look at and we say, I find no pleasure in them, which is what we say now. We look at the garbage going on in our world and we say, I find no pleasure in any of this. Certainly these days, too, are the days of trouble. But, you know, there's more, because personally we also face the days of trouble, and we see them in our own lives. First, the difficulties and the challenges that we face of health, of finances, of relationships. These things are burdens. These things bring us challenge. These things sometimes bring us pain or anxiety. These are days of trouble. But then, of course, there's something even deeper, is there not? Sin no longer reigns over the believer, and yet sin remains. Sin that we had hoped would fade into the distance, and yet sin that still clings. Perhaps we had hoped that we would shed this sin before we go meet our Creator, that we could shed it and be away with it and be done with it, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that this is not how the matter of our sin is going to conclude. The days of trouble. Now there's one more way in which Solomon's vision will come to pass. One more way in that the days of trouble will appear in this world. And we notice the language here in verse 2 of our text. Now where in Scripture have we read this before? Where have we seen this kind of language previously in our study of God's Word? Well, we've seen it in Revelation. Remember a couple of years ago when we studied Revelation, right, recall this Revelation study of a couple of years ago. We discovered, we discussed that Revelation primarily communicates what we call eschatology. That's a big, long word. We pay a lot of money for that at seminary so we can throw it around and sound intelligent. But Revelation communicates what's called eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the last things, or the study of the last days. And when we studied Revelation, we discovered that throughout our study was that eschatology is not limited to the book of Revelation. But in fact eschatology is found throughout the Bible. And it's found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It's everywhere. You can't go anywhere in the Bible and not find something about a study of the last days, something about eschatology. For example, we read Psalm 23, and in Psalm 23 we have an example of David's eschatology. Remember the last verse of Psalm 23 when David says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David doesn't, of course, say how this is going to come about, but he knows that it will. And although he is a king who lives in a palace made by man, he knows he will one day reside with God's people in God's house. That's an example of David's eschatology. So we can comprehend this passage, Ecclesiastes 12, verses 1-8, as a contribution of Solomon's eschatology. It's part of Solomon's understanding of what's going to happen in the last days. Here Solomon offers a vision of the eschaton, of the last days. We read this text, in fact, that if we didn't know better, we might think we're reading something out of Revelation rather than something in Ecclesiastes. And of all of this, Solomon describes it in his now familiar language in verse 8 when he says, Meaningless. Meaningless, says the teacher. Everything is meaningless. And we would say, yes. If your view is shaped by, determined by, wisdom that is under the sun, outside of the sovereignty of God, out from under the rule or reign of the Creator, then you will certainly conclude that everything is meaningless, that all is futile. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. And we look at our world today and we see it. For what reason is this world tearing itself apart? Why is the most egregious of sin tolerated? Why must we turn a blind eye to the modern-day slavery that continues to supply the worldwide sex trade, which also enables us to have cell phones and electric vehicles? Why must crime go unpunished? Why are we promoting and teaching the abject mutilation of our physical bodies? Why are we contemplating the shutting down of all commerce and the revoking of all fundamental human rights under the guise of saving a planet that we cannot save? These debates in these days are not merely squabbles over politics or ideology. These are the days of trouble. And from the viewpoint of a world that does not know God and cannot comprehend the ultimate victory of righteousness over evil, everything is meaningless. Yes, it's all going to burn, it's all going to fall apart, it's all going to be destroyed, there's going to be nothing left because everything is meaningless. And if you're not finding wisdom under the sovereignty of God, but you're looking for it somewhere in this world, then everything is meaningless. Everything, therefore, is meaningless. So we come to verses 9 through 12. And here we note that Solomon's wisdom, Solomon's wisdom not for him alone, and certainly not only for the royal family, but the wisdom that he gives is for all of God's children. And we've seen that before, but we understand that here in this text. The passage offers the argument in defense of Solomon's words. Notice verse 9. The verse says, This is for everyone. This is for all believers. This is all believers over time. This is for all believers in the day of the Old Testament. This is all believers in the day of the New Testament. This is for everyone who would place their faith and their trust in Christ. The teacher was wise, he imparts knowledge to the people. The body of wisdom that was Solomon's was beneficial to all, and so disseminating it to the nation and documenting it for all time was right then and continues to be a blessing to each of us. Here we find that Solomon pondered the wisdom of God. He considered the questions that God's people would have. He then sought out the wisdom. He searched for it everywhere as we saw. And finally, having gathered the wisdom he sought, he set it in order. He arranged it for our comprehension. Verse 10 tells us that Solomon found just the right words. Words certainly that were eloquent and moving, but also upright and true. Skip down to verse 12 and it says this, That means in addition to the words that were written here in this letter. It's an admonition similar to others we have found within Scripture, right? We found the warning not to add or detract from the words of this book. Yes, these are Solomon's words, but they are the word of God. So we come to verses 13 and 14, and here we settle on Solomon's final wisdom. Now all has been heard. Here is the conclusion of the matter. Here is Solomon's final comments, divided into two parts. First, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. The call of God upon our lives does not change. Though we fail in this effort, we strive forward to do it nevertheless, because this is the call before us. Second, found in verse 14, Our image of judgment is that it would be just the bad things. But the text here says every deed comes into judgment. Why? Because every deed runs through the grid of God's holiness. Every deed runs through that grid of God's holiness. Again, Solomon's sharing some eschatology, some stuff concerning the last days. There's a day of judgment that's coming, and all sin will be judged. Everything will be judged on that day. In the end, everything matters. Wisdom that is under the sun says everything is meaningless, but wisdom that is under heaven holds that everything has meaning, everything has purpose, and everything is visible and known under the guise of the sovereign God. Everything matters. So, what do we learn from Ecclesiastes? Well, I've got seven points. There's probably more. I'm sure you can think of some as well. I'd rest with the seven because that's a good biblical number, of course. But I've got seven points, things that we would learn from Ecclesiastes. First, God is sovereign. An acknowledgment of His lordship is vital to an understanding of and a relationship to Him. To have a relationship with God, you must understand that God is God, that He is sovereign over all things. Second, the impact of the Fall is real, is comprehensive, and it continues, and it is a reality that we must embrace. The Fall really occurred, and we're still subject to it in that way. God is reversing the effects of the Fall, and He will reverse the effects of the Fall, but they're still felt even today. Third, the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world are not the same. Please don't fall for something that claims to be wisdom when it is not wisdom from God. The wisdom of God and the wisdom of this world are not the same. Fourth, God has given us good things, and these things are available for us to enjoy. They really are. But, number five, God has, however, commanded that we each act in a manner in accordance with His righteousness. So, yes, things are given to us to enjoy. We enjoy them in the light of the righteousness and holiness of God. Six, difficult days are ahead. They're coming. Scripture has warned us here in Ecclesiastes. It's warned us everywhere else. Difficult days are coming. But then, seven, God's judgment will fall upon this world. God's judgment will fall upon this world. Truths, then, that we learn and we gather from Ecclesiastes. So, in the end, the last couple minutes here, So, if Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, then how do we see Jesus as the fulfillment of Ecclesiastes? Can we make that case? It's been apparent through our study that this book stands as another big red flashing arrow, a neon sign that points us forward to Christ. We've seen Jesus appear in a couple places in the text, have we not? In chapter four, he was visible as the poor but wise youth who succeeded the old but foolish king, only later to fall into disfavor with the people. And in chapter nine, we saw him as the poor man who saved the city by his wisdom, soon after to be forgotten by the people, his words no longer heeded. Why would the young man who saved the city then fall into disfavor? And why were his words no longer heeded? We ask that question as we ponder those particular texts. Solomon here explains in the text, in verse 11, that the wisdom of God is like a goad. A goad is a long stick with a point at the end that a livestock owner would use to prod the domestic animals, to keep them moving and to keep them moving forward in the right direction. That's a goad, and the wisdom of God here is like a goad. The animal feels a little pain, something akin to a husband at the receiving end of his wife's elbow. That's a joke, although it's not really a joke, is it? The animal gets the message and falls back in line, again, something akin to a husband at the receiving end of his wife's elbow. Solomon says that the wisdom of God and the words of the wise work very much like goads. They poke us in the side and they move us forward in the right direction, even when we don't want to go. And further, he offers that the wisdom which comes from God are like firmly embedded nails, nails driven in deep, the nail held well below the surface of the wood. The wisdom of God, therefore, is permanent, and it will endure no matter what this world tries to do to pry it loose. Solomon here offers that this wisdom does not emanate from numerous sources. Now, Solomon has looked everywhere to find this wisdom. He here has determined that wisdom that is under heaven all comes from one source. What does he say? It is wisdom which is given by one shepherd. It all comes from one source. It's given by one shepherd. Now, this image of shepherd, it's interesting that Solomon would pick that image up here. He hasn't used it anywhere else in the text, but he uses it here. The image of the shepherd as a reference to God doesn't originate, of course, with Solomon. At the end of Genesis, Jacob declared that the Lord was the shepherd, the rock of Israel. And in the 23rd Psalm, David says that the Lord is my shepherd. And in Psalm 28, David calls upon God to be his people's shepherd and to carry them forever. And in Psalm 80, it's Asaph who cries out, Hear us, O shepherd of Israel. So Solomon is using a title here at the end that the reader of the Bible, the reader of the Old Testament in the day, is well familiar with. This is truth, wisdom given by one shepherd. Who's the shepherd? Well, let's fast forward from the days of Solomon. Let's jump ahead 900 plus years and let's notice the full wisdom of God, wisdom that is under heaven, and let's note the one who brings the wisdom. Let's note the one who claims to be the shepherd. John chapter 10, verse 11 through verse 16. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. And then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. And the man runs away because he's a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. My sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen, and I must bring them also. And they too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Amen. Let's bow our heads and pray, shall we? Truth resides and truth prevails within you, O Father, and you've granted it to us, your children, and for this we are grateful. We thank you for the wisdom that reminds us that you are God, and we thank you for the wisdom that reminds us that you call us to be holy, and we thank you for the wisdom that reminds us that we have one shepherd who not only is the source of wisdom, but is the embodiment of wisdom, is the manifestation of wisdom. He is our one shepherd. And the one shepherd came to be the good shepherd who laid down his life for us. And for this we praise you and we give you glory. Father, thank you for this.
