Well, turn with me in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter three. We are continuing here in Ecclesiastes three, in our study of the words of the preacher. Last time we covered verses one through 15. We looked at the frustration of life under the loom, as we called it.

Because while we may not be able to see all that God is doing in weaving all the threads of life together. We need to be reminded that we aren’t supposed to. We are supposed to trust the one who does weave all these things together, the good, the bad, and the in-between. And the contrasting pairs that Solomon laid out in his poem to start chapter three here, God is in control of all of them. As we saw, there is an appointed time for everything, which means it was appointed by someone. God is God, and I am not, as was sung in that last song this evening. I was not made for knowing everything. I was made for faith. I was made to believe that he does, and I can trust him in what he’s doing. I can trust in the one working above the loom. But there are still those moments in life when we long to see exactly what God is doing in all of this. And that’s where our focus turns this evening. Solomon, once again, looks back at the world under the sun.

Even though he did find the correct answer and the correct perspective as we closed with last time, something important to understand about the message of Ecclesiastes, about life, It’s just because I have the right answer. Just because I believe the right things. Just because I have the right theology. That doesn’t make the hard things go away. The most that it means is that I can have joy in the hard things. But there still are hard things.

And that’s why immediately after finding the source of joy in God’s sovereignty over it all, Solomon looks right back at the world under the sun, and he sees life as it is in this broken world. And he asks the hard questions. Solomon’s been teaching us through the course of this book about the boundaries God has set on life, or the length of the tether God has given us. And he’s been steering us toward the conclusions that we ought to draw about life. And these conclusions are probably not what you expect they would be, given the circumstances that he presents.

Even tonight, where Solomon looks to the injustice in the world, the things that are not right, the things that are not fair, the things that are not the way they should be. The conclusion he draws in verse 22 is, I have seen nothing is better than that man should be glad in his works, for that is his portion. For who will bring him to see what will occur after?

Really? Are you serious, Solomon? That is what we must do. Just enjoy our work. Even after you’ve told us there’s no gain in it. And there’s no advantage under the sun. It’s all vanity and striving after the wind. How can we do that? because that is the gift of God. And that’s Solomon’s point that he keeps bringing us back to. Life itself is the gift of God and the ability to enjoy it because we know he’s in control of it is the gift of God. And if we’re not coming to the same conclusion that he does, It’s probably because we’re becoming distracted by all of the things he’s showing us and telling us to look past, look past these things to what God is doing in them.

So this evening, I’d like to pick up at verse 16 of chapter three, where we left off last time, and we’ll work our way through these verses, and I’d like to get to chapter four, verse six. And like a lot of wisdom literature, this doesn’t neatly organized into a clear cut outline with defined points. It’s not meant for us to work through that way. It’s meant for us to work through line by line and chew on the gristle as we do it. Really work through these things and think about what they mean. So that’s what we’ll do this evening. Again, I’ll pick up at verse 16. But first, remember where we left off. Remember Solomon’s conclusion last time in the middle of chapter three.

Starting in verse 12, this is what he says, I know that there is nothing better than to be glad and to do good in one’s lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks and sees good in all his labor, it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will be forever. There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it.

God has so worked that men should fear him, that which has been, already, and that which will be has already been. Yet God seeks with his pursuit.” That’s where he left off last time. That was his conclusion. His comfort was found in the absolute sovereignty of God. God is the one who gives all of these things. Everything God does will be forever.

There’s nothing to add to it and nothing to take from it And that’s why he can rest in his labor Enjoy what you eat and what you drink and do good in all that you do But then His gaze settles back on this world Back down on the fallen world that he and we live in so after Reminding himself of God’s sovereignty. He starts to raise objections to God’s sovereignty He concluded that the the ultimate pervasive meticulous sovereignty of God is the foundation of joy But what about And that’s what we get into He continues in verse 16 furthermore.

I Have seen under the Sun that in the place of justice. There’s wickedness and in the place of righteousness. There is wickedness and His first but what about is, but what about injustice? But what about injustice and wickedness in the courts, in the justice system? How can we say that God sovereignly sits on the throne of justice when our judges and politicians and law enforcement down here, the ones that he has appointed on earth to carry out justice, don’t seem to care to do so? Now what? I thought he was sovereign over this. What about these things? How can he be up there if they are down here?

Even in Solomon’s world, he knew of many who unjustly tipped the scales. One commenter, Craig Bartholomew, he notes that time and place are the two great coordinates of life. And he says, you would expect that the law courts to be the place where justice finds its appropriate time. But the preacher observes the opposite. This is not the way it’s supposed to be. The preacher knows this, he looks and where there is supposed to be justice, where we inherently know justice ought to be. It’s missing.

You see, our desire for justice is hardwired into us. Because we’re made in His image. We’re made in God’s image and God is just. And we have an inherent desire to see justice done. And this is why even unbelievers know when something is unjust. And injustice being done reveals that this world is not how it should be. And only the Bible gives us the reason why, the answer to why it’s not the way it should be. And we see this everywhere. Everybody sees this.

When criminals go free with a slap on the wrist, even though it’s not the first time, and they go out and they brutally murder the innocent on a subway train. When people get away with crimes because they don’t fit the approved social narrative. When mothers are celebrated for murdering their own children. And when the righteous are punished for speaking up against it.

Everyone inherently knows this world is not supposed to be like this. The world is not meant to be like this. Will there ever be a time for justice? Because if you look around at the headlines, look around at this world, it’ll make you wonder, will there ever be a time for justice?

And the answer is yes. Yes, there will. Verse 17, the preacher says, I said in my heart, God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man. For a time for every matter and for every work is there. God will judge. The answer is yes. There will be a time for justice. It may not be in your lifetime. It may not be in my lifetime, but there will be a time for justice.

God will recall every single injustice and every single time and every single activity, every single word and action and thought that has ever broken his holy law. and everything that has ever darkened his beautiful world or damaged one of his image bearers, he will call it to account. Every single one of those moments will be answerable to God. Every tear cried, every wrong done will be sought out by the God who is perfectly just and perfectly true and perfectly merciful and perfectly loving. If you don’t believe God hears the cry of his people for injustice, you need to read your Bible.

A good example of this is the place where God told Israel to keep remembering. Remember what I did for you in Egypt. Exodus chapter three, verse nine, it says, so now behold, God is speaking here to Moses. So now behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come up to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

He hears, he knows, and he will make it right one day. That’s what the preacher acknowledges here. There will be a day for justice. God will judge. And he says, for a time for every matter and every work is there. And this acknowledgement of a coming day of judgment is not unique to the book of Ecclesiastes.

Jesus teaches on this specific judgment in Matthew 25. It’s a long passage, but it speaks about when he will sit on his glorious throne and will bring all things to account. Paul spoke of it to the philosophers in Athens in Acts chapter 17. This is what he has to say to them, verse 30.

Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent. Because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he determined, having furnished proof to all by raising him from the dead. Every injustice will be exposed on that day. And righteousness and justice will triumph. All the sin, all the injustice in the world, even in our own lives will be brought to light God will require a reckoning.

And all who trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be forgiven. Will be forgiven on the basis of Jesus death on the cross that paid for those sins. They will be called to account, but they will be marked paid. However, those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will have to give an account for their sin.

And they will hear those terrible words of condemnation that I read this morning from Matthew 7. I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. And then they will begin to pay the penalty that is required of every sin. Eternal, conscious torment under the wrath of God for eternity. But the preacher, he takes comfort in the certainty of this day. That’s the answer to his objection. God will judge. That day is coming. That day is sure. That day is on his calendar. He will keep that appointment.

But the fact that it’s in the future, and justice is not being executed right now, that raises the question, why does he wait? What is God waiting for? Why does he allow unrighteousness to continue in places where justice should be done? What is he waiting for?

Well, the preacher has an answer for that too. He determines that one of the reasons God waits is to show us something about ourselves, to show men something about what life without God is like, what men without God are like. Verse 18, I said in my heart concerning the sons of men. Again, another clue that he’s looking at life without God. I said in my heart.

God is testing them in order for them to see that they are but beasts. The wait is a test. It’s an opportunity for those made in God’s image to see how they, like the animals, are just flesh and blood. Without God, they are no more than beasts. And the next verse is even more grim. Verse 19, for the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same, fate for each of them. As one dies, so dies the other, and they all have the same breath, so there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.” Just when we feel the need to look up at God and question why, why do we wait? What are you waiting for?

We’re reminded that we’re not Him. We’re reminded that we’re not God. As Derek Kidner comments, our first need is not to teach God his business, but to learn the truth about ourselves, a lesson that we are slow to accept. In the end, we are not God. We’re mortal. We will die. God is not waiting. It might seem like he’s waiting to me. Because I’m gonna die. My life is not gonna be forever. So why can’t justice happen in my life? But God has a date set for the judgment. And it will happen. And it’s not on my timetable. And the lesson that Solomon keeps trying to teach us is that our death sets our perspective. And that can depress you if you’re living life under the sun without God and this life is all there is. If there is no justice in this life, well then when is it? But that’s the point. This life is not all there is.

And by Solomon saying that they are but beasts, he’s not denying that we’re image bearers. He’s not denying that we have eternal souls. His point here is that from the perspective of life under the sun, life without God, man is no different than any other creature. Everyone will die. We are no more than beasts. If there’s no God, why is murder wrong? If it benefits me in this life, what’s wrong with it? Man is no different than every other creature. Not only that, every one of us will die, just like every creature.

He says in verse 20, all go to the same place. All came from the dust and all returned to the dust. Solomon even wonders out loud in verse 21, who knows, but the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beasts descends downward. That seems like a very strange verse. What is he talking about? What do you mean, where does their breath go? Upwards or downwards? They’re dead. They have no breath. Until you remember that that word for breath is the same word for spirit. So what he’s saying there is when their breath is gone, where does their spirit go? Where will the spirit of man go when he dies? Who knows? Outside of God’s revelation, does anyone know? Who knows? He knows.

The only way that we know what happens after death is by what God has revealed. The answer is implied in the question. Who knows what will happen to man’s breath, to man’s spirit? Remember, Solomon just got done teaching us about the judge of all the earth. In verse 17, I said in my heart, God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man for a time for every matter and every work is there. So his question here in verse 21 has an implied answer from what he’s already revealed.

Who knows? Who is it that knows? The judge knows. The judge knows. God knows. passage to the book of Ecclesiastes is found in Psalm 49. It speaks of similar things. In Psalm 49, 15, we read that, but God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. God knows. God knows where man’s soul will go. As for the man without God, what does he know? The man under the sun.

Well, Psalm 49 has an answer for that too, because Psalm 49 verse 20 says this, man in his honor, or you could read man in his pride, who does not understand, is like the animals that perish. Man in his pride, in his own wisdom, doesn’t understand what happens after death.

Go ask anybody, what happens when you die? Well, you just stop existing. Oh, you’re going to come back as something else. That’s a nice fairy tale. God knows what happens after we die, and he tells us what happens after we die. But man, in his pride, doesn’t understand what happens after death.

He appears to be no more than the animals. Is this relevant today or what? This is the worldview of our day. Man is nothing more than an animal. And look at what that thinking has led to in our society. Maybe modernity is not so modern. There is nothing new under the sun.

So Solomon’s answer to God’s objection, I’m sorry, Solomon’s answer to the objection of God’s sovereignty, but what about all the injustice? If God is sovereign, then why evil is basically what he’s asking. His answer is God is God and you are not. God is in control of these things. God knows these things. God will judge these things. And without God, you don’t even know what will happen after you die. God will judge all things one day, but you’re gonna die. So who are you to put the judge on trial?

You see, the certainty of death has a way of providing perspective for us. We might not like to think about death, but death is inevitable. And the preacher here, faced with the certainty of death and recognizing all of this injustice and wickedness, especially in the places where there ought to be justice, again, his conclusion in verse 22. After all of these things that we’ve read about wickedness and injustice and man that is no more than beasts, verse 22, I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be glad in his works, for that is his portion. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? This is the same conclusion he reached before, and it hasn’t changed.

This is life. This is life the way that God has given it. Yes, there’s injustice in the world. And you can look around at all the things that you can’t control, all the things beyond your tether, beyond the limits God has set for you in your life, and you can ask God, why isn’t life better than this? Or you can look at the gift of life and God’s gift of enjoyment of life. And you can strive to do as the Bible says and lead a quiet life and mind to your own business. Live the life God has given you.

That’s Paul’s conclusion in 1 Thessalonians 4, 11. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Attend to your own business and work with your hands. It’s almost like Paul has read Ecclesiastes before. Yes, you can be concerned about injustice. That’s hardwired into us again. We are made in God’s image. We crave justice because He is just. And you should do what you can to affect justice where you can.

But you aren’t going to solve world hunger. You aren’t going to bring world peace. You aren’t going to save the whales. Sorry to tell you. You need to realize we live in a fallen world. And this is how life is until the judge comes to make it right. Creation longs for the day. Jesus even said, the poor you will always have with you. This is life here under the sun. This is what we wait for. The redemption, the renewal, of creation. But in this life under the sun, don’t miss all the good gifts of life, because you’re so distracted by all the things that are bent by the curse that God put on the world.

And knowing that God is outside of our limits of time and place, and He sees it all, and He sees the end from the beginning, and in the end, He will bring judgment to both the righteous and the wicked. He has that date on his calendar. That should stop me from needing to be in control of everything. One man, David Gibson, comments that the message of Ecclesiastes is not just that life is full of good times and bad times, so you have to roll with the punches. The message is that life is full of good times and bad times that we can’t control. But patterning our lives this way is part of a bigger pattern that God controls.

It’s recognizing the sovereignty of God in this all. But the preacher’s not done looking at oppression and injustice just yet. In chapter four, verse one, after again his conclusion that he needs to enjoy life. Be glad in your works, for that is your portion. Chapter four, verse one, then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which are being done under the sun.

And behold, I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them. And on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. The preacher saw people being abused. by people with power and authority over them. And the abusers were allowed to continue their abuse and their oppression. And those who were oppressed had no one to comfort them, he says. And of course, this didn’t end in King Solomon’s day.

This still happens today. People are oppressed. People are taken advantage of. People are bullied. This is especially true of the most vulnerable widows and orphans and the poor and the weak. People aren’t just oppressed in the courts like you mentioned earlier, it happens throughout life. In businesses and relationships in marriage.

In fact, it’s so bad, the preacher says in verses two and three, so I lauded the dead who were already dead more than the living who were still living. Better off than both of them is the one who never has been. who has never seen the evil work done under the sun. He congratulated the dead because at least they don’t have to look at this oppression anymore. Men who are already dead are better off than men still alive and men not yet born. The oppressed may cry out for help and nobody may help them.

Just ask Job, Job who concluded in Job chapter 5 verse 7, man is born for trouble as the sparks fly upward. Or in other words, life is hard and then you die. That’s Job’s conclusion. And that’s the preacher’s conclusion as well. And nothing can be accomplished by denying the trouble in life, putting on rose-colored glasses and acting like everything’s fine. In fact, the preacher’s perspective is the only thing the oppressed can do is look forward to death, when they’ll be out of their oppressor’s reach. And again, Job said the same thing.

When suffering and oppression came to Job, Job 3.11, he said, Why did I not die in the womb? Come forth from the womb and breathe my last. Something to realize about passages like this is that the pain of oppression and suffering is very real. This is really how people who wrote the Bible felt.

And if you live life for the gain in it, for what it will, What advantage it will give me? What will benefit me? Eventually, you’ll realize there is no gain. And if there’s no gain in life, then why live? If this life is all there is, then why live? I mean, to a good Christian church-raised mind, that sounds absurd. But it’s logical. If this life is all there is, then why live?

It’s as I read to open the service in 1 Corinthians 15. If the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins. If those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, if we have hoped in Christ in this life only, We are of all men most to be pitied.

Not only if this life is all there is, then why live? But if this life is all there is, then what a shame it’s been to be a Christian. What a waste. Give up my Sunday every week. But again, life is not about the gain. Life is a gift. And living life for what is under the sun is a despairing perspective. And the solution the preacher keeps bringing us back to is life under the sun is not all there is. That’s his point in even using the phrase under the sun. It’s meant to reveal there’s more not under the sun. Paul’s conclusion in the next verse of 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. This life is not all there is. Christ has been raised, and the most important phrase in this verse, the first fruits. of those who have fallen asleep. Not only has Christ been raised, he’s not the only one. He was raised, but he’s only the first one. He’s the firstfruits. There’s more coming. We will be raised too.

This life is not all there is. Suffering is real, but suffering is temporary. One day it will be made right. All the suffering, all the oppression, all the taking advantage of, all the bullying, all of those things, God’s gonna make it right. This life is not all there is, but this is why we need to be aware of those who are suffering, because this is real. And we need to help them as much as we can. And part of that is acknowledging the reality of suffering and pain in this world. But like the preacher continues to do, we need to remember that this life of suffering and pain is not the end. It’s not all we have. Remember verse 17 of chapter three. God will judge. That’s our hope. God will judge, and one day it will all be made right. But don’t let that cause you to look past those who are really suffering right now. And the preacher continues with another objection, another what about. Verses four through six.

I have seen that every labor and every success of the work is the result of jealousy between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after the wind. The fool folds his hands in embrace and consumes his own flesh. One handful of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after the wind. Ah, yes, the rat race. But what about jealousy? That’s what motivates everyone. Jealousy between a man and his neighbor.

So along with injustice and wickedness and oppression and abuse, the preacher says that the world is full of toil and envy. Work and jealousy. Now there are certainly motivations for work that are not rooted in envy. like functioning the way God has designed us to. He has created us for work, but the preacher’s making a point through this generalization. Oftentimes, envy does motivate our work. We want to do better and have more than our neighbor. We are motivated by something outside of us. In one sense, the whole capitalistic system is motivated by envious competition.

And competition is not bad in its place, but not when it becomes keeping up with the Joneses. The selfish attempt to get ahead of the person you think is in front of you, while at the same time trying to keep the one behind you in his place. because that competition never ends. Solomon sees this and says, that too is like shepherding the wind.

Living that way is exhausting. There are always Joneses you can’t keep up with. Living that way is vanity because it’s impossible to live a contented life while giving in to envy and jealousy. It’s impossible to live a life that’s pleasing to God if you’re always striving to get what someone else has.

And as I was studying these last couple verses here, trying to see what Solomon is talking about with this talk of hands and folding hands and one hand and two hands. I found Pastor Tom Askell’s analysis of this helpful. He points out that he’s talking about three different attitudes about work, three different attitudes of work here in this analogy. And he uses the imagery of hands.

And the first one is the no-hands approach or the folded-hands approach to work. According to the preacher, the person who lives this way is a fool. Verse five, the fool folds his hands in embrace and consumes his own flesh. The fool decides just to opt out of the workforce entirely. He thinks it’s not worth it. Why bother? Why go to work when I can just get on welfare? What scheme can I pull to get on disability?

Scripture has a lot to say about that mentality. Solomon addresses it again in Proverbs 6, verse 10 and 11, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands, what he’s talking about here, to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. And Paul has some words for this man. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10, if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat. So if you’re tempted to think like that, that work isn’t worth it, so why bother? I can find some other way. You need to understand that you are going against what God has created you for. God has called and designed you to work.

And that attitude, the attitude of the man with folded hands, is an attitude of a man under the sun. That is a godless attitude. That’s the no hands or the folded hands approach. Then the preacher speaks of two hands, two fists full of toil and striving after the wind in verse six.

Two fists full of work. This is the workaholic. Both hands are full of work and not only that, they are clenched tight. He’s given everything he’s got to his work. He’s always grasping for more. He always has more to do and more to gain. And he tries to do it all. Psalm 127 has a message for that guy.

Psalm 127 verses 1 and 2, unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and that you sit out late, O you who eat the bread of painful labors. For in this manner he gives sleep to his beloved.” God designed us for work and God designed us for rest. The builder, the watchman, all of those who eat the bread of painful labors, who work and work and work and never stop.

It’s in vain that you sit out late. You’re spinning your tires. The contentment and satisfaction we long for that God designed us to experience only comes from Him when we do it His way. And you’re not going to find gain by grabbing as much as you can and working as much as possible.

But the preacher has another approach to work. There’s the lazy man who folds his hands There’s the workaholic who has his hands gripped tight. But he has another approach that’s neither foolish laziness or the workaholic. He calls this one a handful of rest in verse six. And the point is that he has one handful of rest while the other works. He works with contentment and quietness. The one handed worker still works hard. but he keeps work in perspective and balance.

Paul talks about this too in that second Thessalonians passage. Chapter three, verse 11, we hear that some among you are walking in an unruly manner, doing no work at all. That’s the first man, but acting like busybodies. Now, such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ that working with quietness, they eat their own bread.

Working with quietness. Or as the preacher puts it, one hand full of rest. This is how we ought to approach work. With one hand on quietness and contentment, being confident that God will provide. But at the same time, working hard with your other hand. Working hard in the labor that God has given you. and enjoy the blessings of that labor that God brings you. Again, that passage I read earlier in 1 Thessalonians.

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to tend to your own business and work with your hands. A quiet life with working with your hands. This is how you do what the preacher said in chapter 3 verse 22. I’ve seen that nothing is better than that man should be glad in his works, for that is his portion. Be content in what God has given. Enjoy the work and the rest.

I’m going to be honest, this was convicting for me this week. One of the benefits of preaching is that you have to preach to yourself first. I struggle with this balance. I tend to want more and more to fill my schedule because why not? This is ministry. And I need to be better about this work and rest balance.

Keeping the margins in your life. Take life as it comes and enjoy the ebb and flow that God has built into it. The rhythms of life that we’ve been talking about throughout Ecclesiastes. Because that’s one of the messages that keeps coming back to us. The way that God has designed it. Understand the seasons of life that God controls.

Another commenter made this observation. He said, many of our frustrations rise from our blindness to the change of season or the pain or joy of them. We struggle to adjust our expectations. One of the reasons we get frustrated, we don’t realize the season of life has changed. Sometimes our frustration comes from not realizing that this is the season God has me in.

Every season is different and should be handled differently. We know that about seasons. Don’t wear a sweater in the summer or shorts in the snow. You know that. Every season’s different and you approach it differently. And I don’t just mean the weather. The seasons of life.

Living like this is what helps us realize much of the time That we’re using our life to seek satisfaction, to seek the gain in life, rather than living in the times that God has given, in the way he has given them. And we ought to receive that satisfaction from him. Because satisfaction comes when you recognize that he’s the creator, and I’m the creature. When we accept the boundaries that God has put on life, and stop trying to reach beyond them. When I accept the seasons of my life as coming from his good and wise hands.

And one more important thing about seasons that’s really relevant to these seasons of oppression and suffering and injustice. Something to remember about seasons is that seasons end. Seasons end, that’s why they’re seasons. They come and they go. This season is not going to last forever. And that cuts both ways, the good seasons and the bad. Seasons end and this too shall pass. And living well in God’s world means recognizing that He is God and we are not. This is His creation, not our creation. We all have seasons of life that God has given us.

And only God knows exactly where everything is meant to go and how long everything ought to last, in which order, in what time, and why. He’s the one working above the loom, putting all these things together. And we need to trust that He knows what He’s doing. And we need to remember, verse 17, God will judge.

That day is coming. Christ has been raised. Therefore, we have hope. Next time, we’ll look at how the preacher compares loving ourselves versus loving our neighbors. But let’s stand and close in a word of prayer. And don’t forget, we have the missions interest meeting here at the end. Let’s pray. Our God, we thank you. We praise you and glorify you for who you are. You are the sovereign God of the universe.

You have created these things to be the way that they are. And even when we look around and see life is not how it ought to be, even that is a recognition of your goodness and your justice and your design for a good world that’s been broken by sin and is suffering the effects of the curse that you’ve put on the world because of our sins. Even in the hard times, in the times that cause despair, God, we thank you for showing us who you are, even in them. That you are the God that controls these things and that you will call all these things to account one day. And no injustice will go unpunished. God, we thank you and we praise you. We thank you for this perspective we see in your word. We pray all these things in Jesus’ precious name, amen.