Monthly Archives: December 2009

Psalm 90 (English Standard Version)

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3You return man to dust

and say, “Return, O children of man!”

4For a thousand years in your sight

are but as yesterday when it is past,

or as a watch in the night.

5You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning:

6in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers.

7For we are brought to an end by your anger;

by your wrath we are dismayed.

8You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9For all our days pass away under your wrath;

we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

10The years of our life are seventy,

or even by reason of strength eighty;

yet their span is but toil and trouble;

they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11Who considers the power of your anger,

and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

14Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

17Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!

Hebrews 6: 4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [7] For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. [8] But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

What are the qualities mentioned in verses 4 and 5 if not qualities of real believers?

I have a relative who used to be a preacher. He preached every week while his wife visited her family in another city. At least he thought that is what she was doing. She was seeing a non-family member as well. And it wasn’t for worship. When my relative found out he bottomed out and when he finally got back on his feet he did not want God to come with him. His own testimony is that he never had, even while he was preaching, what he was preaching about. Is it really possible that a man who preached the truth and pastored people can not be in possession of what he is trying to give to others? The Scriptures’ testimony is that it is indeed the case.

Most of the warnings in the Epistles have to deal with teachers and teachings that are present in the church. John speaks about Diotrephes who loves to put himself first and speaks wicked nonsense, (III John 9-10). Timothy is warned about teachers who speak confidently about things they know nothing about (I Tim. 1:1-7), and those who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power (II Tim. 3:1-5). Both Peter and Jude have blistering attacks against those who are teaching in the church but are very wicked (II Peter 2 and Jude 5-13).

But the most scathing indictment regarding false believers in the pulpit comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself in Matthew 7:21-23. There He speaks of those who can testify to having worked miracles, cast out demons and preached the Truth and yet are refused entry into the Kingdom of heaven because Jesus never knew them. That means that even when they were doing those things they were not known by God in any saving sense.

Texts such as these are reminders to us to not be fooled by appearances. The fact that such people eventually leave the faith is no testimony of people losing their salvation. It is testimony that even very wicked people can look good for awhile. Even very wicked people can convince the gullible that evil is good and good is evil. They may even be able to perform a miracle. But that never means that they are to be followed or that they are even trusting Christ themselves.

Paul warns the Thessalonians that some will be able to perform counterfeit miracles that deceive those who are perishing (II Thessalonians 2:9-12). And if not for the keeping power of God even the chosen of God would be drawn away into being deceived by them (Mark 13:22). There is much that can be said about these things and about such people. The point right now is that Hebrews 6:4 is not talking about saved people. The overall teachings of the New Testament is that people can look very good and very godly and still not be truly converted. They have the worst kind of deception – the deception of self. The beauty behind this distressing news is this:

2 Tim. 2:19 (ESV) But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

God is never deceived. God makes no mistake. He cannot be fooled that someone really knows Him if he does not. Do not allow what you see in people to make you contradict the Scriptures. The Bible is abundantly clear that when God determines to save someone, that someone is going to be saved and changed and persevere in the faith. It is also clear that many will look like believers who are not. The fact that some fall away is a testimony to the truth of the Bible. It should make us very diligent in working out our salvation in fear and trembling and it should make us sing for joy that God has done what no amount of human effort can accomplish.

Having a right relationship with God is not a matter of working miracles or preaching great sermons (or bad ones, for that matter) or being in a big church or a host of other things that people think matter. Jesus Christ died on the cross to take the punishment that others deserve. All who come to Him in faith and repentance will be forgiven and saved from the punishment that they deserve. Jesus rose from the dead. Those who trust Him will rise as well. Because He rose, those who are trusting Him have a living Saviour who lives to intercede for them before the Father. This means that Jesus represents us in the councils of glory so that our sins do not condemn us.

The reason people are saved is that God honours the work of His Son. His death for us means that our sins have been dealt with. Because we trust Him we are credited with having the very righteousness of Jesus just as He was counted as having our sins. He sees us as righteous as Jesus is. No amount of good things done by us can cause that to happen. That is pure grace.

People may be able to behave righteously for a time. They may be able to deceive others into thinking they are true believers. They may be able to convince themselves of it. But they can never cause God to see them as having the very righteousness of Christ. Only He can do that. It is a stunningly glorious thought and it is a great shame that people miss it for a sad counterfeit. Don’t be one of them.

Hebrews 6: 4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [7] For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. [8] But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

You know them. They may be your relatives, your children, your parents. Perhaps your pastor or the person who first introduced you to the Gospel. And then there are the famous; the television evangelists, the scholars who had devoted their lives to the study of the Scriptures, missionaries who had sacrificed everything for the sake of getting the Gospel into the hearts and minds of people who had never heard it. And now they no longer live for Christ. Their doubts have taken over and won. Their secret sins were finally exposed, either voluntarily or otherwise, and they have given up trying. They no longer believe. They no longer care. They no longer call themselves Christian.

There have always been such events and there will always be those people who give up on the faith they were professing. But in the face of such realities how can anyone claim that once a person is saved they can never be not saved? How can we say that there is no such thing as a “former believer”? This section of Hebrews deals with people who forsake the faith and turn away from it. And the debate rages between those who claim that salvation can never be lost and those who say it can. This text is one of the strongest for those who maintain that a person can turn away from the God who saved him, even though God did not give up on him. Personally, if I believed that salvation could be lost, this is the last text I would want to have to deal with.

A couples of points: 1) If this text says that salvation can be lost then it also says that it can never be found again. “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened … and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance …”. Once a person forsakes the faith he will never be convinced to repent. If this text teaches that there is such a thing as a former believer it also teaches that there is no such thing as a “believer again”. Might as well bar the church door to them and tell them to sleep in on Sunday mornings. Tell them to go live like the devil. It’s him they are heading for anyway. All those children who were baptized at age eight and then discovered the pleasures of adolescence and now want nothing to do with the faith; just stop praying for them. Stop telling them to “come back”. They can’t.

But the text does not say that they were part of the kingdom of God. It does not say that they were truly converted. It does not say that they were saved. In fact, it says just the opposite. Whatever verses 4 and 5 mean we know that none of the things mentioned there refer to real salvation in the heart of these apostates. Don’t stop reading at verse 6. Read at least as far as verse 9. Verse 9 clears things up.

2) Second point then – read the entire context of a passage of Scripture before you make a conclusion regarding its meaning. Verse 9 says that the writer to the Hebrews is convinced that the tragedy referred to in verses 4-8 is not the case in the people he is writing. He is convinced of better things for them – things that belong to salvation. In other words, the things he refers to in verses 4-8 do not belong to salvation. Falling away (verse 6) does not belong to salvation. Bearing thorns and thistles, being worthless, being near to being cursed and in the end being burned, (verse    8 ) do not belong to salvation.

Real Christians will bear real fruit. They will not fall away. They will not do that which is near to being cursed and they will not do anything that is worthless. This whole section is nothing more than what Jesus taught about a good tree bearing good fruit, and real disciples bearing their cross and counting the cost. Real Christians will do it. False believers will pull back. They are the seed that falls on rocky soil that springs up right away but cannot last because it has no root. Real believers have roots that hook right into the keeping and life changing power of the triune God.

So where does that leave you? Is your faith a mental assent that cannot handle the challenges of a life lived for Christ? Is it no more than fair weather Christianity that will give up when the temperature rises? Is it a faith that works (James 2:14-17)? Real faith in the real Saviour will be accompanied by a real power to persevere, and repent when it has sinned. Be satisfied with nothing less for anything else is not real at all.

Hebrews 6:1-8 (ESV)

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, [2] and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [3] And this we will do if God permits.

The writer says that he plans to teach the readers of his letter the things that will help them move on in the faith. He will teach them what they need to know – if God permits.

Our lives are in the hands of the only true sovereign God that there is before they are anywhere else. All Christians will attest to the sovereignty of God, but not all will agree that He is in control of absolutely everything. But He is. He would not be God if He were not.

The phrase “if God permits” means that if God does not permit, then it will not happen. We are very frail and fragile. None of us can guarantee that we will still be breathing this time tomorrow. And if we are, it will be because God enabled it to happen. If we are not, it will be because God caused our breathing to stop. James tells us that we should not even say that we will be in a certain place on a certain day (James 4:13-17).

The implications from this truth are immense and mind boggling. But we note at least this much now. We are totally and utterly dependent on God for everything. Everything. Consider such texts as Romans 11:33-36, Psalm 115:3, Revelation 5, Romans 8:28-30, Ephesians 1:11. God did not set the earth on its course and leave it to itself. It turns because He not only put the physics in place that allow it to turn, but because He maintains the physics. The world turns because He continues to cause it to do so (Colossians 1:15).

The writer has just finished saying that the believers he is writing should know their stuff better then they do. God is not pleased with the fact that they have not progressed further than they have. They need to grow up. They need to mature. They need to be taught the deep things of the faith so that they can progress in their walk as believers. If all that is true, then do we not know that it will be God’s will for them to be taught by the author of Hebrews so that they can grow? Not at all. God may want someone else to do it. He may call the author home before he ever sees the Hebrews again. God may have a lot of other possibilities that need to become reality first.

Our job is to live in submission to Him. The will of God is always to live in obedience to His Word and live a life of worship – no matter what. This little phrase “if God permits” is a great lesson to us. So often we live presumptuously. We think we know the details of how God is going to use us. We have such strong feelings about how our gifts ought to be put to work that we just know that God has been speaking to us. Our God’s ways are beyond finding out and we do well never to say “see you tomorrow” without adding “Lord willing” to it, if we are truly seeking to live for Him.

And this final thought. There is no better place to be than in the will of God. If God should not allow the writer to the Hebrews to get to them to teach them then that is what is better. God’s will is not just sovereign. It is better. He is not just in charge. He is in loving charge. He does not just get His way. He gets His way for His glory and our good. The God who works out everything after the council of His own will is the God who does that for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. There simply cannot be a more comforting thought than this. He is in charge and He loves me and will accomplish all His sovereign loving purposes for me. Jesus reigns over everything for the sake of His people (Ephesians 1:20-23).

What a God.

As we celebrate Christmas I just want to take this opportunity to share a Christmas memory. Christmas always brings memories. It is so full of traditions that warm the soul and give added meaning to the celebrations. I cannot believe that the emotions and attitudes and sentiments expressed and felt at Christmas time are displeasing to God. What displeases Him is that these things are done without a thought for Him. There is the sin in them. There are many non-believers who get warm and oozy at Christmas time and celebrate without a thought for the Saviour whose birth we celebrate. If only the sense of fellowship with humanity, the willingness to give to others and forgive those who have hurt us, get together with family and just enjoy being with loved ones, were done as acts of worship to God.

So, what is your favourite Christmas memory? I’d like to share with you, one of mine.

In November of 1970, my father, who was the pastor of a church plant in the Atlantic provinces, was told by his church board that they no longer wanted him as their pastor. In fact, they told him that his preaching was juvenile, that he was no leader and if they had their he way would never preach again. His life and that of our family, caved in, in unimaginable ways. There is no way to adequately describe the devastation that was brought into our home because of the things that were said and done.

I do not remember Christmas 1970. My father was unemployed and there was no money at all. I do remember him paying for gas with 200 pennies he had taken put of my piggy bank. I remember that when he was forced to move out of the house that the church owned, I remained behind as a seventeen year old youth and moved in with friends.

Within a year Dad had gotten placed into a little church that was dying. Like so many others I went “home” for Christmas. I went to mom and dad’s place and walked into a home that was not very Christmassy. Life was being very hard. Mom was not well emotionally. The house they lived in had no foundation and it was sitting precariously on masonry bricks. The cold Atlantic winds swept up inside the walls and made it very cold. Rats had infested the attic by climbing up inside the walls that were exposed for anything that could fit into them. There was almost no money.

On Christmas Eve that year my father came into the room where my mother and I were sitting and announced that he was going to bed despite the fact that even though a tree had been obtained it was not yet up. Nor were there any other decorations. The heart was gone from my father to get at it at this late hour.

My mother and I said good night to him. We sat there and I do not remember whose idea it was, but knowing my mother I cannot imagine that it was not hers. She most likely said “I am going to get that tree up if it kills me”. We decided to get it up no matter what. It was approaching midnight and Mom and I got the thing up and got to decorating it.

I turned on the television to see if there was a Christmas special of some sort from one of the two stations that we got. A Cat Stevens special (Yes, that Cat Stevens). So we decorated the Christmas tree as Cat Stevens sang to us about peace trains and the celebration of the birth of Christ.

We got the tree up and decorated and wrapped presents and managed to decorate the room as well. I think I can safely say that this was the most valuable time I ever spent with my mom. We worked and listened to the TV and laughed together as we tried to bring a little bit of our traditional Christmas celebrations into that house. It was well into the morning by the time we finished. My younger brother and sister would be waking soon to come in and unwrap gifts so mom and I said goodnight to get a quick couple of hours.

I do not remember the opening of presents that Christmas. Without doubt there was an obscene amount of stuff due to the largess of my Aunt Mildred. I don’t remember the Christmas dinner or the football games that may have been telecast or anything else that may have been going on in the house that Christmas. But here is what I do remember. I remember my mother and I waiting with anticipation as my father got up to enter the living room to begin the process of opening presents. And I remember the look on his face as he stopped in the doorway and stared at the fully decorated tree and the room all ready for Christmas.

And I will never forget his first comment. It was not some verse of Scripture, a prayer of thanks or a shout of praise. He was a very godly man but he was also a real man who was fully expecting Christmas to be less than what he had wanted. As he stood there the words that came out of his mouth were,  “Well, there really is a Santa Claus”.

I have played Santa Claus since then but I have never been the real thing again the way that I was that Christmas. That little comment made my Christmas in a powerful way, not because I was able to decorate a tree, but because the decorating of it made the man I loved most in the world enjoy a Christmas that he was expecting to be less than what he wanted and had come to expect. God did it and I am thankful that He was willing to use me to do something for that man. Thirty eight years later that memory still helps me.

It’s amazing what little things God uses to encourage His children. May the little things you do for others this Christmas be used of God to accomplish far more than you can ask or think. Merry Christmas.

There may be no posts here for a few days.  I’ll talk to you soon.

Enjoy your Christmas. Celebrate Christ.

Hebrews 6:1-8 (ESV)

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, [2] and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [3] And this we will do if God permits. [4] For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [7] For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. [8] But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

This chapter of Hebrews begins with a call for readers to leave the elementary elements of the faith and go on to maturity (verse 1). Why? Because it is impossible to be brought back once you have fallen away (Verse 4-6). This is a striking thing. You will either press on to maturity or you will give up on the faith altogether. There is no mention of any middle ground. In fact, middle ground is denied. Go ahead or quit. There is no such thing as neutrality in the Christian faith. There is no “nominal” Christianity that results in true saving faith and a welcome from God into the eternal Kingdom. On ward or nothing.

Which are you going to do? Have you become complacent? Has the first love been forsaken (Revelation 2:7)? Do not deceive yourself. You are not going to stay around in the faith if you do not go ahead. Call it a lull in your faith, a pause that is temporary or whatever. It is you starting to go backward.

It starts with prayer becoming less and less a part of your daily routine and the enjoyment of it goes. The time spent in it decreases and the necessity of it becomes less and less clear. Then the Bible reading loses its zip. Can’t make much sense of it anyway. And besides, it is reasoned, I can hear plenty of it on Sundays anyway. Then it starts becoming easier to absent oneself from the gatherings of the saints. Sermons aren’t addressing the needs and that church is a bunch of weirdos anyway. Then the doctrines of the faith will start to be critiqued and conclusions will be reached that cannot be gotten out of Scripture, but they will be enough to justify the growing sense that all this church stuff is not as necessary as you once thought it was.

Do any of these things sound at all familiar? Talk to a Christian friend. Call a pastor. Ask for help. Pray. Force yourself to read a text of Scripture. Pray “Lord keep me from wandering away”. Have someone call you on Sunday morning to get you out of bed and into church. Your soul is at stake. You must not take this lightly.

Do not trust feelings of surrender and criticism of the church and the Bible and the doctrines of the faith. Do not be deceived. What you sow you will reap. Only those who do not look back are fit for the Kingdom of God.

Prove out the truth of your faith by leaving the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. There is no middle of the road. You are either going ahead or going back. Press on.

Hebrews 5:11-14 (ESV)

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. [12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of right-eousness, since he is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Do you have any comments from your elementary school report cards that stick in your memory? “Well done!”, “Good improvement”. Maybe even “better luck next time”. The one that sticks in my mind even to this day is a phrase that could possibly be used of me even now. More than one teacher put it on my report card. “Has the potential to do much better”. It’s a backhanded kind of a compliment. At least they thought I wasn’t stupid. They just wanted more proof that I was smart. If I ever were to write my autobiography, I think that phrase would comprise the title. “Has the Potential to do Much Better.” I hope it doesn’t make it to my grave stone. “He could have done much better”. How cruel would that be?

In this section of Hebrews the writer says something along the lines of “potential to do much better” to those he is writing. Verse 12 amounts to “you should know this stuff by now”. How long have you been a believer? Could it be legitimately said to you that you should be able to handle stronger doctrine at this point in your life than you do?

Have you grown? Do you pray to know God better and are you seeing that those prayers are being answered? Do you read good books regarding the great doctrines of the faith? Do you see the scarlet thread of Christ through the whole Bible? Are you living out the great doctrines of the faith in your daily walk with Christ? Do you understand what you read in the Scriptures? Has Jesus become more precious to you? Can you talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit as a daily experience for you? Are you smitten by grace? Do you long to show Christ to the world? Do not be content with a level of maturity that would lead God to say Hebrews 5:11-12 to you. Make the most of the time you have. Demonstrate more than a potential to do better. Grow in grace.

Hebrews 5:8-10 (ESV)

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, [10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek..

The priesthood that God established for the people of Israel was a picture of the work that Jesus would do in offering himself to God on our behalf. Hebrews 10:1 calls the priesthood of Aaron, a shadow of the reality that is in Christ. Jesus was always the real priest.

Nevertheless, the requirement for being a priest was that one be from the tribe of Levi. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. Some could argue that Jesus’ priesthood is not legitimate since He is from the wrong tribe. The answer to such a complaint is that Jesus is a priest in a priesthood that predates Aaron by a long shot. He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

We read about Melchizedek in Genesis and the Messiah is prophesied to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek in Psalm 110:4. The author’s point is that the priesthood of Jesus is not based on Aaron. It is based on something greater than Aaron.

How is Jesus like Melchizedek? He is greater than Abraham. The priesthood of Jesus cannot be denied on the basis of tribal disqualification. Jesus is greater then such a requirement.

How does all this mysterious Melchizedek stuff apply to us? Our Saviour predates everything. He is not the One who fits in with the Law. The Law is that which matches up with Him. He is more than just the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. He is the One who already existed when the prophecies were written. He is the reason the prophecies came into being in the first place. Melchizedek, like everything else in the Old Testament, paints a picture of Christ. Christ is greater. And it is Christ you have if you are trusting Him. Who could ask for anything more?

Hebrews 5:5-9 (ESV)

So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”;

[6] as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

after the order of Melchizedek.”

[7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Jesus had humbled himself and become a human just like us, minus the sin. As a human being He must depend upon His heavenly Father. He is the perfect human being and God hears His prayers and always answers Him since His prayers are always in accordance with the will of God. His needs were real and so was His dependence upon His heavenly Father.

The phrase in verse 7 “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” most likely refers to His prayer in the garden before His arrest. It could be concluded that when Jesus prayed “let this cup pass from me” that God said “no” and Jesus was forced to die despite His wishes. God did not answer His prayer. But that would be a wrong conclusion.

The basic prayer is “nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “I do not want to go through the pain and suffering of the next day. I do not want to experience the horror of being forsaken by You as I bear the sins of my people. But there is something I want more than avoiding that. And that is your will to be done.” Jesus’ prayer was answered. God’s will was done and that was precisely what He had prayed.

Verse 7 also tells us that Jesus was heard [and answered] because of His reverence for His Father. In His suffering Jesus is the perfect example of how we should pray and endure the hardships of life – with utter commitment to the will of God. See here in Jesus the perfect combination of the divine and the human.

As a man, Jesus did not want to suffer. As the Son of God He will sovereignly do what needs to be done in order to save people from their sins. As a man Jesus prays. He prays with power and emotion and is heard because of His reverence. He is learning through experience what it means to suffer.

What a picture of the love of God for us. He did not merely know our suffering as the only omnipotent God. He knew our suffering through the experience of being truly human. We go to a Saviour who knows what we have been through. This is marvelous beyond words.

This is our God. He is approachable. He will never say “I don’t know what you mean”. He has been here and experienced life in all its horror. And He has triumphed over all of it. How this should encourage us and spur us on to persevere through all that comes our way. Jesus has been here. We do not follow a fair weather God. He was here, under the clouds, in the pain and suffering of this life. He prayed and was heard. And He will not forget. And when we come to Him through faith, He will hear and remember, and answer and help us.