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GOD'S CALL

Major themes in the Scriptures

The wisdom of God (10)

Wisdom in allowing evil

Reference: GDC-S19-010-Mw-R00-P2

(Originally spoken on 26 July 2015, edited on 31 July 2015)

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The Lord willing, today we will consider the subject, "The wisdom of God" the tenth message, in seeking to appreciate major themes in the Scriptures.

A short summary of today's message:

God is perfectly good and infinitely wise, but when we see so much moral evil in this world, we may find it difficult to understand how a morally good God can create moral beings who are so evil. However, when we draw near to God and come to see what is most precious in His heart, we will marvel at the wisdom of God in allowing moral evil in this universe.

We will seek the Lord to appreciate more of what this means.

Throughout the centuries, ever since God has created man, many have suffered, wondered, complained, argued about the issue of moral evil in this universe. Can there be a truly good God when there is so much evil that seems to run uncontrolled? If God is almighty, how is it that Satan can have so much power to do (it seems) as he pleases? It looks as if God is not able to control the activities of Satan.

Many who have sought to live righteous lives have suffered so much at the hands of wicked people and there seems to be no relief. Why is that so? What is God seeking to achieve by allowing evil in the universe that He has created?

Let us turn to Revelation 2: 7.

Revelation 2: 7

• 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'

The Lord Jesus instructed the apostle John to write to seven churches in Asia at that time; those were existing churches, local churches in what is now called Asia Minor.

However, we know the Scriptures were written, not just for the people of that time, but for all time. They are major issues that God wants us to learn, to understand, to benefit from as we read what the Lord Jesus communicated to the seven churches through the apostle John.

We notice that His message was different for each church. He did not say exactly the same thing for all of them. He noted where their failures were; he was aware of where they had succeeded and were pleasing to him.

But if you read through all the seven epistles, letters, to the churches, you will realize that there is one very major important aspect that is present in all seven; the Lord Jesus repeated this again and again.

We see this in Revelation 2: 7: "To him who overcomes, I will grant..." The meaning either phrased in this way or "He who overcomes, I will give..." this is common to all the churches and this is a message that is relevant for all of us throughout the centuries.

What then does it mean? What is the Lord Jesus concerned about when He said, "To him who overcomes..." what are we to overcome?

How can we overcome? What will be the outcome if we truly overcome?

This bears a very important relationship with the wisdom of God in allowing evil in this moral universe.

At the heart of it, the overcoming in Revelation 2 and 3 relate to overcoming evil.

If we read the context, we will see that there were many things that were wrong, coming from evil influences and practices. The Lord was angry with all those negative practices.

They were to repent where they had gone astray; they were to learn to overcome. If they were to overcome then they would be able to reign with the Lord Jesus; He would grant to them precious aspects in His kingdom.

In life, we face many struggles and difficulties that come in many ways, from many directions.

What are some of these and what does God expect of us as we go through these situations?

Let us turn to Romans 8: 35-39.

Romans 8: 35-39

35. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36. Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
37. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39. nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The apostle Paul brings to our consciousness that if we love the Lord, if we love what is good, then we may have to go through situations as described: "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." We may go through many difficult situations that can come from many quarters.

In terms of being persecuted for belonging to Christ, for living for Him, we can say basically, such persecution comes from those who are opposed to God, opposed to what is good. Of course, there can be some who are mistaken like the apostle Paul before he was converted, but it was still the result of something amiss whereby he chose the wrong path, encouraged by the evil one, instead of submission to God and His ways.

We can say that the negative effects of moral evil can come to us in two major ways.

One major way is through the physical actions, circumstances that are generated, for example, physical harm, death, torture, ill treatment; these are aspects that come from moral evil expressed in the physical realm.

But there is another kind that may not be so obvious, may at times be even pleasant: and that is the influence of moral evil in our hearts.

The evil one is very cunning and he can bring moral evil into our hearts in a form that is very attractive, pleasant, and many may choose that path and even think that it is pleasing to God, but at the heart of it, it satisfies the self-life - enjoyment that is passing - and in the process, we sacrifice what is truly good.

The evil one can corrupt the heart to such an extent that in the end, we may oppose God very fiercely.

Why then does God allow such evil?

It is difficult for us to appreciate the perfect moral goodness of God when there is no contrast. If God exists - perfectly good - and He gives to us everything that is very good, are we likely to appreciate very deeply what He has given to us?

We know from experience, when we have good food to eat, we have a home to stay in, things are pleasant, it is easy for us to complain. We want more: "This food is not nice enough"; we are not sick but we are not enjoying ourselves like some other people. There are many things that we may long for, and we may not appreciate God's kindness toward us; we want something else.

But in times when we are sick, in times when people oppress us, in times when life is very difficult, we may then come to God, ask Him for help and just to receive a little bit of help can bring about such gratitude, appreciation of God.

God allowed moral evil not that we may just appreciate Him, but He allowed moral evil so that we can appreciate Him in order that we may truly value what is good, we can see how wonderful it is to be good like God and if we learn to develop that quality because we appreciate it then something of value can take place in our hearts.

When the Lord Jesus performed miracles among the Jews, many were impressed, but how many truly appreciated His heart, the moral meaning within? Many were impressed with the outward circumstances and they longed for more of the physical expressions of power for their own good, in their own context.

So then, let us consider how we can overcome.

1 Peter 5: 8-10

8. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
10. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

If we want to overcome, we have to learn to develop a sober spirit. We have to be on the alert throughout our lives.

We are living in a very fierce battlefield. At times, it may seem as if nothing is happening but do not be mistaken: the evil one is prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour and he has many assistants helping him in this throughout the world. All the evil spirits are seeking to do damage to our lives. If we are not alert, we will be drawn in a negative direction; we will be overcome.

So in this situation, we cannot say, "Never mind. I do not think I want to be an overcomer; it is too difficult. Let others be." Think again. In a battle like this, if you do not overcome, what do you think will happen to you?

If you do not overcome, you will be overcome. The evil one is not going to leave you around doing your own thing; he has a kingdom to build, he has his objectives to fulfil. He is looking for people who will worship him, follow him. So knowingly or unknowingly, you may be captured, overcome, and yet may not realize that it is so.

Therefore, we have to be sober; we must be alert in the Lord.

It is through the Lord that we will be able to recognize what is happening in the spiritual realm and we will be able to overcome by His power.

The apostle Paul says, "...in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer..." This is what God intends for us: we should overwhelmingly conquer in all situations of life.

So the apostle Peter says, "But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." "...resist him" - resist the evil one, overcome him. How?

Firm in your faith: It is when we are rooted in Christ, we are firm in our faith in Him, our commitment to Him is deep enough that we will be able to resist the evil one and overcome him.

God wants us to know that victory over evil.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

As we choose the right path, as we trust in Him, as we are committed to the Lord, God Himself will bring about the transformation in our lives. He will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish us: that is God's objective.

His purpose is not just to let us suffer.

The suffering is intended for a good purpose: to bring us to a place of victory, of freedom, of power, of life. But suffering is part of the process of being transformed.

A battle is taking place that is very fierce. Can we expect no suffering in such a situation and we expect great victory?

Let us turn to Matthew 4: 1-4.

Matthew 4: 1-4

1. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
3. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
4. But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"

The Lord Jesus, the perfect Man, had to be tempted by Satan, the most evil moral being in the universe. Why? Why did He have to undergo this? He is holy, pure and perfect.

In order for the Lord Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, to save us from our sins, He must conquer sin; He must conquer the tempter who draws men to sin. The Lord Jesus must overcome and help us to overcome.

He came, He dwelt in a body like ours; He went through temptations similar to what we go through and even more so, more difficult. He overcame every temptation and because He has overcome, we in Him, through Him can also overcome. When we are identified with the Lord Jesus, His perfect manhood can then be experienced by us in spirit as we identify with His heart, as we depend on God and the victory of the cross.

In the midst of hunger after forty days and forty nights of fasting, the tempter came to Him and said "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." That was something that the Lord Jesus would have been able to do (to command the stones to become bread) and if He had done that, then He would have given in to the temptation of the evil one because that was not what God wanted Him to do at that point of time.

The Lord Jesus was very clear.

He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" He would only do what was pleasing to God and because of that, He has shown us the way to overcome.

The way to overcome is not to develop great strength in ourselves, by ourselves; by learning many different things that we may do, many special principles to apply. Ultimately, the way to overcome is to learn to live by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD. As we learn to do that, we will receive life, we will receive understanding, we will draw nearer to God; His wisdom, His power will rest on us.

Matthew 16: 21-26

21. From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
22. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."
23. But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
24. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
25. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

This passage shows to us that Satan is very active, constantly seeking to deceive and to draw men away from God and to oppose what God is seeking to do.

The Lord Jesus told His disciples about what was going to happen in the event of the cross. Peter rebuked Him and he said, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." What the apostle Peter said did not sound wrong. He loved the Lord. He did not want the Lord Jesus to die; he wanted the Lord Jesus to be with them. So, it seemed right that he should say that: "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."

And yet, the response of the Lord Jesus was very firm and clear. He turned and said to Peter, and yet the words go: "Get behind Me, Satan!" This tells us that Satan was using Peter to say those words to draw the Lord Jesus away from the path of the cross, so that He would not be the Saviour of the world. "Get behind Me, Satan!" - it was Satan who was actively at work in that situation, making use of Peter's natural inclinations, natural thinking.

The Lord Jesus said, "...you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's" or literally you can translate it as: "you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man". So, the focus, the concentration is not on what is in God's heart. It is not what God is seeking to accomplish; it is what men may prefer, what men may think is a good thing. Satan is very capable in this area: to give us something that is of the flesh and yet may sound spiritual.

And so the Lord Jesus went on to say how, if we want to come after Him, then we must learn to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. This path is a very difficult path. It is not too difficult to understand, but it is very difficult to live it out. There are so many things that we do that arise so very spontaneously; we can do them very easily, very freely and we like it and so we carry on doing that day by day, year by year, and we are not conscious of anything wrong in that. But if we want to overcome then we need to learn to deny ourselves.

Consider: What are you pursuing? How are you spending your time? What are the things that really interest you? Are they really what God would be pleased with or are they what men will be pleased with, including the natural man, the self-life?

Unless we are prepared to deal with this, we will not be able to effectively overcome. It is because of the self-life that the evil one has much room to work at.

I want to share with you a story, which all of you already know, but it is a very meaningful story from many angles. It was a story told by the Lord Jesus in the context where the religious leaders of His day were unhappy with Him because He was associating with the sinful people or those they regarded as sinful people.

The Lord Jesus told this story with the primary intention of helping us to appreciate the love of God, the compassion of God; how God reaches out to those who are sinful but who are repentant, who are willing to change. He reaches out to us to help us to become good. As we look at the story, we will see that there are various features that are helpful for our learning.

The Lord Jesus said a man had two sons: a younger, an older. They were living in a home that was cared for by a loving father. But the younger son was not satisfied staying in this home, so he asked for his inheritance to be given to him. So when the father divided the inheritance, we are told: not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

This describes his approach: he was not satisfied to stay with a father who loved him and cared for him. He did not quite appreciate the meaning of love; he thought that he was deprived of something exciting, something enjoyable, and he longed for that kind of life. So, he took what he thought belonged to him, he went into a distant country and he squandered his estate with loose living. Moral evil in the world attracted him: enjoyment of the pleasures of the world.

And so we see his heart was corrupted; his life was damaged. And then as a result, he was impoverished and nobody really cared for him.

When he hired himself... to one of the citizens of the country, he sent him into his fields to feed swine. He would have wanted to eat the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving him anything. Where was the love of people compared with his father who really cared for him?

In a situation like that, this young man came to his senses and he began to recall his home, and so he decided to return home. He was repentant and he had decided that he would come to his father and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."'

He recognized he had gone wrong. He wanted to change; he was now grateful for whatever good that his father might do to him. He was no longer worthy to be called his son but he was willing to work for his father because now, he realized his father was a good man - a good man who cared for his well-being, was willing to help him - and he was prepared to come back to him.

So, the story goes that when he came back, his father ran to him and embraced him and kissed him. And so the son said to him what he had decided to say but the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate..."

The father was so glad to see him. And so he rejoiced; they celebrated. This is the expression of the love of God.

We see that this in reality has happened to all of us. God created us in His love. We went astray, each one of us to his own way, but God is waiting for us to come back to Him.

God allowed moral evil in this universe so that we may learn to choose what is good, but we all chose what was not good. So, God in His grace helped us. He brought about the event of the cross; He sent the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts.

He waits for us to respond to Him. If we respond, He is prepared to forgive us, to welcome us into His home, to give us the very best.

But will we?

That is the first step in overcoming evil. We must first overcome evil in our own hearts: we must first repent, we must come to God; we must deal with our own self-life.

The first and primary issue is not to overcome Satan. The first and primary issue we must deal with is our own hearts. Do we want what is good? Are we prepared for the cost of being good in the eyes of God? If we are not prepared for that, we will be an easy victim of the evil one; we cannot overcome him.

If we want to overcome the evil one, we must first overcome the evil within ourselves. Are we willing to change? Are we prepared to deny ourselves? Are we prepared to go all the way to follow the Lord, to walk with Him? If we are willing to do that, we come to the Lord, He will forgive us. He is a compassionate God; He has done everything possible to help us. He will give us the very best.

So, when this son came back, they rejoiced, they celebrated. But this man had another son who did not go away, who stayed in the house with the father, but when he saw his younger brother come back and the father celebrating, he was upset. Why?

To him, it was not fair: "How can you treat my younger brother so well when you do not treat me that well? I have been obedient to you. I have carried out all your instructions; I have not disobeyed you." He said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'

Was he right to be angry?

His being angry shows to us he did not appreciate true love. He did not appreciate the love of the father for his brother, his compassion for him. And more than that, he did not appreciate the love of his father for him.

His father loved both sons, but the older one did not appreciate it either. Both the sons did not appreciate the love of the father but in different ways. One chose to go away, enjoy himself. The other decided to stay. He thought he had done everything well; he deserved to be rewarded, but he was not.

So the father said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"

The father helped him to understand: "You are mistaken. You have not appreciated all that is present in my love for you. All that I have is meant for you, meant for your well-being, it is at your disposal if only you understood how to respond. If you appreciate my love for you as a father and you respond accordingly, all that I have you can have. There is no need to argue in this way and to complain."

How often we do likewise. We have done some things and we think we have done so much for God and we look at other people, they seem to have a better time than us and we have suffered so much: "Not fair; God is not treating us fairly."

But we missed the point. God's love for us is so deep, but it is expressed in different ways in different situations. We need to know what is in His heart.

The problem with both sons is that they were both self-centred; they were focussing on themselves.

The first one wanted to enjoy himself and went away. The second one wanted to be rewarded.

If both of them had really learnt to identify with the father and sought to work together with the father in what he sought to accomplish, both of them would have enjoyed the richness of the estate and be able to do many, many things that would be very meaningful.

But that is the problem: we often do not live that way.

I now want to come to the last part, which I find the most wonderful.

Why are we learning to overcome evil? Why is it so important to overcome evil?

Ultimately, is that the main thing?

Is this what we should be concentrating on throughout our lives: overcome evil, overcome evil; and when we can overcome evil, overcome the evil one, we have succeeded?

I do not think so. This is not really God's objective.

What is it that God wants us to appreciate, to benefit from?

It is such a wonderful thing, but in order to receive that, you must overcome. If you do not overcome, you will not be able to receive that.

But overcoming is not equal to receiving that.

You have to work very hard to receive the most wonderful thing, but you have to first work hard to overcome.

Let us read 1 John 2: 12-14.

1 John 2: 12-14

12. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.
13. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Notice the apostle John repeats what he said with regard to the three categories of people, but the repetition is not exactly the same for two of them, but one of them remains the same. Why?

When we look at the passage, I think it should be reasonably clear that the apostle John was not referring to physical age: fathers are the old people, young men are the young adults, children are the teenagers and below. He is not referring to these categories of people because people who are fathers can be spiritually children and so likewise, young men can be fathers in spiritual experience.

So, he is writing about spiritual life, spiritual maturity, spiritual depth and meaning.

So we can say the children are the ones who have come to know the Lord in the earlier stages; the young men are those who have grown and developed to a certain extent; and the fathers are the ones who have matured. So, what is the characteristic of these three categories?

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake. When we first became Christians, this is the primary issue: our sins forgiven for His name's sake. We were burdened with sin; we needed forgiveness. When we came in repentance, the Lord forgave us; we became children of God, we are born into His kingdom. So, little children are those who have come to know the Lord, found His forgiveness and rejoice.

Then he repeated: I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. So, knowing the Father is appreciating the love, the care, the compassion of the Father for His children.

As we grow, as we come to know the Lord, we will increasingly appreciate how good a Father God is. So we come to Him, we pray to Him, we receive from Him; He helps us, we are very grateful.

Then we grow: we learn to walk with God, to serve, to contribute and we encounter more evil that we need to fight and so he says, "I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one." And then he says, "I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."

So, there are various aspects of the young men: they are strong; the word of God abides in them; they have overcome the evil one. These are good qualities. When we grow in spiritual stature and strength, we should be overcoming the evil one; we should have the word of God abiding in us; and this is something necessary.

If we want to proceed to the next stage of being amongst the category of the fathers, we must grow strong, we must overcome the evil one.

Then he says, "I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning." And he says again, "I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning." No change. That is the climax; it will always be like that.

If you enter into that phase of life, you know Him who has been from the beginning, it is a never ending discovery. Him who has been from the beginning is a description appropriate for the God who is the absolute, infinite, almighty, omniscient, all-glorious, perfect God. Him who has been from the beginning has always been so good, so wonderful.

"...you know Him" - what is the meaning of "you know Him"? You have entered into His heart; you have come to appreciate who He is; you are identified with Him; you are so excited about walking with Him, living for Him; you deepen your fellowship with Him; you enjoy your friendship with Him and this is ever increasing and can go on forever - to know Him who has been from the beginning.

Ultimately, God allows evil not just so that we can overcome evil, but so that we can appreciate what is good and when we truly appreciate what is good, we will come to appreciate who God truly is.

It is not easy to appreciate who God truly is.

We have our own ideas and we would like Him to be such and such, and we are disappointed when He is not what we think He should be.

But if we come to know what is truly good then we will know Him, who He really is and we will appreciate Him more and more.

Why did the Lord Jesus say, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"?

What is so wonderful about seeing God? Everybody will see God on the Judgment Day.

But that is not what the Lord Jesus is referring to. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" tells us those who are not pure in heart will not see God in that sense.

So, the meaning here has to do with quality of fellowship, of oneness, of friendship. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" in a context of deep fellowship and friendship, of oneness of heart and identification of being.

Why did the Lord Jesus say, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"?

Do you appreciate how wonderful that is: to be perfect like God is perfect?

It may seem to us not possible, but moral perfection is moral quality and if we truly love what is good and our hearts are transformed, we can be like God in His moral goodness.

We are called upon to be like Him, to be holy as He is holy; we are to be like the Lord Jesus, He is to be formed in us.

But this is something that is difficult for us to develop. There are so many things that are plaguing us, hindering us, drawing us away.

We need to overcome. What is in the world: the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, these are the things that often draw us away from God; and if we are occupied with this, the love of God will not be in us as it ought to be.

So, when God allows evil, He has a very wonderful purpose in mind: He wants us to see by contrast what is truly good so that we will hate evil and overcome evil and destroy evil.

We take our stand against Satan; we are not afraid of him, we oppose him and we object to what he does.

But to do that, we must be firm in our faith: we must trust God, we must align our hearts with Him, we must take our stand with Him then we can stand in the day of battle as we put on the whole armour of God as we fight against the principalities, the powers, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the high places.

So let us, as we draw near to God, ask Him to teach us how to appreciate Him, how to grow in our oneness with Him.

Let us ask Him to teach us how to overcome evil in our lives and in what is around us, that we may help others also to find that meaning in life as God intends for us.

Let us come before the Lord and ask Him to speak to us and to help us understand ourselves.

If there are areas that are not right, let us ask Him to forgive us, help us to change.

If there are areas that are meaningful and good, let us ask Him to teach us how to nurture, to strengthen ourselves and to grow deeper. Let us thank Him for all that He has done for us.