Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Part 2 (Psalm 22:12-21)

Announcements

Don’t forget that we’re back to our normal worship schedule with Sunday AM worship at 10:30am and Bible Study & Prayer every Wednesday at 7pm.

On Friday, May 20th, at 7pm, we’ll be showing the movie Sabina in the auditorium—admittance is free; and we’ll provide free snacks and drinks as well.

We are still looking for a treasurer to replace our last one, if you have any interest in serving in that way, please feel free to talk with me about it as soon as possible.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you this evening, please turn it to Psalm 22:12-21.

This evening, we’re back in our series through the book of Psalms. For those unfamiliar with what we’ve been doing on Wednesday evenings concerning our sermons is that, essentially, we’ve been working through a psalm each week, line-by-line and thought-by-thought with the intent of learning what the original author intended to be said to the original audience. After which, we seek ways in which we can apply the text to our lives today based off the intended meaning of the text. In that way, it’s very similar to what we do on Sunday mornings and really anytime we seek to study Scripture together. It takes about 45-50 minutes, after which, we spend some time sharing prayer requests and praying for one another.

It is intentionally a simple service that emphasizes Scripture and prayer. On occasion, like tonight, we’re actually working through a much longer psalm and because the psalm is so long, we’ve chosen to divide the psalm between multiple weeks. We did part 1 (1-11) two weeks ago, we’re doing part 2 (12-21) tonight, and then we’ll finish the psalm next week with part 3 (22-31).

Because this is part 2 of three, let me remind you just briefly of part 1. In part 1 of the psalm, we see David crying out to God. He feels as if God has forsaken him and he feels as if God is ignoring his cries, but he reminds himself of God’s character—that God is holy; and he reminds himself that his forefathers had trusted in God and because of their trust in God, God delivered them. The first section ends with a plea from David that God not be far from him and a statement that trouble is near and unless God does help him, he has no one else to turn to.

I did mention briefly last week, that it is notable that this psalm ought to be familiar to most at the very least because of Jesus quoting the first few verses during his crucifixion, but I did remind us that there is still an original meaning for the text that we need to determine to get the proper application of the passage. For last week’s message, the application was based on the idea that when we find ourselves in time of trouble and great distress, we ought to cry out to God for help, remind ourselves of the truth according to Scripture, and to reflect on the great things that he has already done for us.

This evening’s psalm reiterates that suffering that David is enduring. He speaks of what is causing that great suffering and then he pleas for God to save him. Let’s read Psalm 22:12-21 together.

Psalm 22:12–21 ESV

12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— 17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two primary parts: (1) vss. 12-18 is The Lament of the King. In this section, David again expresses the great agony and suffering that he’s going through at the hands of his enemies. Technically, we could probably divide this section further into two additional parts, but what you’ll see is that the idea remains the same—David is crying out to God again. (2) vss. 19-21, which is the shorter part, is David’s Petition for Deliverance. This is his cry for God to be near, to help him, and to save him. Much like our passage from two weeks ago, the idea behind this section is similar and very relatable. The application of the text is going to be similar to the message from two weeks ago, but it might be a little more specific towards your present situation.

Prayer for Illumination

The Lament of the King (12-18)

This part of the text utilizes vivid imagery to help describe how David feels, but remember, David has already started explaining some of the issues that are at hand in vss. 1-11.

He starts Psalm 22 by expressing the feeling that he thinks that God has forsaken him.

He explains that he feels that way because he thinks that God has abandoned him and is refusing to hear his prayers.

David writes that he cries out to the Lord day and night, but the Lord refuses to answer him.

He then goes back and forth between describing how he feels and refuting his feelings with what he knows to be true about God.

He feels abandoned by God and rejected by God, but he knows that God is holy and he knows that God will protect those who seek their refuge in him.

He feels as if he is nothing but a worm, completely worthless, but he knows that God took him from the womb and led him to believe in Yahweh.

It is a powerful way to handle struggles in life, so much so, that I recommend learning from David and utilizing the same methodology in your life today.

As David continues in vss. 12-18, he goes a little bit deeper in-depth concerning what is occurring around him to make him feel as if God had forsaken him and like he has been rejected by God.

Vss. 12-13 compares David’s enemies to both bulls and lions. Vss. 12-13 say, “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.”

The bulls of Bashan were well fed cattle that roamed the countryside. The same concept of the cows of Bashan is utilized in Amos 4:1 to describe what the upper-class women of Israel was like. The description in Amos is that the upper-class women were essentially pampered by their husbands and because they had nothing better to do, they hurt the poor and spent their time drinking and gossiping.

Bulls on the other hand weren’t pampered the same way, but they were still well-fed. And since bulls were created differently than cows, bulls that are well-fed tend to be more muscular and dangerous.

David’s description of his enemies being bulls of Bashan gives the impression that his enemies are strong and dangerous.

He says that just like lions, they have their mouths opened wide at him. For those unfamiliar with how lions behave, all this means is that they’re ready to attack and they’re communicating with one another about the best way of attack.

There’s also a certain level of fear in that they’re trying to intimidate their prey into submission.

Vss. 14-15 then utilizes figurative language to describe how David feels concerning injuries done against his own body.

I will point out that some commentators think that this concerns a bodily illness that David was experiencing, but I’m going to suggest that contextually, it doesn’t make sense for him to talk about his enemies who have been attacking him and are continuing to attack him and then for him to all of sudden switch gears and start talking about an illness that he might have had.

In fact, if he was talking about an illness, I’m not really sure what illness he could be talking about considering the text’s description. David writes, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.”

If this is an illness, it’s a very unusual illness. It’s unusual because illnesses don’t really cause bones to come out of joint. The rest of the descriptions could possibly describe an illness, but that one description that is interwoven with the rest doesn’t seem to fit.

An extremely ill person might describe how he feels utilizing these other phrases:

I am poured out like water or in our modern vernacular, I’m spiritually spent.

My heart is like wax; it has melted within my breast or in our modern vernacular, I’m experiencing tremendous and overwhelming fear and grief.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd or in our modern vernacular, my strength is dried up like dry clay

My tongue sticks to my jaws

You lay me in the dust of death.

An extremely ill person would say that spiritually and emotionally, they’re just drained. An extremely ill person would say that he’s fearful and full of grief (especially if he is near death). Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in a hospital bed would argue that they feel like they have no strength, their mouth is completely dry, and they just feel as if it’s time to go.

But again, I’m not aware of any illness that would cause his bones to come out of joint.

With that in mind, it seems that he’s writing this about his physical experience concerning his enemies. He’s spiritually and emotionally drained because he’s on the run. He’s full of fear and grief because his enemies are near. He’s feels as if he has no strength, because he’s exhausted from hiding. His mouth is dry because he has no water. He feels as if he’s at the precipice of death.

Why? Well because his enemies are surrounding him. He reminds us of this in vss. 16-18 “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

David again, utilizes imagery from creation to show us how desperate of a situation he’s in. He speaks of dogs encompassing.

And immediately, let me be clear that these are not dogs in the same sense that we see today—they’re not domesticated animals that are pets. They’re ravenous, they attack people, and they steal food.

That’s the imagery that David is setting forth as he describes these evildoers that have encircled him.

He says that they have “pierced [his hands and feet] . . . they stare and gloat over [him]” and they divide his clothes as they cast lots.

I’m sure you’ve picked up on the fact that the ideas at play here are the same ideas that describe Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Much like in vs. 1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” is directly quoted by Jesus on the cross.

And much like when we worked through the first verse, I’m going to encourage you to see that connection because the New Testament makes that connection, but don’t let it distract you from the original meaning of the text.

Yes, this does describe what occurred to Jesus in the New Testament, but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is what happened to David in the Old Testament.

He speaks of his enemies surrounding him, of them piercing him, of them gloating over them and stealing his clothes as if his clothes were prizes to be won.

You can see the desperation that David feels as he describes his situation to us in more detail. He starts this psalm by expressing how he feels and in this psalm, he clearly feels as if he’s been abandoned, as if he is all alone facing tremendous suffering, trial, and tribulation. We see David remind himself of truth—that God is holy, that he delivered those who had trusted in him previously, that he rescued them. We see David speak of himself as if he is a worm or as if he’s worthless, but then he reminds himself that God is the one who cared for him in the womb and took him out of the womb. God is the one who chose him and led him to repentance and belief.

Vss. 12-18 focuses on what has caused him to feel this way—as if he is worthless and as if he has been abandoned and we see that it him being surrounded by enemies, attacked, reviled, and harmed that has caused him to feel this way. There are very real issues at hand that he is being confronted with and it has caused great fear, pain, dejection, and the feeling that he is close to his own death.

But much like many of his other psalms in which he expresses feelings such as this, he doesn’t stop at just expressing the pain and sorrow that he’s feeling. In fact, vss. 19-21 focuses on David petitioning the Lord for help, but just as a preview of next week, part 3 of the psalm then focuses on David praising the Lord for his help (even before the help actually comes).

Our last few verses for this evening vss. 19-21 ends this section with David crying out to the LORD for help and in his cry for help, he makes three requests. Let’s re-read vss. 19-21 together.

David’s Petition for Deliverance (19-21)

Psalm 22:19–21 ESV

19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

David closes this section of the psalm by making three petitions that are spread over the remaining three verses and they all revolve around the idea of God saving or delivering David.

The first petition that David makes concerns proximity to the Lord, “But you, O Lord, do not be far off!”

Now, it is important to note that theologically, David knows that the Lord isn’t far off. David himself writes the very next psalm that speaks about God shepherding his people. He himself wrote Psalm 23:6 “6 Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, And my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.”

Mentally and intellectually, he knows that God isn’t far off from him, but remember, he’s in a season in life in which he’s being attacked, he’s being harmed, and he finds himself surrounded by enemies.

Ask yourself, when you find yourself in similar situations, how do you feel? Just like David, who expresses in vs. 1 that he feels as if God has forsaken him and left him, that he’s all alone; that’s exactly how we feel when we face times of tremendous difficulty in life.

And just like David, how often do we then pray for God to be with us and provide us comfort in times of great difficulty? Despite the fact that the Bible teaches us that God is always with those who genuinely believe. We intellectually know that God is always with us and yet, when we face great difficulty in life we tend to feel as if God isn’t with us and thus, we pray for God to make his presence known.

That is the first petition that David makes, for God to not be too far away from him, which is a very similar petition to how we ask God to make his presence known in times of great trial and tribulation today.

David then gives a second petition, “O you my help, come quickly to my aid!”

Notice that David recognizes just how unable he is to make it through this situation apart from God coming and helping him. The ESV and the NASB translates this word as help, but every other modern translation and even the KJV translates this word as strength and I think it helps to communicate the dependency that David has on the Lord.

Not only does David cry out to God for help, but in doing so he makes it clear that he realizes that only God provides the strength that he needs to endure.

Consider the contrast between David, who has just written of how he has been poured out like water, with his bones out of joint, and his heart like wax melted within. Think of David, who just said that his own strength is dried up, he’s dehydrated, and he feels as if he is on the precipice of death.

David contrasts the circumstance that he’s in with who God really is—David is weak, but God is strong.

I can’t help but to think of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in which he speaks about this physical pain and suffering that he endures. He writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “7 There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for [my] power is perfected in [your] weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Apart from God coming quickly, David knows that he has no hope—so he starts by asking God to be near him and he asks God to come to his aid quickly before giving one more petition that’s given in two ways: “Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!” and “Save me from the mouth of the lion!”

The last petition that David makes concerns what we could call his deliverance or his salvation, but we aren’t talking about deliverance and salvation in a spiritual sense. We’re speaking in a purely physical sense and we can see that in the context itself.

While David does express that he feels as if God has forsaken him or abandoned him and though David does show a significant amount of emotional pain in the text, the reality is that the primary issues that are causing him to feel this way are physical.

He’s physically surrounded by his enemies, which means that he physically was attacked and chased to where he is hiding from his enemies.

It wouldn’t make sense for him to suddenly change and start talking about spiritual salvation or spiritual deliverance, especially when he utilizes the same imagery that he does in vss. 13 and 16.

He still speaks of those who he needs rescuing from as dogs and lions—that connection, then makes it clear that this salvation in this context is purely physical.

He prays to be saved from the sword, the power of the dog, and the mouth of the lion and then in the very last phrase of the text, he ends this passage with a statement that might seem unusual at first. “You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!”

I say that this is a little unusual because it completely changes tense and that is the point of the passage. What vs. 21 is in the latter half of the verse is the turning point or the transition for the text.

Now I know that some of the modern translations of this text don’t render the words the same way. So, the NLT says “Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.” And the NIV says “rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.”

In both instances, the translators were trying to make the wording a little smoother and easier to understand in our modern-day context, but the reality is that there is meant to be something just slightly different in that last phrase.

The tense in the wording has changed in the Hebrew, which makes the wording slightly clunky, which again, is the point.

The NASB says, “Save me from the lion’s mouth;” and then “from the horns of the wild oxen you answer me.” The ESV says “You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.”

Do you hear the difference? Much of Psalm 22 has been written in the present and future tenses, meaning that David writes about what is presently happening or what will soon happen.

He presently feels rejected and forsaken by God. He presently cries out to God day and night. He presently is surrounded by enemies who have done physical harm to him.

He prays for God to deliver him soon; to come quickly in the future to his aid. He prays for God to deliver him and save him in the future.

But then in vs. 21, in the last sentence of this text, he doesn’t speak in the present or future tenses. He speaks in the past tense, “you have rescued me.” As in God has already done this for him. God has already rescued him, God has answered him; David has already received help.

Now if God has already given David the help that he needs, it brings up an excellent question. Why did David pray for salvation and deliverance? Why did David speak about being presently surrounded by his enemies who wanted to kill him?

If God had already saved him in this scenario, then why is he praying for salvation?

Because God hasn’t actually rescued him yet. How do we know? Because David isn’t speaking in a normal past tense like what we have in English.

When we speak in past tenses in English, we speak of things that have already occurred. In Greek and in Hebrew, there’s a tense called the perfect tense and the perfect tense is unique in that when it’s translated, it’s translated into the past tense, but there’s something odd going on with it in that it isn’t speaking about things that have already occurred in a linear timeline.

The perfect tense in Hebrew is a tense of completion. Meaning even though the event hasn’t occurred yet, it has been completed. Or in other words, David hasn’t been saved yet, but the certainty of his salvation is so great that he can write as if it has already happened.

In a similar way, we speak about the eschaton utilizing the same concept. When we talk about the end times and what is to occur, we speak of them as if they have already been accomplished, because Scripturally, we’re told that they already have been:

For instance, though we currently live in a sinned cursed world, we know that the Kingdom of God already exists and that Jesus is already reigning.

Or, we know that Jesus is to return and that there will be a tribulation, there will be judgment, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth; but the Bible speaks as if these things have already occurred. We call it the already, but not yet.

David starts to transition his psalm in vs. 21 and that transition goes between expressing his pain and suffering, from praying for God to save him and to help him, to what we’ll talk about next week, the result of God saving David.

In the meantime, David is still surrounded by enemies and he’s in pain and he’s suffering, but he knows that God will rescue him, so he writes Psalm 22:21 with this truth in mind. “You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.”

In the remaining few minutes, I want us to look at specific application concerning this psalm. Like I mentioned in the introductory material, much of what we can say about this psalm is similar to the message from two weeks ago and the reasoning for this is simple, we have yet, to get through the transition into the latter half of the psalm. We’re still in the lamentation of David and the cry for help, but there’s still a significant amount of truth that we can apply from Psalm 22:12-21. For us to gain the application from the text that we ought to, we need to look at this section of the text as one unit.

Application

What we see in Psalm 22:12-21 is David lamenting about the situation that he is presently facing. He speaks of great suffering at the hands of his enemies who surround him, hurt him, and gloat over him. He describes his own physical state as being completely spent with his bones out of joint. He says that his heart is melted within his breast and his strength has dried up. He genuinely feels that he is at the brink of death.

We can rightly take what he’s said in vss. 12-18 and remind ourselves of what he says in vss. 1-11, that he feels as if God has abandoned him, that God has forsaken him, and that he is completely alone. In the midst of this he feels as if he is utterly worthless and yet, he still reminds himself of who God is and he reminds himself of the care that God has shown him thus far. And then in vss. 19-21, we see a transition occuring in the midst of his petition to the Lord. He asks God to be near him, to help him quickly, and for God to save him. And in the very last verse, we see a glimpse of genuine hope in that David is so certain that God is going to rescue him, that he writes that God has rescued him in the past tense.

Much like our message from two weeks ago, most of us have never quite experienced the same type of difficulty that David is describing in that we have never been faced with a situation in which our enemies are surrounding us, they seek to do physical harm to us.

The reality is that we probably won’t face that exact scenario in our lives unless we were on the mission field, where like Jim Elliot, there is a very real chance that our lives might be taken by those who surround us and intend to harm us.

However, the feelings that David expresses throughout the psalm are very real feelings that we can relate to very easily.

Anyone who is honest with how their life is going and how they’re doing emotionally will admit that there are times in life when they feel as if God has abandoned them and there are times in which you feel like you’ve been crying out day and night, but God is simply ignoring you.

Anyone who is honest, will admit that there are times when you feel as if you are worthless and that people degrade you.

And there there may not be legitimate enemies surrounding you today, there are times in which you feel as if everyone around you is denigrating you and attacking you whether that’s at work, school, or maybe even at home.

There are times in which you will feel as if you are completely spent emotionally and spiritually, that your bones are out of join and your heart is overwhelmed with fear and worry.

I can give you example after example of when this might be:

It could be that a loved one just died—someone that you were particularly close to and now you don’t know what to do—you don’t know how you’re going to pay the bills, you don’t know how to handle the arrangements for the funeral, your family instead of coming together is now spending the bulk of their time arguing and bickering—it’s overwhelming and there’s very real fear of what might be next.

It could be that you’re a college student and you’ve just found out through maybe a comprehensive exam or some sort of checkup in your program that your school is recommending that you choose a different major and pursue a different career path—it’s as if the pit in your stomach has fallen out and you’re heartbroken.

It could be a very real physical infirmity that’s causing these emotions and thoughts—you could be suffering with physical ailments that have caused you to literally feel as if your bones are out of joint and that you just can’t gather up the strength to live life the way that you want to live life. You could feel as if you are at the edge of life and death.

Or it could be any number of other issues—the loss of a job, the pain of familial discord, or maybe even as simple as your close friend whom you love, rejects you completely.

I’m sure that you have something in mind when you think of great hardship in your life that causes you to feel spent, overwhelmed, fearful, and worrisome. The question is, and this is where are application is for the evening, what do we do when we find ourselves in situations like this? David gives us a pattern for it and it ties in the passage from two weeks ago with this week’s passage. When you find yourself in a situation that causes you to feel overwhelmed, spent, fearful, and worrisome, do as David does. I’ll tell you what David does in steps and then we’ll look at them individually.

Cry out to the Lord in prayer and be honest about the situation (1-2, 6-8, 12-18)

So far through this psalm, David has expressed himself very well concerning how he feels and what’s going on in the situation surrounding him.

Often, when we pray, we feel as if we need to cover up how we truly feel or we need to polish our prayers to make it somewhat “acceptable,” but the reality is that our prayers need to be truthful and they need to be authentic.

If life is hard right now, what good does it do to pretend in our prayers that nothing is wrong?

And let’s be honest, it’s a bit silly to pretend that nothing is wrong when you’re speaking to an omniscient God that knows all things—he already knows that something’s wrong and he already knows that you’re upset or angry or irritated or fearful.

The only thing that not speaking to God about your emotions does is it bottles those emotions up instead of laying them at the feet of a sovereign God who cares for you.

When life is difficult, which let’s be honest, is more frequent than we usually let up, then cry out to God—tell him how you feel and express yourself to him.

Now of course, you must do this reverently, he is still God and you are not; but be honest with your prayers and be authentic in your prayer. Hiding the truth from an omniscient God is simply silly.

In David’s case, he prays for God to save him, help him, deliver his soul, and save his precious life. You might just be praying for God to make his presence known to you, to help you through this difficult time, or to protect you from harm. Regardless, the truth is the same, you need to cry out to Jesus.

Remind yourself of the truth from Scripture (3-5, 9-11, 21)

Often when we are in times of great distress, we tend to forget the truth. I used the example two weeks ago of what typically happens if you’re someone who struggles with road rage.

Someone cuts you off and you swear and maybe give a crude gesture towards someone; even though logically, you know that it really doesn’t do any good. The distress has caused you to forget the truth.

Or you go to McDonald’s and you finally get your food and it’s completely messed up so you go to complain and as you complain, you treat the cashier rudely and disrespectfully; even though logically, you know that the 16-year-old girl behind the counter really has nothing to do with your messed up food. The distress has caused you to forget the truth.

We do the same exact thing when it comes to greater issues in life. When there is some sort of emergency, our mind races at 100 MPH and we struggle to think clearly.

When the reality is that we need to slow ourselves down—cry out to Jesus and remind ourselves of the truth of Scripture.

That if you’re a believer, Jesus loves you and he’s working all things out to conform you into the image of himself.

That he is your help and that he is with you ready to deliver you and save you.

Learn what the Scriptures teach and then remind yourself consistently of its truth.

And then give thanks for what Jesus has already promised to do for you even though it hasn’t happened yet (21)

When we find ourselves in times of great distress, we tend to get extremely focused on the present and we become very narrow in our perspective.

The reality is, that our present state is only temporary. Consider what Paul teaches in Romans 8:18 “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Or in other words, the very worst of this sin-cursed world in which we find ourselves struggling, in pain, all alone, and as if our bones are out of joint aren’t even worth us dwelling on because what is to come is going to be so much more greater than this that we won’t even remember it.

Put simply, what David teaches us through his lamentation in Psalm 22, is that when we are faced in times of great distress, we need to simply (1) cry out to God, remind ourselves of the truth, and give thanks for what Jesus has promised us even though it hasn’t happened yet.

Life is hard, but we have a good God who loves us and cares for us. We serve a God that wants us to cry out to him, to rely on him, and to praise him for what is to come.

Pastoral Prayer

Prayer Requests

I do want to give thanks that this semester is finally over for both myself and Natalie. I know some schools still have a little bit of time left, so I do want to encourage prayer that for those that still have some time left to finish off strong and I do want us to pray for our elementary/middle/high school students still in school for a little bit longer.

Deane Herbst—continued healing from COVID.

The Family of Bobbi Jo—we want to continue praying for the family of Bobbi Jo. She had a heart attack and was unable to recover. Pray for the family to be comforted and to seek comfort in Jesus alone.

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

With the weather warming up, we want to pray for different outreach ministries that are planned, that we can reach our communities with the Gospel.