Biblical Counseling - Trials & Suffering Part I

Now, this trials and suffering thing, one of the things that we just, it seems like we just got asked, because we're going to be talking today and the next two weeks on this subject of trials and suffering. And what, how is this different from masochism if we say there's anything good? I'm asking a question. And I don't think the answers are necessarily in here. What does the Lord have in mind with trials and with suffering and having believers go through trials and suffering? For growth and for depending on Him. You mean good things? Yeah. Okay. There's a purpose to it. Yes. And that's a neat, isn't that a neat thing that there's purpose? just kind of senseless, you know, how do I get out of this or away from this or get it over with, instead of seeing the Lord's purpose in the struggles and trials and difficulties.

We have a paragraph there, trials and suffering are indeed addressed in scripture and as we'll see numerous times, and since trials and suffering are mentioned in scripture numerous times, we can benefit from this insight. and suffering is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work. If the Lord is allowing trials and suffering in our lives, and if the Scriptures that address trials and suffering are intended for these purposes, for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work, then what is the Lord's intent to do between the trials and suffering and the insights about it we have from Scripture? What's God going to do with the trials and suffering?

Equip us. Yeah, it's actually a part of God's equipping process. Scripture plus the trials and suffering. Because it's the insights that we have from Scripture. It's the understanding that we have from Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives through the Word that bring about this equipping. So God has definite intent. And what a wonderful thing to realize that God has purpose in it. It's not just, oh, I've got this senseless problem. It is not a senseless problem. It is, in fact, very purposeful. OK.

And why talk about trials and suffering in an elective on biblical counseling? Why would we be talking about trials and suffering You know, it's an interesting thing. It's those trials, it's those difficulties that will frequently draw people to, you know, hey, I need somebody to talk to about this thing. I need to get some perspective on it. Just even one of the reasons I'm a little bit delayed here was because somebody was saying, hey, I need to have you talk to somebody about a trial they're going through, okay?

It is one of the things about trials and suffering is it gets our attention, doesn't it? It makes us ask, why? What's going on? How do I make sense out of this? So yeah, it is one of the things that is going to draw people to ask for counsel, whether it's minor, incidental, a few words in passing, or let's talk about it a lot. But it is going to draw people to ask. Tell me something. I need to know.

It gets our attention. Is there just one reason or are there several reasons to talk about trials and suffering in an elective on biblical counseling? Is there one reason or are there a bunch of reasons to talk about this in an elective on biblical counseling? a bunch, okay? What are some of those reasons why we talk about it? Brad kind of pointed to one. People are going to ask for it, okay? But why else? Yeah?

It's kind of like I work with my handheld on Friday and I came up with two bugs and I knew I couldn't complete my route without dealing with those bugs. And so, pure and simple, if you need the help One thing, yeah, is to get people to realize that they can ask for help, to get people to realize that they need to ask for help. They run into something and if we don't understand what's going on, it will cause people to ask for help.

It's also a good thing. We shouldn't create a position of scolding people or making people feel like they did the wrong thing to ask for help, right? We should, in fact, encourage it. Any other reasons why it's good to bring this up? So we can help others.

Yeah, that's right. It puts us in an opportunity to be used to the Lord. To be able to counsel others. To have the combination of, one, having insight from God's Word. And secondly, have you ever had a difficulty and then found a sense of relief and comfort Yeah, so it's not just that we need it, it's also great to be able to offer and to be able to offer with substance.

Nancy and I meet with people individually and as couples and deal with all kinds of different situations and one of the things that's just great to be able to do is to be able to offer the hope that the Lord has in Scripture. Even the point that Sue made, that there is purpose. Yes, yeah. Did you get that?

Sometimes it's helpful to know that we're not alone, that we're not the only one going through it. Yeah, if we think, if we think, oh man, this is terrible, and to walk it alone, that can be tough. That can be real difficult. But just to realize, oh, there are other or have gone through this, or will go through this, and I'm not all about my lonesome here.

Yeah, good point. Good point. Yeah, Wayne. Well, the other thing is, you know, somebody's telling you about something they had, like a trial in their life, and you don't want to go back to them and say, oh, yeah, I knew a guy that had that and he died. Yeah.

Where seldom is heard an encouraging word. to be able to offer up comfort and encouragement in the midst of a situation like that. It's real interesting and we'll be getting into that. Paul encourages empathy with other believers in the midst of things as well as helping them out of that position. So there's both of those. Both of those places. Okay.

Our counsel of one another is in the midst of trials and suffering. About mid-page there. Our counsel of others. As we ourselves go through trials and suffering, and particularly as we counsel others who are in the midst of trials and suffering, there are several actions, viewpoints, and approaches that God's Word calls us to hold in parallel.

And I think this is a key thing. In parallel. These are things that are strands that are woven together at once. First one, weep with those who weep. How long? As we have this weep with those who weep, why is that in there? Why does he do that? Because we need to know that somebody cares. We need to know that somebody cares, right?

Okay. And also if somebody's having a hard time, that's not good. Yeah, it's kind of like a joke that I think my brother first said. It's something on the order of, it'll feel better when it stops hurting. Yeah, that's real encouraging, right? There is a definite place, and it is spiritually valuable to have this insight, that there is a place and a need for empathy in the midst of whatever somebody's going through, okay? It is a corollary to what Doris brought up. That you're not going it alone. And that's part of the body function.

I do like the one where the person said, I do know a guy that just didn't get any better. Uh-huh, yeah. Yes, the encouragement. Yes. How about, now this is the wild one. And we'll go into this in more detail. to count the various trials as an ultimate joy. Let me ask you a question. We'll get into this in more detail. In the course of life, what are the things that we think of as an ultimate joy? What are the things that you think of as an ultimate joy in our culture?

Birth of a child. Yeah, birth of a child. Yahoo! Whippy! Here in about a month, Becky and Kurt are going to have this little baby Nadia, see, and that's going to be an ultimate joy, certainly, and that's understandable. So if you hear some hooping and hollering from, you know, over our way, we'll be sharing in their ultimate joy, right? Anything else you think of as an ultimate joy?

A wedding. A wedding, yeah. You go to this wedding, you know, especially if they really ought to be married, you know, then that's a good thing. There's a few of them that might have sort of a lot of tears of sadness. But anyway, yeah, a wedding can be an ultimate joy, right? And so there are things in life that we think of as an ultimate joy. Now, when you get a various trial, do you consider that an ultimate joy?

Oh. Isn't that something? This is wild. James just gets through, this is only the second verse, he gets through saying, Hi, I'm James, you're you, right? And the next verse, you must consider it an ultimate joy. You must know the ultimate end. Yeah, okay, yeah.

It's not just, whoopee, I've got cancer, or whoopee, boy this hurts, you know? But it is a matter of what's God doing with this? That's the difference. Nancy, you're shaking your head. I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just thinking it's really hard. I know scripture says this. I don't think that I figured out at all how to do it.

Yeah, this is not the natural response, is it? This is not the natural response. I mean, some things can hit you like a freight train, and hopefully that isn't exactly what happens, but maybe. Some of these things can hit and hit hard and hurt hard, but to see it as an ultimate joy, yeah, that is a real change from the natural perspective.

Let's go to the next one. To view all trials as passing for earthly time. It's a time perspective. So here's an interesting thing. We weep with those who weep at the same time the trials are in the end and the ultimate to be perceived as an ultimate joy but also be seen as it's for here. I think Peter uses the term a little while. A little while.

Why does that help? Why does it help to to have the perspective of the trials for time. For some period of time. Why is that helpful? It directs us to our hope. Okay, good. Why else? We know that time isn't going to be everything at one point. So it's kind of like, yeah, I might live in time, but that's not going to always be true. OK. All right. Yeah. This isn't permanent. Whatever it is, it's not permanent. How about this idea? The fact that it's limited to a certain period of time means not only there's an end to it, but the end purpose will ultimately come about.

That God's ultimate purpose for the trial, whatever it is, will come about. That there's hope in that. Yeah, Wayne? Why is that sometimes easier, since we have this hope within us, than counting the trial joy in the first place? Say that again? Why does that tend to be easier to contemplate than the end to the trial? than it is counting in joy at the end. Anybody have an answer for that? It's a whole lot easier to say, I'm glad that's over.

It's an amazing thing. When you start to look at these, there is the appearance of a paradox, isn't there? Weep with those who weep, but then consider an ultimate joy. Realize that it's of great value, but be glad it's only for a time. Let's look at the next one.

To see trials as an earthly process with heavenly benefit. And notice that's the very next verse in First Peter. Earthly process, heavenly benefit. Why is that helpful? Why is that helpful to have that perspective? Heaven's eternal. It's the time of eternity thing. How about if we look at it this way? It's a good investment. There's this investment. There's this long, huge payback.

And I think that's one of the things. What do we value? It's valuing what's eternal. It's valuing what is essentially, ultimately, outside of the things on this earthly planet. Isn't that, too, also kind of like what the inheritance is? Yeah. For the believer. Yeah. We have an inheritance. Ultimately it's focused on the person of Jesus Christ. And so as we look at this, when we say a heavenly benefit, any heavenly benefit has to center around Christ. The last bullet there says to encourage and support the fainthearted and the weak.

Aside from having low blood sugar or having stood up too fast or something like that, what does he mean by fainthearted? Okay, having a hard time sticking with it. Any other thoughts, insights on that? What does it mean for a believer to be fainthearted and weak? Yeah, those who can't see the biblical end, the perspective. Yeah, it is helping people see what they may not be seeing at the moment?

Yeah. Yeah, Tom? Well, sometimes these trials just keep coming at us and coming at us. Yeah. And it's not like you feel like, why do I have to go through this again and again and again? And finally, you feel like, gee, I guess I must be messing up badly here. Yeah. And then you wonder, well, how am I being an idiot? Uh-huh. Yeah, we can sometimes be wondering because we lose perspective.

A part of this, you know, encouraging support is a matter of coming alongside another believer and it's kind of helping with perspective adjustment. The one bringing the counsel to another believer and coming alongside a believer who is suffering and going through trials is to come alongside with sympathy, emotional and spiritual support and encouragement while conveying a biblical perspective on those trials. So it isn't just a matter of, you know, here, read this, see you later.

But it is a matter of personally coming alongside them and bringing the various kinds of support that are needed. And it may be helping deal with even financial needs. That's great, but I no longer have a refrigerator. Whatever it is. There may be a material need, but often times it will be emotional and spiritual support through something.

But not just to support that, but also to bring a biblical perspective. Perspective is big, isn't it? Perspective is big. To draw upon the lessons of the last two weeks, the one bringing biblical counsel as outlined above is contributing to the spiritual growth of both the individual believer going through the trial, as well as the spiritual growth and maturing of the local church body. So isn't that something?

As we counsel one another, which is a church body function. As we counsel one another there's a contribution both to the individual spiritual growth of that believer as well as to the growth of the church body. So there's both things going on at once.

In trials and suffering there's an opportunity within the body of Christ to learn from the example of a believer during the trial and faithful trust in the Lord. And sharing the lessons learned in the trial with others in the body of Christ. And coming alongside others who are enduring trials in the ways bulleted above. Have you ever seen an example of a believer going through a trial?

Maybe even an instance where you went in to encourage somebody and came out encouraged? Ever had that happen? Seeing an example in another believer of what does this look like? The roof isn't going to fall. What does this look like? What does this look like when a believer maintains their trust and confidence in the Lord through the midst of a trial? Do you find that example, when you see that, encouraging? Yeah, it is. It is.

I think back on Hal and some of his stories where they have the hospital chaplain come in and try to encourage him, you know, and Hal's turning around and saying, well, the Lord's, you know, using this and he's brought this about for purpose and, you know, he's providing. It just doesn't get any better than this. And the chaplains are just mind-blown. No idea how on earth to even deal with that sort of an attitude. But that's exactly the attitude that's helpful. It's the understanding. When we see that, it's helpful for us as believers in knowing ourselves how to deal with trials as they come along.

How about learning not just from the person who is going through the trial faithfully, how about learning in the process of encouraging one another? Have you ever had anybody come to you and say, that was real encouraging to me? Ever had that happen or seen that? Yeah. It's helpful to have that feedback, just to know, oh, okay, that's good. I have an understanding. Now, how I can better or at least maintain encouraging others. Alright, let's take a look at the second page here. We've got four bullets to step our way through.

But, as we counsel another believer who is undergoing a trial and enduring suffering, one of the ways to make sure that biblical counsel stays biblical is to be aware of the ways in which believers can be misled regarding trials and suffering. It's not just a matter of what does scripture direct us to, but what are some things we need to avoid. There are some common perspectives. It's a matter of seeing what happens among Christians commonly and avoiding those.

A number of people in our day assume that Satan and his cooperatives are behind every trial and obstacle, rather than seeing that God works all things together for good and that trials and suffering are by God's appointment and are for God's purpose.

If Satan is involved that is only with God's permission, this is the first couple chapters there in Job, aggressively attacking, rebuking, or assuming Satan's involvement at all points is profoundly unbiblical. and may even result in God's discipline of a believer. 2 Peter and Jude both have strong, stern warnings against rebuking Satan, thinking that you can go bind him, things like that. I don't know who keeps letting him loose. But it is not an encouraged spiritual activity among believers, even though in some church bodies it's done all the time. there is very strong warning against doing that in both 2 Peter and in 2. What do you think is behind the idea that I have to go attack Satan? Well, some people say, well, this is the authority of the believer. And you've got to put it to work. We have this authority. We go around ordering Satan around and binding him and things like that.

Yeah. They just want to get out of the trial. Yeah, that's another thing. In failing to see what God's doing in the trial, everything is, I'm going to do this to Satan so that the trial ends. Right? Okay, good. And we don't see God's purpose then. Yeah, Jeremy? then you're going to assume that God only has good things in store for you on this earth. And if it's something bad, well, it must be safe. Yeah. And thinking that way, you're missing out on all the things that God can bring into your life through a trial. Yeah. Only thinking that, well, God's only working if there are good things happening in my life. Yeah. Well, that must be safe. Yes.

You end up attributing things that are maybe actually from the Lord To say, it can be pretty serious doing. There was a lady some years ago that came to me when Nancy and I were living in Carson City and said, do you have a big map of Carson City? I said, well, yeah, I can find one. What do you want it for?

Oh, we want to map out, we want to use little, you know, pins to mark out where all the demons are. You know, map out the demons and then we can go to those spots and repeat the demons in all those places. I have a hard time finding any of that in scripture, but that was the purpose. We do not have a biblical mandate to go attack Satan. The continued message of the Apostle Paul, James, Peter is resist, stand, not attack. Resist and stand. The next one here, there is a great hazard in a believer failing to discern the difference between God-ordained trials and suffering and discipline resulting from lack of wisdom and their sin on the part of the believer.

What is discipline? Yeah, correction. That is, here is a believer who, out of ignorance or making bad choices, whatever, has taken this route of discipline and the Lord's having them to put them back on track. Sometimes through some very difficult consequences. It is different from the believer who may well just be walking with the Lord and the Lord says, you know, I have prescribed this trial for you. And it doesn't mean that you're going through the trial because you've done something wrong. And so believers can frequently get those two things mixed up. Not recognizing what's what. That can also be a difficult thing in the midst of biblical counsel. If it is a matter of discipline, there are things that need to be corrected and lessons to be learned. And we may fall short of realizing what those lessons are if we don't see discipline for what it is.

Now, how about the next one here? How does one clearly figure out what's discipline and what is a trial of Job as it were and something from Satan? How do we know the difference? I'll turn that around to you. How do we know the difference between something that is disciplined And something that, no, the Lord has simply brought this in our lives because this is His instrument for growth. How do we know the difference? Discipline implies correction. Correction implies that we fell short somewhere. In other words, you were off the track and this is something that may be difficult, but it puts you back on the track as the intended end result.

Yeah, Brad? Would one of the differentiating factors be the conviction of the Holy Spirit? Okay, conviction of the Holy Spirit. There will be a sense within the believer, you know, hey, I've got something that needs to be corrected here. Yeah, alright. Good, what else? What other points do we have to work with? Yeah, Jeremy?

Well, in whatever the situation, whether it's a discipline or a trial or something of Satan, Our focus in each of us should be to turn our eyes more on Christ. Because if we do that, we're going to be more receptive to the Spirit's conviction, or the Spirit's guidance, whatever it is. So in a practical sense, our reaction in every situation is going to be the same. It ought to be to turn our eyes closer on God. And I think as we're doing that, it will become more clear to us exactly if there is something that has not been, we have not walked in the spirit like we should, or if we believe in the rest of God, if we get encouragement out of seeing any more of us there. In a sense, our reaction in all of it is kind of the same, isn't it? In every case, drawing our attention to Christ is the ultimate focal point, isn't it? Something else, and I think we actually touched on it in going through God's will. We're going to touch on that shortly here. God's will. And that is that scripture lays out what God's will is in a great many areas.

And a believer that just runs headlong contrary to that, you would be surprised if they don't end up having some kind of consequences. They may not be immediate, but some kind of consequences. that comes from just running headlong contrary to God's will.

So one measure of is it discipline or is this simply a trial the Lord has brought about is what does God's Word say? What does God's Word say? If I had known God's Word or had been heeding God's Word would I be in a different spot now? So it's ultimately measuring things by God's Word Let's take a look at the next one here.

Sustained ignorance of the teaching of God's Word regarding God's will for whatever reason can result in negative consequences of varying kinds that may not surface until sometime later. This kind of ignorance will often result in frustration at least and godly discipline at worst.

For instance, the believer may be expending much earthly time and effort trying to accomplish or even praying for what is already done by God and is eternally true. Working really hard to stay saved. Worrying about, am I saved or not? This is a realm of not understanding God's sovereign will, what God has already done and accomplished. A believer may be making decisions that are against God's moral will, even though revealed in scripture, and result in God's discipline. There have been instances I've come across where believers have been praying for the Lord's blessing in something they're about to do, when what they're about to do is clearly against God's Word. Lord, bless me as I do this. And then they run headlong into some huge problem and wonder what happened. I prayed about it. Well, that doesn't help. That doesn't help.

A believer may be making decisions that are against God's moral will, even though revealed in Scripture, resulting in God's discipline. If God's discipline is viewed as God-ordained trials of the righteous, or worse yet, attributed to Satan's ill will, then great spiritual confusion and even damage can result. Let me give you a for instance. If a person does something that is clearly scripturally against God's moral will, and then gets consequences and then turns around and says it's Satan's fault. And rebukes Satan for the consequences. It's beyond just the devil made me do it. I did this and the devil brought the consequences. When it's not the devil's consequences, it's the Lord's consequences. It's not seeing who's doing what. Ignorance of the biblical principles guiding individual decisions may have a similar outcome of ignorance of God's moral will.

There are many things in scripture that are spelled out as, this is God's wisdom. You want to know what God's wisdom is for a situation? Well, this is God's wisdom. It's one of the things I remember during my teen years. I would sit down and read various things in the Bible because I said, I need God's wisdom. I need God's wisdom here because there's a lot that the world does not give, provide. And I need the Lord's insight here. Because there are a lot of decisions to be made in life. And critical things. And I don't want to miss out on the wisdom that God has.

Last bullet there, there are those within Christendom who assume that if a believer is going through a tough time of any sort, that it most likely means that the believer is sinning in some way that may be either apparent or unrecognized. Nancy and I were in a church situation where one of the leaders of the church frequently came with that message. If you're going through a tough time, you must be sinning. I see a head nodding.

Yeah, and what's the problem with that message? What's the difficulty when you get that message? The same stupid problem that Job's helpers weren't realizing. Ah, okay. Job's helpers were not realizing it. Yeah, and they started, here's all this advice and counsel.

Okay. What else? What else is the problem with hearing that message? Everything, you know, if you've got a problem in your life, you must be doing something wrong. Yeah. Yeah. It can be a sort of a baffling guilt. I know I've done something wrong. I just wish I knew what it was. Okay. Yeah. Jeremy. It's contrary to grace. Okay. All right. There are a number of things wrong with that perspective.

And a very close cousin to it is prosperity doctrine. That's the other thing that we addressed there towards the end of that bullet. The idea that if you're doing everything right, and especially in this financial area, then, boy, your bank accounts and wallets just must be overflowing if you're doing everything right. Then comes the wizard tornado.

Yeah, isn't it? And didn't you say that that was actually the Jewish mindset? That if we were obedient to God, everything... So if you were obedient to God, you would be wealthy, you would be doing well. Because that is part of your promise. If you obey me, you'll be blessed in these ways. Deuteronomy 28, verse 14 verses have, here's the ways you'll be blessed if you obey. That's under what principle? Law, right? Are we under law? And so what a lot of people do is they take that principle, which comes from law, and they try to apply that to the Christian life.

And it either comes out in a negative way, where, well, you're going through a tough time, then you must be sinning. That assumption. Or the other, that boy, if I'm doing everything right, I can get rich and healthy and I'll never have any diseases. You know, life will just be one smooth, straight highway all the way to heaven's gates, right? Donna? Both of those instances, the focus goes right back on yourself. Ah, isn't it? Yeah.

And that's a part of the difficulty is the eyeballs get turned inward. We end up looking at ourselves instead of to the Lord. Yeah, you have an improper perspective of the old nature and the new nature. A misunderstanding of where does sin come from? It's profoundly confused.

It is also very common in Christendom right now. That whole perspective, all the way up to the prosperity doctrine teaching. And it's real popular. It sells great. It's very marketable. The only problem is, it's just patently false. It's patently false. And it doesn't sell with the Lord. It's not what God intends for us as believers.

Notice with all these errors, the errors in every instance, as Donna pointed out, take our eyes off the Lord. We end up, my eyes are on Satan. Find me a verse that says you're supposed to behold Satan. Our eyes are on Satan, our eyes are on ourselves. Our eyes are on our wallet, okay? Whatever the problem is, all the way down this page here, every single bullet gets our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's the central error, isn't it? Putting our focus upon the Lord, beholding the Lord, is ultimately what's called for. And isn't our counsel of one another ultimately going to do that? Biblically, that's what it should be, shouldn't it? To direct every believer's focus upon the Lord.

And that's one thing, as we look at biblical counseling, you might think, heavens, we're spending weeks and weeks and weeks on this. Isn't this complicated stuff? Well, there's a lot to consider, but you know what? It doesn't matter whether a person's got an addiction to those green pieces of paper in their wallet, or whether they've got an addiction to some substance that they put into themselves, or all kinds of other problems.

Ultimately, are we not putting their focus upon the Lord? Isn't that our ministry? Isn't that what's called to take place? That's ultimately what's going to happen. Let's take a look there. In the end, if all of our teachings and counsel are checked against Scripture, the spiritual diversions and minefields will be avoided, and the precious truths of God's Word presented for the spiritual health and benefit of all of us in the body of Christ." We can check everything with God's Word. And that brings us to a final point here. In our counsel of one another, what's the ultimate guidance? Yeah, God's Word. It is in God's Word that we're beholding the Lord Jesus Christ. And in God's Word, we find here's the direction for our counsel.

It isn't just being a listening ear, although there's a place for that, isn't there? Weep for those who weep. It isn't just being a listening ear. It isn't just giving them some sort of feedback. But it's directing them to the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word. That's the ultimate measure, and that's where these bullets here steer off track in that regard. They miss the key point, and that is beholding the Lord through His Word.

Okay, what we're going to be doing the next couple of weeks is looking at some specific passages more on trials and suffering, kind of walk through What do the authors of the New Testament particularly have to say to us about trials and suffering? Sue made the point earlier about purpose and looking more clearly, what is God's purpose in these trials and suffering? What's he doing? Because having an insight and understanding of those things is going to be key and be pivotal. in our being able to give wise and civil counsel to people in whatever stage they're at. Other thoughts, comments? Art?

You made mention earlier the possibility of our being hit by a freight train. That may be because of the fact that there are so few passenger trains left. Yes, you may have a point there. It's just interesting to think about how, you know, like we talked last week about the growth within the church body. Sometimes we think of everyone is so isolated. You know, somebody has a trial and that trial is for them. And we don't always look at the fact that maybe Okay, yeah, it is possible for us to get focus on in this spiritual growth to look just at the Individual and miss the church body growth when in fact what God has in mind is both of those things both of them Okay, good other thoughts Yes.

The finisher has the message that this has a completion. that there is an accomplishment that the Lord is aiming towards. Yeah. Anything else? Are you getting a buzzing in your ear? Okay, let's pray. Lord, as we begin to look at these passages and look at this topic of trials and suffering.

We do thank you for what you've revealed and just pray that you would teach our hearts that we would be learning from you, Lord, the very message that you intend to have us receive. And Lord, what a great hope it is that in these trials that we are not alone, indeed never alone, in these trials. And we have both our fellowship with you and fellowship with one another in the midst of these things. And you have every purpose and provision for every trial that comes along. And Lord, we just look to you to teach us and to give us insight in the days ahead.