Ruth Week 4 • Ruth 3

Show Notes

Sunday, May 15th • Beau Bradberry

"And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I." — Ruth 3:12

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Beau Bradberry

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Hey, good morning. If you've got your Bibles, go on, open them up to Ruth chapter 3, as we

will continue on in our study of this wonderful, wonderful book of the Bible. Well, we got a lot

going on around here in our church, as you just heard in our announcements. I want to

reiterate or echo a couple of those that I'm really excited about what God's doing. We got

our VBS that's coming up. We got a lot of things that we're kind of used to in our normal cycle,

but a couple of different things that we have going on. The first is on that Wednesday night,

June the 8th, we'll have our meeting here, our reception time with Rick and Tina Nolan at 7pm.

We'll meet over in building 2. It'll be a time of light refreshments together beforehand, and then

to give you an opportunity for us as a church. So if some of you are new and don't know, there's a

couple who are members still of our church named Rick and Tina Nolan, who about five years ago came to

me and said, we feel called to go on to the foreign mission field. And at that time, Tina was working

in retail. Rick was working in construction. And so we started down a journey with them to see where God was

calling them and who God was calling them to partner with, who God was calling them to serve. And in a long

story that only God could write, they ended up in Athens, Greece, working primarily with Afghan refugees,

sharing the gospel, doing ministry, teaching English, doing a lot of wonderful things. And so as God does,

God has now kind of redirected what God is going to be doing with them. And so as we support them as a

church, and I know some of you may support them individually as a family as well, they will be

here with us on Sunday, on that Wednesday night, I'm sorry, Wednesday, June the 8th at 7pm to share

what they've been doing, but then also to share the plan that God has for them going forward. And also to

give us an opportunity to ask some questions about, maybe some questions that you have about that. So

we'd love for you all to be there and be a part of that. And then secondly, we have scheduled a family

mission trip to Black Mountain Children's Home September 2nd through the 5th. Now this is something

a little different for us. We've been taking our middle schoolers there for some time and even some

of our high schoolers there for some time now to serve at this children's home in Black Mountain,

North Carolina. And we had this desire for like God was leading us to open this up for a holiday weekend

to take families there to serve. And so because this is something different for us, we're having a

kind of an informational meeting on Sunday, June the 5th, immediately following the service. And so

if you're intrigued about being a part of that, we'd love for you to come and be at that meeting. If you

have questions right now that you feel like, man, I really want to get these answers,

feel free to stop me. Stop by here today. Would love to answer those. It's a place that my family

and I have had the privilege to serve now for three years. I think that's right. Erin's shaking her

head yes, so we'll stick with three for the last three years and a wonderful opportunity for you

to be able to serve. And so this might be parents with their kids. This might be single parent with

their kids. This might be grandparents with grandkids. This may just be a couple. And then you're

like, man, we don't have kids, but we want to go and be a part of this. Well, we want to have you be a part of

this as well. So we would love to have you join us on that mission trip. So this morning, we've kind

of reached our halfway point, at least as far as scripture goes through the book of Ruth. And so

what I would like to do, all right, is take just a few moments to kind of recap and kind of build into

what's going to happen in Ruth chapter three. And if you're like, well, I don't, why are we recapping?

Well, if there's people who've missed and there's things that are building, there's, there's even

things this morning as I was studying back through my notes and, and the Lord laid on my mind things

to, to remember and to point through this. I just want to kind of take a few moments as we've seen

this development of two of the main characters in this historical story of, of, of Naomi and Ruth.

And when we see that, that what's happened and what's evolved in their lives have, have brought

them to the point of where we find them in Ruth chapter three. And it's not by accidents or, or

happenstance. It's not through their own ability that they've gotten to where they are. And in fact,

what we've seen is some ebb and flow and changes and growth in them as they've come from the situations

where they were before. And so the first one of these two characters that we, that we meet is we,

we met Naomi. We, we met Naomi in Ruth chapter one. And we find out that she has a husband named

Elimelech and two sons named Malan and Chilean. And from the, from the very beginning of the story,

what we find out about Naomi is that she faces some difficult circumstances that turned to tragedy.

Right? When we first begin to read through, it's like, well, that's not good. And then it continues

to cycle and cycle and build in her life. And, and, and, and being in the pastoral world, I have the,

the, the wonderful opportunity. And I say wonderful because it's what God calls us to and eclips us for

is to walk with people as they go through seasons of difficulty in their life and to go through seasons

of tragedy in their life. And, and one of the things that I love about the ministries from,

from small groups to, to celebrate recovery is it seems like every ministry that we have at the church

is kind of built along this premise of, you don't have to go through these difficulties in life alone.

I'm like, we're here for you to minister to you, to care for you and to, and to walk alongside, walk alongside you.

And so when we, we meet Naomi, she's going through this season, but this season will be a 10 year period.

And so imagine a decade of your life marked by difficulty, a decade of your life marked by struggle

and suffering and tragedy. And so for Naomi, this is what we see. Famine hits and she's forced to move

from her homeland of Bethlehem with her family to a foreign land called Moab. In Moab, her sons marry,

women from Moab, which would have been not what, what, what, what God's word of the expectations of the

culture, both of them would have, but they marry a woman named Orpah and a woman named Ruth. And then

also while in Moab, her son, both of her sons and her husbands die. And Naomi, whose heart is now filled

with depression and bitterness. At the end of chapter one, she, she hears that, that her homeland, that Bethlehem,

that the famine has lifted. And so in her depression, but also in this, this time of kindness and compassion,

she, she tells her daughters-in-law to, to, to, to leave her, to stay here, that she'll return, that there's

nothing for them. There's, there's no benefit for them to leave and to go with her. There's no hope for

them awaiting in Bethlehem and no possibility for hope to, to come to them because there are no sons,

there are no grandsons, there's no hope for them. And this is our feeling of Naomi. This is the story

of Naomi in chapter one. And then this is where we meet Ruth. Now, every part of the character of Naomi,

of how she's processing and, and walking through all of this tragedy within her life, seems to be the

opposite portrayal for Ruth. Now, I'm not saying that, that Ruth had it easy. I'm not saying that at all

because Ruth is walking through these matters with her as well. But upon Naomi saying to, to her

daughter-in-laws, y'all stay, right? Y'all stay. Ruth says, no, I'm going to go with you. The, the other

daughter-in-law, Orpah, she says, no, I'm going to, I'm going to stay. Thank you for releasing me.

I'm good. And Ruth is like, no, I'm going. And I want to read to you Ruth's response in chapter one,

16 and 17. It said, but Ruth said, do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. So,

so, so Ruth says like, stop trying to talk me out of this. And as we go, what I don't want to hear is

you shouldn't have done this. You shouldn't have done this. You shouldn't have done this.

And then she says this, she says, for where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die. And there will I be

buried. May the Lord do so to me. And more also, if anything, but death parts me from you.

So she says, look, if you're going to Bethlehem, then I'm going. Wherever and however, this is

important. Wherever and however you live, that's how I will live. If you live in poverty, I will live

in poverty. If you live in homelessness, I will live in homelessness. Wherever and however you live,

I will live. Remember, she's a foreigner from a foreign land. Different people, different customs.

She says, your people will be my people. Your customs will be my customs. And at some point in time,

and we aren't fully sure, but at some point in time, Ruth, who's from Moab, a pagan land from a pagan

people, she places her faith in God. The God that she's seen in the life of Naomi, that she's seen

in the life of Elimelech, that she's seen in the life of her husband. In spite of all that they've

gone through, in spite of all that they've faced. And then she says, and where you die, that is where I

will die as well. She says, look, there's no going back. There's no do-over for me. There's no, you're

going to wake up one morning with, with me sitting at the table saying, you know, I've reconsidered my

options. And you know what? It's better if I return. So where you die, that's where I will die because I will

be so deeply vested in what's going on in here. And I'm here. And so in the midst of all of the tragedy

that Ruth has faced, she's going to stick through this. Now, here's what I want to kind of build in.

And we talked a little bit about Naomi and her depression last week, okay? I want to talk about

this. The reason for Naomi's deep battle with lost hope is not solely found in the tragedy that she's

experienced. All right? What you think about that is you've walked through that in your life.

The reason for her depression, the reason for her feeling of lost hope is not just because the

tragedy that she's experienced is because she feels like there's no hope to cling to.

There's nothing in the future that I can say that this is going to be all worth it,

that I can cling to, that I can hold on to. What has happened to me in the past will continue to be

my reality and my burden to bear for the rest of my life? It's where Naomi finds herself.

Culturally speaking, it's extremely difficult for a woman to care for herself. If there were no

husband, no sons, no grandsons, and Naomi looks at her stay in life and says, this is where I am.

And there's nothing to change that, right? It's common practice if a woman lost her husband for a

relative of that husband to marry that woman so that she would be cared for, so that she'd be

provided for, so that the lineage would continue. And in Naomi's mind, it's gone.

But recap chapter 2, right? We talked about this a lot. Chapter 2 begins with, now Naomi had a relative

of her husband's, a man worthy of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. Right? There was hope.

There is hope. And that's how chapter 2 begins for us. Like, it looks like just a historical statement of

fact. But we find out, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hope is not lost. That there is hope for a redeemer

to come in and save. There's life. There's promise to be fulfilled.

And so Ruth, being the one who's continually lived in this battle of hope, heads out to live in that

reality. As Naomi is caught in her depression and the darkness, Ruth is going to walk in the hope of

the life that she has. And she heads out that morning to basically pick up the left behind crops

that have been left in the field. All that's fallen apart as the reapers have come through and harvested

the crop that was there. All that's been now stepped on and mixed with the dirt and all that that is left

behind. She's going to go through herself and dig down in and sift through and glean from the field of

what's left over. All pride being left aside and in full humility. She's going to be like the poor and

the other widows that this is what they would come to do. And it was in that field that became, that was the

field of Boaz where this connection that we're going to talk about this morning is made.

That Boaz will care for her. That Boaz will be gracious to her. That Boaz will abundantly

step up to the plate for what needs to be done just here briefly in this moment.

And we've seen over the last couple weeks a couple of things, a couple of theological pieces that are going to

really spill in to this morning. That's going to tie it all together for us. And so I want to look at a

couple of different verses of reminder from last week that point us to that. The first one is chapter 2,

verse 20. And if you've got your Bibles, just turn the page maybe and look right there.

Naomi says to Ruth, after finding out that Ruth was in the field of Boaz

and has met him. Naomi says this, verse 20, and Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,

may he be blessed by the Lord whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead.

And Naomi also said to her, the man is the close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.

And what we see in here, of what we have seen completely in the life of Naomi that we talked

about is the providence of God. That all of the events of this story have not escaped or fled from

the hand or the control or the sovereign nature of who God is. That from the famine to the wandering

to the marriages to returning, that all of this is happening in the hand and the care of God.

Both everything that's happened positively and everything that has happened negatively. Now,

it's hard for Naomi in these moments to see this, but her words were, may he be blessed by the Lord

whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead. Right? He's kind to both is what they've

walked through and they experienced. Right? And she's missed it though. She's missed it in leading up

into this moment. Until that moment where Ruth walks into the house with the bags of crops that are

overflowing with a meal that has been prepared that she can share with Naomi. Naomi has, has missed it all.

And, and, and, and if you've walked through these seasons of life, you can identify with Naomi in

this, but, but it goes to, can you only point us that, that God uses both the difficult and the tragedy

to grow us and better us. And when we cling to him, when we cling to his promises and our faith and

trust in him, what he does is he works and he deepens those and he strengthens those.

And what we see in the faith of Naomi and the faith of Ruth and in our faith that we share in your

experiences and my experiences is that Christianity does not remove the difficulty of this world from affecting

us and bringing tragedy and suffering, but God is all powerful and God is holy and he uses every moment of that for his good

and for his glory and for our betterment and our strength. Every part of it. He's working and he's using.

And if nothing else, as you read through the story and these pages, could that rest in your heart

that God's using it all? He's not wasting a moment. He's not wasting a second. He's not wasting a

heartbeat of your life, of what God is doing. And then the other that we, we saw last week is the, is the refuge in God.

And now I said, Boaz allowed Ruth to glean from the fields and he blesses her with extra crop and he blesses

her with extra food and with other provisions and care for her. And, and, and Ruth did not expect this

level of kindness. And, and she asked Boaz why he would do this. And I want you to, to, to hear his

response. I believe it's in verse 12. He says, he says, the Lord repay you for what you have done

and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to take

refuge. Now we talked about this in our introduction a few weeks ago. If we're not careful as we read

through chapter three and next week, chapter four, we can begin to think that, that, that Boaz is the hero.

They're not. God is. God's the hero of our life. God's the hero of scripture. It's the hero of this

story that's unfolding. And so when Boaz says to, or when Ruth says to him, what have I done to deserve

this? He says, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given to you by the Lord,

the God of Israel under whose wings, this is the important part, under whose wings you have come to take

refuge. Boaz says, all that you have done and Ruth has proven herself to be a woman of high character.

She's, she's proven herself to be a woman that all men and all women should look at and learn from

and evaluate in their lives. But Boaz says, but it's, it's not because of you.

It's because you've placed yourself under the wings of the Lord.

If you've heard me preach before, I probably quote this man, uh, outside of scripture more than anybody

else. And it's a pastor from South Carolina, pastor to Minneapolis, Minnesota by the name of John

Piper. And he said this, when you fly under the wings of God, he is put on display.

I love that. When you fly under the wings of the Lord, he is put on display.

He is what is seen, not you. So as we're reading the story of Ruth and who she is, we're not seeing

the story of Ruth's faithfulness, but we're seeing the story of God's faithfulness. Because Ruth said,

your God is my God. And I'll trust as I go. And I'll trust as I walk. You see, we, we find our refuge,

not on him, not by him, but in him, but in him. And he is what is seen and he is what is praised.

Maybe in one of the longest introductions that I've ever had this morning, we're going to talk about

the strategic righteousness. Chapter three, we'll start reading verse one.

Then Naomi, her mother-in-law said to her,

my daughter, should I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you?

It's not Boaz, our relative, with whose young women you were?

See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Wash, therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your cloak

and go down to the threshing floor.

But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies

and then go and uncover his feet and lie down

and he will tell you what to do.

And she replied,

What we're going to see, we're going to look at chapter three in three different sections

and we're going to see three strategies that are given and then played out by Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.

As what they need in life, as what they're journeying for in life

and as they all have these strategies that unfold.

And I want to unfold these and kind of explain a little bit of what's going on in each one of these

and to come to see that what we're building toward is this positioning of strategic righteousness

that they're seeking in their lives of what they long for and what they desire.

And so here we see Naomi's strategy.

And I remember just a few verses before.

Naomi was a defeated woman.

And now she's a woman with a plan.

She remembers there's Boaz.

And she wants Ruth.

Like, she doesn't have this.

She wants Ruth to be the wife of Boaz.

Now, I want to say this.

There are some people who think that what Naomi is setting before is filled with sexual seduction.

And I don't believe that at all.

I think there are some things culturally that are different than us.

We don't fully understand.

And so we want to try to walk through that and understand that, okay?

And so she saw that Boaz had been very kind and godly to a woman who's desperate.

Let's pause for a second as I'm a dad with a daughter.

Girls, all right?

That's what you look for.

Kind and godly and good.

That when you feel like you have your needs and your longings that need to be fulfilled by someone.

And if there is any man that doesn't try to fulfill those through the plan of the Lord.

Then all he will continue to be is one that takes advantage of you for his own selfish desires.

And to pursue that.

And as I'm also a dad with a son, boys the exact same way.

And what we're going to see in here, what is so beautiful,

is the picture when a woman who loves the Lord and a man who loves the Lord pursue each other under the standard of the Lord.

And so Naomi wants Ruth to do some things.

She says, hey, go.

You've been out working in the field.

Go clean up a little bit, right?

Go beautify yourself is what we see in Scripture.

And then Boaz has been in the barn working.

And we don't know.

He's the owner of the field.

We don't know why he's the one in the barn doing the work of the laborer.

But that is what he was doing.

And I don't know.

I think the last time I probably had this was in college, right?

Where I had so much work to do.

And I literally fell asleep doing it so that I could wake up in the morning and do it again, you know.

And just to get through that.

But largely probably because I procrastinated.

And not that Boaz procrastinated.

But that's what we see.

He's working and he's going to lay down so that he can continue the work in the morning.

And so she says, let Boaz, not to let Boaz, I'm sorry, see her until later.

And when he lays down, she says, that Ruth is to uncover his feet and to lay at his feet.

And that this would show her desire to marry him.

And like, yes and amen, like, let's just say that's not what we do, all right?

And we'll just leave it at that.

But what we see is this.

Like, hear this.

She's not saying seducing.

She's not saying sleep with him.

Naomi is trusting the Lord and pursuing his plan.

Look at verse 6.

So she, this is Ruth, went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.

And then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down.

And at midnight, the man was startled and turned over.

And behold, a woman lay at his feet.

Like, let's pause for a second.

We got a 60-pound redbone coonhound that sleeps in our room, okay?

The other night, about 3 a.m., I feel something wet hitting the side of my head.

And I turn over and look, and he's standing over me, staring at me like, let's play.

Let's do this.

3 a.m., I'm ready, right?

That startled me.

That caught me off guard.

Imagine you've been working all day.

You wake up and there's a lady at your feet, right?

And he said, who are you?

And she answered, I am Ruth, your servant.

Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.

Right?

We see Ruth's strategy begin to unfold.

Ruth does what Naomi tells her to do, but she does more.

She makes it clear to Boaz why she is there.

She needs a redeemer.

She needs to be redeemed.

And then she uses some language that would have connected to the conversation that they had previously had.

She said, spread your wings over your servant.

And this is not meant in a language of a woman trying to seduce a man,

but it's instead a woman seeking the love and response of a godly man.

She doesn't hide her motives.

She doesn't hide her expectations or her hopes and beliefs that God brought them together in this moment.

And so like Naomi, Ruth is trusting the Lord and pursuing his plan.

Let's look at verse 10.

And he said, may you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter.

You have made this last kindness greater than the first,

and that you have not gone after young men, whether rich or poor.

So he acknowledges who she is in her very fiber of her character for the second time.

Verse 11.

And now, my daughter, do not fear.

I will do for you all that you ask.

For my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.

And now it is true that I am a redeemer, yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.

So he says, I am your redeemer, but in the lineage of who it could be,

there is someone closer to you than I am.

So remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him do it.

But if he is not willing to redeem you, then as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.

Lie down until the morning.

So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another.

And he said, let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.

And he said, bring the garment you were wearing and hold it out.

So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her.

And then she went into the city.

And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, how did you fare, my daughter?

And then she told her all the man had done for her, saying, these six measures of barley he gave to me.

For he said to me, you must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.

And she replied, wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out.

For the man will not rest, but will settle the matter today.

And so he wakes up.

A lady at his feet.

Vulnerable.

And he shows his character in the Lord.

He doesn't touch her.

Instead, he says, I'll redeem you.

But I need to do so, not just in the way that I long to, but in the way that God has laid out for us.

So let me pursue this.

And he cares for her.

And he sends her on his way.

Like Naomi and Ruth, Boaz, trusting in the Lord and pursuing his plan.

And what we see in the lives of these individuals is what I read about this week and just stuck to me.

It's this matter of strategic righteousness.

And the truth is that there's a battle of pursuits for believers in righteousness.

Is it a passive righteousness or a strategic righteousness?

Now, what do I mean by righteousness in this account?

It's the desire in the life of a believer to do what is good and to do what is right.

To do what is godly and to do what God has called us to.

And that's what we see in this story.

Naomi wants Ruth to not simply find a man, but to find a redeemer.

And Ruth wants to find a godly man who will love her and that his love for her will come from his love for the Lord.

And Boaz wants to not simply to take what has been presented to him, but instead to do what God desires from him in the manner that God desires for it to happen.

In the life of a believer, righteousness should be desired and longed for.

In the life of a believer, we acknowledge that our righteousness is not a righteousness of our own.

That our standing before God, our ability to pursue what's right, is not the ability of our own as well.

2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul says,

For our sake, he made him, being Jesus, to be sin who knows sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

But what type of righteousness are you going to have in your life?

When I read about this this week, I love the difference and was able to look at this and examine this in my life, in my heart.

The author that I was reading talked about this concept of passive righteousness or strategic righteousness.

And he defined this of the belief of what most of us as believers, what we cling to and what we head toward in our life concerning righteousness, is passive righteousness.

And he defined passive righteousness as the avoidance of doing evil.

Now that seems really good, right?

Like, I'm a dad.

I want my kids to avoid doing evil.

But that's good.

But it's not great.

It becomes righteousness through defense.

Keep it away.

Keep it away.

Keep it away.

Keep it away.

Keep it away.

And what our eyes end up being focused on are the things of evil and not on the holiness of God.

And so passive righteousness becomes this battle that we simply embrace, that we're just not going to do what's wrong.

We're not going to do what's wrong.

We're not going to do what's wrong.

And while in its saying that sounds and feels a little good for us, but it's not great.

It's not what God desires.

And it's not what we see here play out in the scripture.

But instead, strategic righteousness pursues the plan of God.

It's not simply about the avoidance of evil, but it's the pursuit of the plan and what God has for us.

Strategic righteousness says that I understand and cling to the providence of God, that I am in God's hand, that God has a plan, and that God has a purpose for me.

And in knowing him, I want to trust and walk in him and pursue that.

Strategic righteousness says that I can live in and understand the refuge of God, that I am in him, as he protects me.

And strategic righteousness becomes the heartbeat of our lives, in that we mature beyond, not just simply straying from what is evil, but we find ourselves pointed toward doing what is godly and right.

And here's the piece of it, longing for it.

Longing for it in our life.

Strategic righteousness knows God's expectation concerning sin.

But strategic righteousness avoids it by keeping our eyes focused and pointed on the Lord.

And then in that, and it's what we've seen from Ruth from the beginning, it's intentional.

Where you go, I will go.

Where you live, I will live.

Your people will be my people.

Where you die, I will die.

It's intentional.

But it's also joyous.

And your God will be my God.

Chapter 2, Ruth woke up that morning intentional and purposeful to live in the joy that God had for her.

To not live in the darkness of the day or of the moment to pursue God's plan.

Which brought her from Moab on a long journey to Bethlehem.

Which brought her to the field of Boaz and to his threshing room floor.

And in this, we see the continual plan of God laid out.

Would you pray with me?

Lord, I thank you this morning for your beautiful reminder of your word.

Lord, I acknowledge and see in my own life.

Where so many times I'm focusing in on the, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

And I'm playing in the, in defense mode.

And not playing in the offense of pursuing of what you have for me.

Lord, and in doing so, miss out on so much of what you long for and what you desire for my life.

Lord, may we not be a people of passive faith and passive righteousness.

Simply living in the avoidance of doing what's wrong.

Lord, but could we live in the boldness of strategic righteousness.

Yes, Lord, wanting to avoid the evil of this world.

But doing so because of our pursuit of you.

So that our eyes are locked in and fixed on you.

That we found ourselves hidden and placed under your wings.

Lord, acknowledging that we're in your hand and you are guiding the steps that we take.

And that's what it can mean, Lord, to have peace in this world that is filled with so much hurt.

To have joy even in the midst of sadness.

To have our eyes focused on life when death seems to surround us and want to overtake us.

Jesus, thank you for this beautiful picture of what it means.

I want that for all of us who were found in you were desperate and lost and broken and needed a redeemer.

And so, Jesus, you came.

And you paid our debt.

And you made us righteous.

Not because of who we are, Lord, but because of who you are.

Lord, may we keep our eyes on you.

Trusting and walking.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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