Annihilating Anxiety

I'd ask you to take your Bibles now and turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5, you follow as I read the first 11 verses of this chapter. So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that in the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as we come to the text of Scripture, we pray that it would speak to us clearly today. And that can only happen if your Spirit's at work. And Lord, remind us that this text is unlike any other, because it is a living text.

It has the ability. We have the ability not only to read it, but it has the ability to read us. And so, Lord, we pray that this would be a profitable time as we seek to understand how we may grow, how we may honor and glorify you in the difficulties that we face in this world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh, we stand on the cusp of a new year.

And as we do, we look out into the year coming. and I have no doubt in my mind there's plenty to worry about. There's a lot to worry about. There's no doubt. I don't ever want you to think that there's not a lot to worry about. We live in a tough world. It's difficult.

We face difficult things personally. We face a lot of difficulties. There's lots to worry about. We live in an uncertain age with an incredible amount of violence. Cities explode with protests and riots and we're anxious about what will happen, as we're anxious also about what are our children going to face. You're wondering about your job, wondering if the economy will grow or if it will go south and if you'll have a job at all.

What about the school and your children's education? That occupies our minds. But you know what? Not just the big things, but anxiety brings everything to your attention, using up all the free space in your brain. The presentation you have to make next week. The new job that you start tomorrow.

The trip that the kids are taking in a few days. The wedding you're supposed to plan. The husband who's struggling with heart issues. The meeting tonight with your friend whose marriage is troubled. The angry father-in-law you need to reconcile with. Your oldest son who's struggling in college.

Your youngest daughter who can't find a job. The water heater doesn't work and you're not sure if you can afford a new one. Right? Anxiety just brings everything up. You must think about all these things. It doesn't let up.

It grabs your attention. You have to think about it, right? Isn't that what anxiety is all about? Oh, if only you could be free. If only you could enjoy life again. If only you could annihilate anxiety. the good news is that you can find peace and joy and that by god's help you can battle anxiety successfully why should you try to annihilate anxiety why why should you try to do that listen it's not enough to want a peaceful life it's not enough to want to get rid of those intrusive thoughts so that you can enjoy life.

That's not enough. If your goal is merely a peaceful, enjoyable life with a mind free of all the intrusive thoughts, you will never get there. If that's your goal, if that's your desire, you'll never experience freedom. Here's why. When you look at Ephesians 4, verse 22, to me Ephesians 4 22 is a for me is a key verse I use it all the time when I'm trying to help others I'm reminding this I'm I'm this is constantly on my mind when I'm facing temptation right here's what Ephesians 4 22 says put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires If your goal if your desire is getting something for yourself if you desire something I want to be free so I can enjoy life If that your goal if this is all about getting something for yourself you will never achieve it You will never achieve it.

Why? Notice what this verse says. Corruption comes through deceitful desires. Those desires, the things I want for myself, are deceitful. They deceive you. They will never give you what they promise.

Get that in your mind. Desires will never give you what they promise. They're deceitful. So if you're living life for your own satisfaction, to have your desires fulfilled, you will fail. Because those desires deceive you. In fact, they produce an insatiable black hole in your life. and you're constantly pursuing and never getting it.

And so, you'll find yourself, if you just say, I want to be done with this because I just want to enjoy life again, right? You'll end up still worrying. You will. If it's for you, just for you, only for you, it'll never pay off. You'll end up worrying even more. Well, then why should you want to rid yourself of anxiety?

I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians for a moment, chapter 1. These are words that we would never expect to hear from the Apostle Paul. But here they are, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself you ever been in that position it's gotten so hard that you've despaired of life notice what else he says indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

Why should you want to rid yourself of anxiety? So that Christ will be exalted and God glorified. Paul here reminds us that God graciously orchestrates our circumstances. often time to be so difficult that it strips us of our self-reliance we see that there's nowhere else to go but God we are stripped of our self-reliance now I want to remind you something and you know I preached nearly at the end of the month for the last few months I want to remind you something we said earlier remember this anxiety is the child of self-reliance you're turning things over in your mind.

You've got to think this. You've got to think that. You're constantly going after it. Why? Because you're the one who's going to solve the issue. You're the one who's going to make sure there's peace.

You're the one who's going to accomplish these things. Anxiety is the child of self-reliance. Never forget it. And setting your hope on God alone, not improving your situation, is the ultimate remedy for anxiety. God will strip us of our self-reliance. and so by relying on God who raises the dead you will eliminate anxiety as you rely on God you will give him the credit and others will glorify God because he has changed you here's what you need to understand we need to live in this world like disciples of Jesus obeying his commands.

You will show those around you how redeemed people live. That's why we want to deal with anxiety. So we can show the world how redeemed people live. We ought to live differently than the rest of the world, which is consumed with anxiety. We ought to be different because Jesus redeemed us. You have been redeemed by the death of Jesus.

Jesus died for you. to pay the penalty for your sin, the sin of anxiety. He's paid for it. By the way, that's the first stepping stone right there. Anxiety deserves hell. It's practical atheism. Doesn't see God in the picture.

But Jesus took upon himself the punishment that is due you so that when you start being tempted with anxiety, you can say, you know what? Jesus paid for this. And God now says, let's grow. That's done with. Let's start growing. Jesus died for you to free you from what seems like the iron grip of anxiety.

Romans chapter 6, remember that Jesus died to deliver us from the realm and the tyranny of sin. And so we can conquer it because Jesus died to free us from the tyranny of sin. and then Jesus died for you to present you to a father who loves and cares for you once once you were his enemies now you're his children and he loves and cares for you and so you see redeemed people all of those things are true about us therefore we ought to be different than the world around us don't seek to eliminate anxiety just to give yourself peace rather you want to deal with it so that the world sees someone different. The world sees what a disciple of Jesus looks like.

Now the most important question, how should you annihilate anxiety? How can you do that And this morning I want to give you four biblical strategies to eliminate anxiety and to glorify your Father Now listen to me I don want to make it look like the Bible is a self-help book. Here's four strategies, you know, put these into practice. What I'm saying is the Bible does clearly address these issues, right?

The world will call it general anxiety disorder. They will try to put it in the category of disorder. But the Bible deals with these issues of life in a much more effective way than anything in the world. You need to remember that. And I want you to see that the Bible is specific enough to help a redeemed person put to death anxiety and to put on Christ likeness.

That's what we're looking at. Now, I'm going to give you four. There's much more to it than this. The Bible has a wealth. I mean, just listening to scripture reading this morning, I was thinking I could have done an expository sermon on Psalm 31, 1 through 5, right? God is my refuge and my rock.

If God's my refuge, do I need to worry? Never. So here's the point. We want to look at how God tells us, very specifically, how to deal with this issue. so that we can glorify him and magnify Christ. That's what we're after. So as you listen, as you think about this, keep that in mind.

We want to do this in order to accomplish the glorification so that God will be magnified to those around us. So how should you annihilate anxiety? Here's the first one. Repent for failing to fulfill your responsibilities. Repent for failing to fulfill your responsibilities. Proverbs 28.1 Proverbs 28.1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

Now think about that. Anxiety is often connected to wrong living. How do you feel at the end of the day when you've goofed off or wasted time? How do you feel at the end of the day? Some people worry about losing their jobs because they've not fulfilled the responsibilities that God gave them to do in their work. For example, in Colossians, we read, Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

Whatever you do, work hardly as for the Lord and not for men. And because you may not have done that, you worry about losing your job. Right? Some people worry about finances because they're in the habit of spending too much and they know it. And so they're worried about, do I have enough money? You see?

What happens to worry when you know you've done what God has commanded you for the day? Now, let me give you a real life example of that. Okay? Now, I've spoken about this enough and you all know me enough to know that I've described for you my early years of ministry here, I was absolutely consumed with anxiety. I was, if you will, I was in its iron grip.

Okay? Here's one reason why. The first job I ever had was I got when I was 15. If you don't include a paper route, I don't include that as real life work. I got my very first job when I was 15. I came here to minister when I was 30.

So I had 15 years as just a working grunt. That's all I was. And then I came here, and I didn't have to punch in. I had no time clock. No one was looking over my shoulder to see if I was getting my work done. I didn't have a foreman.

I didn't have any of that. And so when I first got here, it was like, wow. And I would waste enormous amounts of time when I should have been working. you know I got her this is before the internet so you know you had news week then so I would read articles I would pursue things and then the pressure would be growing because you know what you got to show up on Sunday and you got to have something and I'll tell you what I would walk into church absolutely terrified that they're going to hear the sermon and they're going to know they're going to say what is that what's that guy been doing you see what I'm saying when you don't live like you ought to, you will be subject to anxiety.

You'll be subject to worry. If you do a bad, if you're wasting your time, you're going to wonder, am I going to lose my job? Those things will happen. So here's where you start. This is low-hanging fruit, by the way. This is the easiest place to start.

Am I worried because of my failures? Because I've not obeyed what God's commanded me to do today. All right, there's the first. Here's the second. Employ what I call the dragon slayer. Now let me tell you why I call this the dragon slayer.

Because this is the text of scripture that helped me the most, and actually that God used to deliver me from my imprisonment to anxiety. This was a key passage that I learned. Some folks took the time to teach me this, and I was very thankful for it. Philippians chapter 4. If you've been here for the last 40 years with me, this is not going to look new.

Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 9. do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Furthermore brothers whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. The dragon slayer, what is it?

Simply this, pray right, think right, do right. If you pray right, if you think right, and you do right, you will start growing out of anxiety. You will start finding the freedom from anxiety that that you want to glorify God. Pray right, think right, do right. Verses 6 and 7, pray right. First of all, you fight back with prayer.

This highlights worshipful prayer focusing on God's character. Anxiety is a crippling focus on our circumstances. this kind of prayer has a healing focus on God's character it reminds you of Isaiah 26 verse 3 you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you and so you pray father I praise you for your infinite wisdom that has brought me to this situation for your power that can see me through them for your love that ever cares for me and so you pray. But he also says with supplication, fight back with supplication, approaching the father with your petitions.

All right. So here's a situation. You're very anxious about it. What's the first thing you do? You pray. You pray, focusing on God's character.

You pray with to your father with petitions. You ask him specifically, urgently, with hands open for him to handle what you're worried about. In that spirit, you present your requests to God. And so you say, Father, I'm overwhelmed. I see no way out. I feel like I'm starved of resources.

My gas tank is on empty. My resources are depleted. Rather than trusting in myself, I'm clinging to you. I'm feeble. You're almighty. I refuse to rely upon myself.

I choose to rely on you. And you can ask him, Lord, in this situation that I'm beginning to be anxious about, I pray that you would be at work there. I pray that you'd be at work in the hearts of the people that I'm going to meet. I pray, Father, that you'd be faithful to your promises. You pray with petition. And then he says this really weird thing.

I remember thinking about this. Why is that there? Prayer with petition with what? Thanksgiving. why is that there what does that have to do with anxiety well I'll tell you what this is what I've learned coming from my former life I tell people I'm a veteran of the war of the worry wars which doesn't mean I'm still fighting it means I used to fight in that war but this is what struck me worriers listen carefully now worriers are ungrateful people by nature worriers are ungrateful people you know why? they want a different reality than the one God has given them they want another reality they are not satisfied with the reality God has given them so for example I'm driving down the road It's a beautiful day.

I'm looking around. I'm going, this is beautiful. This is wonderful. This is so enjoyable. But, oh yeah, there's that meeting I have with that couple, and it's not going to be pleasant. And so everything else is wiped out.

I can enjoy all that's around me. If only I didn't have that to think about, then I could enjoy life. You see? You don't enjoy the reality God's given you. You want a different reality. You want a reality.

You know what my reality was? you know what I wanted leave me alone in my office to read my books and to write and don't give me any problems which is really stupid if you're a pastor don't give me any problems that's not the reality God gave me I was ungrateful for the reality God gave me I wanted a different one so when anxiety assaults you everything looks negative, dark and hopeless and that's when you need to turn to thanksgiving you need to thank God this is when you also pray oh father this situation is difficult but I thank you that through it you've promised to work good I know I'll be a better husband a better dad a better child of yours on the other end of this difficulty and thank you for your faithfulness and steadfast love over all the years which I know is still present pray with thanksgiving now verse 8 think right now many of us look at that and say wait a minute what's that have to do with worry well i want to point to you to verse 9 as well he's still talking about what peace verse 6 is about peace all the way through verse 9 through peace so it's in my view verse 8 still is in this worry section shouldn't be new paragraph it says furthermore it says finally in our text, but it can be translated furthermore. So here's what you do. You've got to now, after you pray right, now you have to think right.

You know what we often do? We go to the Lord with our prayers and we lay that burden of we're anxious about this thing and we lay that burden before the Lord and we pray about it and when we stand up, that burden and walk away again. Isn't that what you've experienced? You're all afraid to say yes. That's exactly what you've experienced. And so what he tells us here is now as a believer you've got to switch your thinking.

You've got to leave it there and now you've got to put on different kind of thinking. All right, how do you do that? Listen, can I tell you something? You don't have to be in counseling to do this. This is what I do when I'm trying to help people with anxiety and we're working through this passage i say okay take out a three by five card number one to ten write down ten things that meet the criteria of verse eight whatever it is a hymn a memory verse i've got something to plan i got my vacation to plan whatever you write down ten things and when you pray to the lord as verse six and seven says then when you're done you pull that card out and you look at it and you say, I'm going to think about number seven.

Now that sounds really literal, doesn't it? Really wouldn't. But let me remind you, habits are formed that with just structure like that, you start forming habits. So write the card out, write something out, say I've got to choose. By the power of the Spirit, you're not subject to your mind. You have the ability to change your thinking and so that's what he calls you to do here and then verse 9 do right Paul says what you've seen in me you do it and the God of peace will be with you what is he saying there get busy with what God has given you to do today do today what's on your plate get busy don't think about tomorrow you need to get busy today you remember what Jesus says in Matthew 6 33 but But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

And so what I would do is I would pray. I would get off my knees, start thinking about something else. And if there was something I needed to do, I needed to do it now. I need to get busy now. You know what worriers tend to do? Here's what worriers tend to do.

I'm so consumed with the future that I don't get today's work done. I could tell you I used to waste entire days thinking about what was coming and then I didn't get my work done so the next day I had twice as much work done and guess what I would do? I would worry even more so you get busy what does he say here in verse 9? get busy God's given you enough today get busy with it alright? third thing third tool okay there's the dragon slayer here's the third tool learn the skill of today learn the skill of today you need to trust god for today rather than being distressed about tomorrow trust god for today ed welch writes worries can be born in the past live in the future and invade the present they focus our attention on things over which we are relatively powerless and they take our attention away from the mission that is right in front of us.

See? Now God teaches us this in the book of Exodus. I want you to turn there. Trust God for today. Exodus chapter 16. Verses 4 and 5.

Then the Lord said to Moses, behold I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I might test them whether they will walk in my law or not on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in it will be twice as much as they gather daily now drop down to verse 15 I'm getting a little anxious here because I can't see like I used to see verse 15 there we go when the people of Israel saw it they said to one another what is it They saw the manna By the way manna is Hebrew for what is it That why it called manna What is it? For they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded.

Gather of it, each one of you, as much as you can eat. you will you shall each take an omer that's about two quarts according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent and the people of Israel did did so they gathered some more some more some less but when they measured it with an omer whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack each of them gathered as much as he could and Moses said to them let no one leave any of it over till morning but they did not listen to Moses some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and stank and Moses was angry with him morning by morning they gathered it each as much as he could eat but when the sun grew hot it melted on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread two omers each and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses he said to them this is what the Lord has commanded tomorrow is a day of solemn rest a holy sabbath to the Lord bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning so they laid it aside till the morning as Moses commanded them and it did not stink and there were no worms in it Moses said eat it today for today is the sabbath to the Lord today you will not find it in the field six days you shall gather it but on the seventh day which is a sabbath there will be none these people just left the land were for the last 400 years remember they'd lived in egypt for 400 years for these people that was home for the last 400 years they had worked the ground they had grown their food they had ate eaten what they harvested they saw the faithfulness of god then in this incredible deliverance that we call the exodus now the lesson of his faithfulness was going to be continued with the provision of manna they saw god provide each day but not for the next only one day except for the sixth day right and when they took matters into their own hands by storing up extra it failed. They had to learn to trust God every single day as it came and not think about tomorrow. God would provide.

They couldn't say, are we going to have enough for tomorrow? I don't know. Let's get extra. They didn't need to because God was going to faithfully provide what they needed the next day. He also teaches us that he'll provide grace for every day on the day we need it. again you have to trust that God will provide the grace for each day when we need it you can't store up grace you just have to say God is faithful he'll provide what I need for tomorrow tomorrow and so when you're anxious about this thing that's coming up you need to say I don't have to think about that God's given me grace for today he'll give me grace for that difficulty that I'm anxious about.

He will give me grace on that day when I need it. Jesus himself made this clear. This is interesting. In that wonderful passage on worry in Matthew 6, Jesus said, therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So what is he saying?

Get busy with today. I'll take care of you tomorrow. Just concentrate on today. All right? So learn the skill of today. And here's the last thing we want to look at.

Cast all your anxieties on your Father. Cast all your anxieties on your Father. First Peter chapter 5 again. We started out with that. Let's go back. First Peter chapter 5. now you remember what we read in verses 6 and 7 he's called the he's called us to to humility and then he says humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god this is verse 6 humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god so that at the proper time He may exalt you casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you So you're in a strange city, okay?

You're just a kid, but you're with your dad, and you're walking down a dark street, and you don't know where you're going, and you don't know what's in that alley, or what's on that street, and you are scared. and then you realize wait a minute dad's here he knows where we're going and it's his job to get me there he can take care of anyone who gives us trouble it's his job to protect me as a kid you knew that your father was someone you could trust you didn't have to worry about anything he's the one that took care of stuff for you so you didn't have to be scared and because of your dad you didn't have to worry about anything. Why? Because that's his job.

That's his job. The burden of all that was on him, not you. And so it is with your heavenly father. It's his job to worry about everything, not yours. If I can put it plainly. Obviously God can't worry, but for sake of making the point, it's not your job to worry, it's God's job.

So you don't have to worry. And that's what exactly what Peter tells us here. Now listen, he writes to people, if you read the whole book, you become to understand he's writing to people suffering persecution. They have a lot to worry about. How will we make a living if the government throws me in jail? What's going to happen to my family if I'm martyred, if they kill me for my faith, if my co-workers keep bad-mouthing me as a Christian, they'll ruin my reputation, and I'll be out of job.

Well, the first thing he says is, you have to humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, so that his hand, that same hand that seems to be pressing down, will exalt you at the proper time. Remember, always remember this, when we're under pressure, where do we tend to go to deal with it? right self-reliance anxiety is a child of self-reliance so he says to them humble yourselves right humble yourselves because under my mighty hand because that same hand will exalt you at the proper time god will deliver you from all your troubles at the proper time so humbly accept what he's doing now in the meantime what are you supposed to do cast all your anxieties on him it's his job to make sure you're fed it's his job to take care of your family if you die it's his job to guard your reputation or if your reputation is lost it's his job to see that good comes from it in changing you whatever you're worried about you can assert well it's not my job to see that everything turns out well. That's not my job.

It's the Father's job. Cast all your anxieties on Him. Well, how do you do that? I'm always asking that question. I used to read that verse and say, yeah, well, help me. How do I do that?

Well, first of all, you pray. You cast your anxieties on your Father by praying. And then you believe that God is who He says He is. You actually believe and Embrace what God says he is. I have a friend of mine who has a special needs child. And he was talking to his son about going to the doctor.

And so my friend was showing him 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7. Was showing him that. And his boy says, hmm, that's nice of him. Right? that's a great attitude, right? Well, that's wonderful that God does that. In this verse, he says, he cares for you.

He cares for you. You know what else? You have to believe that he is for you and never against you God is always for you and never against you Romans 8 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all will he not also with him graciously give us all things He loves you. Do you believe that about God? He loves you. Do you think that will make, this perfect Father will ever allow irreparable damage to you?

Would our heavenly loving Father ever allow irreparable damage to come to you? He's wise. Do you think that your loving Father will ever make a mistake with you and your life? He is just. Do you think people can harm you and get away with it? it may look like that now, but you can be sure of one thing. At the final judgment, those who have never repented, they will be held account for what they did to God's people.

No one will ever get away with anything. Do you think God will let someone harm you and let them get away with it? He is faithful. Has He ever failed to come to your aid? Look, again, you've heard me say this millions of times look at the course of your life look at all the things you were worried about and look how God came through even in those situations that were worse than you had anticipated you saw God come through in some way he's faithful as you walk down the dark path of this fallen broken world you don't have to worry because as your heavenly father walks with you you can say it's your job These are the ways that we can strip ourselves of our cursed self-reliance and trust in the Father who loves us.

Nothing has changed was the first thing Ed's friend Carl said after he was told that his cancer was malignant and untreatable. But it seemed to Ed that everything had changed. With four words, your cancer is malignant, Carl's future was forever rearranged. In a little over a year his parents would lose their oldest son his wife would become a widow and his four children would lose their father.

But that's not what Carl meant. He was certain that Jesus was still reigning as king. He was certain that Jesus' love was established beyond any doubt when he died for those who held him in contempt. He was certain that nothing could separate him from the love of God. He was certain that his Heavenly Father would care for his wife and children with a unique affection.

See, Carl could say nothing has changed. Wouldn't you like to say nothing has changed? Imagine what life would be like if we could say that nothing has changed when we encounter snags and inconveniences and tragedies. you can, if looking to God, you grow in wisdom and little by little, day by day, continue in the gradual, unstoppable, and beautiful process of growing to be like Jesus.

Father, thank you for your word. It is detailed enough to help us deal with the issues we face in this fallen, broken world in ways that magnify your power and your wisdom and your love and your mercy and your grace and everything there is about you. All of that, Father, as we learn to handle life the way you've told us, in obedience to your word. And so, Father, I pray that this has not been merely a helpful sermon, but one that would drive us to the question how can I magnify God in these circumstances?

How can I exalt the one who died for me? So move us there, Lord, we pray. Give us fruit from these truths. In Jesus' name, amen.