A Practice of Praise - Romans 11:33-36
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
The fall is here, I don't know if you're feeling that. of my favorite parts, yes, about fall, is not just the weather, the football season, but usually we're a TV family, we love shows, and there's, you know, the new seasons start coming back. And so we just, one of our favorite shows is Survivor, we're a Survivor family, and the first episode of the newest season just came out on Wednesday, and we watched it last night. Now for you, those of you who don't know, Survivor is a show where a group of people are left stranded on a tropical island. Well, that part sounds great. All they have is the clothes on their back and very minimal food. And they are left to survive, not just the elements, but also the social part. Because every week, someone is voted off the island, and you are trying to be the last person, the survivor, the lone survivor. So it is a very challenging game. And it's brutal. And it's very testing for every aspect of a person mentally, physically, emotionally, even spiritually. And so the game ends when it finally comes down to three people, these three contestants who have survived over weeks of the elements and not being voted off. And you're wondering why. We're not sponsored by Survivor, so this is not a paid advertisement. I promise you it pertains to somewhat. You'll see a great transition coming up. But it finally comes down to three contestants. And one of my favorite parts is that that morning, they're the final three. And the game ends with all the people that have been voted out, are a lot of them coming back and actually voting for the winner. So they get to vote who wins that season. But the final morning, when the final three, usually it's three, when they wake up they get this what they call survivor meal, survivor feast. And it's the celebration of the fact that they made it. There's no more of the game, kind of, there's one last night, but it's the final morning. There's no more days after this. That night they're going to find out who wins. And that morning, after having little to no food, and surviving the elements, and playing the game mentally all the time, they get to have this break. And the people, the producers, they bring in this huge feast. And after usually eating maybe rice and beans, they get to have orange juice, and melons, and amazing fruit, and bagels, all of this just a huge feast for breakfast. And during this time, it's totally different than the game, which is usually go, go, go, and you're strategizing all the time. time they get to take a break and they just get to eat and kind of relax and just reminisce on the season. They're like, "Hey, man, this was..." They get to reflect and just pause and it's a really cool, really cool moment. Transition.
Why do I bring this up? Well, Paul... That was rough. This was rougher than I thought. Paul has one of those moments today where after writing for so long in this letter, he has a moment where he just pauses and he And he reflects on what God has done and who he is in relation to the nation of Israel. And he's brought to this moment of praise, this literary Ebenezer of sorts, where he's recognizing and praising God. Paul stops to reflect and process on the character of God, and it's a beautiful moment here in the letter of Romans. And it's a blessing that we appreciate, and it's enriching for our lives today. So we're gonna dive into just four verses. We've been covering a lot every Sunday, almost a chapter at a time, but today we're just gonna take it a little bit slow and just take four verses that I think are gonna be enriching for us and bring us a lot of joy and encouragement. So let me go ahead and pray and then we'll dive. And God, we've, again, come before you, Lord, and we just pray that you would bless the reading of your word, the teaching of your word, and that you would empower us and equip us to be more like Jesus. And I pray that you would encourage us in our lives to take moments where we pause and reflect on who you are and what you've done. So as we do that this morning, right now together, we just pray that your spirit would be at work. We pray this in your name, amen. All right, we're gonna be in Romans 11, starting in verse 33 through 36. So if you have a Bible, you can turn there, we'll have it on the screen. But if you do look in your Bible, in most translations, there's a little heading, and it's called doxology. Now, what is a doxology? Well, doxologies are conclusions to songs or psalms or prayers and are found throughout Scripture. Sometimes they can be meant as a group response or recitation. Little fun fact, the word doxology, though, is not a part of the original text. If you were to look at the Hebrew manuscript, really none of the headers that we have in our Bible, they're not there in the Hebrew. they've been added later. And so doxology is not there, but it means words of glory, which I think is a really great summary of what it is. And these doxologies are a series of declarations of praise announcing who God is and what He has done, and usually focusing on God's creation and redemption. A more well-known doxology is the song that, if you grew up in church or you've been around the church for a while, you've probably heard "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." That's a doxology found in 2 Corinthians. But our doxology today is a spontaneous praise of God regarding his actions towards his people. Remember, Paul has just written three chapters about the dynamic relationship between Israel and God. And now Paul just pauses to take a moment to put together some words of glory about God. In this section, Paul is quoting two passages, Isaiah 40:13 and Job 41:11. And both of those scriptures in the Old Testament celebrate God's exalted status and wisdom over His creation. These verses point out the dependency that creation has upon its Now as a part of creation, we humans, we have no right to assume His role as Creator or Judge. We do not have anything to offer God that He might need. We have to realize and remember that He is fully self-sustaining. The Trinity, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they are perfect and whole. And in light of His greatness, all of humanity must recognize His mercy, which He demonstrates by offering Christ that all might believe and may be saved." Now that's a lot, that's just the beginning, but that is all packed in these four verses right here.
So I want to dive in. I want to go ahead and read the first verse, which says, verse 33, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out!" Now remember, this is all coming after Paul's attempt at an explanation of God's sovereign, redemptive plan with Israel. And Paul seems to take a step back here and to recognize his place and God's place. And Paul's saying, "Even though I'm pretty sure, Roman church, this is how it works, God's ways are above mine, and all of Him is beyond me." has a sense of humility here. And echoes the words found in Isaiah 55, 9, which says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." That's God speaking to the nation of Israel. We cannot fully understand the ways of God. He is infinite, and we are finite. The more we think about the crazier, like, He is infinite. There is no limits, there is no, like, edge to which we can, these are His borders, this is what we can understand. No, it is, it goes forever. And we, just being finite creatures, have a hard time understanding the infinite. So there is a part of God that will always remain a mystery until we are in heaven and we can have a perfect understanding of who He is. I love the ancient world and the Hebrew imagery here because it's very straightforward. It's based on a world that they could see and what made sense to them from the understanding that God gave them. So when it says the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, they're saying when we look up, this is the ancient Hebrew world, when we look up we see clouds in the sky and the Sun and at night we see the stars and the planets and the moon, that's the heavens, way up there. They didn't know how far that is. They did not have any understanding or measurement of it's this many miles or whatever. That's way up there. And as high as that is, which it could be so high, that's how high God is over us. Now we today have a better understanding through science and all the research that we can do and the technology of how high and how far things are. And maybe even with that, this analogy works even better. that we know that space is so, so far, and even what we've explored is probably more than what the ancient Hebrew people understood, and yet still, God's ways are beyond that, compared to where we are. I recently saw this conversation between two scientists. They were talking about space, and one of them asked, "How do we understand, what's a way to put, measure, how much we know about space?" And so this other scientist responded with, "Okay, take a 12 ounce cup, scoop some water out of the ocean." Now compared to the ocean, what we know about space is that 12 ounce cup. The ocean is how much we don't understand. And I think that's just helpful to us to know that probably God's ways and our ways are even more than that. And that's huge. That is vast. God knows everything, and as the Creator, He's holding it all together. And so now, when we read that verse, it probably makes a lot more sense. Yes, His ways are much higher than ours. His thoughts are above ours. The depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." I think Paul is drawing from this when he says his paths are beyond tracing out. We may not resonate as much with this phrase of "make your paths straight" because we live in a world where the roads are made for us. They are pretty straight. We also on top of that have Google or Apple Maps, whichever you use, and they tell us the most efficient and quickest way to get from point A to point B. We're not having to figure out, "Oh God, where are my paths? How do I get from this place? What's the fastest way?" much told for us. But in life, this is what God will do. If the goal is to progress towards God, towards His kingdom, and to be with Him, as we venture to do that, we also have to recognize that our sin and this world will try to make our path crooked. It will draw us in different directions.
So, in a way, we're taking side streets, we're zig-zagging all over the place because we're drawn by sin and the world to not follow God in the the straightest path. But when we lean on our own understanding, when we follow God with everything that we have, we can look back and say, in that section of time when we are following God, oh, that was the best. That was the best way. Maybe it's not straight, maybe it's not a perfect line, but it's the best way. It was the way that God meant for it to happen. The author of the Proverb is saying, and what Paul is alluding to in our passage, is that God's ways, while we don't always know as we're on that road, he knows. And if he knows what's best, if his ways are higher than ours, then there's no other path that we should prefer to be on. This really also gets to our very human problem of sin, thinking that we know best, that we think we know the best way to get there, the best way to live, the best decisions for our futures, for our finances, for friendships. And in thinking that, in doing what we think, We are placing ourselves in the driver's seat where God actually belongs. We're taking the place of God in our lives, which is a sin. To think that we don't need God, or that we're better than God, or maybe we have a better perspective than God on what's happening in our lives, which when I say it, sounds like, "Well, of course we don't," but we can tend to live like that. That is living in sin. And so this doxology and the words of the Old Testament are telling us, reminding us, the depths of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge of God, His paths are best, even if they're beyond our understanding.
Paul continues in verse 34, let's read that together, it says, "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?" Have you guys ever found yourself in a situation where you are by default the expert in whatever's going on? Maybe it's a parent and you're with your child, or you're a teacher with your students, or maybe you're just in whatever situation you know most about what's happening and there are other people around you that don't. And in that situation, have you ever had that child or student or the other people who are ignorant to what's going on to tell you what to do? Hey, why don't you just do this? This seems pretty easy. If you just do this, I think it's gonna work out. I think you'll figure out what's, your solution is right there. You ever have that happen? I'm thinking of my daughter and students in the past. Usually those people think that they're helpful, especially the little ones who are trying to be involved, and it's really cute. Some people though, say those things in a derogatory tone and are just like, you are overthinking this. It is this simple, just do this. I don't know if you get where I'm going here. But do you think that you might sometimes barely do this with God? By sometimes I mean like all the time. We probably do this a lot with God where we're in our minds having prayers or thoughts. We're like, God, I have a good read. I'm in this situation, God. I don't know if you know that God, but like I'm living it right now. And I think if you just do this, if you could just do this, I think we got the answer. And we go from asking God what is best in the situation to telling God what we want him to do. And in just the phrasing of that and that approach, we are treating God in a way that is like a vending machine. God, if you just do this or a genie in a bottle, just this is what I want, I think this is best. I've got the wisdom here, God. Thank you for the wisdom you've given me to then tell you what to do. Here we go. Who are we to counsel the all-knowing? I'm not a car guy at all, but a while ago I had this lemon of a truck that just would not stop having problems, and one day the engine just, to my understanding, blew up. And I didn't want to let it go, so my brother-in-law very graciously, who was a mechanic for a time, said, hey, I'll work on it. I'll try to rebuild your engine for you. It was very kind. And he would just give me updates. He's like, hey, I've got this much done. I'm working on this part. And I can't even repeat the parts, because I do not know anything about cars. He's like, I'm working on this. I'm having trouble with this over here. But I'm going to figure it out. At no point in any of those conversations did I feel the confidence or wisdom to say, hey, have you tried this? It sounds like you're taking the long way on that one. I think you should probably do this. Yeah, I think that's what Paul is talking about here. Our relationship with God should be one of clear boundaries and recognizing that we are not God. We do not have his perspective, his wisdom. We do not know what God knows. The counsel should be a one-way street where God is giving us wisdom and counsel. And we should be recognizing that God has all the wisdom And we need to have a position of humility, submitting to God. And if we don't understand asking God, hey, what's going on? Can you help me understand? Rather than telling God what to do. We do not counsel the Lord. It's easier said than done, but something that we should be conscious of nonetheless.
Then Paul moves to verse 35, which reads, who has ever given to God that God should repay them? It's been happening lately. A little example of this, I think, happening is sometimes over a meal, Kinsley and I, my daughter, who's four years old, four and a half, will split a sparkling water. And I'll go in and I'll get a sparkling water and I'll open the can and she'll ask, "Can I have a sip?" And I'll say, "Sure, you can have a sip." And she will then take the can and say, "This is mine. "And you can have some if you want some." And I'm like, "Hold up here. I'm the one that gave you the sparkling water. I am the giver of sparkling water in this family, in this dynamic relationship. I give you sparkling water. You do not give me sparkling water. In fact, I can go get my own. I don't need you for sparkling water. I can go get another can. And I can open it. You can't even open this. I can go buy more. Like, you offer me nothing when it comes to sparkling water. (audience laughs) I kid, obviously. I don't have that conversation with her. But who are we to give God, Who are we to think that we give God anything that He doesn't already have? Like I said at the beginning, the Trinity is fully sufficient, overflowing, not in need. We do not give Him anything that He is lacking. We do give to Him. We talked about giving this morning with our ties, our offerings. We give Him praise and adoration and glory. But it's not because He's lacking it. God has given us everything. The air we breathe, the jobs we have, the families and relationships that we enjoy, the homes we live in, the emotions and the minds that we feel and think with. We are giving Him our broken hearts, our sinful hearts, for God to mend and to transform. And then we give back what God has already given to us, our time, our money, our resources. Who has given to God that God should repay them? No one. Have you ever tried bartering with God? God, if I do this, does this mean that you can do this for me? God, if I just give you my tithe this month, or maybe a little bit extra, 'cause God, you need my money, then will you help me through this tough situation? God is not lacking in any finances. Or sometimes we'll say, God, if I attend church more regularly, because you need me in your church, that means that you'll start to, you'll have to start blessing my life, right? You're gonna start doing some things, I'm gonna start seeing you work in my life. God is not dependent on our attendance. God does not owe us everything. We need to realize in our relationship with God, how we communicate with God, that we have no leverage over God. We have no higher standing in any area over God. We don't come before him with any sort of, At least I have this that God needs from me that he doesn't already have. We have nothing to give in that manner. Again, except for our broken hearts and what he has already given to us, and we give back as a way of worshiping him, submitting to him, depending on him. So, who has ever given to God that God should repay them? No one.
And that leads us to verse 36. He ends this doxology with this, "For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen." It starts with "from God." God is the source. The source of all things good in this world. God is that source. Through God, it's all by the work of God and the work of his Spirit, the work that Christ did on the cross and continues to do in our lives. It is through Him. And then for God. It's all about His glory. As Paul mentioned at the beginning of this book of Romans, the root motivation of the gospel is the glory of God. That God be praised. That He receive the credit, the honor, and the praise. It's all for Jesus. It's all about God's kingdom, and it's only by him and through him that it is possible. So I love this moment in this letter to the Romans where Paul stops for a brief moment to write some words of glory, praising God for who he is and what he has done. It's a beautiful doxology. And I want to ask us today, do we have doxologies in our lives? What does that mean, Pastor Andre? Well, do you have moments where you are praising God for the work that He is doing? Where you are pausing and reflecting on who God is and what He has done for you? So often in life, we just keep going and moving from one thing to the next. And even if we do praise God, it's kind of just a quick thought, "God, thanks for that. I'm gonna go. I gotta keep going." But what would it look like to have moments of doxology in our lives, moments where we really pause and have words of glory towards God? You know, the Bible is full of these moments. Anytime, especially in the Old Testament, anytime something big happened where God was at work, where the main character, the person, or maybe the group of people experienced God's work, the following happened. They paused, they gained some perspective, and then they praised God. Think of Noah after the flood, or Abraham after almost sacrificing his son Isaac, or Moses and the Israelites after crossing the Red Sea by God's hand, or Joshua and the Israelites after crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The list can go on and on. There are so many of these moments, and the pattern is always the same. They pause, they take a break from what is happening, what's going on. They gain some perspective. They look at what God had done, and then they praise Him for what He did and who He is. So I wanna quickly share about incorporating that into our lives.
The first is to pause. Even Paul paused in this letter after writing, wrapping up his thought about the nation of Israel, and he just paused, and I can see this. We can kind of like, wherever Paul is writing, and he's vigorously writing about Israel and God, and you can just kind of see him like, take a breath. He's thinking about everything he just wrote, and then he just kind of, I imagine it kind of slowly just writing these words of glory, this doxology, praising God. I'm gonna riff on our Sabbath practice community group content right now. So if you're a part of that community group, This will be repeat, but I think it pertains to what we're talking about. It is so important to have moments of pause in our lives, to stop and reflect. What do I mean by that? Well, God created this world that we live in, and every one of us, we have natural rhythms in life. Even the world does. So, think of spring and summer, where everything is more vibrant and full of life. There is an energy, but we also have fall and winter, where that energy kind of goes down and things slow down and it's usually a time of rest. God created us humans, people to stop and have moments where you look back, get some perspective and then move forward again. For the Israelites, this was most apparent in their practice of Sabbath with which God started in them as he created them to be a nation. It was a day every week where they were to stop, rest, delight and worship God. It's something that God himself modeled on the seventh day of creation where he rested and enjoyed what he had done, what he had created. We are to live a life where we pause regularly. God knew this as our creator and set this up in the nation of Israel. So in pausing from the everyday routine, the Israelites were able to rest, they were to recharge their inner battery, delight in what God was doing in their lives, delight in the the joys of life, even have fun, and then worship God. We have something similar now in our routine. You guys are all here this morning worshiping weekly. We have every seven days we gather together to worship God. But we still don't always stop well, we don't rest well, we don't always delight well. You wanna know why it's hard to stop? One of the reasons is 'cause you live in a world, we all live in a world that doesn't stop. Doesn't stop. We live in a world that is 24/7, seven days a week. I saw on social media recently a man boasting about his three shifts in one day. This was not because he needed it. It's not because he had three jobs. It's one job and he just was bragging about how he can work three shifts in one day, seven days a week, and be outworking everyone. That is not how God meant for us to live at all. That is not sustainable, but that's what the world values. The more work you do, the more valuable you are in the world's eyes. Not in God's eyes. We live in a world that is nonstop. But it wasn't always like this. Did you know that for a majority of history, and even in America, the world operated on six days on and one day off? It was common for cities, towns, villages throughout history to all have the same day off. working. Not always for religious purposes, but a lot of times it was for religious purposes.
And then recently, in American history, that changed. And when I say recently, I mean relative to all of history. It was only in the 1960s that this shift really occurred. And Pastor John Mark Comer, the one who put together the prayer practice and the Sabbath practice that we're going through, shared about this. He references Silicon Valley, which we would all think as the tech capital of the world where things are always going 24/7, probably in unhealthy ways, that even Silicon Valley had Sundays off until the 1960s. And in the 1960s, I forget which year, but it was a 7-11 that started opening on Sundays. And now, as we know from that, from the 1960s to a 7-11 being open to now where it is very common for shops, restaurants, retailers to all be open on Sundays. And if they're closed, we still have Amazon. That is all the time, at the touch of our fingers. And while we may not have to work on the weekend, we are consuming and buying and participating in this nonstop culture of our world. All this to say that our world, the culture we live in, does not value your rest or you taking moments to pause. Rarely do we work for companies and jobs that encourage healthy rest. Now, not only is it outer forces, the world that we live in, that doesn't help us pause, but there is an inward struggle that we have with pausing too. We tend, like I said before, we tend to go from one thing to the next. We wake up and our day is go, go, go. We have to take the kids to school or get to work, and then on our breaks, we're scrolling emails or social media or shopping online on Amazon. And then we gotta go back to work, or you pick the kids up, and then we have after school things, or you're getting dinner ready, you're shopping, you're doing chores around the house, you're keeping up with podcasts, your TV shows, whatever it is, your mind is constantly engaged in something, whether it is work or entertainment, it is not necessarily restful for you.
We have a hard time stopping. Whether good moments or difficult circumstances, we don't often pause to fully process what we are thinking, what our hearts are feeling, and probably not what God is doing in our lives. In our Sabbath practice community group, we're talking about getting into the rhythm of practicing a 24-hour break every week, a day that is different, full of delight, worship, a break from technology, a break from work. And maybe that's the answer. When we're talking about pausing, maybe that is the answer. It's a Sabbath better, all of us. But at least, let me encourage you to more regularly in life, especially when you see God working, to pause. Take a moment, an extended moment. I'm not talking about, cool, that was great. Take minutes, an afternoon. Maybe you journal, maybe you pray out loud, maybe you go for a walk and talk with God, but pause and give your mind and heart time to process and enjoy what God is doing in your life. That leads us to the second point, perspective. In this pausing, we then reflect on the work that God is doing. In these doxologies, the common thread is focusing on God as creator and redeemer. And by doing that, it helps us gain perspective. Oftentimes when we're going through life, our focus becomes more and more about ourselves. We tend to like look down at our own hearts and minds and our focus becomes solely on our desires, our feelings, our satisfactions, our discontentment. And if it goes on long enough, we become selfish. The more we go on in life, the less rest we have, no pausing, we just tend to look down and look inward. Problem with that is that's not how God created us, greatest commandment, right? To love God and to love others. How do we do that if we're only looking at ourselves? Pausing and then reflecting on the work that God has done brings our vision up again. We start to look beyond ourselves. We're thinking of others and what God is doing in life. It's about remembering that we are a part of something bigger, the kingdom of God, his church, his family. And while we matter, of course, we have value, We also need to see how what we're experiencing fits into God's plan of redemption and just recognize that we don't see it all. Even when we do get perspective, His ways are higher than ours, right?
We gotta recognize that God may be up to something and just taking a moment to pause and reflect on what God is doing, even if we understand this much of it is helpful for us, brings us closer to God. In order to gain some perspective in your life, After you pause, right, these all kind of go together, you pause, then ask yourself this, what is God doing in my life? How have I seen him at work this week? If I look back on this past week, and I give myself long enough to process and really think, have I seen him move? Have I seen him move in my life? Have I seen him work in someone else's life? If I look back on this past year, where have I seen God at work? And I think if we pause long enough, things will start to come to our minds, and then we'll be filled with perspective, and that leads us to the next one, which is praise. We praise Him. Finish your personal doxology by praising God for what He has done and who He is. Like all these examples in the Bible, like we sometimes do on our own, take time to praise God for the work that you see Him doing. I'll tell you this story really quick. This last week, Kinsley and I got into this habit. After school, I pick her up and there's this creek by our house. And one day we were driving home and I thought I saw something in the creek. And I was like, oh, let's go take a look at what that is. So I pulled back around and parked. And sure enough, there was a turtle, a little turtle in this creek. And I was like, Kinsley, let's get out. Let's go see the turtle. But before she got out of the car, the turtle kind of slipped into the water. And of course, she's really-- the day is ruined now. She was like, no, I want to see the turtle. And I was like, I'm so sorry. The turtle was there. She's like, "I didn't see the turtle." And so I said, "Why don't we pray? "Let's pray to God. "God, can you help the turtle to come out of the water? "God, we would love to see this turtle." Just kinda like, it's silly, but sometimes I think God appreciates when we bring the silly things to him. Just an opportunity to say, "Kensley, you can pray for anything. "Whether God answers it or not, I don't know, "but we can pray. "We can bring our desires before him." I didn't tell her all that, I just thought that. So I was like, "Kensley, let's pray." So we prayed, "God, can you let the turtle know that we want to see it, and it would be fun if it came out of the water, and she prayed that version of prayer. And we kind of walked a little bit farther along the creek, and sure enough, what do you know? We saw the turtle. The turtle had come back out at a different place. Yeah, it was great. And I was like, "Whoa, that was really cool." And she was like, "That's great, let's go home now." And I was like, "Hold on." That was, like, I'm amazed. I was like, "God, that was crazy. I did not think you were going to show up for turtle, but you did." And I was like, "Let's..." I felt convicted. I was like, we can't just move on with our lives. Like, we gotta recognize that God did this. This is crazy. And so I said, let's thank God for the fact that we saw this turtle. And so we then we prayed a prayer of praise. God, thank you for letting us see this turtle. Next day, she wanted to see this. We're like, hey, can we go see the turtles? There were no turtles. And she was like, I still wanna see. Can we pray? Can we pray that we see the turtles? Like, sure, let's pray to see the turtles. And we didn't see them and we walk a little bit further and what do you know, four turtles. There's two big turtles and I think two little turtles. so I'm assuming it's a little family of turtles. And she was like, "See, we prayed and God brought the turtles out!" And I was like, "Yeah, I do not know what's happening right now, God, but I don't know what her expectations are going to be in life." But she also was like, "Let's just go home." And I was like, "No, remember, if God did this, we need to praise Him. We got to have a moment of praise." And so we're getting into that rhythm of praising God. I share that to say we need to build the habit of praising God. It doesn't necessarily come naturally. We have to work and be intentional in our moments of praise. And again, all of these work best together. When you pause, that should lead to a moment of perspective. And after you have perspective, don't stop there. Give moment to praise. Praise God for what He is doing. And we praise Him because we believe that it is from Him, and through Him, and for Him, all things are for His glory. To Him be the glory forever and ever.
So this week, my encouragement to you is, and maybe today, before you start your Monday, take time and practice this. Take a moment to pause. Maybe as a family or just by yourself, give yourself, don't just give yourself a minute, give yourself an extended period of time. Gain some perspective and praise God. Ask yourself where you've seen God work and then maybe put into words, maybe you do write it out, you write yourself a little doxology, "God, you are this. Thank you for this until you be the glory. Or maybe you take a moment to pray out loud. Or at the least, a prayer from your heart of words of glory to our creator and our redeemer. All right, let's pray. God, thank you for this doxology, these words from Paul, for thousands of years ago when He wrote it. Thank you for encouraging him to pause and to have perspective and to praise you. And I pray that you would help us to have that rhythm in life, to get that practice, that pattern established, Lord, that maybe it's weekly, regularly, at the very least, when we see you work. Or maybe, God, it's when we haven't seen you work and we just need to take some moment to pause and, God, where are you working in our lives? I want to see you, help us to establish a pattern of pausing, of gaining perspective and praising you. And our desire is that our hearts be made more like you, that you help us to be like Jesus to the people in our lives, where you have placed us. And we don't always know why we're doing what we're doing, why we're, where we're at, and the path that we're on, but we recognize that your ways are higher than ours. So God, help us to have humility. And God, I just pray that you would give us boldness and courage to live out our faith, to be a witness. And again, that you would get all the glory, that your church would grow, that your family would see the benefit. So we pray this in your name, We give you all the praise. Amen.
Well, as we end today, as a benediction, I just wanna read our passage again, fully straight through, with this new, hope maybe understanding or reminder of what God is saying here. So, could we stand for this? Is that okay? Can we stand as I read this? Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever." And all God's people said, amen. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.