The Need Of National Repentance

Judges 17.6

No king
Israel set up as a theocracy.
God wanted to be their king.
No king is saying the people rejected the LORD as their ruler and leader.

Everyone did as they saw fit.
not listening to the Word already given.

As goes the family so goes the nation. As the family continues to disintegrate in the US, so the social order, emotional stability, rules of order fall apart.

Mother to child this week in a restaurant, "Why can't you just listen?"

We are our own worst guides.
And therein is an insight into the moral degeneracy. They had lost the fact that God was to be their king. They lost the consciousness of that fact. And every man, rather than being ruled by God, was doing that which was right in his own eyes. It was a period of anarchy. Everybody did what he wanted to do, what was right in his own eyes. This was the chaotic condition that was going on in Israel during the time of the Judges. Spiritual anarchy where everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes, not really following the government of God or the law of God.

Our nation, The United States of America was "Forged in Faith", so reads the title of a book Patrick gave me which I am reading. I just finished reading The Harbinger that the Rubios gave me which speaks of God's judgement upon America.

The fact that the Word of God was the basis in the founding of the United States, in all of its earliest documents, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, our coins and our flag's pledge all reveal that. Our history is entrenched with the Word of God.

A sidebar:
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Many of the songs written about America reflect our faith in God.

Our national Day of Thanksgiving is steeped in acknowledgment of Almighty God and His relationship to the begInning of the United States.

John Winthrop:
For we must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
Sermon aboard the Arbella, 1630 Puritans

Massachusetts Bay Covenant
We covenant with our Lord, and one with another; and we do bind our selves in the presence of God, to walk together in all his ways, according as He is pleased to reveal himself unto us in His blessed word of truth; and do explicitly, in the name and fear of God, profess and protest to walk as followeth, through the power and grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

We avouch the Lord to be our God, and our selves to be His people, in the truth and simplicity of our spirits.

We give our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the word of his grace for the teaching, ruling and sanctifying of us in matters of worship and conversion, resolving to cleave unto him alone for life and glory, and to reject all contrary ways, canons, and constitutions of men in his worship.

We promise to walk with our brethren, with all watchfulness and tenderness, avoiding jealousies and suspicions, back-bitings, censurings, provokings, secret risings of spirit against them; but in all offences to follow the rule of our Lord Jesus, and to bear and forbear, give and forgive, as he hath taught us.

Prayer, the Word of God, faith paid a prominent role in our country. How apparent this was on my trip in the city with Patrick Kelly on Friday.

What has happened to us?
1630 We just read.
1963 prayer ruled by the Supreme Court out of the schools
1973 abortion legalized by the Supreme Court
In that decade grocery stores began opening on Sunday.
February 26, 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center killing 6, injuring 1,000.
April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing of e Federal Building killing 168 people, injuring more than 500
July 26, 1996 Olympic Park Bombing in Atlanta killing 2 injuring more than 100.
9-11 took place next.
Millennial bomber in LA and shoe bomber's, undergarments and Times Square plots uncovered and stopped.
Boston Marathon Bombing killing 3, injuring more than 175.

2001 Largest Terrorist Attacks on American Soil in New York and Washington, DC. Killing nearly 3,000 along with the downed plane in PA.
911 every time we had an emergency and dial it
2004 May 17th Same Sex Marriage legalized in Massachusetts
2010 March 9th Same Sex Marriage made legal in Washington, DC
2011 July 24th Same Sex Marriage made legal in New York
2012 September 11 Attack on our Embassy in Lybia, killing 4 Americans
2013 April 15th Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack
Boston, New York, Washington, DC...historical cities in this nation's founding... God is speaking...

We are rapidly moving towards the time like Israel was in when the Judges ruled. In those days they had rejected Jehovah God as king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

In his inaugural address in New York on Wall Street, George Washington stated, "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself hath ordained." His hand was placed upon the Bible that day and every President since that has done the same thing.


1. People, like Micah, were deciding how they would worship God rather than following God's Word. c.17

Many have left the church today. Some have set up worship in their homes, on the beach.

Idolatry is prevalent. When some object or person gets the place the LORD ought to have in an individual' or nation's life.

God designed worship for His Glory and our good. It is a good thing give thanks to the LORD.
Psalm 92:1-2 It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
Psalm 147:1 Praise the Lord.How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
Congregational worship in spirit and in truth is wonderful. Worshiping the LORD in the beauty of His Holiness is like nothing else.

We must be careful not worship worship, not worship the worship leaders or bands or groups.


2. Decisions are being made without consulting God. c.18

How very different from the early days of conquest under the leadership of Joshua.

In Joshua's day they threw away the idols.
Joshua 24:14-16 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!

Now the Danites are carrying the idols with them!

They were leaning on their own understanding not acknowledging Him.
They were worshiping idols and consulting God secondary, half heartedly and with their minds already made up, their hearts set on what hey wanted.

Angels are being idolized today.
When major decisions are made flippantly the results are disastrous.



3. Too many called by God have fallen into sin. c.19

Another megachurch pastor has stepped down after admitting to a long-term affair with a woman who’s not his wife. 3 in the Orlando area in the past six months.
If those were the only three pastors to rock their churches with sex scandals, it would be hurtful enough. But sexual immorality and idolatry are growing trends in the church—and I imagine they're more prevalent in the pews than they are in the pulpits. The spirit of Jezebel is often behind this immoral trend, tapping into the lust of the flesh with its seductive agenda.
There have been others outside of the Orlando area in recent months. Horror stories.


What is the prescription for a sin sick nation?

II Chronicles 7.14
Israel had the prescription as do we.
1 Chronicles 12:32 from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do...

Friday's trip to the city with Patrick...
St. Paul's: George Washington, along with members of the United States Congress, worshipped at St. Paul's Chapel on his Inauguration Day, on April 30, 1789. Washington also attended services at St. Paul's during the two years New York City was the country's capital. Above Washington's pew is an 18th-century oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States; adopted in 1782.

The rear of St. Paul's Chapel faces Church Street, opposite the east side of the World Trade Center site. After the attack on September 11, 2001, which led to the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, St. Paul's Chapel served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site.

The church survived without even a broken window. Church history declares it was spared by a miracle sycamore on the northwest corner of the property that was hit by debris. The tree's root has been preserved in a bronze memorial by sculptor Steve Tobin.
Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen down,but we will rebuild with dressed stone;the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

The statements made by our leaders about rebuilding. Instead of repenting, we have rebuilt, along with that since 9-11 morally our nation has moved further down the path to judgement.

Statue of Washington on Wall Street
The Bible He used to be sworn in with
A relief of him kneeling in prayer

We see the father of our nation with faith in God, humble, calling us to follow the LORD, praying, kneeling to pray.
Where are we this day?


Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Last verse of Judges
Judges 21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
That is the last chapter in a nation unless it returns to the LORD.

On this Memorial Day Sunday we call to the LORD to have mercy upon us.

The Need of the Power of God in Our Lives

Luke 24.36-53

The LORD had been crucified, buried and had risen. It was now 40 days later. He had been speaking to them before His death and after His death about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He told them He was going away and that He would not leave them as orphans, that He would come to them.

He had died on Passover, rose from the dead on the third day. He likened his death to a seed that goes into the ground.
John 12:24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

He had instructed them at the end if these 40 days not to leave Jerusalem but to wait in the city until they had been clothed with power from on High.

Now He led them up the Mount of Olives, a familiar place to them. At its base was the Garden of Gethsemene. They were above that now. There He ascended back into heaven. All they had was the experiences of walking with Him and the Word He left them. Yet their hearts were filled with joy as they wondered what was next, prayerfully wondered.

They waited. 10 days had elapsed. God's perfect timing was in place. His plan was about to be revealed. Sometimes, many times we just have to go with what we have been given by the LORD and then wait for Him to act.

And act He did! What he had spoken about in Acts 1.1-8 came to pass in Acts 2.

Peter explained it. Filled with the Spirit, these followers of Jesus came out of the Upper Room and went out onto the streets of Jerusalem with the Good News. Peter quoted from Joel in his first sermon in the new born church:
Joel 2:28-32 “And afterward,I will pour out my Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy,your old men will dream dreams,your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women,I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavensand on the earth,blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darknessand the moon to bloodbefore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who callson the name of the Lord will be saved;for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance,as the Lord has said,even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. "

Then because it was the Day of Pentecost and there were visitors from all over the world in Jerusalem for the Feast, people from every nation heard and 3,000 believed and were baptized!

The LORD was accomplishing His purposed. In wrath remember mercy prophet Habakuk had prayed. Jesus told of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. That had not changed. It was going to happen within 40 years. But for this time of grace, everyone who called upon the Name of the LORD was saved.

I had planned to bring a message on our need of national repentance this morning. I will do that next week. I got the right message just the wrong week. The past few days there was a tug towards a message on the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

Those early believers came out of the security of the upper room and went onto the streets of Jerusalem!

1. We Need to Stir Up the Gift of God that is within Us.
2 Timothy 1:6-8 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
to kindle up, inflame one's mind, strength, zeal
This could be referring to Timothy's particular gift, perhaps of prophecy.
It could be referring to the Holy Spirit Himself.

How can we fan into flame His Presence within us?
*By reading His Word, particularly passages like we are looking at this morning.
*Worship songs can help do this.
*Praying with other believers does this
*Reading accounts of when His Spirit was outpoured throughout
His Story.

2. We Need To See the Need of His Spirit Within the Church Today!
Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."

With all our technology and our resources we can depend our these things. We need Him! We need His power. We need to see ourselves like the disciples after Jesus went back into heaven during that 10 day period between he ascension and the Day of Pentecost when the had nothing. Jesus was back in heaven, He have them instructions about the evangelization of the world and then had them wait for the power.

They could do nothing without Him.

3. We Need to See the Ongoing Need of His Power. Acts 4
Acts 4:29-31 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

When they were threatened they prayed for power. They didn't try and organize to stop the persecution. They prayed for power.
They didn't seek to get away from it. They had their instructions from Jesus and obeyed Him.

We are so afraid of persecution. Paul's prayerful concern for Timothy
about being ashamed. God help us!

God is not through with us. He desires to work in His church here in America the way He is around the world today. He desires for us to be filled with His Spirit. He has called us to be His witnesses.

A Sobering Truth

Judges 16.20

The Spirit of God leaving a man.

This a very sobering passage.

Paul speaks of these Last Days. He writes to Timothy, his son in the Gospel, 1 Timothy 4:1 "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."
He speaks of Demas in his second letter to Timothy 2 Timothy 4:9-10 Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.
1 Timothy 1:18-19 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

It is always sad and sobering when we see people fall. If we know them it can effect us personally for years, sometimes for our whole life.

I don't know exactly why but it is the extremely talented, gifted and capable people who seem to fall into the snares of the enemy. I am always concerned about talented young men who go into the ministry. They seem to be a mark for Satan. Those with great potential often stumble over the very gifts God gave them.

Few have had the potential Samson was given.
He squandered much of his life.
He played with temptation.
He didn't keep his vows to the LORD.
Psalm 15:1, 4 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;

What happened to Samson? What pitfalls does have life have which we need to avoid? Looking soberly and seriously at this passage what lessons can we learn?


1. Don't Be Blind to Your Own Spiritual State.
When tape recorders first came out..."That's not me!"

Pictures that do not look like you.

Buddy always trying to get out.

What are your weaknesses? What are your strengths?
The fuller the cup the more easily is it to spill the contents. The higher the spiritual privilege the more need for lowliness of walk before God. The stronger we are the greater the temptation to trust in our strength. The more frequently the Spirit of God moves us the more powerfully will the world and the flesh oppose us.

In falling in love with Delilah he deliberately steps into the fires of trial. This was clearly an unequal yoke; from the very first she sought his ruin as a Nazarite (vv. 5, 6)

Avoid people who want to you to compromise.

Beware of the temptation to step you off the good path. So much of this
is wrapped up in faulty reasoning. Thinking we are exceptions to something clearly stated in the Word of God.

Samson did this when he ate that honey out of the lion's carcass. He



2. Life Becomes A Grind Without God's Spirit. 16.21
From consequences of decisions made.
From the wickedness of people.
From disillusionment.

You've got to grind, grind, grind
At that grindstone.

A picture of sin.
A picture of America, today, in many ways. Stressed out


3. So Many are like Samson: Wasted Potential

It is as easy for God to work with one man as with three hundred (Judges 7:7)
Judges 7:7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”
Gideon found out it was as easy for God to give victory over the Midianites with 300 as with 32,000. Unfortunately Samson never shared victory. He was a one man show. He was a lone ranger leader. Not God's model.

The mighty enemy-shaking power of the presence of the Lord was gone. He is now but a withered branch, fit to be cast into the fire at the hands of men (John 15. 6). When the Spirit of God is grieved our defence as servants is gone (Num. 14. 9) . When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, at that moment he began to fall (I Sam. 18. 12) . His strength lay not in his locks, but that head that had never felt the touch of a razor was a witness of his consecration to the will of God. In losing his hair he lost his testimony for God.

Broken and humiliated.

My heart breaks today over the lives that have been wasted. Souls with such great abilities, far beyond anything I ever dreamed of, who lay wasted today, broken down, deceived and fruitless.

Pray for those in danger, today.
Souls in danger.
Pray for Pastors.
Pray for young me and women who love Christ.

Psalm 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure?By guarding it according to your word.
2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Pray this prayer for the young people today, the next generation.

His Name Is Wonderful

Judges 13.13-18

wonderful, incomprehensible, extraordinary

I went to Albany for my nephew's graduation yesterday. Ticket on my cell phone. Brought my iPad, skyped, watched a few TV shows,

Virgin Airlines has a spacecraft which will doing passenger flights to the moon and back within 18 months. The price is $200,000. Already 500 people have booked reservations.

Some might describe this as wonderful, incomprehensible, extraordinary. It is nothing in comparison to the Name of the LORD.

Psalm 102:27 But you remain the same,and your years will never end.
Jeremiah 10:7 Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.
Psalm 99:1-3 The Lord reigns,let the nations tremble; He sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion; He is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name—He is holy.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.


Genesis 32:27-30 The man asked him, “What is your name?”“Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Manoah, Samson's father, desired to know his name (v. 17), and of what tribe he was, not as if he doubted the truth of his message, but that they might return his visit, and be better acquainted with him (it is good to increase and improve our acquaintance with good men and good ministers). I have benefited from my associations with men and women of God. All my life I have been close to my pastors, until I became one, then still I kept in touch with them, still do, in fact, although they are all retired now.

I have kept in touch with all the pastors of our church I knew as a young man. Many of them are with the LORD now. Several still serve.

He has a further purpose: "That when your sayings come to pass, we may do honor, celebrate you as a true prophet, and recommend others to you for divine instructions,—that we may call the child that shall be born after thy name, and so do you honor,—or that we may send you a present, honouring one whom God has honoured.’’ But the angel denies his request with something of a check to his curiosity (v. 18): Why askest thou thus after my name? Jacob himself could not prevail for this favour, Gen. 32:29. Note, We have not what we ask when we ask we know not what.
Manoah’s request was honestly meant and yet was denied. God told Moses his name (Ex. 3:13, 14), because there was a particular occasion for his knowing it, but here there was no occasion. What Manoah asked for instruction in his duty he was readily told (v. 12, 13), but what he asked to gratify his curiosity was denied. God has in his word given us full directions concerning our duty, but never designed to answer all the enquiries of a speculative head. He gives him a reason for his refusal: It is secret. The names of angels were not as yet revealed, to prevent the idolizing of them. After the captivity, when the church was cured of idolatry, angels made themselves known to Daniel by their names, Michael and Gabriel; and to Zacharias the angel told his name unasked (Lu. 1:19): I am Gabriel. But here it is secret, or it is wonderful, too wonderful for us. One of Christ’s names is Wonderful, Isa. 9:6. His name was long a secret, but by the gospel it is brought to light: Jesus a Saviour. Manoah must not ask because he must not know. Note, (1.) There are secret things which belong not to us, and which we must content ourselves to be in the dark about while we are here in this world. (2.) We must therefore never indulge a vain curiosity in our enquiries concerning these things, Col. 2:18. To be willingly ignorant of those things which our great Master refuses to teach us is to be at once ignorant and wise.


1. Asking to Satisfy Curiosity Is Denied.

Acts 1:6-7 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

God has not told anyone when Christ will return! Many have asked and said they have received an answer. They have one thing in common: They have all been wrong!

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
There are some things we will simply not receive an answer for. Prayer with pastors this week. Several young men dying, leaving wives and children. Sometimes there are no answers given.

Curiosity if sanctified can be a powerful force:
1 Samuel 14:6-12 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” Jonathan said, “Come on, then; we will cross over toward them and let them see us. If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands.” So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. “Look!” said the Philistines. “The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.”So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.”

This was for God's glory.


2. Asking That Hinders A Faithful Walk Is Not Wise.

We are not to know everything.

I like the way the LORD grows us. Little by little.
Exodus 23:29-30 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

If He gave us the insight before our time pride would come in. We learn through walking and struggling. Fast growing plants do not produce fruit. The seeds I planted a few weeks ago will take time to grow, some much of the spring and into the early summer.

We must learn to live with unanswered questions, particularly the question, "Why?" This is walking by faith.
Right now we know in part. This is walking by faith.

Faith that overcomes is described in the lives of the three Hebrew young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego:
Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Even if He does not...


3. The LORD Does Not Withhold Any Good Thing To The Ones Who Walk With Him.

He doesn't withhold answers if they were for our good.
Mark 9:28-29 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting."

His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. He taught them the LORD's Prayer.

We know His Name Is Wonderful.
We know He is good, loves us and is in control.
We do not know a lot of things. We wait for Him to come and reveal all things to us. One day...
For now the prayer of Jesus is being answered, John 17:11
" I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your Name, the Name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are One."