Dr. Mark McDowell | The Beauty of God’s Goodness: The Courage to be Content in Christ

Sunday Morning, November 16, 2025
Given by Dr. Mark McDowell | RTS Houston
Session 4

Faithful Conference at Christ Covenant Church

The Beauty of God’s Goodness: The Courage to be Content in Christ

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Transcript

It's wonderful to be with you all this morning. This is my first time at Christ Covenant in a service and it's great to be here with friends – Blair and Derek I've known for over 20 years, Kevin for like six – and it's just a privilege to be here. I want to thank Kevin and the Session for this opportunity to open the Word and share it with you. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Psalm chapter 27. Psalm chapter – and that is the pronunciation – Psalm 27. Here is the word of the Lord: 

“The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? 

The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? 

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. 

The war rise against me, yet I will be confident. 

One thing have I asked of the Lord. That will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. 

He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. 

He will lift me high upon a rock. 

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. 

And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. 

I will sing and I make melody to the Lord. 

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. 

You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’ 

Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. 

O you who have been my help, cast me not off. 

Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. 

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 

I believe that I shall look upon the Lord, the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living. 

Wait for the Lord. 

Be strong, and let your heart take courage. 

Wait for the Lord.”

Let's pray. Gracious God and heavenly Father, what a wonderful time of worship we have already experienced this morning. What other splendor outshines the sun but Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior, our elder brother? Lord, continue to show us your greatness, your glory, your beauty, your goodness. Lord, wherever each person is this morning – and only you know – meet them, address them, love them. I pray, Lord, that we would hear your voice, we would see your glory, we would be changed, you would be glorified. Be with us now during this time, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. 

November 14, 2025, 12 days ago, the Vatican issued a statement – in the Latin mater populi fidelis, “of the mother of the faithful people of God” – and their purpose in doing so was to get in front of this conference. The Vatican has been keeping its eyes closely on Charlotte, and what they've been trying to do is – what they've wanted to do is – clarify some statements about Mary, Mary and devotion. And three titles, in particular, have come under scrutiny in the church of Rome, and they've wanted to correct and clarify what exactly does it mean when we describe Mary as a co-redemptrix, as a co-mediatrix, as an advocate? And so much of Marian devotion in the church of Rome is built on the idea that, from passages like John 19, when Jesus entrusts Mary to John that that somehow is understood to speak of Mary's motherhood of all believers. From that, dogmatic teachings like Mary's immaculate conception have become dogmatically enshrined, which teach that Mary was conceived without original sin and kept in a state of purity and innocence. This was dogmatically ratified by Pope Pius IX in 1854. And then another teaching – Mary's assumption, which indicates that Mary was taken up body and soul into heaven – was put in their theology canonically in 1950 by another Pius, Pope Pius XII. 

Mary sits at the center of Roman theology and devotion, and part of the clarifications came in the following way: the Vatican wanted to emphasize very clearly that we cannot speak about Mary as a co-redeemer, a co-redemptrix. They appeal to a passage like Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Amen. And so, they emphasize neither the church nor Mary can replace or perfect the redemptive work of the incarnate Son of God, which was perfect and needs no additions. Amen. Now, when it comes to another title – Mary as co-mediatrix – they also, they don't go as far as saying that we can never – it's always inappropriate to use co-redemptrix. That was their statement. It is always inappropriate to use co-redemptrix. When it comes to Mary as co-mediatrix – as an intercessor, as a mediator – they appeal to 1 Timothy 2:5-6, which all good, red-blooded Protestants would do the very same thing: “And there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” However, they go on to say, "Special prudence is required when applying the term mediatrix to Mary. It is helpful to specify the range of its value and its limits.” What they want to say, and what they do say, in this statement is that Christ's role as mediator is inclusive. 

So yes, Jesus preeminent intercessor, mediator – but His activity of mediation can be inclusive, and first in that position is Mary. Mary's mediation, this statement says, is a subordinate mediation. And they go back to Pope John Paul II, where Paul says, “Mary puts herself in the middle, serving as a mediatrix in her position as mother. She knows that she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind.” She can point out to her Son the needs of mankind. So, while co-redemptrix is being tabled, co-mediatrix remains. And I want to say that that still strikes very much at the heart of what it means to be a Protestant, because it's one thing to say Jesus, once and for all, has redeemed us, but we also need to continue and say, "But Jesus is our only true mediator." And you may be here this morning. You may be thinking like, "Listen, Mary's the last of my problems. It's good to know about Mary. It's good to know about what the Roman Catholic Church is teaching, correcting, clarifying. I've got other struggles." What I want to say this morning is this great banner that the Reformation has announced - Solus Christus, Christ alone – gets to every single one of us. Mary may not be what we look to for comfort, support, sucker, help. There may be other things, other people. And so what we have to do this morning is to look at what does it actually mean to believe that Jesus Christ is our exclusive, unique redeemer and mediator? 

I think this passage, Psalm 27, gets to that. David helps us immensely here. This is a passage that is the favorite of sufferers, worriers, those who are hurting, those who are isolated. And what David shows us in this wonderful passage is a great litmus test for our discipleship. Trouble always tests our theology. When trouble, trials, enter our lives, it is always a good barometer for what we think and how we worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, two things this passage immediately deals with: the reality of trouble in our lives, but also the confidence that we can have in our Savior, Jesus Christ. So, three quick points that I want to look at this morning. The first one is facing our fears. Facing our fears. The second one is facing our God. And thirdly and finally, hearing God's word. 

So to our first point, facing our fears. The topic of fear is throughout this passage. The first six verses, the first part of this psalm, David speaks about the fear which comes from a variety of sources – enemies, verse 6; evildoers, adversaries, foes, verse 2. In verse 3, he says, "Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." David is appealing and describing his situation as one as being besieged. This is military metaphor. David is hunted by enemies, and this verse 5 displays something of the heart of what troubles him: “I am in the day of trouble.” I am surrounded, besieged. I am hunted. I am in a day of trouble. I need help. And David describes those who pursue him as evildoers who, in verse 2 it says, “They want to eat up my flesh.” This is desperate language. And the matter becomes even more dire. In verse 11, we're not sure if David is speaking metaphorically or literally about the death of his parents, right? I think what he's trying to get at here in verse 11, he feels abandoned, isolated, forsaken. Verse 10, this verse that addresses isolation, just aggravates and makes worse that sense of being hunted. I'm being hunted. I'm pursued, and I have no one to turn to. There's no one I can turn to for help. Perhaps you've felt a similar experience. Perhaps you're in that experience right now. I'm so alone and everything and everyone is against me. David gives us help in times of trouble, pointing us to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Fears are real. We know this. We've just come out of 43 days of the government shutdown, which has brought a ton of fears into people's lives. But even without that, we are just a fearful people. We live east of Eden. Sin has affected us in so many ways. And even the scientists and the psychiatrists have begun to analyze and diagnose our situation, showing a spectrum of fears that can go from the mild to the severe. Some of these fears – I'm going to try to pronounce this word correctly the first time – arachibutyrophobia. This would be a great pub quiz question: what is arachibutyrophobia? It is the fear of eating peanut butter, it sticking to the roof of your mouth, and you choking to death. That's a real fear. And I just want to say on this point: I'm an Irishman. The idea of peanut butter and jam or jelly was just inconceivable. Well done, America. Well done. 

Another fear is automatonophobia. This is the fear of ventriloquist dolls. People are afraid of ventriloquist dolls. And I point you to Derek Wells afterwards for counseling in that area. Another fear is coulrophobia. Coulrophobia. This is the fear of clowns. Fear of clowns. Now, the same study looked at all the predominant fears in each state. In my home state of Texas, the predominant fear is needles. North Carolina, it's clowns. It's – the predominant fear of this state is clowns, so I don't know if there's a history of bad circuses that have come through North Carolina. But as we move from these fears, we get a little bit more personal. Atychiphobia is the fear of failure. Autophobia is the fear of being alone. And it hasn't been given a phobia, but it's been given an abbreviation – RSD, rejection sensitive dysphoria. Only a psychiatrist can come up with these names. Rejection sensitive dysphoria – it’s the fear of rejection. These are real things, and we oftentimes experience them ourselves. 

Our culture is aware of these things. It comes through all sorts of different means. In 2013 – it's a forgotten movie and I don't encourage you to watch it, but – Will Smith, the Fresh Prince of Bel-air, was in a movie called After Earth with his son Jaden. In this movie – set in the future, it's sci-fi, so you can tune out if that's not your thing – but this movie is set in the future. This ship, this spaceship, is flying. It crashes on this planet that has got a wildly unstable weather system. Predators everywhere and toxic plants. It's Earth in the future. And Will Smith's character is this great general, but in the crash, his bones are broken in the hull, and he has to instruct his son. He charges his son: you need to traverse a great distance. You need to get to this emergency beacon. We need to activate it for rescue. But he tells his son, you will not be alone. This deadly predator will hunt you. It's a blind predator, but it's absolutely vicious. The way that it will hunt you – it will smell your fear. So, what you have to do is you've got to silence your fears. And this wonderful piece of Will Smith wisdom comes through. He says this: "Danger is real, but fear is a choice.” Danger is real, but fear is a choice. You need to be able to silence your fears. You've got to be able to tell yourself a story in which fear just evaporates. 

And what I think this film captures, aside from being a piece of cinematic masterpiece, is that yeah, danger is real. We all experience danger all the time. But is it possible to silence our fears? Can we manage our fears on our own? Whether it's anxiety over the future, a trip to the doctor, a procedure, whether it's the fear of losing a job, getting a job, the fear of what people will think about you, the worry over a deteriorating relationship, the fear of never marrying, never having children. For myself, I think this is just part of nature. I grew up not being afraid, but then, all of a sudden, you have children. I'm afraid all the time for them. But I'm in that interesting place. I'm now at a place where I worry about my aging parents. So on the one end, I'm looking at my aging parents and worrying about them. But then I'm looking at my children, thinking, will they be will they be safe? Will they grow up and love the Lord? The question is, can we simply choose to silence our fears? I think what we have to do – we can take the wisdom of Will Smith and put it to the side – we have to look outside of ourselves. There has to be a voice that speaks outside of ourselves, that silences our fears. And I think this is what David is getting at in Psalm 27 for us today. He points us where to silence our fears. He shows us that in the tumult and troubles of life, in which fears surround us, besiege us, that there's a possibility of having confidence. But it's confidence in the Lord. 

Listen to the language: “The Lord is my light and my salvation. He is my stronghold in my life.” Verse 5: “He is my shelter. He is my help.” And again in verse 9, “He is my salvation.” This first verse is beautiful: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” You might think, what has light got to do with this? Light is this beautiful metaphor throughout the Psalms that speaks about deliverance. We wander in darkness. We're lost in the darkness. But God's illuminating luminosity brings us out of danger into safety. That's why in 1 Peter 2:9 he says, "God has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God has redeemed you, freed you from sin. And as David extols the Lord with all these wonderful – just extolling him with beauty, and he's amazed at what God has done for him. Look at what he focuses on. It's salvation. It's protection. It's provision. It's help. What wonderful gifts these are. Do you ever just stop and think, Lord has redeemed me. I was this person, but he has brought me out of darkness into his marvelous light. He protects me. He provides for me. Take time today to think about all those wonderful things that he's given you, and praise him for it. 

But there's more. David looks at the benefits. He praises God for these marvelous benefits, but he wants more. We see this at the heart of this psalm in verse 4. David says, "One thing have I asked of the Lord; that will I seek after, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." Why? “So that I might gaze on the beauty of the Lord.” David looks at the blessings of God and praises him for those, but he wants to see the beauty of the Lord. And this is an important point. This is a lesson that we have to not only wrestle with, it is something that I think can transform the way that we handle fear, the way that we worship God. It begs the question, do we only praise God and follow God for what he does for us? Do we only follow God because of these wonderful blessings – salvation, protection, provision, and help? In other words, what happens, for instance, if those blessings were to be taken away? Would you still follow Christ? 

There was someone in the Bible who experienced this – this wonderful enigmatic book – Job. You see someone in verse 1: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. The devil was prowling around and said, ‘Job only follows you because you're good to him.’” Let me at him. Let me take away those things, and let's see if he still follows you. In chapter 1, verses 9-11, the devil says to God, "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” What happens when the blessings begin to be stripped away from us? Do we still follow God? What David is saying here in the day of trouble – the struggles that you're going through, the blessings are great. They're wonderful. But unless you have this grand vision of who God is and you're enraptured by his beauty, the troubles will swallow you up. What David is pointing to us here is a temptation that all of us face. When struggles come, we can quickly point out what the struggles are. It's the job, it's the relationship, it's the finances, and we try to address and correct the issue by addressing the problem. But what David is pointing us to here – look to me. Find me captivating. Find me beautiful. A quick way that you can diagnose whether you look at the gifts more than the giver – the benefits more than the one who blesses – check your prayer life. Do you find yourself asking God for things more than praising God? Do you find yourself, even in the hardships – Lord, I need help in this area. Fix it. That's a great prayer, but it has to be buttressed by the beauty of God. Do you find God sufficient? Does he satisfy every longing? The mark of mature discipleship is understanding, seeing, having a vision of God's beauty. And David gives us this single-minded pursuit that helps us through our fears. 

And that's our second point – facing our God. David's response to life's problems, the day of trouble, is to line up his spiritual gaze, his spiritual vision, to look beyond – through – all of life's chaos and to gaze on that object which alone can give him rest and peace. He wants to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And this idea is seen a few verses later in verse 8 where David says, "Your face, Lord, do I seek.” And he begs the Lord in verse 9, “Do not hide your face from me.” He says in verse 4, “I want to dwell in the house of the Lord. I want to inquire in his temple.” A few verses later, he talks about the tent of the Lord. And we might rightly think, well, this gazing on the beauty of the Lord only happens here. It happens in the temple, the tabernacle, the tent. There's something more to it. To be able to dwell in the house of the Lord all his days, it does not mean that David wants to take up permanent residence in the temple. He wants to be in the presence of the Lord all his days. He longs to be in the presence of the Lord. 

But this question that comes to me, and I'm sure it comes to you as well – aren't we supposed to avoid staring at the face of God? Isn't there somewhere in the Old Testament where God says, "You cannot look at my face and live." When Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt, as he went up to Mount Sinai to commune with God, the Israelites built this golden calf. And as he's on the mount, he's found favor in the sight of God. And he makes a request of God, "Let me see your glory.” Let me see your glory. And God tells Moses, I will let my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of God, Yahweh, before you, but you can't see my face. You can't see my face and live. And as we know, God places Moses in the cleft of the rock, covers Moses with his hand until God passes by, and then God says, "I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” What God means here is you can’t see my inner glory. You cannot see it and live. Well, then what do we do with this passage? David saying, I want to see your face. Is it unrealistic for us? Well, it's important to understand – just a few verses, in chapter 32 we read that the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face. So, what's going on? Is there a contradiction here? Not at all. When it says that the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, it says as man speaks to his friend. God communes with Moses as his friend. When we hear this language of face to face in scripture – David desiring to gaze upon the beauty of God, to see his face – it's a relational category. It's to commune with God. It's to be in fellowship with God. 

So, we could summarize it this way: to desire the face of God is to desire the intimate favor and fellowship and affection that God gives to us as his followers. David makes essentially the same point in verse 13, towards the end of our psalm: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” David wants to delight in the Lord. He wants to praise the Lord for all of his goodness. So how do we experience this fellowship with God, seeing God face to face? Two things are involved to be face to face with our God and Savior. It is to be in his presence. And Paul tells us this. He says, "The Father gives the Spirit to us so that Christ might dwell in our hearts richly." Ephesians 3:16. And he makes a very similar point in 1 Corinthians chapter 3: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God spirit dwells in you? For God's temple is holy, and you all are that temple.” Christ and the Spirit dwell in all those who confess Christ as Lord. You can commune with God, not just here together with your brothers and sisters – but you commune with God because Christ and the Spirit indwell you. That's the first aspect of what it means to see God face to face. 

The second aspect is we are to hear God's word. We may not see God face to face, yet we hear God in his word. The way that Christ relates to us today, face to face, is through his word, encouraging us, edifying us, challenging us, rebuking us. David speaks here about gazing on the beauty of God, seeing his goodness. But he acknowledges in verse 11 that the way that this happens is God must teach him. He must instruct David. He must tell David about his beauty. And this is one of the paradoxes of the Christian pilgrimage. We must hear the word of God to see the beauty of God. We must hear the word of God to see the beauty of God, with the eyes of our hearts opened to seeing his glory. And if you think this just feels too abstract, look at the movement that takes place here from verse 4 through 5 to 6. David dwells in the house Lord, gazes upon the beauty of the Lord, and look what that does. It grounds him so that in the day of trouble, he will have strength. The God who meets you in communion is the God who will meet you in the day of trouble. What a wonderful thought. 

When the benediction is said today, you are not going out into trouble and a space of vulnerability. The God who strengthens you meets you in the day of trouble. Church is not simply for those who just need a pickup. You come, you hear Christ announcing his good, beautiful news to you, so that you can endure Monday through Saturday. We need this strength that comes from gazing on the beauty of God. And then the movement almost climaxes in verse 6. We commune with God. He gives us strength. And what do we do? I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Someone who dwells face to face, communes with God as a friend to friend, is someone who is secure. It's also someone who praises a ton. A mature Christian is someone who declares, in melody, the praise of God's great and matchless name. When you learn and you see and capture a vision of how wonderful, beautiful, good our God is, it evokes praise from you. You remain unmoved with everything that comes at you. Note this well, believer: when you dwell with the Lord, spend time with him, He will be with you. One of my favorite psalms, Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Why? You are with me. Your shepherd, your good and beautiful shepherd, goes with you in the midst of every struggle that you have. 

So for the Christian – third, finally, briefly – how do we see the beauty of the Lord? We have to hear this in his word. And this is one of the hallmarks of the reformers – is re-emphasizing that we are people who relate to God by our ears, not by our eyes. Calvin has said that Christians – the primary Christian organ is the ear, not the eye. It's not that we dismiss or disregard beauty, but it is God's chosen, elect way for him to communicate his beauty to us. Think about what Paul says in Romans 10. How are we to call on the Lord and believe in him if we haven't heard from him? How are we to hear without a preacher? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? How beautiful. It's not because the preacher is anything special. It's because through a preacher, the accent of Christ can be heard. And Christ speaks to you wonderful words of life, strengthening you, giving you hope, reminding you that you're not alone. You can trust me. Preachers proclaim the beauty of the gospel, and the word is a treasure that we have to cling on to. It is something that cannot be substituted for anything else that we think will give us satisfaction. Through the ears we hear the beauty of God's goodness to us. And perhaps one of the reasons why we're a fearful people is we just don't give enough time to God's word. We haven't heard that wonderful word of life to us. We're so focused on our fears and what's prompting them that what we need to hear above that are these wonderful words of life. 

This is why Rome, Mary, anyone or anything else cannot capture your heart, cannot outshine the splendor of Jesus Christ. Only Christ can lift up your head, as David says here in verse 6. I love this part: “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies.” It's this beautiful picture that God comes and takes him by the chin and just raises him up. Look at me. There's this wonderful passage – one of my favorite books. I've got to mention C.S. Lewis. He's from Northern Ireland, but we went to the same school together. It's almost required of me. But in The Magician’s Nephew, two characters are there: Digory and Polly. And throughout there's this theme: Digory is fearful over the loss of his dying mother. And there's this poignant, incredibly poignant, part in the story when Digory approaches Aslan, the great lion who in many ways pictorializes God for us. Digory musters up the courage to ask Aslan, "Can you help?" Digory, thinking of his mother and he thought of the great hopes he had had and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out, "But please, please, can't you give me something that will cure my mother?” He's looking for the benefits. Up until then, Digory had been looking at the lion's great feet and huge claws. Now, in despair, he looked up at his face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own face, and wonders of wonders, great shining tears stood in the lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment, he felt as if the lion must really be sorrier about his mother than he was himself. Aslan says, "My son, my son, I know grief is great.” That's a beautiful picture. 

In the face of Jesus Christ, as we hear the words of scripture teaching us, we see that God is sympathetic, that Jesus is our mediator. Hebrews tells us this: “Therefore, he had to be made like us, like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.” He does not need to be prompted by Mary. He sees your needs, he addresses them. But there's one more thing that we just have to see. We can't miss. When we look up and we stare into the face of Jesus Christ, we do see a sympathetic savior. We see someone who knows everything that we're unwilling or afraid to even share with those closest to us. What we see here is, in Psalm 27, not only a focus on the beauty of the Lord, but in another passage of scripture – one that sounds very much similar to Psalm 27 – that has a theology of the face throughout it. It's something that we Presbyterians should hear almost every Lord's Day, and I hope Kevin uses as the benediction at the end of this service. Numbers 6, the Aaronic benediction. Listen to the language. Let it – I know we hear it every Sunday. Let it stick with you: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance – the Lord lift up his face – upon you and give you peace.” It's not only that you look into the face of God and you see that he sympathizes with you, but we look into the face of Jesus as he articulates the gospel, and we find his favor. The Lord loves you. It's such a simple truth. But he loves you. And so many of us – and this is perhaps, if we were to look at ourselves as Protestants, we love the doctrine of justification, and praise the Lord for it. We focus on our forgiveness of sins. You are forgiven in Christ, but you're also favored in Christ. And we walk around, and we praise the Lord for salvation, for deliverance, and don't stop doing that. We could pull Nathan back up here and praise the Lord all day long for that. But do we praise the Lord for his beauty, for his favor, that the Lord loves you, that you're forgiven? 

It's a sad story, but in Dallas, I have got a good friend who's a pastor in a very wealthy area, and he was dealing with a 17-year-old boy whose family, very wealthy, wanted the best for their son – paid lots of money for the best coaches, professional athletes, to train their son. They would bring everybody in to give him the best of life. And the son was wracked with anger, despondency. Why? Because he wanted time with his dad. He wanted to know the favor of his father. And I think if we are not careful as Christians, we may focus on one aspect of God's benefits for us without seeing that he loves you, that his face shines upon you. Lift up your head to Jesus Christ today. Feel the warmth of his shining face upon you. You are forgiven, and you are loved. I hope that you know that today. 

And I hope, perhaps, with the words of Horatius Bonar, you can sing the following: “I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Come unto me and rest. Lay down, O weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast.’ I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad. I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad.” This is the last verse: “I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘I am this dark world's light.’” The light and salvation. Look unto me. “Your morn shall rise and all your day be bright. I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my sun. And in that light of life, I'll walk till traveling days are done.” I hope that's a message that you can embrace, that you know that it's filtered down to your heart. Let's pray. 

Father in heaven, we praise you that you are glorious, that you are great, that you are our light and our salvation. Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Lord. What a wonderful friend. How beautiful you are, Lord Jesus. Lord, I pray for myself, I pray for my brothers and sisters here at Christ Covenant, that we would extol the greatness of your wonderful gifts. How you've redeemed us. How you have delivered us. How you have brought us into the family of God. Lord, help us to see your beauty and goodness. May our prayer today be that we seek your face and gaze on your beauty. May it be more extravagant and delightful to us than anything or anyone else, so that when we enter the day of trouble that you would hold us strong, lifting our head above our enemies and looking into the face of the God who loves us. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.