The One Who Knows

February 15, 2025

Liberty, Maine

We won't be meeting for worship this weekend as a church due to a forecasted snow storm. But the Lord's Day is still the Lord's Day, and the Lord desires that we would worship Him! Below is a Family Worship Guide I put together for individuals or families to use in guiding worship in our homes. The hymn links are to "lyric videos" which provide accompaniment and lyrics for you to sing along with if they are helpful to you. Feel free to add or modify as needed for your home.

I will miss you all this Lord's Day. God bless you!

Pastor Ian

Family Worship Guide

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Call to Worship: Read Psalm 146.

Hymn: Sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL0Txo329OM

1. Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with thee.

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness,

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed thy hand hast provided;

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]

3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside. [Refrain]

Hymn: Sing "Jesus Paid it All" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teT3mGk5VEA

1 I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small,

Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all."

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; 

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

2 Lord, now indeed I find, Thy pow'r and Thine alone,

Can change the leper's spots, And melt the heart of stone. [Refrain]

3 For nothing good have I, Where-by Thy grace to claim;

I'll wash my garments white, In the blood of Calv'ry's Lamb. [Refrain]

4 And when, before the throne, I stand in Him complete,

"Jesus died my soul to save," My lips shall still repeat. [Refrain]

Prayer: Share prayer requests and pray for one another and for the church. Close by praying the Lord’s Prayer.

Scripture Reading: Job 38

Devotional: Job was a man whom the Lord had allowed to suffer greatly. Everything he had, his family, his home, his wealth, his health, had been taken from him. Most of the book of Job consists of Job’s complaint to God in his suffering: why had God allowed him to suffer so greatly?

In Job 38, the Lord responded, but not by answering Job’s question. Instead, the Lord directed Job’s attention to the world around him; to the seas and skies, to the snow and stars. God’s answer was not the one Job was looking for, but it was the one he needed. Apparently, Job didn’t need all the answers. Job didn’t find rest for his soul by gaining a “God’s eye view.” He found rest for his soul when he stopped pressing charges against God (Job 23:7) and instead humbled himself before God in trust: “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:3)

God’s tool for humbling Job was God’s Creation. “Why did God send snow this weekend?” At least one reason is this: to humble us. As we are buried with snow (v.22, 30) and as we look at the majesty of the stars (v.31), we are reminded of God’s great power and might. As we consider the birds of the air (v.41), we are reminded of God’s particular and comprehensive care for all that he has made. The God Job encounters in Job 38 is a God operating far above Job’s “pay grade.” He is a God whose wisdom is far beyond ours, whose knowledge is infinite, and whose plans are so eternally complex that we wouldn’t comprehend them even if He showed them to us! To do so would be like the average person looking into the engine compartment of their car, or at intricate mathematical calculations.

Peace in trial doesn’t come from “getting all the answers.” One day, those who know the Lord will “know fully,” (1 Corinthians 13:12) but even then our peace will not rest in our knowledge of plans or events; it will rest in knowing the One Who Knows; the God who directs the great orchestra of nature and history. God can be trusted; his unfathomable wisdom and might is proved in Creation and his faithful love is proved on the Cross. As we grow in knowing and trusting God in Jesus Christ, it becomes enough to know the one with all the answers, rather than to know all the answers ourselves.  This snowy weekend, may God grant us the childlike peace which only comes from humble trust in our Faithful God. As David prayed in Psalm 131:

      1       O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; 

      my eyes are not raised too high; 

                  I do not occupy myself with things 

      too great and too marvelous for me.

     2       But I have calmed and quieted my soul, 

      like a weaned child with its mother; 

      like a weaned child is my soul within me.

     3       O Israel, hope in the LORD 

                from this time forth and forevermore. 

Questions for Meditation/Discussion: What questions/sufferings/long-prayed-

prayers are heavy on your heart? Have you ever struggled to understand why God could bring some suffering or difficulty to pass? Can you recall seasons in yout life in which you have experienced the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” (Philippians 4:7) despite difficult circumstances? How can we know we can trust God? That He is wiser than we are? (Look outside!) That He loves us? (Look to the Cross!)

Closing: Close in prayer and sing the Doxology:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.