Shane Idleman emphasizes the contrast between human advice and divine guidance, urging believers to seek God's wisdom through His Word and worship. He highlights the importance of allowing Scripture to penetrate our hearts and transform our thoughts, especially in challenging times filled with conflicting advice. Idleman encourages the congregation to remember God's loving kindness and to share His truths with future generations, reinforcing that God's judgments are protective and beneficial. He concludes by reminding us that true guidance comes from a willingness to follow God's direction, rather than merely seeking His blessing on our own plans.

♪ Hope is yours to take ♪ Peace is found in grace Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, all the books of the Bible can speak life to us. And that's why it says the word of God is living. It's living. It's sharper than any double-edged sword. It pierces, it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. So you're not just reading a book and say, okay, I got through some chapters. Let me check it off. Anybody been guilty of that before? Or just me? Big time. You know, I got that in today. Okay, great. But to actually let it read you as well. To let the words penetrate your heart and to really say, Lord, I want to be teachable. I want to be humble. I want to be moldable. And it was hard to choose a title because there's so many different places this psalm goes. Psalm 48 and 49. I'm going to try to get into those. I'm going to be in 50 next week. But the title, as you can see, is Men Advise God Guides. Men Advise God Guides. Thank God for that because you're getting a lot of advice out there. And it's funny. Everything contradicts. Everyone contradicts the other. You know, where should our investments be? What's happening with the banking system? I'll be teaching this coming Saturday on health from a biblical perspective. And if you don't want to go to that, that means you need to go to it, right? Because how we take care of our body is so important. And when I study for that, you hear all kinds of different opposing views. Carnivore, plant-based, keto, paleo, carbs, protein. But what does God's word say? Because we can give a lot of advice, but God truly gives us guidance. And so we're going to start in Psalm 48, of course, that you can see there if you have your Bible so you can turn to Psalm 48. Again, I don't have the verses numbered because it just reads how it was actually written. We added verses 1,500 or so, 500 years ago to help us find the Scriptures, and I'm glad they did. But the Bible used to just be read from cover to cover. Or Pauline Epistle, the church would read it all the way through. They wouldn't stop at 1 Corinthians 5 and take a break for a week. They would read through it. So let's just let the Word of God speak to us this evening. And I pray for that, Lord. I pray for the Spirit's infusion into the Word, the Word that You wrote, God, that You inspired. Speak to Your people this evening through difficult situations. Maybe some of us here are trying to discern Your will. We don't know which way to go. We don't know to go this way or that way. We don't know what to maybe invest in or sell or move with our kids. We need Your wisdom this evening. And I pray that tonight in Jesus' name, Amen. And I don't know if it's you, but I hear it a lot that it is getting more challenging for people on what is the right thing to do. What should I be doing in these difficult times? And because everything seems to be fluctuating and changing, and trying to get God's perspective on things is so important. So of course, he starts with something incredible. Great is the Lord, great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. So he's talking about Jerusalem here. Beautiful in elevation. The joy of the whole earth is mount in Zion on the sides of the north. The city of the great King God is in her palace. He is known as her refuge. And so it's just looking on the city of Jerusalem. They're back in these times. Just how awesome God is, how great God is, and greatly to be praised. And because God is great, He is to be praised. And you will see, as much as we love theology and studying the Bible, you'll see, especially throughout the Psalms, there's a call to praise and worship a lot. It's good to study, but there's something life-changing when you engage God in worship. And you're going to say, shout all you people of the earth. A couple weeks ago, it said clap. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, and great is our God. Look at this city that He has created. Great kings have come from it. And then he goes on to say, for behold, the kings assembled. They passed by together. They saw it. So you have this picture of Jerusalem, and now all the kings of the earth, different nationalities come by and they see what God has done. They saw it. And so they marveled, but they were troubled. Why were they troubled? Because they didn't know God. They hastened away. Fear took hold of them there. And pain, as a woman brings the pain into birth, as when you break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. Now Tarshish is way across the Mediterranean, and there's a seaport, and the winds would be brutal and would push sometimes these big vessels up against the rocks. And so he's saying this great and majestic city, and even the kings of the earth, they go by and they tremble. They are afraid, because there's something about the presence of God that the enemy cannot stand. There's something about light that the darkness hates. And that's why you see all this spiritual upheaval. People tremble when God's name is mentioned. They throw a fit. They scream. How else does the demonic respond to God? Whether it's screaming or just vile. Have you seen a lot of these videos out there of these different groups that are being challenged by the Word of God? And the big movement, and the LGBTQ and transgender, and these people are not nice and cordial. They'll kill you if they can in many cases. That might get me in trouble, but that's the bottom line truth. There's so much anger. They scream, and the demonic element is so real. They hate God's presence. And so you can't match that anger with anger. You have to match it with love and compassion, understanding, let me seek to listen. But anytime the atmosphere of God is somewhere, the darkness doesn't like it. And we've seen that many times over the years with a church like this. Sometimes you can't plan for it as much as I've tried. It's often when we're not expecting it, but the presence of God is there. And if you've been to services like that, you know it. You walk in. It's almost like I've got to get to that altar. That worship is just touching my heart. Tears begin to form, and there's something moving there. And it's amazing that later in the day, people say, oh my goodness, God was there. And that's what they mean. The tangible presence, the atmosphere has been changed. But then a few other people don't like it. Because it stirs. It stirs that element in them that is not right with God. And the more the church is on fire for God, people will be drawn to it if that's what they want, and they're ready to repent, but they'll be repulsed from it if it's not what they want. And that's what we see here. The kings even went by and they said, we've got to get out of here. They hastened away quickly. Fear took hold of them. There is God in this place. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish it forever. Selah. God will establish it forever. And that's one of the reasons we teach with the new heavens and new earth and new Jerusalem and what God's plans with Israel and things like that is because He said I will establish it and I will establish it forever. Jesus ruling and reigning again. Because there's a lot of promises that haven't yet been fulfilled. And with prophecy, that's some things that we're waiting on. In Revelation, I will teach through some of those. And then He goes on to say here, we have thought, we have thought, O God, on your loving kindness. And see, this is so important. This really hit me very, I don't know what the right word is, but it was profound because how important it is to take our thoughts captive. We have thought, we have placed our mind, O God, on your loving kindness. Because everything is pulling us away, the busyness of life, the challenges of life, the depression of life, the news, all these things that are going on. And He says, I have thought, God, of your loving kindness. How good our God is. And it's amazing to study your brain. If you're kind of a book nerd like I turned into be, I didn't plan on this. I never wanted to read when I was younger. But there's something called neuroplasticity. And they study how the brain can actually, you're not predestined to be this robot, and your genes, and it's all, you know. Then there's the study of epigenetics on how gene expression can be changed by your thought life, even your microbiome, your gut bacteria, how it has a mind of its own. It's amazing what the human brain is capable of. And how much do you know, we don't even use the full capacity of it in remembering things. And so what it does though, it is so powerful that you can actually change your mood, change the chemicals in your body, the serotonin, and things like that. Change where there's peace and more calm, the cortisol, the adrenaline is eased by how you think. Research it. And there's a lot of scriptures. As a man thinketh, so is he. Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and honest and noble and upright, meditate on these things. It's not just thinking positive thoughts. You're actually building yourself up spiritually when you meditate on the Word of God. As opposed to Howard Stern. I saw a clip come up on YouTube last week. I'm like, that guy's still around? Man! But you know, and you start watching the negative news, and people are sending me things. I saw with Title 22 ending? Or 42? Not sure. And all these people just at the border like it's thousands upon thousands. And I see moms with their little babies. And I'm like, man, there's got to be something. I don't have a cruel heart. But at the same time, you've got to do things the right way. If not, you're just going to destroy everything. And I'm not the president, thank God. We need God more than ever before right now to discern exactly how. I mean, I've got some thoughts on how you could handle these things a little bit better, but you see all that coming and you see another bank failing and the decentralization of the dollar as the exchange and all these things. It's just like you can inundate yourself and then your thoughts go there where they shouldn't. They go to fear. And now you're making decisions based on fear. And you're lashing out maybe at your kids or your spouse. You're not pleasant to be around. And depression sets in. And anxiety because your thoughts have gone in the wrong direction. And that's why He's saying here, we have thought, oh God, on your loving kindness, redirecting your mind to who God is. And that's why I love that song we sang twice. Remember, remember what He's done for us. Remember the cross, remember Calvary. In the midst of your temple, according to your name, oh God, so is your praise to be to the ends of the earth. There it is, that praise again. And when we come into God's house, it is more, and it's funny, I've seen this over the years. You know, you have the hardline conservative churches who don't have a lot of worship. And you've got those churches, it's all they do is worship, and there's not a lot of theology. You've heard me go back and forth. I'm not gonna do that here. But we miss it if we think it's all about theology, all about teaching the Word, which is good. That's the foundation. We need that for godliness. We need to be educated. But there has to be a point where I think the praise should match the preaching. You know, we don't want one to overcrowd the other. There should be a significant amount of time for praise and worship to get our hearts right before God. Jesus said, My house shall be called a house of prayer. And of course, I mean, in that prayer, the church is praying. They're also worshiping. Those go together. I don't know. Can you ever worship for an hour and not pray? I mean, I'm praying as I'm worshiping. It's one experience with God. And it's okay. Let me tell you tonight, it's okay to experience God. It's okay to feel the power and presence of God. It just dawned on me this morning, if you look at the fruit of the Spirit, those come with an emotional reaction. Love. You might feel something. Joy. You might feel something. You might feel joy. Love and joy and kindness and goodness and self-control. When you're self-controlled, there's strength in that. You have joy and peace because you're able to make the right decisions. And so many people, sometimes they distance themselves or they remove their emotions and say, I can't get emotional. Now, you don't want your emotions to control, but it's okay to experience God. I'm pretty sure the psalmist experienced God. The writers of the Bible experienced God. It comes out in their language. It comes out in their words. It's not dry and boring and dead. They talk about shouting to the Lord and clapping our hands and bowing before Him and praising Him. Worthy is our God. Let the trumpets sound. Let the brass and the cymbals and let the praises go out in the hill of Zion. Let God's people triumph in their praise. You hear it throughout Scripture. It's amazing. Oh God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Your judgments. This is an important last sentence here. Many people don't like God's judgments. Hello? That's what's upsetting people right now. That's why there's a big divide in our country on this very point. But He says, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Your judgments. The people of God. Do you have Judah? Judah was the southern kingdom. Israel was the northern kingdom. They were divided after David. David, Solomon, and then the kingdoms were divided. Northern and southern kingdoms. And so He's just pinpointing here, be glad. We rejoice in Your judgments. Now I didn't like God's judgments when I wasn't living, right? But now you kind of like those guardrails. I've given this example before. Take the mountain road. Well, you call it a mountain. I call it a hill. Take the hill back home and just picture it just dropping off and no guardrails. We probably wouldn't go that way. And that's what God's judgments are. They are guardrails through the canyons of life. I really want to get that point across to teens. They don't prevent you from having fun. Hello? Man, if my 16-year-old self could talk to my 36-year-old self, oh, what a talk it would be. Because it doesn't prevent you from having fun. It protects you. And that's why later on you run back to those judgments. You run back to God's principles and God's way. Because you know, after you've rebelled a little bit, you see, you know what? I need to go back to those. And then He goes on to say here, walk about Zion. Walk about Zion and go all around her. Count her towers. So now, He's encouraging the people, even look at what God is doing. Walk around the city. Go all around and count her towers. Towers were a sign of perfection. I mean perfection, protection. St. Bozarthepi. So the towers, actually you could say the more towers a place had, the more protection it could offer. We see that in movies, we know that. So go around, look at how God has protected her people. And that's why He would say, I have put watchmen in your towers. And you sound the alarm when you see the enemy coming. And then it also parallels to pastors now for us that we are called watchmen. We are to look at what's coming and we are to warn the people from time to time. The watchman is to sound the alarm. And many of us are sleeping when we should be sounding the alarm. Mark well her bulwarks. Oh, interesting word there. And if you look it up, what it is, big vessels, big ships, you know how sometimes they'll build up the side another 20, 30, 40 feet to protect, not water coming on. That's what a bulwark is. They would add sections to it to make this ship even more unpenetrable to the water. But what they would do with the wall is they would, the bulwark was basically the higher wall portions there. You have the tower stations and then they would build up this huge protection. Consider, even look at the palaces. Look at the places that God has blessed. And you may tell it to the generation following. And that's so key. Tell it to the generation that follows. Folks, I think our kids and our grandkids need to hear more about the goodness of God. Even my own daughter just a couple weeks ago said, Dad, I need to hear more about everything you say is happening. People are emailing me, changing all over the place. But you don't tell us a lot about that. You just assume we know. But that's a good point. So now we can share emails with her and have this person tell her. Every week God is moving in profound and powerful ways. And you must share the next generation. You must tell them the truth of God's Word. Why? Because our words give them hope. Or it discourages them. There's a lot of false teachings out there about life and death is in the power of the tongue. But a lot of those people are saying the right thing. They just take it to an extreme. The extreme is you can just speak it and there be it kind of thing. Just speak it. Just believe it, brother. There's life and death in the power of the tongue. You want that Mercedes next month? Just bring it. Life! If you want it, name it and claim it. And it doesn't mean that. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. We have the ability to... Well, if you want to get real technical and do a big study on it, which I did years ago, they would even... A lot of commentators would talk about how a king... Like in Esther's case, she came in, the king could have said, she needs to die or she lives. There's life and death in the power of the tongue. And the king could do that. Rulers could do that in authority. They could give life or they could give death by what they say. But then also the parallel of that is building others up or encouraging them or really putting them in a very negative spirit. And guys, we have to remember that. The majority of counseling we've seen over the years is usually if you go back from children being hurt by what? The words that are spoken over them. I know many are convicted by that, but that's okay. God can redeem that and apologize to your kids or grandkids. And God can begin to set them free through the power of forgiveness. And I know it's hard. Sometimes we get negative. I've got to catch myself a lot. We don't want to get... There goes Biden again. Oh my goodness. And the kids are like, what's going on? And you just get so negative sometimes. And look what's going on with the economy and healthcare. And goodness gracious, is there another virus coming? And you can get... And we start to just... Or I don't... Fortunately, this isn't a struggle for me because I think I learned from my parents, but trying to build them up. Not stupid or you should be like your brother or sister. And praise God, we do good in that area. That's not a stronghold for us. But others, you can hear people say that and they really can hurt their kids by their words. I'm telling you, it's all I could do when I used to coach Little League. One family's here. I think, where are you guys sitting at? There you are. I coached their grandson seven years ago in Little League. And they were great. Great. This isn't about them. This is just reminding me. Some parents though, man, I want to have a heart-to-heart. And I did sometimes. I said, don't talk to him that way here. And so, to watch kids being, I could see the life come into them. Or, mainly the dad belittling and berating and forcing and just quenching, killed their spirit. A funny thing, I don't know, I've shared this I think before. You guys probably don't know this, but was it the White Sox we were in last place? Was that your league? Okay. So, we have got a history. You know, Courtsill Little League. My grandpa actually built the field. And my dad helped build the second field, I think 1980s or so. And a history of coaching in All-Stars and you know, all that. And I'm like, okay, I'll coach Little League. I'm going to be in All-Stars. I'll be an All-Star coach. No, God humbled me really quick. We're in last place. It's like I got the Bad News Bears. And I'm getting discouraged. Like after five games losing, and these guys all know what they're doing. Like all the other coaches have been coaching before, they play travel ball. So, they know what players, they told their players, don't play real good at tryouts. And so, I'm picking, they knew exactly what they were doing. And these guys get all the right travel ball players and I'm stuck with, you know, this team that I don't know the kids because I didn't watch, I mean, I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't sneaky, let's say it that way. I just based on what I saw at tryouts. So, anyway, we're in last place and I'm getting, I can tell, practice, I'm getting frustrated. Games, I'm getting frustrated. I had a heart to heart with the Lord. I said, okay, I'm just gonna, we're gonna go have fun and I'm gonna teach these kids baseball. And wouldn't you know it, I think after that, we ended up in third place or so, you know, from 12 teams and just kept winning, getting excited, you know, teach them how to hit and just drill and just drill and just baseball drills and hitting and hitting, more practice, staying longer and making them have fun and building them up. And it was just amazing to see how that shifted and changed. But then hearing some of the kids and their parents, the way they talked to them and yelled at them. And one of the hardest jobs I've ever did and I will never do it again was being an umpire. Oh my Lord. Have you done that before? Because you cannot please anyone. And I finally got up and said, Sir, you know, this is a volunteer thing. Why don't you come do it next game? Man, they're just ruthless. And so that's a side note. It was a good experience except for the umpire because you had to find umpires for 10 games. If you couldn't find umpires, you had to do it. That's a part-time job. They also didn't tell you that. You know, two practices a week, two games a week and you gotta go umpire 10 games. And so anyway, that was just the thing that I really learned. First, God humbled me. No, you're not gonna be first place. You're not gonna coach all-stars. Your baseball days are done. And then to just build life into these kids. Walk about Zion. Go all around her. Count the towers. Mark well the high walls. Consider her palaces. And then tell it to the generation following. Basically, tell them what God has done. How God took the people out of bondage, out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, through all these years of wandering, brought them into the Promised Land. And then He built this city of Zion. This temple. That's why earlier that I read, there was fear that came over the kings. Because they've never seen a temple like Solomon built. It was incredible. And that was something that they were just in awe of. God's power and presence being there. For this is God, our God, forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. So that's one of the areas I got the idea of for the title. God will be our guide even till death. Man advises. God guides. But in order for God to guide, I found this is an important lesson. You guys ready for this one? Do not forget this. If you want God to guide you, you have to be willing to go in the direction He wants you to go. That's big. Because we often pray, Lord, here's what I'm doing. Bless my plans. How many of you have done that? And so He will guide those who are willing to follow. So what does that look like? Lord, I'm willing to follow. Show me through Your Word as I pray. And I believe as the Word of God is speaking to you, obeying those things. Obeying those promptings that they line up with Scripture. You know, go apologize to that person. Go fix this. Oh, I don't know about that. Well, then you're going to be stuck in that position until you deal with that first thing. God doesn't bypass things. He tells us to do something and then waits for us to take that next step and that next step and next step. So guidance, when God guides us and also where God guides, He provides. A lot of times we don't, I don't know how this is going to work out, but that's where faith is involved. So number one, in His Word, getting the counsel of God, and then like you said earlier, in worship, as you're worshiping God, praying in God's Word, obeying God's Word, and then saying, you're ready to go whatever direction you lead me in, I'm ready to go. And I had to do that years ago before we planted the church. I told Morgan to take a drive for three hours. I'll make this commitment to be a pastor. I could barely get it out. It took me like three hours. I was like, okay, Lord, I'll do it. I knew what that meant, right? Here we go. And there's seasons in life where you're making those decisions. Are we going to obey God or not? And then we can look briefly at Psalm 49. And here's a call that goes out. Hear this, all peoples give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor, together. He's calling all people. My mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditations of my heart shall give understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will disclose my dark sayings on the harp. A dark saying or a mystery really isn't something like it's a mystery and it's hard to solve. It basically means that very few find it. Very few experience it. And it says here, God will reveal these things to us. It's funny he said on the harp because they would play the harp for music. And remember Saul had that distressing spirit. Demonic spirit. And David would come and play the harp and that spirit would leave. And there's something profound and there's something powerful about worship. I know many times during morning worship, most of you know we meet here at 6 o'clock in the morning on Sunday. And I'll bring a piece of paper and I'll come write stuff for the sermon. I'll add stuff to my notes, change things around, just things that are really hitting my heart at a deep, profound level. And usually those points are what really pop that Sunday. Because God is speaking to us as we worship Him. And I believe in the God who still speaks. I don't hear audible voices. There's only been maybe twice in all of my life where something was like jarring that clearly God was getting my attention. But usually it's that still, small voice. It's that peace. It's that confidence that lines up with His Word. Oh, that makes sense. And when He drops that bomb into your heart, you know, it's like, oh, where did that come from? Lord, that is You. And He'll speak to us during worship and prayer. And I believe, like I said earlier, it's important every day to find a quiet place, a quiet heart, and a quiet hour. We're too rushed, folks. A quiet place, a quiet heart, and a quiet hour. David MacIntyre said that in his book on prayer. That changed me many years ago. Because I was always trying to, you know, if I got to read this chapter, kind of scurry through this, prayer on the way to work. But you've got to find that quiet time. I mean, you give Cinemark two hours at a movie. Netflix. Why is that? Because it captivates us and holds our attention. We need to do that with God as well. Why should I not fear in the days of evil? Well, that's a good question. Why? When iniquity at my heels surrounds me. I love the language these guys use. Iniquity is like these little dogs barking at your heels. This evil. Don't you ever feel that? It's all around me. It's all around me. I feel like I just jumped in a cesspool living in this culture. I need to take a spiritual shower every day. Why should I not fear? There's iniquity all around me. Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother. And you're seeing that now. All these financial guys, they're interviewing billionaires. Sometimes I watch podcasts of billionaires. It's just fascinating. And they contradict each other. They don't know what's going to happen. They don't know what's going to go on. Only God knows. And that riches is a snare. It's a snare. Because they trust in that. That's their God. And they can't see God through these riches. That's why Jesus said, it's hard for a rich man to enter heaven. Why? Because those riches contend for our relationship with God. It's idolatry. You cannot serve both God and mammon. And I think it's because with riches, a lot of these guys, it's amazing, you can pretty much buy whatever you want. Yachts and things. Whatever you want. And so that's really hard, because when we follow God, God is our everything. He's all we need. He can take away everything. He's still God, and I'm still His servant, and I love Him. But you've got those two competing. I can buy everything I want. This is my God. Then I'm actually my God. Or like the whole Jeffrey Epstein thing. It's like that. These guys, it becomes their God. And that's why so many people right now are just afraid of what's going on. And afraid of dying because they're not ready to meet their Maker. The prophets would say, prepare to meet your Maker, O Israel. Well, they boast in the multitude of their riches, but that cannot redeem them. For the redemption of their souls is costly. Yes it is. It was an expensive price on the cross. The redemption of their souls was very costly, that he shall continue to live eternally and not see the pit. The pit in the Old Testament was a place that we would think of like hell, being separated from God. He's saying that the price, the eternal redemption, that was costly, they will live eternally and not see the pit. For he sees wise men die. For he sees wise men die. Likewise, the fool and the senseless person perish, and they leave their wealth to others. Isn't that interesting? Everyone leaves everything when they go. Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever. A side note, as I'm researching for the seminar coming up Saturday, I don't know how many of you follow, the new term is biohacking, from red light therapy to cold water plunges to grounding. It's just fascinating to me. But there's one guy, Brian Johnson, he spends $2 million a year to reverse his aging. And a friend of mine knows him, you should tell him it's not possible, read the Bible. You're not going to make it. You might slow down a little bit. And so, ideal caloric intake, ideal weight, ideal organ function, ideal sleep, ideal supplementation, and he's reversed quite a bit. I think he's probably my age, but he looks pretty young. And you can biohack, you take care of this a little bit. To me, it's all just a waste of time, of course. But they think, because there's no God in their life, they think, and they come up with these lofty ideas, they can actually reverse and live forever. And the transgender movement, if you heard Jack Hibbs talk about Charlie Kirk, a lot of people think of transhumanism, where you can upload your conscious to the cloud and live forever. This body dies, it can transfer it to a different body. Cryotherapy. It's just amazing how off we get when we get away from God. Their inner thought is their houses will last forever. People think, oh, I can live forever. There's a quest to find that fountain of youth and to keep doing all these things. And that's why people, they do put, and there's an unhealthy balance to focus too much on health. Absolutely. Because they're putting too much emphasis on things that are not eternal. They're temporal. But then there's, of course, the other side where we don't care, and unfortunately we live in this, and we don't take care of this, then we could go quicker. We could not be as productive. And I think it's important. I'll talk more about that Saturday. I don't want to bore you tonight. They call their lands after their own names. Oh, you see all these street names and library names. Their own names. Nevertheless, though an honor does not remain, He is like the beast that perishes. Not even will their honor remain when you focus on rejecting God. This is the way. He says, this is the way of those who are foolish and of their posterity who approve their sayings. Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. And for me, as I'm reading this, part of what I talked about earlier, morning devotional, to me this is a great reminder, Lord, am I focusing too much on the temporal things? Am I prioritizing? Am I getting too caught up on the current world system and the current economy? And what should we be doing right now? It's just a reminder that death will feed on these individuals. Their beauty will be consumed. Their beauty will be consumed. Do you ever see those things on social media? This actress in the 1990's and how she looks? Or guy? It's like, whoa! Would have never even thought that was the same person. And that's why they get the Botox and the plastic surgery because they're trying to keep that young look. And I just want to say, just let it go. That looks better. Alright, that makes me mad. But you know what I'm saying, right? If there's so much emphasis on people just get, without God, they get in a very dangerous spot. And then he reminds us, do not be afraid when one becomes rich. Do not be afraid when one becomes rich. When the glory of his house is increased, in other words, don't become jealous when others are prospering. For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. During my devotionals, this is the part that I just remind myself, I want to get back on the right track. Lord, deal with my heart. Is there anything in my heart that's drifting from You? And that's why meditating on the Word of God and seeing things like this really help you stay balanced. Because it brings you back to that point of surrender to Him. He will not carry anything away. His glory shall not descend after Him. Though while He lives, He blesses Himself. For men will praise You when You do well for Yourself. He shall go to the generation of His fathers. They shall never see light. A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beast that perishes. Whew! That's a lot. In a nutshell, He's saying, you can't take anything with you. This is it. This is what we have here. Only what we do for Christ will last. And it's a great reminder of that.