In 'Navigating Life in a Fallen World,' Mike Davenport explores Ecclesiastes 4:4-16, where Solomon reflects on the vanities of life. The sermon identifies three main areas of vanity: rivalry and envy in labor, laziness, and the restless pursuit of wealth. Solomon emphasizes that labor driven by envy is futile, as it leads to personal dissatisfaction and is a grasping for the wind. Laziness is portrayed as equally vain, leading to self-destruction. The sermon warns against the solitary pursuit of wealth, which deprives one of meaningful companionship and purpose. Solomon also highlights the benefits of companionship, using the metaphor of a threefold cord to illustrate strength in unity. Davenport applies these lessons to modern life, encouraging believers to seek wisdom in their relationships and to avoid the fleeting allure of popularity. The sermon concludes by presenting Jesus Christ as the ultimate companion and guide, whose presence is constant and whose love is unparalleled.

Ecclesiastes 4 verses 4 through 16. Again, I saw that for all toil and ever skillful work, a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.

Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone without companion. He has neither son nor brother, yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fail, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one be warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. For he comes out of prison to be king, although he was born poor in his kingdom. I saw all the living who walk under the sun. They were with the second youth who stands in his place.

There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king. Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind." Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for taking care of us today. Lord, as the scripture says, you do love us.

Lord, you've given us plenty of evidence of that love, even just this morning in these short moments of worship. Oh Lord, we pray that we might be attentive, that we might be excited to hear the word preached from this text. Lord, help the preacher. Amen. Have you ever been whitewater rafting before?

I have, one time. And I went down the river both in the raft and because of the currents, also outside of the raft. I've also had the unpleasant experience of being snatched off my feet by a rip tide, a rip current on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And if you have ever been whitewater rafting yourself or have experienced rip currents, you no doubt, like I did, came away with a fresh appreciation of the power of moving water. Sometimes there is little that you can do.

You must always in those situations have a sense of your surroundings and how the currents are flowing. Well, the same is true of life. As we have worked our way through the first third of the book of Ecclesiastes, we have discovered the utter vanity of a life apart from God. And without a sense of our surroundings and how the currents of life around us are flowing, we are susceptible to being swept and taken away in the strong currents of our generation. Well, Solomon has been to us throughout this book a raft guide, pointing out the moving currents, telling us when to pull the oars in and when to put them back in the water to paddle, instructing us as to how to maneuver our weight and which way to lean for certain expectations of the moving currents.

For others here he's been as a lifeguard putting up the warning flag when the waves and the tide pick up, rescuing us when we get in over our heads, and instructing us how to read the movements of the waves all about us. We stand in great need of learning how to navigate life in a fallen world. It's not easy. We all know that by experience. In many ways, our life is like that instance that we saw recently in John of the disciples there on that Sea of Galilee, rowing all night and getting absolutely nowhere until Jesus came.

And all their striving to that point was vain. And so it is with our lives. Well, in the passage here before us, Solomon seeks to unravel several more strands of vanity. And we will see here first the vanity of rivalry, laziness, and restless pursuit. Secondly, the vanity of solitude.

And then finally, the vanity of honor and popularity. So let's look first at the vanity of rivalry, laziness, and restless pursuit, rivalry, laziness, and restless pursuit. Solomon has in the previous text laid before both the Christian and the non-Christian the task of laboring in this world. The Christian should see his labor as his God-given calling. Refer back to chapter 2, verses 24 and 25, and chapter 3, verses 12 and 13 that we actually just quoted a few minutes ago.

The non-Christian is left seeing his labor as the only lot given to him in this world and the only thing he can excel in before he simply returns to the dust of the earth. Refer back to chapter 3 verse 22. So now both, the Christian and the non-Christian alike, stand before Solomon as he turns his attention back once again to the subject of labor and especially how to steer clear from vanity in the pursuit of our labor. And so we read in verse 4 of chapter 4, again I saw that for all toil and every skillful work, A man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Now, I struggled with the way the New King James Version translates the first part of this verse. It seems to be saying the way that's written here that my toil and my skill in my work is all vanity because my neighbor has an envy problem, a problem that is outside of my control. I believe Solomon is seeking to point out in these three examples, in these verses in front of us, he's pointing out in these verses these verses, the vanity of our own personal labor due to our wrong motives. The first here being envy. Here's the verse, verse four in the ESV.

Then I saw that all toil and all skill and work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Rendered like that, the problem of envy is my problem. And it is fraught with vanity because it's my problem. How vain to view my labor as a necessary tool for simply keeping up with the Joneses, to simply outdo and to outwork, to outgain and outspend my neighbor.

So no matter how you see it, whether it's the neighbor prospering and you envying, or whether you're the one envying and you prosper out, born out of that envy. The problem here is a wrong motivation of envy. And envy here is not limited to the workplace and seeing this toil and this skill in the work. It can creep into every area of life, even our spiritual lives. We can envy another's place in the body of Jesus Christ.

Their gifts, their graces, their piety, their ministry. Such a motive for any of our labor in this world is vanity and grasping for the wind. Solomon warns us in Proverbs 1430 that envy is rottenness to the bones. It eats up a man from the inside out. David Gibson, in his book, Living Life Backwards, describes the world as a place where our neighbor can be damned so long as we can be king.

It's a place where we often relentlessly pursue the neighbor above us by willingly stepping on the head of the neighbor beneath us. When we pursue gain because we think that's all there is to be had, others are going to be hurt. There's an old saying that any friend can share your sorrows and your failures, but it takes a true friend to share your joys and successes. As you sit here this morning, ask yourself a soul-searching question. When I see blessing and prosperity in my brother or in my sister, Is it a catalyst for me to strive harder in my toil and in my labor?

Or is it a catalyst of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ that He is being honored and that my brother or my sister is being blessed with the fruit of their labors. Well, having listened to Solomon speak about his own pursuit of satisfaction in his labor back in chapter 2, and having just been confronted with the vain and sinful motive of envy that drives so many to toil in their labor, a man in the audience comes to his own conclusion of the matter. It's a solution, verses 5 and 6. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.

This man is labeled a fool, for he is a lazy man." In response to these sobering words about envy being the drive of so many, he simply folds his hands in inactivity. He can be heard saying, why toil so hard? Surely all hard-working individuals are full of envy. Not me. I am not envious.

And so he trades in envy and rather fills his heart and life with laziness. He folds his hands in idleness and will not put them to work." Solomon speaks elsewhere of the man who is busy folding his hands. Twice, he says in Proverbs, A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep or to rest. So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man. Well, as we turn our attention to the sixth verse, let me just say that this passage before us is difficult in terms of unpacking what Solomon was particularly articulating.

Much clearer is the application of the passage as a whole. Commentators vary greatly in regard to some of the verses before us this morning. They vary greatly. So if I take up the particular argument of one, I thereby put myself at odds with multiple others. So I came to grips with the fact in my preparation that this has to be the case.

And so, I ask you to grant me grace as well as a measure of freedom to express where I am in my current understanding. If you differ with me on interpretation, I believe we shall still agree on all the applications that are derived from each of our interpretations. So rather than verse 6 being what I would see as oddly placed proverbial saying that points people to some sort of right response, I believe it to be the excuse the fool uses to justify his laziness. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. You see, he hasn't figured out.

He prays, Father, I thank you that I'm not like that man. He has a problem with envy, but not me. Charles Bridges describes the man like this, the sluggard, wasting his precious time and opportunity, mistaking idleness with quietness, heaping misery upon himself bears the stamp of a fool, and well does he deserve his name. Instead of being eaten as the man with envy from the inside out, the fool is left with the necessity of consuming his own flesh. David Gibson in his book, Living Life Backwards, puts it like this, Laziness is a way of hating your neighbors.

You have nothing to give them. The preacher makes a deliberately extreme statement to illustrate the corrosive effects of inverted excess. Instead of embracing life and giving himself to others, the sluggard gives himself to himself so in the end all that he has left is himself, and that won't last for long. There is no food in the cupboard, and he has to eat himself to survive. We like to cover it up and dress it up so it doesn't look so bad.

But laziness is sin. And though not specifically stated after this particular example, the idea is that this, too, this life of laziness is vanity and grasping for the wind. The fool decides to do nothing because someone else has poorly chosen to do what he thought he should do. It's the proverbial ditch on both sides. Will that man fail miserably in choosing that motive as labor?

I'll do nothing. Then I can't get it wrong. And so he does nothing. Such an attitude is not consistent with the call to a Christian life. The Bible calls us to a life of denial, of taking up our cross, of striving, of enduring, of persevering.

There is no folding of the hands to be found in the life God calls us to. I quote Charles Bridges once again, To cultivate habits of self-denial, To mind our work more than our pleasure, Is of incalculable moment. Blessed indeed is the toil in such a service for such a master. The crown and the kingdom brighten all. In the most fainting discouragement, the effort to take one forward step or even to resist one backward step when made under the sense of the infinite preciousness of the favor of God and the constraining love of Christ will never be made in vain.

Power will be given and felt to cut the way through every difficulty and to live in all the high enjoyment of our privileged service. But vanity in the area of labor is not limited to the motives of envy and laziness. There is another man in the audience, the workaholic, the one who labors selfishly because he can't get enough. The opening words of verse 7 indicate that Solomon is contemplating something afresh. He's returning.

He is revisiting the subject of labor and our motives regarding it, but we will also see how he uses this example to set the stage for the discussion which is to follow. Verses 7 and 8. Then I returned and I saw vanity under the sun. There is one alone without companion. He has neither son nor brother.

Yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, but he never asks, for whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? This also is vanity and a grave misfortune. The picture here is not of a hard-working man who is seeking to meet the needs of his physical family because to not do so would be a poor testimony of Christ. The man pictured here is a selfish individual.

He is alone. His life is lived in such a way that either he wants no companion or none no companion or none desire to be his companion due to his selfishness. He is without son and without brother. And in spite of the fact that the man has no dependence living upon him, Solomon notes that there is no end to all his labors. His waking hours are given over to his labors.

And why? Because the riches that he already has are not enough. He is not satisfied with what he has obtained. He has to have more. The Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs stated that the best way To learn to find contentment is by way of subtraction and not by way of addition.

Do we get that as a people? That's hard for us as Americans with the wide, wide riches that we have, we are a blessed people, it's hard for us to understand that if we want to find contentment, that it's often found in subtraction and not addition. G.K. Chesterson is credited with a similar statement. There are two ways to get enough.

One is to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. In Ephesians 4, 28, the apostle Paul notes that one of the reasons that we should labor is to be in a position to help others. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. It's not just so he can meet his own needs.

Let him toil, let him labor so that he can have something to give to him who has need. We should note here that there should be times of ceasing from our labors. God is God and we are not. When we go about our work as if all depends on us, we remove God from the throne and we set ourselves in the place that belongs to him. And when we go about our work in order to amass more and more for our unsatisfied eyes, we consider our riches more important than the riches of God.

We are like the rich man in the parable of Christ in Luke 12 who built greater barns to store all of the abundance of the fruit of his labor, whom Christ described as failing to be rich toward God. That rich man failed to ask the question that Solomon here sets before us, for whom do I toil and deprive myself of good? And because he failed to ask and answer truthfully that question, the rich man faced another question asked by God himself. This night, your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided?" Mr.

Gibson warns us in the following manner, No better is the opposite extreme of frantic busyness. You know the kind of person feverishly running from one thing to the next and all the while trying to mask a dissatisfaction with life because they're always working for tomorrow. We usually think life tomorrow is going to be better than life today because tomorrow we'll have achieved something new. Tomorrow we'll spend more time with the Bible. We'll finally tidy the house.

Tomorrow, we'll complete the dream move, the promotion, the degree, a marriage, The deadline. The preacher's point is that to live this way is like shooting yourself in one foot so that you can hop more quickly on the other. Why not stop and enjoy today in very real ways. Tomorrow's promotion will bring more pressure. The higher degree will just teach you how little you know.

The marriage will connect your life to another center for life. The deadline will pass only for another to come racing toward you. To come racing toward you. Dear brothers and sisters, do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life which the Son of Man will give you because God the Father has set his seal on him. Laboring for that which is not eternal and will not satisfy is a senseless and grievous task.

Now, it's important to note that Solomon's focus is not simply on the vanity of this pursuit of riches here, but the vanity also of laboring for the benefit of no one else but yourself. Note that the man has no companion, no son, no brother. It is all about his labors and the satisfaction of his eye in regard to his riches he toils for no one but himself. In light of this situation, Solomon turns in his text to a consideration of companionship and the benefit God has woven into earthly companionships. So secondly, let us consider the vanity of solitude, the vanity of solitude.

As we consider these next four verses, we must acknowledge that there is nothing in the text that limits us to any particular relationship. This text is probably most often referred to in regard to marriage. And though it certainly applies to marriage, nothing here limits us to that application alone. In fact, the context of these verses coupled with the realization of life in the Middle East in those days lends to an understanding that Solomon is actually talking here most likely about a business venture. A venture that commonly required travel and which travel made those traveling susceptible to rough and dangerous terrain, to cold nights out in the open, and to violent thieves and robbers along the way.

Nonetheless, we will find here applications that prove helpful today in the arenas of marriage, business, and even church life. What do you think of companionship? What do you think of it? Is it necessary? Aristotle said, whoever delighteth in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Archbishop Waitley, quoted by Bridges, responded to Aristotle's statement. He said, to man, such as man is, friendship is indispensable to happiness, and that one who has no need and feels no need of friendship must be either much above human nature or much below it." So Solomon starts out with a premise and then seeks to prove his premise by examples. In doing so, Solomon deals with the vanity of solitude by rather demonstrating the benefit of companionship, thus showing the vanity of life when this benefit is not pursued. In verse 9, two are better than one. That's the premise.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. So the first benefit we see in companionship is that it is fruitful. More is accomplished. And this benefit is not limited to the mere production of goods. The benefit can be experienced in terms of knowledge, experience, strength, and skill.

Jesus himself sent out his disciples in twos. There were two disciples that we find on the road to Emmaus when Christ met them. Paul was always sent out on his journeys with fellow companions, and so we see it throughout Scripture. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. Verse 10, for if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.'" So the second benefit we see is that companionship is helpful. It's helpful. You see, help requires at minimum a second person, right? It requires a second person. You children, when mom comes and says, let me help you put on your shoes, all of a sudden they get a little older and it's, I'll do it myself.

I don't need help. I don't need a second person, right? So in order to have help, it requires at least a second person. We see what befell the lone traveler in Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan. But this help is not limited to mere physical help.

This benefit can be experienced emotionally, mentally, as well as spiritually. And as I think of this one who doesn't have a companion to help, I can't help but hear those words ringing in my ears, those words of the lame man in response to Jesus, sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. And how long did that man lie there beside that pool? Sir, I have no man to help put me in the water. Companionship is helpful.

Verse 11, again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? So the third benefit we find is comfort. Comfort. Comfort seen here in mutual warmth.

Having just wrapped up our series, joined and knit together, I appreciated all the more the way Bridges applied this benefit. Bridges says this, the live coal left alone soon loses its vital heat. But heat the coals around it and we have a genial atmosphere. The most lively professor left alone is in danger of waxing cold in selfishness. But the precious communion of saints warms the Christian from the very center.

This principle also rebukes the religious solitaire, that isolated being who belongs to no church, because no church is perfect enough for him. Surely it is better to belong to an imperfect, not heretical, but an imperfect church than to none." Companionship brings comfort. Verse 12, though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Companionship brings reward. It brings reward.

It brings help. It brings comfort. And lastly, it brings protection. It brings protection. You see, one man is quickly overtaken.

Two, not so quickly and easily. And a third, much more difficult. And so we see strength in numbers. There is a measure of protection against the enemy when there are more than one. Shepherds can quickly tell when there is a sheep in their flock that is sick that's not doing well because often that sheep isolates itself.

It goes on the outskirts and it's not there where the others are. And this is also the work of predators to prey on one who is isolated from the flock or the herd, whether by reason of the animal's own ignorance, he just wanders off, or by design when the predator's circling, they drive the flock in the herd in such a way of trying to get one to break off from the rest and to isolate themselves. Life lived in solitude and self-dependence is not good. It's not good. And When I say lived in solitude and in self-dependence, don't tell me about how many friends you have on Facebook.

Don't tell me about how many emails you go back and forth or how many texts you receive. That's not companionship. That's not companionship. Life should be lived in community and interdependence. That's the way God designed us.

God looked at the very first man, perfect man, And he said, it's not good that he's alone. And God gave children to that family. And the idea is that's a community, and the children are understood to be part of that community because God says when that man and woman come together, they leave them that community. They begin their own community. And then God created the church.

And as we've seen through our study, God puts us together as a body, each of us fulfilling different parts of the body. And God joins us together. Living life in community and interdependence is the better way of life for All of us. I give way to the comments of Bridges once again. Oh, let us ponder well the deep responsibility of our social obligations.

Are we discharging them as unto the Lord for the honor of His name and for the edifying and the increase of His church? Did we but pray for each other as we ought? What a brotherhood would the family of man be? The time is short. Opportunities are passing away.

Happy those who have been fellow helpers upon earth." But companionship has its own limitations. Being a part of a following, a part of a large group that all feel the same way, is not always the solution to every question and every endeavor. And so Solomon goes on to explain a particular scenario and in so doing warns us, thirdly, of the vanity of honor and popularity. The vanity of honor and popularity. Verses 13 through 16.

Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more. For he comes out of prison to be king, although he was born poor in his kingdom. I saw all the living who walk under the sun. They were with the second youth who stands in his place. There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king.

Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind. This is another section where multiple thoughts and explanations arise. And in terms of what Solomon is particularly conveying by way of story, I can but give you my opinion. Here is the story as I understand it.

There is in this kingdom an old king who by reason of his age and his privilege of being king should be a very wise man indeed. Well, he once was, for there were the earlier days when He would heed the counsel of his trusted advisors. But those days are past. And he has become wise in his own eyes. He will receive no more admonition from those around him.

But there is within his kingdom a poor but wise youth. The poverty of this youth is demonstrated by the fact that he was said to have been born in poverty within this very kingdom. But yet his wisdom is also demonstrated in the fact that, though he was no stranger to anybody, they knew where he came from. He was born poor in this kingdom, yet his wisdom is seen in the fact that he somehow rises from the place of prison to the palace. What wisdom must be on display that a man born poor that because of that finds his way in prison and now has worked his way up to the palace?

Well the rise of this youth in that kingdom was a mighty and forceful current. For as Solomon looks around, he sees that the rise of this second one, this youth, who now stands in the place of the first, this old and foolish king, this rise has taken the kingdom by storm. The entire kingdom, all the living who walk under the sun, all stand in support of the rise of this wise young king. And the extent of this one's kingdom is widespread. There was seemingly no end to all the people of his kingdom.

And as the anticipation builds, Solomon interjects that small little conjunction, yet, yet, yet the very same people who became disenchanted with the first king are now finding no reason to rejoice in the wise youth who replaced him. You see, the story does not have the anticipated ending. They lived happily ever after. No, the day came. They didn't rejoice in him either.

But maybe the end should have actually been anticipated. We should have seen it coming. The fickleness of the masses, even with the first king, the fickleness of the masses proved the vanity of temporary honor and popularity. The crowd who seeks to crown one as king today may leave tomorrow because of some comment that offends them. We're getting ready to see that in John 6.

The very same people who were going to take Jesus by force and make him king by the end of the chapter, They're gone because something he said was offensive. The crowd who was shouting today, Hosanna! Tomorrow is crying, crucify! As creatures, we too often grow discontent with our present circumstances. We then begin to think that some change in circumstances will make everything better.

We also are susceptible to following the crowd, being swept along by popular opinion or allowing that popular opinion to dictate a direction that we are going to take or how we feel about ourselves. Solomon points out to us that such thinking and living is vanity. It is grasping for the wind. It is chasing the momentary bubbles and treating them like they are the substance of all life. Application.

By way of final application, I just want to reiterate the importance of navigating life skillfully in this fallen world. To do that, we must be like the sons of Issachar mentioned in 1 Chronicles 12-32. These sons of Issachar, we are told, had understanding of the times. To know what Israel ought to do, we need to have understanding, to know what we ought to do. As we have seen today, companionship is necessary, But who it is that we are companions with is also vitally important.

The same Solomon makes that point over and over throughout the book of Proverbs. He warns of being a companion of fools, a companion of glutton, a companion of destroyers, a companion of harlots. So we are to be wise as we seek companionship with others. We are to be wise. In Proverbs 18, 24, Solomon tells us that there is a friend, a companion, who sticks closer than a brother.

Here are some questions that we need to answer. Are you this kind of friend to others? A friend truly sticks closer than a brother? Consider these closing thoughts of Richard Belcher concerning this Proverbs 18-24 text. He says, in the context of Ecclesiastes 4, this companion who sticks closer than a brother would be there to comfort in the injustice of oppression, would not be driven by envy in the relationship, would not be self-centered in laboring only for riches to satisfy themselves, would be the one who gives help in facing the dangers of the journey, and would not abandon someone when others shift their loyalty to another.

Such a companion is willing to face injustice, to abandon riches, to stand against the fickle crowds, and even to face the danger of death for the sake of another. The ultimate companion who fits this description is Jesus Christ. He renounced his own self-interest. He put aside the wealth of his glory. He faced the injustice of a mock trial, experienced the fickle crowds who one minute acclaimed him and the next wanted to crucify him, and went willingly to the cross in demonstration of his love.

Upon his ascension, he sent his Holy Spirit, who will never abandon the one who trusts in Jesus. As Solomon recognizes, a human companion is a great blessing, but even greater is the one whose presence can never be taken away. If you have been here for any of the other messages in Ecclesiastes, you may be thinking, here we go again. Somehow this preacher always ends up at Christ and it's no different today. My friend, Jesus is the only answer I have to give you.

I don't have anything else. And that's sufficient because, my friend, Jesus is the only answer you need. He's the only one you need. One there is above all others well deserves the name of friend. His love is beyond a brother's, costly, free, and knows no end.

They who wants his kindness prove find it everlasting love. Which of all our friends to save us could or would have shed His blood? But our Jesus died to have us reconciled in Him to God. This was boundless love indeed. Jesus is a friend in need.

When he lived on earth abased, friend of sinners was his name. Now above all glory raised, he rejoices in the same. Still he calls them brethren, friends, and to all their wants attends. Oh, for grace our hearts to soften. Teach us, Lord, at length to love.

We, alas, forget too often what a friend we have above. But when home our souls are brought, we will love thee as we ought. What a friend we have in Jesus. May he, our captain, pilot us as we seek to navigate life in this fallen world. Let us pray.

Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you, O Lord, that you have not left us to ourselves. You've given us Christ. May we fall upon Him afresh today. May those who do not know Him find Him to be there all in all.

In His great name we pray. Amen.