Well, today in our study through the book of Hebrews and lately in chapter 11, the hall of faith. We come to the Account of Barak, or at least a reference to Barak in Hebrews, which takes us back to the account. of his life and endeavors. in Judges chapters four and five. He is, I suppose, in many ways a surprising inclusion in this Hall of Faith, but in fact there are a number of surprising inclusions, and so he is just one of several.
He was summoned. to leadership in the battle against the Canaanites. by Deborah, who was serving as Israel's fourth judge. We read about Deborah and Barak, and we learn that Deborah's faith was strong. Barak's faith was weak.
But God teamed them together. Deborah and Bayrack. And God honored their faith, both that of Deborah and Barak. And God wrought a mighty victory through the exploits of Barak. And because, and through the exploits of others, including jail.
A woman, a wife, Of a Kenite, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. And so, thus, we have this surprising account of Israel's victory over oppression. from the book of Judges.
So, how do we study the life of Bayrak? And it's pretty difficult to do so without understanding something of the background. as is found in the book of Judges.
So now I'm going to turn back to the book of Judges, and I'm going to have to summarize rather quickly. That's one of the challenging things. in a message like this is to summarize quickly enough so that the summary doesn't take up all of the time. But it is difficult to understand what's going on here without understanding the background in the book of Judges. And so I'm going to Take you into the early chapters of Judges, and we're going to trot through those chapters fairly quickly.
The book opens in chapter one. talking about Israel's continued conquest over the Canaanites. Great conquest God had given them under the leadership of Joshua. The largest battles had been fought and won. And now the Responsibility was to the various 12 tribes to wage battle on the Canaanites who remained in their particular territories.
to exterminate them, to drive them out. and to occupy the land which God had given to Israel. And the first half of Judges chapter 1 tells us that this was taking place exactly as God had prescribed. But the last part of Judges chapter 1 talks about a departure. Israel began to falter.
A number of the tribes did not seem to be willing to fight against the Canaanites. who occupied their territory, They instead decided that they would live amicably with them side by side, and thought that that would certainly not create any harm or difficulty, but of course it did. as time shows us when it unfolds. And the Lord himself rebuked them for their disobedience as we move into chapter 2. We find that the angel of the Lord came to issue this rebuke.
Not a prophet, as normally God would send a prophet to issue a rebuke of this kind. But the angel of the Lord, who undoubtedly is none other than the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. came to them and rebuked them for their disobedience. their unbelief Their failure to drive out the Canaanites and to possess the land which God had given to them. But note, God didn't give it to them and say, It's yours for the taking without any effort on your part.
But God said, the victory is guaranteed, but you have to go out and fight the battles. It's that way with us today, isn't it? Victory is guaranteed, but by the design of God, we still have to fight the battles. May God give us the will. The purpose, the determination to do so in his strength and power, by faith in his revelation.
and what he has promised to us.
So Israel didn't drive out the Canaanites. Moving on to chapter 2, we learn that Joshua died at the age of 110. We learn that Israel served God all of the days of Joshua. and all of the days of the elders who served with Joshua. who were contemporary with him until they died one by one.
And then in chapter two, we learn that Israel begins. to move into serious apostasy. And there's a general summary in chapter 2 of what takes place over the rest of the book of Judges. And it goes something like this. Israel begins to serve idols.
Israel serves Bail. and Ashroth and other idols from the false gods from the Canaanites around them. Their disobedience brings the chastening hand of God upon them. God judges them. for their disobedience.
God allows others around them to oppress them. because of their disobedience. They cry out to God for deliverance. God hears their cry. God is compassionate to them.
God sends a deliverer to deliver them. God enables that deliverer to win a victory. They enjoy a period of rest for a number of years and then They return. To their idolatry again. God sends punishment again.
They cry out to God for deliverance again. God sends another deliverer again. He delivers them in the power of God's might. They enjoy a period of rest. Rest for a number of years and then.
The cycle repeats itself again. again and again throughout the book of Judges. As we move into chapter three, we learn of the first serious oppression. It is By Well, there's a general General reference in the early verses. To Canaanite prosperity.
Because Canaanites are allowed to dwell in the land instead of being driven out at God's command. Then the Israelites begin to intermarry. with the Canaanites. Giving their daughters to Canaanites as wives, taking Canaanite women to their sons. as their wives.
And that brings more idolatry, and that brings dominance of the Canaanites over Israel. Moving on to chapter three, we learn of the first serious oppression. And that is occasioned by one by the name of Kushan Rishathim. I hope I got that name right. From Mesopotamia.
That's interesting because Mesopotamia is a long ways away. That's where Abraham came from. And yet, the Mesopotamians, Babylonians as they later came to be, the Chaldeans. Had gotten strong enough that they were able to reach clear over into the land of Canaan and. begin to dominate the people of God.
And Cushan Rishathim, And his armies dominated the people of Israel for eight years. And Israel cried out to God for deliverance, and that brings us to the first. Of the judges, the series of judges. that God sends for deliverance. The first judge was Oth Neill.
You can read about him in chapter 3, verses 9 through 11. Athniel was the younger brother of Caleb. That's a name we have heard before. Joshua and Caleb. Athniel was the younger brother of Caleb.
God raised him up as a judge in Israel. God raised him up as a military conqueror for Israel. And by God's help, he defeated Cush and Rithium. And the children of Israel enjoyed rest for 40 years. following the conquest by Othniel.
But As chapter three continues on. we learn that in the passing of time, Another Oppression occurred. They Oppression was by Eglon. A moabite.
Now, the Moabites were a lot closer than the Mesopotamians. The Moabites were neighbors. The more bites lived just across the River Jordan from the nation of Israel. And Eglog was able to oppress the people of Israel, and he did so. For 18 years until Israel cried out to God for deliverance, The amazing thing to me in reading this account, well there are a number of amazing things, But one amazing thing is how long it took the people of Israel to ask God for deliverance.
when this oppression was going on. The first one, 18 years, and finally they cry out for deliverance. What were they doing all that 17 years? Thinking that they could take care of this by themselves? Finally, when they got low enough, they cry out to God and God delivers.
Same thing here. For 18 years they suffered the oppression of Eglon the Moabite. And then they finally appeal to God for deliverance, and God sends the second judge. namely Ehud, Now, that's an interesting account, really interesting, but I don't dare. try to deliver that to you now.
But he could Achieves a great victory, and the children of Israel had rest for 80 years. Long enough for a couple of generations to live and die. And the people who are coming along don't really remember what happened before with any. Clarity. A third judge is mentioned in chapter 3.
Just one verse is devoted to him, so we don't have many details. But apparently, the Philistines, they are the Canaanites along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Philistines rose up to oppress the children of Israel. And God sent a deliverer by the name of Shamgar. who delivered them By killing six hundred Philistines with an ox goad.
What's an oxcode?
Well, that's a pole. With a Prick on the end that's used to To prick the hooves of oxen who are supposed to be pulling the wagon or pulling the plow or whatever, and they're getting tired and they don't want to do it, so you prick them a little bit and they decide they they changed their mind. They become willing. A little pricking. changes their will and they become willing.
That's not much of a weapon. An ox goat. But Shramgalar, Kills 600 Philistines who themselves probably were all armed with swords and spears and shields and all the usual weapons of war. He killed 600 of them with an ox goat. It sounds a lot like the exploits of Samson.
But No other details are given. We just have Shamgar, judge number three. Which then brings us to Chapter four and the story of Deborah and Bayrach. We get to the man who's named in Hebrews 11 that we have come to now in our study. And what's going on in chapter four.
Well, we learned that Jabin A Canaanite oppresses the nation of Israel. We come to understand that Jabin is actually a title rather than a name. It's something like King or Pharaoh. Or Caesar, it's a title for a king. There were a series of jabons.
But Jabin gains strength and oppresses the Israelites. We are told twenty years of Not just oppression, as the others have been described, but of Harsh. oppression. harsher oppression than ever before. And he had, we are told, nine hundred chariots of iron.
I mentioned to you previously when That title or that Description, chariots of iron came up. that this doesn't mean the chariots were made totally of iron. But it means that they were not made totally of wood, which would have been more common at that time. But that was iron, re uh, wood, reinforced with iron, maybe iron rims on the wheels, and in many cases, iron. Um Blades that protruded out from the axles that were V m um uh vicious weapons.
that would mow down armies as they drove into those armies and cut up the legs. of the opposing soldiers. And Jabin. had such an army with nine hundred of these iron chariots. That would be the most advanced military Equipment of that day.
In our day, that would be the most advanced tanks available or other. weapons of warfare. Pretty formidable army. And during this time, there was a judge in Israel by the name of Deborah. The name of her husband is also given, but she is the judge in Israel at this time.
She is judge number four. We've had Arth Neo? We've had Ichud. We've had Shamgar, number three. We have Deborah, number four.
And then we'll get into Gideon, number five, whom we've already studied because in Hebrews his name appears first. But he's number five, but Deborah is number four. And Deborah is judging in Israel, and she summons. By divine direction, she summons a man by the name of Barak, To come and to lead the armies of Israel against. Jabon and his general, who is Sisera.
And she gives him the instructions that are given to her by God. And Barak hesitates. I've already mentioned his faith was not as strong as Deborah's. He hesitates. And then he agrees with this stipulation.
Okay. I'll go, I'll do what you told me, I'll do what the Lord through you. Tells me to do, but only if you go with me. If you won't go with me, I won't go. That's not a very obedient response to Almighty God, is it?
But God Overlooks that, as he did many other times. With Gideon's weak faith and his Well, I'll go if if you'll do the fleece. Think.
Well Let's do the fleece thing again in reverse. You know, Gideon had the same kind of reluctance. Bayrak is showing that same kind of reluctance. I'll go only if you'll go with me. He obviously believed that Deborah was someone that God was with, that spoke God's word, that gave God's command, that would have God's blessing upon her life and presence.
He made this stipulation and Deborah agrees. She says she'll go. But she also said Under these conditions, I'll go with you, but The honor for the victory will not go to you, it will go to a woman. That doesn't seem to disturbed Bayrak at all. Just get me out of this thing alive.
And so He says, good, come along.
Well, Cicero Oh, there's one little um Parenthetical. explanation in the middle of chapter four that's important. And that is, it tells us that a man by the name of Heber, who was a Kenite, Had removed himself from the from the other Kenites and had traveled to the north and encamped up there. And we're told that the Kenites were descendants of Hobab, which is one of the names of several names actually in the Bible. for the father-in-law of Moses.
And as you remember, Moses invited his father-in-law to come and go with them, and God would bless him for doing so, and he did. And so he now has a family of descendants. who are nomadic people who settled In the southern part of Israel, Except for Heber, who for whatever reason we're not told, decides to separate himself from his clan and to establish himself in the northern part of Israel. And it's in the northern part that the battle that we're describing now goes on. Several of these battles were rather localized.
They didn't involve the whole country altogether, and this is one of those.
So Heber The Kenite is living in the north. All right, now back to the story of the army and the fight. Sisera, the captain of Jabon's army, assembles a formidable army. Along the Kishon River, that's important. The Kishon River most of the year was really just a small stream.
Every now and then, Marty and I will be driving along, and we'll see a sign that says.
So-and-so river. And then we go over the bridge and we say, Did you see that little creek?
Okay. Why are they calling that a river?
Well, that's the way the Quishon River looked. most of the year, except in the Rainy seasons twice a year, the spring and the fall, there would be rain. And then it would be a rushing mighty torrent. but this is not during the rainy season.
So they assemble along the Kishan River, in the Kishan River Valley. Deborah again prophesies victory. She's already prophesied that once. And Bayarak was, what should I say, was hesitant.
Well, I'll believe it if you'll go with me. She didn't say, God will give you victory if I go with you, but. He put that stipulation on it. But she predicts victory once again. The battle is enjoined.
Sisera and his army with 900 chariots is completely routed. Sisera gets out of his chariot and flees on foot to the north and comes to the tent. of Jael, the wife Of Heber, the Kemite, who relocated his family. to the north part of Israel. And she is out there.
She sees him coming. She recognizes him. She invites him into her tent. She offers hospitality to him. He asks for water.
She gives him milk. possibly because she didn't have water, but she had milk. Or possibly because milk, I'm told, tends to make one sleepy. And this guy was already worn out from the battle. He was ready to sleep.
And now she gives him milk. That's like an Advil PM, I guess, in that day. And uh He conks out. He really conks out. She covers him up with a rug.
I won't ask how many of you take Advil PM, but I saw a lot of smiles. I suspect Quite a few of you. But at any rate Um Then jail. He tells Jail to stand by the door, and if anybody comes along and inquires, she's to tell him that no, no man is in the tent.
So he can sleep. And he he obviously assumes that JL is is friendly with him. As opposed to the Israelites, that he was on the side of Jabon. In fact, we're told in the passage that there was peace between Jabon and Heber. Therefore, we don't know was JL Of a contrary opinion to her husband?
Was her husband siding with? Jabin, and she was siding with Israel. Maybe she was a Jew, and he was a Kenite. We really don't know the details, but for whatever reason, He assumes that she's on his side, but she's not. And she sees this as an opportunity to rid Israel of its present enemy.
the army, the the captain of this great army that's oppressing them. And so as soon as uh j Cicero gets good and sleepy, goes soundly asleep. He's snoring pretty loud, I suppose, at this point. She takes uh tent peg, that would be a long, slender Metal peg. And a hammer.
She knows how to wield it. I'm told that in that day, usually taking up the tent and And um Pitching the tent was considered to be a woman's job. And she knew exactly how to do this and she s she softly came up to where Cicera, I've got to keep... Keep my name straight here. Cicero is lying on his side, evidently asleep.
And she takes that Tent peg, and with just a few deft blows, she drives it right through his head into the ground, and of course kills him. Not long after that, along comes Barak, who's chasing Cicera. She says, come here, I'll show you the man you're looking for. And she takes him into the tent, and there he is. and with the death of Cicera the captain and the routing of the army, the victory is won.
Now, there has to be some following-up conquest that takes place over a period of time. But the main victory is now won.
Now all of this is followed in chapter Five by The Song of Deborah. We're told it was sung by Deborah and Bayrak, but it was composed by Deborah. And that's notable. If I'd had more time, I would have read that chapter too, but I thought that might be a little too much. But it's a wonderful poem, a wonderful ode, victory ode, a very common.
Um category of literature in that day. And in this song, Deborah commends the fighters. their bravery, their obedience. who fought And she also mentioned some additional tribes to Zebulun and Naphtili that are mentioned in chapter 4.
So evidently several other tribes joined the battle before it was over. But she in addition chides several tribes who were unwilling to fight. and shames them in her Song of Victory.
Furthermore, in this ode in chapter five, She indicates at least twice. That there was a torrent of rain involved in this victory. Remember? The Kishon River is just a little brook. unless it rains heavily.
Normally it didn't rain. It did rain. It rained cats and dogs, as we might say. It rained torrents of rain. It turned the Kishon Valley into a floodplain.
The Kishon The brook became a raging river. It overflowed its banks. The water flowed all across the plain. And What would that do? That would make Chariots of iron a liability instead of an asset.
They couldn't pull through the mud. That which they were looking to as the source of their greatest strength became, in the providence of God, a tool of their greatest weakness and defeat. That's why Cicero jumped out of his chariot and ran on foot, because he could go on foot faster than he could go in the chariot when it was bogged down in these this muddy plain. And so, heavy rains and flooding sent by God gave Israel the victory. The chariots are mired in the mud.
And Israel rejoices in their victory.
Now, that takes us back to our text in Hebrews chapter 11. We've already looked at these verses that constitute our text. Last time when we were considering Gideon. But our text is found in Hebrews 11.32. and following Where the writer says, And what more shall I say?
For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, And Bayrak? And Samson and Jephthah, Also of David and Samuel and the prophets. who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, and so forth. Write on down ten things that were achieved by one or more of these people. Through the middle of verse thirty-five, and then the direction, the focus changes.
from victories that were won by faith to persevering faith in times of trial, including being martyred for their faith in Christ. We'll get to that in due season.
So what do we have here?
Well, this Rapid fire list of additional candidates for the Hall of Faith. Which are not in chronological order, as we've already seen. Up until now, Every one of the Hebrews, heroes of faith that's been mentioned, has been in chronological order. Starts clear back with Abel.
Son of Adam and Eve. Enoch, several generations later, Noah, Three or four generations after that, Abraham, Sarah, all right on through are all in chronological order. But here we find a handful of names. that are mentioned without any details given, but they're applauded As heroes of faith, And though they're not in chronological order, it is interesting to realize that they turn out to be in the order of. Samuels farewell address to Israel.
If you'll take the time to find that and read it, you'll see that Samuel mentions several of these people, and the order in which he mentions them is the order in which the author of Hebrews records them. For whatever whatever that indicates, but that's the fact.
So he mentions these candidates. Not because the potential list of honorable Heroes of faith has run out, far from it. There's so many more, but he's running short on time. And so he adds these six additional names and then just Faithful people without names that he mentions at all. but four from the time of judges and two from the period of the kings, The fourth of the judges are Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah.
We'll get to Samson next and Jephthah after that. And then, two from the period of the kings, David and Samuel, but of course, Samuel actually was the last judge as well as the one who anointed the first king. And then he mentions unnamed prophets. And he goes through the things which which These people accomplish the ten Um achievements. Conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, and so forth.
And if we go through this list of ten, we find that Beyraq Check s six of the items off the list.
So he certainly achieved a great deal by faith. And that's what's emphasized in this passage in Hebrews. These accomplishments were accomplished how? By faith. By faith.
And that brings us, therefore, in the moments that remain. to consider several points to ponder. And here we go, number one. I think we can learn some things in this text about biblical interpretation. God has given us the Bible.
But the Bible needs to be interpreted. We need to to know what it says and understand what it means. And for that to occur, for us to understand what it means, we have to study it carefully and interpret it correctly. Easier said than done. And nobody And I promise you, nobody.
in this world gets everything 100% right. I think I told you about one of my One of my heroes of Bible exposition. That I have learned so much from, R. C. Sproll.
Who doesn't get everything right? And he himself admits that. He said he knows he probably has about 20% of what he teaches or what he believes is wrong. He just doesn't know. What's which 20%?
So he has to go with what he understands. I could help him with part of the 20%, but I wouldn't be that audacious, would I? And of course, he's now with the Lord. But anyway The Bible needs to be Studied carefully, it also needs to be interpreted correctly. And what does that mean?
Well We are reminded in this passage that it's easy to draw wrong conclusions if we interpret prematurely. And in Judges, that comes up when Deborah tells Barak, I'll go with you, but if I do, the honor will not go to you, it'll go to a woman. What is Bayrak thinking? The honor is going to go to Deborah. What is the actual interpretation, the actual meaning of that text?
The honor is going to go to jail.
Somebody we haven't even known about, probably would never know about, except. God brings her in at this point. You see what I'm talking about? It looks so obvious. The honor is going to go to Deborah.
Wrong? How do we know? because we kept reading, because we kept studying. because we compared scripture with scripture. And we were able to come to the correct interpretation of that statement: the honor will go to a woman.
And instead of misunderstanding it and saying that it's going to go to Deborah, we correctly understand it and say the honor's going to jail, because the Bible makes that very clear.
Now, there are a lot of examples like that in the Bible. The context of the context. In this case, reveals that JL not Deborah, was the woman intended. Context is critical for proper interpretation Although there are a lot of elements that go into proper interpretation, context is probably the most important of them all. We want to study.
The vocabulary. Look up the meanings. What's that say in the Greek? What's that say in the Hebrew? What do these words mean?
Look up the dictionary. Definition. We want to pay close attention to the verbs. We want to understand what we can about the culture. We want to understand what we can about.
Hebrew and Greek idioms that I said a moment ago that it rained cats and dogs. If I had said that to Barak, he would have said. What? I haven't seen a single cat or dog fall out of heaven. That's an idiom.
He doesn't use that idiom in his language. We use it. In ours, when I said that, nobody here took that literally. Nobody said, I've never seen a cat or a dog fall out of heaven. But there are a lot of idioms like that.
And if we try to interpret literally something that is clearly an idiom, we're going to get the interpretation wrong.
So there's just a lot of elements. They go into Biblical interpretation. In fact, so many elements that even the most learned scholar doesn't get everything right 100% of the time. But we are to give ourselves to that task. Yeah.
Trying our best with God's help and with the guidance of God's Spirit. to not only know what the Bible says, but to understand the correct meaning of what it says. Context is necessary for critical interpretation. Context is necessary. for all interpretation generally, and particularly when it applies to Prophecy.
When Deborah said I'll go with you. And the honor is going to go to a Woman That was a prophecy, a rather short one. It's a prophecy of something that was going to take place rather quickly, but that falls under the category of prophecy. That was a prophecy. What do we have to do to understand prophecy?
We've got to get get it into context. If we only look at a particular passage in Scripture and it says certain things, and we say, aha, this means that, this means this. The um Crowns on the head of the beast mean this, and so forth, and so on. You know, we've got it all figured out. God bless you if you do.
I told somebody.
Somebody asked me More than once. When are you going to preach on Revelation? I don't have to now. Pastor Carnes has done that, so. You got me off the hook.
But when are you going to preach on re preach through Revelation? I said, when I understand it. I said, I did that 50 years ago because I thought I understood it. I haven't been inclined to do that lately because the more I've learned, the more I realize I don't understand it very well. That's the way prophecy is.
It can be puzzling at times, but this point. Our interpretation must not contradict other Scripture. If we think we're understanding something in this passage, I've got it, I've got what it means. I've looked up the Greek, I've looked up the Hebrew, I understand what it's saying. But it contradicts another clear statement of Scripture elsewhere that cannot be the meaning, because the Holy Spirit of God does not contradict himself, he's the author of all of it.
He's God. God cannot lie. God does not contradict himself. You see what I'm getting at? Biblical interpretation.
Okay, a second point to ponder. This one gets into an even more sticky area. Female leadership. Deborah. It's clear from the Bible.
going clear back to the Garden of Eden. that God created Woman, generally speaking, Women Woman was created Four. a supporting role. You can't be honest with the text in Genesis and come to any other conclusion. That's a fact.
But it's also true that women Throughout the Bible are sometimes placed placed in a role of leadership. As in this case, Deborah was the fourth judge of Israel. She was the only female judge. But she was a female judge. What are you going to make of that?
She was also a prophet. Miriam Moses' sister was a prophet. Exodus 1520. Hold up. Also, it was a prophet in 2 Kings 22:14, who received.
Revelation from God and spoke it to the people of God. The four daughters of Philip in the New Testament, Philip the Evangelist. We are told we're also prophets. Acts 21, verses 8 and 9. That much we can be certain about.
Beyond that, we better tread carefully. With this information, I would caution you too. neither dismiss these obvious facts nor exaggerate their meaning. I've heard men's Yeah. We'll point to men as the at fault here.
I've heard men say in reference to Deborah. The judge.
Well, she was a judge, but that wasn't God's intention. That wasn't what God wanted. That isn't what God designed.
Well, really?
Well, who put her in that position? Who gave her divine revelation if it wasn't God? He was God. She was a judge because God appointed her a judge.
So, we cannot dismiss what is obviously true. We've got to take it into account. But we can't exaggerate it either and say, That means that... God wants female pastors. No, you can't say that it means that.
That means that God appointed the female judge. in the Old Testament where there were no divinely given qualifications for judges. There's no place in the Old Testament that says A judge must be the husband of one wife, and so forth and so on. That's not given to us in the Old Testament, is it?
So if God wanted to appoint a Female judge, that was his prerogative. But be careful. that you don't exaggerate the meaning of that. In fact, in the light of Isaiah 3.12 A warning. By Isaiah of God's judgment upon Israel for their sins.
He says, As for my people, Children are their oppressors. and women rule over them. Oh my people. Those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. The One clear Old Testament statement we have about women and leadership is That's a sign of God's judgment.
That's a sign of. A sinful and disobedient people, which fits the situation in the book of Judges to a T, doesn't it? It seems to me that if we're going to draw conclusions from the fact that. Deborah was a judge. And Consider that in the light of other scripture, namely, This passage in Isaiah We should conclude that, yes, God appointed her as a sign of judgment.
This should cause you to realize how wicked you are. Repent. You have a woman judging over you.
Okay. One thing we can say, and I'll have to move on from this. As though the New Testament is crystal clear, about church leadership roles. There it is not ambiguous. God makes it clear.
that Pastors. Must be men. I I won't to prove that to you. Hopefully you're familiar with the passages. We'll just take that and go on.
And with that, I think I'm going to have to close as I'm looking at the clock down here.
So, time has. Run out. And we will. Bow in prayer. Thank you, Father, for your word, which teaches us your ways.
O Lord, show us your ways. Teach us your truth. Lead us in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake. as we ask it in Christ's name Amen.
