02 Understanding God’s Will: In the Church

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. Our topic today is understanding God's Will in the Church, and we will be covering Numbers chapter 12. This is the second in a series of three talks. To download the handout mentioned in the lecture, go to our website at wednesdayintheword.com slash God's Will2. Thank you so much for listening. Well, last session we looked at calling or understanding God's will from a personal standpoint. And we talked about how the what finding God's will is not finding the dot of His will and kind of the center of His moral will, but rather that God's goal for us is to grow us in wisdom and maturity such that we learn to make wise choices. And He has given us the Holy Spirit to ensure that we reach that maturity and that we learn. But that's a long process, it's a journey that takes our lifetime. And in the meantime, we have to live together in a church where it seems like some people just seem to have that golden midas touch where everything works out and they're showered with blessings, and then there's the rest of us that plod along in the shadows. So how do we deal with that when it looks like some people get a glamorous, upfront, kind of glorious calling, and some people are in the background or behind the stage, or how do we how do we handle it? When you look around the church, and calling seems to be different for different people. I learned this lesson, well, I didn't learn it, but I should have learned. I remember early in our marriage when our first child, Brendan, was still a baby, he was nursing, and my husband David and I had just finished our biblical studies program, and we'd been asked to go on staff at a study center. So we were trying to make this transition from student to teacher. And my husband was asked to speak at this conference, and I really wanted to do it. It was it was like this great big conference, and it was one of our first real chances to kind of be a teacher, and he was given a topic that I had spent a great deal of time studying, but I'd never had a chance to teach it, but of course they didn't ask me. And but I was nursing a baby, so that was my excuse. I couldn't have done it, but I was so jealous. And to make matters worse, my husband asked if I would help him prepare because I'd spent all this time studying the topic and he hadn't, so I was like, okay, here's my notes. And he pursued his preparation with a glee that made me want to throw up. And then I remember that Saturday he was out preaching, and of course, you know, I was like, here I am with a cranky baby, and he's screaming, and I'm alone. And I remember thinking he's out there teaching the Bible, and here I am with this monster on my hip screaming in my ear, you know. So then to make matters worse, of course, he comes home, everybody loves him, rave reviews, and I asked to see his handout, and do you know what he had done? He'd taken my handout and put his name on it. He didn't even change a word. And I was like, So, of course, I lost it. And he looks at me like, but we're one, you know. Well, it's a good thing that God wasn't watching me that day like he was watching Miriam in the time of Moses, because I had a problem. This was not my husband's problem, this was my problem, because what I've since learned is I was focused on glory. Who got the glory, who got the credit, and not on doing good. And I think that is a problem we often face in the church. We look around and we we're very concerned about who gets the credit, who gets the glory rather than who are we serving. And you may not be aware of this, but Moses had a big sister, her name was Miriam, and she had the same problem with Moses that I had with Dave. And it's a problem I think we all face when we're serving in a community. So we're on page four of your handout, and we're gonna look at Miriam's story and hopefully learn some lessons from her. So I've given you the scriptures we're gonna be looking at. I didn't print them out because they're fairly long, but if you want to turn in your Bibles, we're gonna start with Exodus 2. I'm actually gonna read Exodus 122, the last verse of chapter 1, and then into Exodus 2, we're gonna look at 1 through 10. This is where we meet Miriam. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live. The Jews are enslaved in Egypt, and they're multiplying, and Pharaoh's getting worried about how many of them there are, so he commands that all the male children shall be put to death. So then in Exodus 2, one, now a man from the house of Levi went and took as a wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank, and his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while the young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant women, and she took it. And when she opened it she saw the child, and behold the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she named him Moses, because she said, I drew him out of the water. This is Miriam, the Moses' sister, who's handling this situation. She's a young girl. The new Pharaoh has decreed all male Hebrew children will be killed. This is after the time of Joseph. There's a new Pharaoh on the throne. He doesn't remember who Joseph was, he's forgotten who the Hebrew people are, and the Israelites are being treated roughly and abused and multiplying greatly. And he says, okay, we're going to put all male children to death. And Moses' mother devises this plan to save him. And notice the plan depends on Miriam. It is Miriam who has to persuade Pharaoh's daughter not only to take care of the baby, defying her father's orders, but also to get her to give the child back to his natural mother. Now I suspect Miriam's parents probably devised the plan. Miriam's mother may have even rehearsed her on what to say or her part. But at this point, the success of the plan depends on Miriam. She had to be in the right place at the right time. She had to be proper and poised before this pharaoh princess or Egyptian princess. She has to use the right words. And there's a sense in which the salvation of the nation depends on Miriam playing her part and playing it well, because Moses is the one who's going to grow up to lead the people, of course, out of slavery in Egypt. Even as a young girl, then we see her being courageous, being faithful, and being used by God to serve his people. So that's how we're introduced to her. That's a pretty good resume to start off, especially as a young child. The next time we see her is in Exodus 15. So you can flip over to Exodus 15. Miriam is identified as a prophetess and as a leader of the people. So this event takes place, they have now crossed the Red Sea. Pharaoh reluctantly agreed to release the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. You're probably familiar with this story. They leave, they start heading toward the Palestine, but then of course Pharaoh changes his mind, and he and his armies pursue them. The Lord miraculously parts the Red Sea for them, they cross over on dry land, and then when Pharaoh and his armies attempt to cross, they are drowned. And Moses writes a song for the people to sing to celebrate what the Lord has done for them. And at the end of the song we see Miriam. So this is Exodus 15, 20 and 21. Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam said to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. We see her as a leader of the people, and the women are following her, and they're following her in this dance. So you get this sense of her enthusiasm, her charisma, this kind of natural leadership ability, and that kind of makes the words come alive. The fact that she's identified as a prophetess suggests that God has been using her throughout her life, but we don't know in what way. The events aren't recorded for us. So presumably, this is just my wild speculation, probably during the time Moses was off in Midian caring for the sheep, that God was using Miriam and Aaron to guide the people and lead the people. You'll recall Moses killed an Egyptian soldier. He had to flee for his life, and he fled to Midian. And while he was gone, I would it would appear that Mo Miriam and Aaron were the leaders of the people. When Moses asked God to send someone to Pharaoh who's more articulate than he, he gladly accepts Aaron as a substitute. So we can surmise that Aaron has also been playing this role and had some kind of leadership ability as well as Miriam, and now you see her leading the people in this dance. So I'm speculating that God's been using her all along. Now we get to Numbers 12, and this is where the problem starts. This is the one where you can probably relate to. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. And the three of them came out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward, and he said, Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. When the cloud removed from the tent, behold, Miriam was lepers leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, O my Lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried to the Lord, O God, please heal her, please. But the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again. So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam was brought in again. You read that and you go, Whoa, doesn't that seem a bit harsh? She grumbles and says, Has the Lord not spoken hasn't he spoken through us too? Is he only worked through Moses and God strikes her with leprosy? Let's talk about that. The first question we want to ask is, Why was Miriam punished and not Aaron? Why is she the one that's that's stricken and he is appears not to be? Both of them grumbled against Moses, but you'll notice Aaron immediately takes responsibility. When he begs Moses for help, he says, We have been foolish, we have sinned. So he is immediately, we see some level of repentance. We don't have any repentance recorded from Miriam. Also, her name comes first in verse 1, suggesting that she was the instigator, that she was the one who was kind of, hey, Aaron, get this, look what's happening here. Moses is doing all this great stuff and God's not using us anymore. And what's what's wrong with that? I suspect of the three, Miriam was probably the most naturally gifted. When we see her in Scripture and you compare her with the other two, we don't see her fighting the battles the her brothers fight. For instance, Moses fought these battles of self-worth. God had to repeatedly remind him to do what he was called to do. And when God calls him, he says, Can't you send Aaron instead? Send him, not me. And it seems like Moses was at least having some insecurity about that. And maybe he looked back on the failures in his life and thought it was it was too, you know, he was too sinful for God to use him. Aaron, on the other hand, we see him having the influence of his office, but when he's appointed high priest by God, he uses that influence. But you remember when Moses goes up the mountain to get the law, Aaron fails to keep the people in line. He kind of blows in the wind. Moses is up on Mount Sinai. The people say, What's taking so long? And they ask Aaron to make them the golden calf, and he does. So we see that failure. Later when Moses fails the Lord by striking the rock at Maribi, Aaron complied with him. So it seems like we we see Aaron kind of being shifted by his circumstances. And it may be the case that here again he is being shifted by his sister and following her where she's leading. Now we know that Miriam has been used by God to spread his word among his people. The glimpses we have of her before this in Scripture shows she was faithful. She has poise and charm and courage. And other than this incident, we don't really see her struggling with her role or her or the way God's using her. We see her leading people in the dance of praise. We don't see her involved in the golden calf incident, although she was probably at least there. And as God says in this passage, he periodically speaks through a prophet by giving them a dream or a vision. Presumably he'd done that with Miriam because she's identified as a prophetess. She's been used, so she has been used by God to transmit his word. And now what's happening is Moses is coming along, his role is increasing. As Moses' role increases, her role is diminished, and she resents it. Because here she had maybe dreams or visions, but God's talking to Moses face to face. Wouldn't that be something? So she's got a problem. She resents her brother for what how God is using him and wants that spotlight for herself. But God loves her too much to ignore it. Her heart is sick, she's bitter, and she resents the glory God's given to her baby brother, and God loves her too much to leave her in that sin. So at the Exodus, something new begins, as God says in verse 8, with Moses, I speak mouth to mouth, openly, not in dark sayings. So instead of these prophets who occasionally had a visit from God, now Moses becomes the lawgiver. God reveal is revealing himself to the people in a new way. He's speaking to Moses face to face, and he's giving them the law. So they'll now they'll have a written record of what God wants them to do. They can think along with the Lord, they can see him more clearly because now they're getting the law. And this whole new chapter is opening up. And it starts with God using Moses in a new way, but a side effect of that is Miriam's gifts are not that important anymore. Or they're not be as necessary because God is giving his people now this great and wonderful gift of the law. Now everyone can have knowledge of it. It's not her fault, in a sense, that God's methods have changed, and it's a good thing that her role is diminished. She has the same opportunity as everyone else to learn the law and to grow in this new way. But instead of appreciating this new thing God is doing and rejoicing that he's using someone else, she resents it. And that resentment makes her heart sick. So she grumbles about Moses' wife as a smokescreen for her resentment. She complains about the fact that he married a Cushite woman, but I think that's a smoke screen. Because in the very next verse she says, hasn't God also spoken through us? That's the real issue. Now we don't know much about this wife that she mentions. In fact, everything we know is right here in these verses. Cush was a region south of Egypt. It was a province of Egypt during the time Moses was an Egyptian prince. After his years in Midian, there's no time for him to have married a Cushite wife, at least from the records we have. So we think he probably married this woman early in his life when he was a relatively young man before he was exiled off into Midian. Cush is now Ethiopia. It's primarily a black population, so there may have been some racial prejudice that he married outside of the Hebrew race. And that could also be behind Miriam's comment. We don't know what happened. Perhaps the marriage ended in divorce or death, because when Moses flees to Midian and then marries Jethro's daughter, he appears to be unattached at that point. We just have to speculate from these verses that this must have been an early marriage in his youth, and that for whatever reason he's no longer married to this woman. But at any rate, this marriage is in the past. It's over and done with. God's obviously forgiven Moses, and here's Miriam dredging it up. Let me just throw a little dirt on Moses' way just to indulge in a little character assassination. And of course, the implication is I never did that. I never, you know, married outside the Hebrew race. And God's spoken with me, and I don't have any little scandals in my closet like Moses does. But the problem is not that Moses married a Cushite woman. The problem is Miriam resents the way God is using her baby brother, and she's jealous of the role he's playing, and therefore how her role is being diminished. She's probably thinking, how can God use me with Moses in the spotlight all the time? I mean, he's robbing us of the opportunity to use our gifts. Aren't we God's spokesman too? And notice the contrast. Moses never wanted the glory. You can see that from the text. In verse 3, he's it says, the man Moses was very humble or meek more than any man who's on the face of the earth. So the author goes out of his way to say Moses is not in this for the spotlight. He's not in this for the glory. He's the most humble man on the face of the earth. He didn't ask God to appear to him. He didn't go seeking him. He didn't set up the meeting. He doesn't appoint himself. He's kind of hiding out in Midiam, caring for sheep when God finds him and brings him back to Egypt. And look back at chapter 11 for a minute. I'm going to read you 1126 through 29. Now two men remained in the camp. One was named one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp. Here's these two other guys. The spirit comes upon them, they start prophesying, and I suspect this would have been something like Miriam's ministry, probably the way she was used. And then in 1127, and a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from its youth, said, My Lord, Moses, stop them. So here's this young man and Joshua, and they're all, oh wait, these guys are like, they're taking your role. They're out there prophesying, and you gotta go stop them because that's your job. You're you're the only one that can do that. So they're kind of concerned for Moses. But look how Moses responds in 1129. But Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit on them. Far from being protective, Moses is like, I'm longing for the day when everybody has the spirit. In other words, our day, the day after Pentecost, when he won't be needed. It won't be necessary for him to be the only one with God's spirit in that way. He's longing for the day when everyone will have this gift and they all know and understand. So he's not trying to push Miriam and Aaron out of the spotlight. He doesn't care about the spotlight. He's caring about God's word and it being proclaimed and longing for the day when everyone can proclaim it. So the problem is not Moses' arrogance because he doesn't have any. The problem is Miriam resents it. She resents the fact that her baby brother is eclipsing her. And I think that goes on in the church a lot. We look around the church and we compare ourselves to other people and we think, oh, I could do that job better than she could, or I wish I had that job and not this job, or I'm just a failure, or whatever. I'm doing. And we we do all this, we engage in this comparison, and I think God would say, There is no comparison. You have a calling, I want you to do it. Whatever your role is, that's what you're supposed to do. So Miriam resents the fact that her little brother is eclipsing her, and she vents her frustration, and God acts swiftly. He hears in verse 2, he calls a meeting in verse 4, he chastises Miriam and Aaron in 5 through 8, and then he leaves in 9. It's like, whew. And the result of his intervention is that Miriam is leprosy, which was the most feared and hated disease in the ancient world. Now, I want to suggest that he picks this because leprosy is often symbolic of sin. Aaron pleads on her behalf, and you can just hear the anguish in his voice. It's almost as Moses, can't you do something? So why? Why would God act so swiftly and decisively? Why did he publicly disgrace Miriam and give her this frightening and painful disease and then expel her from the camp so that the whole nation has to stop and wait a week for her to be healed? It seems out of proportion at first. After all, Moses killed a man and seemingly got away with it. Aaron made the golden calf, which is often referred to as the one of the low points in biblical history, and he didn't get leprosy. So why is God so hard on Miriam? I think the answer lies in the fact that her sin is on the inside and it's very subtle and it's easy to ignore, but it's deadly. Moses knew the minute he killed the Egyptian man that he had done wrong. There's a body there. He couldn't deny it. His sin was blatant, visible, and undenial. Someone living was now no longer living. Aaron likewise had the same unmistakable confirmation that the golden calf was idolatry. Moses comes down the mountain, flies into rage, and there's this, there's no denying that sin. There's this big hunk of gold there. But resentment hides in our hearts. And we can fool ourselves into thinking, not a problem. It's just this inside thing. We can smolder inside and no one knows it's there, and we might not even know it's there. And we can fool ourselves with all kinds of justifications like, well, it's only fair, it's just right, or you know, we use words like fairness and justice to cover it up. You know, it's just not fair that they have that gain, or I worked hard for it, I should have it, I didn't marry some Cushite woman, I didn't commit those flagrant sins, I was born for this job, what about me? And you can kind of nurture it along. And that's, I think, why God acts swiftly, because resentment is a hidden disease of the soul, and God says, I'm gonna expose it. He knew Miriam's heart was troubled, and he loved her too much to leave her in that sin. And leprosy does on the outside what resentment does on the inside. So resentment disfigures the soul, and leprosy disfigures the body. Resentment is that inner eating away that makes us bitter and ugly and frustrated and angry, and leprosy disfigures the body, making it painful and ugly. Resentment can make others stumble, and leprosy made the nation wait. We can, as Miriam did with Aaron, you know, she can get him to go along with this and like, isn't this terrible and get someone else to stumble and draw them into our bitterness where leprosy made the whole nation stop and wait seven days. Resentment isolates us from others. Lepers were quarantined. So we're isolated from others because we're building these walls of I want their gift or I want their role or I want their accomplishments, and leprosy does the same thing. It forced Miriam into isolation in the wilderness. So I think God is saying to Miriam, I want to show you on the outside what leprosy is doing to you on the inside, or show you on the outside with leprosy what resentment is doing to you on the inside. I want to show you this disease that's eating away at your soul because it's easy for us to hide it and justify it, and God wants to make sure Miriam doesn't do that. We see Aaron immediately confessing his sin. We don't see that from Miriam. Can only speculate that maybe she hadn't reached that point yet. We see Aaron immediately admit he was wrong and plead to Moses to intervene, and we haven't seen that humility from Miriam yet. And it suggests to me that God struck her with leprosy because he wanted her to come face to face with her resentment and to deal with it. God never promised that we would be equally gifted in this life. He never promised that it would be fair in that sense. You can argue this from many of the spiritual gifts passages. Paul makes this argument in 1 Corinthians that we are called to be different. We are called to be diverse, and that some people will have what the upfront, glamorous kind of roles, the ones we all seem to define as in the spotlight. Other people might have more behind-the-scenes roles. So we are not all going to be equally wealthy, equally healthy, equally happy, have the same path in life. We aren't going to have the same visible education or opportunities. And he never said that we would be given all the same roles. He says, I've made you different for a reason because you're bringing glory to my name, and we need all these parts to play. And that's not unfair of him. I mean, if you assign one of your children the task of mowing the lawn and the other child the task of doing the dishes, you've given them different roles to play, but it doesn't mean you love one more than the other, or that they're not both your children, or that one's, you know, you're treating one better or worse. They're just different roles to play in the family, and God gives us different roles to play in the kingdom. But where it matters, we are equal. So He has promised us the same inheritance, the same grace, the same mercy, the same Lord, the same Father, and the same Spirit. Those are the things that are truly important, and in those things we are absolutely equal. Nobody has more of Christ than anyone else. Nobody has more of God's love. In those things that are truly eternal and matter, we are equal. So for us to argue over who gets what role in the kingdom is like arguing over who has the most paperclips, it's it's just really not that big a deal from God's perspective. Our roles are nothing compared to the glory that's to follow. So having given us his son, given us grace and mercy, we have no reason to turn around and go, but I wanted her job. We're missing the big picture. If we start resenting each other for who gets to do what and who doesn't, we we don't really have the right to resent God for what he chooses to give someone else or insist on getting the same things. So Miriam and Aaron had a problem. Their brother was destined to be greater than they were. But both of them were required to give of themselves at times to make sure Moses was successful. Miriam saved Moses as a baby in the basket. Aaron had to speak for to Pharaoh for Moses' behalf. Now his name is becoming great among the people, and they have to watch as God meets with Moses face to face while they still have dreams and visions. And you can say Moses succeeded in part because Miriam and Aaron served him well. And we can understand as sinful people, they want some credit for their efforts. And God's saying, look at what I've already given you. Look at the inheritance that is to come. All of you are playing a role in bringing that about, just some have different roles than others. Many of us may be asked by God to make someone else successful. Maybe it's your child or your spouse or your friend or your boss. That's not wrong. It's not unfair for God to ask you to do that. That's just part of being used in his kingdom. It's wrong when we start resenting it. And we resent it because we get more concerned over who's getting the glory rather than what good are we doing. So Miriam's problem was that she was focused more on doing on getting glory than on doing good. And she had to learn that it's more important for the Word of God to be proclaimed than that I be the one proclaiming it. And that's a hard lesson to learn, but it's one I've had to learn repeatedly as a teacher. And I suspect in other callings it's the same temptation, but I know from being a teacher, it's so you start craving being up front and being the one that's visible. And it carries this kind of spotlight. And it's easy to start wanting the spotlight for the spotlight and start comparing yourself with other teachers and getting puffed up if you think you're better or resentful if you think you're worse. And you have to learn, it's not about me, it's about the word of God being proclaimed. And if anyone proclaims it, amen, hallelujah. That's what we want. So I think that's the primary temptation of serving in a church. Like siblings, we all want to start fighting over who got what job and who got to serve in what ministry and who got to organize what event and who didn't and who got thanked and who didn't, who got recognized, and so on, who did most of the work and who got the credit for it, and those don't always line up. And that's where we have to step back and go, we are all servants of the King. And the goal is good, not glory. The goal is faithfully doing whatever He calls us to do and letting Him call us as He sees fit. It's more important that the Word of God be proclaimed than I get credit for for proclaiming it. So I think as a church, as a local body of believers, we ought to step back and realize we're on the same team. So we don't have to see our ministries as competing. You know, it's not that women's ministry competes with men's ministry or competes with youth group or whatever. We are members of the same body, the same team serving the same Lord. And if one ministry gets in the spotlight for a while, amen. That's great. We should cheer and rejoice. If one ministry stumbles and hits hard times, then we should all weep together and try to get it back on its feet. Because the goal is to serve our Lord and the King. The goal is not fame and glory, and we can accomplish a whole lot of good if we don't care who gets the glory. So what happened to Miriam? Well, there's nothing more in Scripture about her except that she died and was buried. That's in Numbers 21, 20, verse 1. We don't really know what happened to her because the scripture doesn't stay, but I like to believe that Miriam followed the pattern of other heroes of the faith who spent time in the wilderness and came out strengthened. So I like to speculate that after Miriam's seven days, she came out strengthened and healed and corrected. And the fact that nothing more is said about her may mean she learned her lesson well and she was content to sit stay in a supportive, less visible role, continuing to comfort and encourage the people as God used her, and not caring how much glory Moses got. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you are a God that doesn't leave us in our sin, and that you love us too much to let resentment smolder in our hearts or to let us struggle with these temptations to compare ourselves to other believers. And we just pray that we would learn these lessons, that we would be content to clap and cheer and be excited by whoever serves your kingdom in whatever way, and that you would open our eyes to the ways that we can serve, regardless of whether anyone notices, regardless of whether we get the glory or the upfront time or behind the scenes time, that we would be content to follow you, knowing that you have gifted us equally in the most important things, the grace and forgiveness that comes through your son Jesus Christ. And we ask Alice in your name. I'm in the world.