1 Thessalonians 3
Joy, Suffering, and God's Sovereignty

The Church as it should be; a people of joy pt 5

1 Thessalonians 3  ³ that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. ⁴ For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. ⁵ For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain. ⁶ But when Timothy came just now to us from you, and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, even as we also long to see you, ⁷ for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. 

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹² May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, ¹³ to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

The church in Thessalonica was an exemplary church, and Paul was a joyous believer.  .  They were examples to other churches regarding a number of things.  The turned to God from idols.  They endured persecution without despairing.  They followed Paul’s words and example.  And they were a people of joy.1 Thessalonians 2; ¹⁹ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus^[a] at his coming? ²⁰ For you are our glory and our joy.

⁹ For what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sakes before our God,

We’ve been looking at his letter to that church, and in this section that emphasizes joy we noted some things that Paul was teaching, or believing that contribute to joy.  In other words, if a believer is to have the joy of the Lord, he begins by believing the Word of the Lord. 

And these were the beliefs that I pulled from this text.  A joyful believer thinks of time as space from God’s perspective, he or she understands that they have an enemy, and that their power against that enemy comes only from God, they have God’s priorities; Jesus first, others second, and themselves third.

Now this week we are going to conclude the section on the Church; a people of joy by looking at the last two beliefs that impact joy.

Joy comes from our beliefs about suffering and our beliefs about sovereignty.

A joyful believer believes God’s Word concerning pain and trouble; you’re gonna have it, and they believe God’s Word concerning God’s Sovereignty; God is in control.

Joy is elicited by your beliefs about pain 3:3-8

³ that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. ⁴ For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know.  ⁷ for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. 

We are appointed to endure afflictions, You were told that you would endure afflictions, Our faith is proven when we endure afflictions.

Too much time has been wasted in Christian circles on the “Prosperity Gospel.”  There have been a number of preachers, and there continue to be a number of preachers who teach that if you are a Christian of faith you won’t get sick, and you will be prosperous. 

Joel Osteen

“God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us.”

Joyce Meyer

“If you stay in your faith, you are going to get paid.  I am now living in my reward.”

Kenneth Hagin

“Yes, sin, sickness, and disease, spiritual death, poverty, and everything else that’s of the devil once ruled us.  But now, bless God, we rule them-for this is the day of Dominion!”

Kenneth Copeland

“Don’t answer to sick, or broke, or worn out any longer.”

But here’s the truth, spoken by John Piper.  Now I don’t know who John Piper is, so this is not a recommendation that you follow his teaching.  But he was right when he said,

John Piper

“If God’s love for His children is to measured by our health, wealth, and comfort in this life, then God hated the Apostle Paul.”

People walk away from God, or at least forfeit joy because they have been taught that a Christian shouldn’t have trouble.  Or they’ve been taught that if they had enough faith, they could rebuke Satan, and the trouble he brings, and it will go away.  Then, when it doesn’t go away, they blame God, and fall away from the faith.

So, two beliefs that impact joy; affliction comes to everyone, and God is in control.

Let’s look at verse 3 and point number 1. 

Joy is elicited by your beliefs about suffering.  3:3-8

³ that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. ⁴ For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know. ⁵ For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would have been in vain. ⁶ But when Timothy came just now to us from you, and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, even as we also long to see you, ⁷ for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.

Two things about suffering afflictions; first- it’s going to happen, and endurance through suffering is the proof that your faith is real.

A.    We are appointed to endure afflictions.

³ that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. ⁴ For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction,

The greek word for “affliction” here is also often translated, tribulation, or trouble.  He’s saying that I don’t want you to be moved by, moved away from your faith by the trouble that I, or you are enduring.  What trouble are we talking about?

General suffering

Now there are specific afflictions that were happening to the Christians in Thessalonica.

persecution

Chapter 2:¹⁴ For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews ¹⁵ who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,

seperation

¹⁷ But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence, not in heart, tried even harder to see your face with great desire, 

Satanic attack/ opposition

¹⁸ because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us. 

And that is just some of what they endured.

He has just sprinkled his letter with references to a number of afflictions that they, and he have endured.  The threat of imprisonment, possible beatings, the hostility of a riotous mob, the active opposition of an antichrist Jewish faction, Satan’s work to hinder the gospel, the separation that was forced on them by earthly, and supernatural forces.  There is also the possibility that they suffered poverty, and physical pain inflicted on them. All of that together is affliction, trouble, for the Thessalonian church.

But what does Paul have to say about all of that?  Does he tell them to have faith, and all of their troubles will go away?  Does he tell them to rebuke the trouble and the devil who brought it?  No.  He says,

³ that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task. 

He tells them that they are appointed to the task of enduring afflictions.  Let me spell this out. The word for appointed here can be translated “destined.”  He is telling them that trouble is their destiny.  You’ve got an appointment with trouble to keep.  Some of you may say, “Yes, I know, I’m in the waiting room right now.”  Or you may be saying, “I’m seeing the affliction doctor, even as we speak.”

We are told here that it is our destiny as Christians to endure trouble. 

Well preacher, that’s an encouraging message.  Yes, and I’d much rather be able to tell you that Christians should be healthy, wealthy, and wise.  But that’s not what the Scripture says.  You might say, “Well maybe Paul is just a pessimist.  What does the rest of the Scripture say?” The rest of Scripture tells us that the Christian life is appointed for trouble.  And the trouble I’m talking about is not just for Christians. The first kind of trouble comes because we live in a fallen world.  It is the trouble that comes to every person.

Job 5:7 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

14 “Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

Ecclesiastes 2:²² For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? ²³ For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. 

5: ¹⁵ As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind? ¹⁷ All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

And, for the Christian, on top of that trouble, the Christian will have added the hatred of the world, Satan, and the world system.

Jesus said,

Matthew 10:22 ²² You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake…

²² Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.

¹⁸ If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 

16 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

¹³ Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

This life has many troubles, and as has been aptly stated, “None of us are getting out of here alive.”  And none of us are going to escape trouble.  It will either be the general trouble of normal life in this cursed world, or it will be the trouble that comes from following the Lord Jesus Christ, who is hated by the world, and the prince of this world; Satan.  Trouble is the Christians destiny.  Now look at what else Paul says,     

You were told that you would endure afflictions.

⁴ For most certainly, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it happened, and you know.  

He says, “Remember that we told you this was going to happen.”  That reminds me of the decision counseling that is done practically every year at youth camp.  Kids will go to camp, and they are suddenly thrown into a Christian atmosphere.  Everybody is on their best Christian behavior.  These kids go to camp with their church group, and twice a day they are opening their Bibles to hear from God with that group.  They are also placed in a peer group with some college age Christian students who talk to them about the Lord.  They meet in small groups with the camp pastor each day, and go to a worship service every evening where they are encouraged in music, and Bible preaching to follow the Lord.

For that week of camp, they live in a bubble of Christianity.

And many, in that atmosphere will make the decision to repent of sins, give their life to Christ.  But each year, almost without exception, the preacher, or some other leader, will warn these kids that the minute they leave camp, trouble is coming.  They will be told that the good feelings will fade.  That they are going back to their own world and families that will be the same as they left them.  And in some of those non-Christian home settings they may actually be ridiculed for any new-found faith.  And without doubt, Satan will begin to try and dissuade the student, to discourage them.

That’s really all that Paul is saying here.  You are destined to have trouble.  We told you that this was going to happen.

What do you believe about trouble?

How does our belief about trouble, pain, and affliction build or tear down our joy?  Well, if you have built a Biblical theology about trouble, you will expect it in this life.  And when you place your faith in the Lord, you will do so knowing that that decision may bring more trouble to your life. 

That’s where many Christians lose their joy.  They make a decision to follow Christ, or to become more obedient, to pray more, to read the Bible more, to share their faith more.  And then new trouble comes…and they are surprised.  They say, “Lord, I’ve just determined that I will serve you more, and then this happened.”  And they lose their joy, because they think that God isn’t holding up His end of the bargain. 

But Paul says here, you are appointed for trouble, remember I told you this before.

What’s the second point?

B.    Our faith is proven when we endure afflictions

⁸ For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. 

What does he mean, now we live?  He can’t be talking about physical life.  If he was saying that, he would be contradicting all that he said before about expecting affliction.  He can’t be saying, “Now we will stay alive, we won’t die, they can’t kill us, if we are right with the Lord.” 

What he’s talking about is Spiritual life.  He is saying this; “Now we know we have Spiritual life, we belong to the Lord, we are true believers, if we stand fast, we endure the afflictions, we don’t buckle, and walk away from the Lord.”

In other words, how do you know if someone’s faith is real?  How do you know if your faith is real?  If you endure afflictions.  If you go through trouble and suffering and your faith remains. 

Our faith is proven when we endure afflictions.  Trouble reveals who is real and who is false.

I think the best illustration of this is in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.

¹¹ For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble, ¹³ each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.

What was Paul saying here?  He was saying that the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ.  But as we live the Christian life, we produce.  And our works, whether good or bad, godly or godless can be described as either works of gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble.  Now all of those things can be used to produce beautiful edifices.  I could make a beautiful wood house, or even hay can be woven into a thing of beauty.  So, if these buildings are built, supposedly on the foundation of faith in Christ. 

When you build a building, once the foundation is laid, you can no longer see it.  So, how will we know who has real faith, and whose is false?  The buildings are tested by fire.  They go through the kiln of trouble.  And those who aren’t truly Christian, have built their edifice out of wood, hay, and stubble.  Those who are true, have built their edifice out of gold, silver, and precious stones.

When the fire of trouble comes to the true believer, the gold, silver, and precious stones are not consumed.  In fact, the fire burns away any impurities that may have been in them.

But the false believer, when the fire of trouble comes, will have all his works burned up. 

Trouble reveals who’s real, and who is false. 

Now let’s move on to the second belief that will either build or destroy a Christian’s joy.

Joy is elicited by your beliefs about sovereignty 3:11-13

God is in charge, and He has a purpose for what happens to you.

Some Christian’s joy is decreased because of their view of God’s Sovereignty. 

When trouble comes, they think that maybe God has lost control, never had it, or doesn’t care.  They ask, “Why did God let this happen to me?”  And, in effect, they are accusing God of injustice, or inattentiveness.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹² May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, ¹³ to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Now I want to cover three things about Sovereignty;

God is Sovereign, God’s Sovereign plan is for your love to abound, God’s Sovereign plan is for you to be blameless at Jesus Coming.

But before we look at those, I want to talk a moment about what Paul is doing here.  You see, this section is really a prayer.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹² May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, ¹³ to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

It sounds familiar to us.  It sounds like a blessing, doesn’t it?  This used to be a very common thing to do in Christian worship and Jewish worship.  The pastor or rabbi would close out the service with a blessing. 

Aaron and his sons bless the Israelites with this blessing :

“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. ”
(Numbers 6:24-26)

In Christian worship

May the love of the Father,
the tenderness of the Son,
and the presence of the Spirit,
gladden your heart
and bring peace to your soul,
this day and all days, Amen.

But what it really is, is a special kind of prayer.  It is a prayer that is a wish expressed to both the ones that you wish it for, and to the One who can fulfill that wish.  It really is a beautiful expression. I may resurrect that practice in today’s service.

But notice something about it.  It expresses a strong doctrinal belief.  The belief that God is in control.  The belief that God is Sovereign.  Look at what Paul says in terms of God’s control.

Look at the Scripture passage.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹² May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, ¹³ to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

He is not presuming that he has the power to do any of that.  Consider the first thing that he mentions, “May God and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.”  He wants to get back to see them.  He has been doing everything in his power to get back to Thessalonica.  Something has prevented that from happening.  He told us earlier that, “Satan hindered us.”  But notice that when he expresses a prayer about getting back to them, He, in effect, says, “Lord, I know that You are ultimately in control of whether or not I get back to Thessalonica.”  “I pray that You will direct our way back there.”

Paul understands God’s Sovereignty.  God’s absolute control over everything.  And the rest of the prayer is the same… “May God and our Lord Jesus make you increase.” “May God and our Lord Jesus establish your heart.” 

He knows that God has a plan, and that he must bend to God’s Will, God does not bend to Paul’s will.  His prayer acknowledges God’s plan, it is not a laundry list of how he thinks God should work out his and the Thessalonian church’s troubles.

What is God’s will for the church at Thessalonica?  That their love abound, and they be blameless at Jesus’ Coming. 

And let me say this, these are key ideas that should be a major part of our prayers.  Let me say that I believe that many Christians have diminished joy because their desires and their prayers are centered on things outside of the Sovereign plan of God.  And if you spend your life desiring and praying for things outside of God’s plan, you are going to be a very frustrated Christian.  You are not going to have much joy. 

The Word Sovereignty means

Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state.

Royal rank, authority, or power.

Complete independence and self-government.

And when applied to God, it means that God has complete control over everything, both good and evil.

Well how does believing that, or not believing that effect my joy?  Well, when something bad happens in life, I need to realize that God allowed that bad thing to happen.  He uses every part of our lives to “work all things together for good to those who love the Lord, and are called according to His purposes.”

Let’s get real here.  I just had a text conversation with someone who used to attend this church.  15 years ago, I was with them when someone died that they loved.  It was a grandparent who had a long bought with a disease. 

Well, in our ongoing conversation, he said, “I lost my faith that night, when that happened.”  I took that to mean that he no longer believed, in God, in Jesus. 

Now, let me say this.  I understand grief.  And when a person is in the middle of a time of grief, you can begin to question everything.  But 15 years have passed since he lost his grandparent.  How can you say, “I lost my faith when my grandparent died?”

Well, in this case, I believe the answer is that this person wasn’t really a Christian.  But, in other cases, if a Christian is questioning God like that, years after trouble knocked on their door, it is probably because they have a deficient understanding of what Scripture says.  Scripture says that trouble comes to everyone, and that God is in control.

This is where many Christians struggle.  We pray for the sick.  We pray for the dying.  But just because we ask for something, isn’t a guarantee that we will receive it, or that our plans are God’s plans.

Some people struggle with that.  They say, “I prayed for God to heal my loved one, and He didn’t.  They died.  So, I lost my faith.”

Or some lose their faith during these trials because they thought that trouble only comes to those with little or no faith.  “But this shouldn’t have happened to me, because I was faithful.” 

I struggled to know how to respond to this person.  So, I replied that I had lost loved ones as well.  I’ve lost my brother when I was 19.  I recently lost my father.  I’ve lost all of my grandparents. 

And I said that, though I miss them, I look forward to the day when I see them again in heaven.

In those few short words, I hoped to convey these two truths; affliction comes to everyone, and God is in control.

Now that doesn’t mean that we always understand why.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t grieve.  And it’s not a fatalistic belief.  When someone is sick, we pray and take the to the doctor.  But we understand that this is the lot of this life.  And God works through trouble to cause us to grow spiritually.  We need to look at everything that happens and ask, “Lord, what will you have me learn from this?” 

Bad things in life teach us many lessons.  That is a spiritually healthy perspective.

Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness.

Malcolm Muggeridge, in Homemade, July, 1990.

It’s a matter of what you believe.  If you think that it’s not supposed to happen to you, or “good” people, if you don’t believe that God is in control, then when bad things happen the first thing that you do if scurry off in your mind thinking of all that you need to do to fix the circumstances.  If you believe God is Sovereign, the first place you go in times of trouble is to God.  And you go to Him with a three-fold prayer; you say, Lord, I know you are in control of this, Lord, what would you have me learn from this, and Lord, if it is in Your Will, please change this, working out Your Purposes, and for Your Glory.

When you leave it to God, and that is the place of joy for the Christian.

Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not easy.  But it encourages peace and joy in the heart.

Now we have two more points about Sovereignty.  We just emphasized that God is in control.  Now Paul tells us what God’s plan is.

God is Sovereign; He directs your way, makes you increase and abound, establishes your heart,  God’s Sovereign plan is for your love to abound, God’s Sovereign plan is for you to be blameless at Jesus Coming.

Look at God’s Sovereign plan.

A.   God’s Sovereign plan is for your love to abound.

¹² May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love toward one another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you, 

God wants your love to increase and abound.  What kind of love does He want to abound?  The word love here is “agape” love.  It is the love you express that is like God’s love.  It is love “in spite of.”  There are other words for love in the New Testament other than “agape.”  And what they express are things like the affection we feel for others because of our relationship to them, or what they do for us.  I love you because we are kin.  I love you because we get along.  I love you because you are beautiful and kind.  But those kinds of love are conditional.  If you quit being beautiful and kind, I quit loving you.  But “agape” loves says, “I love you in spite of who you are.”  If you are ugly and hateful toward me, I love you in spite of that. 

That’s the kind of love that Paul prays will increase and abound in them.   And apparently they had that kind of love in their congregation.

1 Thessalonians 1:3

remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.

 1 Thessalonians 3:6

But when Timothy came just now to us from you, and brought us glad news of your faith and love, and that you have good memories of us always, longing to see us, even as we also long to see you,

1 Thessalonians 4:9

But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

But his prayer for them is that they not only have God’s kind of love but, two things, 1^st thing

That that love exist in all their relationships, verse 12, toward each other, toward all men, and us toward you.

Our prayer is that God’s self-giving love exist in all of your relationships, inside and outside the church. Toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and even toward your enemies, and we also pray that we can have that kind of love toward you.

2^nd thing

We want that love to “increase and abound.”  The word increase here is talking about having more than you need.  It’s the picture of filling a basket full of grain. 

Luke 6:38

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you.

Paul is saying, “We want you to have God’s kind of love in an overabundance.”  We want it to increase, and abound.  If it wasn’t enough for him to say increase, he had to add another superlative, we also want God’s love to abound in you.

The word abound here is the same word that is used when Jesus fed the multitudes.  After Jesus fed the multitude in John 6, it says the disciples gathered what was left over after everyone had eaten until they were full.  So “abound” here indicates the leftovers

B.   God’s Sovereign plan is for you to be blameless at Jesus Coming.

¹³ to the end he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

So, God’s Sovereign plan is for you to grow in love in this present world, and that you will be blameless in holiness at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

How does God accomplish those two goals; through affliction. 

1 Peter 1: ⁶ Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, ⁷ that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If we consider the greatness and the glory of the life we shall have when we have risen from the dead, it would not be difficult at all for us to bear the concerns of this world. If I believe the Word, I shall on the Last Day, after the sentence has been pronounced, not only gladly have suffered ordinary temptations, insults, and imprisonment, but I shall also say: "O, that I did not throw myself under the feet of all the godless for the sake of the great glory which I now see revealed and which has come to me through the merit of Christ!"

Martin Luther.

Well, we’ve come through two truths that build our joy; the first is that suffering is inevitable in this life.  So, we expect it, and we keep our eyes on God, and on the life to come.  The second truth is that whatever comes to us, God is in control.  If we do all that we righteously can to alleviate that suffering, and it is still with us, we should look to God to see what purpose He is accomplishing in us through that suffering. 

Well, I told you earlier that this last section; Paul’s blessing the people of Thessalonica, is really a prayer expressing his desire for that church, to the One who can fulfill that desire.  So, I think it is only fitting that we close this study with a similar blessing.  This is our closing prayer.

May God the Father
prepare your journey,
Jesus the Son
guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life
strengthen your body,
The Three in One
watch over you,
on every road
that you may follow.

And the people said, Amen