I’ve shared with you many times that one of my favorite things to do is to take a familiar passage of Scripture and invest the time to look at it closely and carefully asking God not to show us something new but to show us something more. We all tend to move quickly through things that we are familiar with or to believe that we already have a firm grasp of things that we have been affected by or gone through before. Today’s text is a favorite of mine, it’s a passage of Scripture that God has used to reveal what He desires from my heart and to show me where I stand in His. I’ve read it, studied it, quoted it and preached it many times and so as I began to approach it a few weeks ago it was with a bit of familiarity and probably a lack of wonder, assuming that this was a passage I was already prepared to speak from and speak about. Over the last few weeks, as I’ve been away, sitting with my Father from his last days to his last breath, having the honor to speak for him and about him at his funeral and then attempting to stand with my Mother as she started to transition to a brand-new life that is starting in grief but not absent of joy, this passage of Scripture has been ever-present. Psalm 42:7 says “Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me.” God in His kindness knows there are moments when we need the power of His waves to roll over us and then there are seasons in which we need the gentle trickle of His stream to simply wash over our feet, comfort our hearts and mix with our tears. John the Baptist’s words to his disciples were about trust and comfort when expectations were not being met and understanding was far off, they were about joy being at its fullest when we feel like we may be losing what we have held onto tightly. John’s words were not an angry or frustrated response to jealous or complaining disciples, they were not a warning, they were a comfort, they were gentle, they were loving, they were fatherly and they were compassionate. This morning I hope to be able to share with you God’s heart for us in our decrease and His increase and I pray that we will all be willing to trust the Father enough to believe that our greatest joy will always be found, not when we reap blessing but when Jesus, through our lives, receives glory.