An A to Z for Suffering Servants

[0:00] But as I said, this evening we're going to be looking at Psalm 25 with Phil Copeland. So let's turn there now, turn in your Bibles, and we're going to read together this psalm. Last week we looked so helpfully at Psalm 24, asking that question, who can ascend the hill of the Lord?

[0:16] And the great news is that we can if we turn our face only to the one true God and not to that which is false and idols. And Psalm 25 really is a follow-on. It's the prayer of a man who has ascended, who does know the intimate presence of the covenant Lord.

[0:32] It's a beautiful psalm. So let's read it together. Psalm of David. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.

[0:45] Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exalt over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

[1:00] Make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation.

[1:12] For you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love. For they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.

[1:26] According to your steadfast love, your covenant love, remember me. For the sake of your goodness, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he instructs sinners in the way.

[1:39] He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his ways. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

[1:55] For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt. For it is great. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

[2:08] His soul shall abide in well-being and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him. And he makes known to them his covenant.

[2:22] My eyes are ever toward the Lord. For he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me. And be gracious to me.

[2:34] For I'm lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble. And forgive all my sins.

[2:48] Consider how many are my foes. And with what violent hatred they hate me. O God, my soul, and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame.

[3:00] For I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me. For I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God.

[3:12] Out of all his troubles. Amen. And may God bless to us his word. Well, good evening.

[3:25] And please do have your Bibles back open to Psalm 25. That we read together. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[3:35] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. When the church comes under fire from the enemies of the gospel today, how are we to pray?

[3:52] And when we are deeply conscious of our own folly and our own failures, how are we to pray? Well, Psalm 25 will help us.

[4:02] A good few years ago now, I was at a birthday party. I believe it might have been a 21st birthday party, so it was quite a while ago. But the father of the birthday girl read out a poem that he had written for and about his daughter.

[4:18] And the poem was very memorable because it had been written as an acrostic poem. That is, each section of the poem began with the successive letters of the girl's name.

[4:30] Her name was Claire. I had to remember what her name was. I couldn't quite remember. But her name was Claire. So the very first section began with C. Then the next section began with the letter L. And the next A, and so on and so forth.

[4:43] Well, in the Bible, there are a number of acrostic poems where each section of the poem begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, Psalm 119, which we studied recently on Sunday evenings.

[4:56] That is a big, long acrostic poem. Like a Proverbs 31 with a poem of an excellent wife. That's an acrostic. And so is Psalm 25.

[5:08] For the most part, each section of the psalm begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And in this psalm, David is crying out to the Lord in anguish.

[5:21] Deep anguish. Because he's surrounded by immense pressure. Immense pressure. You see, David at that time was being blasted by enemies from without.

[5:33] And also at the same time, he was so aware, painfully aware, of the enemy within. Of his own sinful heart. And in response to all of this pressure that he's under, he cries out to the Lord in prayer for help.

[5:48] And we're going to think a bit more about that in a minute as we go through the psalm. But before then, please look at the end of the psalm to verse 22. It says this, Now this verse sticks out really very emphatically at the end of the psalm.

[6:06] It's not part of the acrostic structure. It stands out distinctive. And I take it actually, it's making a very simple point. In verse 22, David seems to be saying, Lord, all of these things that I've prayed in this psalm, all of these things that I've asked you, may it also be true of the whole of God's people, of the whole of Israel, all those who trust in you.

[6:33] In other words, David is encouraging the people of God to see this psalm as actually a model prayer that they too can pray, especially when they find themselves under fire.

[6:46] One commentator puts it like this, When the psalm, sorry, what the psalm depicts about the need of King David is the same kind of need the whole covenant people have today.

[6:58] So then let's look at this model prayer together and realize that this is an A to Z for all suffering servants, for people like you and for people like me who belong to the Lord Jesus. This is a prayer for us to learn from and to use.

[7:12] And I'd like to look at it under three headings. Here's the first thing. We see the pressure felt by a suffering servant. When I was younger, about my mid-twenties, my grandfather, who at this point was coming to the kind of late stages of his life on earth, he lived with us.

[7:32] And I used to spend a lot of time in my week caring for him. And we would sit out in the garden and he would tell me all sorts of stories about his life. In particular, he used to tell me loads of stories about the time he spent fighting in World War II.

[7:47] And I'll never forget one memory he shared. He said, I was out on night patrol one time with the rest of my section of soldiers. And something went wrong. I can't quite remember what happened, but my grandfather got separated.

[7:59] And it was in the dark. He didn't know where he was. And he was desperately trying to get back to his troops. And he stumbled upon soldiers, but they were not his soldiers. He stumbled upon enemy soldiers and they started to attack him and fire at him.

[8:15] And he managed to get away and he found sanctuary in an abandoned farmhouse nearby. And it was in the middle of the dark, in the night. It was pitch black. He was in this house and he was hiding.

[8:27] I think it was in a cabinet somewhere. And all he could hear outside of him were the voices of the enemies. And they were all hunting for him. They were all seeking to kill him and destroy him.

[8:42] He was surrounded by the enemy. And that is David's situation here in this psalm. In verse 2, he speaks of those who want to exalt over him, those who want to bring him down and those who want to rejoice in his downfall.

[8:56] And to see him being publicly shamed. In verse 19, he says, there are many of these foes and they hate him with a violent hatred. And you know, friends, really, this was not a rare situation for David to be in.

[9:14] As the Lord's anointed, he was pretty much always opposed by those who hated the Lord and his kingdom. Go home tonight, read Psalm 2. And you will see what it was like for David.

[9:25] It says that all the nations and all the leaders of the nations are constantly out to wage war against the Lord and his anointed. And just look at verse 7, please.

[9:37] Look at verse 7. David says to the Lord, remember not the sins of my youth. Now we'll come to think a bit more about that petition in a minute in our second point. But just notice that little phrase there. Remember not the sins of my youth.

[9:49] That seems to imply that David is no longer a youth at the point of writing this psalm. He's most probably at this point mature in his years as he writes.

[10:02] He may well have written this psalm during the awful, atrocious time where his own son, his own family member, his own son, Absalom, raised up a revolt against him.

[10:13] You can read about that in the latter chapters of 2 Samuel. Whether that's the case or not, we can't be absolutely certain. But what we can be certain of is that this wasn't rare for David.

[10:24] This was an all-of-life thing. He was hunted by enemies simply because he belonged to the Lord. And you know, David is not so simple that he thinks that his only trouble is on the outside.

[10:38] He doesn't make the mistake of forgetting the traitor within. You can see that from the way all the way through the psalm. David again and again and again, he speaks about his sin.

[10:49] He keeps his own folly and failures right in front of him. So, as we see in verse 7, he speaks of the sins of my youth and my transgressions.

[10:59] I take it that sin in the past and sin that he's currently doing in the present. Verse 8, he speaks about himself as being a sinner who needs to be taught how to live.

[11:09] In verse 11, he speaks of the guilt, his great guilt that needs to be pardoned. Verse 18, he speaks about his sins that need to be forgiven. Once again, here is a man, here is a real believer and he's living out the real life of faith.

[11:26] He is under pressure from without and he's also got an enemy within. And just listen to what this pressure is doing to David. Look at verse 16 and following.

[11:38] This sounds like it could come right out of the book of Job. David says to the Lord, turn to me and be gracious to me. Why? Because I'm lonely.

[11:48] I'm so alone and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Please bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction, my trouble and forgive all my sins.

[12:02] Consider how many are my foes and with what violent hatred they hate me. He is a man under immense pain and under immense pressure.

[12:14] And he's like that because he is a believer, because he belongs to the Lord. And friends, the Bible is completely clear. Remember, this sort of pressure, this sort of experience is not reserved simply for the kings of the Bible.

[12:32] Actually, all believers should expect to face this sort of pressure in life. All churches should face, expect to face this sort of pressure.

[12:43] Just remember the words of King David's greater son. He said to his disciples, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

[13:01] So friends, we must not be surprised if we as a church come into the line of fire from the unbelieving society that surrounds us simply because we belong to the Lord and love him.

[13:15] Simply because we, like David, take our sins seriously and look to the Lord to save us and to teach us. We'll think a bit more about that in a minute. Friends, this pressure is part of the normal Christian life.

[13:28] Remember the book of Acts? Another example. Remember the apostle Paul? One of his journeys that he did traveling around all those little local churches? What did he preach to them in order to encourage them?

[13:39] Well, Luke gives us a summary of a sermon. And here it is. Paul said to the churches, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

[13:49] It's true of David. It's also true of us today. And you know, there will be times in the Christian life today as well when you and I are deeply conscious of our failings and our folly.

[14:02] There may even be times, friends, when you and I look back upon the things that we did against the Lord when we were younger in our youth. And our hearts are filled with horror.

[14:16] And we're driven to despair. Maybe that's you this evening. Might be you this evening. Maybe not. But maybe you are here tonight and you're sitting in church with actually years and years of guilt painted up in your heart because of the sins of your past.

[14:32] And as a result, you might be here with loads of people, but deep down in your heart, you're actually so lonely because you've been struggling with this guilt for years. Maybe that's you.

[14:44] Or maybe you're here right now and actually you've been blasted by the unbelieving world around about you. Maybe even an unbelieving family member has ridiculed you and made you feel like an absolute fool for trusting in Christ.

[14:58] And again, the troubles of your heart are absolutely enlarging and enlarging all the time. Well, where can you turn in order to find hope?

[15:13] Well, Psalm 25 says to you, be like David. Turn to the God of your salvation. And that brings us to our second point this evening. And it's great hope. First point is full of sobering realism, but this point gives us great hope.

[15:28] The second point this evening is the petitions made by a suffering servant. So David is in great pain and anguish. He's extremely conscious of his failings and folly.

[15:41] But David does not turn away from the Lord. He doesn't go and try and sort out his mess all on his own. Neither does he turn to any idol or to any other worldly thing to help him.

[15:52] David immediately turns wholeheartedly in trust to the Lord alone because he knows that ultimately it is only the Lord who can help him. And really what we've got in verses 1 to 7 and verses 15 to 22, another way of saying this is this passage is another sandwich.

[16:10] I talk about sandwiches a lot, but it's structured like a sandwich. And in these two sections at the beginning and end of the psalm, David makes these big petitions, big requests to the Lord for help.

[16:22] And I want to look at these petitions under three headings and to try and be memorable, they all begin with the letter D. But here we go. Here's the first petition. David says, deliver me.

[16:35] Lord, deliver me. Look at verse 2, please. In fact, let's read from verse 1 of David. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

[16:47] Oh my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me. In other words, David is asking the Lord to deliver him from the evil schemes of those who are out to bring him down.

[17:04] Those who are out to make David look like a complete fool for trusting in the Lord. What David is really wanting here is vindication, public vindication.

[17:15] He wants the Lord to declare him for being so right for putting all of his trust in the Lord. And by way of implication, David is also asking that the Lord would publicly put his enemies to shame.

[17:28] And he asks the same thing again in verse 19. Consider how many are my foes and with what violent hatred they hate me. O guard my soul and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame.

[17:41] For I take refuge in you. Show me to be right in putting all my trust in you and finding refuge in you. But just notice, please, that David is very clear on this fact.

[17:55] He's very clear on the fact that he will have to wait for the Lord to do this. Just look at verse 3. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.

[18:06] They shall be ashamed who are wantingly treacherous. I take it he's talking there about his enemies. But notice there, that word, David knows that he has to wait. He knows the deliverance will only come about according to the Lord's timing.

[18:21] He will have to wait and endure this current pressure. Maybe even for the rest of his life. He doesn't know, but ultimately, he knows that full and final delivery and public vindication will come for all those who trust in the Lord.

[18:35] And public shame will come for their enemies. That's the first thing he cries out, the first big petition, deliver me. Here's the second one. Lord, direct me.

[18:46] Direct me. Or Lord, teach me. But teach me doesn't begin with the letter D. But let's please look at verse 4. It says, Make known your ways, O Lord.

[18:57] Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation. For you, I wait. Notice the wait word once again. All the day long.

[19:08] So David is asking that he would be directed down the Lord's path. So in other words, David is asking the Lord to teach him how to live properly. To teach him how to walk in his commandments.

[19:21] Again, he's so aware of his shortcomings and his proneness to wandering away from the Lord. And so this is why he cries this prayer request out to the Lord.

[19:31] This big petition. Please teach me how to walk in a morally right way according to your beautiful commandments. Now, Dale Ralph Davis actually has a different take on these verses.

[19:45] And he says that when David speaks about the Lord's ways and the Lord's paths, he's not referring to the ways God commands. But he, to the ways that God operates.

[19:58] He's not talking about the Lord's precepts, but of the Lord's providence. And Ralph Davis also goes on to say that in verse 5, you could easily translate that as lead me in your faithfulness instead of lead me in your truth.

[20:13] So according to him, David seems to be praying that the Lord will teach him how he is working out his case and to let him experience the Lord's faithfulness as he goes on through his current time of trial.

[20:26] Now friends, I love Dale Ralph Davis. If you were here last week, you would have heard me quote Dale Ralph Davis probably too many times. But anyway, I'm not so sure I'm with him on these verses.

[20:37] It might be, there might be something in it and I need to think a bit more about it. Maybe you should have a think about it too and come and talk to me later. I might change my mind in the future. But for now, I'm more persuaded that in verse 4, David is asking the Lord to teach him how to live properly, how to walk in joyful obedience to God's commandments.

[20:57] And the reason that I'm more persuaded by that interpretation is down to the fact that the rest of the Psalm as we have seen is full of David saying, I am hopeless at this. I have sinned.

[21:09] I know I've sinned. I'm so prone to wander, so prone to leave you, the God I love, prone to leave your paths. And I need you to teach me, Lord, please. To put it in Psalm 23 language, David knows that he needs the rod and the staff of the shepherd to direct him, to keep him from wandering off and going astray.

[21:31] Without the Lord as his teacher, David would be a moral train wreck, morally lost. And that's true about us too. So that's the second petition.

[21:43] He says, Lord, direct me. Here's the third petition. David says, Lord, Lord, don't remember my sin. Don't remember my sin.

[21:55] Do remember your steadfast love. That is what David is saying in verses six and seven. And in these verses, David uses the verb remember three times. He uses it twice positively and once in between these two positive statements negatively.

[22:10] So let's just read verses six to seven. He says, Remember your mercy, O Lord, your steadfast love. For they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, my transgressions.

[22:25] According to your steadfast love, Lord, remember me for the sake of your goodness, O Lord. And actually, our English translation doesn't do verse six justice.

[22:37] Verse six really is incredible when you find out what he's really saying. He says, literally, Lord, remember your not just compassion, but compassions.

[22:48] He's supposed to think about uber-compassion. Lord, remember your uber-compassion. O Lord, remember your not just steadfast love, singular, but steadfast loves. Your heseds, plural.

[23:02] In other words, David is calling on the Lord to be what the Lord has always been. The Lord has always been the God who has eternal compassion and steadfast love for his covenant people.

[23:14] Ralph Davis says, compassion and grace are his always style of operating. So David doesn't fall into the trap, by the way, that sometimes we fall into today.

[23:28] We've messed up greatly when we've fallen into sin. Sometimes we think to ourselves, oh no, what have I done? This is so terrible. I can't possibly turn to the Lord just now.

[23:40] What I need to do is I need to go and try and sort this out. I need to go and deal with this myself. I need to become a better Christian before I can turn to the Lord for forgiveness and speak to him about this. That's what I'll do.

[23:50] I'll do that first. And only then, once I've maybe stepped up a few gears, can I turn to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. And Psalm 25 says, no, don't do that.

[24:01] You don't have to do that. That's not trusting in the Lord. That's trusting in something else, in yourself. Instead, be like David. If you've messed up big time, we are not to turn away from the Lord, but we are to turn to him.

[24:14] We are to turn to him immediately. And we are to ask him to forget about our sins. Forget about them. Please forget about them. Don't remember them. Instead, Lord, remember, you are the God of steadfast love and you've always been this God.

[24:30] even before you laid the foundations of the world. Love me. Please love me with the love that you've had for me since before the foundations of the world were laid.

[24:44] So, friends, in summary, under this second point, let me say this. If you feel weighed down with the guilt of your sin, Psalm 25 says to you, take it to the Lord in prayer.

[24:55] And if you feel hopeless at staying on the Lord's paths, if you feel that you are a person who, like David and like me, is prone to wandering, prone to leaving the God that you love, Psalm 25 says to you, take it to the Lord in prayer.

[25:13] And the next time you find yourself being hammered by the enemies of the gospel, Psalm 25 says to you, take it to the Lord in prayer. For these three petitions that we see here, these three petitions that a suffering servant prays, they can pray these petitions with great confidence because we trust in a God who loves to answer yes to such petitions as these.

[25:42] And that brings us to our final point this evening. We have seen the pressure felt by a suffering servant and the petitions made by a suffering servant and lastly we see the provisions made by a loving Lord.

[25:57] And that friends is really at the heart of this Psalm. The heart of this prayer is focused upon the Lord in verses 8 to 14. Now at first reading you might be tempted to think that this is just a random selection of great truths about our God that are not connected to what goes before and after them at all.

[26:16] But they are not random at all. In verses 8 to 14 David is still praying and really what he's doing is he's declaring to the Lord truths about the Lord and he's acknowledging that the Lord is able and really willing to do the things that David has asked him to do in verses 1 to 7 and verses 15 to 22.

[26:40] In other words David is praising the Lord because he has revealed himself to be the God who answers yes when his people come to him and ask for the same things that David has asked for throughout this psalm.

[26:54] That's how John Calvin reads this section. He says that in verse 8 to 14 David is praying and meditating upon these truths about the Lord in order to stir up within himself an increased confidence in God.

[27:10] So let's just look at two of these loving provisions by the Lord. Two subheadings in this point. Here's the first. David said that the Lord is able and willing to direct and deliver his people.

[27:25] Please look at verse 8 and 9. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.

[27:42] All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. So in verse 4 David asks the Lord to direct him to teach him how to live properly to show him the right way to go the way of the obedience of faith to joyfully walk in closer obedience to the Lord as God.

[28:07] And in these verses 8 and 9 David declares with great joy and confidence that the Lord delights to do just that. The Lord is so gracious and kind he even teaches notice sinners in the way.

[28:22] And that's such good news for us all isn't it? No one ever should claim that they're too alienated from the Lord beyond help and hope for the Lord will show his people the way of recovery.

[28:36] I just notice this verse 9 the Lord leads and teaches the humble yes that's right the Lord leads and teaches the humble in what is right now that word refers to the Lord's own battered and beaten people Alec Motier actually translates that as the downtrodden it's referring to those who like David have been clobbered and detested by the world they look like they've been despised by God but in reality these downtrodden people are the objects of the Lord's directing care and the whole idea behind in the poetry of the verse is that the Lord will lead them in the way and he will ultimately deliver them out of their trouble for our God delights to deliver his people the second thing David says about the Lord in this section is this he forgives and he befriends his people please look at verse 12 and 13 who is the man who fears the Lord him he will sorry will he instruct in the way that he should choose his soul shall abide in well-being and his offspring shall inherit the land so those who fear the Lord will be forgiven by the Lord now David doesn't explicitly use that terminology in the verse but surely surely that's what the verse is implying when those who fear the Lord pray what

[30:09] David prays in verses 6 and 7 and verse 11 when they ask the Lord for forgiveness when they turn to God and say please don't remember my sin instead remember your compassion deal with me according to your steadfast love well verses 12 and 13 says that the Lord will respond to them by saying yes yes of course in fact the Lord doesn't stop at just forgiveness no he gives them even greater blessings verse 13 he guards and protects his people he gives them security in the New Testament the phrase inheriting the land is really used as shorthand for eternal life eternal life an eternal share in God's covenant blessings and the Lord doesn't stop there either he gives forgiveness he gives security protection he gives eternal life a share in eternal blessings to those who fear him but he also gives them something greater and we will think about that in just a second when we look at verse 14 but before then let's just ask this question very important question what does it mean to fear the Lord

[31:22] I was once listening to someone give a Bible talk at a youth event conference youth ministry conference down I think in the south of England I forget the Bible passage that we were in I think it may have been Proverbs 1 I can't be certain though but it definitely was an Old Testament passage and the text mentioned the fear of the Lord and the Bible teacher said something like this of course you know friends fear here for us today doesn't really actually mean fear it certainly doesn't mean that we should be afraid of the Lord actually it's just another way of expressing trust in the Lord friends I'm sorry but that is just not right Dale Ralph Davis says that when people say such things about the fear of the Lord then they are emasculating that is they are completely weakening the idea as if there was such a thing as fear without fear no to fear the

[32:23] Lord really means to fear him it's not the equivalent of utter terror it's not what it's saying but there are plenty of other Old Testament texts that ought to keep us from draining all of the knee knocking out of such a statement for example Psalm 119 verse 120 says this my flesh trembles for fear of you and I am afraid of your judgments friends if the fear of the Lord connotes trust then we must always remember that it is a trembling trust so just remember that the fear of the Lord really does mean to fear him and you and I should have a healthy trembling trust of the Lord we should take him seriously so back to verse 12 and 13 they imply that those who fear the Lord will receive direction forgiveness eternal security eternal blessings from the

[33:23] Lord but then in verse 14 David adds this beautiful detail look at verse 14 the friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant now the Hebrew word translated friendship here could also mean closeness of the Lord the closeness of the Lord or it could mean counsel as in a group of persons sitting together with each other bound together by a special bond speaking to each other in a special friendship intimacy or fellowship it means that they share a place together where confidences and secrets may be shared in other words David is saying that those who fear the Lord they will enjoy a close intimate communion with the living God that means that those who fear the Lord will enjoy doing what they were created to do to glorify the Lord to know him and to enjoy him forever our Lord

[34:24] God he delights to answers yes to the kind of petitions that David makes in this psalm so friends those are the provisions of a loving Lord he directs and delivers his people he forgives and he befriends his people he loves to bless his people who come to him with a trembling trust and so that means that you and I can have great confidence when we come before his throne of grace and prayer to ask him for such things these verses should stir us up in our hearts as believers with great confidence in our God that if we come to him he will not cast us away when we ask for these things he too will say you want delivered I'll deliver you you want to be directed I'll direct you I'll pour even more blessings on your and if we do lack certainty in the Lord just think about this there might be many reasons why this is so but if you're someone who lacks certainty in whether the

[35:30] Lord is good and whether the Lord does bless his people in these ways one of the reasons might just be that in our prayers we've become so impoverished when speaking about the truths about our Lord maybe because our prayers don't mention the Lord at all and just maybe one thing we might need to start doing is using scriptures like Psalm 25 to influence and shape our prayers and direct them more and more so that we have a bigger view of who the Lord is so that we will have a greater assurance of his goodness well friends let me close by summing all of this up Psalm 25 wants us to learn from David's experience in his prayer don't be surprised if you find yourself immersed in the same sort of pressure that he was in don't believe any of the nonsense that you hear being pushed by some people in the professing church today that if you trust in

[36:32] Jesus your life will be peachy you will be trouble free and you will have health wealth and prosperity that is rubbish if you belong to the Lord and if you trust in him then you are very likely to go through times of great hardships tribulations simply because you're a believer and simply because you love the Lord and when you're in the thick of such times when you're under such serious pressure trust in the Lord turn to him in prayer make big petitions the same big petitions that David makes here Lord deliver me Lord direct me Lord don't remember my sin remember your steadfast love your compassions and don't stop praying after you've made your big petitions pray on praise the Lord for the fact that he is the loving Lord who loves to provide these things for his people always giving these things to those who fear him he loves to deliver his people he loves to direct his people he loves to forgive his people and to befriend his people so turn to him and trembling trust and come to him with great confidence well amen why don't we do that now let's bow our heads be quiet for a moment and then we'll turn to the

[37:55] Lord our God our loving Lord David says to you oh Lord I lift up my soul oh my God in you I trust loving Lord we praise you for this wonderful psalm and for the model example it is of how we pray when we are under pressure we praise you that you are a gracious and merciful God a God whose love his steadfast love is from everlasting you are a God who delights to do the things that David asked you to do in this psalm so generous beyond all our comprehension father when we think of what we are by nature we are astounded and awestruck at the grace in which you've shown us we don't deserve such love and kindness at all and yet you've so lovingly showed us this love in your son and so we pray that as your church in

[39:08] Christ you would deliver us from our enemies you will direct us make known your ways teach us your paths and that you would not remember our sin instead remember us according to your steadfast love guide us oh our great redeemer and keep us so that we will reach the heavenly Jerusalem and we pray this in Jesus precious name amen for feeling