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[0:00] We'll extend a very warm welcome to everybody this evening and as we meet to worship God wherever you are, it's good that you're able to join with us.

[0:12] And we pray that God will bless you individually, personally, bless your homes and your families and all whom you love. So we're going to begin first of all with a word of prayer.

[0:23] O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks for today. We give thanks that this is another day that reminds us of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:35] And we pray that as we come under your word, that your word will speak peace into our souls. We give thanks, Lord, for all that your word does, for the way that it shines a light upon our lives.

[0:47] Your word searches us and your word tries us and your word guides us and shows us a way to go because we have to confess, O Lord, that we do not know the right way ourselves.

[1:02] You remind us in your word not to trust in ourselves. Be not wise in your own eyes is what you tell us. You also tell us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and to not to lean to our own understanding, but in all our ways to acknowledge you and you promise that you will direct our paths.

[1:22] We pray, O Lord, that we will do that, that we'll be given the grace to do it because it's not something that automatically we choose to do or even want to do because we think that we know the best way.

[1:34] But, Lord, you have shown us and continue to show us that your way is best. And so we pray that we might have the trust, that we might be given a heart of trust to believe you and to submit before your way and your will.

[1:50] Help us, Lord, even when your way seems strange, challenging, difficult, upsetting, to still be given the grace to submit, knowing that you have a purpose and a plan for our lives.

[2:03] And that you will show us that you are actually doing us good. We pray for any today who might be listening to this service who do not know you personally as Saviour.

[2:16] We ask, Lord, that whatever is holding back, that these things will be overcome in our lives and they will come to that resting place where there is the peace of God in Jesus Christ.

[2:27] We give thanks that you are the great Saviour of sinners and that you have come to seek and to save those who are lost. And we give thanks that that is the condition that you find us in, that we have nothing that we can commend in and of ourselves, but that we are lost completely.

[2:46] But you have come to rescue us and to bring us back to God. And so we pray that you will help us as we go through life and face all its challenges and all its different difficulties and situations that daily we confront.

[3:04] Pray to bless us in our homes and our families and all our relationships. We pray, Lord, that you will bless us at strange times where relationships are not quite the way they are normally, where we aren't able to meet in the way that we used to.

[3:23] And we find that often very difficult because our loved ones are not able to meet with us and we're not able to meet with them as we did in the past.

[3:35] But we pray, Lord, that through it all we may come knowing that you're with us and that you will continue to bless us. We give thanks, Lord, for how you have watched over us here on this island and protected us.

[3:48] And we pray that you will continue to do so. We have no powers within and of ourselves to be able to prevent that virus coming.

[4:00] Although we give thanks for the mention, the vigilance of those at Calmac and at Logan Air. And we give thanks, Lord, for that. But we know that above and beyond all that, you are God and you are in control.

[4:14] And we pray that you will continue to protect us. And we pray to bless us nationally and internationally. And we pray for all who have lost loved ones. And we're aware that not only through the COVID illness, but also through all the other illnesses of life.

[4:31] And it's so difficult for families because often that they can't be with those who are dying, those who they've spent their life with. And then in these last moments when they wish to be with them, they can't.

[4:43] Oh, Lord, what added pain. And we pray that you will bind up by every broken heart, that you will be with the grieving hearts. We ask, Lord, that you will be merciful to us.

[4:56] And, Lord, that a cure will soon be found. A vaccine will be found. And some drug will be found that will cure, that will be able to take the worst out of the COVID.

[5:09] So that people may recover. And that there won't be this awful death toll. And so we pray for every home that has been hit. And every, every, the care homes that have been hit.

[5:21] And so we pray for those who work there. And our carers in our community, Lord, we give thanks for them. For all our NHS staff. For all our emergency services. Lord, we pray that you will watch over them.

[5:34] For our bin men. For our lorry drivers. For our posties. For all those who are working every day. And our teachers. And those who are helping to keep the country running.

[5:49] Pray for our politicians. Those in authority over us. Lord, we ask that you will give them divine wisdom. That they won't lean to their own understanding. We see one says this and another says that.

[6:00] Lord, may they be able to, may they start looking up to yourself. We pray then for, for all who are in authority over us. At Westminster. And in Holyrood.

[6:11] And here in our local council. In the Corlea. We pray that you will bless them all. Oh Lord, watch over us then. And open our hearts. And open our minds to your truth. And may we hear what God the Lord will speak.

[6:24] Have mercy upon us, we pray. Lead us in the paths of righteousness. For your name's sake. And forgive us our every sin. As we confess our sins publicly and privately.

[6:36] Our sins of omission and commission. Our sins against ourselves. Our sins against our neighbour. But all our sins which are against you.

[6:47] Forgive us then we pray in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. I'm just going to say a wee word to any of the young people who are maybe tuning in. And when you were very wee.

[7:00] When you were very young children. One of the things that you'd like to have. If you were like me. Was a colouring book. Not just when I was a wee wee boy. But as I grew up. I always loved a colouring book.

[7:12] And I think one of the reasons I loved a colouring book. Was because I'm absolutely hopeless. At painting. Or at drawing. And I would. It's one of the things I would love to be able to do.

[7:25] And I used to say to myself. When I come to retire. I might go and go to art classes. So that I could learn to paint. But I don't think it'd be worth it. Because. I haven't really got beyond much stigma.

[7:36] Men. And my sister. She's a brilliant artist. My son-in-law. He's a brilliant artist. But I can't draw or paint. But I loved the colouring books.

[7:49] And I had loads of colouring books. As a boy growing up. But you know. When you're really wee. Your first efforts at colouring. While you may think they're absolutely brilliant.

[8:01] They're actually terrible. Your mums and dads might say. Oh that's great. And what they mean it's great. Is that you're able to do it. But it's not great. With regard to. The picture.

[8:12] That's there. Because. What you've done. Is. Is really. There are two things. That you really do wrong.

[8:23] And the first thing is. You know. In the colouring. You're supposed to. Not go over the edges. You're supposed to colour in. And to. Take your colouring pen. Or your crayons.

[8:34] Right to the edge. And you fill in. All that's to be coloured. And. When you're really wee. One of the things.

[8:44] That you probably do is. You just colour everywhere. And when. Your drawing is finished. Your colouring is finished. It looks like a coloured. Spider's web.

[8:54] Because everything's all over the place. And then the second thing. That you do. That. Not. Not very good. Is that.

[9:05] You get all the wrong colours. And. You make the sun. It's a sunny day. Well. Let's say. It's. It's a scene. Which I can see out here. You make the sun.

[9:16] You make the sun. You make the sun. You make the sun. You make the sun. And there you have it. There's your sun. And you make your sun. Brown. And there's the sheep.

[9:28] And they're dark orange. And there's the green grass. And you made it bright red. And the sky is purple. And.

[9:40] Anybody looking at it. Would say. Whoa. Can you imagine. What it would be like. If the grass actually was red. God has been so good to us. In giving green grass. It's. It's such a soothing colour.

[9:51] To look at. All the different shades. 40 shades of green. All the different colours. All the different shades of green. It's. It's restful. On the eyes. I love the colour red.

[10:01] But I wouldn't like the grass to be red. Because we'd be. Whoa. That is. That's hard. That would be hard on the eyes. All the time. But. Our pictures. When we're really wee.

[10:12] Can look. Absolutely awful. But as we get older. We know how to. How to get the right colours. And we know then. How to. Draw. So that we don't go over the edges.

[10:24] And you know. Our lives. Are really like colouring books. Because as God looks at our lives. He sees. Often. A very different picture.

[10:35] To the one that we see. In the Bible. It talks about a time. When everybody. This is what it says. Everybody did what was right. In their own eyes. In other words. They just.

[10:45] Did whatever they. They wanted to do. And that kind of life. If we live our lives like that. It's a mess. Because God has given us a book. The Bible.

[10:56] To show us how to live. In the way that's good for ourselves. Good for other people. And good for him. And he wants us to live according. To his word. But if we just close his Bible.

[11:08] Close the book. And just say. I'm going to live any way I want. That our lives would be like the picture. Of all the wrong colours. And all the wrong lines. And everything a mess.

[11:20] But when we come to faith in Jesus. When we come to trust Jesus. And love Jesus. One of the things that happens. Is that we want. To live our lives in the right way.

[11:31] We want to live according to what the Bible says. And so we ask God to help us. And it's like. We try not to go over the edges. There's the edges of God's word.

[11:43] Sometimes we do. And we're sorry when we go over the edge. And we go to the Lord. And say Lord forgive me. Forgive me for going over the edge. Forgive me Lord. For breaking your word.

[11:54] For breaking your law. Forgive me. We're sorry for doing so. So it's important that we try. By God's help. That we don't go over the edges.

[12:06] And we have all the right colours. So that when God looks at our life. And if our lives are lived. According to the Bible. According to his word. Then that will be in his sight.

[12:18] A lovely picture. That's what he's looking for. So that we're living our lives. So that our life is a lovely picture. Before God. So you ask the Lord every day.

[12:29] Lord may my life. Be a lovely picture. In your sight. And not a mess. So that every day. I will seek to live. Like Jesus.

[12:41] Let's say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth. As it is in heaven. Give us this day.

[12:51] Our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom.

[13:02] The power and the glory. Forever. Amen. Now we're going to read God's word. In the book of Psalms. Psalm number 62. Psalm number 62.

[13:14] For God alone. My soul waits in silence. From whom comes my salvation. He alone is my rock. And my salvation. My fortress.

[13:25] I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man. To batter him. Like a leaning wall. A tottering fence. They only plan to thrust him down.

[13:39] From his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths. But inwardly they curse. For God alone. O my soul.

[13:49] Wait in silence. For my hope is from him. He only is my rock. And my salvation. My fortress. I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation.

[14:03] And my glory. My mighty rock. My refuge is God. Trust in him at all times. O people. Pour out your heart before him.

[14:14] God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion. In the balances they go up.

[14:26] They are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase.

[14:37] Set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken. Twice have I heard this. That power belongs to God. And that to you O Lord.

[14:49] Belongs steadfast love. For you will render it to a man. According to his work. Amen. And may God bless to us. This reading of his own holy word.

[15:01] I want us just to consider for a little this evening. The first verse of this psalm. Psalm 62 verse 1. For God alone my soul waits in silence.

[15:15] From him comes my salvation. Now this psalm like a lot of David's psalms. Came from a dark period in David's life.

[15:26] And a lot of people believe that this psalm came from that period in David's life. When he was being chased by his son Absalom.

[15:36] Absalom was trying to topple David from the throne. Absalom was pretending to his father that he was a devoted and loyal son.

[15:46] And at the same time he was scheming behind the scenes. And he was winning the hearts of Israel. And he was turning the hearts of Israel to himself and against his father.

[16:02] And Absalom's life was one of deceit. And of course God hates deceit. It is one of the things that is spoken about over and over and over again in the word of God.

[16:15] How he detests deceit. And as we know Absalom reaped what he sowed. And Absalom ended up being killed. And his rebellion came to nothing.

[16:28] But for David here is this son that he loved. And I can think of many more painful things in your life. Than to have your son out to kill you. And turning everybody against you.

[16:42] That was pain. And that's what this psalm really is about. In fact we find something of that in verse 4. Where David says, They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

[16:57] They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths. But inwardly they curse. Now you'll notice that there's a progression in this psalm.

[17:10] Because in verse 2 David says, I will not be greatly shaken. Whereas by verse 6 David is saying, I shall not be shaken. So in other words David is saying at the beginning of the psalm, through this trouble and through this problem, I won't be shaken too much.

[17:32] But by verse 6, because of his trust in the Lord, and because of his dependence upon God, and of his growing knowledge of God, he says, I will not be shaken.

[17:44] So you see the progression. And that's how it should be within our Christian lives. There ought to be progression. We ought to be growing. We ought to be coming to a greater assurance of God's love to us.

[17:58] A greater trust in him as a God of providence and grace. And where does that growth come from? Well it comes from a greater knowledge of who God is.

[18:11] It is vital that we spend time with the Lord. Because the more you come to know the Lord, the more dependable you will find him.

[18:22] And our trust of somebody, or our reliance upon somebody, is in keeping with how much we know of them. We don't trust strangers obviously, with our house keys, or our car keys, or our bank card.

[18:39] You would trust that to somebody that you knew. Somebody you knew was trustworthy, or responsible. And this is how it is with David. That there's this growth, having come from, I won't be shaken too much, to the point of where he says, I won't be shaken.

[18:55] End of story. And so David says, at verse 1, For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation.

[19:08] Now this silence has the idea of waiting patiently upon the Lord. It's not, this silence captures that idea of waiting for the Lord patiently.

[19:26] That's what this silence involves. You're waiting for God. And it's not an idle kind of waiting. You know, sometimes we can be waiting and look at the time and say, Oh well, sometimes we're frustrated about something.

[19:41] I wish this person would hurry up. It's taking ages to come. But you know, sometimes when we're waiting for the Lord, we have to wait a long, long time. Sometimes we have to wait years.

[19:53] But whenever we're waiting for the Lord, God is still working within us. And so it's important, one of the vital exercises of our Christian life is that we learn to wait upon God.

[20:07] It's one of the keys to the growth that we were talking about. And so, we have to ask ourselves just now, so how do we wait upon the Lord? Well, one of the, there's loads of ways, but we'll just suggest three or four.

[20:22] First is, we wait in prayer. That's what we do. We come to the Lord. And as you and I know, prayer isn't a shopping list. We don't just come and say, right, I'm going to ask the Lord for this, this, this, and this.

[20:35] Prayer at its heart is that we come to know the Lord more and more. Do you know what? It's great if we can lose ourselves in prayer. That we can come to the Lord and, yes, we come with our requests and we come with our petitions and we come with all these things.

[20:53] But it is, like the Apostle said, that I might know. That's what God wants because he, he has made us for himself and he wants our company.

[21:05] He wants our fellowship. He wants to commune with us. He wants us to become more and more like him. And we do this as we come aside with him in prayer.

[21:16] And so we, we learn more and more of who the Lord is as we're locked in silence with him. And you often find in the Bible that some of those people who were, as it were, in lockdown with the Lord, who were locked in with God, they used that time wisely and well and they came out of it as amazing people.

[21:41] Joseph was in lockdown or locked in for years. Moses was locked in for years. David was locked in for years. John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, Elijah and all these people when they came back out into the public domain there was a stamp about them.

[22:04] There was a spiritual aura about them. There was a greatness about them because God was working in them in that time. and may we seek to use this period.

[22:16] As I know, a lot of us are working and working at different levels in different ways but that we use it wisely, we use it spiritually, we use it well so that when we come back out that something of the Lord may indeed be upon us.

[22:32] And love, of course, loves to be in the presence of the object of love. And if we love the Lord then we want to be where he is. We want to be in his presence.

[22:43] And we need, yes, we're talking of the silence but we need to be talking because communication in any relationship is essential.

[22:55] Problems often arise, couples will say that, that problems arose in their marriage when they stop talking because communication is important.

[23:06] and you know, it's true spiritually as well because when we stop talking to the Lord we're on a slippery slope. And you and I will often find that if we ever go into a period of backsliding it usually began where our conversation with heaven became less and less.

[23:29] Where we were skipping our times of being alone with the Lord. where we were skipping our morning devotions. And maybe we find ourselves going to bed at night and saying, you know this, I haven't spoken to the Lord all day.

[23:42] Well, we're not in a good place. And so it's key, it's important that we find that we are waiting upon the Lord in prayer.

[23:53] That is key. That is one of the things that we must always, always do. So that's the first thing that we wait upon the Lord in prayer.

[24:05] But second thing that we can look at is that we wait upon the Lord in His Word. That's we wait in the silence.

[24:16] Now remember that all conversations are two-way. We don't, when we go out to see somebody or visit somebody we don't do all the talking. It's a conversation backwards and forwards.

[24:29] And it's important that we listen. And we always appreciate people who are good listeners. Because sometimes we're told some people aren't good listeners. Well, God wants us to listen to Him.

[24:43] We expect Him to listen to us. So surely in turn He expects us to listen to Him. And we listen to Him in His Word. And His Word is so important to us.

[24:54] It's key to our lives. And so often we're looking for different things. Sometimes we're looking for encouragement. Because life, as we know, at times can be tough. Things can be difficult.

[25:06] Life is often challenging. Or very often unexpected things come into our life that throw us. And sometimes we get really down. Maybe today you're feeling down over things that have happened in your life.

[25:19] They're pretty low. And so it's important that we go to God's Word. And you know, it's amazing how God's Word will encourage us. There was a time in David's life when he was on the run and he had quite a lot of followers with him.

[25:34] And there was a bad period came in there and those who were following turned against David for a little. And they were talking of revolting and even stoning and putting him to death.

[25:48] Because remember how when they were on a journey with David when they came back the Amalekites had come and they'd taken all David's, all the men's, their families away.

[26:05] And so they were talking of stoning David. What did David do? It tells us he encouraged himself in the Lord. That's what he did. He encouraged himself in the Lord.

[26:16] David was low. And that's a great encouragement to us as well. When we're low, when we're struggling, go to the Lord, go to God's Word. And it's amazing how God's Word will bring something to our mind.

[26:30] And faith will be able to lay hold upon it. And we say, you know, I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. To his folk he'll speak peace. And we find God speaking to us and faith gives us the ability to lay hold upon us.

[26:43] We go to God for wisdom and direction. For guidance. So often we don't know the way to go. We say, I really don't know what to do here.

[26:54] I'm kind of, I'm stuck in this situation. I don't know whether to go left, right. I don't know what to do. Well, the Lord tells us and he says very clearly, don't be wise in your own eyes.

[27:07] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. He also says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you will go.

[27:21] I will guide you with mine eye. Is that not music to our ears today to hear that the Lord is saying, I'll instruct you and teach you in the way that you'll go.

[27:32] And I'm going to guide you. I'm going to guide you every step. You couldn't wish for better. You know, it's our prayer that the Lord will indeed bless us and that he will guide us every step of our way individually, personally, within our homes, within our families, amongst all whom we love.

[27:54] And we pray that for our leaders, for those in authority. That's our great desire that they would turn to look to the Lord. because so many people are saying, we do, oh, we should do this, we should do that, we should do the next thing.

[28:07] And some then say, oh, we should have done that sooner or we shouldn't have done it this way. The Lord says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you'll go. I will guide you with mine eye.

[28:20] Again, we wait for God in his house. Now, unfortunately, just now, we cannot go to God's house. We long for the day when we would be able to get back.

[28:31] Because there's something special in the company and the fellowship of God's people. There's something beautiful in a collective waiting upon the Lord. We come to worship the Lord.

[28:43] Of course we do. We all come to worship the Lord collectively. And it's special. But we also come collectively to wait upon the Lord. And we wait when we come to meet in this way.

[28:57] We wait in the fellowship for the Lord to give us our portion for the day. Remember, I was thrilled when they were going through the wilderness. God gave them manna.

[29:08] He gave them their portion every day. He gave them manna for the day. Just enough for the day. And God does that for us as well. He gives us sufficient. He'll give us what we need.

[29:20] And so every day as we come to God's house we should be seeking for this Lord. Speak to me. Grant me, Lord, a great sense of your presence and of your peace and of your wisdom and of your love.

[29:34] We also wait for God in his providence. Now, as we know, providence is not our main guide in life. God's word is. God's word is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

[29:49] So it's not God's. It's not the providence that we look to. However, we know that God opens doors and he closes doors. That's what God does.

[30:03] And so we find that there is this that God is sometimes will come to a door and we're wanting it to open but it won't.

[30:15] And other times we come and the door the door is open and we know that God wants us through. You have examples of that in the scripture. We find, for instance, that Joseph, he was behind a closed door for years.

[30:33] Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year he was wanting God to open that door and one day God did. And my word did he open that door wide. because Joseph went from the dungeon to the throne.

[30:48] But other times God closes doors and he says, no, you're not going there even though you want to. Moses was desperate to get into the promised land but God said, no, you're not going.

[31:01] That was a closed door. Sometimes God closes one door and opens another like he did for the apostle Paul. Paul was wanting to go in another direction but God closed that door and he opened a door for him to go towards Philippi.

[31:17] And God does these things in our experience as well as we learn to wait upon him. Lord, show me the way to go. And we've always got to have God's word ruling us but we need to be always sensitive to the doors that God opens and closes.

[31:35] And you know, sometimes he has doors open for us and we're not seeing them because we're not in tune with them in the way that we should. You know, if we are spiritually vibrant and alive we will be seeing the doors closing and opening in ways that will bring glory to the Lord and will develop our own great, our own spirituality.

[31:58] And so we find that it's absolutely vital for us to wait upon the Lord. But David then goes on to say, from him comes my salvation. David knows that if he is to experience deliverance and salvation it is from God alone.

[32:14] Yes, David was a man of war. David did many things himself. David fought. David's there. But he knew that unless God empowered him and enabled him, he couldn't do it.

[32:25] And he knew that his ultimate deliverance was from the Lord. And it's good for us always to know that. You know, as we've said, we are so thankful here in the islands.

[32:36] We're so thankful for the way we have been protected. And I know that the vigilance of Calmac and Logan Air and that the stretch of the minch which we often find frustrating but at this particular point has certainly been a safety for us.

[32:53] But over it all it is God. God has protected us. Because however great the minch is it isn't sufficient to protect us.

[33:04] God is protecting us. It may be that he will allow it at a later stage. We pray that he won't. That he will continue to protect us.

[33:16] But we must always realise that deliverance comes from him. The Bible is full of examples of people who looked elsewhere for help and deliverance and salvation.

[33:28] And God warns against looking to other nations and he warned against looking to the strength of horses and looking to the strength of armoury and looking to the strength of wealth looking to the strength of power and authority.

[33:44] He said look to me. And that is important because God loves to bring salvation. In fact that's what he's about. With regard to ourselves salvation is his great work.

[33:58] That's why he sent the Son Jesus Christ into this world. To be a saviour brings salvation into lives. Into hundreds of millions of lives. Down throughout the years.

[34:12] It's wonderful. Jesus is a saviour because it is God's great purpose to bring salvation. And if today by any chance you still don't know that salvation salvation.

[34:26] Well I would urge you to go to the Lord today and say Lord Lord will you save me? Well if you don't know the Lord if you are lost without the Lord then you are a candidate for this salvation.

[34:40] Because that's who he's come to save. Those who are I've come to save. I've come to seek out and to save those who are lost. And you know it would be the most wonderful thing if today like the Lord said to Zacchaeus this day salvation has come to your house.

[35:02] Because the moment you close in with Jesus Christ the moment that you accept him by faith that is what is said today salvation has come to this house.

[35:16] We're going to sing in conclusion from Psalm 62 and we're going to sing verses 5 to 8 to the praise of God. Psalm 62 and we're going to sing verses 5 to 8.

[35:30] My soul wait thou with patience upon thy God alone on him dependeth all my hope and expectation and so on.

[36:09] God my God my salvation is and my strong rock is he he only is my sure defense I shall not perfect be in God my glory blessed is and my salvation sure in God the rock is of my strength my refuge most secure ye people place your confidence in him continually before him pour ye out your heart

[37:27]  God is a refuge time may the grace mercy and peace of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forever more Amen