[0:00] I think that in Psalm 138, the first thing that was given to us, we see the heart of David.
[0:11] I will praise thee with my whole heart, the heart of David. Then, as Trent shared, we begin to see the heart of David's God.
[0:23] And David's God is the one who is high, verse 6, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off.
[0:36] David's heart, the heart of David's God, the last couple of verses show us the hands of David's God. Verse 7, though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me.
[0:54] Thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.
[1:08] Thy mercies, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. Three times, the word hand, hands, shows itself in those last two verses.
[1:27] We will find that the hand of God is powerful. It is personal. It is protective. It is productive.
[1:41] In Psalm 8, verse 3, it says, When I consider, and this is a Psalm of David, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained.
[1:57] When I consider, when I think about the work of thy fingers, what's the hand? The hand is fingers and a thumb.
[2:08] And God made the stars, the planets, the galaxies, and set them in their place with his fingers. Did you hear this week that they said that they found a new galaxy?
[2:29] You know what I think God thinks? Now? Took you that long? To see this galaxy with your powerful telescopes, you see another one?
[2:41] And in those distant places, the sun is 93 million miles away from the earth. And with his fingers, he placed them in their places.
[2:56] But also, it says in Psalm 8, verse 6, Thou madest him man to have dominion over the works of thy hands.
[3:07] So God not only made the galaxies and the stars and the moon and the sun and placed them all in their respective places and keeps them where they are and keeps them in perfect balance.
[3:19] And our sun rotates, our earth rotates around the sun. It's amazing. But then God has made the elements of the earth, and he has given man dominion over them.
[3:29] And he made us him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. God's hands are powerful.
[3:42] God's hands are personal. So David said, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies.
[3:58] All of us will probably have people that don't like us at some point in time. The fact that if somebody doesn't like you, what are they normally going to do? They just probably avoid you.
[4:11] If they don't like you, they'll just keep their distance. But there are those who don't like you, but they are mean about how they don't like you.
[4:23] And they take their vengeance out on you. They're upset, and they're mad, and they're wrathful. And David acknowledges that the God that is his God, the God that's in his heart, the God that he praises for his work in his life, says that the Lord, though I walk, verse 7, in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me, thou shalt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies.
[5:05] God in his power will deal with those that don't like us. God is in control. God is one who cares for us individually, personally.
[5:18] He knows about every need of your life. There is nothing too big for you to pray about. There is nothing too small for you to pray about. How many of you have lost something?
[5:35] Can't find it. Can't put your finger on it. And in a moment you pray, Lord, help me. And amazing how the, what you're looking for has shown up.
[5:48] God cares about the personal things, little things. Little girl in Sunday, in Bible school some years back, when I was just a young Christian, and I said to the young people in a message that you can pray about taking a test.
[6:08] You're in school. Ask God to help you with the test. God is too big for taking care of my little things, she said. Sometimes that is our picture of God.
[6:21] God really doesn't have the time to care, but he does. His desire for us is that we might be fulfilled, that we might be completed. And his hand is there to assist, his hand is there to help.
[6:39] It's personal. It's protective. It's productive. We find the words, thy right hand shall save me.
[6:54] In verse number seven, it says that God will revive me, bring me back to life. Also in verse seven, it says God will save me. He will keep me alive. And in verse number eight, it says God will perfect that which concerns me.
[7:11] He will grow me into my life. He will perfect that which concerneth me. God is caring about all of what we are.
[7:22] And he has his hands that he can be able to deal with the universe. He can deal with the earth, but he can deal with us on a personal basis.
[7:32] God took care of David when his enemies were against him. We don't know the basis of this. We know that he had a lot of situations where he had enemy things that would come against him.
[7:44] Be it a lion when he was herding the sheep, a bear, when he went against Goliath, when Saul turned against him, when his own children at times turned against him.
[7:59] He had a lot of challenges in his life. But in all of those, God's hand was there to revive him, to save him, to perfect that which concerns him.
[8:20] And David prays in the end. Fascinating to me. He's giving God a command. He's telling God what he needs to do.
[8:33] But notice the way he says it. Forsake not the work of thine own hands. Don't quit.
[8:45] Don't quit. Don't give up on me. Don't give up on me. I need you. I want your help. I know what you've done with the wrath of mine enemies.
[8:56] I know what you've done to give me life. I know what you've done to revive me at times, to save me at times. Don't give up. Don't quit. Lord, do not forsake the work of thine own hands.
[9:09] Don't quit. I had a son that at one point was kind of rebellious.
[9:22] And I was on him. I was on him. And there were times that he couldn't hardly move without me wanting to know what was going on.
[9:33] What he was doing. And I reached a point where, Lord, he's in your hands. And my son realized that I wasn't quite as talkative and directive upon him.
[9:51] And he was living out in New York. We were living in South Dakota, a little ways. He had to come home for his guards weekend.
[10:02] And he gave me a hug as he left on one of the trips back to New York. And he talked in my ear, Dad, don't give up on me.
[10:14] Don't give up on me. I think that's David. David messed up a lot of times in his life. Made some horrible choices. And yet he's able to be able to sing this song that he wrote.
[10:30] Revive me. You are the one that revives me. And in the end says, Lord, don't give up on me. Forsake not the work of thine own hands. Don't stop. Our other son, when he was two, three years old, got these foot aches at night.
[10:48] He'd lay in bed, and we'd hear him cry out, and what's the matter? What's the matter? My foot! My foot! Sometimes he would walk into our bedroom, and we'd pick him up, and lay him between my wife and I, and we'd rub his foot.
[11:05] And I was trying to rub his foot and sleep at the same time. And sometimes the rubbing disturbed my sleep, and sometimes the sleep disturbed my rubbing. And don't stop!
[11:16] Don't stop! Little pains in his foot as the little growth pains were there. I think that David is crying out, Lord, don't stop.
[11:31] Don't stop. I know who you are. I know you in my heart. I know your heart. I know what it is to be a king. I know what it is to be a shepherd. I know who you are.
[11:44] Don't give up on me. Don't stop. Do not forsake the work of thy hands. You're a powerful God. Your hands have done so much already. Your hands have ministered to me. Your right hand.
[11:57] Thy right hand shall save me. I don't know if it's his left hand. It says, Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
[12:08] A lot of times it talks about his right hand. God must be right-handed. Only about 15% of the people in the world are left-handed. But God is ambidextrous, folks.
[12:21] God can do it all. There isn't anything too hard for God. David just says, Don't forsake me. Don't stop.
[12:32] Don't give up on me. Isaiah 64, verse 8. But now, O Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay.
[12:44] Thou art our potter. And we all are the work of thy hand. Understand, God always wins.
[13:02] God always does right. God never changes. So we feel the heart of David, and we feel the heart of David's God.
[13:18] And we are richly, richly blessed to be able to be able to say that our God's hands are powerful. His hands are personal. His hands are protective.
[13:29] Protective, his hands are productive. They perfect that which concerns me. Thank you, Lord. Let's pray.
[13:43] Father, how we are grateful for the fact that there's not a hair that falls from our head, but that you know it all together. Father, there is never a time that you abandon us, that you forsake us, that you leave us alone.
[13:59] You are a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. You are a God who has given to us his spirit to be one called alongside, to minister to us, to guide us, to help us, to lead us in the way.
[14:11] We thank you and praise you for who you are. And Father, we have one request, that we might say as David, forsake not the work of thy hands.
[14:24] Minister to us as you would see fit. Glorify yourself in us. Thank you for your presence with us always. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for the blessings that it is for us to call you our God.
[14:37] In Jesus' name, amen.