WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:29.980 Well, we're reading Old Testament reading is from Psalm 61 this evening, and this will be the passage that Lewis will be preaching from. 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:44.420 I will read you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. 00:00:44.420 --> 00:00:54.519 Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. 00:00:54.520 --> 00:01:03.280 For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. 00:01:04.579 --> 00:01:09.780 Prolong the life of the King. May his years endure to all generations. 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:19.200 May he be enthroned forever before God. Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him. 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:28.760 So will I ever sing praises to your name as I perform my vows day after day. 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:33.120 This is the word of God. Amen. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:41.160 We're continuing our series on summer psalms tonight, looking at Psalm 91. 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:48.340 In the mid-18th century, John Newton, the slave trader who went on to write Amazing Grace, 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.260 he kept a private journal not long after he converted to Christianity in the early years of his faith. 00:01:55.260 --> 00:02:02.660 And no one's really sure about the context for this, but in his journal, he references Psalm 61. 00:02:02.939 --> 00:02:03.460 And he says, 00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:09.400 About this time, I began to know that there is a God who hears and answers prayer. 00:02:10.420 --> 00:02:12.240 A very simple thing to say. 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:17.120 But whatever is troubling or distressing him in the early days of his faith, 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:27.980 John Newton reads the psalm and he is pushed from theory and from understanding God's word into experiencing God's word. 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.219 All of a sudden, it's not just reading that there is a God who hears and answers prayer, 00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:37.939 but experiencing and knowing for himself that there is a God who listens. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.360 And really, that is all Psalm 61 is about. 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:50.300 This is written by King David, some speculation over when exactly he wrote this. 00:02:50.380 --> 00:02:56.000 It's most likely that he wrote this psalm at a later stage in his life when he's already king, 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:00.540 and his son Absalom is out to get him. 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.780 He's talking about kingship in the last couple of verses, if you're looking at the psalm. 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:12.180 And he talks about probably physically being at the end of the earth, he says, far from home. 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:13.300 We could say. 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:18.200 It's also just this emotional aspect of how he is speaking. 00:03:18.420 --> 00:03:21.260 His family life, you know, David's family life is devastating. 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:27.220 He has seen and he has caused so much pain within his immediate family. 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:33.980 And now he is forced to leave home because his own son wants him dead and is out to get him. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:41.179 And out there at the end of the earth is where David cries out to God. 00:03:41.179 --> 00:03:50.359 Now, when we read that David cries out and he pleads with God to hear him from the end of the earth, 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:55.939 I think we see that this simply is a prayer for the faint-hearted. 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:58.879 Where does David want to be? 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:01.319 Verse 4, it says he wants to be in the tabernacle. 00:04:01.859 --> 00:04:03.300 He wants to be with God's people. 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:08.280 He wants to be where he feels most fulfilled in himself and in his identity. 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:09.919 He is far from there. 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:15.919 And yet, that's exactly where he cries out from, from a faint heart. 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:20.379 Is your heart tonight maybe faint? 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:27.819 Could you say that you are spiritually or emotionally flat tonight? 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:36.360 This psalm is all about being completely ungrounded spiritually and emotionally spent 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.740 and speaking to God from that place. 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:43.639 It's about experiencing just what John Newton experienced, 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.159 that God hears and answers prayer. 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:48.779 So, three things from this passage tonight. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.879 The prayer of a faint heart. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.560 What does David ask for? 00:04:53.979 --> 00:04:59.219 He asks for stability, for safety, and then lastly, he asks for a king. 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:03.479 So firstly, the prayer of a faint heart. 00:05:03.599 --> 00:05:04.979 He asks for stability. 00:05:04.979 --> 00:05:06.680 In verse 2, David says, 00:05:06.860 --> 00:05:09.740 Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:17.939 We said at the start that this is David probably later in his life when he is fleeing from his son Absalom. 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:26.280 It's very likely that David here is thinking about a period earlier in his life when he was also on the run and also fleeing. 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:33.860 And in 1 Samuel, we follow David for around 5 to 10 years maybe as he is a young man. 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:38.780 And King Saul is worried sick that this young man David is out for the throne. 00:05:39.699 --> 00:05:42.660 And he thinks he's going to make an attempt for it. 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:49.379 So over a few years, we have these records of Saul and his men traveling around the nation looking for David, 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:51.759 wanting to get hold of him, wanting to kill him. 00:05:52.759 --> 00:06:01.180 Consistently in that time, if you read 1 Samuel, there are these references to rocks and caves and strongholds and shelter. 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:04.639 So in 1 Samuel 23, he hides by this rock. 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.620 Saul gets very close but doesn't see him and he leaves. 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:10.360 The next chapter, he's in a cave. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.540 Saul comes into the cave and doesn't see David and David lets him go. 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:22.560 For nearly a decade, for David, rocks are this place of stability and distressing times. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:29.180 So now, years later, and again on the run, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:30.540 he cries out and he says, 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:34.699 Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am. 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:41.019 Take me to the place where no matter what is happening within me and around me, 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:44.439 take me to the place where I know I am stable. 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:49.459 Okay, we can go a bit further with that. 00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:53.199 What is the stability that David asks for? 00:06:54.359 --> 00:07:01.459 David asks really precisely here for God himself and not for answers. 00:07:02.659 --> 00:07:07.120 And I think that in some way probably flies in our faces a wee bit. 00:07:08.039 --> 00:07:12.560 When we're exhausted and faint and troubled, you know, we want answers. 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:13.959 We want solutions. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:18.379 And we look at David and all he is asking for is God himself. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:20.719 What are you doing, David? 00:07:22.159 --> 00:07:28.240 When your heart is faint and you look at life and you say, 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.279 It should not be like this. 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:33.339 My life should not look like this. 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:35.120 And I don't know why it does look like this. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:39.459 David is saying it's not firstly answers you need. 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:46.339 And he's saying that having a relationship with God is far more important right now 00:07:46.339 --> 00:07:48.639 than having the answers that you hope for. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.439 This morning, Ryan made the point that he was preaching about prayer. 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:58.839 And we've looked at prayer for weeks in St. Columbus in the Lord's Prayer. 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:02.419 And he quoted Paul Miller on A Praying Life. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:03.459 We're looking at prayer tonight. 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:05.279 I've got a quote from Paul Miller. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:06.919 So he must be the man. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:09.419 He talks about praying to God our Father. 00:08:10.299 --> 00:08:12.119 And he says, you know, we can look at trouble. 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:15.679 We can look at faintness and exhaustion in our lives. 00:08:16.939 --> 00:08:20.779 He compares that trouble and that exhaustion to the valley in Psalm 23. 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:26.939 And he says that God brings every single one of his children through some sort of valley 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:30.859 for us to learn that all we have is our Father. 00:08:30.860 --> 00:08:38.440 Father, when your heart is faint and you long for this desperate time to pass, 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:43.379 can you say, I know all I have is my Father. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:46.519 All I have is my Father. 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:53.139 This is partly, I think, what upsets us maybe as modern people. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.980 He calls this rock a rock higher than him. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:59.759 And then in verse 3, he calls God a refuge and a strong tower. 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:03.639 He's just using different pictures to make the same point in these two verses. 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:15.279 Your hope for this week, your hope in the middle of work and the thought of a new year, 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:21.920 of uni and school and whatever else, when you feel emotionally or spiritually exhausted, 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:30.240 your hope and your stability of having any sort of peace this week does not come from within you. 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:34.620 It comes ultimately from outside of you, from your Father. 00:09:35.139 --> 00:09:38.379 You're a rock who is higher than you. 00:09:38.959 --> 00:09:43.699 Knowing that God is for his people moves us away from self-reliance 00:09:43.700 --> 00:09:51.060 and towards resting in the one who knows what he is doing all of the time without fail. 00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:55.420 Quick side point and we'll move on. 00:09:55.560 --> 00:10:03.160 This is definitely not to say that we never pray for change and we never pray for wisdom. 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:07.140 We're told to pray for wisdom and for our circumstances to change. 00:10:07.220 --> 00:10:08.440 You see that all the way through the Bible. 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:11.380 Hannah and 1 Samuel prays for a child. 00:10:11.540 --> 00:10:14.120 Elijah, 1 Kings, prays for rain. 00:10:14.760 --> 00:10:16.440 Hezekiah, prays for health. 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:18.040 The church prays up here. 00:10:18.640 --> 00:10:21.120 It will be released from prison and acts. 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:25.140 James says very plainly, pray for wisdom. 00:10:26.640 --> 00:10:31.840 Prayers for health, for the world, for safety, to know what to do. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.900 The Bible is very clear that we're supposed to pray for these things. 00:10:34.899 --> 00:10:41.720 But prayer is not just about receiving answers and seeing things change. 00:10:41.860 --> 00:10:49.340 Prayer is about wanting God first and knowing him and trusting that he will do what is right. 00:10:50.179 --> 00:10:52.480 David gives us the clearest example of that. 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:59.079 It's about having a rock higher than you, a refuge, a strong tower that transforms you. 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:08.480 It's knowing that the most peace you will ever have is in him and not in your circumstances changing. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:12.080 Jesus, he looks out at the crowds and he says, 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:13.100 I am the bread of life. 00:11:14.180 --> 00:11:16.280 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. 00:11:17.020 --> 00:11:19.800 And whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:22.279 Will you pray this week? 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.319 Perhaps with a faint heart, will you pray? 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:28.899 Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 00:11:30.699 --> 00:11:32.839 Next then, he asks for safety. 00:11:33.819 --> 00:11:34.959 In verse 4, he says, 00:11:35.079 --> 00:11:37.219 Let me dwell in your tent forever. 00:11:37.339 --> 00:11:41.059 Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. 00:11:41.059 --> 00:11:50.179 David is talking here about being in the tabernacle, the tent where the Ark of the Covenant sits. 00:11:50.739 --> 00:11:52.479 We've said he is far from that place. 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:54.500 He is at the end of the earth. 00:11:54.619 --> 00:11:55.859 He is not where he wants to be. 00:11:56.039 --> 00:12:00.519 And he's not just feeling that physically, but he's feeling that emotionally and spiritually as well. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:04.319 And he wants to be back in the tabernacle, worshiping God. 00:12:04.439 --> 00:12:06.039 Just one point from this. 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:18.659 And we can say so much, but one point, it's being in the place that God promises to meet his people that uplifts David's heart. 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:24.139 Corporate worship is so high on David's agenda. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.579 He says it's like finding shelter underneath God's wings. 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:37.180 In the mid to late 19th century, the missionary, John Payton, he left Scotland with his wife. 00:12:37.540 --> 00:12:45.639 And he sailed to the New Hebrides, just a group of islands just beyond New Zealand, to join this missionary team. 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:51.480 And he was so sure of his calling to go out there and be a missionary to these cannibals. 00:12:51.940 --> 00:12:55.740 Even though his people at home persuaded him not to go. 00:12:55.740 --> 00:13:02.100 Within months, his wife and his newborn baby die to disease. 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:06.840 Much of his missionary team are either killed or are forced to flee. 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:10.820 And eventually, he's forced to flee as well. 00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:16.980 He was so sure that he was meant to be in the New Hebrides that eventually he went back. 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:21.600 And over the course of a few years, he saw mass conversions. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:30.879 He saw right across the islands, these natives who wanted to kill him finally coming to faith. 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:37.320 And after all those years of experiencing such loss and such darkness, he holds his first communion service. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:43.019 And he puts the bread and the wine in the hands of these islanders. 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:44.360 And this is what he says, 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:50.419 At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those hands, now stretched out to Jesus, 00:13:51.379 --> 00:13:56.559 I had a foretaste of the joy of heaven that almost burst my heart in pieces. 00:13:57.299 --> 00:14:02.100 Why is David so desperate to get back to the tent again? 00:14:02.100 --> 00:14:11.180 Why is it so much for Peyton to be a part of corporate worship with new believers that the joy almost bursts his heart, he says? 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:20.840 Throughout the Bible, God promises that his people will know his presence in a unique way 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:28.460 and know him speaking to them when they come together for worship. 00:14:28.460 --> 00:14:32.540 And David says being in that place is a shelter for the faint heart. 00:14:33.460 --> 00:14:40.660 Now really, really specifically, we can ask a question that we're probably, we don't often answer yes to, 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:47.100 but we can ask the question, do we get excited in the middle of the week about going to church? 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:53.540 Do we say with David, with a faint heart, that is where I need to be? 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:57.459 We could go in every direction with this. 00:14:58.339 --> 00:15:02.699 Christians for the past 2,000 years have gone in every direction with this. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.319 And one thing that has been said and asked in one way or another is, 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:09.779 why such a focus on the worship service? 00:15:09.779 --> 00:15:19.100 Can I not meet with God in the morning on my own when I read my Bible, when I pray to him? 00:15:19.819 --> 00:15:23.459 When my heart is faint and I pray, does he not hear me there and then? 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:25.539 Absolutely, he does. 00:15:27.220 --> 00:15:27.579 Definitely. 00:15:27.939 --> 00:15:30.720 But what do you see all across the Bible? 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:56.720 When the people are gathered, it is a real place of safety because it is the place where God renews his relationship with them. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:01.660 It is the place where God tells them, I am still your God. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:04.379 And we see that again in the New Testament. 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:09.240 What does Paul say in his letters as he sends them out to the early church? 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:19.200 In 1 Corinthians 3, he says, do you not know that you, you plural, are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? 00:16:20.160 --> 00:16:23.700 And in Ephesians 4, Corey looked at this a few weeks ago. 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:29.800 This temple, this gathering of people for worship is where we are made mature. 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:32.800 It is where we grow from babies into mature people. 00:16:33.540 --> 00:16:36.080 You can absolutely be strengthened by God. 00:16:37.180 --> 00:16:40.600 He will absolutely speak to you through his word in the middle of the week. 00:16:40.680 --> 00:16:45.000 Even if you pray from the end of the earth like David, he will hear you. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.799 But the writer to the Hebrews commands us to meet together. 00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:50.200 Why? 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:56.659 Because David knew that in the tabernacle, in the place where God promised to meet him with God's people, 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.600 he would find real safety under God's wings. 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:06.700 David Clarkson, he was an old English minister, he says, 00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:11.680 he says, public worship is the nearest resemblance to heaven. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:17.640 Do we get excited about going to church on a Sunday? 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:22.460 Can we pray with David that with our faint hearts that we would really find shelter 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:29.180 and that we would again hear God say, I am your God? 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:33.380 Okay, lastly, he prays for a king. 00:17:34.420 --> 00:17:35.420 Verses 6 to 7. 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:39.519 A lot of commentators look at this and wonder why this is a part of the psalm. 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:41.759 It seems very separate. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.660 It seems very disjointed from what we've just been saying. 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:46.240 His heart is faint. 00:17:46.360 --> 00:17:50.000 So he prays that he would have stability and just resting in God. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.160 He prays that he would experience safety in meeting with God's people. 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.779 What's this about prolonging the life of the king? 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:08.339 In 2 Samuel chapter 7, Nathan prophesies that young David is going to become the king of Israel 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:11.859 and that his throne will be established forever. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:15.400 If David did write this whole psalm, which he probably did, 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:21.280 he must have had this prophecy in mind when he reaches verse 7 and he says, 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:23.900 May he be enthroned forever before God. 00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:25.900 Is David talking about himself? 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.740 Is he talking about a future king? 00:18:30.120 --> 00:18:33.820 Whatever the answer is, one writer says this, and I find it helpful, 00:18:34.080 --> 00:18:36.580 and I think it makes sense of this a wee bit. 00:18:37.120 --> 00:18:40.780 This is the fundamental request that people prayed for the king. 00:18:40.779 --> 00:18:52.379 David knows that the stability of the nation rests on him, 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:54.220 and it will always rest on the king. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.500 And so he prays, will this throne be established forever? 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:04.500 In other words, will his people experience peace, stability forevermore 00:19:04.500 --> 00:19:06.940 through the life of the king? 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:16.220 Your stability, your peace tonight only exists because your life is in the hands of the king. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:19.279 You are able to say, 00:19:20.180 --> 00:19:24.980 I know life is not what it's supposed to be. 00:19:26.580 --> 00:19:28.640 I know I feel so faint, 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:33.380 but I know I have lasting peace from someone outside of me. 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:38.420 And I know I can go somewhere every week where he promises to minister to me 00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:40.800 and build me up. 00:19:42.060 --> 00:19:45.300 The promise of stability and safety, 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.140 like the psalmist asked for his years, 00:19:47.320 --> 00:19:49.120 because the king has bought it for you. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:51.580 We read from Luke 1 earlier, 00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:54.640 and we see that this child, Jesus, 00:19:55.480 --> 00:19:58.180 was going to be given the throne of David, 00:19:58.280 --> 00:19:59.620 and he would reign forever. 00:19:59.619 --> 00:20:05.379 The angel comes to Mary and says that the prophecy made in David's day 00:20:05.379 --> 00:20:08.039 is at last going to be fulfilled. 00:20:09.899 --> 00:20:11.339 And 30 years later, 00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:14.419 where is Jesus? 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.219 He's at the end of the earth, 00:20:18.919 --> 00:20:20.879 rejected by his closest friends, 00:20:21.899 --> 00:20:23.119 hours before dying, 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:25.719 a criminal released in his place. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:29.500 He is tortured and mocked in his humanity. 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:31.480 He feels the wrath of his father 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:33.299 as he hangs on the cross. 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:36.500 Where we have said in our lives, 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:38.920 I will work this out. 00:20:39.019 --> 00:20:40.360 I will do as I please. 00:20:41.259 --> 00:20:43.160 I will make life what it is meant to be. 00:20:43.620 --> 00:20:45.860 Christ came after us to the end of the earth, 00:20:46.860 --> 00:20:48.740 and it completely broke him. 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:50.480 But in dying and rising again, 00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:52.079 he takes his people by the hand 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:53.799 and leads them home. 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:59.240 We wandered to the end of the earth 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:00.399 in our rejection of God. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:04.740 And yet his son came after us, 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:06.680 and now because he rules as king, 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.940 we have stability when our hearts are faint, 00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:13.200 and safety, a place to run to 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:17.039 where God promises to meet and care for us. 00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:20.940 David prays for the king's years to endure to all generations. 00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:23.600 Because Christ rules, 00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:28.880 your life will rest in his hands forevermore. 00:21:31.100 --> 00:21:34.019 Can you look at your life 00:21:34.019 --> 00:21:35.600 and say, 00:21:35.940 --> 00:21:37.700 when life is so upsetting, 00:21:37.779 --> 00:21:38.779 and I am so confused, 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:40.320 and my heart is faint, 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:42.960 I know I am not self-sufficient. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:46.759 And even if I try to fill my life with meaning, 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:48.259 it never lasts, 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.100 but there is one who has grabbed my hand 00:21:52.100 --> 00:21:53.240 and has saved me, 00:21:53.340 --> 00:21:54.700 and he promises rest, 00:21:55.120 --> 00:21:56.519 and he promises safety 00:21:56.519 --> 00:21:58.440 that I can never find on my own. 00:22:00.140 --> 00:22:02.360 He promises that, 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:03.340 if you're a believer, 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.680 he promises that your life is hidden with him. 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:09.299 our life, 00:22:09.580 --> 00:22:10.799 our lives rest 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:12.920 in the hands of the king 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:14.299 who went to the ends of the earth. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:19.120 Have you trusted the king for that? 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:24.060 David mentions a couple of times in the psalm, 00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:24.820 just to close, 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:27.680 he mentions that he has made vows to God, 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:28.820 and in verse 8, 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:31.340 he talks about singing praise. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:32.960 In Hebrews 13, 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.039 the writer speaks about something similar, 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:36.440 and he says, 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:37.859 the right response from us 00:22:37.859 --> 00:22:40.059 in light of what Jesus has done 00:22:40.059 --> 00:22:44.920 is to offer sacrifices of praise continually. 00:22:45.740 --> 00:22:46.579 And that word continually, 00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:47.779 it just means persistently. 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:50.799 Whether life is beautiful or it's not, 00:22:51.339 --> 00:22:52.759 and we are faint, 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:57.460 praise ought to daily be our response to God. 00:22:57.460 --> 00:22:57.920 And so, 00:22:58.659 --> 00:22:59.159 praise, 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:00.559 like David is speaking about, 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:04.500 it cannot be based on how you're feeling 00:23:04.500 --> 00:23:05.279 right now 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:07.480 or this week. 00:23:08.900 --> 00:23:09.420 No, 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:10.279 it's persistent. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:12.740 It's in the face of trouble. 00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:15.440 What is praise based on? 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.359 It's based on the fact 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:18.000 that Christ 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.740 went to the end of the earth for you 00:23:19.740 --> 00:23:20.359 and died. 00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:23.700 And yet, 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:24.539 in rising again, 00:23:24.619 --> 00:23:25.980 he gives you everything you need, 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:27.180 rest and stability, 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:28.900 when you have no answers 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:29.920 to your questions, 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:31.519 and safety 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.560 and strength 00:23:32.560 --> 00:23:33.120 in the place 00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:34.259 that God promises 00:23:34.259 --> 00:23:35.259 to meet his people. 00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:37.640 Will you, 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:38.600 will you this week pray 00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:39.860 that God would give you rest 00:23:39.860 --> 00:23:42.580 when frustration 00:23:42.580 --> 00:23:43.380 and upset 00:23:43.380 --> 00:23:44.220 takes over? 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:45.180 Will you pray, 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:46.700 lead me to the rock 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:48.320 that is higher 00:23:48.320 --> 00:23:49.440 than I? 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.000 Will you, 00:23:50.320 --> 00:23:51.680 maybe in the middle of this week, 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:52.960 think about the fact 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:53.380 that 00:23:53.380 --> 00:23:56.000 every week of your life, 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:57.960 God calls his people 00:23:57.960 --> 00:23:58.460 to gather 00:23:58.460 --> 00:23:59.900 so that he can put his hand 00:23:59.900 --> 00:24:00.259 on them 00:24:00.259 --> 00:24:01.920 and minister to them. 00:24:02.940 --> 00:24:04.579 Will you persistently, 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:06.940 continually praise him, 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:07.440 not, 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:09.059 not because 00:24:09.059 --> 00:24:10.160 of how things are, 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:10.940 but because, 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:11.980 because the king 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:12.539 is alive. 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:14.720 Will you praise him 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:15.259 because the king 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:15.759 is alive 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:16.339 and because 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:17.900 he takes you 00:24:17.900 --> 00:24:18.599 by the hand 00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:19.599 and he gives you 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:20.059 true 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:21.380 and beautiful 00:24:21.380 --> 00:24:22.140 life. 00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:23.680 Let's pray. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:25.880 Lord, 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:26.279 we thank you 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:27.019 for this psalm. 00:24:27.860 --> 00:24:28.660 We thank you 00:24:28.660 --> 00:24:30.240 for David's cries, 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:31.620 the cries 00:24:31.620 --> 00:24:32.400 of a faint heart 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.360 and we pray this week 00:24:33.360 --> 00:24:35.140 as we look at our lives 00:24:35.140 --> 00:24:36.240 we would come to you 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:38.240 for stability. 00:24:38.700 --> 00:24:39.360 We would run 00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:39.940 to the rock 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:40.820 that is higher than us. 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:42.080 We pray that we would 00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:43.640 have a heart 00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:44.940 for worshiping 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:45.519 with your people 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.440 more and more 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:47.259 every week 00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:48.320 and that it would be 00:24:48.320 --> 00:24:49.279 a reason 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.900 for us to be excited. 00:24:52.120 --> 00:24:52.380 And Lord, 00:24:52.460 --> 00:24:52.820 help us, 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:53.399 no matter what 00:24:53.399 --> 00:24:54.460 our life looks like, 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:55.200 to praise you 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:56.000 like we ought, 00:24:56.539 --> 00:24:57.539 to thank you 00:24:57.539 --> 00:24:59.059 and to love the king 00:24:59.059 --> 00:25:00.220 who came 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:02.179 and took us 00:25:02.179 --> 00:25:02.740 to himself. 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:03.659 So help us 00:25:03.659 --> 00:25:04.119 with these things 00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:05.240 we ask for Jesus' sake. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:06.039 Amen.