[0:00] Now as we look at this 40th Psalm, one that is familiar to most of us and perhaps more familiar in the metrical singing version rather than in the prose version in the scripture itself.
[0:10] We can see that it divides really up into three sections, not of equal length, but three sections in terms of subject matter. First of all, there is in verses 1 to 5, celebration of God's deliverance.
[0:24] The deliverance that the Lord has wrought for his servant he has rejoiced in, is celebrated in. And that's verses 1 to 5. And then verses 6 to 10, you've got a profession of devotion to his servants.
[0:39] Now this isn't just coming from David himself, this is the Lord putting in the mouth of David that which is undoubtedly messianic. And we know it's messianic because it's quoted as being that which the Lord himself utters later on in the New Testament in Hebrews.
[0:56] And we'll come to that in due course. So verses 6 to 10 then is a profession of devotion to the Lord's servants. A delight in that. And then the verses 11 to 17, the closing section, perhaps the longest section you could say, this then is a prayer of relief from imminent danger for the overthrow of enemies and for the rejoicing of friends.
[1:19] And an indication perhaps that even when we have the deliverance that's rejoiced in at the beginning of the psalm, you know, the next problem always arises. There's always the next struggle, the next challenge, the next difficulty.
[1:32] And we know that this is what life is like. That we all will be able to recount occasions when the Lord has perhaps blessed us and given us a great day. And we had a real day of rejoicing.
[1:43] And so many years ago it might have been. And we could say, yes, the Lord helped me there. Just as though the Israelites had said, oh, the Lord brought us through the Red Sea. Wasn't that wonderful? Wasn't that fantastic?
[1:54] But as it happens now, we are thirsty in the wilderness. We've got no water. We've got no food. This is a new problem. And the Lord may have really helped us and blessed us years ago or last week or last month or whatever.
[2:07] But the ongoing struggles and the ongoing problems and the ongoing attacks of the world are still there. And they must still be dealt with. And that, in a sense, is at the closing part of the psalm what man is addressing.
[2:21] Because although there's rejoicing at the beginning, it's back to the grind, as it were, by the end. I am put in needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
[2:32] Make no tanny, O my God. The Lord is not unmindful of his people. Now, for gospel purposes, the most significant verses here in this psalm are the verses 6 to 8.
[2:46] Sacrifice and offering that is not desire. My ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of me.
[2:58] I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Now, these are cited as the words of Christ in the letter of the Hebrews.
[3:09] We read in Hebrews chapter 10. We read in verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou it's not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
[3:20] In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written of me to do thy will, O God.
[3:30] So this is his word, put in the mouth of Christ. Not artificially put in the mouth, but Paul. We'll take it as being Paul as the author of the Hebrews. I know there's some dispute as to who actually wrote Hebrews, and we don't know for sure exactly which apostle it might have been, but let's think of it as being Paul.
[3:48] That he is citing this as though in the mouth of the Messiah of Jesus. Now, of course, some people might think, oh, well, that's just him saying that.
[3:58] Jesus didn't agree. We've got no record in the gospel account that Jesus actually said these words. Remember that Paul is writing in that letter to the Hebrews, to Hebrew Christians.
[4:10] That is not only Jewish people who have been brought up with the Old Testament scriptures and the covenants and all the knowledge of the law and the prophecies and so on, but people who have been brought up with these things are also people understanding Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of all these things, the Messiah of Israel.
[4:29] In other words, they are steeped in the knowledge of what Paul is writing about here. There's no pulling the wool over their eyes. There is no way that Paul could simply take this quotation from Psalm 40 and say, oh, yeah, this is Jesus saying that.
[4:46] Unless these Jewish believers already understood these verses as being messianic, as already being that which the Old Testament church, the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, looked to as a fulfillment in the time of the Messiah, whoever he should be and whenever he should come.
[5:06] So when Paul is writing to the Hebrews, he's writing to those who have accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and who will recognize these verses in Psalm 40 as being messianic.
[5:19] Otherwise, they would just say, oh, my gosh. He didn't say that at all. That's a complete twisting of scripture. These are people who know their Bibles that Paul is writing to. It's the same way that, you know, if somebody was a brand new Christian and they had put their trust in Christ, but perhaps their knowledge of the Bible itself was a wee bit hazy.
[5:39] You know, you might be able to confuse such a person by mixing up, say, the Ark of the Covenant and Noah's Ark and saying, well, they're both called an ark, so they both must be the same thing.
[5:50] And they might just say, oh, right, I hadn't realized that, because they don't know the content of the Bible. That's if it's a brand new Christian who doesn't know any better. Somebody's been brought up with the gospel and with the church and with the Bible.
[6:03] They're going to split their sides laughing at you if you say something like that. They're going to think you're completely bonkers if you come up with something like that. See, of course that's not the same thing. They're completely different. One is the Ark of the Covenant.
[6:15] One is Noah's Ark. They're completely different things. And they wouldn't know that. You can't pull the wool over the eyes of people who will actually know the difference. And so likewise, when Paul is writing to the Hebrews, he's not just saying, oh, let's take these verses and apply them to Jesus.
[6:32] Inciting these in the Hebrews, he says, when he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice an offering thou it's not, but a body has thou prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
[6:45] He is writing to people who will take these verses and say, yep, right enough, that applies to the Messiah. That must be Jesus that it's talking about. Because they will know these verses as messianic.
[6:57] They will know that the right place to apply them is to Jesus. Some people, however, would take the view that David simply spoke these words about himself.
[7:08] You know, that, oh, in sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but my ears you've opened, burnt offerings, sin of, and that's not quite. Then said I, lo, I come, I, David come, as though he's writing it about himself.
[7:21] But the language cannot really be fitted into any stage or aspect of David's career, even symbolically. He himself is not a sacrifice for sin in the way that Jesus is.
[7:35] You know, we go back to what it says there in Hebrews. It says, no, a body thou hast prepared me. That's a body in which to live, a body in which to die.
[7:45] The whole reason that Jesus came to earth, the whole reason that God the Son became flesh, was not only that he could live a perfect life, fulfilling the law in every detail, the perfect life we couldn't live, but so that he could die.
[8:02] Whilst he was simply God the Son, the eternal Spirit in heaven, he could live, he could live for all eternity, but the only way he could die was if he became human, was if he took on a body, a body thou hast prepared me.
[8:19] Lo, I come, in the volume of the book, it is written of me. It applies to the Messiah. It applies to Jesus. It doesn't really apply to David or to ordinary Old Testament worship.
[8:33] You know, what volume of the book is it written about David that he used to be the sacrifice for sin because the Lord didn't require ordinary sacrifice, so he didn't take pleasure in all the bulls and calves and goats because they weren't enough.
[8:46] But there was a final sacrifice, one that he liked to do his will. Now, that doesn't apply about David, but it applies to the Son of David. It applies to Jesus of Nazareth.
[8:58] It applies to the Messiah. This psalm must be taken, then, as an expression of the feelings of the Messiah's human nature, as with, for example, your Psalm 16, where it says in the last two verses, Now, Peter cites that psalm, remember, when he preaches his sermon in the Acts of the Apostles after Pentecost.
[9:34] He says, you know, that David's tomb is still with us. David isn't talking about himself. David is prophesying about the Messiah to come. He says, that will not leave my soul in hell, not leave it in a state of ongoing eternal death.
[9:47] When Jesus was dead and buried, he didn't stay dead and buried. He rose again. And it is to that resurrection that the apostles were testifying. So, likewise, part of the good news for believers is that now, under the Gospel, that which is true for Christ is true for us also.
[10:08] It's not just that, okay, Jesus has done it all. We can relax. It's rather that we now enter into what he has done. Yes, he suffered.
[10:18] We too will suffer in this world if we're going to be his. Yes, he died. We too will die unless the Lord comes back first. Yes, his body would have been put in the ground.
[10:30] It didn't see corruption. Our bodies will see corruption, but they will be renewed and transformed when the day of the resurrection comes, the final day, the day of judgment and so on, comes likewise.
[10:43] What Christ enters into, we enter into in him. Yes, he suffered. We suffer. Yes, he rose again. We shall rise again. Yes, he's glorified. And in the presence of his Father, we too shall be glorified.
[10:56] We enter into what he has done. We become part of his work, as it were, part of his body, part of his life. We're not just standing from a distance and admiring what Jesus has done.
[11:08] Isn't that great? Well done, Messiah. But rather, we are part of it. He makes us part of his body. This is the good news. It's not just for us, but rather he takes us with him in doing it.
[11:22] Such is the love of the Lord for lost sinners. What is true for Christ is true for us also. We are not the son of God in that sense, but we are made honorary sons of God.
[11:36] He has become our elder brother. We inherit as sons, inherit whatever our gender may be. We are not fit to be in the presence of the Lord, but he makes us fit.
[11:47] He cleanses and renews us and makes us fit for the presence of the Lord. So if we were to turn back to Hebrews 5, for example, we see in verses 7 and 8, it says, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
[12:18] That's what Jesus went through. And that is partly what we too are called upon to go through. We are not called upon just to bask in the sunshine and have an easy ride with the Lord.
[12:29] We are called upon to share in his sufferings, in that sense, I would say that deliberately, to follow where he has led. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
[12:41] This is part of what the Lord wants to ascertain. Will you still love me when the going is tough? It is easy to love somebody if everything's sweet and nice and rich and wealthy and everything's just going great and the sun is always shining.
[12:56] That's easy. Will you still love them when the times are tough and when there isn't money to pay the bills and if there's a struggle and if there's problems and if there's difficulties and when there's illness or all these different problems and difficulties may come against it.
[13:12] It's not so easy to love when it's not the sunshine days. It's not so easy to love through the storms but that is partly what real love is of course. And this is what the Lord wants to know of his people.
[13:24] Will you still give me all of your heart when these times are tough? If I put you through struggle, if I put you through difficulty, for consider, again going back to the Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 3, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
[13:45] Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. This is what the Lord did. He endured unto blood. It's what we may be called upon to do.
[13:57] It is what thousands, hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters throughout the world are called upon to do each year to seal the testimony with their own blood in martyrdom.
[14:08] And for some people, the Lord does require that of them. He doesn't tend to require it in this day and age so much for us. But there are other ways of being persecuted. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12 said, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
[14:27] But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
[14:43] On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody in other men's matters.
[14:54] Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. This is the gospel nature of this psalm, that what the Lord has done for his people, they themselves enter into and become part of.
[15:15] Right at the beginning we see how the Lord desires to hear his people. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He inclined his ear.
[15:26] It says here again in Psalm 17 at verse 6, I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God, incline thy ear unto me and hear my speech. It says the tilting of the head, almost as though it were possible to extend the ear and the least sigh or whisper of the heart is heard.
[15:45] You know how we all know that if you've got a dog whistle, for example, you can whistle that dog whistle and the dog will hear a far higher pitch that sounds just silent to us because our hearing can't hear that eye and our hearing can't hear the secret sigh or burden of one another's hearts.
[16:03] Somebody may be groaning within themselves and we can't hear, we can't know that, they keep it hidden, but God hears it and God knows because his hearing and his knowledge is perfect and ours isn't.
[16:15] It is he who inclines his ear to catch the least sigh, the least whisper of the heart. Thus keenly and tenderly does the Father condescend to hear the prayers of his beloved children.
[16:29] He's not pompous and aloof, but he is easy to be intrigued. He inclined, he heard my cry. Now the great deliverance that we have in verse 2 described, he brought me up also out of an horrible pit out of the mighty clay and set my feet upon a rock.
[16:47] You know, we think of, you know, some of you may know the story of Jeremiah in chapter 38 where Jeremiah gets cast into the dungeon and the dungeon is basically a pit. It's a pit where there's not water in it and we read in Jeremiah 38 it says, they took Jeremiah, cast him into the dungeon of Balkiol, the son of Hamalech, that was in the court of the prison and they let down Jeremiah with cords and in the dungeon there was no water but mire, so Jeremiah sunk in the mire and that's how he stayed until we read how Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian eunuch there, he went and he he pled for Jeremiah and he drew him back out but he didn't just pull him back up again with the cords.
[17:27] The touching side of that story is that he went and he got old rags and clouts of cloth and he said to Jeremiah and he threw them down and he said, put these under your arms so when the ropes pull you up it won't bite into his flesh and there was that kind thought that gentle touch it's not just a case out, yank him up it doesn't matter how much it hurts just get him out there's that kindness that gentleness in pulling Jeremiah out of the pit now of course Jeremiah would be quite a bit later hundreds of years probably after David at this stage after this psalm is written but this is the sense being cast into the pit and unable to escape because it's got these smooth vertical sides you can't get out you're sinking in the mire but he brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the mighty clay from which I would have no escape were it simply down to me you see the idea that human beings can somehow redeem themselves it's a myth a complete falsehood that we can somehow do enough good somehow be able to bring ourselves up out of this mighty clay out of this pit how can you escape from such a dungeon you can't you must be drawn out you must be set free you must be brought out and that's what the Lord does for us this verse it teaches us of God's faithfulness and his willingness to help us but it also presupposes that that which we are brought out of we must first be in the great deliverance both of God's own son from the jaws of death in the tomb and from believers from their lostness presupposes the entering into or the being in that fearful condition in the first place one who feels himself secure or happy or prosperous feels no need of salvation or deliverance you see if everything's going swimmingly in your life you want to think what do I need God for
[19:24] I'm fine I'm rich my barns are full I'm doing fine what do I need with God if he has all he could want why would he want to be delivered what he thinks does he need to be saved from not for nothing as the gospel described as good news for the poor for those who are ground down the common people heard him gladly those who were oppressed with taxes and by the Romans and in poverty and so on they heard him gladly this was good news for the poor a God who cared a God who would deliver them a God who would set them free who opened the eyes of the blind who healed the lame and the sick and cleansed the lepers who raised the dead who could roam back the frontiers of pain and darkness people who are in pain and darkness need that people who are in poverty need this good news people who are struggling in their lives they know their need but those who are coasting along across the field they don't see any need to be delivered but it's not for nothing that our Lord did more of how hard it was for the rich the wealthy the prosperous to enter into the kingdom of God easier for a camel to go through the eye of our needless and for one who trusted in riches to enter into the kingdom of God and if we are materially comfortable and living without
[20:47] Christ if we you know if we think we have all that we need and we're without Christ then what are we trusting if not our riches we're effectively saying well this is how it is today and tomorrow will be just the same I'll be just as rich tomorrow as I am today things will be going just as well and just as smoothly tomorrow as they are today my life is great and it will always keep on being great how quickly things can turn around how suddenly things can change and all our hopes and dreams can be overturned or destroyed in a moment if we are trusting in the things of this world we're certainly not trusting in Christ if we think we can live without him we assume do we not that all must be well with our soul simply because all is well with our body or with our lives if we feel ourselves not to be in any pit or mighty clay no horrible distress therefore we see no need of deliverance therefore we have none we see no need we sense no need we ask for no deliverance therefore we have none to go back to Jeremiah we can paraphrase chapter 8 verse 20 that famous verse the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved and we are not bothered if that is our condition but such is a condition it is a false one it's like Jeremiah being at the bottom of this pit but being fast asleep and being fast asleep having lovely dreams about sunshine and riches and feasting and banquering and so on it's like it says in Isaiah 29 verse 8 it shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his soul hath appetite so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion the false security of this world is just that it is false it is being at the bottom of the pit and not knowing it it is being unconscious being fast asleep and having lovely dreams of all the things that we think are real not knowing that they are simply as a vapor that passes away and we are sinking in the mire and we don't realize it and if we did realize and if we did waken up to our need we would cry out to the Lord in our distress but the one who does soon finds that the Lord delivers readily he puts it it says a new song in my mouth the new song in his mouth we have this referred to elsewhere chapter 33 of Psalms verse 3 sing unto him a new song play skillfully with a loud noise it's symptomatic not only of inspiration of a song fresh for the occasion but it is replete also with the imagery of heaven in Revelation 5 we read at verse 9 they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals that are for thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth the new song chapter 14 verse 3 they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders and no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth chapter 15 verse 3 it says they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the son of the lamb saying great and marvellous are thy works
[24:33] Lord God almighty just and true of thy ways thou king of saints the new song is replete with the imagery of heaven it is about what the saints in glory sing and it says there in one place in chapter 15 the song of Moses and the lamb the harmony of the old dispensation and the new ever old ever new eternal and what are they singing the song of Moses of the lamb compared here a new song in my mouth even praise unto our God many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord in other words many people will see that this is a song that is sung this is a joy that is experienced by those with no earthly reason to rejoice or triumph throughout the world the Lord's people are the oppressed they are the ground down they are the persecuted they are often the outcast the lowest of the low in many countries and societies and even in this country it is the one people group that it's okay to despise it's okay to discriminate against we are the offscouring of all things in many ways throughout the world what reason do we have for joy if we were simply building our hopes in this world many shall see and shall understand that those who sing the new song of the Lord have no earthly reason to triumphal rejoice and yet still they sing still they rejoice and they see this and it is strange and because people instinctively fear that which is unknown they will fear and they will wonder and if God be seen as the source of such confidence in his people then initially their curiosity and then perhaps intrigued they may be drawn to him drawn to the source of such strength the source of such joy in the midst of struggle and oppression now verses 6 to 8 we've already alluded to already made mention of them but it speaks as we've said of the perfect submission of Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for sin where it says my ears hast thou opened this is a reference to what we read in Exodus 21 of how a servant if he had served his time with his master but perhaps his wife and his children were still in a state of servitude of slavery he could say well no
[27:03] I don't want to be free I don't want to leave my wife and my kids I want to stay with them I'll stay with my master all of my life and what will seem to us a very brutal way of dealing with this it says in Exodus 21 verse 5 and if the servant shall plainly say I love my master my wife my children I will not go out free then his master shall bring him unto the judges he shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl with a spike with a nail and he shall serve him forever that's what it means when my ear hast thou opened it doesn't mean unplugged it taking the wax out of it it means bored it through open it made a hole in it because it nailed as it were to the doorpost you are a servant forever and this is what the Lord Jesus has made himself he has emptied himself and made himself the servant of all because he said that he that would be great in the kingdom of heaven must become the servant of all my ear hast thou opened
[28:04] I have become a servant forever that's what it means here and this is the sense of it here my ear hast thou opened we've got it again in Isaiah chapter 50 verses 5 and 6 the Lord God have opened my ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting this is what Jesus went through this is what we are called to enter into if need be if the need should arise we see the faithfulness of Jesus in his earthly ministry ongoing verses 10 and 11 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I declare thy faithfulness to the great congregation I have not concealed thy loving kindness withhold not thy tender mercies from me we see here his ongoing faithfulness it says in Isaiah 53 verses 10 and 11 when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed that is his own believing children in every succeeding generation he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied you see this declaring of his righteousness in the congregation it's not just in
[29:20] Jesus own lifetime his apostles then followed on from him and those whom the apostles taught they followed on and they declared it in their generation and so on down all the generations it's why we're here today because others declared it to us others made it known to us our part our privilege our responsibility is to make sure that we transmit to others around us and to succeeding generations that which the Lord has done not just that which the Lord did long ago but that which the Lord has done in our lives and in our world and in our day this is a living God and a living word and we are to declare with our lives what he has done I have not hid I have not refrained my lips have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation withhold not thy tender mercies from me and then in these closing verses how we remember see how we said that this then is a reference to the ongoing struggle yes there's been a great deliverance but then the next problem has to be dealt with the next challenge the next difficulty the sufferings of David of the Messiah of all that will strive to be faithful to Christ remember what it says 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 12 yea and all that will live godly in Christ
[30:40] Jesus shall suffer persecution even without physical persecution or brutality it is never easy to be a Christian in this world simply because this is not our home we are on foreign turf we are on foreign soil we are the awaiting here always we are the stranger in a strange land Jesus said I go before you to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself and where I am there you may be also he doesn't say he'll build it here he doesn't say it'll be in this world here we have no continuing city but we seek one that is to come we are living in a foreign land we are strangers and pilgrims in this world you notice if you look around you look at how the media deals with all the other religions of the world they can't do enough they bend over backwards to accommodate them oh these religions must be respected they must be accepted they must be given place they must be given privileges but the Christian religion the gospel oh no that can be despised that can be shut out to the side that can be discriminated against that must always give way no matter what they do no matter what they endure because all the other religions of the world the world instinctively recognizes that these are them this belongs to the world they are like them and they instinctively recognize that the gospel is something different the gospel is something supernatural
[32:15] Christ is something above and beyond what man can control it is no mere religion of man's inventing it is a relationship with a living God now if that relationship is with somebody with somebody who is out of this world it is something the world can't control so the prince of this world is always going to be against it but the time of suffering is brief it's if it ended tomorrow see if the Lord came back tomorrow and all that we endure all our aches and pains and struggles and difficulties and things we moan about or complain about or take to the Lord with our burdens and say Lord if only this wasn't the case if only I could get through this or that and you'd help me with this if only this would stop if only that would stop well we've all got these particular things if it all stopped tomorrow or it all stopped tonight you couldn't honestly and you couldn't say well actually now I feel a wee bit guilty about all the grumbling now I feel a bit guilty that that was the substance of my prayers was just oh Lord get me out of this oh Lord stop this from happening oh Lord take away this this ache and this pain if we knew it was going to end tomorrow then we'd say well Lord give me another day so I can
[33:28] I can do it better so that I can bear this with a better conscience with a better spirit help me just help me just to bear this little brief time if I knew it was so short well I would buck up and I would I would be strengthened and I would I would try my best for that last little burst if I could see the finishing tape ahead of me I'd expend all my energy to even though I'm worn out to run for all I'm worth for that finishing tape if only I knew it would it would be ended tomorrow if it was if it was ended tomorrow wouldn't we all be a little bit ashamed of how lukewarm or how complaining or how grumbling we were about the lot the last Lord has cast to us in this world if it ended tomorrow we would wish we had done it better we would wish we'd made a better job of our struggles today if we realised how brief how limited was our time of sorrow our time of suffering but I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh upon me thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying oh my God and we see how this plea to make no tarrying that the Lord would come and notice that it's Lord in that verse it's not in capitals it's not all in capitals that means it's not talking about
[34:44] God the Father Jehovah in that sense where Lord is a capital L but the rest of it is in small letters in the Old Testament it's usually a reference to the Messiah so that we want the Lord to think upon us the Messiah Christ to remember us thou art my help my deliverer make no tarrying oh my God and see how it almost then comes full circle it comes back again to verse 1 make no tarrying he seems to be tarrying what do we do I waited patiently for the Lord I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry and it starts again the next problem the next challenge the Lord delivers us out of that the next plea the next prayer the Lord gets us through it we're struggling when in difficulty we cry to the Lord I'm poor and needy Lord I want my help my deliverer make no tarrying oh my God come quickly if he doesn't come right away what do we do do we moan do we complain do we criticize no I waited patiently for the Lord I went back again where we started and the Lord delivers us again and again and again until the very last one this is what life is like it is in reality one challenge one problem one difficulty one obstacle one joy one sorrow after another day by day by day it's not one victory one size fits all it's not one day of blessing and rejoicing that's enough for all the rest of the world it's not enough that when the Israelites camped at Elan that that was all the water they needed for the rest of the wilderness they needed water from the rock every day they needed manna from heaven every day we need the Lord to deliver and help us every day it is an everyday relationship it is an everyday life because this is a God of reality this is a gospel of reality this is what life is actually like and only the Lord is able to deal with it only the Lord is able to address it only the Lord is able to bring us through it this brief time this blip of suffering before the true glory that does not fade away is revealed what do we do while we long for it while we wait for it while we wish it would come tomorrow
[37:04] I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry and so he does and so he has and so he shall this is a psalm with the whole Bible in my corcosm let us pray