When the Heart Cries
Part 19
Sermon Series: A Word about the Word
Date: September 14, 2003 P.M. Service
Place: Allendale Baptist
Text: Psalm 119: 145-153
Introduction
In this section of the psalm the psalmist continues to be in troubling times. I guess this is why we can relate so well to this writing. Does it see, to you as the trails never stop coming.
The psalmist continues to cry out to the Lord, and while doing so combines his prayer with the commitment to obedience to God’s Word.
This section seems to be very similar to others we have read before.
In the first 2 verses we can hear the psalmists…
I. Affection vv. 145-146
· A child cries sometimes because it is mad or wants attention. Sometimes it is a whining sort of cry.
· A loving parent knows what and when to respond to.
· Sometimes there are cries for…
A. Desperation
· This the sort of cry the psalmist is raising to the Lord. He is frightened; he is in pain or in agony and needs attention and help.
· There is urgency to this cry, and like loving parents, a Holy loving God always responds to this kind of cry.
· When there is a desperate cry from God’s people, God always responds.
· Someone has said that “the beginning place of prayer is desperation.” When we become absolutely desperate for a message from God, or for an answer from Him, when we get to the end of our rope, that’s when we really begin to pray.
Then we sense his …
B. Determination v. 146
· Again he cries out but closes the prayer with a promise.
· “I will keep Thy testimonies.”
· Someone has said we see two solid ingredients in this prayer which make it a genuine prayer: the emotional ingredient and the volitional ingredient. The emotional say, I am desperate, the volitional says, I am determined. The emotional says, rescue me. The volitional says, I will obey you or I will follow you.
· These are good ingredients to prayer but we must remember we can never deal or bargain with God in prayer.
· It is the helpless person in desperation that cries out to God and it is steadfast determination to honor God in one’s life.
This leads the psalmist to…
II. Action vv. 147-148
The psalmist is in trying times but he is not still; he remains active primarily in prayer.
A. Prevention
· He uses the word prevent twice in these two verses.
· Prevent means to delay or prolong.
· Have you ever stayed up all night long tossing and turning worrying about some thing? It seems like the morning will never come.
· This is the picture we see here but instead of worry it is…
B. Devotion
· Here he is said to meditate on the Word or d God.
· He spends the last moments of his day to meditate on the truth of God’s Word.
· I get the picture here of the psalmist not wasting any of his time.
· Stop and think for just a moment about the time you waste; not doing anything constructive or of any value.
· How could that time be used to glorify the Lord? How could that time be used to strengthen your walk and your relationship with the Lord?
· Just a thought.
Next we see an…
III. Appeal v. 149
He wants the Lord to hear him on the basis of God’s …
A. Love
· The psalmist says “hear my voice”
· Several months ago when Teena and Lindsey picked me up from the airport, I told them I would meet them down at the baggage area. My silly daughter came running to me shouting her new name for me. “Faja.” I knew it was her and I knew she was there.
· The morning Lindsey accepted Jesus as her Savior in Sunday School I will never forget I was walking down the long hallway to the counseling room and I heard, “Daddy.” There were many other children calling for their dad in that building that morning, but in all the noise in the midst of the loudness I heard my child, my daughter, call me by the name see uses for me. And I responded.
· The psalmist desires God to respond in love.
Not only in love but in …
B. Life v. 149b
“O Lord, quicken me according to Thy judgment.”
· Here again the psalmist cries out for quickening or to be revived.
· We need to remember that to be revived we must first be vived.
· He seems to be crying out “God bring back life to me; bring back joy and hope to my life.”
· Has any thing ever gotten you to that point?
Last we see the psalmists…
IV. Anticipation vv. 150-152
· Once again the psalmist paints a gloomy picture of those that oppress him.
Here we see the…
A. Treachery of his enemies
· His enemies are far from God but they are near the psalmist.
· Because these people have rejected God’s Word they will stop at nothing to bring harm to God’s servant.
But last notice the…
B. Truth about God
· Someone has said “when we know that God is near and that His Word is truth, we can look without fear into the faces of our enemies, whoever they are and what ever they might say.”
· When God is near that’s all we need.
The psalmist closes this section by saying that God’s Word is truth.
· God’s Word is totally reliable. It is as we have seen earlier, “Forever settled.”
I close tonight with asking you to finish this statement…
God is near and He is always ________.
Invitation
