Let's turn in our Bibles to Psalm
119. Psalm 119. In verse 153, David said, Consider mine affliction
and deliver me. For I do not forget thy law.
Plead my cause and deliver me. Quicken me according to thy word.
Salvation is far from the wicked, for they seek not thy statutes. David begins here and he says,
Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law. Our subject is God's statutes
in affliction. These things that David asked
God to do here are God's statutes to us, what he calls his child
to do in all times of trouble. Through all David's affliction,
he didn't forget God's law. He did not forget God's law.
The whole word of God is teaching us to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, to believe God, to trust his son, and trust him to save
us. And that means save us eternally. That means save us every day. That means for him to save us
continually. The moral law of God teaches
us our sin and teaches us our need of Christ. Why we need Christ
to save us, because by nature we're sin, we're guilty. The
ceremonial law teaches us Christ is salvation. Everything in those
statutes and ordinances of the moral, of the ceremonial law,
we're teaching Christ is salvation. He's the righteousness of His
people. The Psalms and the Prophets are all declaring that Christ
is coming and what He would accomplish and what He would be for His
people in salvation. And the Gospels and the Epistles
are declaring to us Christ has come, declares to us what He
has accomplished, and declares to us what He shall yet accomplish
and how He should lose none. And the whole Word of God is
teaching us to believe on the Lord Jesus. If you summed it
up, Psalm 50 and verse 51, the Lord's teaching us, call upon
me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou
shalt glorify me. Now David, when he says here,
consider my affliction and deliver me for I do not forget thy law,
he's not asking God to deliver him due to the fact that he remembered
God's word and God's gospel. He's not asking him to deliver
him for the sake that he does remember it. He remembers God's
gospel. He remembers all these promises
of God. He remembers these things God
commands us and that's why he's asking. It's like this, in Psalm
86, David prayed, unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good and
ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call
upon thee. You see, that's the reason. I'm
calling on you because you're good. I remember you're good.
You're ready to forgive. You're plenteous in mercy to
them that call upon you. And so in our psalm, he's saying,
consider my affliction and deliver me, for I don't forget that thou,
O Lord, are good. You're ready to forgive. You're
plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. He remembered
the gospel that God had declared to him. That's why he's calling
on God. That's why any of us call on
God. Now, I want first of all to consider
how that the law, the whole word of God declares that God saves
all his people by Christ his son. That's the message of the
whole book, that he saves his people by his son. Now, David
had been taught the gospel by the Lord. He'd been taught this.
He'd been taught, regenerated, taught in spirit that Christ
is his salvation. And God gave him inspiration
to write many of the things that Christ would accomplish for his
people concerning his offices, concerning what he would accomplish.
Many of the New Testament passages come from David's writing or
what David had written. But David not only wrote those
things, God gave him a heart and he believed the things he
wrote. Christ was his salvation. And he hadn't forgotten God's
law. He hadn't forgotten God's gospel
to him. Though he'd been afflicted and
been through some troubles, he hadn't forgotten it. One of the
things David was used to write in Psalm 2 7, he wrote, I will
declare the decree. This is the word of God. I will
declare the decree. That's the same word as statute.
I will declare the statute. This is God's statute, his decree.
The Lord had said unto me, speaking of Christ, thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. We have a lot of references to
this in the New Testament. And what it's declaring to us
is Christ is God. He's co-eternal with the Father,
co-existent with the Father, always has been with the Father.
From the beginning of creation, Christ has been the salvation
of his people. Even from before creation, in
eternity, he was set up as the salvation of his people. So David
here, as somebody that's been born again, somebody that's been
taught this by the Spirit of God, knows the Lord Jesus is
eternal God. He knows, though Christ hasn't
come in the flesh, he knows he is the eternal Son of God. And
so, having been given those words to write, he writes them, but
David knows this is Christ. He knows what Christ, that he
would come, that he would come in the flesh, he would accomplish
his salvation. And David believed that because
God's son is eternal, that Christ is eternal, though he hadn't
come into flesh yet, David believed right then Christ was his salvation. Christ was his salvation. So
in his afflictions, he didn't forget the law of God. He did
not forget, he remembered Christ is eternal. He was his savior
right then, the eternal son of God. And so David looked to him. He's God mighty to save. That's
who David believed. That's who we believed. That's
who his people believed. God had taught David that the
Son of God would take flesh and blood like unto his brethren.
He would come and he would take flesh and blood like his people. And a body would be prepared
for him by the Holy Spirit. and that he would fulfill the
covenant between God the Father and God the Son. David believed
that because God gave him these words to write, and David, he
gave him these words in his heart to believe. Back in Psalm 40,
verse 6, this is where David declares it. This is what he hadn't forgotten.
He said in Psalm 40, verse 6, This is Christ speaking. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. Hebrews 10 says, a body
hast thou prepared me. Burn offering and sin offering
thou is not required. Then said I, lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it's written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O God, yea, thy law is within my heart. David, having this
word given to him and spiritual discernment given to him, David
knew in those sacrifices of those bulls and goats, he knew those
sacrifices didn't save. He knew those sacrifices pointed
to Christ, and he saw Christ in those sacrifices. I'm trying
to show you, this is the gospel David believed. God's never saved
in any way but by the same gospel. And so when David says, I don't
forget your law, it's the same gospel God's taught us. The same
gospel of Christ that God's taught us. So in David's trials, when
he had sinned, he knew Christ was his righteousness. He knew
Christ was his surety, even though Christ had come in the flesh
and laid down his life and shed his blood and accomplished redemption
as his surety, David believed Christ was his righteousness.
as much before Christ came as he is after Christ came. That
was David's confidence. So David asked God, consider
my affliction for I have not forgotten thy law. That's why
he's asking God to consider him. He remembers Christ is my Redeemer,
Christ is my righteousness. He's asking God to consider him
for that reason, for Christ's sake. And then in Psalm 132, God gave David spiritual discernment. He gave him these words to write.
To know that Christ was his king. Christ was his king. David was
given discernment to realize this. David knew this. that he
and his throne, David and David's throne, was a picture of Christ
the King and Christ's throne. David was given spiritual discernment.
This is what David was given the word to write in Psalm 132.11. The Lord has sworn in truth unto
David. He will not turn from it. Of
the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. Of the fruit of your body I'll
set upon thy throne. He said in verse 17, there will
I make the horn of David to bud. I've ordained a lamp for mine
anointed. The Spirit of God gave Paul a
message on that that David wrote. And here's what Paul said about
that. This is what David knew. He said, of this man's seed of
Christ, I mean of David's seed out of his loins, hath God according
to his promise raised unto Israel a Savior, the Lord Jesus. And that's what David knew. God
gave David this law, and David remembered it. He remembered
this word of our Lord. I've set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion. David was penned to write that
Psalm 2. Even though Christ hadn't come into flesh, even though
he hadn't arisen and sat down at God's right hand, David knew
right then, because he's the eternal son of God, the eternal
Christ, pre-incarnate, that he was David's king. And David was
ruled by him. God said, I will declare the
decree. I'll declare the statute. The Lord has said unto me, thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. God gave David the word,
and David wrote in Psalm 89, 27, he wrote what God said. Also,
I will make him my firstborn higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever." Don't you know when the Lord told David that? and gave David those words to
write. Don't you know when he heard Christ is the King, and
God promised, I'll make Christ's seed to endure forevermore. David
took his place right there as one of Christ's seed, one of
his true spiritual children, and he knew it's in Christ that
I'm going to live forevermore. He hung on to that. He hung on
to that word. He believed that word. God said,
He used David in Psalm 72, 8. He used him to write this. Christ
shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river
unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness
shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust.
So there you see David. He's in his trials. We've seen
him in 1 Samuel, out in the wilderness in his trials that he's going
through. He needed to be saved. He needed to be safe in his affliction.
But by God's grace, he hadn't forgotten the Word of God. And
God's witness, God's testimony that Christ was His King, Christ
was His Savior, Christ was His righteousness. David had been
taught this in the heart. Even the things he hadn't been
given the words to pen yet, when God revealed the gospel to him,
David understood this just like you and me do. This is what God
reveals when He teaches you the gospel. And so David knew according
to the flesh, Christ is coming through him. Can you imagine
God telling you that? But you know what that meant
for David? That meant security for David. That meant David was
going to live until he at least had the son through whom Christ
was coming. And God would preserve him. And
David believed that it was in Christ he'd be saved. He hadn't
forgotten this. When the affliction was heavy
and the trials were heavy, David did not forget this gospel because
God had planted it in his heart. And that's so of his people.
So while he's in the wilderness, what did he do? He did what God
said his people will do. He bowed to Christ. That's what
we see him doing in Psalm 119. Bowing and asking the Lord to
consider him. to consider him in his affliction.
God's love to David, the gospel he gave David to write. David
even wrote intricate details about how Christ would suffer.
In Psalm 22, David wrote how the Lord Jesus would be rejected
by men. He wrote about the people surrounding
the Lord Jesus around the cross. He wrote about how they nailed
his feet and his hands to the cross. He wrote about how they
would cast lots and part his garments. He heard Christ declare
in Psalm 22. He was given these words that
Christ would speak. And David understood these things. That Christ said, I, he was forsaken
because God is holy. And he was bearing the sin of
his people. And David was given a spiritual
discernment to know these things and faith to believe these things.
He believed Christ would not see corruption. He believed that
though he died and went in the grave, he would come out of that
grave and arise to God's right hand because he accomplished
the redemption of his people. God gave David the words to write
that, but not only the words to write it, he gave him the
heart to believe it. He said, thou will not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Did David really believe, did he believe these things concerning
Christ? Peter, by the Spirit of God,
said on the day of Pentecost, he said indeed David knew and
he believed these things that God taught him. This is what
he said about that, David being a prophet and knowing knowing
that God has sworn to him. That's the law David remembered.
God had sworn with an oath to him that at the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne. And he's seeing this before.
David saw this beforehand. And he spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did
his flesh see corruption. Faith sees things that carnal
sight don't see. David had the word of God, and
he saw and believed that this was coming to pass, and this
was all his salvation, what Christ would accomplish. God taught
David in his law, and David saw by faith that Christ really accomplished
the redemption of his people. He saw that David accomplished
the redemption of his people. and would rise to God's right
hand, and that every gift that we receive, every spiritual blessing
given his people, is directly from the Lord Jesus. And David
believed this. He wrote this in Psalm 68, verse
18. Thou has ascended on high. Thou has led captivity captive. Thou has received gifts for men.
Yea, for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell
among them. Blessed be the Lord who daily
loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. That's
who he is. He daily loads his people with
benefits. He is the God of our salvation.
He accomplished redemption. He arose to God's right hand.
He led captivity captive. We were all gods that were the
captives of the devil. And he came and by his blood,
by justifying his people, he freed his people from the captivity
of the devil and arose to God's right hand. And all that remains
is for him to send the gospel into our hearts and free us from
our sin nature. The faith in him. The pre-incarnate
Lord Jesus He hadn't come into flesh yet, but he's the one that
taught David this gospel. He's the one that kept this law
in David's heart. It was written on his heart just
like he promised to write it on our hearts. And David knew
Christ was his salvation, his righteousness, his glory. And
God wouldn't let him forget it. And God won't let you forget
it, child of God. That's the law David didn't forget.
So when he's afflicted, and he needed God to raise him up, That's
why he asked God to consider his affliction. He remembered
this gospel. He remembered what God told him.
That's our motive for calling on God, all God's covenant promises
to his people, the gospel of our Lord. David was a prophet. He was sent by Christ himself.
David was a prophet. But David knew Christ is the
prophet. He knew that because he'd been taught by the Lord
Jesus. He knew Christ is the preeminent preacher. He's the
preeminent bishop, the elder, the pastor, all the same word. That's who Christ is, the preacher
ruling the hearts of his people by the rod of his gospel. Christ
takes this very law. This very word that gives him
all the glory, the very word he gave David to write, and he
preaches this into our hearts through the preaching of the
gospel, and he makes us willing to call on him in the day of
his power. David wrote that. In Psalm 110.1,
the Lord said to my Lord. That tells you David knew, the
Lord said to my Lord. He's saying, Jehovah God said
to Christ my Lord, sit there on my right hand till I make
thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. What's that? That's the gospel
of Christ. Where does it come from? Out
of Zion, where Christ sits. He sends the gospel into the
heart of his messenger and through the preaching of the gospel sends
it into the heart of his people. And what's the result? He rules
in the midst of his enemies. He rules in the midst of his
enemies through the preaching of the gospel. Christ is accomplishing
it all through the message that declares his glory. And our people
shall be willing in the day of thy power and the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning when thou hast the dew
of thy youth. And he's going to keep you renewed
as in your youth. That new man in you is not getting
older. Your flesh is getting older and
it's going to die. The new man in you is as youthful
as it was the first day God called you. Holy and righteous in Christ. Eternally alive by Christ Jesus
the life. And he keeps you renewed in the
beauty of holiness in that inner man so that you know him. Now
we know we've seen this. David sinned in his trials. We
saw that many times, but David had not forgotten that Christ
is his high priest. Christ is his high priest. Even
before the Lord had come, even before he'd accomplished it on
the cross, David knew Christ was his high priest, his advocate
with the Father. He saw it, pictured it, every
time that high priest, that earthly high priest went into the holiest
of holy, David sat there and by faith he realized, that's
my redeemer. That's my great high priest in
the holiest of holies before God, my Father. The Lord has
sworn and will not repent that a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. David wrote that in Psalm 110,
4. He knew Christ is the eternal
high priest. Now, having seen this is the
law that David remembered. This is a law that the Lord God
didn't let him forget. Now let's see, what are the statutes
that David obeyed that came from God? What did he ask? Verse 153. Now, you could take
any section of Psalm 119, and we've looked some at 1 Samuel. You could take any section in
this Psalm and apply it to those trials David went through when
he was suffering in affliction. But first thing he asked the
Lord was, consider my affliction and deliver me. The word is redeem
me. Consider my affliction and redeem
me. Our all-knowing God always considers
the affliction of His children. He chose us in Christ. He's going
to keep us and save us, and He always considers the affliction
of His people. He appointed our afflictions.
Remember Paul saying that to the Thessalonians? We're appointed
to these afflictions. And the Lord rules the affliction
for the good of His child. It's just to teach us. It's to
bring us where David was brought, to call on the Lord to save and
remind us He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. God's saints
now. We have a sin nature. And when
you come into trial, you and me both know this. When you come
into trial, you're very prone to look at second causes. You're
very prone to look at the second causes first. David did that
on many occasions when we've seen him going through his trials.
And when he tried to deliver himself, what happened? He got
himself into more trouble every time. But when it pleases God,
He may let you do that to the time He's appointed. He's going
to let you do that to show you. But then God's going to turn
you and He's going to make you look to Christ and cease from
man. And faith is going to see things
that carnal sight doesn't see. Faith's going to behold and know
and remember this gospel of God that the providence is God's
hand chastening the child He loves. correcting and teaching
and instructing the child he loves, just like a father chastens,
an earthly father chastens his child. Now, salvation's far from
the wicked because they don't seek God's statutes. God's not
in their thoughts. The wicked are not just, the
wicked are unregenerate men, but they're not just wild sinners. I thought about it when I passed
up here on the way here. There's a bunch of families up
there having a good time today, playing softball. God's not in
their thoughts whatsoever. And they don't want God to be
in the thoughts of their children. Because they don't want God in
their thoughts. But the wicked hear that God rules all providence,
that he sent the storm that caused destruction and caused them sorrow,
and it angers men to hear that message. It would bring more
sorrow to God's child. If we thought God did not send
the storm, that we thought it came some other way and was ruled
some other way, that would cause us more sorrow. Because we know
this, no matter what the cup of affliction is that you're
You have to drink. You know your father filled that
cup and gave it to you. And you know that he measures
it and he will not give you any more than is fit and needful
to teach you the message of this gospel that your salvation is
Christ only. That's always the purpose and
he will not fill that cup up any more than that until he teaches
you that lesson. The message he's teaching us
or the statute he's teaching us is call upon me in the day
of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou
shalt glorify me. David asked God to do for him
what David couldn't do, what nobody else could do. Consider
my affliction and deliver me. You know what that word consider
means? It means God our father has pity and compassion on his
child. He has pity and compassion on
his child. David's saying, consider, have
pity, have compassion on me. Psalm 103, 13 says, like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him, for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that where
it does. David was given the words to
write that, he hadn't forgot that. So he asked God, have pity
and compassion on me, consider me. Our Lord Jesus is a high
priest. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows the feeling of our weakness.
He was touched with all of them, yet without sin. And so he says,
come to my throne of grace, that you might find grace and mercy
and grace to help in time of need. Now, two, David obeyed
the Lord's statute by asking the Lord, plead my cause and
deliver me. plead my cause and deliver me. Christ Jesus is the advocate
of his people. He's our lawyer. He's our defender. He alone pleads
our cause. That's why God sends affliction.
He sends affliction to his child to keep us remembering we have
one advocate. It's the Lord Jesus. We have
one advocate. Christ pled the cause of all
God's elect on the cross, and he accomplished it. The law and
justice of God charged us. We were guilty, and our Lord
Jesus took the place of his people, and he satisfied that justice,
and he justified all his people. And now, he ever lives at God's
right hand to plead our cause, our advocate with the Father.
And so, as we're going through this life, and we're going through
this world, Christ is going to plead our cause. He's going to
plead the cause of his people against Satan's accusations.
He's going to plead the cause of his people against the accusation
of our own sin nature. He's going to plead our cause
before men. And he's the only one who can
do it. If this occasion, if it was one of those occasions where
David was charged falsely, If it was an occasion where David
was charged falsely, still David did not try to plead his own
cause. He trusted the Lord to plead
his cause, even being innocent. Listen to this. In 1 Samuel 24,
14, David said this to Saul. He said, After whom is the king
of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue?
After a dead dog, after a flea. David said, Even if I'm innocent
of whatever it is your churchwoman saw, I'm still a sinner. I'm a dead dog. I'm a flea. The Lord therefore be judge and
judge between me and thee and see and plead my cause and deliver
me out of thy hand. That was David's, that was his
confidence in the Lord. And then there were many occasions
we've seen where David just flat out sinned. Well, what did he
do then? Did he trust Christ to plead
his cause then? By God's grace, he confessed
his sin to the Lord and he said what Micah said. Micah 7, 9,
Micah said, I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned
against him. until He plead my cause and execute
judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the
light and I shall behold His righteousness." Do you see why
this is God's statute to us? His word to us is, look unto
Me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth from God and
there's none else. He speaks to His child when you've
sinned. This is His exhortation to us.
that you sin not, as he tells us that from the beginning, sin
not. But here's the motive we have for not fainting and falling
away. He says, and when you sin, when
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sin. Isn't
that good news, brethren? So we ask him to plead our cause.
Now here's the third thing he asks the Lord. He asked the Lord
to quicken me, quicken me. David had been quickened. He
was a regenerated child of God, a holy child of God, but he asked
God to quicken him because God's saints need to be quickened again
and again. This is what revival is. Revival
is not this stirring everybody up in this big hoopty-doo of
a bunch of people all excited. Revival is God dealing individually
with his child and reviving you in the heart. That's revival. We need revival. We need the
Spirit of God reviving us again. We've seen that. David pled this
because he knew his own weakness. He knew his own weakness. He
said back up there in verse 25, My soul cleaveth unto the dust,
quicken thou me according to thy word. David knew the corruption
of his own sin nature. David had seen his own unbelief
and how at times we've seen it in the scriptures. He just acted
like he'd never even heard the gospel and didn't even believe
God. And it was powerful that sin
nature was. It captured him at times. David
was ready to faint in despair of life. He knew he needed God's
renewing grace. He needed that. And he asked
the Lord quick at me. Now notice this here, the last
word there, he said, according to your word, according to thy
word, according to your promise, God, according to your gospel.
Everything he just asked the Lord is what God has promised
his people in the gospel. It applies to each thing he said.
Plead my cause, consider me according to thy word. Plead my cause according
to thy word. Quicken me according to thy word.
Deliver me according to thy word. This is the law David didn't
forget. This is the gospel. God kept him knowing in his heart.
This is why he called on God to do this. God said, it glorifies
me. And he said, and when I've done
these things for you, you shall glorify me. If David could have
done any of these things for himself, David would have gloried
in David. But God said, you'll call on
me. He'll bring you to such a place.
You can't do these things yourself. And he said, you'll call on me,
and I'll do this for you, and you'll glorify me. You'll glorify
me. Call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. You think about
David. And we've all experienced this.
We've done it. Every time David leaned to his
own understanding, and he tried to fix it, he tried to deliver
himself, he just made it worse, and it just was all messed up. It got worse and worse. But when
he trusted the Lord, when he called out to the Lord to do
these things for him, the Lord did it, and he was renewed, and
he saw the Lord did it, and he glorified the Lord. He had communion
with God, and everything was well. I read a story about a
man named Mr. Whitelock, and he lived in England. And he was so troubled about
England and what was going on in that time and the peril of
England and everything was a mess with the rulers and everything.
And he had a servant that might work for him and he said, Mr.
Whitelock, this is what his servant said, Mr. Whitelock, did England
get on pretty well before you were born? He said, oh yes, John,
if you could have seen it back in those days, England got along
very well. They thrived very, very well.
He said, that's what I'm so troubled about. They got along very well
before I was born. He said, well, you think it'll
get on all right when you're dead? He said, yes, I believe
the Lord will take care of it. I believe he's going to keep
this country and it'll continue. And that servant said, well then,
If I were you, sir, I'd leave it to God, and I wouldn't trouble
myself about it. That's what David was being taught.
That's what you and me are being taught. Worry, putting our hand
to it, it doesn't fix it. It makes it worse. It's why God
told him, you can't have, when you build that altar, don't you
build steps up to that altar. You'll discover your nakedness
if you come into God's by steps. Step by step, getting higher
and higher, he said, you're going to discover your nakedness. It's
why he made them chisel out those stones and then bring them there
and just put them in place in the temple. Don't lift up your
tool on it, he said, or you'll pollute it. It's why when he
reached out, the man reached out to stable the ark, God smote
him. We're to trust God. Look to the
Lord. When we're trying to fix things
and we're trying to deliver ourselves, we're not obeying the Lord. We're
not obeying the Lord. The battle is not yours, but
the Lord's. And somebody will say, yeah,
but the scripture speaks of us as fighting the good fight. Yes,
it does. But the fight is within. The
fight is denying ourselves and trusting the Lord to win the
battle. That's the warfare. That's the warfare. He's the
captain of our salvation. He has accomplished our warfare
at Calvary on the cross, and every other little battle we
come into, he's the one that will win the victory. Peace and
believing. is leaving everything in our
Lord's hand. It's casting all your burden
on Him, trusting Christ, and leaving it with Him. And I pray
that's what He'll give us grace to do. Cast your burden upon
the Lord and leave it there. Leave it there. Let's go to Him
in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
this Word. Lord, you are indeed holy. You
consider your people. You have pity and compassion
on your weak children. Lord, we thank you that you have
pled the cause of your people yourself. Amazing grace that
the lawgiver came and made himself under the law and became the
law keeper. and did it all that he might make us righteous. Lord,
you are an amazing, gracious, merciful God. Thankful, Lord,
that you quicken us. You won't let us forget this
gospel. You keep teaching us. You keep reminding us. We're
thankful, Lord, for the affliction. We need it. It's good for us,
Lord, to teach us that we might learn your statutes, these very
statutes we see David learn. And Lord, we pray you continue
to teach us and make us get a good understanding, make us wise to
trust you. You do all things well. You created
this world. You've held it in store right
up to this day. Everything has come to pass exactly
according to your purpose by your sovereign hand. Lord, we
can trust you. We can trust you. Thank you for
your grace. Thank you for your mercy to us.
So often in unbelief and we just don't believe and trust you.
Thank you, Lord, for being merciful to us for Christ's sake. Thank
you for the full, complete pardon of our sin for his sake. Thank
you for perfect righteousness in him. Lord, we pray you bless
this word. Make it truly our, our aim in all things, Lord,
to trust you alone. We pray these things in Christ's
name. Amen.