Well, once again, may the Lord
be with and bless us as we turn to Psalm 119. And this evening
we'll consider verses 145 to 148. Psalm 119 and meditating
on verses 145 to 148. Well, we'll read those four verses
now. I cried with my whole heart,
hear me, O Lord, I will keep thy statutes. I cried unto thee,
save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies. I prevented the
dawning of the morning and cried. I hoped in thy word, Mine eyes
prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word. Well once again we're privileged
to be able to read that which Almighty God recorded for our
benefit and that's really the really innermost desires of the
psalmist David. And what a blessing it is to
have such a record. And we see how he here is seeking
earnestly to his God. We read three times in these
verses how he cried. And generally speaking, in the
Word of God, when someone is recorded as crying out to God,
it means that their prayer is with a good degree of urgency. And again we can think, which
I've mentioned a number of times, the example of a little child
who can't speak and can't tell us exactly what they want, but
they do cry. And when they cry, it brings
attention. And so may we take heed to these
words which are before us. And so we commence with verse
145 where he says, I cried with my whole heart." Now this
was a real prayer and it came from his heart and it wasn't
a half-hearted prayer. Sometimes our prayers are half-hearted. Sometimes they can be very traditional
and we just go through a form But here clearly was a prayer
which emanated from God and indeed from his whole heart. Not a divided
heart, but an honest heart. I cried with my whole heart. He was indeed sincere. And as he cried, he says, hear
me, oh Lord. He didn't want to just utter
words, Under words of no depth, no reality, but he wanted to
cry out to his God, because he says, hear me, O Lord. That's who he was praying to.
And what a good example it is for us today, that we may cry
with our whole heart, with that True desire that if prayer emanates
from our heart, it will be because we need and we desire that God
will hear us. Oh Lord, what a blessing if that
is so. It brings prayer into reality. And then he says, I will keep
thy statutes. Well, so many times in this psalm
we've had similar words. David's desire was to do God's
will. Therefore he says, I will keep
thy statutes. It seems that he was praying
with his whole heart, but not giving the details. He wanted
God to hear him, and if God did indeed hear his cry, He tells
us, I will keep thy statutes. Well, it's a good desire to have.
And may each one of us have that same real heavenly desire. And then we come, verse 1, 4,
6, commences again, I cried. And he says, unto thee. Well, we know who thee was because
he's already said in the previous verse, hear me, Lord.' And now
he comes and says, I cried unto thee. What was his concern? Save me. He wanted to be saved. He wanted the evidence that he
was saved. He wanted the evidence that God
had had mercy upon him, that God had looked upon him, that
God hadn't cast him aside, and therefore he desired to have
that wonderful evidence. And he prayed, save me. And then
he goes on, again very similar to the previous verse, and I
shall keep thy testimonies. The previous verse said, I will
keep thy statutes. And here he says, and I will
keep thy testimonies. those wonderful things that the
Lord had commanded him and commands us today, his testimonies. And what a blessing it is to
have a willing spirit, like clearly David did. And he says, and I
shall keep thy testimonies. If he was blessed with the wonderful
evidence of saving grace, he had so much to thank God for,
and so do we. If God has saved our soul, if
God has shown us his mercy toward us, well, what a blessing then
if we desire to truly follow him. And I shall keep thy testimonies,
It's really very similar to those words to take up our cross and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's a good statement that
we have here. And then he comes and tells us
in the next two verses two situations in his life. First, he tells
us, I prevented the dawning of the morning and cried. What does that mean? Perhaps
it's a bit strange to us. I prevented the dawning of the
morning. Well, I think the thrust of this
is that he got up early in the morning, very early in the morning,
before the dawning of the day. That's why he says, I prevented
the dawning of the morning and cried. and prayed again, you
see. We see the urgency that he had. It's good, isn't it, to wake
up and pray to God, to cry to God. It's the first thing that
we desire to do when we gain consciousness from our sleep,
to cry unto God and truly desire that he would have mercy upon
us. And he says, and he cried, and
he tells us where his confidence was. I hoped in thy word. Clearly he was dependent upon
the promises of God, the many promises of God which are recorded
in his word and therefore he says, I hoped in thy word. Well I hope, we hope in the promises
of God. The great truths which God in
his love and mercy has left on record for us today, and may
we indeed be found hoping in God's word, that word which describes
the way that he leads his church, the way that he's gone before,
the wonderful way of salvation, the glorious plan of salvation,
the wonderful finished work of the Saviour. They're all there
and they're all recorded and therefore he says, I hoped and
I would and remember of course that David didn't have the Bible
as we have it. We know he had the first five
books of Moses and probably Ruth, but we don't know really much
about the other books. Anyway, nonetheless, he's still
able to write in this vein, I hoped in thy word, where might the
word of God be truly precious and real to us. And therefore
we've had this situation, he says, I prevented the dawning
of the morning. And now, in verse 148, he tells
us, mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate
in thy word. Sure that means then, during
the night, he woke up and he meditated in the word of God. Again, another blessed situation,
isn't it? And what a favour for us, if
our religion is so real and so precious, that when we wake up
in the night, that which comes into our mind, into our hearts,
is the Word of God. And so he tells us, mine eyes
prevent the night watches He said previously, I prevented
the dawning of the morning and now in the night his eyes were
open to meditate on the great and glorious truth of God that
I might meditate in thy word. There's no better occupation
than meditating in the word of God and have God graciously expand
that word to our heart's enjoyment, so that although we may perhaps
supposed to be sleeping, if the Lord graciously comes and blesses
us in this way, it'll be a good time for our souls. Well, we
should thank God that we have these details, we might say tucked
away in this long 119th Psalm, but how relevant they are And
what a good thing if you and I meditate upon these truths
and take them to heart and desire to have the same cries, the same
desires, the same prayers that the psalmist did. Well may God
bless his word to us.