May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to Psalm
139, and we'll read the first two verses. Psalm 139, and read
in verses one and two. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me, thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising,
and thou understandest my thought afar off. This is, as we know, a psalm
of David. And here David is speaking about
his relationship with his God and his realisation that this
God knows all about him. And of course the truth is that
God knows all about every one of us. There is nothing in our
minds, our thoughts, our actions, our words, which is not known
to Almighty God. And it's a wonderful blessing
when the Lord shows us what this really means. And so David's
able to come and say, O Lord, here comes the God, the Jehovah,
the ever-living and true God, O Lord. And he says, Thou hast
searched me and known me. Well, it's very humbling when
we are able to say and agree with David that the Lord has
searched us. That means the Lord has come
and examined us. and we've had that examination
and we've known what the examination has done the eye of God and the
word of God has come to us and directed us to our innermost
thoughts innermost desires those things which only you know about
and God knows about no one else knows about that's why we read
on As the Lord spoke to David, and David tells us, Thou, the
Almighty God, knowest my down-sitting. That's the things, really, when
he's cast down and mine uprising. The things when he's lifted up
and understandest my thought afar off. You see, it's wonderful
to think that God is in heaven. The Lord Jesus sits on the Father's
right hand. And yet, you see, although he's
so far away, he knows all about us. He understands about us,
understands my thought afar off. Well, this evening, as we come
before our God, may such a word be an encouragement to us. Sometimes
it may, of course, make us tremble to think that God knows exactly
what we're saying and what we're doing and what we're thinking. Good things and bad things are
all known to God. We cannot hide ourselves. We
cannot hide even our thoughts. That just shows to us something,
does it not, of the greatness of our God. The power of God
to look into our hearts. The power of God to understand
and know our very thoughts, the things which the Lord knows.
We will think because the Lord knows the end from the beginning.
He knows every thought that comes into our mind. nothing is hidden
from the eye of Almighty God and we would think that such
a realization would greatly influence us in our lives but so often
we just go on as though we're our own boss as though we do
exactly what we want to. We don't have to confer with
anyone. We don't have to think that anyone
is thinking what we're thinking. And yet here we have the clear
evidence that we have a God who does know about us, who knows
Thou knowest, says David, my down-sitting and mine uprising. Yes, God does know. Now, this
of course has two sides, doesn't it? It's a wonderful comfort
from one perspective. As we enter into difficulties
and trials and temptations to know that God knows all about
us. We can therefore come and commit
our way unto Him and to trust in Him that He will deliver. He who has delivered we may believe
will deliver and therefore we're not left to ourselves but we
have a God who is so gracious and is mindful of us. So he knows,
therefore, our down-sitting. He knows all our concerns. Every concern. And we all have
concerns from day to day. We enter into new situations
and we know not where the scene will end sometimes. And there
are a cause to make us sad and wonder what the scene will bring
to us. But our God knows all about it. And we were able, therefore,
to commit our way unto Him, to trust Him, that He won't leave
us and He won't forsake us, to be able to say with the hymn
writer, Thou hast helped me, hitherto will help me all my
journey through and give me daily cause to raise new Ebenezers
to thy praise and Ebenezer means hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. Again what a blessing that is
to realize that we have a God therefore who understands us
also, not only knows but understands. it's a mercy isn't it to have
a God like that but yet also on the other side of course it's
a solemn reality to think that all the bad thoughts the sinful
thoughts the wrong thoughts that we have God knows about we can't
hide them we can't pretend they didn't happen we can't pretend
they weren't there God knows and it's a mercy if God shows
to us that he does know and that's why the Lord in his sovereign
goodness has given us truths like this in his word to encourage
us and also to warn us and make us aware of the greatness of
God. But what a mercy it is to realise
that as we journey on through life, we won't enter into any
situation that is not known to God. We may think, well, what's
going to happen now? What's the future going to hold
for me? How can I continue? Remember, the Lord knows. He
knows the way. He knows the way of escape. He
knows the path. that you and I will be walking
in. Indeed, He does direct us. He leads us in a plain path. What a mercy that is. He knows,
thou knowest my down sitting. Well, and it's good therefore
to realise that when the Lord brings us into sometimes difficult
situations, and we may wonder why, why has this? come into
my life. Why have I got to walk this path? Why has the Lord ordained that
this should happen to me? Well, I believe one of the greatest
blessings that occurs to us in that situation is to realise
that we're not alone. The Lord is with us. and we're
not walking a path which is unknown because the Lord has walked that
path there's no path you know that is unknown to our God He
knows the path that we've walked and what a comfort that should
be because therefore it may seem an unknown way to us but to realise
it's a way which is known to God, a pathway that He's walked
before us. We only have to think, surely,
of the life of the Lord Jesus on this earth, and to realise
the many, many difficulties the Saviour had to endure. The Lord's not a stranger to
the path that you and I walk in. We may think we're surely
The Lord doesn't understand my path. He says, the Lord knows
our down-sitting. He knows the path. And surely that should bring
us into union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ through
his life. Again, you may and I may think,
well, this path's a hard path and why do I have to walk it? where we're instructed in the
Hebrews, consider Him. Consider Him. What the Savior
had to endure. What the Savior faced. Consider
Him. And as you and I may be able
to, consider Him and realize the path He walked. He walked
in order to satisfy the holy and righteous demands of our
Heavenly Father. Yes, it wasn't a path. It wasn't a chance path. Even
with the Saviour, it was a graciously ordained path. So that none of
us will be able to say, well, of course, the Lord never had
to walk a path like me. Remember, we're told he was tempted
in all things yet without sin. The Saviour understands. So when
you find the path is hard, when you find the path seems difficult,
when you find the path seems beyond your understanding, consider
Him. And if the Holy Spirit then comes
and applies The truth of God to the situation. What a mercy
that will be if you find you're walking with that one who understands. Because he's walked the path.
He walked a lonely path, did he not? On this earth. And not
only a lonely path, but a path with continued opposition. Yes, and didn't have a big comfortable
bed to go to at night. He didn't have a warm lovely
house to go into. No, he lay down on the ground
with stones for his pillow. Nothing comfortable in his natural
life. Sometimes it's good just to compare
that with our situation and think of the The lines of the hymn
which he encourages us, count your many blessings, name them
one by one, and it will surprise us what the Lord has done. We often become fretful and moan
and complain, and yet the Lord Jesus never complained. He never
became fretful. He walked the path that his Father
had ordained for him. And my friends, today, Almighty
God has ordained a path for you and me. And my friends, we can
say it reverently and wonderfully, the path that the Saviour walked.
was a path that would have a good end. Yes, and it was a good end
because He did His Father's will and He was received up into glory. And it would be a wonderful blessing
therefore for us today if our desiring concern is to do the
will of our Heavenly Father and to be patient in the path that
He leads us in. and to not think that we're in
a very rare path. No one else has walked the same
way as we have. Remember the Saviour. Remember
what He endured. Remember what He faced, and we
can perhaps come in with the hymn writer, His way was much
rougher and harder than mine. Did Christ my Lord suffer, and
shall I repine? It's always good to come and
try and align ourselves with a suffering saviour. That so
often then puts things in a right perspective. It's then, you see,
that we are made willing in the day of His power to suffer for
His sake, whatever that may mean, in each of our life. And the
Word of God encourages us If we suffer with Him, we should
also reign with Him. Therefore the other must be truth,
if we do not suffer with Him, then we will not reign with Him.
Let us not be therefore surprised at the path the Lord ordains
for us, because it is to bring us closer to the Saviour. If there's no suffering in this
life, there's no closeness, we won't understand the path that
the Saviour had to walk in order to redeem our souls. And then you see it makes our
salvation so much more precious and so much more valuable as
we then have a little understanding of the path the Saviour walked. You see, if our path on this
earth was all smooth, without any difficulties and without
any trials, we wouldn't understand the cost of our salvation. We
wouldn't appreciate the cost of our salvation. So what a mercy
it is, then, to be blessed with this great truth, Thou knowest. David summons to his God, O Lord,
Thou search me and know me, Thou knowest, mine down-sitting and
mine up-rising. So we can come, can we not, to
our God with the same words? They're there for us. We don't
have to try and make up anything different and think we've got
to be so original in our prayers. They're here for us. And they're
spelled out so very simply and very blessedly so that you and
I can come in our situation recognising and it's good if we come indeed
like David did when he came and said Lord thou has searched me
and known me that means that we recognise we have a God who's
looked into our heart and sees everything there searched us
and he's known us and therefore how true it is he knows our down
sittings and our uprising and understand this, our thoughts
are far off. I believe this will bring comfort
to our souls. It will bring union with Christ. And there's no greater blessing
for you and me as we travel on, on our journey through this world,
to what we trust and hope will be our eternal home, to have
union with Christ. If we have no union with Christ
on this earth, surely there will be no union with Christ in the
life to come. We won't get to heaven and find
there a Saviour who we don't know. No, by the grace of God,
we will, in part, have walked with the Saviour, through His
gracious love and mercy toward us, that He hasn't cast us off
The scripture uses the term as a cumbra of the ground, something
which is unworthy. of being in the ground. No, the
Lord's been gracious to us and been mindful of us and helped
us and directed us. Well, you know, it's wonderful
if we realize that it's in Him. In Him, indeed. In the Acts of
the Apostles, we read the truth of that very statement in the
17th chapter of the Acts, in verse 28, we read this. perhaps I'll read verse 27. That
they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after
him and find him they be not far from every one of us for
in him we live and move and have our being. How true that is. A certain also of your own poets
have said for we are also his offspring. Well that's a great
mercy and a great favour to realise that in him we live and move. It's not out of Christ, it's
in Christ and we won't be in Christ unless we have union with
him. And the Lord brings us into union
with him in times when we do have down sittings, when we do
have trials and difficulties. And perhaps we cry out, Lord,
what should I do? And perhaps, like him, what should
I do with a flea? to escape the judgment or the
justice due to me. Well, what is the answer? Look unto me. Look unto me and
be ye saved o'er the ends of the earth for I am God and there
is none else. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't
it? To be taught by the Spirit of God. To be sons and daughters
of the Most High God, to be his children, those who he's dealing
with in love. To our children, do we leave
them to just wander on, to get worse and worse, farther and
farther away, more wicked, more evil? No. By the grace of God,
we desire to instruct them. We desire to bring them up in
a right way. And my friends, we all must recognize
that the Lord also deals with us as his children. Isn't that wonderful? To think
we have a Father in heaven who deals with us as his children. He doesn't just forget about
us. He doesn't just let it leave us to ourselves. No, he comes. and he deals with us in love
to our souls that's the reality he deals with us in love to our
souls because he's loved us and because he wants us therefore
to be made conformable unto his image just like Paul desired,
didn't he? these are great and glorious
truths You see, we won't come to glory and find out, oh, this
is a strange place, I don't know anything about it, I don't know
any of the people, the situation that they walk in. No, you see,
we will all get to glory having walked this path, having known that we have a God who knows
our down-sitting and our uprising. A God who understands our thoughts
are far off. A God who we've had communion
with on this earth, so that we don't come to glory as a stranger. Obviously, glory would be very,
very different to this earth. But you see, there would have
been that personal contact between our souls and our God. And that's why the Lord leads
us in the right way. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. And the Lord has
a right way for each one of us. It won't be identical. There will be many similarities
but it won't be identical. But we can thank our God that
Lord Jesus Christ walked the path and he understands therefore
exactly the way, exactly the path the Lord has seen fit to
lead us in and to direct us in. Yes, it's a mercy, is it not,
to have therefore such a kind and gracious God doesn't cast
us off and we read in the Psalms there are so many wonderful statements
and David knew what it was and in Psalm 94 he tells us this
and it's good sometimes to realize it the Lord knoweth the thoughts
of man he tells us that they are vanity If you sit calmly
before God and at the end of the day perhaps and look back
over the day and have to confess that, oh many of my thoughts
today have been vanity. And it's good to realise that
we have a kind and gracious God. The beginning of this psalm starts
in a very similar way. O Lord, O Lord, to whom vengeance
belongeth, O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself. The psalm is desired to have
a view of the graciousness and the goodness of God. And he goes
on to say, Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the
wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and
speak hard things, and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? Well, you see, you may think,
well, it's strange that I have to endure. Again, cast your mind
back to what the Saviour had to endure. hard things didn't
he unjust statements he endured and so do we by the grace of
God we endure seeing him that is invisible well what a what
a blessing it is and what a mercy that we come today and are able
to worship the true God and the same God that David worshipped
so many years ago, that same God who tried and tested David's
religion. Indeed, surely we don't want
to go on through this life without our religion being tested. You
know there are some who pass through this life and are really
not very concerned about their spiritual state and they may
speak about it but very lightly and not with any real concern
and not really desiring the Lord to be gracious to them and bless
them. What a mercy it is then if we
come down to the position, like again David did when he wrote
the 142nd Psalm. And he said this, attend unto
my cry. A cry, as I've sometimes said,
is an expression which comes from us like a babe. Can't express
itself very well, but it cries. and the parent takes notice of
it as you and I come and cry to our God. What did David say
when he cried unto his God? He tells the Lord, for I am brought
very low, and knowest my down sittings. Sometimes we are brought very
low. And perhaps we might say, the
lower we come, the higher we rise. Because we enjoy the greater
blessing of fellowship with the Saviour. And so, attend unto
my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. We may sometimes I think that
is so. The devil is a persecutor. And he's very strong. And my
friends, never forget, the devil never gives up this side of the
grave. He never gives up. He always wants to defeat us. He always wants to turn us away
from God. to take away any religion that
we have. And that's why, you see, we can
come to our God-like David and say, Thou knowest my down-sitting. Yes, the Lord knows it. What
a mercy. Just as David came here, I'm
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. And he comes and says, Bring
my soul out of prison. Sometimes we may seem to be chained
up in prison. There's the iron door, the brazen
door before us. We can't seem to get out. The
devil is teasing us and tempting us. Well, says David, bring my
soul out of prison. Now it's very relevant, and we
ought to notice this, what the word continues. continues in
this way, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy
name. When God comes and delivers us,
when God comes and brings our soul out of prison, our reaction
should be to praise God and to acknowledge that he's done it
so that he receives the honour and the glory for deliverance. Oh, my friends, let us not forget,
let us not rejoice to ourselves, but, my friends, let us praise
his name. Let us give thanks to him that
he's been mindful of us and he has heard our prayers. The righteous
shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal Bound to be with me. You see, the Lord afflicts and
yet He doesn't afflict willingly to cast us down. He afflicts
to bring us closer to the Saviour and bring us to that position
where we do come to praise our God. Yes, praise is very needful. It's very necessary. We are here
on this earth to praise our God. and not to let his favours and
his blessings and his deliverances lie forgotten in unthankfulness
and without praises die. Sometimes it's a sad reflection
that people are reluctant to tell what God has done. Come
all ye that fear God and I will declare what he's done for my
soul and that won't be for pride. It'll be with that concern to
glorify God who has heard our prayers, who has known our down-sitting
and our uprising, who has come to us, who has been gracious
to us and has delivered us. The Bible is so full of these
great truths and my mind just follows on to the 143rd Psalm
where again the psalmist says, Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give
ear to my supplications, in thy faithfulness answer me, and in
thy righteousness. Yes, David knew what it was to
have a God he could come to, and surely that's the blessing for each one of us today, to
know that we have a God who we can come to, and a God who will
not cast us off, A God who will hear. Indeed, we're told the
Lord waits to be gracious. Waits to be gracious. We may
think, I want the blessing now. Well, the Lord's time is the
right time. And he waits to be gracious.
And perhaps you and I have to go down more, deeper more, before
the Lord comes to us. Like he did in David, he brought
him up, also out of a horrible pit, out of the Maori clay. Yes, there poor old David was.
But the Lord came to him and the Lord blessed him, didn't
he, in that wonderful favour. It's a lovely psalm, that 40th
psalm, I waited patiently for the Lord. Often we're impatient. We're impatient. Perhaps we pray
in the wrong way. Perhaps we don't pray in the
right way. Perhaps we come to the Lord with demands, rather
than coming to the Lord and saying, Thy will be done. Seeking the
Lord would do that for us, which would be good for us. You and
I sometimes think we know what needs to be done. You and I sometimes
think we know what God must do. My friends, sometimes we're very
wrong, because we don't know the end from the beginning. The
Lord does. I waited patiently for the Lord. And he says, did
he wait in vain? No, he didn't. He inclined unto
me and heard my cry. That's a confession, isn't it?
And that's bringing forth honor to God. And it's good, isn't
it, when you and I can testify. There's not much of that this
day, is there? The day and age in which we live. Testifying of what God has done
for us. Testifying that we have waited
for God. Testifying He has inclined unto
me and heard our cry. And as David goes on then to
explain the situation that he was in. He, Almighty God, brought
me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the Maori clay, He
wasn't left there. It was a terrible place he was
in. Sometimes we do get ourselves into terrible places. And the
description is very apt, because it's a pit, and it's Maori clay. And if you've ever tried to climb
up out of Maori clay, you'll know how difficult it is. Perhaps
you might say it's impossible. But it was the Lord that came
and brought him up. Therefore, David's able to praise
his God. Because it was God that brought
him up. He couldn't say, well, I got stuck in this horrible
pit and I managed to extricate myself. No, he didn't. God came
and God brought him up out of the horrible pit and set his
feet upon a rock and established his goings. You see, he brought
him up. He didn't leave him to sink back. He put him on a rock. My friend, that's a beautiful
picture for us today. to realise that in this time
of our down-sitting we can look forward to the time when the
Lord will come and deliver us, bring us out and place us upon the rock Christ
Jesus. You see there's no movement then
on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And then the result of that wonderful
deliverance was, He hath put a new song in my mouth, even
praise unto our God. Perhaps you've been moaning,
perhaps you've been miserable, perhaps you and I have been moaning
and miserable. Perhaps we've come and said, well, how hard's
my lot? Well, here was the result. He's put a new song, God did
it. New song in my mouth even. Praise unto our God. Many shall
see it. Again, sometimes we pass over
these very simple statements. He didn't just declare it to
one person. It's good if you and I can. But
here was a scene when many, many, many shall see it and fear and
shall trust in the Lord. And then he says, blessed is
the man that maketh the Lord his trust. Well, tonight, my
friends, may it be our wonderful blessing. If we come here, perhaps
downcast, and yet we know the Lord knows our downcastness,
our down sittings and our rising. And we come to our God with living
faith, believing He will deliver. He will deliver. The Lord has
promised. He will deliver. He won't leave
us. But we must remember to be patient
for the time of deliverance, because we tend to look just
on our own life. My friends, there may be many
other things, many other situations, perhaps many other people that
have got to be brought to a certain situation and condition so that
when the Lord does deliver and put a new song in our heart,
there are other people to receive it, other people to hear it,
other people to rejoice in it, other people to be strengthened
in their faith. that this great God is a prayer
hearing and a prayer answering God. Yes, well again, the psalmist
goes on in this 143rd Psalm. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. He hath smitten my life down
to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit
overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. There's a true position of a
needy soul. Therefore we're thankful that
we have descriptions like that to encourage us to realise yes,
That's how perhaps I feel, that's perhaps how I am. And yet to
realise we have a God who knows it. He knows it. And how is he dealing with us?
In love to our soul. He doesn't afflict willingly,
he afflicts my friends in that way which will be good for us.
Not to make us suffer, but to direct us to himself. Yes, thou
knowest my down sittings and my uprising. Thou understandest
my thought afar off. It would appear very clear here,
therefore, that when there's a down sitting, when there's
a downcast situation, we won't forever remain there. There will
be a lifting up. There will be an uprising. There will be a time of blessing. There will be a time of rejoicing. There will be a time of fruitfulness. There will be that time of fellowship
and union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what a blessing
it is for us tonight, therefore, if we can come in with the psalmist
and some of these things which I've mentioned tonight and to
be encouraged in our life. We walk through a dark world. We live in a dark world, a sinful
world, but we have a glorious light which shines forth in the
face of Jesus Christ. Although therefore the path may
appear perhaps dark, as we can't see the light, remember we are
to look up. We are to look up to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look unto me, as I already said,
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and
there's none else. There's none other way. But you
know, the Savior will not leave us. He didn't leave David in
that horrible pit. He doesn't leave any true believer
in that horrible pit. He brings them out and he brings
them out with a song of deliverance so that they are encouraged.
The church with God is encouraged, and above all things, God is
honoured and glorified. Amen.