May God graciously bless us together
as we may meditate in his word. The blessing is that we have
his word. And I direct you to the 141st
Psalm. Psalm 141 and reading verse 8.
Psalm 141 and reading verse 8. mine eyes are unto thee, O God
the Lord. In thee is my trust, leave not
my soul destitute. We notice in this psalm, as in
most of the psalms, the expressions are often very personal and individual. And as we read the word of God,
it's good that you and I may acknowledge that such words have
a gracious application to us as individuals, so that we may
come and pray indeed as the Psalmist did, as David did. And as we
read together here, Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me,
give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. You know, it's a great
blessing As we come to God, we are concerned that our prayers
enter into the ear of God. And they're not just a mere formality. They're not just a mere form
of words. Davy was very concerned about
his prayers being heard. And so he says, Lord, I cry unto
thee. And as I've said sometimes, a
cry really just is an expression that comes involuntary, as it
were, from us. We know a child, a baby cries.
And that cry, of course, is to draw attention of the parents
or whoever else is looking after them. And so David says here,
Lord, I cry unto thee. Well, I pray that all of us may
have known what it is to cry unto God, to pray unto God. And David had an earnestness. He said, make haste unto me,
give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. He wanted God to hear
his prayer. It wasn't just vain words. And
what a blessing when we really desire God to hear our prayers. And you know, if we desire that,
we will be amongst those who wait and watch for answers to
our prayers. We won't forget what we prayed,
but we shall be concerned that God has heard and that God does
answer our prayers. And so, as we come down this
140 verse 1st Psalm, we come down to these words in the 8th
verse. But mine eyes are unto thee,
O God the Lord. He was looking to his God. He was looking for his God to
hear his prayers. Now what a blessing for us tonight.
we are found in that position that our eyes are unto the Lord
God no one else not looking anywhere else for any help he says mine
eyes are unto thee Oh God the Lord what a wonderful place that
is and what a good place it is and what a safe place it is and
what a place it is that you and I need to be in today and indeed
every day that we may be looking to God indeed if we're looking
to God if we're hoping in God you know where that will direct
us without any doubt and direct us to the cross of Christ looking
to Jesus. That is the wonderful place of
refuge, the wonderful place of happiness, the place of joy as
we come, and we will come humbly and unworthily to such a position,
but it is a good position because there we see the suffering Lord
Jesus Christ. and then to have it made over
to us that that suffering and that death was on our behalf. Personal. David speaks here in
a personal way. Mine eyes. And that'll be just
like it should be for each of us. Individually, mine eyes are
unto thee oh lord our god well perhaps we should ask ourselves
the question tonight are indeed our eyes unto the lord and is
he as david says oh god the lord david knew his god he knew he
was his lord what a mercy for us tonight if we know our god
and we know he is our lord And if He is truly our Lord, then
He will be that One that we desire to honour and glorify. He will be that One that we desire
to bow down unto. Because as we look to the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we see, by faith, the Saviour
suffering in our place, that's a wonderful position. As we realise
what a sinner we are, unworthy of any notice, Any notice, our
sins separate between us and our God. What a mercy to come
there then with true repentance and bowing down and looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. You know, this is
the only true place of peace. There's no peace in this restless
world. No true peace. Men and women,
boys and girls, are ever trying to achieve it. But the only peace
is, as the hymn writer says, peace by His cross as Jesus made. Oh, bless God then tonight, if
we are found with our eyes looking, eyes are unto Thee, O God the
Lord. Many people today are looking
everywhere else for natural deliverance, but our God reigns, and what
a mercy when we know the power of that. The Lord God rules and
reigns on high. He sees men and women rushing
around trying to achieve this and that, but He sits supreme
on the throne in glory. That's the God that we have. And so may we be blessed tonight
with this true desire. My eyes are unto thee, O God. There are a number of great and
glorious words to encourage us with regards to this. And we
read in the 121st Psalm, I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, from whence cometh my help." And what does the psalmist
say? My help cometh from the Lord. And who is that Lord? The God
which made heaven and earth. He wasn't speaking of a little
God. He was speaking of the great
God. And what a blessing it is when you and I come and lift
up our eyes to this great God, realizing who he is, all-powerful,
all-powerful, the majesty on high. And he tells us, my help
cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He had a humble
but sure confidence in his God. And as we come tonight and in
our life in prayer to our God. Oh may we have this right and
humble confidence to believe yes as we lift up our eyes unto
the hills indeed look to the Lord to realize our help cometh
from the Lord and then just moving on to Psalm 123 He says this,
unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of the servants
look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto
the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God, until that he have mercy upon us. Well, we need mercy,
don't we? Individually, collectively, as
a nation and as a world. We need the mercy of God, because
we are sinners of the world. We need God's mercy. And so,
the psalmist says here, and it's very beautifully expressed, so
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy
upon us. Sometimes we tend to expect God
to answer our prayers immediately. Sometimes he does, but very often
we have to wait patiently for the Lord to answer. It doesn't
mean to say the Lord hasn't heard. The Lord has heard. This is what
we read. The Lord waits to be gracious.
The reason for that waiting is this. He tests our faith. He tries the reality of our religion. He doesn't leave us then to ourselves
to just wander on. But if our prayer is true, if
we really lifted up our eyes unto the Lord, the God who dwells
in the heavens, then our prayer will have come from our heart.
and we will desire to wait, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God until that he have mercy upon us. There is therefore that
good hope. It's a good hope, it's not a
false hope. It's a good hope that the Lord will have mercy
upon us. What a mercy then for you and
me today to find ourselves looking to this great and blessed Saviour.
But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord." You may remember
that character in the Word of God, well known I'm sure, that
man Jonah. That man Jonah, well he was disobedient,
wasn't he? And it's easy for us to fall
into the same trap. See, Satan's very clever. and
Jonah didn't want to do what God had told him to do, and therefore
he thought he'd run away. Well, be sure of this, you can
never run away from God. You might think perhaps you are
able to, and you think you've been able to escape from the
will of God for you. Well, you will not be able to.
Because if God has a purpose for you, then you have to acknowledge
that the Lord is who is over you and indeed upon you. With Jonah, he ran away and everything
to begin with seemed to be very rosy, very smooth, very easy. He had some money, he went down
to the dock, there was a ship, he got on board, and off it went.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but the Lord knew. The Lord knew what he would do.
And we may think of that in regard to our nation. We might think
of that in regard to the world. Because really at the present
time, or at least until very recently, the world was really
economically very healthy and running very well. No doubt people
thought, everything is going on nicely and smoothly and nothing
is going to stop this progress. Well, the Lord laughs at such,
because He knows what his plan is. He knew what his plan was
for Jonah. Jonah thought he'd escaped, but
he hadn't. And he sent that great storm
upon the sea. And the outcome was that Jonah
was thrown out of the boat. God had graciously, very wonderfully,
prepared that whale to swallow Jonah. The hominids realized,
of course, that God had a purpose for Jonah. And it's a mercy, perhaps, if
in our lives we realise we've disobeyed God, but he's been
gracious to us. He has a purpose for us. Wonderful
favour that. And although therefore Jonah
was thrown overboard, and perhaps naturally speaking, he would
drown, but no, no, God had made a way of escape. He prepared
that great whale. And he brought Jonah to that
position, that when he was in the belly of the whale, in that
dark place, no light, perhaps almost given up any hope of any
life at all, we're told this. This is what he says in the second
chapter in the fourth verse. I am cast out of thy sight, yet
I will look again toward thy holy temple yes jonah in that
position was to look again and here we have in these words but
mine eyes are unto thee oh god the lord so jonah was brought
in that position to look unto the lord what a mercy that is
you know that little um prophecy of micah He tells us this in
the seventh chapter, seventh verse, therefore, I will look
unto the Lord. I will look unto the Lord and
really quite similar words to Jonah. I will wait for the God
of my salvation. My God will hear me. The lovely
truth is that Micah had confidence in his God. He had confidence
to believe that his God would indeed hear him. And of course
the Lord does hear his people as we look to him, as we don't
look elsewhere, as we look to our God. Therefore I will look
unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will indeed hear me. Well,
this verse in this 141st Psalm, as I've said, is really divided
into three sections. The first is, mine eyes are unto
thee, O God the Lord, and bless God tonight, if that is true
in your life and my life, that we are looking to the Lord for
everything. not just the hard things, everything,
the small things and what we might term the big things and
then he tells us in thee is my trust perhaps we might say that's
the secret really God gives us faith to trust in the Lord to
trust that he will hear our prayers trust that he will answer us
trust that he will not leave us trust that he will reveal
himself unto us unworthy sinners as we are reveal himself to us
as our salvation just like Jonah desired and just like Micah desired
oh my friends to have that true concern that God will reveal
himself unto us as our saviour indeed revealed Himself to us
as the Suffering Saviour, the One who has shed His precious,
valuable blood to redeem our soul. Really, true religion must
always come back to the Cross of Christ. We can never leave
out the cross of Christ in our religion. It is central. It must
be central. It is essential that it is central. And if it is so, then, you see,
what will we be doing? We will be trusting in this great
and blessed Saviour. In Thee is my trust. You know, again, the Prophet
Micah, just a couple of verses previous to the one we already
quoted, in chapter 7, verse 5, he says, Trust ye not in a friend,
So easy to do that, isn't it? Put your not confidence in a
guide. No, we have to trust, not in
a friend, not in man, not in women, perhaps not in children.
We have to trust in the Lord. In thee is my trust. That's a safe place. And what
a blessing it is if we are found there. trusting in the Lord,
and not half-heartedly. Sometimes we may feel that we
are very half-hearted in our prayers, half-hearted in our
desires, and that's why we have a gracious encouragement in the
Word of God. when he says in thee is my trust
and Solomon that gracious man who wrote the Proverbs or most
of them anyway in the third chapter of Proverbs in the fifth verse
he says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not
unto thine own understanding." Again, as I've said recently,
there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
for the ways of death. We must not lean to our own understanding,
even if perhaps the way seems dark, even if perhaps the way
seems impossible. Remember, the things which are
impossible with man are possible with God. What a blessing then
if we have that confidence in our God, that He can make a way
when there seems to be no way. And let me tell you this, the
way that the Lord makes for us is the way of the cross. The way the Lord provides for
us is to lead us and to bring us to Christ. So you see, if
you and I are leaving out in our life, in our religion, this
great and blessed place, then we will have to be taught and
drawn by Christ himself to himself. We'll understand the glorious
words in Song of Solomon, draw me, we will run after thee. And it won't be any difficulty
then in running after our Saviour,
as the Holy Spirit shows us what He's done for unworthy sinners. Yes, it's a good place, isn't
it? And therefore, let us not trust
in ourselves, our own understanding, but let us trust in the Lord
with all our heart, all thine heart. even if it seems impossible. We have a God who laughs at impossibilities
and says it shall be done. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. The Lord can make the crooked
things straight. He can make the rough places
plain. He can make the mountains flow down at His presence. And
it's only God that can do that. You and I won't be able to. We'll
fail. We'll stumble. We'll exhaust
ourselves. But remember this, trust in the
Lord with all thy heart. With all our heart. Psalm 118
is encouraging where the psalmist says, it is better. to trust
in the Lord than to be confident in man. Why did he say that? Because he knew the truth of
it, because he'd experienced the truth of it. And what a blessing
it is for you and me in our life that we also are able to speak
of that truth. Perhaps we've looked here and
we've looked there for help in this matter and that matter.
Oh, trust in the Lord. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in man. Because if you and I put
confidence in man, you know what that will do? It will bring honour
and glory to man. If we trust in the Lord alone,
it will bring honour and glory to our God. And that, of course,
is the blessed position that you and I should be in as you
and I travel through this earth with all the difficulties that
we have to face day by day. And of course, life does not
get easier when we're young. We think, well, when we get older,
no doubt things will work out better. Things will be easier. We'll always remember that years
ago when I was a young Christian, just very shortly after I was
baptized, and we had an old lady in the Bethesda home, her name
was Miss Greengrass, and One day I was with her in the sun
lounge and she said this, she said, my boy, she used to call
me my boy, she was much older and it was fine. She says, my
boy, you must realise that when we get older, we're tempted more because the
devil knows his time is short. Well, it was a very simple statement,
wasn't it? but it was a very true statement. I'm always thankful for such
a statement from a gracious lady. She was a very gracious lady
and she had a long life and a hard life but she had a lovely testimony
of what God had done for her and she written pages and pages
of what how the Lord had directed and blessed her through her life
and so just as an aside it is good to remember what God has
done for us to write down what he's done for us and not to forget
and to bring therefore honor and glory to our God well we
have then that second point in thee is my trust And then finally,
David says, leave not my soul destitute. That sounds a pretty
extreme statement, doesn't it? Well, it is a pretty extreme
statement, because in essence, what was the situation with David? He didn't want to be left bankrupt. the things of God. He didn't
want to be found bereft of the blessings of God. And therefore
he comes and says, leave not my soul destitute. Now if you're
not a true believer, such a statement won't affect you. You won't be
worried whether you're left destitute because you are destitute. But
if you've known the blessing of God, if you've known the favour
of God, if you've known the communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, if
you've known something of His wonderful love, if you've known
something of His glorious mercy, His wonderful condescension to
not casting you off, then you won't want to be left destitute. And it will be a very real prayer. Leave not my soul destitute.
You don't want the Lord to leave you at all. You want him to go
with you, day by day, and to be a wonderful companion to you,
that you may walk together as we journey through life what
a blessing it is to be found like that and it is a good prayer
and it is a real prayer and it really does set apart those who
are true believers and those who are not leave not my soul destitute well has that
been your prayer so that's a test of the reality of religion are
you worried about being destitute or don't you know the difference
if you are destitute you won't know what it is to have a prayer
like this but may you be brought into that position where christ
is indeed precious to you as we sang in our first hymn it's
a very lovely hymn And if Christ has been precious, you won't
want to be left destitute. No, you'll want to know what
it is to enjoy union and communion with your God. And therefore,
you won't want to be bankrupt. You won't want to be bereft of
the love of God. And you won't want to be left
to wander away from the cross. You desire to be lived near that.
because there at the cross shines the glorious light of the gospel,
that light which never goes out. Bless God for that. Well, the
psalmist again a number of times he tells us of this situation
of being destitute and the concern he has and the promises of God
which are yea and amen in the 102nd Psalm and the 16th and
17th verses we read when the Lord shall build up Zion and
I'm sure we all desire that when the Lord shall build up Zion
he shall appear in his glory well He will make the place of
His feet glorious. At the present time the Lord
will see fit to bring man down to a very low position worldwide. there might be a building up
well how happy we would be if that was the Lord's gracious
purpose to us but of course we know not but nonetheless these
words are true when the Lord shall build up Zion he shall
appear in his glory He goes on to say, he will regard the prayer
of the destitute and not despise their prayer. Well, of course,
they won't be totally destitute. They won't be bankrupt. It isn't
as though they'll have nothing. They may feel, perhaps, they're
at the end of the earth. They may feel, perhaps, that
they have nothing and they are destitute. But if they have a
prayer, a true prayer, are not destitute because God
has indicted that prayer into their heart and therefore we're
told and the Lord will not despise their prayer. So should we feel
perhaps very far off, perhaps we might feel very low, perhaps
we may feel The Lord has left us to be destitute. Well, if
we have that desire to truly pray unto our God, He won't despise
our prayer. Be encouraged. Leave not my soul
destitute, says David. David was very concerned about
that. And oh, may you and I be very concerned about it in our
spiritual life. Well, no, leave not my soul destitute. Destitute of what? Daily food,
spiritual food, union with Christ. Leave not my soul destitute of
that. Is that a concern? Are we worried about that? Are
we concerned about partaking of spiritual food? Or isn't it
very important? What is more important? Our natural
food or spiritual food? Everybody today, because of the
situation, is rushing around, aren't they? Trying to find natural
food. Going to this shop and that shop
and joining queues and everything else. But the great need is for
spiritual food. That's a great need, isn't it?
leave not my soul destitute of spiritual food leave not my soul
destitute of help and assistance we need God to be with us every
day in all that we do in our daily life we need in our daily
life to ever be kept close to our Lord to ever be brought back
to Calvary and never to wander far away You see, when dear old
Peter, he followed a far-off. Oh yes, he followed a far-off.
He didn't want to get too close, in case it was embarrassing,
in case it cost him something. And he therefore followed a far-off. Well, let us not be amongst those
who follow a far-off. Let us be amongst those who are
blessed with that closeness to the Saviour. Close to the Saviour
indeed, we have that wonderful commendation, don't we, of Mary,
who was sat at the feet of Jesus. Martha didn't like it, she thought
she was wasting her time and she should come and help her,
but the Lord said, Mary hath chosen that good part which will
not be taken away from her. So my friends, let us be found
then. desiring to be feeding upon Christ and receiving his
help and his assistance, and to be blessed with his spirit
with us and grace, so he gives more grace and merited favour. We don't want to be destitute
of that, do we? We don't want to, as it were, know nothing
of his grace. We don't want to know nothing
of his wonderful favour. We don't want to be found defenceless. We want to be protected by His
great and glorious power. Oh, what a wonderful thing it
is to have union with Christ and not to be destitute of the
great, wonderful things concerning our salvation. Well, says the
psalmist, then, But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord.
In these my trust leave, not my soul destitute. You know we have some very beautiful
words in Isaiah chapter 41 and they do have a relevance really
to this word. They're fairly encompassing and from verse 17
to 20 we read this. When the poor and the needy seek
water and there is none. least that's what it seems to
be. And their tongue faileth for thirst. Well, it's a good
thing when you and I are thirsty for the blessing of God. I, the Lord, will hear them.
Yes, the Lord will hear our cries. I, the Lord of Israel, will not
forsake them. I will open rivers in high places,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the shitar tree and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set in the desert the
fir tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they
may see and know and consider and understand together that
the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel
hath created it. You see, the path of the children
of God is to bring them closer to Christ. The path of the children
of God is to show them continually their need of a Saviour. to be able to continually come
and confess their sins, to continually come and repent of their sins,
and to seek for the wonderful evidence that Lord Jesus Christ
has died to take away their sins. As I said this morning, that
great word, peace by his cross, as Jesus made, and that's a place
of blessing. as you and I found there, and
in that position our souls will not be left destitute. No, it'll
be communion with the Saviour. It'll be union. And we shall
bless God for it. And we shall thank Him that He
has not forgotten us and He's not cast us off. So, we have
these three statements really joined together. But mine eyes
are unto Thee, O God the Lord, may that be so. In Thee is my
trust. May it also be so and leave not
my soul destitute. And the encouraging word is that
the Lord has said he will never, no, never forsake us. No, he
will never leave his people. He will never leave them to waste. He will never leave them to fall
into the pit, but he will be around about them to preserve
them. and to bring them at last to
glory, there to praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Well, may this prayer be our
prayer, and may we continually thank God for the Word of God,
which is so encouraging to strengthen us as we press on through life
with so many things to distract us, so many things to cast us
down, but let us be found looking up Indeed, look unto me, or the
ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else known
as none else. What a mercy it is to have such
a God. May God bless us indeed as we
come to the end of our meeting tonight.