Well, once again, may the Lord
help us and bless us as we turn to the 119th Psalm. And this
evening we'll consider verses 133 to 136. So Psalm 119 and
reading verses 133 to 136. Order my steps in thy word. and let not any iniquity have
dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression
of man, so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon thy
servant, and teach me thy statutes. Rivers of water, run down mine
eyes because they keep not thy law well it's good to continue to
consider the desires of the psalmist and this 133rd verse gives us
wonderful instruction when he cried when he prayed to God that
his steps might be ordered in accordance with thy word, in
accordance with the word of God. He didn't want to stray outside
of the direction which is given to us in his word. And what a great blessing it
is we have such a comprehensive book to be able to read, a book
which ordained and written by God and really it meets the condition
and the situation of every believer. And what a mercy then to come
and desire that God would indeed order our steps, that we may
not be left to go our own way, to take our own steps. How foolish
we often are. How easily we can take wrong
steps. We can go in a wrong direction.
We can go in a direction which leads to destruction. We can
go in that way, which is the broad way. But what a mercy,
therefore, to have that real desire that our steps may be
ordered by God. And therefore, if they are ordered
by God, we recognise they must be a right way, and therefore,
to have those steps confirmed in the Word of God. That's a
wonderful blessing, isn't it? Order my steps. in thy word. And how wonderful it is that
the Lord does give us his word and directs us through his word
in the steps that we take in this poor sinful world. Well that should be an encouragement
to us. And then he says, and let not
any iniquity have dominion over me we may think well that's a
pretty obvious statement but the reality is there are those
sins which sometimes we refer to as besetting sins they may
have a particular relevance to each one of us in our lives and
they seem to come upon us and they seem to grip us And they
seem to indeed have dominion over us. And that's why we have
such a statement as this. Let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. Again, it's a good prayer. It's
a good desire. And each of us walk our own path
before God. And the Lord ordains that path. but he does sometimes bring us
into those paths where we are tempted and iniquities do come
and sometimes they abound and left to ourselves they will have
dominion over us so what a good thing it is if we come in the
words of this 133rd verse and say order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity
have dominion over me." And then he goes on and he tells us, deliver
me from the oppression of man. The oppression of man, sometimes
again we find that we are oppressed. The psalmist said, Lord I am
oppressed. undertake for me and again what
a blessing that is when we do feel oppressed and sometimes
the devil endeavours to make us so oppressed that we give
up and we perhaps say perhaps not outwardly but perhaps inwardly
there's no point in continuing oppression and so the prayer
was And may the prayer be with us. Deliver me. Again, you see,
these statements, as the previous one, are personal. Deliver me
from the oppression of man. Man is but man. Sometimes the instrument used
by the devil. But nonetheless, he is poor foreign
man. And we have a great advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. What a blessing, therefore, to
have such a wonderful and such a glorious Saviour. And he goes
on, so will I keep thy precepts. Many times we've already considered
this statement. The precepts that God sets before
us, to have that real desire, so will I keep thy precepts,
to walk in the way the Lord shows to us in his word, and not to
turn our back upon it, because it doesn't appeal to our nature,
but to realise we have a kind and gracious God. So will I keep
thy precepts. And then he asks God, make thy
face to shine upon thy servant. where it's a blessing to have
God's face to shine upon us. And as I thought upon this, I
was reminded of that statement by Moses when he wrote the book
of Numbers. It's a well-known statement in
the sixth chapter, the last few verses. This is what it says.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and
unto his son, saying, On this wise, He shall bless the children
of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep
thee. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will Bless them. They're beautiful
words, they're often quoted, but they're well to remember.
In the sixth chapter of Numbers and from verse 22, it's good
to ponder them and to realize this statement. Here was David,
you see, many years afterwards, no doubt very conscious of this
statement. And yet he comes and says, make
thy face, to shine upon thy servant. Exactly the same as this statement,
the Lord make his face to shine upon thee. What a blessing therefore
to have this desire, to have the Lord shining upon us. And if the Lord shines upon us,
there must be light, mustn't there? And there must be glorious
light. When the sun shines, there's
light, isn't there? When there's no sun, there's
no light. What a mercy when it is so. And
yet, so it is spiritually. When the Lord makes His face
to shine upon us, there's light. There's spiritual light. And
we rejoice in it, in the revelation that God gives to us. may it
be our prayer like it was David's like it was Moses desire for
Israel of old make thy face to shine upon thy servant and teach
me thy statutes how again this is a repetition which has occurred
several times in this psalm to be taught the Lord's ways teach
me thy statutes And that means what it says, it's not our way,
we want to be taught the Lord's way. We want to be submissive
to the Lord's way. The Lord's way is set before
us in his laws and his gracious and wonderful statutes. So what
a great wonder it is, if God gives us grace, to desire these
things, to desire a teachable spirit, to be taught by God,
to not kind of conclude what we think is what needs to be
said and what needs to be done, but to commit our way unto the
Lord and pray that he will teach us his statutes. And then verse
136, rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep
not thy law. That's in Lamentations really
as well and we read it together in those last few verses in Lamentations
and this is what we read. Mine eye runneth down with rivers
of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
mine eyes trickleth down, and ceaseth not without any intermission,
till the Lord look down and behold from heaven. Well, we may have
tears, weeping indeed may endure for a night, but what a favour
it is when joy cometh in the morning. when we rejoice in the
great and glorious work of God, when we rejoice in that wonderful
salvation, when we rejoice in what our blessed Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, has done in order to redeem our souls. And therefore tonight, what a
blessing if this Lord comes and looks down, and worthy as we
are of any notice, and yet to be blessed with this gracious
God looking down upon us. To the Lord look down and behold
from heaven. Well may we each desire it and
may we each experience it and go on rejoicing in what God has
done. Well we'll leave these few comments
tonight. May God bless