souls. Now once again may the
Lord bless us as we consider some further verses in the 119th
Psalm and this evening we'll speak on the four verses 57 to
60. So Psalm 119 verses 57 to 60
and we'll read them. They are as follows. Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I will keep
thy words. I entreated thy favour with my
whole heart. Be merciful unto me according
to thy word. I thought on my ways and turned
my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. Well, once again, we have some
wonderful words spoken by the psalmist in these four verses. And it's good to realize that
he was able to make this statement, thou art my portion. What a blessing that is. In our
lives today, if we have this wonderful privilege that God
is our portion, the one who we love to go to in prayer, and
to converse with, one that we love to read about and consider
what he's done, right from creation, right till now, and as is prophesied
down to the end of time, to realize what a blessing it is to have
such a God and such a wonderful person to be able to come to
In a later psalm, in Psalm 73, the psalmist tells us, my flesh
and my heart faileth. So he was in a low place. And
what does he go on to say? But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. Confidence in his God. And what a blessing for us today,
if as we journey on, with many things perhaps against us, to
realise that God is the strength of our heart and to realise he
is our portion, not only in time, but for and through eternity. What an amazing word it is to
consider and to ponder that he is our portion. and that we will
desire to please him and that we will desire indeed to keep
his words. As we go on to consider, I've
said that I would keep thy words. Well, I hope that's a good word
and I hope that's the truth of our hearts, that we desire in
our little lives to keep the words of God. Now, you may say,
well, That's just too difficult. It's just too much. I'm just
too sinful I cannot possibly keep the words thy words, but
I believe the true believer desires to be able to keep the words
of God the again the psalmist tells us so many wonderful words
in the Psalms and He tells us in the 18th Psalm and in the
21st verse, which also is repeated back in the first book of Samuel,
and he says this, for I have kept the ways of the Lord and
have not wickedly departed from my God. that really means he
didn't go out of his way to depart from God's words. We know that
the devil is very cunning and very crafty and often we do fall
and often we do make mistakes but when we do so it's good if
we regret such falls and pray for forgiveness and it's good
if we're able to concur with the Psalmist in the 18th Psalm
which is quite a long but a beautiful Psalm and be able to acknowledge
by the grace of God we have kept his ways and have not wickedly
departed from my God. So the Lord looks at our heart
and he knows whether we have wickedly departed from him. gone against him, gone the opposite
way. What a mercy, though, if we can
come in with these wonderful truths. I have said that I would
keep thy words. And then he says, I entreated
thy favor with my whole heart. With my whole heart. That's not
a divided heart. That's not half hearted. that is wholehearted to pray
to God that he would favour us, that he would bless us, that
he would reveal us to ourselves as we are, truly in the eyes
of Almighty God, and then reveal unto us the glory and wonder
of the Saviour. I entreated thy favour. Do we desire God's favour to
be toward us? Do we desire God to look upon
us? And if he is to favour us, what
will he do? Well, he'll show us his mercy. What will he do? He'll show us
his love. He'll show us he has a plan for
us and that he has gone before. As he says in the 14th of John's
gospel, he's gone to prepare a place for us. So with such
a wonderful savior, we can come to him and may we come honestly
and may we come with our whole heart, not half a heart, but
a whole heart, sincerely and believing. And he goes on to
say, be merciful. unto me according to thy word. Well, we started the service
this evening with that 51st psalm. Again, that's a lovely psalm
of confession by David. And what does he say as he starts
there? Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness. All of us, without exception,
need mercy. We have that wonderfully short
prayer, don't we? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That was spoken by the publican
in that parable that Jesus set before the people. Well, may
we indeed come in our little lives in this way, pleading,
be merciful unto me according to thy word. And thy word declares
that he is a merciful God And what a blessing it is to realize
we come to a God who is faithful in his word. He doesn't speak
and then not accomplish his words. He is faithful. And how humbling
it is. David obviously came in this
way and he knew the need he had. The need he had. We recognize
that this psalm was written after he'd sinned and committed adultery
with Bathsheba, and murdered her husband, not himself, but
arranged for his death, and he needed mercy, and he pleads for
it. Well, we need mercy in our lives,
don't we? And what a blessing it is if
we come and can plead, be merciful unto me according to thy word,
and come pleading again with our whole heart, not just words,
It's very easy to fall into a pattern in prayer and just go through
a form without the evidence of it emanating from our heart. The psalmist desired to come
with his whole heart. And what a blessing if we come
with our whole heart, praying that God will be merciful unto
us according to thy words. And then he tells us, I thought
on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." Surely
that means, what did he do? He considered, he stopped, he
thought. Often, you know, we don't think
very much, we don't meditate very much, but yet it's good
if we do both of those things, and with regard to our ways,
with regard to our pathway on this earth, The journey that
we're taking. I thought on my ways. If you
and I think on our ways, think what we've said, what we've spoken,
what we're doing. Think on our ways. And I wonder
whether it will have the same effect that it had upon the psalmist. And what was that effect? He
tells us, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." Clearly,
he'd been walking in the opposite direction. He hadn't been walking
in accordance with God's testimonies. But now, as the Holy Spirit touched
his heart, he was moved to pray and to follow that prayer with
action and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. It's a great
blessing, isn't it, if God gives us grace to follow his way according
to his word, according to his testimonies. We have a wonderful
account, a wonderful word of God telling us the way, the right
way, telling us the wrong way. And what a mercy if we're in
the wrong way and God turns our feet and we follow the right
way. And then finally in this 60th
verse, he said, I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commands. He didn't put it on the back
burner. He didn't say, well, I think
about these things perhaps. I'm not all that comfortable
in changing my attitude and changing my lifestyle. I really want to
continuing it but you see when the Holy Spirit touched him he
said I made haste I made haste he realized it was important
that he did turn around he did go in an opposite direction and
delayed not he didn't start making excuses I'll go and do this and
go and do that you may remember the Lord Jesus spoke a parable
about those who were told to follow the Lord, and they began
to make excuse. One said, I married a wife. Some
said, I bought some cattle. Some said, I bought some land. I've got to go and see all these
things. But let us remember, there is but one thing needful,
and that is to be a true follower of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Let us not delay. I made haste. said the psalmist and delayed
not to keep thy commandments. Well we should be very thankful
that God has given us so many gracious words to follow and
to direct us and let us have grace, let us seek grace that
we may walk in his ways and in his precepts so that his name
may be lifted up and honoured and glorified. Well we'll leave