I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn to the book
of Psalms, Psalm 37, and we'll read verse 5. Commit thy way
unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass. We have, of course, in the Word
of God, a good number of psalms and a good number of them written
by David. And of course, generally speaking,
we don't know precisely at what age he was. We do have some evidence,
like when he was at the Cave of Dullam and occasions like
that. But in this particular psalm,
we have an evidence of his situation, because he tells us that he was
an old man. He tells us he was an old man.
And when someone who is old is able to make statements, it's
usually because of their life, their long life, which has brought
them to an old age. And through that life, they've
learnt many things. They've experienced many things.
that may be so true naturally, and experience is a wonderful
blessing. But so much more is it so when
these things relate to our spiritual life. And here we have David,
who of course knew both sides. He knew God's leading, he knew
God's blessing in a natural way, in his natural life, and he also
knew it in his spiritual life. And so he comes and he writes
this psalm under the influence of the Spirit of God and tells
us that he had been young but was now old. And so we can read
these words believing that David knew what he was writing. And
it wasn't words which he hadn't tested and he hadn't proved.
He knew the fullness of them. He knew the truth of them. And
he knew how they had been helpful to him. And so we come with these
words tonight, which he gives this good advice. Commit thy
way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass. It means that you and I are to
look to the Lord. Sometimes we look around, don't
we? Sometimes we look to man. Sometimes we ask questions, what
should I do with this? And how should I operate now? Well, the psalmist, after a long
life, tells us what to do. He says, commit thy way unto
the Lord. We would think, perhaps, that
was a very obvious statement to any true Christian, to come
and commit our way unto the Lord. But sadly, because of our human
nature, we often forget. And we find we look around. We see the future, or at least
we anticipate what the future's going to bring. And sometimes
we're fearful, and sometimes we try and work out in our mind
how to deal with a future situation, and how to arrange our life,
to perhaps adjust our life to meet a situation. Well, the blessing
is, if you and I can come with faith, David was blessed with
living faith to come and not look to himself, not look to
other people, but simply come and to commit his way unto the
Lord, commit thy way unto the Lord. It has a personal application
to every one of us here tonight. None of us are excluded from
this gracious exhortation. And what a wonderful exhortation
it is. And the truth is that if we are
able to do just this, what is the result? Peace in our soul. Because the effect has been we
really cast our burden upon the Lord. We read that in another
psalm, cast thy burden upon the Lord. Well, you and I need grace
to do that. because our tendency is to struggle
on ourselves. But when the Lord comes and opens
our eyes to see the need that we have, and to be able to come
then and to do justice, to commit our way, thy way, unto the Lord,
and when we have grace so to do, I believe it brings then
that peace to our hearts. Because it's like a load. a load which has been rolled
off our back, a load which we've perhaps been carrying, and it's
got heavier and heavier, until perhaps we felt we couldn't go
any further. Well, here we have then a word
of encouragement to commit our way unto the Lord. Yes, to really
to roll our burden upon the Lord. It's wonderful to think that
we have a God so gracious, so kind, that undertakes for us. We don't deserve, do we, to have
our burden carried. We don't deserve to be able to
commit our way to the Lord. But the Lord is very gracious
to all his people. And my friends, he leads us. in the right way. We read in
this 107th Psalm, he led them forth by the right way that they
might go to a city of habitation. And if we are the children of
God, without any doubt, God is leading us in the right way. And if we are led in that right
way, to be brought to this position, to commit our way unto the Lord,
is a wonderful blessing and a wonderful favour. The children of God have
had to do just this. Remember Moses, that man of God,
that meek man, show me now thy way. He needed God. to guide and direct him. He wasn't
able to decide the way himself. And as we know, God was very
gracious to him. He committed his way unto his
God, and the Lord led the children of Israel in the Lord's way for
those 40 years in the wilderness. It was a defined way. It was the right way. The way
took many turns and many changes. But the Lord always directed.
And so may we be able to come committing our way unto the Lord
and looking and waiting as it was in the case of Israel for
that cloud by day and the fiery pillar by night which led the
children of Israel in God's way. God's way. And of course it was
a wandering and it was a wilderness. The Lord didn't forsake them.
They deserved to be forsaken, didn't they? And surely we deserve
to be forsaken if we're honest and look into our heart and we
see the evil there, we see the sins there. We deserve to be
forsaken. and yet to think that the Lord
does not forsake his people. And so Israel of old were led
about. They were brought safely to Canaan
at last. And Jacob was directly, wasn't
he, in the way of the Lord. Yes, Jacob was. And God found
him, you remember. He found him in the desert land,
in a waste-hounding wilderness. He led him about in his way,
in God's way. He instructed him. He kept him
as the apple of his eye. Now, if we're able to commit
our way unto the Lord, we can believe it will be that way of
instruction. Instruction. Because God leads
us in a way, a way so that we grow in our spiritual life. If
we selected our way, we could be sure we would be very stunted
in our spiritual life. Because we choose a very smooth
way. We choose a way that didn't need
any prayer. We choose a way which is good to the flesh. God chooses
a way which is good to our soul. God chooses a way that is best
for us. God chooses a way which will
cause us to cry unto him, to pray unto him. Well, it's good
if you and I can look back in our lives, perhaps, and be encouraged
to see God's gracious hand upon us. so that as we were able to
commit our way unto the Lord, commit thy way unto the Lord,
the Lord undertook for us. You know what happens? The Lord
sometimes makes the crooked things become straight. Those crooked
ways that you and I are not able to make straight, we may struggle,
we may try, But you see, when the Lord works, the way is made
straight. And we're thankful to have such
a God that does that. And also, not only makes our
way straight, but makes the mountains to flow down at his presence.
See, nothing can stand in the way of Almighty God. Nothing
can hinder his purposes being fulfilled. Nothing. See, we may
think, perhaps, That things come which are hindering our life,
are hindering our way. No, they're not. God's purposes,
God's way is pure and right. And my friends, don't forget
then that He does lead us in that right way. That right way
which causes us to call upon Him in prayer and also that way
which directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if in this
world you and I lived an easy life, if there was no obstacles,
if there was no suffering, we would not esteem the Saviour
very much. We will not understand anything
that the Saviour endured to save our souls. But as the Lord brings
us into those pathways of suffering, and that may not be in a physical
way, it may be in a spiritual way, in a mental way, Nonetheless,
the Lord brings his people by the right way, that way of suffering,
and that way which directs us then to seek unto the Lord so
that we have and are blessed with something of that fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit thy way unto the Lord. And so therefore, whatever pathway
we may find ourselves in, to be able to come and say, Lord,
not my way, but Thine. Thy will be done. What a good
word that is. What a great, gracious example
we have of our Saviour Himself. He always desired to do that
which His Father's will was, to be led in that right way.
which of course he was in a glorious way, wasn't he? The Lord Jesus,
of course, he never faltered in that way. He always walked
in that way that his father would have him to go in. Commit thy
way unto the Lord. Let us not forget this important
thing then, is to commit. We speak, don't we, sometimes
of committing ourselves to do a certain thing. And we say,
well, I'm committed to do that. Well, it's good, you know, when
you and I are committed to pray to our God, to commit our way
unto the Lord. The Lord will not turn us back. Not only was, of course, Moses
and Jacob dealt with And they committed their way unto the
Lord. We have David as we know, don't
we? So many, many examples in David's life, as he committed
his way unto the Lord, how many hardships he had to endure, what
battles he had to fight. So many times we read, he committed
his way unto the Lord. He sought the Lord. He sought
for direction. The Lord would give him instruction
to go in that right way. Sometimes it was to fight, sometimes
it was not to fight. The Lord had a plan for David. My friends, God has a plan for
you and me. And as we're able then to commit
our way unto the Lord, we can believe then the Lord will be
gracious to us and direct us. We can come to the New Testament,
we can think, can't we, of the apostles, how they committed
their way unto the Lord, and how the Lord directed them, sometimes
in strange paths. But nonetheless, they proved
the Lord was with them. sometimes in difficult paths. It wasn't always because they
obeyed the Lord it was going to be an easy path. We may obey
God and God may bring us into a difficult path. Remember the
Apostle Paul, didn't he? What a path he had when he was
told to go to Macedonia. He willingly went, committing
his way unto the Lord. He didn't anticipate what he
would have to endure. It wasn't a wrong way. It was
a right way. It was God's way. But he did
have to endure, didn't he? There he was, beaten. Yes, preaching
the gospel. That commission that God had
given him. The word of the Lord. And he and Silas were beaten
and put in prison with great stripes upon their backs. But
the Lord was with them. The Lord hadn't forsaken them.
They committed their way unto the Lord and the Lord was with
them. So don't therefore be surprised if things don't appear to be
working out in accordance with the way that you might anticipate.
You see, we think, don't we? We're very foolish. We think
if we have a direction that everything's going to be plain sailing. Oh,
it's going to be a nice, good path now because the Lord's given
me a word for this and now I'm relying on that and I'm happy
to walk in that way. Good. But it may not work out
just like you anticipate. You see, it didn't work out,
did it? Like Paul would have probably
thought. But there was a good end. We can be sure about that. We commit our way unto the Lord,
there will be a good end. There may be a lot of mountains
in between. There may be some rough patches
to overcome, but there will be a good end. You see, Davey was
able to say that he was old and he'd not seen the righteous forsaken. No, he was able to confirm that
God was faithful. And so as we may receive that
grace to come and to commit our way unto the Lord and to believe
therefore, as we do read, as the Apostle said, and we know
that all things work together for good to those who love God
and those who are called according to His purpose. It's a peculiar
people. It's a special people. It's a
redeemed people that this applies to. Everyone is led forth by
the right way. God doesn't make any mistakes
in your life and in my life. Knowing it's good sometimes when
we're able to sit back and just meditate and realize, well, this
is God's way for me. This is God's purpose for me. And therefore it must be right. And there must be teaching in
it. And there must be instruction in it. And what a blessing if
it brings me nearer to my God. The whole purpose of the work
of God is to bring us nearer unto himself and to prepare us
for our eternal home. So we don't come to the end of
our life in that state that we're not prepared. You see, it's like
this. It's like a lump of rock which
is chiseled from the rock face. And that rock has to be prepared. It has to have the rough edges
knocked off. It has to have the small edges
smoothed down until it's made suitable for use. My friends,
that's the same in our lives. When the Lord calls us, when
he digs us out, as it were, there are rough edges, very sharp edges
sometimes, which have to be dealt with and have to be knocked off. You see, they're not worn away
in a smooth path. You look at pebbles in the sea. It's the rough seas, you see,
that really do their work. If there's no current and no
waves, there's no work. But you see, when the current
and the waves beat upon those stones and thrust them against
one another, then there's movement, and then there is an effect,
and then they are smoothed. Well, that's just like in your
life and my life. You see, we're rough. And we
need a lot of corners knocked off. Some of us have got some
big corners to be knocked off. The Lord knows how to do it.
And therefore, if we come like this and commit our way unto
the Lord, we can be sure the Lord will lead us in that good
and right way where we will be made ready, made meat for His
use. And therefore, God knows what
you and I need. We don't know, do we? We would
never work a right work in our own lives. But God knows, and
we can look back, and I'm sure many of us can look back to our
lives. Perhaps we say, oh, my life's
been very strange, and my life's been very mysterious. And yet
to realize, yes, but God led them forth by the right way. Yes, no mistakes. He knows what
you and I need. And bless God we have therefore
such a God. David here, he commences this
psalm by these words, fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. How
easy that is for us to fall into a fretful state against people. We fret against them. Well, here
we have these words spoken, fret not thyself because of evildoers,
neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for
they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green
herb. Now, we have these words next,
trust in the Lord and do good. It doesn't say, trust in the
Lord and do evil. It says, trust in the Lord and
do good. And that really surely refers
to that great commandment the Lord said, thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. We should do good unto all men,
especially unto the household of faith. And so David says here,
trust in the Lord and do good. so shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Well, if we
are committing our way unto the Lord, how are we to delight ourselves
also in the Lord? And he shall give thee desires
of thine heart. Surely to delight ourselves in
the Lord is to realise something of what the Lord Jesus Christ
did when he was on this earth, that great and glorious work
of salvation. And if we commit ourselves unto
the Lord and seek that he will lead us into all truth, that
he will reveal himself unto us as he does not unto the world.
So this is committing ourselves unto the Lord, isn't it? Commit
thy way unto the Lord and seek that he will show us himself,
himself. We need to know ourselves, of
course, and committing our way unto the Lord may bring this
about, to seek that he will show us ourselves, show us the error
of our ways, show us the foolishness of our desires, show us the wrongness
of our actions perhaps, prove to us the foolishness of our
words. Commit thyself unto thy way unto
the Lord, and to seek therefore that he will give us a right
understanding how to live our life. Yes, how to speak, how
to walk, what to do to be able to come like this. You see, often
we live our life, don't we, as though we didn't have a God. We do so many things. ourselves. And we perhaps, if we really
consider our condition, we don't pray as much as we should. You see, the S�mi says here,
commit thy way. What does that mean? It means
to commit it all our way. not just the difficult bits,
but commit all our way. He says, commit thy way unto
the Lord. And so may we ever be able to
come and commit all our way unto the Lord and see that he will
indeed instruct us and teach us in that way. That way that
we're desiring might be a good way, a way of blessing for our
souls, and a way that brings honour and glory to our God. I wonder if we really come in
this way, committing our way unto the Lord, and seeking that
way may be for our soul's good. You know, often we just look
for our natural self, don't we? We may say, well, I prayed, of
course, about this, and I want God to do this. Yes, we may want
God to do this. It may not be God's purpose to
do this. But do we pray that God will lead us in a way that
will be profitable for our souls? That way which will make us more
like the Lord Jesus Christ. These are things that we often
do not really pray for, although in our right mind we know we
should pray for them. And yet there's that flesh which
is so strong and our prayers often resound around our fleshly
pursuits. They may be good and they may
not be, but nonetheless what a wonderful thing if the Spirit
of God so works in us that our desire is for our spiritual condition,
our spiritual growth, so that we might be more like the despised
and crucified man. And you know, one of the great
evidences of that is, as the Saviour, He didn't please Himself,
did He? He went about doing His Father's
will. What a good thing, my friends,
if you and I go about doing our Father's will. Yes, we're not
concerned about just producing an easy solution for ourselves.
We're concerned that we do our Father's will. Commit thy way
unto the Lord. Now you see, if God gives us
grace to do that, then David comes and says, trust also in
him. It really means if we come and
we commit our way unto the Lord, we seek the Lord's direction
and guidance, and then we leave the issue with the Lord. We trust
in Him. There's a common illustration
for this position. We think of a farmer. a farmer,
he ploughs the ground, doesn't he? He harrows the ground and
brings it into a good condition. He has to work on it. He sows
a seed. What can he then do? He can't
make the seed germinate. He can't make the seed grow.
He can't make the seed bring forth fruit. The Lord controls it. And so
we can see that in a spiritual way in our own lives. There are
those things that we can do. We can pray. We can read the
word. We can do good to all men. But my friends, we need God to
give the increase. And therefore, as we may have,
as it were, ploughed the field and harrowed it and sown the
seed, what is the situation now? Trust also in Thee. Farmers, godly farmers, trust
the Lord. He will water the seed. He'll bring the seed into germination. You may have the right weather
to produce the right result. He can't control the clouds,
he can't control the sun, he can't control the warmth, but
God can. And therefore, it's trusting
also in Him. Well, we may not be farmers,
but nonetheless, are there not similar situations in our lives?
When, as it were, we have to do those things which we can
do, but, you know, we can't produce the ultimate result. Trust also in Him. Now, the blessing is this, if
you and I come and trust in the Lord, having committed ourselves
to Him, and when the Lord then brings the answers, when the
Lord brings the blessings, who gets the honour and glory? Well,
of course, our gracious God, because we weren't able to produce
the blessing. We weren't able to bring forth
a fruit, but our God can. And so, as we see here, there's
then that trusting also in Him, committing all our way, commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, believing
that He shall bring it to pass. You see, the Lord will bring
to pass in our lives, that which is good for us. Sometimes we pray and we might
say, well, I've committed my way unto the Lord and I don't
see the way. There doesn't seem to be any
answers. Don't forget, God sometimes answers
and he says no. He doesn't say yes. God sometimes answers and says
no. And we're not looking for a no,
we're looking for a yes. You see, God answers that prayer
as we've committed our way unto him, and he shall bring it to
pass. He brings it to pass, but it's
not always in the way that we might assume. Sometimes the Lord
says no. We might pray for success. The
Lord may answer that prayer, and he may say no. Success will
not be good for you. I know what you need. I know
where I'm leading you. I know what I'm doing for you.
And it's then, you see, if we're trusting in the Lord, that he
will bring to pass that which is good for us. and he shall
bring it to pass. And therefore we should not always
assume that what the Lord brings to pass will be something positive. It may be something negative,
but it will be good for us, and it will be sound food, and it
will be a good direction. And we should not be left then.
The important thing is to know that God is with us. We might
think perhaps of the Apostle Paul again reflecting on that
time at Philippi. We might think, well surely Paul
would have thought God's hand was going out against him. There
he was obeying God and now he was being beaten, put in prison.
How did Paul react to that situation? Did he complain? Did he moan
about it? Did he say, well why have I got
to endure this? No. He sang praises with his
fellow prisoners, Silas, at midnight. Fancy that. No evidence was there
of great blessing. And yet they sang praises. They
were doing the will of God. They didn't answer a good conscience. And so, and he shall bring it
to pass. And of course, he brought to
pass that occasion. They were to be put in prison.
How strange. But there was to be a blessing.
There was to be a blessing. The jailer. The last person perhaps
you and I would think of. The Lord had a favour towards
him. The jailer and his household. What a blessing it was. Surely
Paul and Silas were so grateful that they'd been used by God. They'd suffered. but they've
been used by God to be a blessing to that jailor and his family,
to bring them the great news of the gospel, and they were
given faith to believe and were baptised. You see, God's purposes
were worked out. Yes, and he shall bring it to
pass. We make wrong assumptions sometimes
of what God's going to bring to pass. We only look, you see,
at the present. God knows the future. And God
knows what he's planning for us. And it's good, therefore,
if we can come and commit our way unto the Lord. Yes, without
any conditions. You know, we're often conditional,
aren't we, in our prayers. We pray for certain things, we
want this to happen and that to happen. I often think of that
little prayer recorded in the Chronicles of Jabez. And we're
told, he prayed this, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed
and enlarge my coast. There were no details given.
God knew what the details would be. And God knew what details
would be a blessing to Javis. And so we have in the middle
of that long list of names, those few verses which stand out so
gloriously, that man Javis and that simple prayer of faith. Well, you know, it's a good example
to us. And so here we have, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust
also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And David goes on
to confirm, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the
light and thy judgment as the noonday. It may appear dark,
but the light will come. God's people are not left in
the dark. No, Israel, we're not left in
the dark. God's people are not left in
the dark. So here we have this situation. He shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. And sometimes the light is very
glorious. You know what the true light
is? the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world. What a wonderful
thing, if God brings us into these paths, to direct us to
himself, to that light. And when we see something attached
by the love of Christ, what does it do? It puts everything in
its right place. We're then content. We're then
content. Yes, the Apostle Paul, he tells
us in the Philippians, and remember that was writings to the Church
of Philippi, he says this, I have learned. What have you learned,
Paul? I have learned in whatsoever
state I am, whether suffering or being blessed, whatever state
I am, therewith to be content. What a blessing, eh? Godliness
for contentment is great gain. We've brought nothing into this
world and it's certain that we should carry nothing out. Well,
to be blessed then, like the apostle, to learn. What was he
telling us? He was telling us that God was
teaching him. My friends, isn't it a blessing
to know in our lives that through the situations which develop
in our lives, God is instructing us, and God is teaching us. So we come like this, and He
gives us grace to commit our way unto the Lord, to trust also
in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Perhaps it's to bring
you and me into that place like the Apostle. He learned. It didn't happen to him just
suddenly. He learned. We usually learn,
don't we? Don't learn things very quickly.
We usually learn things slowly. Learned in whatsoever state. He gives us the expression there
to clearly show us it wasn't an instantaneous thing. It was
a gradual teaching and a gradual learning. My friends, you and
I today, blessed it is if we're taught by the Spirit to learn.
therewith to be content. Content to believe, to trust
in the Lord. And so David goes on, he says,
rest in the Lord. You see, if we're given that
contentment, then we're willing to rest in the Lord. Because
we know that his purposes are being worked out. Rest in the
Lord. In the Lord, not anywhere else.
Rest in the Lord. That's a place of rest. You can't
rest in the world. It's a tumultuous place. You
can't rest in the arms of the devil. No, you can rest in the
Lord, though. And what a resting place that
is. Rest in the Lord. And he says then, and wait patiently
for him. By nature we're impatient. If we are committing ourselves
unto the Lord, we will need patience to wait for his appearing, for
his leading, for his direction. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him. And he comes back and says these words, fret not. Oh,
you see, David obviously knew what it was to fret. Yes, things
weren't happening quick enough, and he was fretful about it.
Well, fret not thyself. And so he says, fret not thyself,
because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man
who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Well, we could go on with
this psalm as we read together. It's a beautiful psalm, and really
each verse is very similar to the verses in the Proverbs, which
kind of contain a complete statement in themselves. If you read the
verses here in this psalm, the verses more or less contain statements
in themselves and how instructive they are. If we may read the
Word of God. My friends, we've got the Bible,
haven't we? And God has ordained that his servants, his servant
David, should write the testimony of his own life, of his own soul,
so that we have someone that we can look at and we can find
here as a fellow pilgrim, one who's gained the victory through
his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's got safe home to glory
therefore we have a record of what he was able to say as he
was passing through this world and he was brought at last safely
to his desired haven. So may we come tonight and bless
God for such a testimony recorded in the word of God for our encouragement
and to be given much grace to walk in this way and to pray
in this way, in these simple words, to commit thy way unto
the Lord. Remember, unto the Lord. Trust
also in Him. Trust in the Lord. Don't trust
in other people. Don't trust in your own ability.
Don't trust in your own strength. Trust in the Lord. Trust in Him. Believing. with living faith
that he shall bring it to pass. Amen.