Turn to Psalm 13. The title of the message is, Enlighten
My Eyes. Open my eyes that I might see. It's as if David, when he says,
enlighten my eyes, or open my eyes, that I might see the reason
that I'm going through this. That I might have some understanding. And that I might, with enlightened
eyes, behave myself accordingly. Now I'm sure that every believer
has said or felt what David was feeling in this song. He felt that God had forgotten
him. Have you ever had such trouble?
Have you ever been in such a place and for so long a time that you
felt like God has forgotten you? He felt like that God had neglected
him. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. This is why I like to read the
Psalms. This is a man after God's own heart. He's got a heart just
like I've got. Here he is saying, Lord, he said,
how long will you forget me, O Lord? Forever? Forever? Will you not hear me? But we know that It was not so. God never neglects His children,
nor will He ever forget one of them. It is written in Isaiah 49.15,
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? And the answer to that
He gives is yes. Yes. And we've seen it. We've seen it. But he says this,
yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. That's a promise. Four times,
David says, how long, how long, how long, how long, how long?
I can hear the weariness in his voice. Whatever this situation
was, whatever the enemy was, it had wore him down. He says, how long? It's evident
that David is desperate for the Lord to answer him. Spurgeon
says, sometimes desperation turns into impatience. It turns into
impatience. How long? How long? How long?
How long? Instead of waiting on the Lord,
it starts to become impatient. If the Lord would tell us how
long a trial will last, it would be easier to endure But that
would not do anything for faith, now would it? That wouldn't increase
our faith. If he told us this is gonna last
three days, then we would endure it for three days. But faith,
trust him, no matter how long it is. No matter how long it
lasts. And we could look at this, and
I thought about this, we could look at this as our Lord in the
garden of Gethsemane or on the cross crying, My God, my God,
why has thou forsaken me? In the garden He says, I'm going
to die right here if you don't help me. Our Lord knows what it is to
be under heavy trials for long periods of time. He was tempted in all points
as we are, yet without sin. How long wilt thou forget me?
Isn't that a charge? What a charge to charge God with.
How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? I thought of another situation
where the Lord's disciples said something like this. Remember
when he was in the boat, and the boat was in a storm, and
they were in a storm, and the boat was filling up with water,
and he was asleep, and they came and woke him up and said, "'Carest
thou not that we perish? How long will you forget me? How long will you hide your face
from me? Will you turn away from me? When
I need you, you've turned away from me. That's what it seems
like to David. That's what he did to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He did turn away from Him. He
did forsake Him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Jesus Christ was forsaken of
God, that you and I who believe will not be forsaken." Now, God
may hide His face. He may not allow us to see His
face to detect His presence because of sin or for putting us through
a trial, but He never forsakes us. Never forsaken. It seems to David that God had
forgotten him, that He neglected him, that He had left him. Why, he says, why, why, why will
God not answer me? Well, you know it's written in
the book of Job that he gives no account of any of his matters.
He does answer, but he answers in his time when it's for our
good and his glory. But let's read on here and we'll
see some of David's problems for this depression and for this
this psalm. And it's amazing, this psalm
is a psalm. This is put to music. This is put to music. How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? Anytime our counsel
is with ourselves, it will always lead to depression. You can just
count on it. Anytime you take counsel with
yourself over a matter, you're going to end up depressed. Christ
is the Counselor. He is the one we go before. He
is the one we lay our cares at His feet. He is called the Counselor. It's one of His names. And when
we take counsel from Him, it lifts the soul. He never gives
bad counsel. I never give good counsel to
myself. Not naturally, I don't. I thought about this today when
I was putting these together. Looking inside of oneself for
answers is like looking into a black hole. There's nothing
there. Apart from Christ, there's nothing
there. Jesus Christ is said to be, in
the Scriptures, the key of knowledge. So whatever I need to know in
any situation, I look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the key
of knowledge. And how long shall my enemy be
exalted over me? Here's another reason for David's
depression. His mind was too much on his
enemies. It was too much on his enemies.
First, he's taking counsel in his soul, and then he's looking
at his enemies. And I know it's hard to put those
things aside, but if those things are the things we look to, if
we look inside ourselves and we look to enemies, we're going
to have despair, we're going to be depressed. The Scripture says in Colossians,
"...Set your heart on things above, where our Lord sits at
God's right hand." You know, one of the things that's
helped me as I've gotten older, and I like to believe that as
I've grown older in Christ, not just older, everybody just gets
older, but the thing that I like that as I've grown older in Christ,
I realized this, the end of every situation is already determined. It's already determined. I just
don't know what it is, but I've got to trust Him to guide me
through it and trust Him for the outcome because the end is
already determined. He has purposed the end from
the beginning. And that's not just of the world,
that's every life of every one of His children, every one of
them. That gives me comfort. That gives
me comfort. Now David voices his need here
before the Lord. He says in verse 3, Consider
and hear. Lord, consider, take into account
the words of my prayer. Take into account my prayer.
Hear me. In one place he says, Hear me
when I call. Hear me, O Lord my God, lighten
my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." David felt God was
not listening to him, because he said, Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face
from me? Yet he continued. Listen, this
is important. He felt like that God had neglected
him, was not hearing him and not listening to him, and yet
he kept praying. The only reason you keep praying
in that situation is because you believe God. That's faith. That's faith. Consider and hear me, O Lord,
my God, lighten my eyes. He continued to cry out because
God is honored when we persistently and desperately cry out to Him.
You know prayer, we are told in the Scriptures, Paul says
this, pray and faint not. You remember that story that
the Lord gives of the unjust judge, and this woman comes and
she just aggravates the life out of him. He said, I don't
fear God or man, but this woman is, I've got to do something
about this woman. And he opens the door and he
answers her prayer, what she wants, her request, because of
her persistence. And the Lord is teaching us to
be persistent in prayer. Persistence in prayer shows the
sincerity of prayer. It shows our sincerity about what we're praying for.
And I believe where there's really true, heartfelt prayer, sincerity
in prayer, God's will is in that. Because He's moved us to do that.
He's brought us to the point of praying desperately, desperately
for whatever it is we're praying for. God often waits until our prayers
are desperate until He answers us. Desperate praying is true
praying. Desperate praying is true praying.
There's a few times in our lives that I'd say every individual
believer can say that they desperately prayed over something. I fear this, and I do. I fear
too many times my prayers are yada, yada, yada. Not desperate. Desperate for God's glory. Desperate
to be heard. Desperate to be delivered. Desperate
to have Jesus Christ's name honored in that prayer. I know this, a desperate person
is ready to listen to the answer. When you say that, I'd say a
desperate person, when you are praying desperately, you are
ready to listen to the answer God gives. And David says this, here's his
request. He says, lighten my eyes, I'm
in the dark here. I'm in the dark here, that's
what he said, I'm in the dark here. David knew, and when I was reading this, I could
feel this in David, because I've experienced it myself. He knew
that what he felt and what he knew about God was different. You ever feel things about God
and you think, that's not right. It's not right when I think God's
forgotten me if I'm his child. That's not right. David, that's
not right. Have you forgotten me forever? Have you just put me aside? Have
you not heard me? Now David knows. I believe that. I believe David, he's realizing
as he's praying. He's realizing as he's praying
that what he's praying, what he's feeling, is not right in
what he knows about God. That's why he says, "...and lighten
my eyes." Give me some understanding here. He makes a wise request, for
he knew that if the Lord gave him spiritual insight, he would
be relieved. He would find some relief. You
know, relief comes when you understand what's going on. If God gives
you some understanding, He gives you some peace about what's going
on. Or He gives you the faith to
trust Him all the way to the end. He gives you insight. And a lot
of the insight to enlighten my eyes is not just to the situation,
it's to God again. is to understand all over again
who He is. God is faithful. God is faithful. He cannot fail us. Now when you
begin to understand that, then you begin to find some relief
in the midst of sorrow. You know, Paul knew the importance
of having our eyes enlightened by the Lord because he said this,
I believe it's in Ephesians, yeah, Ephesians chapter 1. Paul
writes this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened. And that's what David's asking
for. Enlighten my understanding, the eyes of your understanding. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, number one. Two, what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints? And number three, what
is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe? Lord, what a prayer! What a prayer! that the eyes of your understanding
may be enlightened, that you'll understand what the hope of your
calling is, and the riches of the glory is, and the exceeding
greatness of the power is. And David says, lest mine enemies
say I have prevailed against Him, and those that trouble me
rejoice when I am moved. And I don't think David's just
thinking of himself here. I don't think that. I think David
is praying here for victory. And he's saying, let not the
enemy boast against me. David knew that he was the Lord's
anointed. And a slam on him would be a
slam on his Lord. A victory against him, he felt,
would be a victory against his Lord. David was jealous. He was jealous
for the name of God. He was jealous for the honor
of God. And he said, I'm your child. Don't let them get the victory.
And it's not just for David's sake, but for the Lord's glory,
for his namesake. But as David prayed here, You can see here, David starts
out, how long, how long, how long? But then he asks the Lord
to enlighten his eyes. He says, enlighten mine eyes.
And then notice what begins to happen. Then he begins to think
upon the Lord. He said, I've trusted in thy
mercy. My heart shall This is a determination here. My heart
shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because
He had dealt bountifully with me. Well, David, I thought you
said He forgot you. Listen here. David says, I have
trusted as He prayed, He came to the place to realize
that he truly trusted in God to deliver him. He said, I have
trusted. That's past tense. David now
is recollecting all the times in the past that he'd been in
trouble. and that God had rescued him,
and that God had delivered him. Now he's starting to turn, the
table's starting to turn. Now his eyes are being enlightened. I have trusted, he says here. That speaks in past tense. He
remembered he really did trust God. Has it ever really dawned on
you from time to time, I mean, has it ever really just hit you
that you really do believe? Are there times that it's really,
I mean, you believe the gospel, you believe God, but there are
times when it just hits you, stronger than usual, that I believe. I believe God. Lord, I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief, but
I do believe. I've trusted in thy mercy, in
your mercy." And all this discouragement that he starts out with. David
found one thing that he could trust in. He didn't talk about
God's justice. He didn't talk about the law.
He didn't talk about trusting in God's holiness, he talked
about trusting in God's undeserved mercy. I trust in your mercy. When you cannot trust anything
else, you can trust in God's mercy. He delights to show mercy. Justice requires that every T
is crossed, every I is dotted. Justice requires it. But mercy, mercy is free. Mercy is giving
me what I don't deserve. And I can't come up with the
demands. Whatever God demands, I can't
come up with it, but Jesus Christ can. And on His behalf, God can
show mercy to me. I know you feel like you're going
to wear it out. You feel like you're just going
to wear out the mercy of God. But thank God, everything about
God is infinite. His mercy is infinite. It can't
be measured. You could sooner drink the ocean
dry than drink God's mercy dry. Spurgeon says this, he began
his prayer as if he thought God would never give him a kind look
more. But by the time he had exercised
himself a little in duty, His distemper wears off, the mists
scatter, and his faith breaks out as the sun in its strength.
That's Spurgeon, he's quoting William Gurnall in that. As he
prayed, does that ever happen to you? You ever pray about a
matter and you find yourself thanking God at the end of it?
And giving him praise for all that he's given you and all that
he's done for you? He started out so dreary and
you ended up praising him. David's joy here he finds in
the Lord and in his salvation. He says this, he says, my heart
shall rejoice. David is still in this area of
his feelings because he's saying how long, how long. Now he's
saying here, my heart shall rejoice. I'm going to rejoice. This time,
David has taken control of his feelings. And instead of his
feelings guiding him, he's guiding his feelings. There's a difference. There's a difference. and my heart shall rejoice in
thy salvation." When we cannot rejoice in anything else, when
everything is so dark and dreary, we can rejoice in God's salvation
in Jesus Christ. In Him we are complete. In Him
we are righteous. In Him we are accepted. In Him
we are cleansed. In Him we have all we need. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption, blood for cleansing,
we have it all. I tell you this, if you cannot
rejoice in His salvation, how can you rejoice in anything else?
How can you? My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation, then He says, I will sing to the Lord. He's gone from
complaining to the Lord, to now He's got a song. He turns us
into a song. This is put to music. You know
the best way to express our joy is in song? And this is something
we have to guard against, is to open the book to page 52 and
sing it. Let's sing with understanding,
let's sing with heart. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation, I will sing I will sing to the Lord." Spurgeon said
this, there is not half enough singing in the world. He said,
I remember a servant who used to sing while she was at the
wash tub. Her mistress said to her, why
Jane, how is it that you're always singing? She said, it keeps bad
thoughts away. It keeps them away. That's the
way to do it too, isn't it? Singing with songs and psalms
and melody in your heart. David moved from being depressed
and feeling abandoned by God Almighty to singing in joy. All
in six verses. That's a short prayer. Don't think prayer's got to be
way yay long. That's a very short prayer. And
in a very short time, he went from complaining, to realizing
who God is, to singing. I will sing unto the Lord. I'll sing to the Lord with enlightened
eyes. He said, enlighten my eyes, and
he did. And I'll sing to the Lord with enlightened eyes. And
listen, because here's why I'm going to sing to the Lord. Because
He has dealt bountifully with me. Well, that's not how you
started out. Have you forgotten me forever? Have you hid your
face from me? Have you left me? That's how
you started out. And now, here toward the end
of His prayer, God has enlightened His eyes and He's saying, He's
saying, the Lord is bountiful. He has dealt bountifully with
me. Has God saved you? Has God saved
you? He has dealt bountifully with
you. He couldn't deal more bountifully with you than by saving you. That's it. I don't care if you live in a
house with a dirt floor. If God has saved you, He has
dealt bountifully with you. As David considers God and what
He's done for him, that He has saved him, because he said, I'll
rejoice in thy salvation. He has saved him. He realizes
that God has dealt bountifully with him. It doesn't matter whatever
we're going through right now. I know whatever it is, I mean,
it's different people in here. Some of you go through different
things, and it hurts. Some hurts more than what others are hurting,
but it hurts. But God's dealt bountifully with
us. Paul, Paul, let me turn over to 1 Corinthians 5. Let me see if that's it. I might
be wrong, and I might be right. We'll see. 2 Corinthians 4. Look at verse 15. For all things
are for your sakes. even the trials you go through,
that's for your sakes. That the abundant grace might
through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God,
for which cause we faint not, although our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction,
which is but for a moment. And that's what Paul calls these
trials, light afflictions. And just for a moment, it worked
for us a far more exceeding and eternal way of glory. While we
look not at the things which are seen, and that's exactly
what David was doing in the first two verses, but at the things
which are not seen, that's what he started looking at when God
enlightened his eyes. He started looking at the things
not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal. Oh, God's dealt bountifully. One person said this, If we will
only think about it, every person on this earth has a reason to
rejoice because in some way God has been good to everyone. The sun shines on the just and
the unjust. It rains on the just and the
unjust. You know, I see the crops that's
been this summer. Well, not all those crops belong
to believers. Probably very few of them. And
yet those farmers, they reap the crops and make some money
and eat. God's good. We used to, when
I was a boy in school, in elementary, nowadays you can't do it, they'd
shoot you, but they actually used to say, God is great, God is good, and
we thank him for our food. By his hand, we all are fed.
Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread. I remember that from elementary. Now, whether that teacher knew
anything or not, I don't know. But she taught us that. And I
remember that when I was reading the scriptures where it says
the Lord is good, God is good. God is good. And that makes for
a good sermon, too. That's a good title, isn't it?
God is good, God is great. He had dealt bountifully with
me. See what prayer does for a believer?
You know, it's not what prayer does for God. Prayer doesn't
do anything for God. God is who He is. It's what it
does for me. That's what it does for me. That's
one of the reasons it's so important. It took David from despair to
rejoicing. What a transition from crying
to rejoicing. Prayer is important for me. It makes me start to reflect
upon my God and my dependence upon Him. This is what happens when God
enlightens our eyes. We see things as God sees them. We see them in His light. When
He gives light, we see them in His light. David could now see God's goodness
and what a change in perspective it made. Look over at Psalm 73. Listen to Psalm 73 verse 1, "'Truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked. There are no bans in their death,
but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride
encompasses them about as a chain, and violence covers them as a
garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more
than heart could wish. This is what happens when you
start looking in the wrong direction. David was looking at the wicked. He was envious at the foolish.
But now go down to, let me see here, let me see,
in verse 16. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. It just troubled me. troubled
me that these people were so prosperous and there were no
pains in their death. They died with no fear until
I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I therein,
God, enlighten my understanding. I understood this is all they
got. This is all they got. Scripture says, don't be envious
of the rich. Every person, the second they
die, is penniless. Apart from Christ. Penniless. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them
in slippery places, thou cast them down into destruction. Now
would you trade places with them? Huh? No. No, no, no. Before God, can enlighten our
eyes, someone said, we must agree that we don't see everything
and we don't know everything. We need to realize that our feelings
are not giving us full and accurate information. But if we will do
this and cry out to the Lord, he will enlighten our eyes and
bring us from a place of despair to a place of trust, joy, and
confidence. I thought that was a good statement. John Bunyan said this, and I won't close. In times of
trouble, the Lord would, with one scripture or another, strengthen
me against all. And so much that I have often
said were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble for
the greater comfort's sake. That's what John Bunyan said.
This is a man that was in prison for 12 years in a dungeon for
preaching the gospel. Oh, enlighten our eyes. If God
would enlighten our eyes, we will rejoice in his salvation. We'll give him the glory due
unto his name and we'll sing unto him as we ought to sing
unto him.