This truly is a blessed time. I'm so thankful I'm here, thankful
I want to be here. Psalm 139. This is a psalm of
David, whom the Lord called a man after his own heart. And this
is the outpouring of David's heart, and the outpouring of
all of God's people's heart. All of God's people, like David,
are men, women, young people after God's own heart. They're
in God's heart, in His love, in His mind, in His purpose,
in His will, His covenant. And He is in their hearts and
minds. He thinks of them and loves them, and they think of
Him and love Him. This is to God's people. The
unbeliever can't enter into this. However, I hope the Lord will
use this for someone that doesn't know the Lord, to cause them
to cry out with David, search me, O God. lead me in the way
everlasting. You know that David knows the
Lord the way he begins this. Oh, Lord. One time we went through
the scripture and pointed out so many places where it just
jumps out at you, doesn't it? Oh, Lord. You know, men and women
and young people take God's name in vain. Oh, my God. Years ago
it was, Oh, Lord. God's people, from the heart,
they say, Oh Lord. Don't you? Oh Lord. Oh Lord my
God. When I with awesome wonder consider
all the worlds I have made. Look at verse 4. There's not
a word in my tongue but Oh Lord. Now know it all together. Verse 17. How precious are thy
thoughts unto me, Oh God. Verse 23, search me, O God. Psalm 140 verse 1, deliver me,
O Lord. Psalm 143, hear my prayer, O
Lord. Isn't that what we cry all the
time? O Lord. He says, thou hast searched
me and known me. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. He said, Through Amos, the prophet
in chapter 3 verse 2 to Amos, he said to the children of Israel,
he said, you only of all the families on earth have I known. Meaning foreknown. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate, call, justify, glorify. Foreknown, that means,
no, you have I known. That means love, foreordained. set his heart, his affection
on you. He said, I've engraved you on
the palms of my hand. You have I known. Remember, the
first use of the word know is when Adam knew his wife Eve. It's the exact same word. It's
the exact same word. It was an intimate bond and union
where they were united in love. Their hearts beat as one, their
minds, everything. Their lives were intertwined,
weren't they? And they were literally, physically
united, bonded together. This is what God says about His
people, what David said. You've known me. Known me. The Lord knows. He knows. You know your mate, don't you? Pretty well. After a while, 20,
30, 40, 50, 60 years, Seventy-two years. You know that
person, don't you? You know the inside out. It's
pretty much what... I kind of resent it sometimes
when they say, I know what you're thinking. You do not. Oh, yes, she does too. After
a while, we have much more of our little noses. We know our
children don't. We know them. We know them. They
are us. They come from us. We know all
about them. They don't think we do. We do. Look at right above this, Psalm
138 verse 6, Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect
unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth. Far off. He knows everything about every
human being, but this knowledge of them is not the intimate union
in love. He knows them far off. In other
words, keeps them at arm's length. God's people, not arm's length.
We don't see that. He's got his hand on it. Verse 2, Thou knowest mine down-sitting
and mine upright. You know when I sit down? You
know when I get up? You know when I go out? You know
when I come in? You know where I go? Now, these
thoughts should produce in us two things. Number one, fear. Shouldn't it? Fear. Secondly,
relief. Comfort. Fear and peace. He knows us. He knows us. And
he's going to go on to tell what all he knows about us. But this
will produce fear that what we do and what we say and what we
think is in God's sight, God's ears, God's eyes. If we love Him, we won't want
to dishonor Him, will we? But he says, you know my sitting
down, my uprising, you understand my thought. Fire off. This is what made Simon Peter
hit his knees in that ship that day. He didn't know the Lord,
yet. But when the Lord called him
and got in his ship, and went out there into the deep. And
he saw the glory of the Lord in the depth, like Psalm 107.
And when he saw that the Lord knew every fish in that sea,
he thought, he knows every thought in my head. And that's when he
hid his knees to the Lord. And he didn't know who he was
before, but he called Him, Lord. He said, depart from me, O Lord. I'm a sinful man. No, Simon. I have come for you. Not departing. I will never depart. That's why
He came with me. He came for the likes of Simon
Peter. A friend of public consent. You
know, my thoughts are far off. Verse 3, He now encompasses my
path and my lying down. It's an old Bible word. It's a good one. It means a couple
of things actually. Turn to Psalm 5. We keep looking at this, and
we need to so much more in this day. Psalm 5, compass, as you
know, means to surround. Lord, you've got me surrounded.
That's good. I need surrounding. Psalm 5, verse 12, Thou, Lord,
wilt bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass
him. As with a shield. How many times does it say the
Lord is our shield? And how many times does it say
He's compassed us? Psalm 32. Go over there real
quickly. Psalm 32. I could show you many
scriptures, but Psalm 32. Oh, Psalm 32. We looked at that,
didn't we? Verse 7. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me with songs
of deliverance. Verse 10, Many sorrows shall
be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall
compass him about. The Psalm of the Shepherd. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Not
only follow you, but before you. And on your right hand and on
your left hand. He compassed it. And did you see in the margin
what it said, the word compassed? Winowest. Winowest. Sift. You ought to see this. Ruth. Go over to the book of
Ruth. Right before, right after Judges, there's a little book
of Ruth right before Samuel. I just was so blessed at this.
Made me want to go through the book of Ruth again. But thou
winnowest, he said, he encompasses my path. He winnows my path as
a fan that winnows the wheat and separates the chaff from
the wheat. You know, the way that they used
to sift wheat. That's winnowing, the threshing
floor. Well, look at this, Ruth chapter 3. Naomi, her mother-in-law,
said to Ruth, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that
it may be well with thee? Now is not Boaz of our kindred
with whose maidens thou wast? She was with them, but didn't
know him. Behold, he went with barley tonight
in the threshing floor." That's what he's doing right now. Oh,
may I be weeped! and not chaff. This Word does
that. It separates the sheep from the
goat. Tonight, wash yourself, therefore anoint thee, put your
raiment upon thee, get thee down to the floor. Make not thyself
known unto the man, till he shall have done eating and drinking.
And it shall be when he lies down, that thou shalt mark the
place where he shall lie. Thou shalt go in, uncover his
feet, and lay thee down. And he'll tell thee, What thou
shalt do. He's winnowing barley tonight. Barley is poor man's grain. You
know that? Poor man's grain. The poor and needy. That's me.
That's you. And go back to the psalm. He
compasses. He's winnowing us. Oh Lord, thresh
me. Take away the dross, chaff. Psalm 139 verse 3, you're acquainted,
thou art acquainted with all my ways. Acquainted with all
my ways. Go to John chapter 1, you'll
love this. He knows our down sitting, our
up rising, our lying down, our going out, our coming in. In
this story of John chapter 1, the Lord was calling His disciples.
Okay? Verse 43, you have it? John 1,
43. He's calling out his disciples. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and find that Philip, and saith unto him,
Follow me. And now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We found him, of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and
see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael said unto
him, Whence knowest thou me? He answered and said unto him,
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig
tree, I saw thee. And Nathanael answered and said,
Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. When you were sitting under that
tree, he planted that tree for Nathanael
to sit under. It's like old Zacchaeus. He planted that sycamore for
him to climb up. But this just astounded Nathanael. How do you know me? You were
sitting under that tree, I saw you. And I called you. That's us. Let's go back to our
text. He says in verse 4, There's not
a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Oh my, that's the fearful and
yet wonderful thing. Fearful, Ecclesiastes says God
is in heaven, thou art upon the earth. Therefore, let your words
be few. Be not hasty to utter anything
before the Lord. God sent heaven, you're upon
earth, let your words be few. James said, be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to anger. He knows, he hears us. He hears
us. One time, well, in the scripture
it said, a man shall be held accountable for every idle word
that he speaks. Our Lord said, by your word you'll
be justified, by your word you'll be condemned. That's frightening,
isn't it? Aren't you thankful for the blood
of Christ? Because God's people are not going to be held accountable
for every idle word. The blood of Christ put away
those sins. Nevertheless, He knows what we're
saying. This is why David said, Lord,
put a watch over my lip. Didn't He? Put a watch over my
lip. But, this is both a blessed thing. Romans 8 says, we cry
Abba Father, and sometimes we don't know what to say, and it's
like the babbling, like the groaning, like the, of a child. Remember when your children were
little babies, and they were trying to, you know what they
were saying. But Sophie was a talker from the very outset. From the
very beginning, you know, just know it didn't make, but her
mama knew exactly what she was saying. And so does our Lord.
Not a word in our mouth. We don't know how to say it.
I have a friend in here that's all the time saying, don't know
how to say what I'm trying to say. But we know what you're
trying to say, because we all feel the same way. Don't know
how to express ourselves. We don't have to. David said,
all my groanings. I'm before you. Often in prayer,
all I can do is just sigh. Don't you? Just groan. He knows.
He knows what all that means. It's not a word in my mouth. He don't know altogether. Verse
5, You set me behind and before. You've beset me behind and before. That means, the word beset means
you've confined me. You've confined me. beset me
behind him before. You ever had a... Well, I was
in my boat the other day, canoe. There was a spider. There was
a big spider in that boat. I'm out in the lake. And he's
darting here, darting there, so I'm doing this. I'm going
over here. You ever done that? He couldn't
go where he wanted to go. I was besetting him. That's what
he does do. Aren't you glad? Huh? I'm going over here. No. Stop.
Stop. Where do I go with you? No. Stop.
He might let you. See? He set me back. He laid his hand on me. Look
at that. He laid that hand upon me. Do
you remember when you were a little child, your father, when you
were upset or troubled or whatever, your father would lay his hand
on you? Put His hand on His shoulder,
big hand. Son or honey, it's alright. It just soothes you
then. Or your husband or your wife,
a touch. There's something special about touching. Our Lord touches
us in that same way. He puts His hand upon us to insure
us, to reassure us about who He is. His love and mercy and
grace upon us. He's laid Your hand upon us.
Verse 6, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high,
I cannot attain unto it. Or as Paul said in Romans 11,
oh I love this, oh the depth, I don't want to misquote it,
love it. Psalm 11 verse 33 says, oh the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are His judgment and His ways past finding. Oh,
such knowledge is too wonderful for me. Verse 7, Whither shall
I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from
thy presence? Well, David, why would you want
to flee? Do you want to flee, David? Sometime. Sometime. I remember as a young
child, and I guess every child at some time, maybe not all,
That little boy, perhaps. I remember one time thinking
that if they just don't love me, I'm just going to run away
from home. My brother did run away from home. He was 16 years
old. They didn't know where he was
for two months. You're talking about breaking his parents' heart. They did not know where he was
for two months. Well, I wanted to do that, too.
Thank God he didn't let me. But I wanted to. It's just selfishness,
isn't it? Oh, poor me. Oh, woe is me. I'm
leaving." Thinking, yeah, I'll go out there. I'll be my own
person. Now I know. I'd rather stay home. Oh, my. Why would you flee, David? Well,
if you did, you can't get away from it. Look at verse 8. If I send up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. Brother Stephen read from Nahum,
Micah chapter 4 tonight, about the mountain of the Lord, the
mountain of the Lord's house. We come up to Mount Zion. We leave the slime pits of Egypt
and we ascend up into His holy hill of Zion. When we come here,
we ascend. The Lord is with us, like Psalm
46. God is in the midst of us. He
is here. when I hit rock bottom. And I've been there. You've been
there. What about when I hit rock bottom? He's there. He's there. Mindy reminded me
when you had open heart surgery. Her father had open heart surgery.
And everyone that's had that has said that you go through
a time of deep, dark depression. Right? You feel like you're down
in the dark. Well, the Lord was there. He pulled you out of it. You're
there. Aren't you glad? Oh my, if I
take the wings of the morning, verse 9, fly away, gone with
the wind. That was me. Literally, I told
you when I was 21 years old, I was on a sailing ship out in
the ocean. And it was some storms. The Lord had His hand on me right
there. Fleeing. If I dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, verse 10, even there shall thy hand lead me. Oh, He
did. He did. He did. He led me back
to Himself. Even there shall thy right hand,
that's Christ, He's the hand of God in the right arm that
got into victory, shall hold me. He has a hold on me. He has hold of me. I remember
when my daughter and our granddaughters, when they were very, very young,
you know, you just did not trust their judgment around the street
or places. I would never let them out of
my sight. Whenever we crossed, I had strong
hold on them. Not going to let go. No, that's our God. He has a
hold of us. He owns us. Read on. He says, verse 11, If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. The darkness shall cover me.
Have you ever felt like you wanted to be alone in the dark? All
of us have. We just want to be alone. No,
you don't. No, you don't. Alone with that
old fella that's in you, that's bad company. He'll drag you down
into the dust, into the depth, into the dirt. Yes, he will.
Because he only loves himself. Nobody else. You don't want to
be alone with the Lord. It's really the darkness. Or a deep, dark pit like we were
talking about. We all get into those dark times
and dark pits. Thank God He's there. Verse 12, Yea, the darkness hideth
not from thee, the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
light are both alike to thee. Or as Hagar said, Hagar thought
she was a goner and thought that Ishmael her son was a goner.
And she thought they were going to die. And she said, Thou, Lord,
seest. And the Lord led them both. He
said, turn around, Hagar. And there was a well. A well
of water right there. Now drink up. It's okay. I'm
with you. Verse 13, Thou hast possessed
my reins. We looked Sunday at a stronger
than Satan. A strong man's arm keeps his
palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes,
What he does is he comes and takes captivity captive. Our
Lord, through the preaching of the gospel by His Holy Spirit,
comes to one that is held captive by Satan at his will, but by
the will of God, by the mercy and grace of God, by the gospel
of God, by the Word of God, by the power of God, in the mercy
of God, He comes and says, arrest that man. Lay hold of him. Take
him. He's mine. Then you're possessed. Then you're possessed by the
right person. And from then on, you're led
by the Spirit of God. Possessed by the Spirit. You're
not your own. God's people are not their own.
They're bought with a price. He possesses us. He possesses
our reign. That's our innermost being, our
soul. Oh, I'm so thankful. Aren't you?
He owns me. He owns me. He rules over me.
That's what I want Him to do. Reign and rule over me. Verse
13, You covered me in my mother's womb. Thou hast covered me in
my mother's womb. How many times does the Lord
tell us He's our shield, He's our hiding place, He's under
His wings, He covers us. What do we have to worry about?
Nothing. Nothing. Whom shall I fear? The
Lord is my life. The Lord is my salvation. Whom
shall I be afraid? He covered us. He always has.
He carries us from the womb to our hoary head. He carries us.
He covers us. He owns us. He possesses us.
He holds on to us. He leads us. He hedges us. Yes,
He does. God can't lie. This is God's
Word. I'm not making this up. This is God's Word. Rest. Peace. Peace be unto them. He possessed me from my mother's
womb. Verse 14, I will praise thee.
And they started thinking about how He was made. Oh, I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made. You see, God is our Creator. And He is. He is our Creator.
If God is our Creator, that means He owns us. He's the potter. We're the clay. Cannot the potter
do with his own what he will? Yes. I used to have a potter's
wheel, and I made things. If I didn't like it, a vessel,
I cast it around. If I liked it, I kept it. That's
exactly what the Lord said. He's the potter, we're the clay.
He's made us. He's made everyone. He deserves
everyone's worship. Everyone's thanksgiving. His
tender mercies are over all His work. He feeds, clothes everyone. Though they don't know Him. Though
He doesn't know them. But they should worship Him.
And God holds them accountable for their unbelief and ingratitude. But God, in mercy, made Himself
known to them. And this is the first way He
makes Himself known, like Hebrews 11. We understand that things
that are made are not made of things that are seen. By faith
we understand that. John 1 talks about Christ. In
the beginning was the Word. He made everything. that this
Lord Jesus Christ, this man, is not just a man, He's our Creator. Alright? Then, we're made new
creatures in Christ. Born again, born of God, of His
own will, begat He us with the Word of Truth. We're born made
of Him. We're His creatures. He owns
us. Everything about us, He owns us. And He's created everything
about us. Read on. I am wonderfully made,
marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from
thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance
yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my memories were written,
which in continuance, as they were being fashioned, before
there was none of them. They were all ordained of God,
purposed of God, down to the very hairs of our head. Now that's something. That's
why I said, such knowledge is too wonderful, men. Alright,
and we've looked at this before, brethren. If the hairs of our
head are numbered, if God takes care of the least thing, that
most insignificant thing, what about the big thing? Rest. Rest. Everything about us is ordained,
ordered. Our lives are in His book and
it's sealed. And nothing can change it. And
the end is good. It's great. It's wonderful. It far exceeds anything you can
imagine. Verse 17, How precious also are
thy thoughts unto me. Oh God, how great is the sum
of them. You know, when somebody just
thinks of you, it's special. When somebody does something
and sends you a card or calls you or does something for you,
it's so thoughtful. I appreciate you thinking of
me. Don't you say that? Something unexpected? You were
thinking of me? That's wonderful. David says,
that God, what is man, that He's mindful of us, that would visit
us. And if you know yourself, you'd
think, why would He ever take a man? But He does, all
the time. David says, all the time. He never quits thinking about
His people. Can He do that? He's got people
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea. How can He
think on every one of them? Because He's God. You know, some
of you came from large families, seven or eight or nine children.
How in the world can you keep up with all that? Well, you can't.
And our Lord, how much more? It's our God. He thinks on that. There's not
a time that He's not thinking about it. There's not a moment
in the day. He doesn't forget us. We forget
Him, but He'll never forget us. That's precious. Verse 18, if
I should try to count them, they're more in number than the sand
when I wake, I'm still with Thee. I couldn't help but think of
Psalm 73. David got in a bad way in Psalm 73. You know it. It's one of your favorites too.
David got in a bad way, and he was envious, he was fretful,
he was worried, he thought, I'd just cleanse my hands in vain.
He said, all day, I'm plagued all the time. Look at these people,
they don't have any problem. And he said, it's just painful
for me. And he said, I went into the sanctuary. And Nathan got
up and preached. Ah, so ashamed. And here's what
he concluded. He said, it's like I woke up
from a dream. I was like a beast. I was a beast. I was greed. My heart was prick.
I was so foolish. I was a beast. He said, I'm continually
with thee. You've holding me by my right
hand. You've guided me with your counsel and afterwards you're
going to receive me up to glory. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Trust and hope thou in God. I
will yet praise Him who is the help of my countenance. When I wake. And when I go to
sleep. He started this, when I sit down,
when I lie down, when I get up, when I go out, God with me, God
knows me. When I wake up, oh, don't you
love that? His mercies are new every morning. He's still with us. Still with
us. Verse 19 through 22, Surely thou
wilt slay the wicked, O God. And we look before it. where
the Lord calls people wicked, Psalm 50 and other places. And it's just wicked to not thank
God. It's wicked to not think of God
who does all this for us. It's wicked. You need not do
anything else that's wicked to be wicked other than just not
being grateful. Not giving God a thought when
God does so much. That's wicked. And he said that
in Psalm 50. You that forget God, the wicked. And that was me. Ever gave God
a thought. So, verse 19, He will slay the
wicked. Depart from Me, therefore, you
bloody men. And David was surrounded by...
Boy, we live in a violent day, don't we? Brothers and sisters, guns and things like that don't
protect us. You don't need a carry permit. You got a shield. Okay. There
are bloody men all around. David was surrounded by them.
They wanted him dead. And he wanted him dead. David wanted
him dead. But it was the Lord. So that David might trust Him.
Verse 20, they speak against thee wickedly, thine enemies. They take thy name in vain. And
brothers and sisters, doesn't that grieve you more than anything
else? You look around and all this
that's going on today, it's despicable, it's awful, it sickens you, doesn't
it? What people are doing to themselves
and what society has become. It sickens you. But nothing more
so than to hear God's Does that bother you? Sure it does. It
grieves us. I'd rather them say my mother's
name. Wouldn't you? And religion is the worst. They've
got Jesus' name over here and Dale Earnhardt's over here on
their bumper. That's despicable. They don't know Him. Don't know Him. Oh, and it's
only by His grace that I do. We make mention of His name as
exalted. We fear His name. We worship
His holy name. They take His name in vain. It
grieves me. Verse 21, Do not I hate them,
O Lord, that hate Thee? Am not I grieved with those that
rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect hatred,
mature hatred. I count them my enemies. There's
a verse of Scripture that says, you that love the Lord, hate
evil. Let's turn very quickly to Revelation
19, okay? And I may preach real soon on
the word, Amen. You can go all the way through
Revelation, and it's many, many, many times. Amen. For all of
God's people, everything He says is like, Amen. Would you like to hear a message
on it? Well, look at this, Revelation 19, this is when God destroys
everything and everyone. Verse 3, again, they said, Hallelujah! And our smoke rose up. That is,
the great horror of false religion. The world is burning. And the
four and twenty elders and four beasts fell down and worshipped
God that sat on the throne saying, Amen! Hallelujah! And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, ye that fear Him,
both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, the voice of many waters, as the
voice of mighty thunder, saying, Hallelujah! The Lord God, omnipotent
reigner, let us be glad and rejoice, give honor to Him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come. We're there, it's over. Amen. Hallelujah! No more sin! Amen to that. I hate them with a perfect hatred. In that sense, I hate my sinful
life. I hate myself. Don't you? I count them my enemies. This
old man in me is an enemy of God. And I hate him. I'm ready to be done with him.
Aren't you? Now this is what every child
of God said. He said, you have searched me.
You know me. You know all about me. But keep
searching. Verse 23, search me. Know God. Know my heart. What he's saying
is, Expose it to me. Show it to me. Open it up to
me. Try me. Trials. Oh, trial of our faith. Work with patience. Patience,
experience, hope. And no trial is, no chasing is
pleasant, but yield peaceable fruit of righteousness to them
tried thereby, Peter, and all through the scriptures. Listen
to this. Know this, that you're going through heaviness, through
manifold temptations. Know this, that the trial of
your faith, faith is more precious than gold that perishes. Though
it be tried with fire, your faith be tried with fire. It's going
to be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love, in whom though
now you see him not, you believe him, and you rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory, and you're going to receive the
end of your faith. What's that? The salvation of
your soul. They began that by saying, you're
kept by the power of God. Lord, try me. I don't want to
go through trials. Do you? We must. We must. Abraham's hardest trial when
he was an old man. It's God's mercy. It's God's
goodness. He will not let us get attached
to this world. Try me. Know my thoughts. And
see if there be any wicked way in me. You know he's not saying,
I don't know if there's any wicked way. No. What he's saying is,
show me my secret sin. Presumptuous sin. Remember when
David said that? Cleanse me from secret sin. From presumptuous
sin. Show me what I don't see. What you clearly see. Show me. And above all, And finally, lead
me in the way everlasting. Lead me to Christ. I want to
be found in Him. Not have Him out on righteousness,
but found in Him. Jesus Christ. In that great day.
Like the ark. Stand with me. Oh Lord, Thou
hast searched us and known us and everything about us and we
are so glad. We're so glad that Thou art God. Beside Thee, there's none else.
And You've made Yourself known unto us. And You've known us. Like You said to Israel of old,
Thou of all the families on earth have I known. Oh Lord, thank
You for choosing a people and calling them and revealing Yourself
to them and in them. Oh Lord, thank You for this blessed
blessed thing called salvation. Thank you for your word in Christ's
name. Amen.