How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Light mine eyes, lest I sleep. the sleep of death. Lest mine
enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble
me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy,
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Our blessed Lord Jesus, our gracious,
gracious Savior. You're our great God and our
Savior. You're our plea before the Father,
your merit, your righteousness. You're the plea before our own
conscience, before our own hearts. You're the blessed hope that
we have. You're the blessed stay in the storm. You're the blessed lover of our
souls, and we bless you for it. Thank you. And as for your mercies
tonight, O God, would you bless us with your presence? Would
you bless us with the power of God? Would you enable me to speak,
enable the saints to hear? Would you have mercy upon the
lost? upon our children and grandchildren. Lord, mercy is Yours to extend
and to give. Grace is Yours to give. Faith
is Yours to give. Repentance is Yours to give. To make a person feel their need,
it's Yours to do. So, Lord, enable us to continue
to pray, to continue to hope and trust in You. Father, for
those who are traveling west, that you see them safely there
and safely home. And we thank you for the saints
of God here. For ever heart and home it's
represented. Ever need this, and ever heart and ever home.
Lord, you know it. We ask that you might need it.
For Christ's sake. Amen. The paper, it was laying in the
back there, Psalm 13. Let's stand and let's sing it
together with the tune of Church's One Foundation. How long will thou forget me,
O Lord, thou God of grace? How long shall fears beset me,
while darkness hides thy face? How long shall griefs distress
me, And turn my day to night? How long shall woes oppress me,
And triumph in their might? and hear my earnest cries. The sleep of death enfold me,
enlighten thou my eyes. Lest now my foe insulting Should
boast of his success, And enemies exalting Rejoice in my distress. But I with expectation have on
Thy praise relied, My heart in Thy salvation shall still with
joy confide. And I with voice of singing will
praise the Lord above, who riches found His way, passed out with
me in love. Thank you. May we sing it. Like the sheep upon a mountain
So lost, he served to die Surrounded by the darkness For his mercy
I did cry When the shepherd came a-seeking He put me on his shoulders Whispered
this, let me smile Do you wonder why I'm happy His grace could
take the blame Do you wonder why my heart burns When I hear
His blessed name He became my good submission When He poured
it all in one From my wracks to His riches When the Lord became
mine As the prodigal sinner So steeped in all my pride But grace
became the conqueror And my sin I could not hide And the Father
had compassion Then he ran to my relief He brought me the best
robe When the Lord became mine Do you wonder why I'm happy? His grace can take the blame
Do you wonder why my heart burns? When I hear His blessed name
He became my good Samaritan When He poured in oil and wine From
my wracks to His riches When my Lord became mine Turn back with me now to Psalm
13. And in this psalm, what we have
is a picture, two pictures of the same man. Two pictures of
the same man. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Look what David says in verse one, ìHow long wilt thou
forget me, O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me?î Verse four, ìLest mine enemy
say I prevailed against him, and those that trouble me be
rejoiced when I am moved.î Now that's one man. Two pictures
of the same man. That's one picture of him. Look
at the next picture. Verse 3. Consider and hear me,
O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. Verse 5 and 6. But I have trusted
in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because
he hath dealt bountifully with me. Now here's one fellow complaining
so bad, just so full of complaining,
groaning, and then he starts out sighing and ends up singing. Starts out pouring out his complaint
before the Lord, and before it's over, he's rejoicing. And oh my, ain't that the way
sometimes with us? I know that the believer, like
David, It's one man here, but it seems like he's two different
people. Between the first two verses and the last two verses,
it seems like an entirely different man. But I know we're like David. We have two of us, an old man
and a new man, an old nature and a new nature. And David was a man who went
through many, many changes in his experience, and God put him
through them. not only for his own good, but
for his people down through the ages. And I tell you, I know
when you look in David's and look in the Psalms, and this
is the Psalm of David, it says, the Psalm of David, that's Jesus'
position. And you're looking into David's
Psalm, you'll find yourself in some way, one or another. You'll
really find yourself in them, looking at them. And when I find
myself feeling low, I sometimes I see that David's lower than
I am. When I'm feeling so high and feeling like I'm spiritually
up, David's even higher than I am. But that's the way it is. And what do I say when I mean
each man is two men? Here's this man, David. Picture. Same picture, but two men. Two
men in the same picture. One of them howling, one of them
complaining, the other one rejoicing and singing. What do I mean when
I say each man is two men? Well, I know this about us. I
know only believers will understand this. Every man's a mystery.
He is a mystery to himself. He really is a mystery to himself.
And he's a mystery to other people. And I tell you, he thinks, well,
how could I think this way? How could I feel this way? How
could I do this thing? How could I complain? How could
I worry? How could I fret? And I tell you, if you've ever
made a friend of yourself, and ever talked to yourself, you'll
come to find out that you've found out you're a puzzle to
yourself. You can't make yourself out.
Sometimes you hit the end of your rope, and then the next
day, you know, before the day's out, you're pulling the mountaintop
rejoicing in the Lord. Strange mixture. We're awfully
changeable as human beings. And I know this. If a man ever
learns himself, ain't got but one place he can go, and that's
to the Lord Jesus Christ. If he ever finds out anything
about himself, finds about his own weaknesses, his own inabilities,
the strangeness of his own nature, the one seemingly person that
wouldn't do something and then another person would do just
the opposite of what the other would do, in the same name. No
one of us want to complain before God, but when we start, here
we are, turn around and start singing. Let's look at this first
man. This first man, David. Two men
and two pictures of the same man. Two pictures of the same
man. You know, if you ever looked
at a picture and you wondered, is that really me? My sister-in-law
was talking to another day, and Mary took a picture of me out
when we was in Yosemite. And I was in the swimming pool,
and my sister-in-law hollered to my brother, Michael, and said,
Come here, there's a picture of your dad. A picture of your
dad. Michael David came over and looked
at it and said, Well, who in the world put dad's picture on
there? And it was me. It's me. There's two people,
two entirely different people, but they look just alike. And
that's the way David is. Two pictures of the same man. Look
at the first man. He's a complaining man. Here's
a man who is howling, roaring, moaning. And David tells himself,
he said, Oh, the voice of my roaring. And he says, For how
long, sir? For how long? Four times he asked
God, How long? How long? How long? How long is this going to be
like this? How long will thou forget me, O Lord? How long will
you forget me? It's been going on for quite
a while. Or David would have said, how long are you going
to forget me? It's been going on for quite a while. He said,
how long will I forget me forever? You're going to forget me forever?
Now you're talking about a man down, a man low. And he said, and how long will
thou hide thy face from me? How long will you turn your face
away from me and hide your face where I can't see you? Can't
see your face, can't see your counsel, the same can't see your
presence. How long shall I take counsel in my soul? And look
at her having sorrow in my heart. My heart is so full of sorrow,
so heavy. And listen to this, how long
shall my enemy be exalted over me? How long shall my enemy have
his feet over me? Be exalted above me and have
his hand on me and pushing me down? And all four times he asked
Moaning, how long? How long? Here's this poor man's
grief and sorrow as it appears to him, as it seems to him. And no matter what's going on,
whatever how it feels to us, that's the way it is. No matter
what anybody says to you, no matter how much anybody tells
you not to feel that way, think that way, express yourself that
way, when you get like this, there ain't nothing you can do.
And he said, how long will God forgive me, O Lord? Forever? Forever? Oh, can God forget? Can omniscience forget? Can unchanging
love forget? Can infinite faithfulness forget?
Well, that's what it seems like to David. And no doubt to many
of God's saints. Maybe even some of you here tonight.
Maybe you've been here and maybe you're here right now. And he
said, how long will you forget? Oh, Lord. He said, I'm seeking, but how
long? How long? You've been seeking grace and
peace, and you can't find it. You think God forgets. You have
grief and depression. You hardly have time to breathe
between the surges of it, and you think God forgets. But that's
not the way it is. Look in Psalm 40, verse 27. I
mean, not Psalm, but Isaiah. Isaiah 40, verse 27. You know, David asked to cast
himself the question in Psalm 42. You can look at that yourself
and when you get ready. But he said, Oh, oh, my soul,
why are thy cats down? Oh, my soul, why are thy cats
down? Isaiah 40 and verse 27. This is what Israel says. David
said, How long are you going to forget me, O Lord? Forever?
How long are you going to hide your face from me? Why sayest
thou, O Jacob, and speakest thou, O Israel, My way is hid from
the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from God? What he's
saying is that God's done forgotten. He said, God's done hidden himself
from me. His judgment's passed over. Why
are you talking like that? Like I'm not even present. Like
I'm not there for you. Like I'm not doing anything for
you. Why are you saying like that?
And then look over in Isaiah 49, in verse 15. I love these two verses right
here. Just absolutely love them. Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she shall not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee? O Lord, you're going to forget
me? How long? Forever? No, no. Behold, I've craven thee
upon the palms of my hands, thy walls, are continually before
me. Everything about you is right
there in my eyes, right in front of me. And oh, just like a baby
draws its nourishment from its mother, the only place we can
get any nourishment is from God Himself. But then look at His
trouble as it really is. How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? That's what He says in verse 1 again. How long wilt
thou hide thy face from me? And I tell you what, you're talking
about a bad condition to be in when God hides His face from
you. That's all God has to do. Hide His face from you for several
days, and you'll be the miserable creature as a believer that they
are. It's just a miserable experience. But that's why He said, how long
will you hide your face from Him? How many times has God hid
His face from us? Now, He hides His face from us,
but I'm going to tell you something. He may hide His face, but He
never hides His heart. He never hides His mind. He doesn't
never forget you. He may have taken away the comfort
of his smile, but his heart and his mind is always on you. He may hide his face, but he
don't hide his heart, and he don't hide his mind. And oh,
look at what happens if David begins to cry out about it. What
else can we do but cry out about it? To pity the man who isn't
concerned for the face of God and favor of God? Now, I know
that there's people in this world that they wish that God would
always hide their face from them. But the only person who misses
God's face is those who have ever had it shine on them before.
They had God to look at them, and God's powerfulness to shine
upon them. Look in Psalm 4, verse 6. Look
at that with me just a moment. That's why He said, Oh my, the
only person who misses God's face and cry out for it to return
is those who've had His presence before. Little old Riley, every
once in a while, you know, I'll look at her and she'll say, Poppy,
you mad at me? You mad at me? Because I'm proud
to mad at her. Smile at her, you know, she just
lights up like a Christmas tree. And that's the way it is with
the Lord, you know, if you don't have a smile. That's why we walk
by faith and not by sight. Look what he said here in verse
6. There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord,
lift up the light of thy countenance upon us. People say, is the Lord
going to do you any good? Oh yes. Lord, lift up the light
of your countenance on us. They'll see. They'll see. Oh my, if you've ever had the
light of the Lord's countenance and earned a desire, seek after
it. It'll come back. It'll come back. Oh my, this
is the trouble, and a great trouble while it lasts, when God hides
His face. But it works for our good. You
know, for a plant to grow in this life, it needs day and night,
sun and rain. If we just had the same weather
all the time, there would be no change. then we'd get so complacent. We'd never grow. We've got to
have the sun, we've got to have the rain, we've got to have the
day, we've got to have the night, we've got to have the summer,
the winter, the spring, the fall. Our spiritual life goes through
every season just like a season in this world. God tells us that
and shows us that. Sometimes there's a winter and
it's barren. Sometimes it gets up in the dog
days of summer and it seems like it's so hot and dry. And other
times like today, it didn't seem like the sun was ever going to
come out. But those are the things that
the Lord does for us. And oh, grieve, grieve, grieve
when God hides His face from you. And then that man's trouble,
as it really is, oh, he said, for how long will you hide your
face from Him? Oh, my. And look at this man, this first
man, this picture of this first man, this man's trouble and sorrow
as it is within himself. Look what he says in verse two. How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
What he's saying is here, he's counseling himself. He has got
in such a sad condition, such a so down place, that he begins
to talk to himself. And he starts taking counsel
with himself. And the last place in the world where you're going
to get any help is from yourself. You can talk to yourself, you
can ask all these questions, but you don't get any great help
out of it. A man can talk with himself until he talks himself
into despair. But then there's a way of talking
to yourself that leads you right up out of the light and out of
darkness. Look over here at Psalm 42 with
me just a moment. Oh, I tell you, a man can talk
himself right into despair. I hope you haven't ever done
that. That's why it's so bad to wake
up in the middle of the night, you know, and you couldn't go
back to sleep. You just sit there and you just talk yourself into
such a condition that you've got to get up. Just one trouble
after another comes on you. One worry after another. One
fear after another. One anxiety after another. And
you finally get up and you say, well, I'm tired of walling this
bed to death. And that's what happens. You
talk to yourself. And what do you do? You talk to yourself
right into a condition that you can't even sleep anymore. That's
what David's doing here. He's talking to himself. And
I'll tell you what, when a person talks to themselves, most of
the time we talk ourselves right into despair. But look what David
said here in Psalm 42 and verse 3. My tears have been my meat
day and night while they continue saying to me, where is thy God?
You know how many times they asked David where his God was.
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in them. For
I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise and with a multitude
that kept holy name. Oh, I remember, that's where
I went. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted
in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Oh, my God,
my soul's cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee. See, when he starts talking about
his soul being cast, I'll remember you. From the land of Jordan
unto Hermonizus from the hill Mizer. Deep calls unto deep. God's deep ways calls unto the
depth of your soul. God's deep mysteries calls unto
the depths of your soul. All the trials it calls deep
calls unto deep. Shut the noise of the water spouts.
And all your waves and billows are going over me. Yeah! He sees
what's going on. The Lord will command his loving
kindness in the daytime. And in the night his soul shall
be with me in my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say
unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
my enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, Where
is their God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou
disquieted with hope thou in God? For I shall yet praise Him,
who is the health of my countenance, and my God." Oh my, He's the
health of our countenance. When all things well with our
souls in Him, oh, it's amazing how it helps us. And David said,
I pour out my soul in Me. And I'll tell you what, if you're
going to pour out your soul, pour it out to the Lord. Pour it out
to the Lord. Pour out your heart unto Him,
oh you saints. Pour out your heart. And oh,
listen to what he says here about this poor man. Look what he says. Again, the man's sorrow. And
he said, How long shall I take counsel of my soul, having sorrow
in my heart daily? And then he says, And how long
shall my enemy be exalted over me? How long shall it end me? How long shall I stand as a defeated
man in the presence of my enemy? He's above me, and I'm down here.
He's up there making fun of me. He's up there telling me who
you are. You call yourself a Christian. You call yourself a believer.
You call yourself a saint. And then you're so full of greed,
and so full of sorrow, and so full of howling, and so full
of mourning, and so full of sorrow and sadness. Boy, I tell you,
that's a condition to be in. Somebody you know your enemies
are over you. That's a sad state. The enemies
of our soul. You know who the greatest enemy
of our soul is? Us. Us. And I tell you, our great
enemy, the devil, he loves to exalt over us whenever he can,
but I tell you, I know somebody that beat him, conquered him.
Our Lord Jesus whipped him, and I tell you, he came with us.
Paul said, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Do
you see the picture of this man? Oh, he's in so much trouble.
And this is what he's saying. I hope you ain't never said this.
What he's saying is, you don't understand. No one understands
the trouble. I stand alone. That's what he's
saying. I'm howling. Nobody knows what
I'm going through. How long are you going to forget me, Lord?
Forever? How long are you going to hide your face from me? How
long am I going to take counsel? How long will my enemies rejoice
over me and exalt themselves over me? And what he's saying
is, nobody knows what I'm going through but me. And here I am. But I tell you,
somebody who does, your master knows. And that's the first picture
of the same man, a man complaining. Now look at the second picture,
down in verse 6. I will say unto the Lord, the
cause he has dealt bountifully with me." Is this the same man that asked
for how long? Is this the same man? What's
happened? He's quit complaining and went to singing. He's quit
moaning and groaning and went to singing. Look what he says. He said in the last part of verse
5, My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. What changed all
of a sudden? And then I tell you something,
it's not the appearance of joy, it's real joy. He says, my heart
shall rejoice in thy salvation. Have you ever seen people who
seem so down, and then by the Spirit of God, God comes and
raises them up, and they don't seem like the same person? Oh,
they come, you know, and they're down, and then they come to a
service, and they go up to the service, and they're down, and
they're troubled, and they feel so oppressed. And then the gospel
comes, and the Word comes, and the Spirit of God comes, and
lifts them right up. And they leave, come in here
complaining and moaning, and lift up! And start singing. And start rejoicing in the Lord. That's why they said, I was glad
when they said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord.
And look what this man, he complained and went from complaining to
singing. And his heart's rejoicing, he says, my heart shall rejoice
in thy salvation. And then look what he said in
verse 6, I'll sing unto the Lord. His tongue is praising the Lord. Oh, man, I'll tell you something,
you know, it's been a long time, I bet, since any of y'all dropped
a bucket in a well, ain't it? Huh? When you drop a bucket in
a well, you know what you get out? Whatever's in there is what
comes out. If there's good water in there, good water's coming
out. And that's the way it is with our hearts. What's ever
in the well, that's what's coming up. And David, his heart, once
in the heart, comes out of the mouth. And no rejoicing heart
will soon be a praising tongue. And that's why he just started
out complaining, and ended up rejoicing and praising and blessing
God. And his judgment has returned.
And he's content with what he says. I have trusted in thy mercy. Trusted in it. Oh, my, trusted
in His mercy. And that word mercy there means
it's covenant mercy. It's more than mercy. Just saying,
Lord, I rejoice in Thy mercy. I trust in Your covenant. David's
saying, oh, his judgments come back to him. His minds come back
to him. His hearts come back to him. I thought he had forgot
me. But boy, do I say he's doubtfully
with me. I thought he hid his face from
me. But I take all my words back. I spoke too soon. Return unto
your rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt doubtfully with
thee." His judgment is totally, totally changed now as the Lord's
dealing with him. He says, the Lord's my shepherd.
I shall not walk. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He restoreth my soul. His judgment is sent right again.
And that's why when you're down, when you're depressed, be very,
very careful how you talk and how you think. It's like Job.
Job was really, really strong after all those came and told
him all he lost, all he lost, all he lost, all he lost. And
they kept bringing the news. He was very strong and honored
God and blessed God and worshipped God. But you get on through that
book, you find Job saying, Oh, I wish I'd never been born. I
wish the day that they told my mother's going to have a man
child that that never had got the news and that I've never
been brought into this world. So, you know, we start up here,
we get down here quick, we get out and get out here and we get
back up here just as quick. And you know who has to do it?
The Lord's own one. We can't do it for one another
as much as we'd like to. And his judgment's been set right,
his heart and his tongue. And he says, I will sing unto
the Lord. I've been sighing enough. I'm going to start singing now.
I've been groaning and complaining. Now I'm going to sing. I'm going
to sing unto the Lord. What song did we sing Sunday
night here? I forget what it was, but I woke
up the next morning singing it. It was just on by my mind. I
sung it all day. I got up Monday morning and I sang it out on
the... But you know, that's what happens. Sometimes, you know,
you start singing, and then, I'll sing! That's what David
said. I'll sing! God help me! I'll
sing unto the Lord! I'll sing at my work! I'll sing
in my bed! I'll sing when I awake! Look
what he said in Psalm 40 and verse 1. Look it here. Psalm
40, verse 1. Oh, I'm going to sing. Not half
enough singing. We don't have half enough singing.
Sing and make knelt in your hearts as unto the Lord. The birds sing. They try to outdo one another.
They'll wake you up. We've got him walking burdened.
It ain't uncommon for him to sing at 10, 10.30 at night. Get
up in the morning, he's still singing. First thing you hear
in the morning, the last thing you hear at night. Walking burdened. But look what he said, I waited
patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my
cry. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the mire of clay, set my feet upon a rock,
and established my voice. Listen to this, and hath put
a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." And that's
what he said here. He said, he went from complaining
to saying, went from complaining to rejoicing. And not only that,
but he says, the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me. How in the
world can he say the Lord dealt bountifully with me when he was
complaining so? But he said, the Lord dealt bountifully
with me. Huh? How in the world did this
complaining man become this hating man? How did number one get to
be number two? Well, look in verse 3, and I'll
hurry. He pleaded with God. That's what he did. He poured
out his heart to God. Consider and hear me, Lord my
God. Oh, Lord my God. You know how
many times... That's another thing. You go
through the psalm and find out David. He'll say, Oh, Lord my
God. Oh, Lord my God. And that's what it is in that
song that we sing Oh Lord, my God, how great Thou art. Oh Lord,
my God, how great Thou art. And that's why David said, Oh
Lord, my God. You that mourn, take your matter
to the Lord. Oh my, something boring to your
brain, just stay there. Take it to the Lord. Cast your
cares upon Him because He cares for you. Oh, we don't want to
hug our troubles. We want to take them to the Lord
and leave them there. If you was in a lawsuit, you
had a lawyer, You know what you'll do? You'll leave the Lord. You'll
do what the Lord does. He'll take care of it. And you'll
stay out of it and say, now I'm paying you to take care of this.
And I'll tell you that's the way we need to do it. Our Lord Jesus
will take care of things, and let's just take it to Him and
leave it with Him. Huh? Oh, my. Let me see if I can find it real
quick. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Oh, take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. If the world withholds from you its silver
and gold, and you have to get along with meager fare, just
remember His word, how He feeds the little bird. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. If your body suffers pain, and
your health you can't regain, and your soul is almost sinking
in despair, Jesus knows the pain you feel. He can save and He
can heal. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When your enemies assail and
your heart begins to fail, Don't forget that God in heaven answers
prayer. He'll make a way for you and
will lead you safely through. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. When your youthful days are gone,
and old age is stilling on, and your body bends beneath the weight
of care, He'll never leave you then. He'll go with you to the
end. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. We are supposed to say, well,
I'll see my brother tomorrow and I'll tell him my troubles.
No, no, go see your father in heaven. I'll call a friend and
tell him, no, no, call on that friend that sticks closer than
a brother. And after he brought his cause before the Lord in
prayer, look what he said in verse five, but I have trusted
in thy mercy. He trusted the Lord. He went
from complaining, to rejoicing, to singing, to pleading, and
that's how he got to this place, and he trusted the Lord. He said,
I'll try. No, no, trust. Old Scott Richardson
used to say, put your weight on him. Like that scapegoat,
you lay your weight on him. Like that goat, you know, when
you put your sins on him. If you got a lot of sin, put
your weight on him hard. Our Lord Jesus Christ, lean your
weight on Him. He can carry every bit of your
weight. He can take everything that you put on Him. And oh man,
a blind man, he'll walk alone, trusting a man that sees. And
surely, surely, we see our Lord, we can trust Him. And Lord, lead
us. God, help us. Help me. to say,
I have trusted Thy mercy. I will rejoice in the Lord. I
will sing unto the Lord. Do you know why? He's dealt bountifully
with me. Bountifully. Plentifully. Lots
and lots of blessings. Lots of blessings.