You know, as we look around us
and we're reminded of the uncertainty of life and the shortness of life, as we see the young and the old
alike taken in death, I'm reading about Some guy, I forget now
exactly what his claim to fame was, but anyway, he was 104 years
old, and he recently died. And then we had a young lady
in this community that died at half that age. She was 52 years
old. You know, the scripture says,
Lord, teach us to number our days, to apply our hearts unto
wisdom. uh... because it does not matter
uh... if we uh... live to be a hundred and four
or we live to be fourteen the lord has numbered our days and
uh... there's not anything you're going
to do that's going to change that and of course some people
look at that and say oh well that's fatalistic or whatever
well you know the scriptures plainly indicate that that's
the case just like hairs on your head are numbered so are the
years that's been allotted to you and uh... you can rebel against
that and be mad about it or whatever or you can fall down and worship
him who's the one that orders those days and uh... he alone is to be worshipped
and praised and I certainly wouldn't want anybody else to be in charge
of that other than the God of great mercy and kindness. Because
whatever he does will be good. Whatever he does will emanate
from his kindness to the sons of men who are totally unworthy
of any of his mercies at all. And so we look again here at
Psalm 42 and reminded again as the title for
the sons of Korah. and certainly there's no greater
uh... phrase in the Bible, I say no
greater one, there are many perhaps just as great but this is definitely
a great statement of the grace and mercy of God for the sons
of Korah because Korah was one who died, perished under the
direct hand of God's almighty judgment upon him, and while
his cohorts, Dathan and Abiram, and their whole family and possessions
and everything else was swallowed up into the ground, yet the Lord
spared the sons of Cor. There wasn't anything because
the sons of Korah did, it was just that the Lord spared them
because He could have destroyed them along with Korah just like
He destroyed Dathan and Abiram's families. But the Lord spared
Korah. And you know the only reason
that we're living and breathing today is because the Lord spared
us. He gave us another day and we hope to be thankful that he
did. May we not take these things
for granted. That's what the scripture means when it says
teach us to apply our hearts unto wisdom to number our days.
It's not saying try to figure out how long you're going to
live. Because you don't know. I mean, I don't know. There's
no need to be overly concerned with how long that's going to
be, but to teach us that whatever the number of days it's been
given to us, may they be spent in praise unto Him, that we might
walk circumspectly, that we might redeem the time, and that we
might use what time the Lord has given us, that we might praise
Him. In course, one of the recurring statements that David makes in
this psalm, in which we believe to be the prayers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his counsel. Now, this is kind
of what we might call a rhetorical question. Why are we cast down? Do we have any reason to be cast
down? Not really. Now, a man can't help but being
cast down, and so it's not saying you need to not ever be cast
down, because sometimes you are going to be cast down. You are
going to be in distresses and troubles and things are going
to overwhelm you. That is a true thing. But why
should we be cast down? That's the question that should
come in our mind because even when we are cast down, we have
one who has given us hope and we have one who has blessed us.
We have one who has met our needs and that's what he says, hope
thou in God. Why are we cast down? Our hope is in Him. Let's
praise Him. Let's worship Him. Hope thou
in God, for I shall yet praise Him. Even in the midst. Paul
said he was cast down, but what did he say? He says, I'm cast
down, but I'm not destroyed, persecuted, but I'm not forsaken. And that's exactly what this
is saying here. Why are you cast down? I am cast
down. There's nothing wrong with being
cast down, but there's something wrong with staying cast down.
When we know the one who has given us life and light, and
has blessed us. Why would we be cast down? We
shouldn't remain there. We shouldn't delight in it. Now,
I've met some people who seem like they delighted in being
in a low state. It was almost like it was a badge
of honor to be in a low state. No, it's not a badge of honor
to be in a low state. Sometimes we are in a low state,
But it is the grace of God that gives us reason to hope and to
look beyond those reasons for being cast down. Oh my God, my
soul is cast down within me and there's nothing wrong with coming
to the Lord and admitting that when that's true, when we are
cast down. Oh my God, my soul is cast down
within me, therefore will I remember thee." And see there again he
says, I'm cast down, but I will remember back, I'll think back
on those things that thou hast done to deliver me. I'll remember
thee from the land of Jordan, the land of Jordan is that land,
that expanse of land that went out from the River Jordan that
was given to the children of God. That was the promised land. That was that land which was
a blessed land. And it was broad and big. And he says, even when things
are going great, says, I will, when I can't even see for all
the blessings of God. He said, I will praise Thee.
Therefore, I will remember Thee from the land of Jordan and of
the Hermonites. He says, when I've climbed up
to the high hill. See, the Mount Hermon was a tall
hill. It was a place where all these
things could be identified. But then he says, and from the
hill Mizor, which that's a little, that word Mizor means little.
And some have said it's even the same. Speaking of the town,
the city of Zoar, you remember when Lot escaped Sodom and he
went to the town of Zoar. And the word Zoar means little. A little one. A little place. So it doesn't matter if we're
in a land of great plenty, or if we're raised up on the mountaintop,
or we're down in the low parts of the earth. It doesn't matter.
We shall praise the Lord. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy water spouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Now, this is kind of poetic language
to be sure. I think it's just a reiteration
of the fact that in the depths of our sorrow, when all of these
things have come upon us, what does he say there? He said, Deep
calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts. Now, I don't
know if you've ever seen this painting. It's something that
sticks in my mind and I'm trying to think of the name of it. Is it Tropic of Cancer or something? Anyway, some famous artist and
his name escapes me right now. Winslow Homer. And this guy, this black guy,
he's on this boat And he's out in the ocean, and it's a stormy
sea, and the mast is broken off of his boat, and he's laying
out there on the deck of his boat, and he doesn't have any
way to help himself. I mean, his boat is basically
just adrift. And it's storming, and off in
the distance, you see this water spout that's headed right towards
him, and all these sharks are in the water all around him.
And when I read this passage of Scripture, for some reason
that picture jumps into my mind. But you see, even in that situation,
and you see the very hopelessness of this situation that this man
is in, As David wrote these words, he said, all thy waves and thy
billows and thy waterspouts. See, these are the things that
come from the hand of God. You're not saying, oh no, this
waterspout's coming and Lord, you've got to help me out of
this. No, he said, Lord, these are thy waterspouts. These are
your sharks. These are your waves. And though
the billows go over me, yet I will trust in the Lord. Now we know
that perfectly that is only accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean
we desire, don't you desire to trust the Lord in times when
you are in a low state? But you know me telling you to
trust Him is not going to make you do it, is it? I mean somebody
can tell you to trust the Lord, well that is not a whole lot
of help. when you are in a place of doubt
and fear. I mean, somebody can tell you
to trust the Lord, and that's like supposedly going to be the
great thing. And I do want people to tell
me to trust the Lord. I want to be reminded of that,
but I know at the same time that my help is not going to come
because I trust the Lord. My help is gonna come from him,
casting myself upon his mercy. Now that is trusting the Lord,
but it's not an active thing, it's an understanding that he
alone can sustain us in the midst of that. And that's what he says
here. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me, yet, yet, the
Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and
in the night his song shall be with me. it doesn't matter where
I'm at if I'm in the the brightest of the noonday sun or if I'm
in the darkest of night it doesn't matter I'm persecuted but not
forsaken I'm cast down but I'm not destroyed for the Lord will
yet deliver me his song in the night his song shall be with
me he will sustain his people now sometimes that We don't know
it till later, do we? You know, the sustaining hand
of the Lord doesn't, we think of it as here we are in this
lowest place and somehow the Lord's gonna come in in the midst
of it, right in this, and he's just gonna take us out of it.
And it's like in a fiery chariot, we're gonna be taken out of it.
But that's not usually how the Lord works, is he? What he does
is he puts us in there and we well and I are overwhelmed And
then later we see how His mercy sustained us because even in
the midst of that we would never have been able to have even trusted
Him had it not been that He had kept us. I remember, and I've
shared this illustration with you before, but I remember reading
about the life of Stonewall Jackson. and how he was shot by his own
men as they were coming back reconnoitering to see how the
enemy were arrayed, and it was getting dark, and they were coming
back through some woods, and the sentries and whatnot mistook
them coming back for the coming of the enemy towards them, and
they shot him, and shot some of the other men that were with
him as well. But he was hit. And he was pretty badly wounded,
and they took him to, and anyway, ultimately he died about two
weeks after that. But during that time, his adjutant
was Robert Dabney, who was a Presbyterian preacher. And he, of course,
was right by Jackson's bedside and he Jackson told him you know
how it was that when he was laying there on the ground He said,
you know, men think that in such a time as that, when they're
faced with death, and they think that they're going to be praying
and calling on the Lord and all that. And he said, it came to
my understanding, not at that time, because he said, at that
time, the only thing that I could think of was, I've been shot. And the shock of it all. And he said, my mind was so clouded,
I couldn't think of anything. But he said, later on, he said,
I realized that had the hand of God not been holding me up
and comforting me in that time, I would have perished on the
spot. He said, you know, I would have been overwhelmed by it all,
but he said, the Lord in His mercy. He undertook for me when
I couldn't even call upon His name. He said, I didn't think
about calling on the Lord. He said, but the Lord was right
there. Because you see, this was the
Lord's water spouts. It was the Lord's waves, the
Lord's billows. And the Lord will command His
love and kindness in the daytime. And in the night, His song shall
be with me. Now, do you dream about God all
night long? Praising Him? But the scripture
says that His song's with you in the night. You see, the Lord
hovers over His people, and He keeps them. And He will bring
them into safety. And my prayer unto the God of
my life, see, He is our song in the night, is it not? He is
the God of our life. We don't have a life apart from
Him. He gives us life, and we rest
in Him. I will say unto God my rock,
why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? Now keep in mind that these things
the Lord bore. He was tempted in all points
or He was tried in all points like as we are. I will say unto
my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Now did the Lord ever have
such a Trial come upon him? Of course it did. He said, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, did he ever have any
doubts as to the sufficiency of God? No. But as a man, he
understood what it was. You see, he bore the sorrow of
his people. And he took that upon himself. And he learned obedience by the
things which he suffered. And surely, just as surely as
any man has ever felt that momentary abandonment, when things aren't
just like you think as a man, it ought to be. He understood
that. I will say unto God, my rock,
why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of thine? Why are these heartaches and
things come upon me? As with a sword in my bones,
mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where
is thy God? Now see, he said this is like
somebody sticking a sword in my heart when doubts and fears
come upon me. There's nothing that the children
of God who are born again by the Spirit of God struggle with
any more, I believe, than the doubts and fears that come into
their heart and mind. Doubting the faithfulness of
God, doubting the goodness of God. Now we can say, oh, well,
we don't ever doubt that. Well, you know, you might not
openly do that, but you do doubt that from time to time. We always
do. I mean, we often think, well, the Lord, why'd he do this and
do that and this, that and the other? I mean, that's just the
natural way of men. It's the way men go. As with
the sword in my bones, my enemies repose me. But now, who is our
greatest enemy? Is it the devil? The devil probably don't even
mess with most people. I mean, he wouldn't even waste
his time with most of us. But I'll tell you, you've got
an enemy that dwells within your breast that will destroy you
at every turn, and it's your own sinful flesh. And it'll whisper
in your ear and say, you know this stuff, you believe in this,
and I mean, you're wasting your time with this, you know that's
not true. And he'll tell you all sorts
of things, he'll bring doubts and fears into your mind, and
he will stab you as a as this one with the sword, because they daily say unto you,
where is your God now? You know, you're having this
trouble. I mean, if the Lord loved you, would this be happening
to you? you know, in just little things
every day. Do you ever say, well, why did that have to happen now?
Here I am, you know, everything's going along good, and the tire
blew out, and I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. Oh, man, why
did everything happen? This stuff happened to me, and
that happened to me, and all that. And you know you do that.
Why should you do that? If you really believe that God
is in control of all things, shouldn't we not? I mean, if
we were walking in perfect faith and whatnot, shouldn't we, when
something bad happens, we just say, praise God, you know? Thank
you, Lord, for bringing that upon me. But that's not the way
of the flesh. No, the flesh says, well, where
is your God now? It causes you to doubt the goodness
of God and the mercy of God and the hand of God. So we get to
thinking, well, this just happened. You know, if I'd have done this,
that wouldn't have happened. Well, now I'm not taking, you
know, human instrumentality out of the picture, but I'm telling
you this, when stuff happens, you can be sure that God had
ordained it to happen. You can do with that whatever
you want to, but he said that he would do all his pleasures.
and they won't anything occur that's not that's outside of
the good pleasure of God. Now however you want to think
of that, you go ahead and think, but I'm telling you that He's
in control of all things. Why should we doubt Him? Why should we find ourselves
ever calling into question His goodness when He's shown it to
us time and again? And He says there in verse 11,
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are thou disquieted
within me? Why are we? Let's ask ourselves
that question. Just ask yourself the question,
why are we? I mean, of all the things the
Lord has shown us, why are we cast down? Why are we disquieted? Well, I can give you the answer.
And the answer is because of that old enemy, the flesh. I mean, that's the reason why.
but you say this is a question that really is not asking a for
an answer but it's kind of like saying quit doing it. Now I can't,
if I could just cause you to quit doubting by saying quit
doing it, that'd be one thing. Now some of these health and
wealth preachers, they'll tell you, well you can just do it,
you know, you just do it, but I guarantee you can't do it.
But you should do it. Why should you doubt? Why should
you question God? Why should you ever be in a place
of low estate? Dear brethren, we have been blessed
abundantly with the goodness of God. Why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Now is that not the perfect,
is that not a perfect confession of faith? Of course it is. Why are you cast down? For I
shall yet praise Him who is the help of my countenance. He's the one that lifts me up.
He's the one that sustains me. Why should I be cast down? Why
should I be overwhelmed by it? Now we can't help things happen
that cause us sadness, but by the grace of God. Knowing what
we know, we can praise Him according as He enables us to do it because
He is the health of our countenance. He is our salvation. What glorious
things!