In the 12th verse of Psalm 31
we read David's words as follows I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mind I am like a broken vessel I am forgotten as a dead
man out of mind I am like a broken vessel Now these words strong
words very much sum up the depths of the suffering which the psalmist
had endured which bring forth this sentiment I'm forgotten
as a dead man out of mind I am like a broken vessel I'm alone I'm gone and throughout the psalm We see
the contrast between how awful David's plight is, how awful
this man's plight is, how hated of men he is, how despised he
is, how persecuted he is, how wretched he is. We see the contrast
between his awful state, his awful plight, and his continual
trust and faith in his God. Never does his faith falter. He is always looking up and he
is always praising God. Despite the fact he gets to this
crescendo of suffering, in stating I'm forgotten as a dead man,
out of mind. I'm like a broken vessel, I'm
in great trouble and grief. My life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing. I'm as a dead man, despite the
great depths to which he is brought. He never ceases to praise God,
to trust in his God, to look up and to hope. No matter how
far down he is, no matter how desperate his state, faith rises
up and he sees in heaven above the answer to all the trouble
that he's brought into. There is no trouble, not even
death, from which his God cannot deliver him. And this psalm is
a wonderful contrast between the depth of suffering of the
psalmist and the depth of suffering of that man of whom he is but
a figure, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful contrast between
the depth of suffering and the great rise, the swelling forth
of faith that rises up above it all and still in the end hopes
in God. And it's a wonderful example
to us and a wonderful encouragement to us as we go through life as
believers, as we encounter the same sorts of trouble that David
as a man encountered before us. It's a wonderful encouragement
that no matter how hard the way, no matter how great the persecution,
no matter how difficult the trial, no matter how great the grief
that comes upon us, if we have faith in God, If God is our saviour,
if Christ is our saviour, if he's put faith in our heart,
then there is no trouble that comes our way, that faith cannot
rise up over and find peace and comfort in the saviour. This contrast between the trouble
that David endures and his faith in his God, who is his rock and
his fortress, reaches its crescendo at the end of the psalm, when
he cries out unto others, O love the Lord, all ye his saints,
for the Lord preserveth the faithful. and plentifully rewardeth the
proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord. O love the Lord, all ye saints.
He will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He'll not let you
go. He will not let you perish. As Christ says in John 10, All those
sheep that are in the Father's hands, all Christ's sheep, shall
never be plucked out of His hands. They shall never perish, no matter
what state they're brought into, no matter how hard, how terrible
the persecution or the trial that they endure. No matter what
grievous illness they might be brought into. No matter what
bereavement they might have. No matter that they might lose
all friends and family as Job lost so many of his friends and
family. No matter what ailment that may
come upon them as with Job. No matter how close to death
they may be. God will deliver them. God will deliver them. They shall
never perish. Faith will always find an answer. Faith will always be answered. From the worst of circumstances,
when the weak faith of a believer cries out in desperation to his
God, that God, will answer. Faith will always find an answer. God will always provide grace
sufficient for the day. God is always mindful of his
people, no matter where they are or what the circumstance. David's grief went over his head. I am forgotten as a dead man. As a dead man out of mine, nobody
cares. Nobody cares for me. Indeed,
everybody wants me dead. Such is the hatred of mine enemies
for me. Even friends and neighbours,
they'd rather I was gone and out of sight. But my God hears
my cries. O love the Lord, all ye His saints,
Because the Lord is ever mindful of his people. The Lord's love
for his own is a love that will never be dimmed. It will never
be quenched. It will never be offended. He
loves those that didn't love him. He loves those that don't
deserve his attention or his care. He loves those who hated
him. He loves those who through their
life, every day of their lives, let him down and turn their back
on him. and treat him badly. He loves
those who have not loved him. Then his love is a love that
will never be quenched, never dimmed, never taken away. He will always love his own,
even to the end. Then love the Lord, all ye his
saints. Because with a love like this,
a care like this, a devotion like this, with assurance like
this, here is a friend that's dick if closer than a brother.
Here is a friend who will never leave you. Here is a friend,
a help, a saviour who will never depart. He will provide all your
wisdom. You who are foolish, who have
no wisdom, He will be all your wisdom. You who are so weak,
utterly without strength, He will be all your strength. You
who have nothing, He will be your all. Then love the Lord, all ye his
saints. Be of good courage and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. If you
hope in man, if you trust man, whether it be others or yourself,
then ultimately your hope and your trust will be dashed. For man does not love as God
loves. A man is not wise as God is wise. A man does not have the strength
that God has. Men let you down and yourself
lets you down. You may say, well I don't trust
others. I've been let down by others. I know that friends come
and go. I know that in the end I can't
rely on others. But I can help myself. I can
stand myself. I can judge right myself. And
in so doing you show your own folly. Because ultimately circumstances
will prove that you cannot help yourself. You cannot trust yourself. And you have no strength. Put
in the right circumstances, God can take the strongest man and
make him weak. God can take the wisest man and
make him a fool. God can take the richest man
and make him poor. God can bring you to nothing. And if he has a purpose to love
you and to save you, then he will bring you to nothing. Perhaps not outwardly. Perhaps
before others you may still have some riches, some standing, some
wisdom, some strength, but spiritually he'll bring you to nothing and
you'll know that you're nothing and he'll show you that you're
nothing and in the end you will cry out, I am forgotten as a
dead man out of mind. I'm nothing. but if he puts faith in your
heart to accompany it if he uses that to bring you to his feet
if he uses that to bring you to Christ to cry out for salvation
then though you've been brought there like David was brought
there you will cry out in thee oh Lord do I put my trust let
me never be ashamed deliver me in thy righteousness. David's
psalm is a psalm which contrasts the desperate state through which
he's brought and the conquering victory of faith overall because
of that saviour whom faith clings to which is why as with other
psalms he addresses this psalm to the chief musician because
there, in the chief musician, in Christ and in God the Father,
he has all his hope. God is his strength. We read
through the psalm, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never
be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock, for an
house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me. For thou art my strength. Into
thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. I have hated them that regard
thy invanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and
rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in adversities,
and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou hast
set my feet in a large room, So we see his trust and his praise
of God in whom he hopes. In verse 9 he enlarges upon the
grief which he's brought into. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief,
and my years with sighing. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among
all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear
to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mine. I am like a broken vessel. For
I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side. While
they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away
my life. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute
me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy
mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord. I have called upon thee, let
the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
Let the lying lips be put to silence, which be grievous things
proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh, how great
is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the
sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret
of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be
the Lord, for he hath showed me his marvellous kindness in
a strong city. For I said in mine haste, I am
cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou heardest the
voice of my supplications. when I cried unto thee. I love
the Lord, all ye his saints. For the Lord preserveth the faithful
and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage,
and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the
Lord. So we see the great trial David
was brought into, the great trouble Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I am in trouble. Mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly. My life is spent with grief. My years with sighing. My strength
faileth because of mine iniquity. We see how he's forgotten. We
see how others have slandered him. We see how they have devised
to take away his life. And yet he finds his God to be
a fortress in which he can hide. A rock in which he can shelter. He finds his God to be the one
in whose secret presence he can hide from the pride and the animosity
of men. He sees his God to be as a pavilion. in whom he can secretly hide
from the strife of tongues. No matter what is going on around
him, his God is a refuge. Wherever he is, whatever the
circumstance, inwardly by faith he can run into this fortress
where nobody can harm him. They, as it were, fire their
arrows at him, they wave their sword at him, they devise how
they might put him to death. And there he is stood before
them, and they can hit him and harm him and speak against him
and bring all manner of trial upon him outwardly. But inwardly,
by faith, he's hidden away in a fortress. In his heart, he
is hidden in his God. he's secretly hiding in a pavilion
in the presence of God and all this goes on around him but in
his heart by faith he's hidden nothing they do can get to him
because his God is his hope and his salvation he is his rock
and his fortress do you know anything of this? Do you know
anything of the opposition and the grief that David knew? Opposition
that comes because you name the name of Jesus Christ. Opposition
that comes because you won't walk with the worldly. You won't
walk in the council of the ungodly. As it says in Psalm 1. Opposition
that comes because having been brought to faith in Christ you're
different. and no matter how you may appear
no matter how you may dress or walk or talk the difference is
seen people can look past the exterior and they recognise the
difference and should you ever speak of Jesus Christ the hatred
will come forth and the persecution will come but you will know that
no matter what men may say, that God is a fortress and a rock. Ultimately, you're in the best
place. Ultimately, you have a great
hope set before you. Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. David writes, as with the other
psalms, from great personal experience. In order to teach David spiritual
realities, God put him in circumstances where he felt and understood
them personally. He did have people that sought
his life. Saul sought his life, others
sought his life. He did have hatred against him. He did have trouble from friends
and family. His own children rose up against
him. He had great grief from Absalom
and others. He knew it personally. but he
was taught it that he might understand both the deliverance of God for
him personally out of his troubles but also that he might understand
in type and figure what his Saviour would endure for him because
these are the words not just of David but of Christ and Christ
the Son of God knew what it was to be in trouble. Christ the
Son of God, the King of kings, of whom David the king was a
figure, of whom David the prophet was a figure, of whom David the
priest was a figure, Christ the Son of God knew what it was to
live a life spent with grief and to pass the years with sighing. He knew what it was for his strength
to fail. because of his iniquity. You may say, but Christ was the
Son of God. Christ, we read, was the one
man without sin. Indeed he was. But Christ, as
the sinless man, as the perfect man, as the just one, as the
righteous, came in the place of sinners, to die in the place
of sinners, and to take their iniquity, take their sin, take
their sins, bear those sins, be made that sin, own that iniquity
as his own, that he might take the judgment due unto them, and
take it upon himself that he might save his people from their
sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. Then this sinless
one must own and take their guilt and their iniquity as though
it was his own and because he did His strength failed because
of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed. Because of what
he bore as their substitute, as their saviour, as their sacrifice,
he endured what David endured, but greatly more so. David knew this in a manner Christ
knew what it was to bear the sins, not just of David, not
just of you or I, but of many, of a multitude, of a multitude
that no man can number, of all his people throughout time. He bore all their sin, all their
sins. He bore this huge mountain of
iniquity, and was consumed upon the cross under the fires of
God's wrath as a consequence. Oh, the depths to which Christ
sank, mine iniquity. Christ bore the sin to many,
his peoples, it was made his. He took it and owned it that
he should deliver them. Hence David can cry out unto
them in the end, be of good courage and he shall strengthen your
heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Why? Because this man,
Jesus Christ, David's saviour, had brought about their deliverance. David knew that God saved him. And Christ knew. And Christ's
faith was rewarded. And Christ with David encourages
us that the same will be true of us. All who are in Christ,
all who hope in the Lord, be of good courage. God delivered
David from the mouth of the lion. God delivered Christ from the
mouth of the lion. He delivered him from death.
He died and he rose again. Then believer, no matter what
circumstance you're brought into, He will deliver you. David writes in Prophecy of Christ,
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye is
consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. My life is spent with grief.
and my years with scion. My strength faileth because of
mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among
all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear
to mine acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man. out of mind. I am like a broken
vessel, for I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on
every side whilst they took counsel together against me. They devised
to take away my life, but I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou
art my God. My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. When Christ hung upon the
cross, when everyone had deserted him, when everyone had abandoned
him, when even his nearest, even the disciples, even his mother,
even his family, even the nearest ones had failed to come to his
aid, when for fear of man they'd all deserted him and left him,
there he hung, forgotten as a dead man out of mind, like a broken
vessel. when he took the iniquity of
others and bore it and said my strength faileth because of mine
iniquity and my bones are consumed when he took the iniquity of
others and his own father took the sword of justice in consequence
and brought it down upon his own son and slew him when the
earth went dark because the light of the sun was taken away because
of the sin that Christ bore when the fires of God's wrath poured
down upon the Saviour and He was burnt as they consumed the
sin that He bore when the judgment of God pounded Him and bruised
Him and when God the Father as a result turned aside because
this one who was his son stood upon that cross hung upon that
cross as the sinner when even the father forsook the son as
he poured out justice upon him and when Christ cried out my
God, my God why hast thou forsaken me truly he could cry with a
depth of feeling as David, I am forgotten as a dead man, out
of mind. I am like a broken vessel. No man experienced this more
than Christ did. Yet David in measure was brought
to know it, that he might look through the ages and see his
Saviour suffering for him and know that Christ saved him because
he suffered in his place. And he knew that Christ's faith
in his God would be rewarded as David's faith in his God was
rewarded. I have heard the slander of many.
Fear was on every side. While they took counsel together
against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in
Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times
are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. My times are in Thy hand. Believer, whatever the trial,
whatever the circumstance, whatever the times in which you pass,
whatever the times in which you're brought to live, wherever you're
brought to live, whatever the circumstance, wherever in this
world you are caused to sojourn, whether you live in those countries
which could be described as countries of plenty or wherever you live
in those countries of poverty or those countries of famine
or those countries with no warfare and the atrocities of war whether
you live in a place that seems peaceful or a place in which
the fear of death is all around you whether you know good health
or whether you know your health to be taken away and great bodily
grief and affliction whatever the circumstance whatever the
times believer your times are in his hand David knew it Christ
knew it do you know it my times are in thy hand deliver me from
the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me. There
is a time to be born, there is a time to die. All our times
are in God's hands. There was a time in the sovereignty
of God when He said live and we were brought forth from the
womb. there will be a time in the sovereignty of God when He
says die and we will go from this earth to stand before Him and if there has been another
time in our life when the Spirit of God has said unto our soul
live then on that day when we stand before Him we will find
that is a time in which He says enter into glory and dwell with
my Son forevermore. But if that time of the coming
of the Spirit never came upon us, if we always ran from God,
if we always shut our ears, if we always turned our back upon
the Gospel, if we always trod the blood of Christ underfoot,
if we never heard, if we never heard the voice of God, if we
never heard the voice of the Spirit, if we never had faith,
then that time, that day, when we stand before God, will for
us be the end of time. and the beginning of eternity
under the wrath and the judgment of God. Our times are in His
hand. Do you know it? We have a sovereign
God. He rules over all. We may be
brought to great depths of suffering, but even these things are at
His hand. And if we're Christ, therefore
are good. Christ's people, God's people
are never left alone in the furnace of suffering. They're never left
alone in the darkness. They're never left alone in the
trial. He never leaves us nor forsakes
us. He hears our cries. Faith is
always heard. He delivers. He delivers. Our times are in his hands. There
is a time to be born and a time to die. It's in God's hands,
not man's. Man cannot take away our life
except God says now's the day. And we cannot bring ourselves
unto life. We cannot put faith in our own
hearts. We cannot receive salvation. unless God says now is the day,
He will be the one that brings us to life, not us. He will be
the one that puts faith in our heart, not us. He will be the
one that accepts us in Jesus Christ, in the Beloved. It won't
be our accepting of Him that saves us. He's the one that does
the accepting. Our times are in His hands, His
hand. He's the one that watches over
all our times. All our times. Every day, every
hour, every moment. He is always there. He is just
a breath away. A cry of faith is all that separates. Where there is faith, there is
God. Where there is faith, there is
salvation. Where there is faith, there is
hope. O love the Lord, all ye saints,
be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye
that hope in the Lord. Where there is faith, there is
deliverance. Where there is faith there is
a fortress and a rock in which we may hide. Where there is faith
there is God. He is there in the happy times
and in the dark times. He is there in the easy times
and in the hard times. The blessed times and the lonely
times. He is there when we fail to be
at death's door. and He is there when we rejoice. He is always with us, always
with His people. Oh, the hope that faith brings,
whatever the circumstance. I am forgotten as a dead man,
out of mind, but I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, thou art
my God. You cannot write like this. You cannot speak like this. You cannot know this. Except
God gives faith unto you. If you have faith, then in the
worst of circumstance you can look up to a saviour who's trodden
a path worse than yours that he might deliver you from every
foe every trial, every difficulty, every enemy if you have faith
then you can look up to him and know that all will be well but
without faith in the darkness in the trial you are broken and
you are lost you can be as stoic as you like you can walk backwards
to the grave if you will you can laugh and joke about it and
make light of it as many dead foolish men do as they approach
death But in reality, despite the outward exterior, despite
what they put on, the face they put on before other men, when
the reality of death comes and puts its hand upon their shoulder,
they fear, with a fear that cannot be described, because they have
no hope. There is no hope outside Jesus
Christ. O sinner, you who know not Jesus
Christ. learn this there is no hope outside
Christ there is no riches in this world there are no riches
that you can take beyond the grave there is no pleasure that
you can take beyond the grave there is no wisdom in this world
that you can take beyond the grave one day your life fleetingly
will fly past you and you will be an old man passing through
the grave, or a young man passing through the grave. And you will
stand before God. And if, in the meantime, He's
not put faith in your heart, you have no hope. No hope. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mind, David Reckford. I am like a broken vessel, but
I trusted in thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God, my times
are in thy hand. O love the Lord, all ye his saints,
For the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully reward the proud
doer. Be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Where is your hope? Do you have
any hope? Do you hope in the Lord? Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?