Larry read to us this morning,
and my light went out, Larry? Yeah, okay. I know the darkness
is the noise. Back to Psalm 73 if you would
turn there with me. That's what I want to look at
this morning with you for a few minutes. I appreciate Brother
Baker reading this for me. And let's just look at this psalm
together for a few minutes. He begins here, this is a man
by the name of Asap. Some think this was written for
Asap, but most people think this is a psalm of the man whose name
was Asap. And this is the dreadful trial.
that this man found himself in. And found himself once in, he
could not get himself out of it. And he scares himself there
in verse 2. But let's begin here in verse
1 where he says, Truly God is good to Israel. Now this is the conclusion. This
verse could have very easily been at the last verse of this
chapter. This is the conclusion that this
man had came to. He reached this conclusion after
this severe trial that God is good to Israel. He had fallen
into this temptation that God was seemingly better to the wicked
than He was His people Israel. That God was treating Israel
worse than He was treating the wicked, especially Himself. There
in verse 14 he says this, All day long have I been plagued,
and I have been chastened every morning. And once he fell into
this temptation, he found it was not only extremely difficult
to get out of, but he felt it was extremely dangerous where
he was. He likens it here in verse 2
to a man walking on slippery ground. Ice. And he says that his feet are
beginning to come apart, and he's beginning to slip, and he's
almost gone. That's where he is in his own
apprehension. But this is the conclusion in
verse 1 that he finally reached. But he never reached this conclusion,
nor could he reach it without a consideration. of something
beyond this life. If he had just contemplated as
he had been what was going on in this life, in this present
world, he would have never reached the conclusion that he did in
verse 1 that God is good to Israel. If this present life was all
there was, brothers and sisters, If this life and if death ended
our existence, we would all have to conclude this, that the house
of feasting and prosperity and ease is the better life by far. And we'd have to conclude that
God is much better to those who prosper and have an easy life
than He is to those who are tried and tested in this life. Asap reaches this conclusion
after a deep consideration that there are indeed a life to come. There is indeed a future world,
a world beyond this, a heaven and a hell. He looks at himself
here in the light of eternity, and that is the only thing that
delivers himself from this temptation. There are different ways that
we can read verse 1. Those who know the Hebrew language
tell us we could read it like this. Instead of saying, truly,
God is good to Israel, we could read it like this. Yet, God is
good to Israel. In other words, even though He
tries him, and even though He is plagued and chastened every
day, yet, when you consider that their afflictions is only for
a moment, and that it causes them to hope and look for a better
life in which they shall partake of someday. If you look at it
in that sense, you'll say, yet, though God chastens His people's
soul, and He plagues them, yet He's good to Israel. We could read it like this, and
some read it like this. Only God is good to Israel. or God is good to Israel only. Now we know that there is a definite
sense in which God is good to everybody, isn't it? I tell you,
every man this side of death can testify to this, God is good
to me. And the Bible says that, that
the Lord left not Himself without witness in that He did good. He gives rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons. He gives us families. He gives
us jobs. He fills our hearts with gladness.
So in that sense, it could be said that God's goodness extends
to all His creature. But there is a sense also. that God is good to Israel only. God is good to His spiritual
Israel only. God has this covenant goodness
and it's laid up for Israel only. Poor Lazarus was under great
afflictions, wasn't he? Boy, the sores and the hunger
that he went through. But you know in his death, It
was manifested that God was good to him. And that rich man that
fared sumptuously every day, when it come time for him to
die and enter another world, it was manifest that God was
not good to him. Not in that covenant blessing.
Not in those covenant promises. Now, Lazarus is tormented Now
Lazarus is comforted, and thou art tormented. The rich man was
under temporal goodness, but Lazarus was under eternal goodness. Now thou art tormented, and he
is comforted. So God's covenant goodness is
reserved for God's Lazarus. It's reserved for God's Israel. And no matter how they may be
called upon to suffer in this life and be neglected and chastened, the life to come will tell, God
is good to Israel. But Asap had a difficult time,
man, trying to live in the exercise of this truth. And his problem
seemed to be this, that he had forgotten to look at things in
the light of eternity. He began to look at this present
life and what was taking place with him and was taking place
with the wicked who was prospering. And he concluded some dreadful
things. We'll see in just a minute. Let's
see some things now, just for a few minutes, what this psalm
suggests to us. what it would suggest to our
mind. And the first one, it suggests this, that a true child of God,
a true believer, can fall into such a severe temptation that
he sees no way in and of himself that he can be delivered from
it. He says here in verse 2, My feet had almost gone. Almost gone. Gone where? out of the way of God. It seemed
like this temptation was too strong. His faith was ready to
fail him. He said, My steps had well nigh
slipped. Boy, we've all been there on
ice, haven't we? As we get older, there's something
about getting older and falling. When you're young, you fall.
You just bounce back up. But when you get old and you
see a patch of ice, you avoid it. You can't adjust, can you? And you feel your feet slipping,
and it's a scary thing. And that's the way he felt. This
word slip means to be poured out. His steps were no longer
firm. It was like water being poured
out of a bucket. He was unstable. And he felt
just at any time he didn't have the strength, the stability to
hold himself up. Man, what a dreadful place he
found himself in. You know what I've found, brothers
and sisters, through my experience? It is much easier to pray, Lord,
deliver me from getting into a temptation, than to pray, deliver
me from it, after I've got there. Oh, sometimes we can't see these
things coming. He probably fell into this without
even realizing that it was coming. How much better it is to pray,
O Lord, keep me, keep me from evil than it is to pray, deliver
me from this evil after we've fallen into it. Asap was thinking this to himself. I'm ready to ruin myself. There's
just one step between me and apostasy. I'm almost gone. I'm ready to fall and ruin myself. Now this was what was going on
in his mind, in his own apprehension. Have you ever been to a place
like that? In your own apprehensions you thought you had reached a
point that you couldn't get through? And it had come on you so suddenly
and you had gone through it so long that it just wore you down
and finally you say, I'll never get through this. I'll never
get out of this. And in your own apprehensions,
you can't. Your strength has failed you.
You're as unstable as water. I think this is what Peter meant
when he said, The righteous shall scarcely be saved. In their own
apprehensions sometimes, they come up against these mountains
that they can't climb. Or they get in these long valleys
they just can't get across to. And they say, I'm ready to fall. And when I fall, what does that
entail? How great will be my fall. I can't hold out any longer.
That's what he was saying. I'm unstable as water. Oh, but
what a blessing it is to know. What a blessing it is to know
and be fearful of our utter weakness and pray and hold out and wait
till the Lord delivers us. There have been some men, and
good men too, that have fallen before they realized it. They
only came to themselves laying flat of their backs. Isn't it
a much greater blessing to know that I'm weak? I don't know if
I'm going to be able to stand and call upon the Lord and wait
upon Him and hope that He don't let you fall. Isn't that better
than falling and waking up flat of your backs? Wouldn't it have been much better
for David to look out at Bathsheba and saw her there bathing and
begin to cry out to the Lord, Oh Lord, give me grace not to
fall into this. Help me to resist this. Rather
than not even know that he was tempted and wake up one day flat
of his back and say, I've sinned against God. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Already flat
of his back, wasn't he? But here's a blessing. Here's
a blessing. Asap, David, and Peter, and all
others who have been in this dreadful place that they thought
they couldn't get through are now in heaven rejoicing. Rejoicing. That divine grace,
tender mercy brought them out of it and brought them to that
holy and happy place. Asap could very well be a beacon
to you and I to watch and pray against temptation before they
come. Before the flesh and Satan can
get the advantage of us. I doubt seriously if this man
ever dreamed that a temptation like this would come upon him.
That's the first thing that this psalm suggested to my mind. Oh,
what a great trial. What a great temptation a child
of God can get in to the place where he's fearing and doubting
that he can even stand. Secondly, there's something else
here suggested to our mind, and it's this. Sometimes the most
wicked men that's ever lived in this world are the most prosperous
and have the easiest of lives. I think it's very telling that
sometimes when we watch some TV ministries that those preachers
are encouraging and instructing, professing Christians on how
to be rich and prosper in this world. Isn't that fair telling? When the Bible everywhere warns
us against such a livestock, they that will be rich fall into
many temptations and foolish lusts. And what does it do? It drowns men. in destruction
and perdition. Warn them that are rich in this
world, that they be not high-minded. Oh, there's pride so often associated
with riches and an easy lifestyle, isn't there? Warn them that they
be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God which gives us all things freely to enjoy. Asap does something here that
I don't find any place else in the Scripture when identifying
men like this. He begins with the end of these
men. You would have thought that he
would begin when they begin to long and wield to be rich and
how they give their lives to it and what happened to them
and then they die, but he begins with their death here in verse
4. There are no bans in their death,
but their strength is firm. When the Lord Jesus told us about
a rich man and a beggar, He began with the way they lived their
lives and what they suffered. And then He went to their death. But when Asap begins here, He
begins with their death and works Himself backwards. For a long time now, for many,
many years, I've been curious. to hear about how men died. And
I don't seek to be at somebody's deathbed and talk with them,
but I've been there several times. But I just have this curiosity. When people are dying, if they're
conscious, what's their attitude towards death and towards dying? And that's what he's going to
tell us about it here. I've read testimonies of men, Atheists who denied there was
a God said this life was all there is, but on their deathbed
they were awakened in their conscience, and man, did they ever scream
and fight and struggle against death. We've seen that, haven't
we? We've read their testimony. We've
read of believers who struggle with death. They fell into a
degree of unbelief and, boy, they lost their peace of mind
getting across that river to the other side. And we've also read believers
who died in great peace and they seemed to be in heaven before
they ever got there, even those who suffered greatly while they
were dying. But here in verse 4, Asap tells us about these
wicked men, ungodly men who prosper in this lifetime, and he says
here there's no bands in their death. That word means there's
no cords tightly drawn around them to cause them pain. They
have no afflictions in their conscience. Oh, they have sinned
dreadfully against God, but here they are on their deathbed and
they have no conviction of conscience at all. They can look back over
an ungodly life and yet die in ease about it all. They never thought about their
past sins at all. There are no bans, he said. Boy,
they die not only in great ease, but in great fortitude of mind. They have the strength. Look
what He said there. Their strength is firm. They're facing death, but even
death can't shake them. Their strength is firm. You would
have thought they would have been in some kind of league with
death. They'd have made a covenant with Their strength is like a
rock. It's unshakable. We hear this often, don't we?
We hear the news about some rich person and famous person that
has died, and they say he died calmly with his physician and
his family around him. He died calmly. That's what Asaph
is saying here. He died so calm in his mind and
in his conscience. Now, brothers and sisters, when
a man comes down to face death, that king of terrors, and he's
able to face it with calmness and strength, I want to know
why. I want to know why. And we find
three reasons. Either he's a true believer in
the Son of God, and he's dying in the faith that somebody has
already tasted death for him, and he don't fear it. Death has
no power over him. Therefore, he dies in peace of
mind. But there's another kind of people
that die sometime in great calmness of mind too, and that's a false
religionist. He has a false faith. He has
a false hope. He thinks he can work his way
into heaven, and he's done enough, and he don't lack anything. And
when he comes down to death, he has this vain confidence. He has this peace. And he says,
I've got nothing to worry about. And he dies that way. You remember
Pilgrim's Progress, when hopeful and Christian was going across
the river of death? Man, they had a struggle then.
Poor Christian kept going down. I can't see him. I can't see
him. But when vain hope, when vain confidence, when old ignorance
got there, he didn't have any trouble getting across the river.
One vain hope met him and helped him across the river. It was
only when he got up to the door that he found he was in trouble.
But Aesop says, here's another people. They die calmly. And their hearts have been so
blinded by a life of ease and prosperity. He's not given time
to think about the reality of death. He's not given one serious
thought to dying. He's filled his heart with this
world and a life of ease. And notice how he links this
to verse 5. They are not in trouble as other men are. Neither are
they plagued like other men. This is one of the reasons they
die with such ease. They've never been in trouble.
I don't pray for trouble, but I tell you sometimes trouble
is good. Is it not? Sometimes it brings a man to
an end of himself, doesn't it? It makes him realize his utter
fallibility. And the Lord starts him to think,
Oh, but these men here, they had not been humbled by trouble.
And therefore it had this awful effect upon them. In verse 6,
look at the effect it had upon their pride. Pride compasses
them about as a chain. Pride had gotten such a hold
upon them that it was unbreakable. They thought, I'm better than
everybody else. And I'm being treated this way
because I'm better than everybody else. Pride compasses them about
as a chain. Pride leads them into a life
of injustice and cruelty. For He said, Your violence covers
them as one covers himself with his clothes. And James saith,
Do not the rich oppress you and bring you before the judgment
seat? Much of the violence perpetrated
on humanity through the ages has been because of men just
like this. There is a huge mansion in Fairmont,
West Virginia. It's still standing there today.
I'm not for sure who owned it, but I found out who owned it
at that time. He was an owner of coal mines
in that area. And boy, he worked those miners
to death. He got filthy rich himself and
worked those miners in dangerous coal mines without giving them
any relief or hardly any money at all. They put it on like putting clothes. He speaks to their lust here
in verse 7. Their lust that's been satisfied.
He says their eyes stand out with fatness. Their eyes are
filled with satisfied longings and lust. He said they have more
than heart could wish. All their wishes are gratified. Their purposes are accomplished.
Whatever came to their mind as an object of desire, they obtained
it without any hindrance or without any trouble. All they had to
do was wish for it, and there it was. No trouble in getting
it. They professed more, Asap said,
and they enjoyed more of this world than most heart could wish
or imagine. They spread themselves. David
said, like a green day tree. I guess you know, to be honest
about it, if I was being plagued every morning, and I was being
chastened every day, can't you see where you might fall into
this temptation? I fall into the temptation sometimes
when I'm out in my study, racking my brain, trying to read and
pray, and I see my neighbor loading his boat and going fishing. Man,
I wish I was like that. I wish I had time to go fishing,
sit out in the sun and the breeze. I can imagine why this fellow
fell into such a temptation. Can't you? He speaks to the arrogant words
here in verse 8 and verse 9. They are corrupt. This word means
to jeer, to treat with scoffing and derision. You cross one of
these fellows. You talk to him about the sinful
lust that he's fulfilling. You talk to him about the world
to come and death and what follows. Tell him the truth and see what
his reaction is. He'll stir his words up and boy,
he'll retaliate. He'll scoff. He'll do to you
what Lot's relatives did to him. He'll mock you. He'll do what
they did to Paul when Paul was preaching on the resurrection.
You're a fool, man! You're a fool! The words. They speak wickedly by justifying
oppression, he said, and injustice and cruelty. They speak with
what they profess to be lofty and elevated tongues, very elitist
people. They speak down to other people.
And here in verse 9, they set their mouths against heaven.
Well, it's not just only against earth. They set their mouths
against heaven. They can't get to God. They despise His power. They hate His rule. They weren't
sure of His gospel of grace. They hate His mercy. They hate
Him. But they can't get to Him, you
see. He's too high for them. So what do they do? They cuss
Him. They lift their heads towards heaven and they say, I hate you. I don't want you. Depart from
me. Everything that's anything to
do with God, I don't want it. They speak against heaven. They
show their contempt of God by setting their mouths against
heaven. And he says here, they walk their tongue. He likens
their tongue to legs. They walk with their tongues
through this earth. What did James say about the
tongue? He said it's a fire, didn't he? A world of iniquity. The tongue is a little member,
but it's set on fire of hell. And they said they're like tongues,
fiery tongues, walking through this world. And by their tongues
they curse God. And by their tongues they lie.
And by their tongues they abuse and falsely accuse. Their tongues
are like fires. And yet these same men lie dying,
ready to go off in eternity, and there's no bands in their
death. They're calm and collective and cool. There's no sweat on
their brow. There's no afflictions in their
thoughts. Their strength is firm. After
being this and after living like this and talking like this, yet
they die and have no trouble at all in doing it. And here in verse 10 through
verse 16, Asap returns. He speaks here in the person
of others. They, therefore His people, return
hither. And He's speaking not only of
Himself but some others. that have had this same temptations
and trials. And he says, his people return
hither. And he said, I'm returning here
to this subject of what's taken place, and I want to revive and
renew myself. I want to follow the Lord and
be delivered from this temptation. But he says, here's what happens
when I return. When I return, waters of a full
cup are wrung out to me. Not only waters of the full cup,
but I'm telling you, it's waters out of an old, sour dishrag. That's what that word means.
Waters are rung out. Did you ever forget to let your
dishwater out and your rag lays in it all night, and you pick
it up the next morning, you smell of it, and you almost get sick? That's what this is. Waters! And you've got your coffee cup
sitting there. Try this sometime. Take that old filthy, dirty,
stinking, sour rag and wring all of the water out of it into
that cup and drink it." That's what he said. I'm returning here
and I want to follow the Lord. I want to commune with Him and
fellowship with Him and walk with Him in the light. But he
said, when I come back here and wanted to do that, it starts
all over again. waters of a full cup. Born here
in verse 11, he begins this painful inquiry concerning God's providential
care for him and his knowledge of it. How doth God know? This is the believer saying this. You can apply this to the unbeliever.
It will fit there, but really the language and the flow of
the text necessitate we apply it to Asaph, the child of God.
How doth God know? How can these facts be reconciled
with God's omniscience, with His presence with me and His
knowledge of me? How can it be that He sees all
I'm going through and yet He allows it and that He doesn't
intervene to deliver me and deal with them? Why does He allow
this when He knows all things? It's not that He doubts God's
presence and His knowledge, but he can't understand or explain
it, and here he's having difficulty believing it. How God allows
it. How He allows it. We could read
this like this. Does God know me? Does He even
know me? If He has His love and knowledge
of me, then why is He neglecting me and treating me worse than
His enemies? And here in verse 12, He seems
to be speaking to God. He's speaking to the Lord in
prayer, and He says, Behold, Lord, look how the ungodly prosper. Look how good they're having
it. And look at me. Do you denote
just a little bit of self-righteousness in that? You do, don't you? Well, Lord, I am suffering. I
am suffering. They're having it so good. What's
going on here? Why ain't I having it better?
But if you want to detect some self-righteousness, look in verse
13. Verily, I have cleansed my heart. I've confessed my sins. I've
washed my heart. I've put away every known sin. Really? I did all of that? I have really cleansed myself?
Listen to Proverbs. Who can say I have made my heart
clean? I am pure from my sins. If the
Lord does it, you can say that. But I tell you, when the Lord
cleanses you, you won't say it's in vain. And what he's saying
here, I've washed my hands in innocency. I've determined to
walk in such a strict way not to be charged with any sin against
God or man. And yet all of this has seemingly
not impressed God at all. It hasn't earned me one single
smile or any help from Him at all. I've done it all in vain. Well, if he didn't learn any
other lesson, this is a good to learn here. Are you this way? Before we get too judgmental
on Asap, I wonder what we would think. I wonder what we would
say if we were there. I've heard so many people preach
on Job and about Job, and some even call him a lost man. Job
was a lost man. Let God do to you what He did
to Job. Let God turn Satan loose on you and see how you think.
See if everything you say and everything you think is so Christian-like. Somebody said, Boy, he's not
thinking and talking like a Christian. No, he's not. He's not. But that's
what trials will do for you sometimes. That's why he says here in verse
15 and verse 16, If I say, I will speak thus, Behold, I should
offend against the generation of thy children. He said, I don't
want anybody to hear me say that because I know it's going to
offend them. They're going to see through me. When I thought
to know this, it was too painful for me. And down in verse 22,
so foolish was I, so ignorant, I was as a beast before thee.
He knew that he had gotten in a bad attitude. He knew that
he had gotten a self-righteous attitude. But he's like us. He's weak. Thirdly, something
else quickly that this psalm suggests to our mind here in
verses 17 through verse 20. Until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then understood I their end. Here is something that is
suggested to us. Where is the best place to go
when you are greatly tried? To the worship. To the public
worship. How many times, if you've fallen
into a dark place in your life, and you're so afflicted in your
heart and soul, and just coming together with the children of
God in worship delivers you. I was in such a dark time one
time, I can't even remember what it was, but I walked in the door
and some dear man smiled at me and welcomed me. And my burden
was gone. That's all it took. Sometimes
just being around the Lord's people will encourage you on
it. Here is where the Lord was pleased
to open this man's heart and let him see what was going on.
When I went unto the sanctuary of God, then understood I therein. What did he understand? Verse
18. that God had set them in slippery
places. He had set these prospering fools
in slippery places. He had removed all obstacles
to their way of gaining prosperity. By refusing to afflict their
conscience and awaken their conscience, by giving them liberty to fulfill
their sinful lusts, by not reproving their evil tongues, by letting
them live as though this was the only life to live. By these
means, God set them in slippery places. What does God have to do with
a man to let him perish? Just leave him alone. Just pull
the restraints back and let Him go and give Him what He's working
for and what He's longing for. He'll go to hell. He'll go to
hell. Oh, they had no fear of dying,
and their strength was firm. But God had not begun to deal
with them yet. Their thoughts may not have had
cast them down, but God will cast them down. and not only
cast them down to the ground, but cast them down to hell itself. They may not have a fear of dying, but they will fear one minute
after death. Their fear was long in coming,
but when it comes, it comes suddenly, as in a moment. If nothing else
could weaken their prideful thoughts and open their blind minds, this
moment would. All their life was consumed with
prosperity. Now their eye will be consumed
with terrors. Here their eye stood out with
fatness while they filled themselves with their lust. There their
eye will be filled with tormented devils and tormented souls. If there was a time after death
that the wicked had an opportunity to prepare for coming wrath,
the soul may not be shocked. But here's what a shock a man's
soul. There's no lapse of time from
the moment he takes his last breath till he's jolted under
the awful wrath of God. There is no lapse of time. There's
no opportunity to prepare yourself. Then they shall be cast down. then their strength will be weakened.
Poor Asaph said, I'm like water being poured out. And yet he
stood by God's grace. But these men who profess their
strength to be so firm, they will turn into water. They will
have no strength in that day. The last breath will bring a
man into immediate and unbearable and eternal torment, which will
suddenly fill his soul. with horrors unspeakable, horrors
that only an eternal God in His wrath could afflict. In verse 20, Asep lackens the
life of these wicked men to a man dreaming. He said they are like
dreamers. They went to sleep, as it were,
and they dreamed about prosperity and having it easy. And when
it come time in their dream to lay down and die in ease, suddenly
they were jolted awake and they saw things as they really were,
the horror. Their dream had finished and
now they were facing reality. And he likens the Lord here in
verse 20 to a man who is asleep. And he said judgment seems to
slumber and it seems to delay, but he says suddenly The Lord
awakes, and He looks upon them, and He sees what they are, and
He sees what they've done, and He hates them for it. He despises
their fallen, sinful image. And He takes them like a man
would take that old sour-wash rag, and He slings it from them
under His eternal wrath. Who would you rather be like
now? Who would you rather be like now? Would you rather be
Aesop, though you're daily afflicted and chastened? Or you want a
life of ease? Well, to look at life, brothers
and sisters, in this light, eternity. Not what we have here, but what's
going to take place after death. That's the way we're to look
at life. Fourthly and lastly, quickly. Here in verses 21 through
verse 24, something else is suggested here to our minds. Thus was my
heart grieved and was my range pricked. I was pricked in my
range, my conscience. So foolish was I, so ignorant.
I was as a beast before thee. And verse 23, nevertheless, I
am continually with Thee, Thou hast holden my right hand." What
does this suggest to us? That even though we may come
to a point in our life that we are so tried and tested that
our apprehensions would think, I am not going to make it. I
will never get through this. Heaven won't be my home at last.
I am ready to apostatize. I am ready to turn loose. Indeed,
I have turned loose. But He hasn't. What do we see
in this? The blessings of a faithful covenant
God. Brothers and sisters, I encourage
every one of us to plead to the Lord. But there may come a time
when you can't. There may come a time when your
grip slips. But it's not your grip of Him,
but His grip of you that will secure you in these times. I was ready to turn loose, I
was ready to slip, but His right hand upheld me. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, that's
something to think about, isn't it? It's not with the power of
our strength, it's not with the strength of our heart, it's not
our stability that gets us through these times, but it's His faithfulness,
His grip upon us. My grace is sufficient for thee. Boy, now his whole attitude had
changed. His whole attitude had changed.
He said there in verse 24, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel.
And look how secure now he felt himself to be. And afterward
receive me to glory. And his whole attitude had changed.
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside Thee. What about this easy life? Oh,
that's gone. I was stupid. I was like a beast
thinking about such things. What about envy? Don't you want
to be like the rich and famous? Let them have it. That's all
they're going to have. The Lord is my portion. He's
everything. And He's all I want. Oh, it completely
changed his thinking, hadn't it? My flesh and my heart felleth.
I am still so weak. But now I see what I didn't see
before. God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. Oh, they that are far from thee
shall perish, he said. I see that now. I really see
it now. You have destroyed all them that
go whoring from thee after this world and its pleasures. But
it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in
the Lord. He got away from the supper.
I just stopped it. It ain't me doing it now. I'm putting my
trust in the Lord. I'm drawing near to Him. It's
His work, and I'm going to trust Him for it.