The Presence of God (Psalm 139)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:05.200 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's all turn our attention to psalm 2 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:10.990 one hundred and thirty nine. Psalm one hundred and thirty nine, let's give 3 00:00:10.990 --> 00:00:18.149 our attention to God's word. O Lord, you have searched me and known 4 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:22.739 me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You 5 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:27.660 discerned my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down 6 00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:32.060 and are acquainted with all my ways even before a word is on my tongue. 7 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:35.619 Behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You Hend me 8 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:41.049 in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too 9 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:46.850 wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall 10 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:50.240 I go from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? 11 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:54.000 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If my bake, my 12 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.679 bed and Shole, you are there. If I take the wings of the 13 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:02.200 morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your 14 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:07.430 hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 15 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:11.870 surely, the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, 16 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:18.030 even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as 17 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:23.260 the day, for darkness is as light if you, for you formed my 18 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:30.340 inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, 19 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:34.250 for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My 20 00:01:34.450 --> 00:01:38.890 soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I 21 00:01:40.090 --> 00:01:44.129 was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 22 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:51.319 Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written, every one 23 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:56.040 of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there 24 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:00.640 was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, Oh God, 25 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:04.709 how vast is the sum of them? If I would count them, 26 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:08.629 they are more than the sand. I am awake and I am still with 27 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:13.789 you. Oh that you would swell. Lay The wicked, Oh God, 28 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:19.219 Oh men of blood, depart from me. They speak against you with malicious 29 00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:23.860 intent. Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those 30 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:27.219 who hate you, oh Lord, and do I not loathe those who rise 31 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:30.650 up against you? I hate them with complete hatred. I count them my 32 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:37.289 enemies. Search me, Oh God, and know my heart, try me 33 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:42.210 and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me, 34 00:02:43.090 --> 00:03:16.259 and lead me in the way of everlasting Amen. Please be seated as you 35 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:22.139 read this psalm, as you hear it read, I imagine there's a lot 36 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:24.259 of different thoughts that come to your mind. There are for me, I'm 37 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:28.650 part of that's because there's a lot to the psalm. There's simply a lot. 38 00:03:28.810 --> 00:03:31.930 There a lot to think about, a lot to to meditate on reflect 39 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:38.889 on. I think one good question to ask in light of David's a sense 40 00:03:39.009 --> 00:03:46.680 of the Lord, David being the author of this Song, David Being God's 41 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:52.759 servant, of the great kings of the Old Testament, the one to whom 42 00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:58.629 God promised that he would establish a kingdom, an eternal kingdom, through his 43 00:03:58.789 --> 00:04:05.430 son, which ultimately is Jesus. This David. It's very close relationship with 44 00:04:05.509 --> 00:04:11.219 the Lord, doesn't he? He has a very deep and personal sense of 45 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:15.420 who God is and and how he relates to him, and I think it's 46 00:04:15.420 --> 00:04:19.540 a good opportunity for you to ask, for me to ask myself, for 47 00:04:19.620 --> 00:04:25.170 us all to ask, who is God to you? Who's God to us? 48 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:31.569 Of course, that question, who is God to you, is a 49 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:39.079 question about perception. It's important to remember that the asking that question doesn't change 50 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.639 who God is. Right God is who he is, no matter how you 51 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:48.839 perceive him. But how you perceive matter, how you perceive reality, is 52 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.910 a thing that matters, right. So though the thing itself that you are 53 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:59.509 perceiving doesn't change, your perception of it, still matters, doesn't it? 54 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:06.139 Imagine if you perceive a rattlesnake as not being dangerous and it's something to play 55 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:11.899 with, right. Your perception of that doesn't change the nature of the Rattlesnake, 56 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:15.860 but it does affect you, or at least it might, might kill 57 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:21.490 you. Or imagine another situation where you perceive a little tiny flames of fire 58 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:26.050 as a threat to you, and so you throw a bunch of water on 59 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:30.209 your birthday cake, right you, you perceived the fire sort of correctly, 60 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:36.680 misinterpreted, misinterpreted it's danger and you know you're on your birthday cake. There 61 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:42.040 of course, worse things that can happen. But most important, and as 62 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:46.639 we go about our world and desire to perceive things rightly, in accordance with 63 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:51.470 reality, is who God is, the one who made all of these things, 64 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:57.870 everything from fire or two cakes to rattlesnakes. I didn't mean to rhyme 65 00:05:57.910 --> 00:06:02.470 there, but God made this world, he made a beautiful, wonderful world 66 00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:08.819 and it's our job to interpret that rightly. Sometimes we get it right, 67 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:12.339 sometimes we get it wrong, but it's not just the world that we are 68 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:17.569 called to perceive correctly. We're to understand God himself and who he is. 69 00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:26.529 What we think about reality doesn't alter truth, but it does affect us. 70 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.009 The things we fear and the things we don't, the things we love, 71 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:34.399 the things we don't. All of these and other consequences and other actions that 72 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.959 we take are based on what we perceive, how we perceive things. So 73 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.319 how you think of God matters and as we see in this psalm and throughout 74 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:54.709 the scriptures, and I think no simply by nature, is that our perception 75 00:06:54.870 --> 00:07:00.990 of this reality, our perception of God, has eternal consequences. How we 76 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:03.779 stand before him, how we perceive him, how we treat him, how 77 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:10.300 we act in light of him, has eternal significance. Notice the end of 78 00:07:10.339 --> 00:07:14.339 this psalm, the way David says and if there be any graveous way, 79 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.050 and me see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in 80 00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:27.370 the way everlasting. There is something beyond David's and our immediate situation that matters. 81 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:31.480 That should matter to us. Or think about Jesus's words that we read 82 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.680 earlier from John Chapter Six. He says, I'm going to give you the 83 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:42.600 food that leads to eternal life. You all care about living. Each of 84 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:47.870 us spend many moments of our lives thinking, consciously and subconsciously, about how 85 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:54.230 to preserve our lives by to make good decisions that keep us moving forward, 86 00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:58.980 that keep us alive, that keep us flourishing. And even in those instances 87 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:03.379 where we're feeling against that, when we're depressed or maybe suicidal, it's still 88 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:09.259 in there right, it's still at work, those feelings of life as being 89 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:13.850 something that's important, something that's valuable, something that matters not just here and 90 00:08:15.009 --> 00:08:20.970 now but forever. Well, we just finished going through the book of Jonah 91 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:26.209 and I think what a lot of Jonah is about as helping us to perceive 92 00:08:26.569 --> 00:08:31.200 God and this world correctly. Jonah is a good example of someone who isn't 93 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:35.600 getting it, or at least isn't getting it fully. His piety, his 94 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:41.399 relationship towards God, is is kind of a partial one, or a partially 95 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:45.950 good one, at least the way he thinks, or we the way it's 96 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:50.629 his actions and his thoughts are described to us, things don't all fit together. 97 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.990 We talked about this a lot, the way that Jonah, on the 98 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:58.259 one hand, confesses that God is the one who made the sea in the 99 00:08:58.259 --> 00:09:01.740 dry land and is ruler of the heavens and the Earth, and yet at 100 00:09:01.740 --> 00:09:05.620 the same time tries to flee from his presence right as the as, knowing, 101 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:09.009 on the one hand that God is merciful and slow to anger and he's 102 00:09:09.049 --> 00:09:16.090 gracious and desires a people to repent, and yet is angry about those things. 103 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:20.490 It's so Jonah has this understanding of God and his presence that's warped in 104 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:26.919 a way. It's misunderstood or not believed, and a lot of Jonah is 105 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.399 about helping us to see things from a true perspective by seeing Jonah's bad perspective. 106 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:35.840 All right, so throughout the book of Jonah, God is helping to 107 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.549 helping us in our perception problems. He warns us, he encourages us, 108 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:46.429 he gives us promises. Well, as we have come to a conclusion of 109 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:52.429 that story, I thought before we move entirely away from it, it might 110 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:58.659 be helpful to see Jonah's piety, his relationship with the Lord of the Heavens 111 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:03.620 and the earth. In contrast with David that we see here in Psalm one 112 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:09.929 hundred and thirty nine, there's a contrast of perceptions. Both deal with who 113 00:10:09.970 --> 00:10:15.129 we are, where we came from an in particular, the presence of the 114 00:10:15.289 --> 00:10:20.490 Lord. Yo Jonah tries and says that he desires to flee from the presence 115 00:10:20.529 --> 00:10:24.120 of the Lord. David asks this question in Verse Seven. Where shall I 116 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.279 go from your presence, or where shall I fleet? or where shall I 117 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.480 go from Your Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? He even 118 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.470 talks about the bed, is making his bed and she old Jonah talks about 119 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:39.470 that as well. The Sea is also brought up, the depths of the 120 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:45.429 earth. This language is a similar between a Jonah and also a psalm one 121 00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:50.539 and thirty nine. And as we see these similar questions and themes between these 122 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:56.899 two books, we also come to see two different ways of perceiving God. 123 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:03.450 One is certainly much better than the other, and I think by contrasting them 124 00:11:03.529 --> 00:11:07.090 and sort of exploring them a little bit, it helps us to examine our 125 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:13.370 own perceptions about God, to ask ourselves some good questions about how do we 126 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:16.450 relate to God, how do we think about him? Are there ways in 127 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:22.320 which we're partially understanding him, partially trusting him, partially following after him, 128 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:31.320 or perhaps not at all? Jonah's perception is a partial piety. And what 129 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:39.110 does it lead to? Danger? Death, judgment. David's piety is not 130 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:43.830 perfect, as we know from his story, but the expression of it, 131 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:48.659 the biblical God honoring way it that it is expressed here, and no doubt 132 00:11:48.659 --> 00:11:52.419 experience Rience by David over and over over again in his life, is a 133 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:58.059 model for us to follow. It's a promise of who God is and what 134 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:03.450 he is to us when we stay in his presence, in particular in the 135 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:07.210 presence of His grace, in which we go to the Lord and we say, 136 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:13.210 check me out, open my heart, see if there is a grievous 137 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:18.039 way in me parentheses, and when you find it, lead me in the 138 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:26.120 Everlasting Way David is depending on the graciousness of the Lord. We know that 139 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:31.950 not only from this psalm but throughout all the scriptures and David's own confessions of 140 00:12:31.070 --> 00:12:37.669 Repentance of sin that we see in this and other books. This contrast helps 141 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:43.580 us to think about our perceptions of God. But before I get too much 142 00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:48.419 into sort of thinking about these two things and working through this psalm with you. 143 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:52.740 I want to point out one very important thing, and it's this. 144 00:12:54.299 --> 00:13:01.330 You don't get a clear perception of God by staring harder through your greasy glasses, 145 00:13:01.210 --> 00:13:05.730 right. You don't just sort of try harder and harder and then you 146 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:09.009 know, maybe get there right. The only way to get a clearer perception 147 00:13:09.090 --> 00:13:13.399 and be able to see the contrast between a bad perception and a good one 148 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:18.159 is to somehow see the good one. Now that's a difficult thing if your 149 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.360 glasses are sealed to your eyes, and that's all there is to it. 150 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:28.549 But here's the good news for you. When God speaks in the scriptures, 151 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:33.629 he gives to you that clear perception. We all came here this morning with 152 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:37.470 Greece on our glasses or bugs on our windshield, or however you want to 153 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:41.740 think about that. We all come here with a certain amount of blindness. 154 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:46.779 Maybe some of you it's total, maybe some of you it's partial, but 155 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:50.899 we all have things that were confused about, things that we don't see properly. 156 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:54.059 But then that's one reason we come here, so that we can hear 157 00:13:54.259 --> 00:14:01.730 a clear explanation, so that we can hear God speak to us as he 158 00:14:01.970 --> 00:14:07.730 really is, apart from our misunderstanding, is apart from our confusion. Much 159 00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:13.159 of Jonah was about a wake up call for Jonah. Much of the story 160 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.279 there is about how God is waking him up and US up in as we 161 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:20.399 go through it, to what reality is. And that's what we have now 162 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.149 before us. So we're not just going to stare harder through this perspective or 163 00:14:24.269 --> 00:14:30.110 that perspective, but our goal is ultimately to see God as he has revealed 164 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:33.830 himself. So that's how we're going to approach psalm one hundred and thirty nine. 165 00:14:37.269 --> 00:14:41.059 So what do we learn in Psalm one hundred and thirty nine about God? 166 00:14:41.860 --> 00:14:48.100 Is it teach us about him and his relationship to to us? Well, 167 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:52.169 first we know. We learn there's God reveals it to us through a 168 00:14:52.289 --> 00:15:01.129 servant that God intimately knows us. He intimately knows us. Listen to this 169 00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:05.809 in verses one through six. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known 170 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:09.759 me. You know me when I sit down and when I rise up. 171 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:13.080 You discern my thoughts from afar, you search out my path and my lying 172 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:18.000 down and are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on 173 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:20.320 my tongue. Behold O, Lord, you know it all together. You 174 00:15:20.470 --> 00:15:24.830 have me in behind before you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is 175 00:15:24.909 --> 00:15:31.070 too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. So 176 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:37.340 remember Jonah. Jonah seems to think that this is not true. Jonah seems 177 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:41.379 to think, or at least he's acting on the basis of of a belief, 178 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:48.139 that he can get away from God, that somehow he will be unknown 179 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:52.289 by God. Jonah seems to think that he could have hid from God by 180 00:15:52.649 --> 00:16:00.769 fleeing from his presence. That's not true. David's perception of God is truer 181 00:16:00.610 --> 00:16:07.279 and very different. We know and learn from Psalm one thirty nine that God's 182 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:14.120 knowledge of us is active, right verse one. He searches and knows US 183 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.480 right. God doesn't just know you in a passive way. You know, 184 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:19.669 you happened to bump into you somehow and Oh yeah, I kind of know 185 00:16:19.789 --> 00:16:26.789 what he looks like. You know, he searches you, he knows you. 186 00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:30.990 The knowledge of the Lord is often described in these very active ways, 187 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:37.100 these very intentional ways. In fact, a lot of times the verbs have 188 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:42.340 those meanings inherently. But it's more than active we can say other things about 189 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:48.090 it. We also see that God's knowledge of us is complete. Verse Two, 190 00:16:48.529 --> 00:16:52.049 when you, when I sit down, when I rise up, you 191 00:16:52.169 --> 00:16:57.889 discern my thoughts from afar, and it's not bound by any particular time. 192 00:16:59.250 --> 00:17:04.640 All the ways of our all of our ways, God knows. But he 193 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:12.640 even knows things before they are, things not amazing, even before a word 194 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.150 is on my tongue. Behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. 195 00:17:18.990 --> 00:17:22.470 And then, on top of all of these things, the Psalm tells 196 00:17:22.509 --> 00:17:27.589 us that God's knowledge is a personal one. It's purse. God is personally 197 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.380 present in the way that he knows us. Sometimes we think about knowledge in 198 00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:38.220 these very modern terms, right like a scientist, you know, looking down 199 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:42.420 through a microscope, the tiny little Lens, very separate from the specimen, 200 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:48.569 not having any involvement in it, or trying not to. Everything very objective 201 00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:55.210 and sealed. That's not the way David describes God's intimate, personal knowledge and 202 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:59.839 for knowledge of you. What did he say? Verse Five, you Hem 203 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:07.720 me in behind and before you lay your hand upon me. We often forget, 204 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:14.230 I think, God's presence in our distracted lives. Do you have a 205 00:18:14.390 --> 00:18:18.309 sense of God? Like David, describes him here, of him being all 206 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:25.549 about you, around you, in you, beside you and not just near 207 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:30.460 by, not even really, really, really close, but touching you. 208 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:36.940 He says, your hand is upon me. God's knowledge of David is not 209 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:42.009 one of a spectator, sort of looking and yet knowing. He is touching 210 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:48.769 David in some way. We're Jonah is distracted and running and trying to flee 211 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:56.920 from God's presence. David is glorying, he's resting, he's wondering, even 212 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:06.119 in a sort of celabratory way, about God's knowledge of him. Notice, 213 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.349 for six such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I 214 00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:15.190 cannot attain it. The more David thinks about how much God knows him, 215 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:18.309 the more he just sort of throws up his hands and says, I don't 216 00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:22.509 even know what to do with this. This is amazing. Your hand is 217 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:27.500 upon me, you know me before I even speak. This is the knowledge 218 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:33.420 of God. So where Jonah is believing this lie and where we often believe 219 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:37.259 this lie that you know? I just want what I want and I'm going 220 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:42.049 to get away from God. He won't know, he doesn't care. He's 221 00:19:42.089 --> 00:19:45.690 not present. He's busy about other things. Or we just block at all 222 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:55.920 and distract ourselves. David's piety is much more true to godliness. He senses 223 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:04.240 God, he understands who he really is in his omniscitions and is allknowingness and 224 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:10.710 the personal way in which that connects with his servant. Well, that leads 225 00:20:10.750 --> 00:20:12.230 us to the next thing that we learn about God, and that that is 226 00:20:12.390 --> 00:20:18.309 God is with us. This thought between, or this connection between God's knowledge 227 00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:25.059 of us and his presence with us is strengthened in the next section. David 228 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:27.420 Asks, where shall I flee from your or where shall I go from your 229 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:32.180 presence? Where shall I or I'm sorry, where shall I go from Your 230 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:37.569 Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? Well, Jonah says Tatarshash, 231 00:20:37.730 --> 00:20:44.970 that's exactly where. He has a specific destination in mind, a very 232 00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:52.279 specific answer to those question. What a fool. I say that with humility 233 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.359 to because I've done the viary same things that Jonah has done, having specific 234 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:03.309 ways and which I know I'm going to sin against the Lord and which I'm 235 00:21:03.390 --> 00:21:08.910 going to choose this ungodly thing over something God has has required of me. 236 00:21:10.950 --> 00:21:15.750 We all do that. We do these stupid, foolish things but that's not 237 00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:22.420 at the heart of godliness and it's certainly not an accord with reality, as 238 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:26.140 Jonah is soon found out, caught up on the storm, in the storm 239 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:33.609 and being drowning in the waters and various other things that we examined and remembered 240 00:21:33.690 --> 00:21:37.890 from that book. Listen to David's words instead, instead of to Tarshash. 241 00:21:38.329 --> 00:21:42.970 What does he say? He says, and you should memorize this, if 242 00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:48.000 I ascend to heaven, you are there. If my make my bed and 243 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:52.279 she'll you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell 244 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:56.279 in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead 245 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:00.549 me and your right hand shall hold me. You're that touching language again. 246 00:22:02.950 --> 00:22:06.829 The Lord is leading him, he's holding him like a father and a son. 247 00:22:07.150 --> 00:22:12.109 Here, take my hand, let's walk together. That's how he describes 248 00:22:12.309 --> 00:22:17.539 his closeness with us. Jonah is trying to get out of there, he's 249 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:19.420 trying to fleez going to get on a boat, he's going to get away 250 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:26.140 from God. David wants nothing of it, and neither should you. I 251 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:32.490 want to explain as best I can what I think is a good interpretation of 252 00:22:32.529 --> 00:22:36.890 verse nine, just so you have a little better understanding of that. He 253 00:22:36.970 --> 00:22:38.970 says, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the ottermost 254 00:22:40.049 --> 00:22:42.809 parts of the sea, it's a it's a parallel in a way to verse 255 00:22:42.970 --> 00:22:48.799 eight. So verse eight has this kind of vertical description of God's presence. 256 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.720 If I go up to heaven, you're there. If I go down to 257 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:55.920 Shiol, you're there right. Verse Nine is like that, except now he 258 00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:59.589 describes it in a horizontal way and you can kind of think of it from 259 00:22:59.630 --> 00:23:04.069 east to West, especially from David's perspective in Israel, West being the sea. 260 00:23:04.230 --> 00:23:07.630 Right. That's where Jonah was fleeing, right on the sea, away 261 00:23:07.710 --> 00:23:12.099 to tarshish. Well, David knows that he gets out on the sea and 262 00:23:12.180 --> 00:23:17.019 God will be there too. The wings of the morning describe the sun coming 263 00:23:17.059 --> 00:23:19.859 up, rising in the east and the way that the light shoots across the 264 00:23:21.019 --> 00:23:25.380 horizon right those great wings of the morning as it comes up. This great 265 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:30.890 description of of God's sovereignty and Providence in the world. And so David is 266 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:33.769 sort of saying from up to down, from left to right, you know, 267 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:38.289 any sort of direction you go, God is there. He's present. 268 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.880 At the end of this section he talks about God's power in a way, 269 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:52.559 this presence of God being close to him and with him. He says, 270 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:59.430 even if darkness, or if I shall say right in these dark moments of 271 00:23:59.509 --> 00:24:03.789 our mind, surely if I say the darkness shall cover me in the light 272 00:24:03.950 --> 00:24:08.029 be about me as night. It reminds me of Jonah's words as he's descending 273 00:24:08.230 --> 00:24:14.259 down and into the into the sea, and he describes there in chapter two 274 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:21.380 about the weeds wrapping around him and the the the water is overwhelming him. 275 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:27.049 David says this about darkness surrounding and he says even the darkness is not dark 276 00:24:27.130 --> 00:24:33.369 to you, the night is as bright as day. Can you imagine walking 277 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:37.490 outside with no moon, let's say, and it's totally dark, no lights, 278 00:24:37.609 --> 00:24:40.480 power out, is something like that, and you see how dark that 279 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:45.200 is, how intensely dark that is. You say to God, this is 280 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.240 nothing. He can see as clearly as I can when the sun is fully 281 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:53.470 out. That's an amazing thing and I think we can take this not only 282 00:24:53.549 --> 00:24:59.349 in visual terms, in terms of God's ability to God's ability to see and 283 00:24:59.470 --> 00:25:03.750 to know and act, but in spiritual terms as well. The way that 284 00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:11.660 sometimes we feel the darkness of this world and of Satan's dominion overpowering us, 285 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:19.420 coming upon us, feeling overwhelming, swallowing us up and to death, not 286 00:25:19.579 --> 00:25:25.730 a problem for God. Even the darkness is not dark to you. The 287 00:25:25.809 --> 00:25:30.690 night is as bright as the day. The darkness is as light with you, 288 00:25:30.930 --> 00:25:36.839 he says. So as this, just as this knowledge in the First 289 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:42.799 Section transitions to a revelation about God's presence, now we see God's presence sort 290 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:48.720 of transitioning into revelation about his power, which is something we see in the 291 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:55.630 next section. So God is not only very knowledgeable about your life and also 292 00:25:55.750 --> 00:26:00.309 intimately present there, but he's also powerful and in again, intimately personally so 293 00:26:03.150 --> 00:26:11.220 versus. Thirteen through sixteen, or perhaps eighteen, for you formed my inward 294 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:18.490 parts. You knitted me together and my mother's womb. Sometimes we think of 295 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:25.289 God's power. When we think of God's power, we think of Swirling Cosmos 296 00:26:25.650 --> 00:26:30.450 and, you know, sea's churning and giant animals and these kinds of things. 297 00:26:32.849 --> 00:26:38.680 Totally true, but here the image it just as powerful is that of 298 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:45.279 God knitting us together, which should be, I think, perhaps even more 299 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:51.150 amazing to you than it was to David. As much as we know about 300 00:26:51.269 --> 00:26:57.789 those tiny, tiny little processes that go on. I learned to knit at 301 00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:02.740 one point. I don't know if I remember anymore, but I know what 302 00:27:02.859 --> 00:27:06.940 that feels like to sort of be focusing on those tiny little loops and you 303 00:27:07.019 --> 00:27:11.779 know you're doing your I don't know the vocabulary, but you know your knitting. 304 00:27:11.859 --> 00:27:15.009 There you go and this is the language. That focus right. That, 305 00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:19.930 especially for me, the focus that's required to do something like that, 306 00:27:21.009 --> 00:27:26.490 that handy work, that personal touch. That's what David how David describes how 307 00:27:26.690 --> 00:27:36.200 God describes his own work of all of us, formed in my inward parts, 308 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:45.509 knitted me together and my mother's womb. Here David brings brings our perception 309 00:27:45.710 --> 00:27:49.470 of God's power down to the level of our Gens, this chromosome and that 310 00:27:49.589 --> 00:28:00.299 chromosome all being perfectly placed and ordered by God himself. God is not peering 311 00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:04.339 at us, you know, from the High Heavens, with sort of a 312 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:15.289 passing interest in what's going on. He knows you. My frame was not 313 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:21.009 hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the 314 00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:30.319 depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. Wow, in 315 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.839 your book were written, every one of them. That is the days that 316 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:41.430 were formed for me. For me, God is doing all of this work 317 00:28:41.430 --> 00:28:48.670 for his servant. These days were set these words that willed one day be 318 00:28:48.910 --> 00:28:52.789 on his tongue, all of it in the great power and strength of God 319 00:28:53.029 --> 00:29:00.940 before it ever even existed. Well, you might say with all of this 320 00:29:00.259 --> 00:29:07.819 that in thinking in terms of scientific disciplines, that God is a specialist. 321 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:15.730 He's a specialist in you. He knows you, every part of you, 322 00:29:15.890 --> 00:29:22.130 every aspect of you, perfect complete knowledge of you. But the thing is 323 00:29:22.410 --> 00:29:26.119 is, when we talk about specialists and knowledge, we are taught. We 324 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:30.759 talked about them as that way, as a way to honor and respect and 325 00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:36.480 recognize a person's knowledge in a particular area, but also to say that there's 326 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:40.829 a lot that they don't know. Right they're focused in on this one particular 327 00:29:41.029 --> 00:29:44.509 thing, but first they don't know any but everything. Who knows everything? 328 00:29:45.990 --> 00:29:52.230 Well, so it turns out God does. He's not only a specialist in 329 00:29:52.390 --> 00:29:56.019 you, knowing everything about you, God's a specialist of everything. That's what 330 00:29:56.059 --> 00:30:00.819 David says in verses seventeen and eighteen. When he gets into the sort of 331 00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:06.660 celebration of these things. He says how precious to me are your thoughts. 332 00:30:06.779 --> 00:30:11.250 Oh God, how vast is the sum of them? If I would count 333 00:30:11.410 --> 00:30:17.009 them, they are more than the sand. I am awake and I am 334 00:30:17.210 --> 00:30:26.839 still with you. That brings us to our next section. Not only does 335 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.839 God intimately know us and is he powerful in these other things, but we 336 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:37.549 know that this knowledge of God is connected with him who is holy, who 337 00:30:37.670 --> 00:30:44.029 is good. Sometimes people want to think about God as a kind of abstract 338 00:30:44.349 --> 00:30:48.029 power. Yep, sure, he's capable of throwing this storm around or that 339 00:30:48.230 --> 00:30:55.579 storm or bringing this or that thing, but is he good? Does he 340 00:30:55.779 --> 00:31:00.460 exercise his power for goodness? And it's part of what verses Nineteen through twenty 341 00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:06.410 two you get at. It's from the perspective of David Confessing The holiness of 342 00:31:06.490 --> 00:31:11.250 the Lord and wanting to stand on that on God's side, saying that's I 343 00:31:11.369 --> 00:31:15.849 am with you in that. He says Verse Nineteen. Oh, that you 344 00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:21.160 would slay the wicked, Oh God, Oh men of blood, depart from 345 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:26.200 me. They speak against you with malicious intent. Your enemies take your name 346 00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:30.759 in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, Oh Lord? 347 00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:37.309 Do I not low those who rise up against you? I hate them with 348 00:31:37.470 --> 00:31:47.069 complete hatred. I count them my enemies. There are a lot of different 349 00:31:47.109 --> 00:31:51.380 things that we can say about this, a lot of different applications and careful 350 00:31:51.460 --> 00:31:56.460 applications that we should think of, but you have to start before you get 351 00:31:56.460 --> 00:32:00.220 to any of those things, you have to start with a very simple set 352 00:32:00.539 --> 00:32:10.970 of two questions. First, is God good? Is he good? And 353 00:32:12.210 --> 00:32:19.720 if he's good, is he good to uphold goodness? I think the answer 354 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:23.400 to both of these has to be yes. God is good, God is 355 00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:29.720 holy. In part of goodness and part of holiness is upholding good and holy 356 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:35.990 things. A good way to understand this is to take the opposite and consider 357 00:32:36.109 --> 00:32:38.869 how bad that would be, and then you'll realize how good this is. 358 00:32:39.990 --> 00:32:44.859 So Verse Nineteen, Oh, that you would slay the innocent. Oh, 359 00:32:45.019 --> 00:32:53.339 God, right, bad, really bad. The people that slay the innocent 360 00:32:53.420 --> 00:33:00.890 are people that get our most extreme judgment, our most extreme hatred and frustration. 361 00:33:00.930 --> 00:33:07.930 Judges that that take bribes, for example, judges that take bribes and 362 00:33:08.049 --> 00:33:14.240 let the guilty go free and condemn the innocent person. We hate that. 363 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.880 It stirs us up inside, it makes us mad, and it should, 364 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:24.480 because that is bad. That's why I mean it's a very simple thing here 365 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:29.950 that's being described here and that's what David is saying. It makes me mad. 366 00:33:30.789 --> 00:33:32.950 fact, he goes stronger. He says I hate it. I hate 367 00:33:32.990 --> 00:33:37.670 them with a complete hatred. I count them as my enemies, all those 368 00:33:37.869 --> 00:33:46.460 that pursue evil things. Should you hate evil things? Yes. Should you 369 00:33:46.700 --> 00:33:54.730 hate those that pursue evil things? Yes, you should. Jesus also tells 370 00:33:54.769 --> 00:34:01.650 us to love our enemies. Should we do that? Yes. So how 371 00:34:01.730 --> 00:34:07.210 do those two things come together? How do you hate wickedness, hate evil 372 00:34:07.289 --> 00:34:12.400 and those that do those such things, do those things, and yet also 373 00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:19.079 love them and desire good things for them? Well, the answer can only 374 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:25.349 come through another revelation of God, that is, the revelation of His grace. 375 00:34:27.869 --> 00:34:31.829 The principle of hating wickedness and wanting justice as a good thing. It's 376 00:34:31.949 --> 00:34:37.269 tied in with the character of God, but so is his graciousness, which 377 00:34:37.309 --> 00:34:44.539 extends to us and which he has extended to you. His love, a 378 00:34:44.699 --> 00:34:49.300 love that you didn't deserve. It's a love, as we have said at 379 00:34:49.340 --> 00:34:54.050 various times, that doesn't overlook justice, that doesn't ignore justice, because it's 380 00:34:54.090 --> 00:34:59.889 a love that is exhibited to us and and made clear to us and confirmed 381 00:35:00.130 --> 00:35:05.690 for us in the love of God. Himself as he takes justice on himself, 382 00:35:05.769 --> 00:35:12.599 dying for sin and for us and for our sins, that we might 383 00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:19.639 live and be declared just and righteous. The way these things to these things 384 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:24.590 reconcile is on the cross, when God dies for those who were yet his 385 00:35:24.989 --> 00:35:34.030 enemies. Now that's not ignoring justice, he takes justice on himself. Ignoring 386 00:35:34.230 --> 00:35:37.460 justice would be God coming into the world and saying, you know what, 387 00:35:37.619 --> 00:35:39.940 everyone, I know your sins have been up to the highest of heavens, 388 00:35:39.980 --> 00:35:44.980 but just forget about it, not a big deal. Honestly, I never 389 00:35:45.139 --> 00:35:51.170 really did care. That would be taking the Lord's name in vain right, 390 00:35:51.289 --> 00:35:58.449 attributing to things that are certainly not true. That would be egregious, that 391 00:35:58.610 --> 00:36:04.090 would be terrible. That would be God allowing evil to prosper and all of 392 00:36:04.170 --> 00:36:07.239 these things, and that's but that's not what God did. Right. God 393 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:09.639 didn't come into the world and the in didn't come into the world, didn't 394 00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:14.880 send his son. And who said they forget about it? Honestly, I 395 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:20.110 wasn't that concerned. Thanks for trying. No, God came into the world 396 00:36:20.150 --> 00:36:28.190 and said Justice will be mine, sins will be paid for, and then 397 00:36:28.909 --> 00:36:36.099 the son of God ascended up onto a cross where the wrath of God was 398 00:36:36.300 --> 00:36:42.900 poured out on him for the sins of the world. God did not ignore 399 00:36:43.059 --> 00:36:49.369 sins pass over them in a sort of ignorant way or an uncaring way. 400 00:36:50.250 --> 00:36:54.650 He embraced those sins and poured in this not in doing them, but in 401 00:36:54.889 --> 00:37:00.929 pain for them, as he, as the father, poured out his wrath 402 00:37:00.519 --> 00:37:08.760 on his son. For us, and because Jesus loved us in that way 403 00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:15.079 and has opened up this principle of grace into the world. That is how 404 00:37:15.239 --> 00:37:23.309 we can simultaneously both hey evil and even our enemies, and yet love them 405 00:37:23.909 --> 00:37:31.699 through this grace and desire their repentance. We can trust that the Lord will 406 00:37:31.739 --> 00:37:37.340 make all things right and will put to death the wicked and the ungodly and 407 00:37:37.460 --> 00:37:40.460 all those that persecute him in his church, all those that take his name 408 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:45.889 in vain, all those that do wickedness. He will accomplish that justice. 409 00:37:49.010 --> 00:37:52.889 It will either happen on the cross or will happen on the last day. 410 00:37:54.289 --> 00:37:59.679 For we who have believed, we who were the enemies of God, it's 411 00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:07.559 happened on the cross, thanks be to God, and perhaps that will happen 412 00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:12.159 even for those who are yet now our enemies, and that's why we, 413 00:38:12.599 --> 00:38:15.510 even as God, holds out grace for them. We hold out grace, 414 00:38:16.550 --> 00:38:22.630 we extend to them the love of Christ, not a blanket love that washes 415 00:38:22.630 --> 00:38:24.670 away things, that ignore sin, and that's sort thing we least tell them. 416 00:38:25.190 --> 00:38:30.619 You are a sinner, and yet Christ died for the ungodly. Believe 417 00:38:30.900 --> 00:38:36.980 on him and you will be saved and I will no longer count you as 418 00:38:37.059 --> 00:38:44.409 my enemy, but as my brother. That's my friend. So what David 419 00:38:44.530 --> 00:38:50.449 says here is right and is good. To hate his enemies with a complete 420 00:38:50.610 --> 00:38:54.409 hatred, to hate wickedness, to hate those who would slay the innocent, 421 00:38:55.400 --> 00:39:00.360 is to be on the side of God. It's to be on the side 422 00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:04.440 of goodness, on the side of justice, on the side of holiness. 423 00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:14.510 That is where we want to be. Well, finally, as we come 424 00:39:14.670 --> 00:39:19.989 to a clearer understanding of who God is, what it lived means to live 425 00:39:20.110 --> 00:39:22.269 a life of true piety in him, we come to the last two verses 426 00:39:23.699 --> 00:39:29.820 we're David, reflecting on all of these things, concludes by saying search me, 427 00:39:30.139 --> 00:39:35.980 Oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts 428 00:39:36.940 --> 00:39:40.409 and if there be any grievous way in me, or and see if there 429 00:39:40.489 --> 00:39:49.130 be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So 430 00:39:49.289 --> 00:39:53.280 we see that God is good, but he's not only good, he's merciful 431 00:39:54.920 --> 00:40:00.960 and he leads us. That is, of course, if we follow him. 432 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:07.510 Jonah did not want to follow. God said you're a my prophet, 433 00:40:07.630 --> 00:40:17.389 you're my preacher, let's go to Nineveh and preach repentance. Jonah didn't want 434 00:40:17.389 --> 00:40:25.980 to follow. Jonah wanted to flee. Jonah refused to and Jonah who was 435 00:40:27.059 --> 00:40:31.059 punished as a result. David, on the other hand, looks at God's 436 00:40:32.579 --> 00:40:39.329 Gospel of Repentance, his promise of mercy, his slow to anger, his 437 00:40:39.809 --> 00:40:45.610 abounding in steadfast love and instead of running the other way, like Jonah did 438 00:40:46.769 --> 00:40:52.960 and like we often do, what is David do? He sets before us 439 00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:55.679 a wonderful example to follow, where he says, lead me in the way 440 00:40:55.719 --> 00:41:00.960 everlasting. He wants to follow after God. This is what Jesus calls us 441 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:07.110 to write. He says follow me, take up your cross and follow me. 442 00:41:07.949 --> 00:41:12.710 I will give you water that will spring up to everlasting life. I 443 00:41:13.349 --> 00:41:16.150 will feed you with the bread of life that comes from heaven, which is 444 00:41:16.949 --> 00:41:22.940 my body. He says, he leaves needs us in a way, not 445 00:41:23.219 --> 00:41:30.579 only in a path of of righteousness in general, not just a righteousness of 446 00:41:30.739 --> 00:41:36.289 God, but a righteousness that he imputes to us, a spirit that he 447 00:41:36.570 --> 00:41:43.769 strengthens us and enables us to follow him, something that I believe Jonah experienced 448 00:41:44.050 --> 00:41:49.880 too, when his heart was inliven, when he called out to the Lord 449 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:57.159 and asked for forgiveness, when sought redemption and ultimately said you are the God 450 00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:08.110 of my salvation. David struggled to David's life wasn't perfect. David had moments 451 00:42:08.150 --> 00:42:15.179 of blindness, of anger of various kinds, of immorality, of the testable 452 00:42:15.300 --> 00:42:21.179 and horrible things, of ways where the Lord said go this way and David 453 00:42:21.219 --> 00:42:29.300 said I'm going that way. We're human. That doesn't make us inherently sinful, 454 00:42:30.530 --> 00:42:37.610 but the fact that we're fallen humans does. Ever since we fell in 455 00:42:37.809 --> 00:42:45.519 Adam, this relationship, this beautiful sense of God's presence, has been disrupted. 456 00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:49.599 It's been disrupted in our lives, it's been disrupted in the world. 457 00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:53.159 But I am here to tell you that God has sent his son into the 458 00:42:53.239 --> 00:43:01.909 world to establish our press his presence with us again, and not just to 459 00:43:02.030 --> 00:43:06.030 take us to back to the garden, but to bring us into glory, 460 00:43:07.070 --> 00:43:13.780 to bring us into something better, something new or something everlasting, and that's 461 00:43:13.780 --> 00:43:21.980 what he does. This contrast between Jonah's perception of God and Jonah Book of 462 00:43:22.019 --> 00:43:25.659 Jonah and Dave it's perception of God in Psalm One and thirty nine provides us 463 00:43:25.659 --> 00:43:31.530 a very helpful contrast to think about our own perceptions of God. Do we 464 00:43:31.650 --> 00:43:37.090 keep God at arms length, sort of admitting and sensing to some degree that 465 00:43:37.210 --> 00:43:40.719 he's powerful and yet really not wanting to have anything to do with him or 466 00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:45.840 his ways? Or do we embrace the God of the heavens and the earth, 467 00:43:46.400 --> 00:43:50.079 the one who made the sea in the dry land, as he has 468 00:43:50.199 --> 00:43:54.000 come to us in forgiveness, as he has come to us promising grace, 469 00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:58.349 as he has come to us to be with us, even in the person 470 00:43:58.789 --> 00:44:04.869 of his own son, and follow after him and cling to him and ask 471 00:44:05.030 --> 00:44:08.949 for the everlasting life which we didn't deserve and yet God gives to US anyway? 472 00:44:13.019 --> 00:44:16.300 This is the perception of him in the life that he holds out for 473 00:44:16.460 --> 00:44:22.940 us in Christ. I implore you to embrace it. The presence of the 474 00:44:23.139 --> 00:44:31.889 Lord for those who know the Lord is a wonderful thing. It's a pleasant 475 00:44:32.050 --> 00:44:38.599 thing, a comforting thing. Do you hear fear in David's voice? Do 476 00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:49.679 your terror, anxiety, worry, stress? No. The one who embraces 477 00:44:49.840 --> 00:44:54.349 the presence and of the Lord as he is present with us in Jesus Christ, 478 00:44:55.550 --> 00:45:00.429 is one who can be at rest, as one who can lift up 479 00:45:00.510 --> 00:45:06.429 his or her eyes into the heavens and say this is too wonderful for me, 480 00:45:07.260 --> 00:45:12.860 one who can say try me, O Lord, test me and then 481 00:45:13.019 --> 00:45:17.260 lead me in this way of everlasting life. I am going to depend on 482 00:45:17.500 --> 00:45:23.929 you and your strength and your life. Not Mine, not my ways, 483 00:45:24.130 --> 00:45:30.409 not my will, not my desires, but you may God grant us the 484 00:45:30.530 --> 00:45:38.079 grace to do just that and then to experience a life lived in him that 485 00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:45.920 is close and intimate and filled with joy. Let's pray