So this is Psalm 63, and if you'd please stand in respect and reverence to the Word of God, we will read it to open the message. Psalm 63, a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches, because you have been my help. Therefore, in the shadow of your wings, I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you. Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for jackals. But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him shall glory. But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped." May God bless His Word and enlighten us as we consider it this morning. You may be seated. So coming now to Psalm 63, as we walk through the second book of Psalms. And as you may have gathered as you heard it read and followed along that that tenor of the Psalms that has come in the last few has now grown in a sense. We mentioned actually probably done it a few times here, that beginning with Psalm 61, the lamenting portion of the Psalms that covered the five or six before that has faded to the background. It's not going to completely disappear. There will be some laments as we go along here, but prior to what 61 and 2 and 3, you know, David as he was facing troubles, we kind of joined in with the distress and over the circumstances as he would express them and the lamenting that was there because of the troubles that he faced. Those type of Psalms are significant and important, obviously. God ordained them to be there, and I think partly because it shows the humanity of David, and it shows the reality of situations, and that God recognizes that as a part of our life, and it's not wrong to Lament, it's wrong to stay only at that place. In those Psalms, David never did. He never just stayed in, oh God, where are you? Things are terrible, and that's all that was said. As these circumstances would come upon him, and even wondering where God was in all this was a part of the reality of his life, and it can be a reality, and often is a reality of our life as well. And so the psalm helps us realize that God understands the limitations that we have because we're human, and out of those limitations and limited conditions, the overwhelming feelings that we can experience here on earth. But even in the Psalms of Lament, as I mentioned, we would see David come to that point where, in a sense, he would rise up out of it because he would raise his eyes. His eyes that would only see what were around him would begin to look upon what he actually could not see, and that would be God himself, the greater reality, and the source of true comfort, God himself. And through these Psalms, came to learn that when our emotions and our times of lack of faith, of little faith, when those times grip us and we need to pray through those times, we, like David, need to come to that point where our eyes raise above the situation that has befallen us. We need to also be able to raise above that, but we don't do it you know, by pulling up on our own bootstraps type of thing, that it's in us, in and of ourselves. Obviously, because they are situations and circumstances of this life that trouble us, there are things we are to do, but that's not where the answer ultimately lies. It lies in the elevation of our heart and mind. above the situation and having it rest upon the Word of God and having it rest upon the character of God. And so there, even if the situations we face from the world standpoint is something that overcomes us, maybe from the world standpoint has victory over us, it doesn't. It doesn't because God's promised in his word that he works all things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. So it's impossible for the things of this world to gain the victory. The promise of God is this, that nothing can separate you from his love. Tribulation camp, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, life, death, angels, principalities, powers, whatever is now, whatever is to come, height, depth, nor any created thing is able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it's Paul who we found in I think our look at Psalm 62 that we reflected on where David was and that it was where Paul had come or would come later on, he was content in his circumstances, content in whatever circumstance that he found himself. And because of that truth, we need to learn to not murmur. or complain, though those things can rise up inside of us and come forth. But we repent of that and step back into that state that we are called to dwell in. As Paul said, as David expressed in the previous psalm, of content in the circumstances God has for us. We emphasize that in Psalm 62 and the growth and maturity of David's walk with God that came forth in that psalm where we heard no complaint. There was recognition of the situations that were around him. How long will you attack a man? He said in verse three. Or that they delight in lies, they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. He expressed in the next verse of that psalm. But you didn't hear the distress, you didn't hear the where are you God type of troubling thoughts that came forth in other psalms that we had looked at. Or how long, Lord? Those weren't stated, wondering if God had abandoned him. But where David is at this point, where Paul expressed himself of being at content in his letter to the church at Philippi, contentment in God in all things is a great emphasis. of 62 and it carries over into 63 as well. In 62 we heard that expressed with, my soul silently waits for God. He only, we pointed out the only and alones that were in there that were isolated upon God. He only is my rock and my salvation. And we emphasized and recognized for David, God had become his all in all, the only hope for him. And that continues in this Psalm 63 that we now have come to, that theme continues here. And it more than just continues on that level, it's like it takes another step in the growth and maturity in God for What David emphasizes here is that God is his sole desire, desiring God at all times. Your sole desire is, you might say, the message of Psalm 63. This is a psalm that will challenge us, challenges us in asking us and questioning, having us look at where is God in our level of desires? Is He truly your sole desire or is He just one of a competing set of desires that you do want to keep around for those times when you must call on Him? Or is He truly your sole desire? So let's take a look at this psalm in maybe a deeper way, and this challenge that it has for us. We see from the superscription that it is a psalm of David, something that came out of his life and his experiences at a time, and the only thing it tells us about that time is that it was when he was in the wilderness of Judah. And that helps some. It helps us get an idea that it was a time that maybe he was made to go there. He spent time in the wilderness fleeing from Saul and he spent time in the wilderness fleeing from Absalom, which not too long back we talked about when Absalom had gathered the hearts of many of the men of Israel and then attempted the coup against David and David fled from the throne in Jerusalem. And so commentators pick one of those two situations, fleeing Saul or fleeing Absalom, as the likely context historically of this story. I think the psalm and I go with the commentators that picked the Absalom situation because I think the Psalm lets us know that David is on the throne. We can see that in the final verse. He says, but the king shall rejoice in God, likely referencing himself. David would never have called himself king prior to that time that he was actually on the throne. He recognized God's appointed in Saul until God removed Saul. And so David is king, he's in the wilderness of Judah. This is likely related to the time that he had fled from Absalom that we looked at when we went over Psalm, I think it was 61. We're not gonna go into the details of that. Hopefully you remember. You can read about it in 2 Samuel 15 through 17. But in short, Absalom, as I mentioned, he'd gathered the hearts of the people to himself. He did it under the cloak of certain false things that he'd shared with David. But anyway, having got them gathered around him and turned on his father and marched in Jerusalem. David had to flee across the Brook Kidron and out into the plains of the wilderness, an area that is known as the wilderness of Judah. This is an area that stretches from just south of Jericho, if you can picture it in your mind or look at your map in your Bible if you want. But anyway, from just south of Jericho all along the, I guess it'd be the eastern, yeah, sun rises in the east, that's the eastern side of the Jordan, towards Jerusalem, all the way down and to the southwest end of, no, it rises in the east to the west this way, so it's the west. western side of the Jordan River. It's the same side as Jerusalem and down to the southwest end of the Dead Sea. And so that's the area. Unless you go all the way to the Jordan River, it's a pretty desolate region and was at that time with not a lot of resources food-wise or water. And it's here that David is, and those that were faithful with him have fled with him. They've kind of hunkered down in that area, waiting to see how God would resolve this situation of Absalom's attempt at taking the throne. And that's the situation David is in. That's the location David is at. That is where he is when he writes this psalm, and he begins with those words in verse 1. Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. What is David meaning when he says, early I will seek you? There's a couple of things he may be meaning. In this situation, you're the first one I'm going to. Early in this terrible turn of events in my life. I'm not going to spend time lamenting and distressing and wondering and finally coming around to that position I know I must come to where I seek you. I am going to do it now, early. I will seek you as my comfort, as the one who has my answer. He may also just be saying each morning, The start of the day, I will seek your face. It is the first thing on my mind. Well, either way, these words are admonitions to us. They are admonitions to us. When do you seek God in the situations that come your way that are trying and troubling and unexpected? Do you seek Him early in that? Or do you have to get beaten down to the point where it's like, well, I guess my only hope is God, which should have been your first thought. Do you exhaust all other options before you even go to prayer or seek another to join you in prayer? Or is your first thought along these lines, I must look to the face of God? or even on a daily basis? How do you start your day? Early, do you seek God? Is that the way you start your day? Or do you thoughtlessly rush into your day and as a passing thought, whisper a prayer? If it even comes across your mind, is God the first thought in your day or is He an afterthought? You know, these type of things to put God first takes a disciplined act on your part. It's a personal disciplined thing to act in true faith to start your day by seeking God first. There's an additional seeking of God early that though it would not be what David meant here, is something that can be expressed by those very words. And I think it's important to mention, especially for those young people and children that would be here or hearing this message, you need to see God early in your life. You need to see God while you are young and while He is near. You say, you mean God won't be near later? Well, what I mean is this. You are, blessed children, part of families that do love God And in your home, I'm sure through family devotions or prayer time and different ways, actually bring God near you. Your children of families that are in covenant with God and families that are part of a church in covenant with those in the church, that makes you a covenant child. And as a covenant child, that means you are on a regular basis freely receiving the blessings of God in your home under your parents in covenant with God and in your church as part of this covenant family. And through the ministry of song here at church, through corporate prayer, through the preaching of the Word, through the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, each and every time God is brought near to you. Isaiah 55, 6 says this, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. And as children in families such as this, in this church, every moment of the day and every worship time and service, God is being brought near to you. Seek the Lord. while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near." In other words, like David affirms in the beginning of the psalm, you need to profess God as your God as he starts this psalm out. Committing yourself to him and not put this off as, oh, something to be concerned about later on because the longer you do, the more difficult it becomes and God can become distant to you. God can become distant to you. And David, he gives us a picture right away of what this kind of commitment is that God asked for and we need to all enter into where he says, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you. He's in a place where there's not much water and there's not much provision. If you read the story, there were those who will bring him some provisions. Physically, he's experiencing this, but spiritually, he's making the analogy. I don't know if, has anybody seen the Ben-Hur movie? with Moses playing Ben-Hur, I mean, Charlton Heston playing Ben-Hur. Some of you likely have. If families have not watched that, they ought to at some point with their children, or read the story if you're able to. It's a good-sized book. And Lou Wallace was a highly descriptive writer. But it's really good. I would encourage you, there's a scene in Ben-Hur where the main character, Ben-Hur, son of Hur, he's already been enslaved because of the accidental happenings that occurred and you just don't drop bricks on the local governor. and get away with it. Though he didn't mean to do that, it happened. So anyway, he's been enslaved and he's been part of, you know, galley ships and different things. And he's just a beaten and wasted man. And they, I don't know the conditions under which they were in, on land going, you know, the slaves were getting moved. They're all locked together with their arms and so forth. But they are parched. and they're brought to a well. But Ben-Hur is particularly out of favor with the slave master, the Roman overlord that's over all this. And so as others are allowed to drink from the cup, he's denied it. So he is especially parched and angry. ultimately just falls to the ground, hopeless. And in that condition, a shadow of a person begins to cover him. You never see the face of the person. Ben-Hur is desiring just to drink. And this individual reaches down and brings the cup to him, refreshing him. And ultimately he looks, Ben-Hur looks up, and you know, because of the story and the situation, he's looking at the face of Jesus. who sovereignly has responded to refresh this individual. He didn't bring him right out of the situation of slavery at the time. And Ben-Hur, in and of himself, though he's prayed God help me, is only seeking physical water, but he gets blessed with the very hand of God. It's a scene of the depth of desire David is expressing, showing the reality that God will answer that prayer. But that desire that Ben-Hur had for physical refreshment needs to be the depth of our desire for actual spiritual reception of waters of life from God himself. And maybe that can help depict what David is saying here and the depth at which he is expressing it. My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you. He is saying my whole being desires you. What he is expressing is something that really he as a faithful Israelite would have said every day. But sometimes those things that we repeat every day don't sit in as a reality, though that's the intent that they are done for. But the Shema says, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And you know that. You know that verse. And you know that that is what our Lord actually responded to, to the lawyer who came to him and said, which is the great commandment in the law? Though modified slightly in the New Testament rendering, he says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. with all of you. What you love, you thirst for. You will. What you love, you will long for. In a word, you will desire. You will desire. What the call is from God is that you love Him His call is this, that all who profess my name will have this total and full commitment. That is a love from your whole being and all for him. Do you love him with your whole being? Do you find yourself, those that have been believers for a long time, do you find yourself like maybe a participant of the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation that has lost or left, I should say, their first love? They have drawn back from having God as their full commitment and desire. We all go through times like that where other things interfere and our true love and desire for God is waning or unexpressed. And how do you come back to that or newly seeking to love God with your whole being? How do you obtain that? Well, it has to be given to you, first of all. It's a spiritual love. It's a love from you as a spiritual being having for the pure spirit of God. And so it has to come from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to give you, the Holy Spirit has to renew your love for God. And he's promised to do that on a daily basis to refresh you and revive you. We saw a song about revive us again here. Did you mean it? Did you mean it, God, revive us again? Your love from God has to come from spiritual source. It can't be conjured up by fleshly means. The Holy Spirit has to grant it to you, but you must ask. Ask and you will receive. For God blesses his children with all they need to be the children of God, in love with Him. He blesses you with all you need to obey His commandments, of which the greatest is to love Him. You can ask and you shall receive, but always in these things we ask of God, expecting His giving, we must act upon. We must act in faith, and in faith then in determined ways and purposed actions of what? Spending time with Him. Spending time with God and His Word. Spending determined time with God and His Word. There's a basic truth that I believe exists, and that is, what you spend more time with, you will come to love. and what you come to love, you will spend more time with. It is an interactive, reciprocal situation. Cultivate your love for God by means by which you spend more time with him, which the fundamental ones are in prayer, or in meditation, or in his word, and in personal and corporate worship. I probably should add, because it will come up later, in actually doing His will. These are ways in which you cultivate your love for Him and it grows. You say, well, I do a lot of those things. Do you actually just do them or do you participate in them? Do you just do them or do you actually participate in them with your whole being? He says, my soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. You are commanded to love God with all your heart, soul, mind. Do you do it as an act to check off on a list or is it done with your whole being out of love and desire for God as David is expressing here? He's expressing a thirsting and a longing for God as he's actually probably experiencing in this dry and thirsty land where there is little, if any, water. The wilderness of Judah. Water provisions is lacking. David is realizing this physically, but he's using it as a metaphor to speak of his condition concerning God. But what do you do in a spiritually dry situation? You seek God evermore. You seek God, you seek his power and his glory, you reflect upon it. This is what he does then in verse two. So, all right, because of this, dry thirsty land, no water. My soul is thirsting for you. My flesh is longing for you. So what do I do? I look to you. I've looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory." He's out in the wilderness. The sanctuary is in Jerusalem. It's likely referencing, you know, they haven't built the temple. It's likely referencing the tent under which the ark would have been capped, a place where It would be said that God dwells on the mercy seed under the shading of the cherubim wings. Worship likely would occur near or around that. It's a place where he would have seen, in a sense, the power of God depicted there. He would have worshiped together with others. And so in his mind, he is there. He's thirsting and longing for that. those times when he saw the power and glory of God in worship. You should ever want to be together with God's people and worshiping in his sanctuary, though you can and ought to even other times worship him in the sanctuary of the closet of your room as well, or wherever your prayer place may be. but you shouldn't neglect the corporate worship where God is brought near as well. It's never as real or doesn't really meet the corporate fellowship of the body to only do Zoom. Well, it's a blessing that can happen, like today, one of the families is home ill, and they can join in, at least to a degree, in participation with the body they are a part of. And like David, who's in the wilderness, can, in his mind, we can, with technology through Zoom, worship God in his sanctuary. But as other places, he says in the Psalms, his desire is to be there and present in the actual place. But he can't be, but he can reflect upon those times and those places and moments of worship in which the beauty of God and his power and his glory is experienced in the sense because together corporately he was worshiped and praised and his word was spoken and we were reminded of God's love and his power and his protection and his providence over all of us. So David experiencing that here says why he can say I see your power and your glory And that continues on in the next few verses. Because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you, thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. He can look to God and rest in God because God is steadfast in his love, as the ESV has put it. And that steadfast love, that loving kindness is better than life. Any goodness that you can experience in the physical here, any joy that you receive is far short of what God's love is. And he expresses more and more his commitment to God as he realizes and thinks of God's love and care. He says, I will praise God with my lips. I will bless God with my life. I will lift up my hands in God's name. We know what it means to praise God with our lips, but just to remind you, it means to speak to him and of him in terms of his character, his attributes, his magnificence. These are things we ought to do. Speak to God of who he is as the holy supreme being of all. To bless God with our life, He says, I will bless you while I live. That means to walk obediently before him. To walk in obedience to his word. And he says he would lift up his hands. He would lift up his hands to your name. The lifting of one's hands to God is both a sign of submission and reception. sign of full submission before him and ready to receive what he would give. We're not a highly expressive church in the way of lifting hands in praise and prayer or singing. But I just want to let you know that's okay. Some are a little more free at that than others. There's no grading system here. But yeah, sometimes that is what needs to be expressed. But it must come from within. And it's not to be a show. I've been in churches where people who raise their hand more than anybody were probably not the best person to trust things with in their life because of a lack of character. Though it comes as an expression of emotion, it can't just be emotional expression. There must be substance there. A substance that says, I desire you with my whole being. And my soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. I will praise you. And I can't help but lift my hands before you because I'm yours. Because I'm yours. Verse five, David reflects on times of feasting in Israel. My soul shall be satisfied with the marrow and fatness. I mean, the really good, juicy food. Succulent food. I will be filled with this. He reflects on feasting times. that in Israel where they would be allowed even to eat the fat of the food at times. It's an imagery he's giving to express his soul feasting on the things of God. And as I was reflecting on that verse, What came to my mind was a time in our Lord's life when he had that encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. And you know that encounter well at the well. But the surrounding context. Jesus and the disciples had come to that point and it says that Jesus was wearied physically run down. And he's set by the whale because of that. And the disciples have left to go get some food for him to eat. They are determined that what he needs is a good meal. And they're probably right in the physical. After the encounter occurs and the disciples return from the city where they've gone to purchase the food, they say to Jesus, Rabbi, eat. And to their astonishment, Jesus responds with, I have food to eat of which you do not know. And they're like, what? Has somebody brought him food? Something to eat? And Jesus then shares with them what that food was. Okay. Shares with them what the food was that he had feasted upon. And I think we can connect this back to David. I didn't finish verse five and we're going to do that here in a minute. I think the connection's there. He says, my food, you remember what he said, what his food was? My food, Jesus said, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Jesus overcame his weariness. when he got to do the very work of God with another person. Jesus was not the wearied and famished individual that these disciples had left. When they went into the city, something had happened, something changed. And what caused it? Well, it was his encounter with the woman at the well where Jesus could share the very deep truths of God with her to change her life. And that was better than any Subway sandwich they could give him or whatever meal they got. That was better than any food they could offer him. What does that tell us? We need to be feasting on God's Word so as to be equipped and prepared to prepare a meal of biblical truth and God's grace and mercy to be shared in the lives of others. And that will be more fulfilling than any feast. And this is what David says here. He says, my soul shall be satisfied with the morrow and fatness. I think in the spiritual he's saying it's going to be satisfied with your word and with a knowledge of your will for me. And he goes on to say, and my mouth, this is what comes out of being satisfied with the morrow and fatness. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. Verbally he will share. that food, God's word with others. It fed Jesus. It can feed you too. David starts now into the second half of the psalm. He starts in the second half of the psalm with, I view as the counterpart to what he began with. In verse one, he began with the conviction to seek God early. likely he's actually saying early in the day. There were other applications I mentioned. Now he speaks of the end of the day. In verse six, when I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. It's unquestionable when and where he's talking about this occurrence. the end of the day. And just as we reflected on applying early, seeking God early to our life, we must apply this as well. How do you end your day? How do you end your day? Do you end it with reflection on God, who he is, how much he's cared for you and blessed you, even that day? Or is it just time to crash on the bed without a thought of God, because you're tired? Or maybe worse, is that your time of fretting over the things of the world without a thought of God? David says, I meditate. I remember you, I remember you, I meditate on you in the night. Do you ever say I don't feel close to God? How did you start your day? How did you end your day? Did you seek him early? Did you meditate upon his character? in the night watches. Yeah. You will love what you spend time with. And what you spend time with, you will grow to love. David says this. It's out of that meditation, he says, I meditate on you in the night watches because He thinks about these things. He makes them reality in his mind to reflect on them. Because you have been my help, he realizes the help that he gets from God. He then recognizes the protection and security he feels from God. Therefore, in the shadow of your wings, I will rejoice. And he begins to feel the sense of closeness to God. My soul follows close behind you. And then he experiences the power of God in his life. Your right hand upholds me. That's where David is. Seeking God early, reflecting on him in the night, that's his relationship there with God. But he knows he lives in a world where sin is rampant, where evil is where seemingly wrong continues, but he knows their outcome because he knows God. Those who are evil will be destroyed. Not only that, they will go to the lower parts of the earth. A euphemism for they're going to hell. They're going to go to hell. That's the ultimate destiny of all who come against God. You know, the heathen rage plot vainly, as the Psalm 2 would say, trying to thwart the purposes of God, throw off his, you know, chains. But God laughs. They can't do that. They cannot touch God. They can't hold God's right hand back from acting. They can do nothing to God, though they lash out at you and at me. those who represent the Lord in the earth and bear witness to him. And we feel the brunt of that. And sometimes those situations become very difficult. Even as David, even now, here is experiencing a great difficulty. And it's seeming like, what is the opposition there? The advance of pagan man in the earth. Yesterday, I guess it was yesterday, I inserted this because somebody posted this. There's two people here who can't give an answer. I guess I couldn't help but share it with them. Anyway, they posted this, and I want you to think about it. Try to pick what year this is referencing, written by a historian. I don't know the exact source. But he wrote this, at the end of the year, you will now insert or will insert at the end what you think if you want to offer it. Most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century, there had been no important advance in natural science and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune, a word we would all use, means boring and undemanding. So the instruction they offered had become increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through the study of the pagan past. Islam was now expanding at the expense of Christendom. Anybody want to offer about when that was? Referring to? Obviously, it's a pop quiz without any previous instruction. What did you say? Somewhere in the Middle Ages, so 1000 to 1500. 1990. 1400s. 1550. Okay. Well, some of you are really close. I think some of the references give away that it would be, quote, Middle Ages type, but that's the latter part of it. It was referenced in 1492. Though the 1990 reference says, yeah, these things happen even now. They still do, but you think about that time period, What followed? And what followed within 25 years of 1492? The Reformation, yeah. And with the Reformation came one of the greatest explosions of growth of Christianity, of advance of technology, of a change of culture. Cultures were It's one of the greatest changes of expansive cultural change in our history of the world. And so when times get gloomy, when that which is not of Christ seems to be advancing, when You may be on the brink of a great reformation. History seems to testify to that fact. Our sight on things is often short-sightedness. And in those times, we can feel that all is about lost. with what happened in the late 1400s, moving into the 1500s, we can reflect back on and feel some assurance from that. There is that which we can always look forward to and that is the ultimate outcome of all things, that God will be true and every man will be a liar. The kingdom of God will advance and the kingdoms of man will fail. The believer will be glorified and the unbeliever will be destroyed. These are the facts of the history written beforehand that say will be the occurrence. And we can have hope at all times, no matter what our situation is at this time. The enemies of God will be judged in history and in eternity. David expresses it slightly in reverse order. They're going to go to hell and in time of history they will fall by the sword and they will be food for wild beasts would be a way of maybe expressing that latter part. The enemies will be judged in history and eternity. The wicked are going to be brought down. The righteous shall be exalted. David closes this psalm with a proclamation of that truth. Speaking of himself first, he says, the king shall rejoice in God. This is coming out of all that he has said before, including the downfall of the enemy. The king will rejoice in God. That's his position before God that he securely stands in. and he stands in that position that the king is gonna rejoice before God as his chosen child, he stands in that position whether he's in the security and peace of his palace, actually sitting on the throne in Jerusalem, or he's facing the dangers and the loneliness of the wilderness of Judah. Those circumstances don't change the actual position he is in before God, and his joy in God cannot be affected by them. Why? Because the promise is there, God will exalt his own. Besides the comfort he personally possesses, all in God will be lifted up. That's what he expresses next. Everyone who swears by him shall glory. wears by him, takes the oath that they are his and there's no other. He is the authority in their life. God will glorify that person. God will glorify that person. And finally, the wicked will be stopped. they will have nothing to say. Every mouth shall be closed. Those who speak lies shall be stopped. We can rejoice in these things if we're committed to God, if he is our desire, desire at all times. Now, when things are just good, not when you get that new car or whatever it is, but when your car breaks down, when things are rough, when challenges are there, when pagans seem to advance and we must flee to the wilderness of Judah. God is our desire and is to be our desire at all times. Father God, we thank you. Oh, what a challenging word you have given us, but it is a good word. Oh God, forgive me, forgive us, for when we have not desired you as we ought and we've let things of this world or distractions or attractions take our eyes off you, Father, we desire that our soul would thirst for you, that our flesh would long for you. Oh God, that our lips would praise you, that our life would be lived for you, that our hands would be lifted up to you. God, be our all in all, that is our desire. Grant us the desires of our heart. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.