Please open the Word of God with me in Psalm 119, and we read from verses 73 to 80. Psalm 119, verses 73 to 80. In your pure Bible, it's in page 513. Please stand up for the reading of God's Word in Psalm 119, verses 73. Your hands have made and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word. I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. Let your mercy come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. Let the insolent be put to shame because they have wronged me with falsehood. As for me, I will meditate on your precepts. Let those who fear you turn to me, that they may know your testimonies. May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise your name for your word. We pray that you bless the preaching and hearing of your word. We pray, Lord, that you talk to us from your word, by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. As I mentioned in my missionary update, I'm ministering to the people in Haiti. You may not know Haiti, but you may have heard from the news that it is a difficult place to live in. It has been difficult in Haiti for the past 30 years or so. But last year was a very special year, very, very difficult. First, the country was locked down for three months because of political reasons. Schools were shut down. Nobody could go to school. Even to go to the church, it was dangerous. our businesses were closed because they're trying to force the president out and for that, they blocked the streets everywhere and the country was shut down for three months. And then after that, The activities started again and we were glad to have some freedom to go to the streets and do our activities. But soon, some weeks after, the government announced that they were going to lock down the country again because of the virus. And we said, wow, that's a year of big trials. And in that year, in that difficult time, I decided to preach a series of sermons in the church in Port-au-Prince on this psalm, on Psalm 119. What brought me to that psalm was the love of the psalmist for the Word of God. And my hope was to pray and teach my people, teach the church, so that they take time in the Word, to read the Word while they are at home and have time to meditate on the Word. Because in Psalm 119, we see As much that we stay in the Word, we love the Word, we love God more and more. But also what we see in Psalm 119, the believer, the Christian life who loves God, this is also a life of trials. That's why my goal was to help people to see in that psalm how the Lord is working in the life of the believer. And the psalmist in this psalm is teaching the church, the people of God, how the Christian life can be hard, how trials can come in the life of the believer. But what also we see in Psalm 119, Those trials, they are not accidental disasters in the life of the believer. They are not just accidents that are trying to destroy the joy of the believer. But we see in that psalm that God is at work. And God is teaching us great lessons in those trials in our life. He is teaching us through those afflictions that they hold blessings for us. And God has a purpose for our life. in those trials. But mainly we see in this stanza that we are, that God is sovereign in our afflictions and he is teaching us good lessons in those afflictions. Psalm 119 is a very long psalm, that's a very long hymn and we called it an acoustic Psalm. That means it's like a long poetry, a long poem, where the psalmist is using the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each letter is a section in the psalm. And in our English Bibles, each section has eight verses and in each stanza of the psalm the psalmist is teaching us some good lessons for our Christian life. We are here now in the tenth stanza in that psalm and in that stanza the psalmist is teaching us how God is serving in our trials. So let's see this stanza tonight and in it we'll see three things. We'll see first God's faithfulness in our trials, second God's goodness in our trials, and third God's works in our trials. Let's see the first lesson now in verses 73 and 74, God's faithfulness in our trials. In verse 73 it is said, Your hands have made and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. We see that the psalmist, he started that stanza with a big truth in the Christian life. The psalmist is giving glory to God for who God is. And he's telling us that God is the creator. that he created him, that God by the word of his power creates the world, creates everything, and he is calling God his creator. But what is strange in that stanza is that the psalmist is speaking in the context of suffering. He's speaking in the context of trials in his life. Now, you won't see that until you get to verse 75, where he's speaking clearly about trials in his life. But while he's on the trial, he's thinking, he's reflecting about who God is. He's reflecting on God as the creator. God afflict him, afflict his life, but he's thinking about who God is. And that's what we see all over in Psalm 119. We see the psalmist is blessing the name of God for who God is. But every time in each stanza in that psalm, we see how the life of the believer is afflicted with trials. So the psalmist is teaching us that the Christian life is not without trials. The Christian life, according to the Word of God, in our pilgrimage in this life, is filled with trials. It's a life of suffering. That's sure that there are moments of joy in our life in Christian, but the psalmist is telling us that there will be trials. But what good in the psalm, we don't see the psalmist complaining for his trials. We don't see him discouraged because of his trials, but he is giving glory to God. He is acknowledging that God is the creator. And if God is the creator, he knows that God is in control. in his life, in his trials. He knows that God made him and if God made him, God has a control of his life and even of this day of trials, God is there and God knows that. So the psalmist acknowledging God first. as the Creator. And that's what we want to know as believers. And that's what we want to teach to our children. In the children's catechism, we teach them that first lesson. Who made you? And the answer is God. So they need to know that, that God is their Creator. And why God made us? He made us for His own glory. And even in the Shodder Catechism, we learn that we are made to enjoy God. forever. And we want to enjoy Him all the time, even in the time of trials. So the psalmist is acknowledging that God is faithful as our Creator. And God is our Creator and Redeemer. Not only that He creates us, but He recreates us in Jesus Christ. and he has power to save us even in those difficult times. But the psalmist acknowledged that this is not easy in our life when trials come. That's why he said in that second part of 73 that we need understanding. to understand that, to get that. We need wisdom from God. The psalmist recognized that this is not easy in our life. So that's why he's saying in that second part of verse 73, give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. The psalmist recognizes that God sometimes works in our life in mysterious ways. And even in those afflictions, God is there and He is working. That's like James in his epistle. He's writing to believers who are persecuted. But he's telling them to count their trials as joy. And then he comes back to tell them If we need wisdom, we can ask God and He will give us plenty of wisdom. You understand that this is difficult for us as Christians to understand that, that God is working His plans in our life, even in those big trials that come to us. So that's why we need to pray, and the psalmist is praying for understanding, for wisdom, to understand that the Lord is working. To understand that the Lord has specific purposes for our life in those trials. He has specific purposes for our loved ones who are undergoing trials. For our brothers and sisters who are going through difficult times in Haiti and even here, we need wisdom from the Word to know that the Lord is working His purpose. And the psalmist is saying, give me understanding, Lord. And verse 74 he said, those who fear you shall see me and rejoice because I have hoped in your commandment. The psalmist moved now from the big truth telling us that God is his creator, is our creator, and now he's talking about the faithfulness of God in our trials. He's saying that God allows those trials in our life so that we can grow in grace. So the trials come in our life and in our Christian life We are growing in grace after those trials. That's why he's saying, let those who fear you come to me and rejoice because they will see your life and they will see that you are growing in grace. You are growing in maturity after those trials. They will see that the Lord is using those trials to grow you in sanctification so that you understand more and more the Word of God. Let those who fear you come to me and rejoice. And why? Because in the midst of those trials, they will see that we are not angry, we are not bitter, we are not angry with God. but we keep serving the Lord. We keep believing in the Lord even in those trials. So our life in those trials, in our Christian life, it can be a comfort to others when they see us, how we are serving Christ in the midst of our trials. So that's the first lesson that the psalmist is giving us, how God is faithful to us, even in those trials. A second lesson that we see in this psalm is in verse 75 to 77, that's God's goodness in our trials. God's goodness in our trials. Verse 78, I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. The psalmist is saying how God is good to us, even in our trials. And the word that he's using is that God is righteous. God is righteous in His rules. God is righteous in all what He is doing. The psalmist is teaching us that God is always right. And again, the psalmist is talking here in the context of affliction, in the context of trials. And he is acknowledging that God is just. in his trials. That means the psalmist is telling us that the Lord knows what he is doing in our life. It might be difficult for us at that time to understand, but the Lord is good. He knows what he is doing. He is not unjust to us in our trials. You see, what the psalmist is doing, he is telling everyone how our God is good. Because what happened to us when we are on the trials, when other people see us like Job in the Old Testament, when unbelievers see him suffering like that, when they see us suffering In our trials, the unbelievers, they tend to think that our God is not good. They tend to believe that we are not a child of God. So what the psalmist is doing here, he is vindicating his God. He's telling to everyone that sure that I am on the trials, but my God is good. My God is just. My God loves me even if I'm going under those trials. It's grace from God to speak like that. And the psalmist is saying the goodness of God to him, not because he deserves that, but he's a sinner, but by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, he's saying that God is righteous, that God is good. So the word that the psalmist is using And it's very big for us. The psalmist is saying what God has done for him in Jesus Christ. He's saying that God justifies us in Jesus Christ while we were sinners. And the justified believer is talking like that to see how God is good. He believes how God is good all the time. to him. So he's acknowledging the goodness of God. He's declaring to all the righteousness of God, even in his trials, even in the darkest moment of his life. So the believer, whatever comes through his life, he see that the Lord, his Lord ordains those things. And he believes that God is there in his life. He sees the hands of God. He sees the sovereignty of God in his life. So what we do in those difficult times? We follow our Lord. We are in His hands, even in the darkest world, even in the valley of the shadow of death, we follow Him. So that's why the psalmist is saying in verse 76, he's saying, let your steadfast love comfort me. according to your promise to your servant. You see, in his trials, he sees the steadfast love of his Lord, of God. He sees that God is always loving to his child, and that's what he is saying. But he sees that, the love of God in those difficult moments in his life. He sees the love of God in the promises of God. in what he learned from the Word of God. So he kept the promises of God and he's acknowledging that God is faithful to him, is good to him even in those moments. So God is comforting us in our trials by his promises. So we come to Him to be comforted. We come to the Word to be comforted by the promises of God in those promises in His Word. Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant. God comforts us in His Word. That's why you and me, we come to the Lord Week after week, we are in the Word day after day because that's where we find comfort for every moment in our life. And we know that the promises of God are yes and amen. We can stay in those promises because God will comfort us in those darkest moments. Because in those promises, like Job, we know that our Redeemer lives and He will be there for us. He is a compassionate Lord. He is a faithful Lord. He is a good Lord to His people. And the third lesson that we see in that psalm, is God's works in our trials. God's works in our trials. In verse 78 we read, let the insolent be put to shame because they have wronged me with falsehood. As for me, I will meditate on your precepts. First, we see that the psalmist is identifying for us in that verse the source of his trials. We know from that censer that he's suffering, but where does suffering come from? We don't know in those first verses, but in that verse, in verse 78, he's telling us the source of his trials. He says that let the insolent be put to shame. So his trials, his suffering, his affliction come from wicked unbelievers that he calls those insolent who are who wronged him with falsehood. But even though the psalmist knows who has afflicted him, in verse 75 he said, you have afflicted me. So that's why he doesn't want to revenge, because he knows whatever happened to him, it comes from the Lord. He knows that whatever happens to him, it is ordained by his love, by his Lord. So that's why he is staying in the Word. He's staying in the promises of God. So you see that the psalmist is not preaching only to believers, but he's talking in the psalm to unbelievers. And he is speaking, he is addressing those unbelievers and he is saying that they will see in his life the goodness of God. talking to them, to those people who did wrong things to him and he's saying that his life will be a lesson to those people those wicked unbelievers who expected to see him down in his trials he says that they will see in Him the goodness of God. Because those people, they don't believe in God. They don't believe in the Word of God. And when they see us in our trials, they think that our God will not be able to help us. But the psalmist is telling us that they will see how the Lord will uplift us in our trials. And they will see the greatness of God. So the psalmist is saying that the Lord will be with us and our victory will be a lesson to those who did us bad things. The Lord is working to bring the gospel out of our trials to those who don't know Him, to those who have persecuted Him. And what the psalmist is doing here, he is pointing to us through Jesus Christ. Christ who suffered trials for us, who suffered on the cross for us, He was marked on the cross. But his suffering was a blessing to the church, to the people of God. And the psalmist here is telling us that his suffering would be a blessing to the church, to the people of God. So even in your suffering, pray that God may use those trials to bring people to Him, to bring a good lesson to people. So your trials may be an instrument of evangelism, of preaching the gospel to other people so that they see how you are serving the Lord, even in your trials. In verse 79 it said, You see how the psalmist is praying and asking God to do his work in his life, to do his work of sanctification in him through his trials. So he wants, after those afflictions, to come out of that transformed by the power of God, so that he is praying that he would be growing more and more in his walk with Jesus. He wants that progress to be evident in his life so that other people may see how the Lord is working His work in Him, His work of sanctification in Him, even in His trials. Is this your prayer in your trials? Is this your prayer so that you see God as your creator, as your Lord in your trials? Is it your prayer so that you see the promises of God even in your trials? But as we see, the Psalmist is praying because he knows that he cannot do that on his own. He knows that we are living in a fallen world. He knows that we cannot do that. in our own, but we need wisdom that comes from the Lord. So he's praying, God, give me a new heart, a heart that trusts you all the time, a heart that trusts you, Lord, that believes in your word so that he may continue steadfast to serve the Lord in his trials, so that he may see how God is good to him all the time. May that be our prayer tonight, to see the goodness of God all the time in our life, to see the faithfulness of God, our creator, even in our trials. May that be our prayers tonight to praise God all the time and to follow Him, to follow Jesus in our pilgrimage on this earth in hard times, even in the valley of the shadow of death. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise your name for your goodness to us. We thank you, Lord, that you are our Lord and you are good to us all the time. We pray, Lord, that you bless the preaching of your word to our heart so that, Lord, we may continue to follow you even in the darkest time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.