together. David asked the question down in verse 23. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? You reckon God was really asleep? For the title of this, this one and the last two before this one was to the sons of Corrie, for the sons of Corrie. Korah. Remember Korah was the one that God opened up the ground and swallowed him whole. But his sons, they were all the singers. They were the singers for the children of Israel. And they sang the Psalms. Now they may have been the ones, one of them may have wrote this, they don't know, but if it don't say exactly who it was, if it's Moses or Solomon or somebody, we always attribute it to David. And they were in a battle. These folks were in a battle. And they suffered a great defeat. And they cried out to God for help. But often times when we get in those situations, help was slow in coming. And you know that they felt forsaken by God. Look what he said down here in verse 9. But God has cast us off and put us to shame. And you don't go out and go forth with our armies anymore. You don't go out with our armies. You don't go out to fight for us. They felt forsaken by God. And then secondly, he asked the Lord why they were defeated. And he asked Him to tell him where we fell. Oftentimes, you know, when Joshua was fighting Ai and they were losing at the battle of Ai, and they couldn't win and they had to run and flee from AI and AI chased them and killed several of them a whole bunch of Israelites Joshua got down before the Lord and asked him, he said, Lord why didn't you, why aren't you with us, what's happened? and he said, get up off your face he said, there's sin somebody's went and got the accursed thing and kept it and that's why that happened But he asked the Lord, he said, God could point to that. But he asked the Lord, why were they defeated? Why did they suffer this defeat? And he asked God, where's my failure? If I've sinned, I want to know it. Where's my failure? Look what he says down here in verse 20. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to strange gods, shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart. God, you know us. If we have had winter under a strange God, if we set us up in idol, and we've forgotten the name of our God, won't you search us out? Won't you let us know that? Won't you tell us that? You know the secrets of our hearts. You knew what Achan did, and you took them all the way down until you got to Achan. He knows exactly everything that a man does. And he feels so forsaken, then he asked the Lord, and he said, O Lord, why are you sleeping? He feels like the Lord is sleeping. Such great distress. And this is up here in the title of this psalm, it says, Meskel, Meskel, I think that's how you say it. Meskel, Meskel. And that's a psalm of instruction. It's a psalm that you're supposed to learn from. And I think that we can learn here how to react in trials the way that David did. And I got three points to this message. I divided this psalm into three divisions. First, in remembering God's preserving care in the past. God preserved and cared for his people in the past. Verses 1 through 8. And then we're going to seek to understand God's providential involvement in our lives. In the present, right now. God's providence involved in our lives and then remembering God's preserving care in the past. And I tell you what, in praying for God's power to deliver us. But let's look here at remembering God's preserving care in the past. Look what David said, We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days and the times of old. And then he goes on to say, how you drove out the heathen with your hand, plant Israel there, and how you did afflict the people and cast all of them out. And he says, and all of Israel, they got not the land in possession by their own sword. They never went in and took it by their own sword. Neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand, and thine arm in the light of thy countenance, because thou had a favor unto them. And all he did was remember, God, I tell you, everybody's told us what a wonderful work you did, how you saved Israel, how you brought them up out of Egypt, and you destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, and you brought them up and you started taking them in, and you destroyed them. Nation after nation after nation out before them and you just kept giving the people the property and giving them the land and moving them into other people's houses, giving them other people's vineyards, giving them other people's olive yards and all that. He says, they didn't do it, you planted the people. They didn't have to go in there by their own sword. He brought them into the land and planted them, just planted them right there. And he afflicted all the people and drove them out before. And I love this, they got what they got, not by their own sword. We don't war against flesh and blood. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Oh my, that's why our Lord told Simon Peter, said, put up your sword, Simon. If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword. God's people don't live by sword. We live by the word of God. We live by what God said. And the only sword we got sits in right here. And it's sharp enough, ain't it? It's sharp enough. It'll kill you and make you alive. It can split you wide open and reveal the secrets and intents of your heart. And I tell you what, if you've got this right here, that's what he said here. He said, oh my, you brought them in, you drove them out. It was all of God's doing. He says, you! by your right hand, you by your arm, you by the light and presence of your countenance, because you had grace for them, favor unto them. God did it all. And oh, and then David goes on, he starts talking about all this while we heard it. Lord, everything that we got, you gave it to us. Everything you destroyed, you destroyed them. And then he goes down here and he says, look what he says here, he begins to, talk of him to have great confidence, and he says, Thou art my king, O God. Command and deliverance is for Jacob, since you are the king. And Jacob gets in trouble, you just command and deliverance is, and Jacob will be delivered. You just say it, and it will be done. And then look what he says here, Through thee, through the Lord, through what God does, we'll push down our enemies. Listen to this, through thy name we'll tread them under and rise up against them. We don't need nothing but the name of God is what David said. We don't need a sword, we don't need a gun, all we need is the name of God and we'll push our enemies down. We'll tread them under our feet and rise up against them. And that's why he said, I'll not trust in the bow, neither shall my sword save me. He said, I have a sword, I have a pope, but neither one of them can save me. Oh, but thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. And I tell you, that's the way God does. Whatever He does, He's going to do it in such a way that He gets all of the glory. He's going to get all the credit, He's going to get all the glory. He's going to bring glory to himself. He's going to make us to say, Lord, it's you that saved us. We had enemies, but you defeated them. You know how the enemies that are in this world, that's against us. I mean, Mary asked me the other day, she said, what's sectarianism? And I said, sectarianism, I said, we would be considered sectarians. And what that means is that you hold to certain ideas, certain principles, certain beliefs. And people say, well, they're sectarian. They're not broad-minded like us. They don't have a worldview like us. They don't consider Jesus like we do. See, we're sectarian. That means, beloved, that we hold to certain truths. We hold to certain principles. We hold to certain things that's right and just and true. And we don't care what the world calls us. And that's what David says, let them hate us! What has that got to do with anything? He said, you put them to shame, and one of these days they will be put to shame. They'll stand up and they'll say, do you mean to tell me that that fellow that I hated, that folks that believed in that predestination, believed in election, and believed in God's sovereignty, and believed that God ordained and predestined everything and is only going to save just a few? You mean to tell me that those folks was right and I was wrong? That's what's going to happen in the last days. And oh beloved, and that's why David said this, he said, in God, We boast all the day long. Verse 8. In God we boast all the day long. What are we going to boast about? Well, I killed 14 soldiers today. I really had a fight with him and whipped him. Well, I tell you people say, boy, I said, we went toe to toe with the devil and I defeated the devil. No, no, no, I ain't no match for him. You hear people say that all the time. I said, boy, I said, you got to fight the devil. The devil's got all this power. Well, listen here. In God, we boast all the day long. Not what we've done, not what we've accomplished. He said I ain't going to trust my bow, my sword or nothing. What are we going to boast about? We're going to boast about God. We're going to boast about His grace. We're going to boast about His salvation. We're going to boast about His blessed power. We're going to boast about His preserving power. And praise thy name. How long are we going to do that? David said forever. Forever. That's what we're going to do. And when you read these opening verses, oh, how God blessed his people in the past and how he saved them, how he gave them the land, destroyed all their enemies, you would not expect what's coming next. Oh, here they're going to suffer defeat. And here's what's so bad about it. David even accuses God of not caring. God being unconcerned. Oh, God, why are you asleep? You're going to sleep on us? You've cast us off? You hide your face from us? You hide and forget all of our afflictions? And he said, God had done a mighty work for Israel. He destroyed the Egyptians. He displayed His mighty power in Israel when they took the land of Canaan. But the psalm doesn't end at verse 8. Now David is cast down. He's in despair after a humiliating defeat. And I'll tell you that's what he says in verse 9, it all listsen to what he says, But thou hast cast us off and put us to shame, and goeth not forth with our armies. You know that's not, that only happened there, but that's happened to us over the time. That's happened to us ourselves. You remember when our Lord Jesus, they was going across the sea. And our Lord Jesus was tired and he laid down and went to sleep. He was up in the hindered part of the ship, and there's up in the front, he's laying over here sound asleep. Big storm came up, and them fellas, you know, they got T totally scared to death. They got scared. Now, here we are, we're gonna die, we're gonna have, this ship's gonna sink. And the Lord is asleep and does not care whether we live or die. Then they run over there and grabbed him and said, Lord, wake, wake, wake, wake up! That's what David said, Lord, what are you doing asleep? Wake up! Don't you care that we perish? You don't love us enough to understand the situation we're in. You don't mean to tell me that you're not interested in what's going on around us. That you're just going to sleep and just don't care what happens to us? That's what David's saying here. Oh my! God preserved them and protected them in the past, but God wasn't with them now. Why? How come? Oh my, let's try to understand God's providence. And I tell you, perplexing. You know, God's ways are perplexing at times. That's why Paul said, I'm perplexed. I'm in despair. I'm in distress. And oh, look what he goes on to say here. Oh, but you've cast us off. Here we was. We're going to boast in you all day. We're going to praise your name. And then all of a sudden, you cast us off. You've just cast us off and put us to shame. And you go not forth with our armies. Our armies go forth and you're not with us anymore. It's like Samson got up one day and shook himself after Delilah found out his weakness and they shaved his head and he got up and shook himself one day and the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. And that's the way David's feeling like it here. And oh, he says, you make us to turn back from the enemy. You make us have to run from the enemy. You make us have to retreat from the enemy. And they which hate us, spoil us for themselves. They come and take what you gave us, and they take the spoil from us. And you know what? You just make us like sheep, and we're just their meat to eat. You scattered us among the heathen. You just absolutely make us like somebody. We're just nothing but a meal to somebody. You've given us like a meal to people. You scattered us. And look what he says here. This is incredible. He said you sell your people for nothing. What does he mean here? God didn't sell his people, but he says, you sell us for naught, you let us go off into slavery, you let us go off into bondage, and it's for nothing. You get nothing out of it. And when you sell us off as slaves and let the enemy do what they want to us, you don't get anything from it. You don't get wealthy from it. You don't increase your glory by it. And then he says, you make us reproach to our neighbors a scorn and derision of them that are round about us. All the towns round about and all the people round about said, boy, those folks used to be... God used to be with them people. God blessed them people. God fought their battles for them. And now look at them. They ain't got nothing. God ain't for them anymore. They can't fight. And their neighbors stick their head out and look over and say, oh, boy, what a shake they've got in. And they scored and said, oh, I know what is going to happen to them. I know what it was. I know this is getting too proud. I know this is getting too high. And then he says, you make us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. They just walked by and just shaked their head off. Oh boy, I tell you, you ever done that to somebody, somebody does something, you know, and you just shake your head and say, oh man, ooh, ooh, ooh. That's all you do, just shake your head, ooh, ooh, ooh. You ever done that? Ooh, you know, you know, it ain't no use, just stand back, just shake your head and say, oh my, ooh, ooh, ooh. And that's what they said, they done him. And they says, my confusion is continually before me. Oh my. And all this has come upon us. Yet have we not forgotten thee. You know, God blesses us, and then all of a sudden the victories are great, we rejoice in Him, and then something happens. Something happens. You lose a job, go to the doctor, he diagnoses the disease. Somebody you love dearly, you know they're gone because of that awful disease, in spite of all the prayers and tears you shed for them. A believer gets old, they're put in a nursing home, their family forgets them, friends are gone, all families are gone, they feel forsaken and abandoned. And all the early believers, you know, you know what I think the Romans would do for them? They would stake them out in the Coliseum, they'd stake them out, pour oil and pitch on them, make them face one another, and then they'd set them on fire. And they'd look in one another's eyes and say, it's being burned. And then the crowd would just raise their hands and shout and have a great rejoicing at it, to watch these people burn and suffer, watch them go on that. Oh my, what does it mean when we get in this awful distress, perplexed? And we pray and there's no apparent answer. And that's what David says here. Oh my. And this is what some people think. They think maybe God really isn't involved. God is not involved in our suffering. And there's lots and lots of people that believe God really isn't involved in tragedies. You know, a hurricane comes by and says, God ain't in that. Flood comes, God's not in that. Hurricane comes, God ain't in that. God wouldn't inflict such suffering. And they just say, my God wouldn't do that. Floods, hurricanes, whirlwinds, droughts, people say God wouldn't inflict such suffering. And this is something that I learned. I heard a preacher say this the other day, and I didn't know anything about it. And I looked at it and I got a new thing that people are teaching now. It's called open theism. You know what that is? That means God is open to whatever happens. He's not absolutely in control of anything. He can't even foresee what's going to happen. And He's just caught as much by surprise as anybody else is when something happens. They call that open theism. Poor old God. He's just open to whatever happens. Yes, like us, he just has to take it as it comes. And there's people teaching that. You look it up or Google it. When you get home, Google it. See what I'm telling you. I couldn't hardly believe it myself. A fellow made a much better explanation of it than I did. And sometimes people say, well, God's indifferent. Or is it true that God is absolutely involved in our lives, involved in this world? I know, and you know, that God is in full control. He's ordained every situation, every event, including David, saying, Oh God, why have you cast us off? God cast them off for a reason. God has a purpose in everything that He does. And look how many times David uses this word, you, you, you, in what God did here. He says there in verse Nine, you have. Thou, thou, thou, thou. Five verses in a row. You, you, you, you. You did it. Circumstances didn't do it. The enemy didn't do it. The devil didn't do it. I didn't do it. You did it. You did it. He knows that God ordained this situation. God is sovereign over winning battles and losing battles. He's sovereign over whether you're well or whether you're sick. And He's sovereign over whatever happens to us. And that's what He gives. That's God's no accidents, no confusion in our hearts and minds over what happens. And that's why David says, you're just giving us over. You make us to reproach. Yea, it goes on down there saying in verse 22, Yea, for thy sake we're killed all the day long. He says, you know, we're just like sheep. He said, you know, people just consider us sheep. And man, the sheep ain't fit for nothing but slaughtering. And oh, I've spent lots and lots of time, sins have caused God to deal with them, bring them down, but not this time. Look what David says now here down in verse 17. All this has come upon us. Now listen to what he says now. Everything he said from verse 9 down here. He said all this has come upon us. Look what he says now. Yet have we not forgotten thee. We've not forgotten you. Oh no. Oh no, we ain't forgot you. And all listen to what he says. Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. We dealt honestly. We faced your covenant. We looked at your covenant. We never tried to change it. Never tried to get anything different about it. We dealt honestly in your covenant. We bowed to your covenant. We are grateful for your covenant. And he said our heart is not turned back. Our hearts not turned back to an idol, our hearts not turned back to somebody else, our hearts not turned away from you, neither have our steps declined from your way. That's like what Job said, though you slay me, I'm going to thirst you. Go ahead and do what you got to do, I'm going to thirst you. Job, they just killed all your children, just got... A hurricane, a lightning, a hurricane comes through, a tornado comes through that and kills all your kids. A lightning comes and kills all the cattle. And a bunch of people come and carry the rest of them away. His wife walked up to him and said, Job, just trust God and die. Job shaved his head, got down in the dust. He said, the Lord gave and the Lord's taking away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And that's what David said. Whatever happens, our hearts haven't turned, neither have our steps went back from your way. And he goes on to say, you've broken us sore. Sore broken us in the place of dragons. You put us in places where lizards and snakes and owls and everything in an old broken down place and you've covered us with the shadow of death. That's what you've done. But he goes, look what he says. If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God, shall not God search us out for he knows our hearts? That's what he said is if God knows that we have done something wrong, that we have forsaken Him, turned back on Him, denied Him, sinned, raised our fist against Him, despised His properties, He's returned to an idol or anything. He said God would have known that, made us to know it. Because He knows the secrets of His heart. And you know there in verse 22 says, Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day. Paul said that in Romans chapter 8. And you know why he used that in Romans 8.22? Because he used that verse 22 right before he got to Romans 8.35. He said, We are counted as sheep all the day long and sheep for the slaughter. And then he says, but I'm persuaded. He put that there to teach us and show us that we'll never be forsaken, nor forgotten, or left off for God. We're counted sheep, but I'm persuaded. That life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities. He said all that to show, no matter what the world thinks about us, we're not going to be forsaken. We're not going to be lost. God's not going to forget us, nor forsake us to our enemy. And oh yes, we suffer, but we're never forsaken. And God has a purpose. God says, My ways are not your ways, neither My thoughts your thoughts. For as the heavens is high above the earth, so are My thoughts and My ways above you. And then look what He prays. Look what He prays. He understands. And we understand that whatever happened, and that's what David said to you. Lord, you've done it. You've done it. You've done it. You cast us off. You make us to turn back. You've given us like sheep. You sell your people. You make us a reproach. You make us a byword. You've done that. I remember several times that you get to talking to folks. You go and somebody be sick and they'll say, Well, it's the will of the Lord, you know, it's God's will for him to be like that. No, no, it ain't God's will. It ain't God's will for people to be sick. They just ain't got enough faith. When our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, Paul the Apostle got sick. Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death. You reckon he had any faith? People, I tell you, they'll just say anything. But look what he says now. He prayed for God's powerful deliverance in the future. No, and I tell you what, he prays with boldness. You talk about boldness. Look what he says here at verse 23. Awake! Arise! Awake! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise! Cast us not off forever. Boy, you talking about boldness. Oh my. And what he's doing, beloved, this is the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man right here. That's what this is. This is a man who means to call on God and give God's attention because of his affliction. And he says, Lord, why are you sleeping, O Lord? God wasn't asleep, but David is addressing Him that way. Why are you sleeping for God's sake? Arise and don't cast us off forever. Get up! Get up! Get up! We're your children, we're your people, why do you hide your face and forget our afflictions? And then he says, look what he says, he tells God exactly what's wrong with him. He tells God what he's suffering, look down at verse 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust, we are so low and so down, Down where down into the dust was so cast down, and so discouraged, and so distressed, and so defeated, our belly cleaneth unto the earth." Oh my! Our prayer should never be weak, never be without emotion, especially when you're going through an affliction. Now I'll tell you something, he wasn't informing God of anything. God knew exactly where he was and what was going on. But this is what fervent prayer does. We lay our case open before God and listen while he ends this song. Oh, he's got confidence. He's sure that the Lord is going to do something for him. Arise for our help and redeem us. Redeem us. Why? For your mercy's sake. for your loving kindness sake. You sold us, redeem us. Pay the price. Do what's necessary. And you know that's why Paul said, I beseech you by the mercies of God. What a motive. God, because of your mercy, redeem us. Because of your mercy, save us. Because of your mercy, get up and do something for us. Not because I'm in trouble, but for your mercy. Because I deserve to be in trouble. Then, oh Lord, I'm coming to you. I'm looking to you. I need you. In this world, no matter what happens to me, you're not going to increase your wealth by me. If I go into poverty, it ain't going to give you any wealth. But I'm going to boast in you all day anyway. That's what David said. Arise for our help. Oh, arise for our help. Our Lord Jesus, oh blessed Savior. Your word is a fountain, a deep fountain. And Lord, we sometimes get some water out of the well, sometimes we don't. But Lord is there, and I praise you for it. and ask you to bless it to the hearts and minds and understanding of your people here tonight. God, we need you. Whatever you call us to go through, we may think you cast us off. But Lord, if you do, it's you that does it. And you'll always take us to yourself. It's in our understanding. It's in our feelings. It's in our emotions. It's never what you do. God, help us and have mercy on us. Be with your dear children. God bless Kim and Darren as they go through this great trial that they're going through. God strengthen them, encourage them. Thank you for them. Read our names for Christ's sake. Amen.