Taking our Bibles to Psalm chapter 17. Psalm chapter 17, we're going to be looking at our seven-fold provision in Jehovah. Here, you'll notice the inscription of this particular psalm reads, A Psalm of David. This same inscription is given to four other psalms from the 150. psalms that are found in the book of psalm psalm eighty six bears the inscription of psalm of david a prayer of david psalm one hundred and one bears the inscription a prayer of david psalm a hundred and three one of our favorite bears the inscription a prayer of david and psalm a hundred and forty four so there are five total psalms that bear the inscription a prayer David. And it's very appropriate for a Wednesday night for us to take a time and read this because it does exemplify a prayer that ought to be a model prayer for us to follow as well. I want you to notice, just by way of introduction, because when we have a short time of preaching and meditation upon a portion of scripture, it's hard to go verse by verse through the whole book of psalms uh... otherwise it would probably be segmented into part five and six for each chapter and it would probably take us about ten years to get through the hundred and fifty psalms so we are selective but i want you to notice certain highlights with me as we look at psalm seventeen there are three words that summarize david's prayer of faith for his provision that is found in jehovah I want you to just perhaps if you don't mind marking your Bible some of you like to others may not but I want you to just at least make a mental note of three words in the book of psalm all beginning with the letter H that kind of give us a little bit of a summarization of David's prayer of faith as we see in the inscription the first word here in verse one you'll notice here the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips." Notice the word hear. Then I want you to notice in verse 5 you have the word hold. Hold in verse 5. Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. Then I want you to notice The H in verse 8. Hide. Hide. Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. You know, the Word of God reminds us that our Lord not only hears us, but He holds us. I think of the passage that we looked at last week, Sunday morning service. John 10, verses 27-30, where the Lord says, No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. He is holding us secure. So tonight when we go to prayer, let's claim that He hears us. Let's believe by faith that He holds us. And then finally, let's believe that He hides us. I think of the hymn writer when he said, He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. I think of Colossians chapter 3 and verse 3 that says that in Christ Jesus we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. He hides us and people would say, as David said, Oh Lord, if I could just be as a bird and fly away and escape my problems. Well, I'll tell you what, we can hide ourselves in His pavilion. We can flee to a mountain and find provision with our Lord. So, it's very appropriate for us to look at this and realize that he who is heard and held by God and hidden by God need not fear. And all of that serves as a portion of introduction to what we're going to be looking at in the rest of the psalm. But don't forget those three H's. Let's claim those today. Lord, I thank you that you hear me. I thank you, Lord, that you are holding me. And it's not my holding on to your hand. It's your holding on to mine, just like the stumbling little child that's learning how to skate. You ever teach your child how to roller skate or ice skate? And boy, you're holding on to them, aren't you? They're not holding on to you. Their legs are doing the old crisscross and going every which way. And here's Dad, you know, skating down the aisle, literally holding up Rollo, you know, by the arm, and you're holding on to him. And that's the way it is. The Lord holds on to us and He hides us. Let's quickly, because time is unmercifully running, the clock never ceases, it's ticking, and we do want to spend time in prayer. But let's jump right into the sevenfold provision that David clung to when he was over his head and prayed that prayer of faith. And some of you may feel, Lord, I'm over my head, I can't touch bottom. I need somebody to hold me up. Somebody to grasp me. And isn't that a comfort to a child that's learning how to swim? That he knows that daddy is nearby and holding him up and his arms are under his waist and guiding him as he goes. Well, I want us to look at the sevenfold provision. Look at verse 2 for the first provision that we have. We have the Lord's presence to search us. We have His presence. Notice verse 2 of Psalm 17. David, misunderstood as he was, and he prays and he says, Lord, I'm praying to you, verse 1, my prayers not going out of feigned lips. Now, let me just quickly make a comment there. The word feigned is the Hebrew word that speaks of sincere. It's the word mirmah which speaks of sincere. not deceitful, not treacherous, but when we go to the Lord there's no guile in our spirit. Lord, I'm coming to you out of a sincere heart seeking your face. Notice, he says in verse 2 here, his first provision is we have his presence. Notice, let my sentence, the word sentence is the Hebrew word verdict. Lord, I'm going to let you exonerate me. That's the idea. David says, Lord, my heart's right with you. You're going to pass the right verdict. You're going to pass the right sentence here, Lord, because you are a good and righteous judge. And the end is not yet. You're going to have the final say. So he says, let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. So, David is saying, Lord, You see things the way they really are. You know that people are chasing me and seeking my soul out of wrong motives. You know, Father, that my purpose and my heart is right. And Lord, I know that You were there to see everything that happened, even though it may have been me and King Saul, or even though it may have been only me and someone else, Ahithophel or whoever. David says, Lord, You were there. Your presence was there. You are the witness to every conversation. You are the witness to every deed, even though others don't hear. Now, by the way, Psalm 131 is a comfort, you know, whither shall I flee from thy spirit? The omnipresence of the Lord is a comfort for those that are walking right with God. Isn't that true? But for those that are doing evil and seeking darkness, the omnipresence of the Lord is a warning and something that ought to bring fear to our hearts. But David says here, hey, I'm not coming to you with feigned lips. Lord, You are the Divine Judge and I have Your presence. And I'm thankful for that. The provision of Your presence that You are there. And you know, a good conscience is a soft pillow at night. Even when things are going against us, a good conscience and knowing that God, whose presence is always with us, He will vindicate us. He will pass the right sentence. And if it's not passed here on earth, It'll certainly be heard at the judgment seat of Christ when the Lord will have the hidden things of darkness revealed. Now I want you to notice the second provision. Not only did David say we have his presence to search us, but notice in verse 4, we have his lips to speak to us. We have his lips. Not only his presence, we have his lips. to speak to us. Verse 4, and by the way, I'll be honest with you, I wish I could go verse by verse and I wish we had time. I'm going to read verses 3 and 4 because it's so full of meaning for us tonight. But notice, speaking about His lips in verse 4, we'll read verses 3 and 4. Because notice how meaningful this is for us tonight as we go to prayer. Thou hast proved my heart Thou hast visited me in the night. Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing." Would it be that we could say that? Lord, You have examined my heart and there is nothing that is out of kilter. There is nothing that is unconfessed. There is nothing between my soul and the Savior, like the hymn writer said. Would it be that that would be our prayer? Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing. I am purposed. that my mouth shall not transgress." What a goal to start the day saying, Lord, I'm not going to sin with my lips. But notice, we have the Lord's lips to speak to us. Verse 4, "...concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." You know, the word lips here is a reference to the Lord's command. Those commands that we have in the Word of God are from the lips, as it were, of God. And those commands, the Word of God keeps us from the path of those that want to destroy us. Young person, you want to keep your paths holy and righteous. You want to avoid the pitfalls of a wasted life, the pitfalls of a life of addiction to sin and the prey of the devil, listen to the lips of the Lord as He has counseled us from the Word of God. This book will keep you from the destroyer. And I'll tell you what, every day I see the destroyer at work. I see him in individual lives destroying. I see him devouring families. devouring marriages, devouring God's purpose, and the locusts are destroying, just as it would be a harvest that could be for the things of God. And the Lord, through David, tells us here, hey, you have My presence. You have My lips to speak to you. Then there's another provision, verse 5. We have His pen. to separate us. We have His paths. Notice, hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. See, the Lord wants us to walk His path and His path is going to be a separated path. It's going to be a path that's going to separate itself from the workers of wickedness that verses 9 through 14 describe. We are to have a path of separation from the deeds of evil men, from the works of the world. We are to love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. We are to be separated from those things that really emanate from the destroyer. And everything in this world, keep it in mind, is drawn up to destroy our witness and our productivity. that God wants to demonstrate in our lives. But if we follow the paths of the Lord, there's fullness and joy. And we have His paths to separate us. Take your hymn books, and speaking about His paths, when I was preparing this message, I thought of hymn 406. And I want us to sing stanza number one together. No need to stand, We have His paths to separate us. And here it says, hold up my goings in Thy paths. Listen to Psalm 406. Let's sing it together. Page 406. In shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. We have His paths if we're willing to seek them and follow them. Then I want you to notice verses 6 and 7. I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me. What a promise! Oh God, incline Thine ear unto me and hear my speech. And notice the fourth provision that the Lord gives. We have His right hand to save us. We have His right hand to save us. Verse 7 says, Show me thy marvelous lovingkindness, O God, that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them." The right hand is the hand of power. It's the hand of strength. It's the hand of privilege. I want to be on the side of the Lord's strength and privilege. And we have His right hand to save us. Then notice in verse 8 another provision that we have. Provision number 5, we have His wings to shelter us. Think of the words of the hymn writer, under His wings. We could really have quite a sing time, couldn't we? With all of these hymns that would be alluded and applied here to our passage. But we have His wings to shelter us. Notice, keep me as the apple of the eye. The apple of the eye is the pupil. Oh, the most precious portion of the eye. And just as you would so carefully shelter and protect the pupil of your eye, which is the eye gate of entrance of light, the Lord protects us just as you would protect your eye from something that would come your way. Isn't it interesting how the Lord has made our autonomic motor responses such that we blink involuntarily to preserve moisture and comfort in the eye? I could go up to Benjamin and go like that real fast and in a millisecond his eye closes to protect that eye, especially the pupil of the eye. The Word of God says, keep me as the apple of the eye. But notice how we have His wings to shelter us. It says this, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. What a precious promise. David knows that he's hiding under the wings of the Lord, even though he may be under adversity. Have you ever seen a bird hover over and warm her nest, and the hovering of the wings. How carefully you read Deuteronomy, I believe it's chapter 31, where an eagle stirs her nest and teaches her young ones even how to fly by guiding them with her wings and then lifting them up by her wings as well. We have the Lord's wings to shelter us. Now, I want us to look at verse 15. Verse 15, the first part of verse 15, we have the Lord's face to shine upon us. It says, "...as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness." Even in the presence of the enemies that He has described in verses 9-14, and He describes all of the enemies that are out to get him. He says, Lord, I have Your sevenfold provision. I have Your face to shine upon me. David's contentment was not in the seeking of wealth. You read the enemies in verses 9-14. They sought after wealth. They sought after the things of this world. But David's consent and his desire, his contentment, was to have God's face to shine upon him in approval. I ask you tonight, is that your soul's desire? To have the Lord's approval in your life? You know, one of the biggest things that gets teenagers in trouble, and it's not just teenagers, it's the old teenagers. And I'm looking at all of the old teenagers, including myself here. I guess when you're over 40, you become a teenager. Is that right? With a K? that's the truth that the churches have teenager ministries but uh... that's for the extended teenage years we fall pressure we so often see individuals to peer pressure at school at work they want the approval the countenance the smiling countenance of the world co-workers And your fear of man is greater than your fear of the Lord. And you compromise your actions. Where you go, what you do, how you keep quiet when you really ought to speak out in defense of the Lord. All of this happens. Why? Because we forget that the biggest motivation ought to be, Lord, I want Your countenance to smile upon me. That was David's contentment. As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness." In other words, Lord, I know that I need to be righteous in order to have Your countenance smiling upon Him. But David says, Lord, I want to have, and I do indeed in righteousness have Your face to shine upon me. Then notice the second part in verse 15. The seventh provision in our Lord Jehovah is that we have His likeness to satisfy us. We have His likeness to satisfy us. Verse 15b, I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness. You know, trials, and David was going through some in this chapter. Trials make us conform to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Trials are part of God's process of sanctification. Do not despise the trial that you're going through. Let it be your prayer tonight as you gather around and pray for people that have a trial. Pray, Lord, please, in the midst of this trial, use it to make them more like you. Use it to strengthen them. Use it, Father, to see your face more clearly. Some of you may be going through tremendous trials and testings that shake your faith. But will it be your prayer, Lord, through this trial, through this Goliath that is facing me, help me to develop a love relationship with you. Help me to be so in love with you that the things of this world will grow strangely dim when I turn my eyes upon Jesus. Lord, help these trials and testings to make me after Your likeness, then I'll be satisfied, Lord. And someday we're going to stand in His presence and we'll be glad that we followed in His paths. So just to review, we have His presence to search us. We have His lips to speak to us. We have His paths to separate us. We have His right hand to save us. We have His wings to shelter us. We have His face to shine upon us. We have His likeness to satisfy us. Let's be thankful that we can go to a God who not only hears us and holds us, but He hides us in the cleft of the rock that we might know Him and the power of His resurrection. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this psalm of David. And Lord, thank You that the enemies of David that are described in this passage, that compassed him about, that sought to mark his steps and dog his steps as a lion, Lord, You delivered him from those oppressors because he was willing to fix his eyes upon the sevenfold provision of Jehovah. Thank you, Lord, that that's for us today. It's available to us. And Lord, the same plight and trials that pursue David in one way or another, Lord, we know our archenemy, the devil, is in pursuit of us, seeking to destroy and devour us. Help us, Lord, to bear one another's burdens, to pray for one another, to love one another, to encourage one another. And Lord, As we go to prayer now, and you bring to our minds the great needs, Lord, may we pray that your perfect purpose through the trial might be accomplished in each life. We'll be careful to give you the praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.