The 3 Cord Strand - Wait, Hope, Trust

We are back in the Psalms tonight. Three-chord strand, weight, hope, and trust, beginning in Psalm 62. So let's start where the Bible starts, at Psalm 62. Truly, my soul silently waits for God. Now, this, I believe, is David. He's saying, truly, my soul silently waits for God. So, and it's interesting, as we keep going, he's gonna tell his soul he needs to wait on God. But right now, he's reminding himself, my soul silently waits for God. For Him comes my salvation. So it's in the waiting time and seeking God and knowing that, and he could be fleeing from his enemy. He could be going through a difficult situation. It doesn't necessarily mean salvation where a person is saved, and how we think of salvation, although it could, but it also has to do with rescuing me from my enemies. Anybody need that right now? He only is my rock. There's no other rock. There's no other salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. And what that means there is, he's talking about the rock and being moved from your place. You know, like a double-minded man or unstable, but also, you know, I'm solid with God today, but I'm being pushed out of the way tomorrow. I will not be moved. I will hold the line. I will keep the faith. I will not be moved because God is my rock. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you. So now David is lashing out on his enemies. Ever been there? You feel that? The feel that vengeance from God, that fire of God. So how long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you. Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. I don't know if you've ever seen block walls when they start leaning and the foundation is giving away. It's not very safe or a fence. And so he's saying, how long are you going to attack us? You shall be slain, all of you. You're just like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. You have a little bit of stability right now, but when God comes on the scene, he begins to remove the enemies. They only consult to cast him down from his high position. So they're conspiring against him. They delight in lies. See, it's not just today's media that delights in lies. It's been throughout history. And there's a, it's almost like, that's why it says delight in the lies. They have this lying about them that they're excited about. They want to lie. They want to not tell the truth. They want to manipulate things. And it's interesting now that when we're in this place with Israel, right, in the United States and wanting to negotiate with Iran and different things, they are allowed to actually lie in their holy writings. They're actually allowed to mislead and to lie if it furthers their agenda. And so, I don't know how you can trust your enemy when it's okay to lie. That's why Ronald Reagan said, trust but, some of you remember, trust but verify. How long will you attack us? They only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Say la. Say la. So these enemies, they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. And that's what as believers, we kind of have to watch out for as well. You can't just trust somebody by their words, what they say, and trying to, you know, kisses of an enemy, right, the Bible talks about. And not trusting someone just by their words, but also looking at what the heart is. So they will bless these people with their mouth, but they curse inwardly, inside of their hearts. And that's why Jesus even said, you draw nigh unto Me with your lips, Pharisees, but your hearts are far from Me. It's always what's going on in the inside. The internal working of the heart. So my soul, my soul, now let's go back for a minute. I'm gonna go back to verse one. Truly, my soul silently waits for God. And then He's going through a difficult, He's going through a challenging spot. And then He says, He's reminding Himself, my soul waits silently for God alone. So now with the structure of the sentence, He's telling, He's reminding Himself, hey, we've got to remain in this place of being calm and silent before God. Wait silently for God alone. There's so much there because it's in the waiting time. And I've said this many times, waiting time is not wasted time. Right? That waiting time, the Bible talks about, that's when you renew your strength. So as things are taking longer than they should. Ever been there? God is not moving as quickly as you thought. If things are not progressing and there's a waiting time, those who wait upon the Lord, they actually renew their strength. So He tells His soul, wait patiently for God and God alone. Don't wait for any other resource, any other finances, the government, anything else, wait for God alone. And that will be your strength. And there's a couple keys to waiting. Waiting on God means not rushing ahead. So, Lord, how do I know when to move forward? How do I know to do this? Well, waiting on God, I've seen Him open amazing doors. Or He'll give you confirmation. You know, on one day, things look like it's falling apart and I have no direction, and then the next day, there's some confirmation. God moves behind the scenes. Had I moved ahead of Him that day, I would have ruined it. I would have delayed these plans. So waiting on God always involves the slow, steady, waiting, not rushing ahead, impatient. Anybody struggle with that? Impatient, not being patient, and demanding, and I want answers, and texting, and emails, and making this happen. But waiting upon the Lord. And that's why that Scripture's so important. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Their physical strength. It's a by-product of that, but what he's talking about is spiritual strength. Fortitude. Getting through the challenges of life. And as we see what's going on, as we wait upon the Lord, as we just trust in Him, and we tell our soul, body, soul, and spirit, my soul, wait on God. Do you ever have to talk to yourself in the right way? Not in the wrong way. When you're talking to yourself, you hear voices. But the right way is to remind yourself, like David, he strengthened himself in the Lord. And so, my soul, myself, Shane, I know you feel this way, but you need to wait silently for God alone. It's interesting how he put wait silently. That means, because you can wait and still mouth off. You can wait and still try to get things done with your mouth. Anybody relate? So it's a good message for you and me tonight. Waiting silently. Silence is just so precious when you're waiting on God, because that's trust and that's faith. I've said it many times before, real faith doesn't see what's going to happen. It's not certain. It's not sure. That's what it is. It's waiting for things that are not yet seen, and you're trusting in God, so it takes a lot of faith. If I can see the result or see the fruit of it, it's not really faith. It's a good decision. It's wisdom. But faith is the substance of things not seen, the evidence of things hoped for. So I'm hoping for this. And I'm stepping out. I'm trusting God in faith. He only is my rock and my salvation. And I think it's important to note if you look this up, especially this word, we think of maybe there's a rock in the dirt or this rock. It's actually talking about a huge mountain type of rock. Anybody go to Yosemite? El Capitan? What's the other one? Half Dome? Those are amazing. I don't think they have anything like that over in the Middle East, but they do have in En-Gedi, for example, and the mountains and these big rocks that he's talking about. So you look at these. Now, if you get under El Capitan or Half Dome, I think one of them is 3,000 feet high. And if you've been below that, I have, it's breathtaking. It's like this is enormous. Now that kind of rock, he is not a little rock outside. He is my rock. And now every time I talk about those big mountains in Yosemite, I think of that guy who climbs them without any ropes or anything. I don't know if you've seen him, Alex Something. It's just unbelievable. That wouldn't even cross my mind. Maybe five feet, but you're up there. What are you going to do? You're stuck at 1,000 feet. You're dead. And a lot of times, men put more trust in themselves than God, do they not? It's interesting that atheists are different. They challenge the faith in God, but they have no problem taking faith in getting on a huge airplane over the Atlantic Ocean. That takes a lot more faith than trusting in God. So see, they don't lack faith. It's what they have their faith in. That's always the issue. So He is only. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is also my defense. So, have you ever had God go to battle for you? Go to fight for you? You just don't say anything. Let Him go to battle and bring things to the light. Let Him be your rear guard, your front guard, all the things the Bible talks about. But it's interesting. It might be good to talk about this for a minute. It might not apply to everyone, but some people, and in my circles, I've been talking to different pastors and leaders, and there's a well-known pastor right now that I knew that he's resigned for now and there's a lot of issues coming out. And the question always comes up, we shouldn't answer our critics. And it's yes and no. Because you don't go around answering your critics on Facebook and, oh, no, no, no, no, no, trust me. No, that's not me. And all you're doing, all your energy is answering critics. That's why 99% of the time, I don't look at comments. The time factor, a lot of these people, I don't even know. How do you know if they really love you and want to speak the truth? And so answering your critics, not answering your critics, that's a good posture to take. However, I think there are times where it's good to bring light to the situation. Because never saying anything ever and always letting God defend you, I don't know if that is warranted every time. Because there's a lot of people who are genuinely confused. And if you tell them what's going on, you answer the criticism, it brings clarity to the issue. Even Jesus, when He was slapped, He answered back. Or He rebuked the man. Why have you slapped me? Paul said, I appealed to Caesar. And so I think it's okay from time to time. But you don't want to make it part of your life. You don't want to always defend yourself. I would say more often than not, you always err on the side of I don't need to defend myself. But there comes a time and a place where I think it's important. For example, maybe some of you, if you're on social media, and this comes and this comes, and it's good to put something in there that brings some clarity to the situation. And just exposes, sometimes to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, we need to answer the critics. But He says here, He is my defense. I shall not be moved. And God, in God, is my salvation and my glory. It's interesting how often He keeps reminding Himself that God is my salvation. And you'll see that a lot in the Psalms. As you read them, it seems repetitive, but because it's Psalms, and because it's kind of like poetry, writing from the heart. And so what He's doing, He's reminding Himself that salvation comes from God and God alone. It's a reminder of who God is. Do you ever need to remind yourself of that? I do, almost daily. That's why it's good to open up the Word and you hear about the heart of God and the character of God and the never-ending hope that we have because of Him. And that's why we shall never be moved. So we can put our name up there as well. Not just I shall never be moved, but we shall never be moved. And God is my refuge. My refuge. What is a refuge? So now we've got rocks, we've got refuge, we've got salvation, we've got all these things. A refuge is something you would run to and be safe. How many of you have heard of the cities of refuge in the Old Testament? Well, these were cities where if, let's say you accidentally killed someone, you could run to these cities because their family's after you. You killed somebody and their family's coming after you. But you can run to these, go to these cities of refuge and be able to find safety there. And so I'm sure that's what he had in mind here because those were very popular. If you read the Old Testament, they list all kinds of cities of refuge. And how that worked with the high priest and when his term was over and things like that. You can look more into. But it's a place where knowing God is my refuge. So when things get difficult, I'm gonna be able to run to Him. Not physically, but spiritually. Mentally, emotionally, I'm gonna be able to run to God. This is happening. This is falling apart. I'm gonna take refuge in you, hope in you. It's almost, and they'll use imagery like a little bird underneath the wings of the hen or the mother bird. Have you ever seen mama birds protecting? They spread out those wings and they cover their, what do you call those? Little chicklets? Little birdlets? What's a baby bird called? Well, a chicken if they're a chicken. Oh, chicks, okay. Little chicks. And trust in Him at all times, not sometimes. Trust in Him, trust in God at all times. What about if that said sometimes? Or most of the time? How many of you would be a little worried? That's why I love the certainty of Scripture. Trust in Him all the time, you people. Pour out your heart before Him. Pour out your heart before Him. Did you know it's okay to worship God and pour out your heart before Him? Get into that prayer closet and begin to pour out your heart. Cry out to God. And I believe He hears the desperate cries of His people. So again, trust in Him all the times. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Surely men of low degree are a vapor and men of high degree are a lie. In other words, it doesn't matter what your status is, you were born naked and you will return to the ground naked. Dust, I was born dust, whatever that saying is. He's saying no, high degree, low degree, rich, poor, great statue and nobility, or just a nobody, it doesn't matter. They are all vapor. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than a vapor. And I think what He's doing, He's reminding Himself that these people against Him are nothing against God. It doesn't matter their status. It doesn't matter their threats against David. He said nothing will be able to stop me when I'm on God's side. Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery. So people were trusting in oppression. That's what's happening in our nation today, correct? Oppression, oppressing, oppressing. And then with fear and uncertainty, and the more you oppress, and that's why freedom is under attack. Because you can't have freedom and oppression at the same time. And oppressed people are not free. And that's why we are very, very blessed. I think it's a God-given right that God gives people life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness is all biblical. Very biblical. Oh, and I like this one. Are you ready for this one? I've remembered this now for 20 years. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Can I tell you? Can I just stop for a minute and tell you how many lives have been ruined because of riches and wealth? And that's the key. Set your heart on them. And it happens, many Christians, that they're working hard, or they start something, or they do something, and not having a lot keeps you kind of humble. Amen? And so, as riches increase, you'll find, and we see men, they'll stop coming to church, or men's study, or stop really fellowshipping, and they've got six days a week. I'm 65, 70 hours a week, Shane. I'm gonna make this amount of money. And they set their heart on the riches. And that begins to destroy them because now that's their God. That's their focus. No longer is God in humility. Now the riches are their focus. And when is enough enough? Never for most people. When is enough enough? And some of these athletes are being paid. It's incredible. Also, you can look all this up, but all the people that win the lottery, and they're not prepared for it, it destroys them. Or if you leave something for your kids, like if people have a living trust, they usually wait for their kids to have anything until they're at least 30 or 35. People say, oh, that's kind of mean. Oh, no, you don't want to give a 20-year-old a lot of income. Hello? Because what do they do? They go from humble and gracious and working hard to now their hearts are set on the riches. It's set on the wealth. The reason is, it's a love of money that's the root of all evil. Not money. We all need this. Money at the root is a means of trading or a means of purchasing things. And I want this, so I give you this. And it's a way to exchange money and what we need and what we want sometimes. And the more we begin to, when that becomes our God, when we set our heart on that, then now our decisions are based on that. My goal is based on that. And you'll see a lot of those guys on TV that are popular. You know, that are always asking for some more donations to buy their next jet. It can happen to anyone. Christians, pastors, leaders. They start to, lots of income comes in and they start to set their hearts on that. And they have more freedom. They can buy more and do more. And so it's just a reminder. It's a great reminder. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. And I know this topic is a little controversial, but I tend to believe, because of Scripture, that it's not wrong if God wants to bless His people. I mean, you just see it throughout Scripture. Especially in the Old Testament. It's not that riches, that means you have God's favor, and if you're poor, that means you don't. No, there's solid believers in all walks of life. But it appears that God's blessing doesn't always mean a million dollars in the bank. That could mean the washer and dryer working for a long time, and the refrigerator not going out, and my car working and not accidents, and just blessing them. Don't you like to just be filled with joy in your home? Not necessarily a big bank account? That leads to depression and misery, because the more you own, the more owns you. And if these riches increase, if God decides to bless you, do not set your heart on them. And I don't teach a lot on tithing. Only when it comes up, as you know, we don't pass the plate, we don't push it. God's done incredible things ever since we started. But there is something very valuable when we tithe, or if you don't like the 10% tithe, whatever, I mean, God loves a cheerful giver, so whatever that means, right? But there's something that happens, it happens to me too, where when we get that wallet out and we give back to God, an amount that kind of hurts a little, you know, you're making 300,000 a year and you give 20 bucks a month, they're probably not gonna, and not to the church, I just mean anywhere. You know, Salvation Army, Care Net, I mean, wherever you want to give it. I'm not gonna give God that which costs me nothing. It's a principle. And what giving this, it's a great release on making sure this money doesn't control you. Correct? Because when you're giving, let's say, a car payment and living below your means in order to give to God, as God increases you, you're able to give back more and give back more. It's like, to me, it's a restrainer. Anybody remember, my age or older, governors in the cars? Bill, you remember those? Do they still put governors in the cars? Oh, they do. Okay. Well, my dad put on my Chevy Blazer when I was 16 and I could only go so fast. It governed the speed and the fuel that was being released. And my e-bike is governed at 20 miles an hour. And I can't keep up with Tim because of it. It governs that. And so that's what giving is. And people are, the church just wants the money. We don't want money, we don't need the money, God has it, but you need to know the spiritual breakthroughs that can happen by giving. It's incredible. It's incredible. It's like, hey, this doesn't have a hold on me, I'm gonna give back. This doesn't have a hold on me, I'm gonna give back. And we've been challenged over the years, me and my wife, when we first started giving and God would grow things and it's like, oh, that's a car payment. You know, it's like, ah. But the problem was we wanted to increase our living. Bigger, better, more expensive. And then it was a problem. That's why when riches increase, do not set your heart on them. So there's nothing wrong, I believe, with God blessing His people. Financially, we don't set our hearts on that. It's not part of Christianity and that's where people get in trouble. You've heard the prosperity gospel. The reason that's caught a lot of heat is they take something that's somewhat true, but then they say God doesn't want you to, I mean, if you're poor, you're not spiritual. There must be lack of faith in your life. Well, what do you do with like a billion Christians across the globe? I mean, they're just not gonna, when the bishop came from Africa, we met for a while and talked and he talked about how the pastors, you know, they'll even come to a conference 400 miles away. They'll ride on their bicycle or their motorcycle and they'll sleep in the dirt on these little cots and you're gonna tell them, oh man, you just don't have enough faith? See, that's the damning effect of the prosperity gospel. What happens is God maybe blesses some people. Like, oh, this is what He's gonna do for everyone. All you need to do is believe. All you need to do is give me your first thousand, right? So the bigger seed you sow, the bigger the return will be. That's the prosperity gospel. It's a warped gospel because there's no, the prosperity gospel shouldn't even be in the same word. The gospel is God, Jesus saving sinners. It has nothing to do with prosperity, rich or poor. But because, and it's only because we live in a place that God has blessed, right? Let's not forget this. We live in a place that God has blessed. And because of that, we reap the fruit of the seeds that were planted centuries ago. We are reaping that. And so because of that, those who came before us, there are blessings that we can have financially. But the key is, and that's what, what does God want us to steward? And I believe some people can't handle a lot of wealth. And God knows it. Some people can. And they're able to just manage it well and give out it well, help people out that you don't even know about, making their house payment, buying a car. And God has used them to be a blessing because money doesn't have a hold on them. But when money has a hold on you, we've set our heart on it. So think about it. Even if it's not here, even if it's just to a ministry in general, if a person doesn't want to give, yet why? Why just don't trust? Well, find something you do trust. I mean, there's got to be a, and I've had people come up, and they'll say, well, God doesn't believe in tithe anymore. Right, but that shouldn't be an excuse against giving. Because what do you do if God loves a cheerful giver? What do you do if they collected offerings at the churches to help pay for it? It's just, we love our money so much that we make excuses and we say things in the Bible that are not there. So again, if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. And also, wherever God has you, He's got you. You don't have to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. The prosperity gospel says you're always going to be wealthy. And if you're not wealthy, it's because you lack faith. If you're not wealthy, it's because you're not giving. It also says you should never be sick. And that's a whole other topic. I've got a YouTube video out there when God heals and doesn't heal. You can watch that for more information on that topic. But the bottom line is, in that area as well, they take something that's, you know, it's in the Bible that God does heal. God, you know, sickness is part of the curse. But to say that all of us should be healthy and never sick? I mean, there's just so many problems with that as well. And then verse 11, God has spoken once, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God alone. Amen? Power belongs to God alone. So as we look to everything going on in our nation, and I just don't want to be a doomsday prophet, but I'm not too sure about 2024. If you look at the financial crisis, you look at the political environment, you look at the open borders and what they have created with the terrorism, it's gonna be interesting. But I'm reminded that God has power. God has power to convert the terrorists. God has power to help those who cross our border that really need the help, and to expose those who are wicked. And God can put people in positions of power. And I don't know what that looks like. It's gonna be very interesting. I think this will be probably one of the most interesting elections maybe in the history of our country. Maybe in the history of our country because of just the political climate is so intense. I'll just go on a little tirade here if that's okay. Not political per se, not party, but just, there's a lot of people you need to realize, as Christians, we have to roll with the punches, pretty much. People ask, are you ready for a civil war? I'm like, well, what does that mean? I'm gonna grab my gun and go, do what? Because as Christians, we love, and there's gotta be a better way, right? But there's a lot of good people who feel differently. They cannot have another Biden. That's what, I mean, they're like, you're gonna push this group over, there's like 100,000 veterans that are ticked off. And then you have this other side that says there's no way in the world we can have Trump again, no matter what it takes. And they're serious. And that's why there could be assassination attempts, I believe, early on. You'll see. Maybe, I don't know. But both sides are so volatile right now. Either you can look, and I see, it's like, whoa, this is incredible. Because things are so challenging right now. One side blames this group, one side blames this group, and they can't have another four years because either side thinks that person's gonna take us down the toilet. And when you start, when banks start, runs on the banks, or big banks start closing, or say, hey, can't access money this weekend, and the food shortage, I don't know if you've watched any documentaries on farmers, and what's happening to a lot of the farming land and things. It's very interesting. Chinese and Bill Gates, it's not conspiracy theories. This is all documented things that are going on. So when food scarcity, and then you've got the political climate, financial issues, you think everyone's just gonna be nice and loving, and it could be very interesting. My point is, power belongs to God. So we look to Him, we trust in Him. Say, Lord, no matter what happens, like Job, you need to get a little Job inside of you that says, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. What can man do to me? If God be for me, what can man do to me? Also, to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each one according to His works. I don't know who needs to hear this tonight, but it's so important, that last sentence. God will render to each one according to His work. What you sow, you will reap. If you're sowing into righteousness, you will reap righteousness. If you're sowing into the flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh. It's clear here. God renders to each one, in other words, that word render is He gives to each person according to their work. According to, now you could put this into what we just talked about with finances as well. God is a rewarder of those who work hard. I believe in that. I believe that's a biblical, very, very biblical. The people, even in the Old Testament, they worked and they ate. They didn't work, they didn't eat. And then there's people in the middle, the poor and the disabled, they were allowed to go and gather around the edges of the farms and they were to help them. But it was clear that these people, and that's why even it's ironic that people forget about all these verses that talk about working hard and maybe having two jobs. You can't go wrong working harder. You can go wrong often getting in lazy mode. And I've been there before, especially when I was younger. Each one according to his work. Each one according to his work. And that could apply in so many different areas. What we talked about financially as well, the more they invest, the more they give. And I've noticed the more you give, God gives back. And even when you work hard, God begins to bless that work. It's just like a farmer. They plant one seed and they get a full crop. God multiplies from that one area. And that's how it works. God honors hard work and sometimes it takes a while. That's why they call it pounding the pavement. Remember those days? It's good to do that. And then he goes right into Psalm 63. Oh God, You are my God. And I won't spend too much time on this one because some of it's repetitive. Oh God, You are my God. Reminding ourself and reminding Himself. Isn't that good that we have a God that looks at us personally? A personal Lord, a personal Savior, Jesus Christ. Our God who we can go into that prayer closet. We can cry out to Him. We can ask Him. And that God, the more I think about it, blows my mind that the God of the entire universe, the God of over everything, has time to listen to what I'm saying and even direct me and encourage me and lead me. That is amazing. I mean, it's one thing He saved us and you believe and that's it, hey, I'll see you in heaven someday. That's it. You just kind of live your life and follow the Bible. But it's a God who's a personal God who directs, who leads, who guides. And that's why early I will seek you. Early I will seek you. I know you late risers, this is a little convicting. Oh, no amens on that one, right? But it's okay, if God has you seeking Him in the late evening, go for it. I think it's whenever you have the highest amount of energy is best. You don't give God your lowest amount of energy. You give Him the best. And I think it's Ian Bounds, I'm gonna butcher the quote, but he said something like, he who fritters away the early morning hours will have little headway the rest of the day with God. It's that, no matter when you get up, it's that freshness. The day, the sun coming up, it's that freshness. Early will I seek you. Remember that word seek. It's like, I'm going to look for you as if I lost something. Or I need to find it, it's so important. On my way here, I heard an analogy by Adrian Rogers. And he said, if you knew you had a million dollars worth of gold buried in your backyard, would you seek for it? Come on. You'd be stopping by Home Depot and buying a shovel. Not me. I'd be going to Caterpillar and renting a little excavator. That's what I'd be doing. Into the whole backyard. But that's how we seek. And the Bible talks about seeking God's kingdom like a buried treasure. And so early will I seek you, just like, oh, can you, see, you have to train your mind. I do too. And get back to saying, there's buried treasure in that Word of God. There's buried treasure to help me parent and lead my family and lead my kids and be a better leader and a better whatever you are. And fill in the blank with what you do. It's like finding buried treasure and I will seek Him and look for that treasure. Trust me, that will change your whole prayer life, your whole morning focus, versus, oh, I guess I gotta get up. Pretty tired. Let me read the Bible. Oh, I'm in Leviticus again. But I'm telling you, there's some hard chapters, but there's some buried treasure in Leviticus. Understanding the Levitical priesthood. Understanding the blood of bulls and goats that were shed temporarily. And just so much truth is in there. So my soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. Wait a minute, I don't think my flesh longs, like the flesh is against God. Well, in this case, what he's saying is like when I get thirsty for water, my soul thirsts after you in that same way. As my body gets hungry, ever been there? You're right, it's hungry. As my flesh longs for food, so I long for you. It's like I'm in a dry and thirsty land and he's filling that, the weight of what's going on. And sometimes as you've drifted away from God, you can also feel as if you're dying spiritually. But he said, I will seek you. I will seek you and here's why. My soul is thirsty for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So he's paralleling it as if there's no water and he will still seek God because he knows he will find that living water. So I've looked for you in the sanctuary. And when David wrote this, they would have the temple and it wouldn't look like this, of course, we call this a sanctuary, but they would have the temple and then inside that temple was the sanctuary. And so he would go there and look and find God. And then when I went there, I saw your power. I saw your glory. I love that word glory, it means weight. I saw your weight. There's a heaviness to God, isn't there? I don't know about you, but when I walk into a church, it's a lot different feeling than when I walk into Costco. There's a, isn't there? There's a weight. There's a weight. Sometimes I feel like slipping off my shoes, right? This is holy ground. Now we know that God's everywhere, but sometimes there's a place where there's some weight. The atmosphere, I talk about this, is electric with his presence. And again, that's biblical. There's many examples. Have you heard of in the verse where his Shekinah glory filled the temple? They couldn't even minister. The priest couldn't, can you imagine? It's so thick, they can't even minister. What's their response to fall down on their faces? Or when God was on the mountain and Moses was there and the whole place shook and the dark clouds. That, see, atmosphere matters. Tell me that, oh, I would have loved to have been in that upper room when the Holy Spirit fell upon the 120. You think that atmosphere was just a normal atmosphere? God's glory, His presence, His weight. And we've let weird people rob us of these words and of a God-given experience. I believe that, don't you? Sometimes now the church is so worried that I don't want that to happen that I saw on YouTube. Well, neither do I. But there is something very special in God's glory. God's weight is there. And He said, God, because of Your loving kindness, Your loving kindness is better than life, and I can second that. God's loving kindness, His love, His mercy, what He pours out on us and where we should be, oh, goodness gracious, where we should be had it not been for the Lord on our side. His loving kindness, it is better than life. My lips shall praise You. And that's the posture of our lips. Be careful because your lips carry life and death are in the power of the tongue. Now that verse has been abused and misused and misquoted, but it's very true. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. What we say carries weight. How many adults are in here or listening, maybe even later, that you are battered and bruised inside because of the words that were said to you as a young child? I think all of us, most of us, unless you had perfect parents, but I remember my dad called me lebriches and chubby and all kinds of things. You know, just joking, right? You know, lebriches, your pants are down. Come on, chubby, come on, this. Come on, stupid. Right? And these words. Actually, I don't remember a lot of the words that people call me when I'm older. Like, whatever. Because I think you're already established. Like I keep telling my kids, I know you want to be and impress everybody at school or your age, but in a couple years, it's not going to matter. All these people you're trying to impress, golly, what was that about? And so you do grow into it. And words still carry weight, I believe, in marriage and different things, but there's something at that tender, young age where kids are being shaped. And if you've done damage, praise God, you can also begin to repair it because words give life. So the words that gave death can begin to give life. And all of us have said things and reacted in ways that are not appropriate. But thank God for His loving-kindness. My lips shall praise You. What do we do with our lips? And a personal confession, I need to work on this. I probably need to get better. More praise, more encouragement. And how many type A people we have out there? Linda, raise your hand. Lot, right? We got it because we're a little snippety. We're a little, you know, it's good when it's in the right direction. You've had two, yeah, raise your hand. There's a lot more type A's, you didn't raise your hands. But you know, sometimes our words aren't as gracious and loving and our lips need to speak truth, yes, but also love and grace. And because of this, I will bless you while I live. This psalm's already pumping me up for tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I just want to get in the Word. I want to love Him. I want His loving-kindness to flow over me. I want to praise His holy name. I want to encourage other people. And I want to bless them. Lord, thank You. I will lift up my hands in Your name. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I will lift up my hands in Your name. And that's why I think, speaking on personal experience, on this topic, obviously, you don't force people to raise their hands. I mean, that's not a sign of anything, but sometimes it's a sign of expression. For me, it's hard to just like, when God's just singing that song, or Brant was on Hallelujah, it's a remake, I think, of a song, but just those lyrics, it's like, thank You, Lord. I mean, if I could even lift higher, God, come and take me. God, come and grab me. It's just an expression. That's how we express ourselves. And I know when I was younger, I never did it because of pride. Can I be honest? Because of pride. My mom's Pentecostal church, I'm like, golly, these are weird people. These are weird people. But I'm not weird getting drunk and shooting at each other with shotguns. Henry, you know, you knew me back then too, huh? He was a good guy. He didn't shoot at me, no. Yes, a lot of parties. And that's my point is, we either lift up our hands to God or we lift up our heart to the enemy. It's really just a posture. So maybe, I don't know, it's here. Maybe it's an encouragement for some of you in the near future to feel that freedom. Just to feel that freedom. And that brokenness. And it happens sometimes. People come up and they'll say, I don't like when you tell us to come to the altar. Like, well, I think that has more to do with you than me. Well, golly, I'm saying this out of 600, 700 people here on Sunday, I'm saying that because of one person? And what is that? It's a conviction. That's a conviction. I don't like when you say that. And same thing with worship. Now you don't have to do that at all, but there should be a heart examination, like why am I having a hard time expressing myself to God? And I only tell you from my experience because that's how I was raised. I mean, if my dad saw me doing that, I would be embarrassed. Because it was, you know, man's man. Boys, you fight, you get up. You know, like, that's for women. That's for weak people. What are you doing? And so I know that still plays a role in our hearts sometimes. You know, just that stoic. Stoic, I am the rock of Gibraltar. Well, God needs to break that rock with a sledgehammer sometimes. My mouth shall be satisfied with morrow and fatness. Morrow is from the bone. It's actually really healthy. And fatness, He's saying, so in the same way that my body physically is satisfied by marrow and fatness, my soul shall be satisfied in you. And my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. Oh, when I remember you on my bed, I meditate you on my night watches. Do you know it's very typical for a Christian, very good for a Christian, before they go to sleep, whatever they read, and they're meditating on God. And most Christians are not going to bed with the right things on their minds. They're skimming through social media. Watching things they shouldn't be watching. And we're not meditating on God. And then we wake up depressed. We wake up not full of God's Spirit. We wake up and we don't want to read the Bible. I can tell you often it's directly related to what you went to bed with in your mind that night. Because you either feast and feed on God's Word and wake up with that hunger, or you feed your mind on things that are not good and appropriate and righteous. And it draws you away from God. That's just, when Paul said, finally, Philippians, church, whatever things are pure and honest and noble and right, meditate on these things. That just doesn't have to do with throughout the day either. I think what we put in at night is so important. My soul will follow close behind you. Your right hand upholds me. It's interesting, God doesn't have a right hand. God is Spirit. But the Bible says, those who fall, He will uphold with His right hand. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And even when He falls, He will pull him up by the right hand. The right was always a position of authority and strength. And I believe, well, don't quote me on this, but it just came to my mind. I think when He judges, aren't the goats on His left? Or something's on His left? We love left-handers. That's okay. Don't worry about that. But there's something about the left side that has to do with judgment. And the right side is God's strength. But those who seek my life to destroy it, they will go down into the lower parts of the earth. Man, David is getting confident now. They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for the jackals. The Old Testament's brutal, isn't it? They're gonna die by the sword and the animals are gonna eat them. But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by Him shall glory. So what does it mean for us to glory? Well, again, that weight. Everyone who swears by Him, everyone who looks to God, that same glory, that same weight of God is gonna be manifest in your own life. Have you ever seen those people? They are very spiritual. You know, they spent time with God. That atmosphere, that glory, that weight is upon them. And when they pray for you, you can tell. When they talk to you, you can tell. And that's what that glory means. It's not what we think of glory and the definition of the Webster's Dictionary. It's a weight of God's presence and it's a weight of being used by God. And they will have that glory. But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. The mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. So now you can see how much you can get out of just Psalm 62. 62 and 63. Just two Psalms. And what you do, you don't read it to read it. Like, how quick can I get through this? You meditate on it. Chew on it. There's so many times, I'll read, I'll just put my marker in there, I'll just close the Bible. God, you are so awesome. This is incredible. Or God, help me in this area. For example, that one with riches. If it prospers, God, keep my heart steady. And Lord, as I lift up holy hands to You, I lift up my children before You and protect my marriage as well, Lord. We come against the enemy and you begin to meditate and God's Word becomes a weapon. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not physical. And so God's Word, it's not just to be read, but it's to be meditated upon. As we meditate upon it, that's where a lot of the practical application will come out as well. Remember when we first went, gosh, when did we start Psalms? A year and a half ago? Very first thing we read. Who remembers? That's okay. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. My King James is coming out. Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in it he doth meditate, meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by living waters who will bear its fruit in season and everything he does will not, shall not wither. Praise God. And so you just meditate on that. And see, you allow God's Word to come alive in your heart and it begins to grip you and you begin to pray for certain things and then you want more of the Word and more of the Word and more of God and you begin to seek Him like it talks about, like losing that treasure and seeking God. It's a matter like David of getting back on track and back on track and back on track and meditating on God's Word.