God's Word: Hope for the Heart

Let's pray together Father, we thank you so much for today and the opportunity we have to be in the Word of God What a joy it is to know that you are the one who provides hope for hearts that are discouraged, that are downcast, that are depressed, that see no future You enable them to see the truth of your Word We pray tonight that, Lord, we would see as a psalmist saw how God's Word truly provides the hope when all else fails In Jesus' name we pray, amen Psalm 119 is our study this evening Psalm 119 verses 57 down through verse number 64

We have had a great opportunity to study this section of the Bible Psalm 119 consists of 22 sections, each beginning with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet And this symmetry, this poetry that's been put together by the Spirit of God enables us to understand what God has for us every single day of our lives The psalmist knew that his only hope was in God He realized that upon all kinds of loss, and we don't know exactly what kind of loss the psalmist faced, he didn't become discouraged or depressed He was a man who believed and hoped in his God

He was a man who would trust in his God, and thus he was able to experience the greatness of his God And what we see in Psalm 119 verses 57 and following is how God gives hope to the discouraged heart How God gives hope to the heart that has, for all practical purposes, no hope God lifts that heart and shows how it is his word will minister to you Great section of scripture. I find it would be a great blessing in my own personal life And I've had such a wonderful time studying Psalm 119 And I'm not sure it's as much a blessing to you as it is to me, but you know, if it's not, I'm sorry

It's just a great blessing to me and I'm, I'm so glad that we have the opportunity to study together So what we're going to do is do what we've always done. I'll read the odd verses You read the even verses, read them loud So those who one day will listen on the radio and those who will one day listen by way of CD or tape will be able to hear your sweet angelic voices as you reiterate the words of God Okay. I'll read the odd ones You read the even ones Make sure you read them really loud

Verse 57, the Lord is my portion. I have promised to keep thy words. I considered my ways and turn my feet to thy testimonies The cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten thy law At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances. I am a companion of all those who fear thee and of those who keep thy precepts The earth is full of your loving kindness, O Lord, teach me your statutes The psalmist has hope His hope resides within his heart and tonight I want to talk to you about how that actually happens

And as we understand the psalmist, no matter what it is he lost because we know that he had experienced some kind of thievery, some kind of robbery in his life And while it might not be a physical robbery for you when someone comes in and actually steals some of your possessions, they could steal your purity They could come in and steal from you and rob you of all kinds of emotional promises They can come in and deal with you in a way that you feel so discouraged that you can't make it another day and you lose hope And yet God's word provides for you the hope you need to have

Six things I want to cover with you this evening, they're in your outline. I want to look first of all at his conviction, then his determination, his opposition, his passion, his association, and then lastly his realization We'll begin with his conviction He had a deep conviction, it's found in verse number 57 It says, the Lord is my portion, I have promised to keep thy words The reason the psalmist had hope is because what he lost was not nearly as important to him as what he had

In other words, because he had the Lord as his portion, no matter what it is he lost, God was the preeminent one in his life Now think of it this way When we say I'd like to have a portion of something, we talk about it in English as something that's a part of something So give me a portion of pie, that means I'm going to have a quarter of the pie or maybe a piece of the pie or maybe half of the pie But in the Hebrew, the word portion means entirety It means preeminence It means the whole kit and caboodle, okay? It's everything involved And the psalmist says, the Lord is my portion

The Lord is my everything That's a good substitute word The Lord is my everything Because God is everything to me, because my Lord is everything to me, he means more to me than anything that I have Whatever I lose, it's okay Because God is my portion Let me show you how that's explained throughout the Bible Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 10 Jeremiah chapter 10, and we begin to understand how the gods of this world, the idols that man makes, are nothing compared to the portion of God and who he is

It says in verse 11, thus you shall say to them, the gods that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens Verse 12, it is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom and by his understanding, he has stretched out the heavens When he utters his voice, there is tumult of waters in the heavens and he causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth He makes lightning for the rain and brings out the wind from the storehouses Every man is stupid

Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge That's become my new favorite verse, Jeremiah 10, verse number 14 Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his molten images are deceitful and there is no breath in them They are worthless, a work of mockery In the time of their punishment, they will perish Verse 16, here it is, the portion of Jacob is not like these For the maker of all is he and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance The Lord of hosts is his name

You see, the maker of the world, the creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the portion of Israel, is what they have They have God He is their inheritance And the gods of this world, all the idols that we erect in our hearts and in our minds, all the things that we seek after cannot be compared to our God, because he is everything That's why Paul would say over in Colossians chapter 1, verse number 17, he said, and he that is Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together

He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have first place in everything God needs to be first place in everything He needs to truly be the portion of your life He truly needs to be the supreme one in your life You see, when God is number one, when God is everything, when God is your portion, no matter what you lose, you don't become discouraged, because you have everything you need in Jesus Christ our Lord He's king, he's sovereign, he rules over all

Listen to Psalm 16, verse number 1, Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in thee. I said to the Lord, Thou art my Lord, I have no good besides thee In other words, there is nothing good that I have in my life except the goodness of God And then he says in verse number 5, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup Thou dost support my lot God is good Not only is he good, he is my everything, he is my portion

The lions have fallen to me in pleasant places, indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me, indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken

You see, because God was the portion of the psalmist, in other words, he was everything to the psalmist, he realized that everything good comes from God, there's really nothing good but God, therefore he is my portion, therefore I put God continually before me, therefore I will rejoice continually because God is the focus of my life You see, the reason we become discouraged and disgruntled in our lives is because God isn't everything to us He's not the focus of our lives

And Satan seeks to distract us and get our minds off of God onto those circumstances and when they do, then our heart becomes overwhelmed by the negativity of those circumstances And yet the psalmist realizes that God was his everything, God was his portion Look over in Lamentations, I'm sorry, Psalm 73, before we go to Lamentations, Psalm 73, verse number 25, whom have I in heaven but thee, and besides thee I desire nothing on earth Whoa! Who can say that? Who here can say that? I desire nothing on earth but thee

Then he says, my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my, here it is again, portion forever He is my everything forever He is the sum of all things in my life forever And therefore, he says, those who are far from thee will perish, thou hast destroyed all those who are unfaithful to thee, but as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all thy works You see, when God is your portion, just the fact that he's near you is all you need It's good enough And that was the psalmist

That's why he had this conviction in his heart because God was his portion Look at Lamentations chapter 3, a very familiar verse, but sometimes we don't read far enough to understand it So, Lamentations 3, verse number 23, or verse number 22, the Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness Verse 24, the Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in him The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him, it is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord

You see, even Jeremiah understood, even with the destruction of Jerusalem, and their continual weeping over the fact that they had lost that holy city, the Lord was his portion, and therefore he could hope in the God of his life You see, we have to ask ourselves the question, is God everything to us? Does he mean more to me than my marriage? Does he mean more to me than my job? Does he mean more to me than the money I'm able to make or to inherit? Does he mean more to me than anything else in the world? Folks, that is so important

Remember back in Joshua chapter 13, as Joshua divvied up the land in each of the 12 tribes, had a spot of land there in Canaan But there was the priestly tribe, the tribe of Levi, who didn't have a portion of land divvied out to them Instead, they occupied 48 cities throughout the land, because God had a plan for the Levites He had a plan for them to be a model to the rest of the people Listen to what it says, Joshua 13, verse 33 You see, Levi was to be an example that the Lord was more important than the land

And the Levites, that priestly tribe, became an example to follow that even though they didn't have a plot of land, they had the Lord of the land as their portion In other words, for the priests, the Lord was everything And they would be a constant reminder to the children of Israel that even though you received the promise of your inheritance, that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you were in that land, in Canaan, the Lord of the land always had to be the most important thing in your life

And I read that and I think to myself, I wonder if the people of Christ Community Church know that as a priest, biblically speaking, as a bishop, as an elder, as a pastor, that the people of Christ Community Church know that the Lord of the land is more important to the pastor than anything else You see, as you lead in the church, you've got to show the church that the most important thing in all the world is your relationship with Jesus Christ Everything else is secondary

As a leader in your family, what you show to your family is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life How do you do that? You hope in the Word of God You trust in God You believe in Him He is the preeminent one It comes to a point where, you know, I told you this before, we can talk about God's sovereignty, but it's hard to live God's sovereignty, isn't it? We like to teach, oh, God is sovereign Psalm 115, verse number 3 says, The Lord is in the heavens He does whatever He pleases God is sovereign God rules over all Until, until you lose your job

Until your husband or your wife leaves you Until a physical ailment overcomes you Then can you live the sovereignty of God See the difference? Is the Lord your portion? Is He everything to you? Does He mean more to you than your health? Does He mean more to you than your job? Does He mean more to you than your marriage? Does He mean more to you than everything else? That's how your heart is able to hope It's because God reigns supreme in your life That's the way it needs to be For all of us

Remember what God told Abraham? Way back in Genesis chapter 15? After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram In a vision saying, remember what I told you before? Genesis 15 is the first time the phrase, The word of the Lord is used in the Bible Okay? So, remember, the book of Genesis is about first things And the first time they're mentioned is very significant, as it relates to your life and mine So, the word of the Lord comes to Abram, and the Lord says, Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield to you Your reward shall be very great

Literal translation, I am a shield to you, and I am your very great reward In other words, Abraham, you've got to realize that I'm your reward. I'm it There's nothing else If you don't have me, you have nothing If you have me, you have everything And I am your very great reward, Abraham And Abraham learned to live that life that trusted in God as his ultimate reward See, I like to say to you that, listen, the greatest reward you'll ever have in life is Jesus Christ That's it That's all you need He's everything He's the preeminent one He holds all things together We read in Colossians chapter 1

He holds all things together Without Him, everything would disintegrate Nothing would be able to stay together if it wasn't for God Your body would disintegrate if it wasn't for God The universe would disintegrate if it wasn't for God holding it together And how does God hold it together? Hebrews 1 tells us, He holds it together with the word of His mouth It's all held together with His word Remember the song, He's got the whole world in His hands? No, He doesn't He doesn't He's got the whole world held together by the word of His mouth He holds it together with a breath

That's the power of God And He needs to be your portion The psalmist realized that And the psalmist was so overjoyed And because God was his portion, listen to what he says He says, I have promised to keep Thy words How do you know God is the portion of your life? The sum total of all things in your life How do you know God is everything to you? You make a promise to keep His word You promise to keep His word Listen, if God's everything, all you want to do is do everything for Him

You want to honor Him with your attitude? You want to honor Him with your words? You want to honor Him with your life? You just want to give all you have to God And that's what the psalmist said Lord, you're my portion. I make this promise to you. I'm going to keep your words He realized the value of those words to him They were the very breath of God And what does Christ say in John 14? If you love me, obey me If you truly love me, and we have a relationship together, then you will obey what I say The psalmist had that

That's why when I listen to the words of Charles Wesley, he writes, Thou, O Lord, are all I want More than all in Thee I find More than all I need, I find No matter what I'm looking for, no matter what I think I need, I know that in you, Lord, I have everything Folks, that's where God wants us to be That's the direction we need to be heading That God means more to us than anything else

Where are you this evening? What means more to you than God? What means more to you than the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember over in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 2, the Lord asks this question. I know we're spending a lot of time on point one, but the other ones will go a little quicker, Lord willing Jeremiah chapter 2, the Lord says in verse number 5, What injustice did your fathers find in me that they went far from me and walked after emptiness? And became empty God says, let me ask you a question

Was there some injustice found in me that would cause your fathers to forsake me and walk away? And what they went after was nothing but emptiness And thus they became what? Empty Now you read that and you think, why would they walk away from God? What's wrong with them? So God asks a very legitimate question

Why is it your fathers would walk away? Is there some injustice in me? Did I do something wrong? Is it my fault? Was I not true to my word? Did I forsake them? Was I not sensitive to them and their situation, their need? Did I not feed them in the wilderness? Did I not take care of them day by day? Did I not protect them? Did I not rescue them? Did I not redeem them? Did I not do that? Or was I unjust? Well they went after something else that was completely empty Futile Vain Nothing Zero Zilch Nada And they came to be what? Zeros Nothing Verse 6

They did not say, where was the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of deep darkness, through a land that no one crossed and where no man dwelt And I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things But you came and defiled my land and my inheritance you made in an abomination The priests did not say, where is the Lord? And those who handle the law did not know me The rulers also transgressed against me

And the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that did not profit Why? God says Why does someone do that? What would cause someone to walk away from God and go after emptiness and thus become empty? And the Lord says these words in verse 12 He says, Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder Be very desolate, declares the Lord For my people have committed two evils They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water The Lord God says, Stand back and listen to this This will appall you

This will be the most shuddering thing you've ever heard This will be the most unbelievable scene you've ever experienced My people have forsaken me. I am the well of living water. I am the one who feeds them and cares for them, takes care of them And you know what they did? They forsook me And you know what they did? They dug for themselves wells that hold no water They went after emptiness and thus became empty They thirsted in their souls for everything that I wanted to give them and they forsook me and they went after the things of the world that could not satisfy the desire of their soul

The most astonishing thing in all the world, the most unbelievable thing ever to walk the face of the earth is when someone forsakes the living God and goes after the gods of the world to be satisfied That is so unbelievable Why would someone do that? And you see, when God is not your portion, he's not your everything, you will look to fill the void in your life with idols that will only increase the void in your life And God's been there all along

And God says, have I done some injustice to you? Have I done something that would cause you to turn from me? What have I done? I just rescued you from Egypt Gave you water in the wilderness Fed you from heaven Protected you, watched over you And yet you turned your back on me But the psalmist, it wasn't like that The Lord is my portion and therefore I make this promise. I will do what you say, God. I will do what you say His conviction was based on the fact that God was his portion And then listen to his petition He says this, I entreated the favor, or thy favor, with all my heart

Be gracious to me according to thy word. I entreated thy favor. I entreated thee because of thy grace and because of thy mercy You see, there's something about a person who experiences the portion of God The fact that God is everything to him The more God is to him, the more he realizes his need for God's favor upon him He knows he can't make it from day to day He knows he's completely dependent upon God He needs him for every breath He needs him for every job He needs him for every ministry He needs God for everything he does He can't make it without him

And therefore he depends completely upon him for everything And so he cries with this petition, Oh God, I entreat thee that thy favor would be upon me According to thy word, he beseeches God based on the authority of the word of God See, the reason the man has hope is because God's word gives him that hope It gives him the drive and the desire to reach out to his God and plead with his God and entreat his God to show favor upon him He does it with all of his heart There's no hypocrisy there

There's no front that he's trying to give off to people that they might perceive him to be one way when in reality he's another It's with his whole heart He beseeches his God And that's his petition So he has this conviction that the God is his portion He is his everything And because God is his everything, he will obey what he says and he will entreat God to be merciful and gracious to him according to the word of God His conviction leads to his determination Verse 59. I considered my ways and turned my feet to thy testimonies Here was his determination Perfect obedience Perfect obedience

He said, I considered my ways Folks, we don't spend much time doing that But because God was his portion and because he petitioned his God to show favor upon him, he was always having God continually as his focus because God was the primary figure in his life His God was everything to him He couldn't help but consider the way he was going He considered his ways There was a deliberation on his part There was a time where he would sit and think about, okay, this is what I'm doing He made a decision based upon his deliberation

And that decision then became a determination to perfectly obey the word of God and not to turn from it He says, I considered my ways and then I turned my feet to thy testimonies Listen, it does you no good to come to church to consider your ways without turning your feet toward obedience to God James talks about that in James chapter 1 We gotta be more than just hearers of the word We gotta be doers of the word, right? You gotta change what you hear Well, the psalmist was that way That's why there was hope in his life

That's why he wouldn't be discouraged because he determined in his heart to do what God says He determined to perfectly obey Now, can you perfectly obey God? No, you can't You can't do that But it doesn't mean it can't be your determination, right? That's what he wanted to do That was his goal That was his object. I considered my ways and when I did, I turned my feet and I followed the word of God. I turned around and I did what God wanted me to do and obey his word And then it says, I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments

See, not only was it perfect obedience, it was prompt obedience Isn't that good? I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments Folks, we can't afford to hesitate He who hesitates is.. See, you know that phrase, right? He who hesitates is lost You can't afford to hesitate You can't afford to wait You go to church, you hear the sermon, and what are you going to do? Well, I'll think about it. I'll think about what the word of the Lord says. I'll pray about it some more Listen, folks, one good word of caution is that you never need to pray about what God says you need to do

Just kind of do it. I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments The psalmist didn't say, I considered my ways, and then I prayed about how to turn my feet He didn't say that. I considered my ways, and I realized that my way was the wrong way He says, I didn't consider God's ways. I considered my ways My ways were not the right ways So what did I do? I turned around, and I did God's way And how did I do it? I did it just like that. I did it quickly Folks, we spend our lives in the delay lane spiritually We do

We just don't have prompt obedience. A man by the name of Robert Laidlaw had written a book called, The Reason Why He concludes his presentation of the gospel by confronting Satan's final tactic in the soul of one who is almost persuaded And this is how he closes Tomorrow, he promised his conscience, tomorrow I mean to believe Tomorrow I'll think as I ought to Tomorrow the Savior receive Tomorrow I'll conquer those habits which hold me from heaven away But ever God's Spirit insisted one word and one only today Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow Thus day after day it went on

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow Till youth like a vision had gone And age with its passions had written the message of fate on his brow And out of the shadows came death with his pitiless syllable, now You see, we spend our whole lives in the delay lane Tomorrow, I'll get it right Tomorrow, I'll ask forgiveness Tomorrow, I'll seek reconciliation Tomorrow, I'll give my life to Christ But not today And there's no guarantee of tomorrow None whatsoever

And the psalmist says I hastened, I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments. I received probably one of the most beautiful letters I have ever received as a pastor. I got home yesterday My daughter went and got the mail. I opened up the letter and I couldn't believe what was written in the letter The individual said these words Dear pastor, I need to ask your forgiveness for falling asleep on Sunday morning And then went on to say what had taken place that day This individual said, I'm on medication. I usually take it at 6 a.m. in the morning But on Sunday, I took it at 9 a.m

And I was unable to stay awake And then they said, and I ask that you please forgive me. I will never make that mistake again Folks, I've had a lot of people write me letters. I've had a lot of people fall asleep in church But nobody ever asked my forgiveness for falling asleep in church See, that's a person who hastened and did not delay to keep the commandments of God Now, did I know they had fallen asleep? No. I can't see past the third pew. I don't know if you're asleep or not Half the time, I think most of you are asleep You never respond You don't say anything out there

So I figure, hey, you're all asleep What difference does it make, you know? And maybe you'll buy the tape and listen to it later. I don't know But the bottom line is that this person was so convicted, so convicted Did not know that I did not see them But their conscience was pricked in such a way that they would even think of falling asleep in church See, that's a person who loves the Lord right there. I don't care if everybody fell asleep in church as long as they wrote me a letter and asked for forgiveness for doing so

You know what I'm saying? I mean, it was amazing. I was so touched by that letter And I've had people sit against me and I've had people ask forgiveness from me for many things But nobody has ever done that before And I was really, I was really touched. I called my mom and my dad. I said, you guys got to hear this My mom and dad, they're getting up in years You know what I'm saying? And I said, you got to hear it Let me read this letter to you. I read the letter to you And my mom and dad just said, that individual loves the Lord

Because for them to be so sensitive to something that you never saw and probably would never see, knows that they were pricked in the soul and wanted to make sure that they got things right How many times we sit against a brother and we do not hasten to keep the commandment of God? How many times do we know what to do and don't do the right thing? And then we ask ourselves, how is it that there is no hope in my heart? There's no hope in your heart because you've delayed in keeping the commandments of God And as long as you delay obedience, it's truly disobedience

We tell our children all the time, delayed obedience is disobedience When God says you need to do something, you got to do it And therefore the psalmist experienced a desire, prompt obedience It's like in Mark chapter 1, when God called James and John and Andrew, it says they immediately left their nets and followed him Levi, Luke chapter 5, when the Lord said, follow me, he immediately got up and he followed the Lord There's no delay there Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19, Zacchaeus come down because I'm coming to your house today

And Zacchaeus didn't sit at the tree and say, well, you know, I don't really have anything We did it in that Lord, I'm not sure what we're going to have, but I guess it's okay No, he made haste The Bible says he came down and he brought the Lord to his home No delay Immediate obedience to what God says That's the heart that experiences great hope We see it in his conviction We see it in his determination We also see it in his opposition Look at verse 61 The cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten thy law Man, that's so good The cords of the wicked have encircled me

That's his, that's his melody Now, maybe your text says, the cords of the wicked have robbed me You see, we've read through the psalmist where he has been derided Now we see him being defrauded We've read as we've gone through Psalm 119 and seen how he has been ridiculed by the enemy Now we see how he has been robbed by the enemy The point being is that the opposition has encircled him And in spite of the malady, notice his memory. I did not, I do not forget thy law Listen, when God's your portion, no matter how, who, when you are surrounded, God's law reigns supreme in your life

Remember what he said earlier up in verse number 52? I have remembered thine ordinances from of old, O Lord, and comfort myself Verse 55, O Lord, I remember thy name in the night and keep thy law And now he says, when I've been encircled by all my enemies, I do not forget what I promised to remember The word of God You see, when we are encircled by the enemy, whether it be an individual or Satan himself, we can never forget what God has said in his word If we do, our heart will lose hope Our hope is built on the word of God, the anchor for our soul, and what God has promised us

And so when we remember that God is in complete control of all that happens, then we are able to trust him If you go to the next point, it talks about his passion He remembers what God's word says, but I want you to notice his passion He says this, At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous ordinances Look at his passion He wants to rise at night At midnight Now, he is not awakened in the night He purposes to rise at night. I rise in the night At midnight I will rise and I will rejoice Why? Because of thy righteous judgments

You see, why is it he had hope? Because in his heart there was a passion that in the middle of the night he would get up, he would rise up, and he would rejoice in what God is going to do because God is sovereign, God rules over all, and God is the one who judges with righteousness, and all those who have encircled him, all those who have surrounded him, will be dealt with by the Lord All he has to do is rise and rejoice That is just so good. I can't imagine all the people not being here tonight to hear this. I just can't imagine that

And the next time they don't have any hope, I'll tell them to buy the tape Here's the point It wasn't that he was awakened in the night Listen, he would rise not to watch for the thieves, but to worship with thankfulness in his heart He would be one who would rise because he purposed in his heart to give thanks to God People ask all the time, you know, is it better to get up in the morning when it's still dark and spend time with God or at the end of the day when I get home? Well, the answer is very simple

It's always better to get up in the morning when it's still dark and spend time with God than to wait until you get home because once you get home, you've already gone through the day and you haven't committed to that day to the Lord So it's better to get up when it's still dark, in the night watches, so that you can commit that day to the Lord, give thanks to Him, commit that day to Him because you don't know what befalls you that day

But if you rise early in the morning, if you rise when it's still night and you give thanks to God and you rejoice in His righteous ordinances, you can trust Him for whatever happens that day And so when it happens, you can say, ah, thank you, Lord. I've already committed this to you early this morning and now I know why it's here But see, if you don't do that, you just go through the day and these things happen You get all discouraged, disgruntled, you gripe, complain, and moan and groan Why? Because all these negative things are happening to you You forgot to rise up and rejoice

The psalmist had hope because of the passion in his heart He purposed to get up in the middle of the night Next time you're up in the middle of the night, not because you choose to but because God wakes you up Remember Psalm 119, verse number 62. I rise and I rejoice because of Thy righteous ordinances And just start praising God and thanking Him for all He's done and trusting Him to do even greater things His association is next He says, verse 63, I am a companion of all those who fear Thee and of those who keep Thy precepts

His association was centered around those who feared God and those who followed God Folks, this is important. A man who has God as his portion is very careful who he associates with Very, very careful. A man who has God, listen, as his portion does not have many people who want to associate with him Why is that? Because he fears God and wants to follow God's commandments See, most people just don't want to do that He's not going to associate with those who fear man Why? Because, you see, that would cause him to lose perspective So he's going to associate with those who fear God

He's not going to associate with those who follow the world because that will lead him another direction He's going to associate with those who follow God And so we have to ask ourselves, right, who do we fear? Who do we follow? Who do we associate with? Who do we hang out with? Ask yourself this question Who do my kids hang out with? Do my kids hang out with those who fear God and follow God? Because I'm going to tell you, if they don't, they're not going to follow God and they're not going to fear God Don't think your kid is that strong in the Lord that they can stand against the world

Don't get that high, pious attitude Oh, my kid, he's just going to have influence over everybody else It ain't going to happen. I've seen it happen over and over again You become like those in whom you associate How do I know that? That's what Jesus said He said it through Solomon, Proverbs 13, verse number 20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm How much clearer can it be? You walk with wise men, you're going to be a wise man

You walk with fools, you're going to suffer harm. I mean, how much clearer can it be? Bad company corrupts what? Good morals Can it be any clearer than that? So Solomon says, here is my association It's with those who fear God and those who follow God He says, you know what? I don't have time for anybody else. I don't want to be distracted. I don't want to be led down the wrong path. I'm going to hang around those people with the same direction, desire, and passion that I have because that's who I long to be with In all reality, the other people aren't going to want to be with him anyway

They're going to think he's an ogre He's rotten See, you've got to realize, listen He considered his ways, right? So he turned his feet to follow God He hastened and did not delay to keep the commandments of God, right? So what happened? He was encircled by all of his enemies They robbed him They defrauded him They came against him But he never forgot the law of God You see, when you are committed to doing what God says, the enemy rises up against you So what do you do? You've got to stand strong and only hang on to what God's word says

So then who do you associate with? Well, you can only associate with those who fear God and follow God because nobody else wants to be around you Because you hasten and do not delay to keep the commandments of God And that's why Solomon had so much hope That's why he wasn't discouraged That's why he didn't forget the word of God Because he knew that God was his portion He was his everything Which leads us to our last point, and that is his realization He says, The earth is full of thy loving kindness, O Lord Teach me thy statutes

His discovery was a realization that God's world is filled with his mercy Is it not true? If it wasn't for God's mercy, we'd be consumed Every time we sinned, we'd be snuffed out But Jeremiah said it Because of the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed Great is thy faithfulness And you know, one good thing, one good barometer for how well God is a portion of your life is how you see his mercies from day to day in this world And therefore, therefore, his discovery led to his desire Teach me your statutes Teach me, Lord

You see, the one who has God as his portion wants God as his principle to teach him, to lead him, to guide him every single day He wants God to teach him that he might know the truth of the word of God He wants to know God more than anything else So he depends upon God to teach him The one who has hope for his heart just can't wait for God to open up his breath and speak to him the words of the scriptures so he would know what God has said And that was his desire It was his desire because God was his portion How do you know God is your everything? You can't wait to be taught by him

You can't wait to open the word of God, to read it, to be taught You can't wait to go to church on Sunday to open the word of God and to be taught what does God have for me today because he's my everything That was the psalmist And that's why God's word is that which provides hope for the heart Let's pray Oh most gracious heavenly father, once again we are grateful for you You are so good Lord your word is just true, so true, so pure, so right It speaks to us every time we open it It confronts us on our attitude It convicts us of our sinful behavior It comforts us when we need comforted

It is that word, Lord, that clearly gives to us everything that we need pertaining to life and godliness And my prayer is that every single one of us would see God as our portion, our everything That you would mean more to us than anything we possess or anyone we know because you truly are the preeminent king in Jesus name Amen.