310: David Bailey - The Word and Prayer

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now?

2. 0:37

   Let’s talk more about this weeks talk. Hi everyone, it’s Jason Hensley. For this week’s episode, we are going to listen to a class by Brother David Bailey that has come highly recommended. And what I mean by that is it’s actually been recommended to us by multiple people, at least this series has. So this series is a series specifically on prayer, and we are going to be listening to class #5 Class five, I think, at least for me, was probably the most profound concept that Brother David brings up.

3. 1:19

   I loved the whole series, but Class 5, the word and prayer is really beautiful. And not just beautiful, but it really opened up my own personal understanding. And I hope that you have a similar experience. Have you ever wondered when you read in scripture that people spent hours or an entire night praying?

4. 1:42

   Have you ever wondered how did they do that? You know, when I’ve tried to do it before, I’ve just fallen asleep or things like that. You know, sometimes we can get overwhelmed when we look at Scripture and we see the examples of people there and how much they prayed. What Brother David does in this class that I absolutely love is he explains the connection between Scripture and prayer.

5. 2:08

   And he posits that it’s not just that people were praying all night, but in fact, it was more like a meditation. There was a going back and forth between thinking on Scripture and praying, and that that is sort of like a mindset of prayer. I absolutely love the idea because I think it’s really what Scripture conveys and what we should be doing. Not only so, but it’s attainable. I think we can meditate, pray all of these things together, think on Scripture, and in doing so, we can have this attitude of prayer.

6. 2:45

   So this is class #5 The Word and Prayer by Brother David Bailey in his series on prayer, and I hope you find it helpful. It’s interesting how the studies tend to dovetail in subjects as we shall see. The daily tending of the the Tabernacle with the replenishing of the incense for the the altar of incense and also the the oil for the lampstand was by design.

7. 3:23

   The word of and prayer go together Is this intimacy that that exists between those two. God talks with us through His word. It’s sort of a cliche to say that. And we, we, we, we say that often, but it’s less contrived than we may think. There is a living person behind these words, the words of Scripture. God spoke those words.

8. 4:00

   If you come with me to to Psalm 119, Psalm 119 and we begin in verse 13 with my lips, have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. Verse 72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Verse 88 Quicken me after thy loving kindness, so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. It’s obvious God spoke these words and this expression is not sort of a poetic device used in the Psalms. It’s it’s through the word.

9. 4:57

   Once you see it, you see it everywhere that these words were spoken out of the mouth of God. Consider how the word of our Father can speak to us. Look at this in Proverbs chapter 6, verse 20. It’s up on the screen here. My son, keep thy father’s commandments, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine art, and tie them about thy knee.

10. 5:38

    When thou goest, it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee. His words talk with us. John Chapter one, verse one. Those famous words in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

11. 6:10

    That expression tells us that the Word is Him. It expresses who He is, His purpose, what He wants. So the Bible and Bible study is coming to know Him and His Son whom He has sent. Now look at what the psalmist says in Psalm 119. Again, come back to to verse 2.

12. 6:46

    Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart. Verse 10 With my whole heart have I sought Thee. Oh, let me not wander from Thy commandments. Now we know Psalm 119 is all about the Word of God, and the seeking of Him is through His Word. But look at it, it’s personal.

13. 7:20

    We’re seeking Him through the pages of that word. We’re trying to find him, his personality, who he is, how he thinks, how he feels. There’s a personality that spoke these words about himself. Now, this is what problem Bible study and meditation is about. We seek Him as a living person. But it goes further because you see, we involve God personally in our study of this word. Look at verse 27.

14. 8:03

    Make me or cause me to understand the way of Thy precepts. So shall I talk of thy wondrous words. The psalmist is praying to God and asking him to show him that God help him to see these things. It’s again in verse 33. Teach me, O Yahweh, the the, the way of thy statues is not just his statues, it’s the way of his statutes.

15. 8:40

    And he’s asking God to see that that way, and I shall keep it unto the end. Verse 35 Make me cause me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight incline my heart. He’s asking God to incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Now, each of these passages is a prayer, and the psalmist asks for help not only to understand the Scripture, to understand the way of that Scripture. The precepts have a way, a path, and it’s the path of God’s precepts and statutes and his commandments that he wishes to understand.

16. 9:36

    It’s not just the precept, it’s the way and the principle, how it works in all its avenues, really. As he meditates upon God’s Word, the psalmist asked God to become involved with him personally in his Bible study.

17. 10:03

    So Bible study isn’t about getting just the gems and, and the, and the, you know, the points and so on. Bible study is about coming to know him personally. That’s a lifetime’s worth. And the psalmist is asking God to become involved in teaching him that that happens through his hand at work in our lives. So Bible study is more than just academic. It’s involving ourselves with a personality whose voice is heard through the pages of this book.

18. 10:46

    But what about the word of God in our prayers? Going to come back to this concept soon that we’ve just been looking at. But what about the word of God in our praise? People in Bible times cited Scripture in their praise. And you just look at the prayers of Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel, David, his car, all the faithful whose prayers are recorded in the Bible.

19. 11:14

    They they cite, they allude to Scripture continuously, as it were. Jonah, they’re full of citations. But brothers and sisters, they didn’t do this to show off their Bible knowledge. They didn’t do it to sound spiritual. Jonah didn’t pull out a pocket Bible in the whale’s belly to pick out the passages that might impress God.

20. 11:49

    These passages came out of their heart from their inner being because it was there that Scripture was part of them. It came out automatically from them. Their minds were full of these things. Our brother in our previous session, Brother Tim, he he made in his points at the end there serves the scriptures to be to be able to apply them to the challenge, challenging choices of life. And that’s what they did.

21. 12:25

    They used the scriptures, but they didn’t have a dedicated room for doing their Bible study. They had to commit the scriptures to memory because there’s only the Levites that had had the scriptures. There were very few scriptures available or copies of the scriptures, so they had to commit these things to memory. So it was there, it was in them. Now I want to demonstrate what I’ve been talking about with a couple of examples.

22. 12:59

    I’m going to use Moses and Daniel and we’re going to turn to Numbers 14. Numbers 14. When Israel murmured against God at the border of the promised land, Yahweh declared unto Moses, I will make a smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.

23. 13:30

    Numbers 14 verse 12 Now this is the second time that God offered Moses this this new beginning to start off through Moses and he could have kept the promises to to Abraham if he did this. But we know what Moses did on the first time. He appealed on the God and said no look you, you will be look an idiot in the eyes of the nations because what you started you haven’t completed. And so is he was concerned with God’s honor. Well, he does the same again.

24. 14:02

    Why? Because it worked the first time. Now on the previous occasion as part of the reconciliation process and in Exodus chapter 32 onwards, God declared His name to Moses as part of that. And he he gave the the virtues of His name in Exodus 34, six and seven. So what does he do this time?

25. 14:32

    Look at Numbers 14 and verse 17. And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying Yahweh is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 3rd and 4th generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now. See what he’s done.

26. 15:20

    He’s appealed to God’s own words. Let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken. And then he cites the declaration that God made to him, back to God. And from Exodus 34, six and seven, now in effect, Moses said to God, you declared unto me that this is what you’re like, and now is the time to give power to your words and your character. And it worked because in verse 20 it says, I have pardoned according to thy words.

27. 16:09

    Now how powerful was that? God heard Moses prayer because of what Moses said, and what Moses said was what God had said about himself. But God wasn’t merely chuffed that Moses cited God’s words back to him as if he’s vain like man is. Simply quoting God’s words in prayer don’t make them spiritual or acceptable.

28. 16:46

    Moses didn’t recite Exodus 34 verses 6 and seven verbatim. A lot of it is, but it’s not all you compare. Here it is on the screen. I’m sorry, I forgot about that emphasis. Right, Exodus 34, Here it is on the screen. And notice the words I’ve given Emphasis to long-suffering and goodness, that all that he said of God is covenant mercy which forgives.

29. 17:20

    It’s the mercy that forgives. Those are the two qualities he’s picked out of God’s name and give an emphasis to because those are the two he specifically mentions. He selects part of Yahweh’s declaration that were appropriate to this occasion. So he called upon Yahweh’s virtues of long-suffering, His slowness to anger, and he said His covenant mercy. So Moses drew upon those attributes because he understood Israel’s situation and he understood how God thinks, His personality.

30. 18:13

    And God accepted Moses request because that is how God thinks and how he feels. Now we have here 2 very powerful principles that God will respond to Belief in what God says. And more than that, thinking about what he says and finding out how he feels or thinks. It’s not just a case of quoting back to him, but you hear his words and believe it.

31. 18:48

    And secondly, searching further, you see how he thinks about that and how that that that what he says shows his personality. It’s accepting those things and the character behind his words. How many faithful in the scriptures have followed Moses example and they’ve used these attributes of God that they’re all the way through Scripture and they’ve used them in their praise. They’ve thought upon my name, as Malachi says, they did Bible study on God’s name as a very, very good exercise for anyone is to think upon those virtues of His name, to do a Bible study on His name, get to know Him because that’s His declaration about Him.

32. 19:43

    That’s why they’re often used in prayer. Now the second example is in Daniel. Come with me to Daniel in Chapter 9, Daniel 9. Now Daniel had been studying God’s word that had been given to Jeremiah, and he discovered that Jerusalem’s desolation would last for 70 years. That’s in Daniel 9, verses two to three. And he realizes that the 70 years were almost up. And so he prays about it.

33. 20:15

    Now he didn’t just launch himself into a prayer and a bit of excitement first, he prepared himself. And he prepared his prayer, he studied the whole situation and he can tell this from his prayer, even how he addressed God in Daniel 9 in verse four it says, And I prayed unto Yahweh my God, and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love them, and to them that keep his commandments.

34. 20:55

    And so he described God as the great Gadol and the dreadful Yahweh God Ale. Now I’m giving emphasis to those words because he is in fact alluding to a whole passage and Deuteronomy 7 verse 21 is not just one part and picked out. He’s citing the spirit of Deuteronomy 7, Yahweh, my God is among you, a mighty Gadol ale and terrible Yahweh.

35. 21:31

    And Deuteronomy 7 verse nine says Yahweh thy God. He is God, the faithful ale, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love them and keep his commandments to 1000 generations. Now he didn’t quote verbatim,

36. 21:48

    but this is where his mind was as he addressed God. He didn’t simply live some nice sounding phrases, but instead he used expressions because of their relevance.

37. 22:06

    He next admitted their guilt and justified God for their current situation in in Japan, Daniel 9 in verses 5 through to 15. But again, look at how he does this. He was guided by God’s Word, and he draws from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Kings, and Psalms, which are all relevant. In other words, he did an awful lot of Bible study, brothers and sisters, to prepare for this prayer.

38. 22:37

    It was a special prayer. Now look at the strong things and language in his prayer, because I mentioned several times some of these expressions that we have sinned, we have committed iniquity in trespasses, we rebelled and departed from God’s precepts and judgements. Look at how He’s acknowledging what they’ve done wrong. Neither have we obeyed the voice of Yahweh of God.

39. 23:05

    Therefore, the promised curses of the law of Moses have come upon us, and God is absolutely justified. Righteousness belongs to God. Now Daniel went out of his way in verses 5 to 15 to acknowledge Israel’s sin and to acknowledge God as being right. And in doing this he was following a special passage that advised him.

40. 23:49

    That’s what you have to do because it’s in Leviticus in chapter 26, verses 40 to 42. Now hear the echoes. If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespass, which they trespassed against me, and that they also, and that also they have walked contrary to me, and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies.

41. 24:29

    If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then what? I remember the covenant under Jacob and Abraham and so on.

42. 24:43

    So Daniel does exactly what that passage says. He isn’t cited. He does what it says. His prayer is a confession. Verse 4 and 20. He confessed precisely in the same spirit as he read it in Leviticus. Now Daniel wouldn’t have known what God required unless he had studied this passage, but there’s more. You see, Daniel also cites the words of another prayer, the prayer of Solomon.

43. 25:24

    We’ve already looked at it of his prayer at the inauguration of the temple, 1 Kings 8. And it’s evident from Solomon’s prayer that Solomon also had studied his Bible because he was drawing from the same passages. God accepted Solomon’s prayer, so Daniel knows that that’s how God thinks, and so he studied those passages. Now notice the language and the ideas in this comparison. Now we don’t have time to go through it. You can just see at a glance that Daniel was borrowing from Solomon the same expressions.

44. 26:10

    So he’s got that prayer in mind. So see how careful Daniel was in preparing his prayer when he studied those passages. He was genuinely affected by God’s feelings. He was genuinely involved, therefore, in his prayer.

45. 26:34

    And how do you think God felt about a prayer like that? Well, we know because at the beginning of this application, Gabriel was ordered to respond to Daniel’s prayer in verses 20 to 23. So the faithful not only searched God’s Word to prepare for their previous, they studied other people’s prayers as well. Now we’ve already seen Daniel drew upon Solomon’s prayer when he came to his in the end of this prayer. But what we find then when Solomon comes to asking for forgiveness, he didn’t just have Solomon’s prayer in mind, he had the prayer of another kid.

46. 27:19

    Come with me to verse 18. Verse 18. Oh my God, incline or bow down thine ear and hear. Open thine eyes, and behold our desolations in the city which is called by Thy name. For we do not present our supplication before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, here, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken, and do defer not for thine own sake, Oh my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

47. 27:59

    And Daniel’s appeal here alludes to the language of Solomon’s prayer in Second of Chronicles chapter 6, verse 40. But he also draws upon Hezekiah’s prayer with Sennacherib’s letter in his hand, because here is is are those words. And 2nd of Kings 19 and verse 16. Yahweh bow down thine ear and hear, open Yahweh thine eyes, and see and hear the words of Synacrab, which hath sent him, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. He cites just that little bit there. It is not just because that nice sounding, it’s because he he quotes them.

48. 28:50

    He doesn’t even quote them verbatim, but it’s clearly alluding to them and he invokes, invokes the spirit of Hezekiah’s prayer because Daniel saw the connection. Their prayers were over the welfare of the same city, totally different circumstances. Now he’s the guy too was a man of prayer and a man of the word. And he too was alluding to Solomon’s prayer and also to David in Psalm 31 verse 2 and Psalm 71 verse two. Now there was another man who based his prayer on Daniel’s prayer that come with me to Nehemiah. Nehemiah then chapter one.

49. 29:54

    Then Nehemiah heard the report that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down in the gates thereof burnt with fire. Nehemiah reacted very similarly to to Daniel. He sat down and wept and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. He prepared himself, and He clearly prepared his prayer. Look at how he opens his prayer.

50. 30:23

    Verse 5I beseech the O Yahweh Elohim of heaven, the great and terrible ale that keeps covenant and mercy for them, that love them, and observe His commands. Those are Daniel’s expressions and his sentiments. And then look in verse 6, Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou must hear the prayer of Thy. Those are Hezekiah’s expressions and sentiments. And then he continues in the spirit of Daniel, which I pray before thee now day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee.

51. 31:08

    Both I and my father’s house have sinned as precisely the same confession based upon the same scriptures that Daniel did. But look how he is thinking for himself about the Word.

52. 31:27

    The word that Daniel directed him to. Verse 8. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that that has commanded that that commanded thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments, and do them, though they they were of you cast out into the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather them from things, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name. There, now he cites the the the phrases of Daniel’s passages, and yet he more directly cites Leviticus 26, verse 33, Deuteronomy 425 to 27, third chapter 30, verses 2 to 8, and chapters 12.

53. 32:19

    This is Deuteronomy 12/5 to seven and 1423 to 24. Now you have a hope of copying all that down, but that’s where’s mine went. He’d gone there. That’s the point. He’d studied that for himself. Daniel directed him there, and he studied it for himself.

54. 32:43

    See, these people wanted to make sure that what they said to God was in tune with how he thought and how God thinks. So they learned from the prayers of the faithful, and they saw how God responded to them, not just the words, but the thoughts behind them, and they went to the word itself to discover for themselves. So they were, they prayed and they were heard. They studied their Bibles to be able to do this, brothers and sisters, and they built up this kind of relationship with God. Now, I mentioned earlier to the Hebrews, Bible study wasn’t a thing where you could go into a room full of lexicons and, and dictionaries and, and all your reference materials and, and sit there studying.

55. 33:41

    They had to have the Bible in here for the common photo. It meant sitting at the feet of the Levites and memorizing. It was an oral society so that they had to listen and they heard and they had very good memories and then they could think upon those passages. That’s meditation, brothers and sisters. Now, meditation is not the navel gazing, emptying of the mind of the Hindus and the Buddhists, the New Ages and the therapists. Look at what the Bible says.

56. 34:21

    That meditationist come with me to our reading in Psalm 1 concerning the blessed or happy man of verse one. He says in verse 2, but his delight is in the law of Yahweh and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And the word meditate there is Hagar and it means to mutter, talk, meditate or muse. His delight is in the law of Yahweh. His His happiness comes because he meditates in the law day and night.

57. 35:02

    So that cannot mean that he sits at a desk with his Bible open and studying day and night. So what does it mean? Well, it’s in the next verse, verse three. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that Brenneth pours his fruit and his season, his leap also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

58. 35:27

    You see, the tree is the key. A person who meditates in the Lord day and night is like a tree that’s planted right by the rivers of the waters of the word and he’s the roots are drawing up from that water constantly, constantly as he goes about his life and his life throws things at him.

59. 35:47

    He’s constantly drawing from that word in response. That’s what the Lord did, didn’t he? In the temptation, He just drew upon the word in answer. And that’s what Brother Tim was talking about, using example of of Josiah, how he would have approached Veronico’s challenge. And that’s what they did. They had that as the basis for the things that they did. Now, Exodus 30 shows that there were set times for replenishing the incense and the oil.

60. 36:28

    And we’ve seen that what that means for prayer, but it’s the same for Bible study. That expression morning and evening we have seen to be also not just set times, but idiomatic for constantly day and night.

61. 36:51

    So Psalm one is expressing what that means to draw upon the word constantly. Rather, it renders Psalm one verse two this way and in his law Duffy talk with himself day and night. Meditation is about talking with ourselves about the word. It’s really talking to the word in ourselves. So as we go about our daily lives, as we assess those things that happen in our lives, but we we discuss with ourselves or with the word that we have, we have knowledge of and we think about the issues and then apply it. That’s what it’s really saying.

62. 37:36

    And this makes sense. You see, if God’s word is in our heart and we, when we ask of that word, answers to those issues, the word gives an answer back. That’s what it said in Proverbs 6, didn’t it? When our awakest it shall talk with thee and the words that were spoken by our heavenly Father.

63. 37:59

    It’s like a conversation with God. Now there are several words for meditation in the Old Testament. Here’s a list of them and I think there there are others that are used as synonyms as well. But here’s words that are used for meditation. Hagar, Hagiks, siak, suag, zakah, and generally they all mean the same thing, thinking or talking about something.

64. 38:26

    The word Zika and zakah have the idea of recalling. It’s still talking about something that you’re recalling in your mind. Now the sounds are made-up of two basic types. They are either meditations or they are prayers, or a combination of both.

65. 38:58

    Come with me to Psalm 143. Let’s have an example of a prayer, Psalm 143. Now look through the Psalm. Who is David speaking to all the way through the sun?

66. 39:27

    God. Yeah, this one. He opens with an appeal to Yahweh to hear his prayer. And throughout the Psalm, David addresses God. It’s clearly a prayer. Now, it’s the personal pronouns for a little bit of grammar again, but it’s not too hard. The personal pronouns are the key to whether it’s a meditation or a prayer. It’s, it’s like this, the speaker is in the first person, I, me, my and we ourselves and so on. That’s the first person.

67. 40:02

    The second person is those that are spoken to you, your and so on. You’re speaking directly to someone and in the the third person are those spoken about. Now prayers are spoken to. That’s in the second person to Yahweh. Meditations are spoken about Yahweh in the third person, and that’s the key. So in the Psalm it’s always the thy, thy well in the AV.

68. 40:37

    That’s what it is. It’s a it’s a prayer spoken to God. It’s in the second person. Now notice how a meditation speaks about God, not to him. Come with me to Psalm 103. Now notice how he’s speaking first of all to himself. This one. Bless Yahweh, O my soul and all that is within me.

69. 41:09

    Bless His holy name. Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefit. He’s talking to himself. That’s meditation and all the way through the sun, you you skim through and you’ll see it’s all in the third person he’s speaking about. He is all the way through until you get to verse 20, and then he’s speaking directly to not God, but to others. In fact, it’s the angels in verses 20 to 22, and he calls upon others to bless Young.

70. 41:46

    Now, meditations often do that. Meditations speak to oneself, one’s soul, or they call out to the congregation, to their enemies, to angels to also join with him. And that’s what meditations are like. It’s like a real conversation with either oneself or with others. Now let’s have a look at another example. Psalm 105, verses one to four calls The seed of Abraham is there in verse six, because he says, O give thanks unto Yahweh, call you upon his name.

71. 42:28

    Who’s he speaking to? Well, he tells us in verse six, O ye seed of Abraham, his servant, ye children of Jacob has chosen. So he’s calling upon his people

72. 42:41

    to give thanks unto God. And then you look through the rest of the sun all the way through. It’s about God. It’s all in the third person. He is all the way through. But notice at the end of this 20. I’m sorry, it’s in verse. No, I’m getting mixed up here. What we’ve got is in verse five he says remember his marvellous works that he had done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.

73. 43:14

    So he calls upon the people to think upon what God has done and the rest of the Psalms notice that would remember that’s that word Zacchar. It means to bring to remembrance, to to Mull over in the mind. And so he’s remembering the things stored in the mind about the history of the people, about God and his history.

74. 43:41

    This is typical of Israel’s meditations. Their history, creation, God’s character, his works are all significant themes for their meditations. And they’re drawing upon the word in connections through the word on these matters. Now, other meditations are more personal now dealing with observations of life, of trials, and of one’s need for God or others simply cut our contemplations about God. Psalm 100.

75. 44:18

    I just want you to notice the superscription because Psalm 100 is a Psalm of praise or Thanksgiving as it is, but it’s a Psalm. And it’s interesting that that these meditations are psalms. They were meditations set to music. And if you think about it, psalms contemplate and discuss a particular theme, and so do our hymns, and many of which are meditations.

76. 44:55

    Both psalms and hymns can also be prayers. They’re thinking about the person, and sometimes it’s to the person or to Yahweh, our heavenly Father. Now most psalms, I mentioned earlier that some are combinations of, in fact, most are combinations of prayer and meditations. And I want to just give you an example of this Psalm 93. Now we don’t have time.

77. 45:28

    I’m really skipping through this, I know, But and I’ve sort of made it simple. This is how it goes in. Verse one is a meditation because it speaks about God. Verses two to three are a prayer because they speak directly to God. Verse four is another meditation. And verse five closes the Psalm with a prayer, and notice how it drifts from meditation into prayer and then back again. The the the psalmist meditation in verse one is about God’s majesty and his strength and the surety of God’s word that the earth or the land will not be moved. And that thought spawned his prayer in verses two to three, which mentions the floods, which leads to his meditation in verse four about Yahweh being mightier than many waters. And then his meditation becomes a prayer at the end. And you can see how natural this is. Can you see how this works?

78. 46:36

    There’s a certain informality and yet a very deep reverence, even an intensity here in these times spent with God and His Word, and it’s all taking place in the mind. We’ll look at one more, Psalm 16, Psalm 16, and once again I’ll put it up here. The breakdown, verse one this time opens with the prayer, and then verses 2 to halfway through verse 5 is a meditation. And then there’s this little prayer, the second part of verse five as he quickly gives a prayer to God based on his meditation and then immediately in verses 6 to 9 goes back into his meditation.

79. 47:36

    And then verses 10:50, he closes with prayer. Now often what’s happening here as they move from one to the other, that it’s their reflection, their meditation is usually about convincing themselves, adding to what they’ve asked in their prayer or said in their prayer. Have you ever noticed this, brothers and sisters? You know, often in our prayers our minds will drift off onto the subject we’ve been thinking about in our prayers, our thoughts, sort of wonders and thoughts about what you’ve just said. We view this as a lack of concentration. But the faithful in Israel did this on purpose and they practised it.

80. 48:37

    It’s how they meditate. And sometimes it was how they prayed and they meditated. Can you see? You see, they are intimately involved together, the two the Word of God and prayer. There’s more to this than we may realize. Notice how the transition from meditation into prayer in verse 9. Here he’s meditating in verse 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest and hope, for thou will not leave myself for that.

81. 49:15

    See, He’s just just slid into a prayer. It’s as if the meditation was part of his prayer. Now I want to show you just how close come with me to Psalm 19.

82. 49:33

    Now Psalm 19 is a meditation on the word of God, but it concludes with a prayer, verse 14. Let the, and this is the prayer, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Yahweh, my strength and my redeem.

83. 49:57

    He’s asking God to consider His meditation in His prayer. Is He here A prayer and the word of God put together intimately, Both are done before God for His consideration. Now this is significant. Just come back to Psalm 18. Look at verse one. I will love thee, O Yahweh, my strength. That’s a prayer.

84. 50:34

    Verse two, Yahweh is my rock and my fortress. Third person, it’s a meditation. So there’s this little prayer at the beginning and then from verse two right through to verse 48, it’s all on the third person. It’s a meditation is spoken about Yahweh. It’s a meditation on how Yahweh saved David out of the hand of his enemies. And it right runs right through to verse 48 and then he breaks into another prayer in verse 49 and then back to meditation in verse 50.

85. 51:08

    Now we have a record of when this son was first written. Now I want you to hold your hand here, and compare with that occasion and 2nd of Samuel and chapter 22, Second Samuel chapter 22 and verse one. And David spake unto Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my delivery.

86. 51:49

    He goes straight to verse two of Psalm 18. He does not open with the word of prayer, but look at how it was delivered. David spake unto Yahweh the words of this meditation, the song.

87. 52:13

    This means his meditation about God was still uttered to him as this is pretty powerful stuff. This is how they thought, brothers and sisters. This is how they did their Bible study. It’s incredible really, isn’t it? Now we’ve labored the point that God spoke His Word and He speaks to us through His Word.

88. 52:45

    But here it says that we should do our Bible study and meditations in the presence of God. It’s like a real conversation. And so as we’re doing our Bible study, we also talk with him about it. That’s meaningful Bible study, isn’t it?

89. 53:12

    We view Bible study as studying about God, don’t we? But this is how they did it. It should be done in his present. We should include Him in our thinking about him and talk to Him about it. It is this intimacy in the communication. It is this is a relationship. Because He’s real, we believe he exists and he’s talking to us. This is real.

90. 53:40

    Now, because of this close link between meditation and prayer, we often find that the words translated meditation are often also used or prayed because they’re closely linked. Look at this example, Psalm 5, verse one. Give ear unto my words, O Yahweh, consider my meditation, Hagi. How can unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, For unto thee will I pray my, my voice shall shall thou hear in the morning, O Yahweh, In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will will look up so clearly. He’s talking really primarily about prayer here. And even the word meditation here means mutterings, but they’re mutterings of much thought in prayer. And here look at this one, Psalm 55, verses 16 to 17. As for me, I will call upon God and Yahweh shall say to me evening and morning, and at noon will I pray and cry loud, and he shall hear my voice.

91. 54:45

    And he’s clearly speaking about prayer here. But the word pray is seer, a word for meditation. And it, it obviously is referring to the kind of prayer that we’ve been talking about, a meditative prayer.

92. 55:04

    And so here we have both the word and prayer brought together at the times of prayer. Morning, evening, morning at noon, they go together. Really, brothers and sisters, meditation is a form of prayer. Now I’ve really got to conclude, and I wanted to give you a fantastic example. I’ll leave you with that. Just to let you know you’ve missed out on something amazing in Psalm 77 and you’ve got all these words for for prayer. Brother Daniel, Am I able to finish right on 11? Is that OK?

93. 55:52

    Or should I finish now? I don’t mind finishing right now. All right, let’s do this at super speed. Psalm 77 and we’ve got several of our words for meditation that all in this, this the sun. It’s clearly a meditation about meditation, but it also includes prayers. Psalm 77 and in verse 1 I cried unto Yahweh with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and I gave, and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My soul ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted.

94. 56:40

    I remembered zakah God and was troubled. I complained seer he meditated and my spirit was overwhelmed Sina that why was he troubled when he meditated upon God’s word? Well, he was so distressed, he says, and there’s four thou wholest my eyes waking and I’m so troubled I cannot speak. His meditation caused his sleeplessness and he finds it difficult to continue with his meditation. Why?

95. 57:16

    Well, this is what he had done. This far I have considered, counted, reckoned, thought upon. He meditated, meditated upon the days of old, the years of ancient times. I called to remembrance my song. This was a meditation he had written and he’d made into a song and and he recalled that song in the night I commute. See ya.

96. 57:44

    He talked with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search and he searched the scriptures in his mind. This is part of what meditation is.

97. 57:58

    What was it then that disturbed him? Well, he says verse seven, will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favourable no more? Is his mercy clear? God forever Does his promise fail forever? Lord, hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Sealer? And he searches the Scriptures, He searches the Word, and he can’t find anywhere that God has cast off forever.

98. 58:31

    But the circumstances he’s in seem to deny this. It’s like that at times, isn’t it, Brothers and sisters, what the Word says in our own circumstances at times seem like God has forsaken us. That’s how the psalmist felt. And then he pulls himself together in in verse 10. And I said this is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. He’s strengthening himself now.

99. 59:04

    I will remember the works of Yahweh, third person about Yahweh, surely I will remember thy wonders about. He’s turned into a prayer now. He’s trying to strengthen himself. He speaks directly to God, and so he now meditates, but not only is he speaking to himself, he’s speaking to God because he’s wanting to strengthen himself in God and the reality of God.

100. 59:29

     Verse 13 Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, and to himself he says, Who is so great? A God is our God. And then he continues his prayer. Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Thou hast with thine own arm redeemed thy people. The sons of Jacob and Joseph sealer.

101. 59:47

     The water saw thee of God, the water saw thee. They were afraid. The depths also were dropped. And so he goes on meditating, and he’s just filling his mind to encourage himself. It’s magnificent, isn’t it? It’s so helpful. The thing is, brothers and sisters, this is how the faithful of old thought upon God’s Word. That’s why Christ broke into prayers and then continued on talking.

102. 1:00:14

     That’s why Nehemiah in his his diary is writing along his diary of the facts of the day, and he includes his prayers dotted all the way through it. That’s why Paul in his letters just breaks into prayers, because that’s how they thought. Now we can do this, brother and sisters, and we can start practicing it because Christ gave us a meditation, the Lord’s Prayer, so easy to remember. Meditate upon it.

103. 1:00:41

     I need to conclude, and I’ll leave on the screen, the fact that God loves us to do this. It’s those who speak one to another who think upon his name that He looks to.

104. 1:01:12

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105. 1:01:41

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106. 1:01:57

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