This week’s talk is an exhortation given by Ray Edgecombe at the Enfield Ecclesia in 2023.

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Welcome to Good Christophian
Talks.

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Thank you for joining us this
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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s.

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Talk more about this week’s
talk.

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This week’s talk is an
excitation that was given by

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Brother Ray Edgecomb in March of
2023 at the Enfield Ecclesia in

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Australia.
The topic was we can trust our

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God.
It’s a really excellent study in

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the Psalms, specifically Psalm
142.

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And I do enjoy kind of the study
he does the unpacking of Psalm

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142 and that section of Psalms
around it, explaining that this

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is a Psalm that David is saying
in his distress and that we can

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learn a lot about what to say to
our God and our distress.

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And I think that’s the most
interesting for me, the most

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interesting part of the study
was that he kind of spends some

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time on that growing up in our
souls in, in Romans 8.

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And, and, you know, the idea of
communicating without words with

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our God when we are in the
spirit.

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And I think that’s that’s
something that can be very

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encouraging, which is what
Brother Ray points out when we

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are in times of distress, God is
an anchor to our soul as he

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repeats over and over in this
exhort.

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This exhortation was suggested
to us in 2023 and it was

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suggested again last month when
Brother Ray passed after a very

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brief illness.
So our thoughts and our prayers

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are with his family and with the
Enfield ecclesia, and we pray

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that his sleep is short and that
we are united again with our

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Father.
We pray that that day comes

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soon.
In the meantime, here is Brother

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Reyes exhort.
We can trust our God.

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Brother Chairman and my dear
brethren and sisters in the Lord

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Jesus Christ, as Brother Sam
read for us, very importantly,

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the beginning of that Psalm of
the heading.

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It’s a Psalm, a Maskell of
David.

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It’s a Psalm for instruction,
and it was from his thoughts

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when he was in The Cave, I
suggest probably The Cave of

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Dulham.
But this Psalm here we’re going

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to look at in a little detail,
but it’s actually in a bracket

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of eight psalms.
If you come back to Psalm 138,

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you’ll see that that one’s also
headed a Psalm of David.

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And so is each of the next 7
psalms after that.

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Finishing in 145 is the last of
the bracket of Psalms of David a

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little, a little cluster of
psalms that have been placed

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here somewhere along the line.
But certainly they have a

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structure to them.
They are all written by David.

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The first two Psalms are very
clearly positive psalms.

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The last two psalms are clearly
positive and full of praise.

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But in the middle there the four
psalms, 140 to 143 are psalms of

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distress as David pours out his
troubles to his heavenly Father.

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And I think as we look at 1:42,
we need to realise that

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Structure 142 is not the end of
the story.

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It’s part of that progress from
1:38, beginning with praise but

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sinking into despair, but
finishing finally as we need to,

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and we know we want to, with our
praise to our God.

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And we’re going to have a look
at the What is the darkest of

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those 4 central Psalms?
142 clearly, if you come back to

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138 again, let’s just establish
that pattern clearly. 138 is

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very positive.
Verses one and two.

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I’ll praise thee with my whole
heart before the Elohim.

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I’ll praise, sing praise unto
thee.

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I’ll worship toward thy holy
temple.

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Praise thy name for thy loving
kindness and thy truth.

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Thy mercy in thy judgement
cheers Ed and emeth, for thou

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hast multiplied and magnified
thy word above all thy name.

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So that Psalm continues in that
theme. 139 is along the same

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lines.
It’s a well known Psalm.

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It praises thee features of
God’s creation.

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Verse 14.
I’ll praise thee, because I’m

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fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvellous are thy works, and

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that my soul knoweth right well.
So these two psalms are clearly

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very, very positive, and so are
the latter. 2 He wonders at the

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fearfulness and the wonder of
the frame that God has made us

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with in that fourteenth verse.
When you come to Psalms 144 and

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45, they’re also positive in
their conclusion of this cluster

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of Psalms verses 1 and 2, again
of 144.

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Blessed be Yahweh, My strength
teaches, my hands to warm, my

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fingers to fight, my goodness,
God’s loving kindness, my

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fortress, my high town, my
deliver, my shield, and he in

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whom I trust, who’s a Jew, with
my people under me.

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And likewise the last Psalm in
verses 1 and 2.

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Again I’ll extol thee, my God,
I’ll bless thee and bless thy

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name forever and ever.
Every day I’ll bless thee, I’ll

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praise thy name forever and
ever.

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So this bracket of eight psalms
are surrounded, 2 positive at

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the beginning, 2 at the end.
But then these sums of distress,

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those 4 sums in the middle.
So let’s come to Psalm 142.

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David’s most definitely at one
of the lowest ebbs of his life

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as he pens these thoughts in
this Psalm as well as a Psalm of

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instruction.
The heading indicates he was who

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says there in The Cave.
Now that could have been in

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Getty, but most likely I think
it’s more a Dalam because he was

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definitely there on his own in
the first instance and it was

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after a whole series of events
when he fled from Akish, the

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king of the Philistines in Ghia.
When he fled from there, he went

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straight to this cave in
Abarland because he was in

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distress.
He had all of these things that

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have rolled upon him in these
previous few weeks and months.

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A bleak time in the life of
David.

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We we won’t go there now, but
first to Samuel 19 to 22.

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They’re the the chapters that
surround the thoughts of Psalm

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142A bleak time despite and
probably because of his

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victories over the Philistines
sought to use sought to use

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David Schweitzmach or to to slay
him.

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The only escape from that to
find that Jonathan indeed

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confirmed with him that Saul was
going to slay him.

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David was forced to break off
with his only true friend,

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Jonathan.
Forced to face the peril alone.

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He went down to the priest, the
Hymnalech, and claimed the sword

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of Goliath, but in the process
observed the presence of Doeg

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the Edomite, and doubtless that
sent a shiver down David’s

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spine.
And it was a shiver that was

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well determined, because Dalek
of course, reported that matter

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to Saul and eventually resulted
in the slaying of the priest.

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An enormous scrape of mine to
David that was to happen after

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this time, but I’m sure he
noticed Dalek there and would

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wonder if the consequences of
that action.

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A flees to Akish, the king in
Gare, only to escape by the skin

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of his teeth.
By feigning madness.

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Psalm 34 expresses his
deliverance of that time.

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All this was weighing on the
mind of David alone.

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Distressed, he comes to The Cave
of Dulham.

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It’s southeast from Gareth,
southwest from Bethlehem to

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coming South.
But the golem is not far from

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both of those places.
So let’s have a look then at

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Psalm 142.
The bleakness of His Spirit is

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clearly evident.
You look at the expressions that

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He uses through this Psalm,
verse one and two.

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I cried unto Yahweh.
With my voice unto Yahweh I made

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my supplication.
I poured out my complaint.

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I showed before Him my trouble.
My spirit was overwhelmed within

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me.
In verse 5, no one cared.

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No man would know me.
Refuge failed me.

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No man cared for my soul.
In verse 6 he cried, Attend unto

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my cry.
I am brought very low.

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In verse 7, bring my soul out of
prison.

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When we string all those
thoughts together, we can

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clearly see the distress of
David.

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But wasn’t he the heir apparent?
How did Samuel anointed him to

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be king over the nation of
Israel?

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Hadn’t he slain Goliath?
Hadn’t he slain thousands of the

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Philistines?
As it’s worse all his thousands

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and David his ten thousands.
He was a scourge of the

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Philistines.
How could he utter such

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sentiments in this Psalm?
Distressed brethren and sisters,

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it distorts our perspective.
There’s no doubt David felt all

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of those things.
It was a distortion of reality.

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But for him, at that point of
time, alone in that cave, it was

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the reality.
It wasn’t a distortion.

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He felt all of that distress.
Now, all of us experience some

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bleakness from time to time.
Some of it’s very, very severe

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in degree.
Other times it may be a flaking

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dissatisfaction.
We should note that we should be

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thankful in our days for the
medical services that we can

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access.
We would be most unwise.

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It wouldn’t take advantage of
those health services that are

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here, available to us in this
century.

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But David knew underneath.
He knew he could place his cares

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in the hands of God.
Come back to those first 2

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verses again.
You notice David doesn’t tell

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God what he wants him to do.
He puts the Massa in God’s

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hands.
In all of his distress.

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He cries with his voice.
He makes supplication.

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He pours out his complaint.
He showed before him his

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troubles.
David does not try to tell God

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what to do.
I think that’s a very important

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issue for all of us.
We have perplexing issues in our

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lives from time to time.
Don’t try and tell God what He

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ought to do for us or that
issue.

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Place the matter in His hands.
Trust in His outcome and you

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know David was in very good
company.

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Of course you think back to
Joseph, you think back to

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Elijah.
You thought he had the answers.

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They had to go to Sinai to find
the reality of that still small

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voice.
You think of Job, you think of

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Jeremiah, you think of Paul.
All of them had occasion to to

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reach out in distress to our
heavenly Father.

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Paul says even of our Lord in
Hebrews 5 and verse 7, in the

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days of his flesh, in the days
of his flesh, he offered up

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prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears.

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That was our Lord.
The one on the table was no

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facade.
There was no no kind of action

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that was insincere with strong
crying and tears.

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In the days of His flesh.
Our Lord offered up His prayers.

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We’re in very good company when
we pour it out of stress to the

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God of heaven.
There is no place where God

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cannot be reached, no cave so
deep, no despair so bleak.

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The verse 2 uses the word my
complaint.

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It’s also been translated
babbling, interestingly enough,

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because that’s probably what
David was doing, just pouring

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out his thoughts to his God, not
necessarily coherent, not

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necessarily structured, but in
his distress, pouring out his

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issues before his God and he
poured them out.

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It says there in that verse, I
showed before him my trouble.

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I poured out my complaint.
That word poured out means to

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what’s been translated in other
places, cast out, gush out to

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shed.
And we’re getting all of that.

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The intensity of the words that
David offered before he’s gone,

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you see, doesn’t matter how dark
or heavy that cloud may but

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press us upon our minds if we
open up to God, if we pour out

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our hearts to Him, even if we
don’t know what to say.

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As Paul says in everything, by
prayer and supplication, let

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your requests be known unto God.
Don’t, don’t tell God what to

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do, but open up your heart and
let your requests be known unto

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God.
See David’s complaint.

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His troubles were not petulant
outcries.

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They came from the distress of
his circumstances.

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And we each know, brethren and
sisters, when we come before our

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father, we have the assurance He
knew what our distress was

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before we came, but He will
assist us.

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You come to Romans chapter 8 and
verses 26 and 27.

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They’re somewhat obscure words,
but the intent is quite plain.

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They’re in the context of Romans
chapter 8, where Paul is

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developing the issue of the mind
of the Spirit versus that of the

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flesh.
That’s very clear from the early

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00:16:43,520 –> 00:16:47,000
verses.
And in summary, in verse 6, for

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instance, to be kindly minded is
death, but think after the flesh

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to think of after the world to
think of normal thoughts that in

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the end is death.
But to be spiritually minded to

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to mind the things of the spirit
to have the word of God in your

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00:17:05,839 –> 00:17:10,359
heart and mind, as tenuous as
that might be to be spiritually

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minded is life and will bring
peace.

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I say that because through most
of this chapter it’s got a

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capital S for spirit.
Sometimes it is the Holy Spirit,

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00:17:21,920 –> 00:17:27,119
but I think in most cases in
chapter 8, it’s about the mind

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of the Spirit.
That section, hopefully the

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00:17:31,240 –> 00:17:35,120
majority of our thinking which
has been channelled by the Word

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of God.
And Paul says in verse 26, that

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Spirit that goes directed
through his word, that Spirit in

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each one of us helps our
infirmities.

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They help David, they help each
one of us.

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Sometimes we know not what we
should pray for as we ought, but

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confused situation sometimes
maybe beyond our control.

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We don’t know what to ask and it
doesn’t matter.

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Put it before our God.
And that spirit mind, because

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00:18:16,960 –> 00:18:22,600
it’s related to God himself,
we’ll make it a session with

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groanings which cannot be
uttered.

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God will see our hearts and
minds.

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He will know the turmoil that is
therein.

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00:18:33,400 –> 00:18:39,320
And it doesn’t matter if no word
comes out of our mouth, that

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mind of the Spirit in each of us
will be recognized by God.

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00:18:44,240 –> 00:18:51,080
And in verse 27, he that
searches the hearts, our God and

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00:18:51,080 –> 00:18:57,600
His Son, they search the heart.
They know what is the mind of

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00:18:57,600 –> 00:19:01,440
the Spirit, and He’ll make
intercession for the Saints

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according to His will.
They are so comforting, those

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00:19:06,640 –> 00:19:13,800
words that our God and His Son
can hear our hearts, even if we

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00:19:13,800 –> 00:19:19,600
can’t express the groanings that
are within us, because He will

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00:19:19,600 –> 00:19:24,040
recognise in us the same mind of
the Spirit.

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00:19:24,040 –> 00:19:27,840
Might be a small way, but if
that mind of the Spirit is in

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00:19:27,840 –> 00:19:32,200
us, He will be able to search
that heart.

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00:19:32,800 –> 00:19:38,920
Know that mind, and of course He
will act for our good, whatever

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00:19:39,000 –> 00:19:43,720
that may be.
We never necessarily know what

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00:19:43,720 –> 00:19:48,600
the outcome shall be, but we can
place it in the hands of God and

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00:19:48,600 –> 00:19:53,680
the outcome we’ll be assured.
These words are very reassuring.

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00:19:54,720 –> 00:19:57,440
He understands our thoughts,
whether we can express them or

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00:19:57,440 –> 00:19:59,480
not.
Whether we were able to

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00:19:59,520 –> 00:20:03,840
articulate our dilemma or merely
open our hearts to Him, He knows

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00:20:03,840 –> 00:20:07,560
that heart.
He knows our situation, no

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00:20:07,560 –> 00:20:11,040
matter how bleak it may seem to
us personally.

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Come back to Psalm 142.
We’ll stay here for the rest of

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00:20:16,920 –> 00:20:23,280
the exhort.
In verse 3, read there, David’s

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00:20:23,280 –> 00:20:30,840
sinking into absolute despair.
His spirit within him was

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00:20:31,040 –> 00:20:37,000
overwhelmed in the way when I
walked, I privily laid a snare

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00:20:37,000 –> 00:20:39,280
for me.
Everywhere he looked, they could

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00:20:39,280 –> 00:20:44,360
see the hand of Saul trying to
entrap him and to take his life.

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00:20:44,960 –> 00:20:50,200
And he was overwhelmed by those
events in verse four.

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00:20:50,200 –> 00:20:55,720
He he felt alone.
It says here there was no man

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00:20:56,560 –> 00:21:01,080
that would know me.
He felt totally alone.

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00:21:02,000 –> 00:21:07,600
No man cared for my soul.
But that wasn’t true, brothers

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00:21:07,600 –> 00:21:11,480
and sisters.
That was not true, Jonathan.

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00:21:12,880 –> 00:21:17,120
Jonathan cared at this point and
beyond for the soul of David and

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00:21:17,120 –> 00:21:20,840
the life of David.
Jonathan supported him in his

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00:21:20,840 –> 00:21:23,280
role of becoming the King of
Israel.

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But that’s not what David saw
here.

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He was so overwhelmed that no
man cares for my soul.

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00:21:31,000 –> 00:21:34,920
And that’s what distress does
for us.

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00:21:35,640 –> 00:21:41,120
It does distort reality.
He was so consumed by his

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00:21:41,120 –> 00:21:45,120
troubles, he couldn’t see beyond
his despair.

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00:21:46,160 –> 00:21:49,280
And you know we need to
contrast, don’t we?

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00:21:49,920 –> 00:21:56,080
Our Lord Jesus Christ, what did
he say in similar circumstances?

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00:21:56,880 –> 00:22:04,760
Well, John 16 and verse 32.
Behold, the hour cometh, and is

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00:22:04,760 –> 00:22:10,920
now come, that you shall be
scattered every man to his own,

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00:22:11,520 –> 00:22:15,760
and shall leave me alone.
And what did the Lord say?

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00:22:17,000 –> 00:22:22,000
I am not alone because the
Father is with me.

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00:22:23,160 –> 00:22:28,080
That is how great our Lord is.
He knew all those feelings of

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00:22:28,080 –> 00:22:33,720
distress, of feeling alone, a
feeling that no one cared, but

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00:22:33,720 –> 00:22:37,880
he knew and believed and acted
out all the time.

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00:22:38,440 –> 00:22:46,040
God was always there.
In verse 6 he ask that God

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00:22:46,040 –> 00:22:53,080
attend to his cry.
In verse 7 he says bring my soul

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00:22:53,440 –> 00:22:57,760
out of prison.
He wasn’t in a prison president

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00:22:57,760 –> 00:23:01,040
and sisters.
He was in a cave, but he felt in

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00:23:01,040 –> 00:23:06,240
his mind that he was trapped.
He was locked up, he was

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00:23:06,240 –> 00:23:08,640
shackled.
He was bound by the

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00:23:08,640 –> 00:23:14,240
circumstances of his despair.
You don’t have to be in a prison

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00:23:15,240 –> 00:23:18,560
to feel trapped.
You don’t have to be in a prison

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00:23:18,560 –> 00:23:24,360
to be shackled and bound by the
circumstances of the moment.

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00:23:26,560 –> 00:23:33,640
How can our spirits be lifted
from such despondency or despite

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00:23:34,200 –> 00:23:37,840
the melancholy of this Psalm?
And we’ve made that, I think,

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00:23:37,840 –> 00:23:41,160
quite obvious.
There are little expressions in

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00:23:41,160 –> 00:23:47,280
this Psalm that David could hang
on to and we can hang on to.

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00:23:48,080 –> 00:23:54,920
There are certainties, there are
sureties, there are anchors

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00:23:55,280 –> 00:24:00,880
which we can cling to when those
personal storms are raging.

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00:24:01,840 –> 00:24:03,880
You have a look at them in verse
3.

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00:24:04,520 –> 00:24:11,320
It slips in this phrase.
Then thou newest my path just a

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00:24:11,320 –> 00:24:17,080
little expression, but you see
that indicated a way out.

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00:24:18,200 –> 00:24:24,600
God knows my path.
God is constant sang in or we we

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00:24:24,600 –> 00:24:28,200
we read together those
meditating words.

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00:24:28,240 –> 00:24:32,840
God is constant He changes not
there is no variableness or

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00:24:32,840 –> 00:24:35,560
shadow of turning with our
heavenly Father.

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00:24:36,080 –> 00:24:40,080
He knows our path.
He said to Job through all the

315
00:24:40,080 –> 00:24:42,920
things that but Job went
through, not knowing what on

316
00:24:42,920 –> 00:24:47,360
earth it was all about.
God said to Job, didn’t explain

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00:24:47,640 –> 00:24:49,480
why it happened to him or
anything else.

318
00:24:50,440 –> 00:24:54,960
Where were you, Job, when I laid
the foundations of the earth?

319
00:24:55,880 –> 00:25:00,600
My purpose hasn’t changed.
I know the path of all my

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00:25:00,600 –> 00:25:03,280
children.
You weren’t there in those

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00:25:03,280 –> 00:25:06,160
times.
But Job, I have never changed.

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00:25:06,640 –> 00:25:10,560
I am constant.
I laid those foundations and I

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00:25:10,560 –> 00:25:15,000
will see them through through
the end God said of Jeremiah

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00:25:15,000 –> 00:25:19,080
chapter 1 and verse 5.
Before I formed thee in the

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00:25:19,080 –> 00:25:23,160
belly, Jeremiah, I knew you.
I knew your path.

326
00:25:23,840 –> 00:25:25,560
I knew the way that was mapped
out for you.

327
00:25:26,280 –> 00:25:31,440
You can have confidence,
security, and certainty in that

328
00:25:31,440 –> 00:25:35,000
knowledge.
The angels of God encamp around

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00:25:35,600 –> 00:25:39,240
his children.
As David said in Psalm 34, the

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00:25:39,920 –> 00:25:47,200
the parallel Psalm when we feel
like David, just hang on to the

331
00:25:47,200 –> 00:25:51,080
certainty that God knows our
path.

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00:25:51,840 –> 00:25:57,160
He said with Paul in Hebrews 13
verse five, I will never leave

333
00:25:57,160 –> 00:26:01,840
you or forsake you.
I know your path.

334
00:26:02,760 –> 00:26:05,680
It’s an anchor you can hang on
to.

335
00:26:06,960 –> 00:26:11,600
Verse 5, he slips in this
expression, thou art my refuge

336
00:26:12,880 –> 00:26:16,120
and my portion.
Thou art my refuge.

337
00:26:17,560 –> 00:26:21,360
But he said in the verse before,
there’s no one that would know

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00:26:21,360 –> 00:26:23,280
me.
Refuge failed me.

339
00:26:24,280 –> 00:26:30,760
But in verse 5 he says I really
do know that you are my refuge.

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00:26:31,640 –> 00:26:35,760
It’s translated that word
refuge, shelter, hope or trust.

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00:26:36,720 –> 00:26:40,320
Jeremiah, whose life was one of
unrelenting despair, said in

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00:26:40,800 –> 00:26:46,720
Jeremiah 17 and verse 17, You
are my hope, my refuge in the

343
00:26:46,720 –> 00:26:50,200
day of evil.
The wings of the Almighty, of

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00:26:50,200 –> 00:26:55,680
their brethren and sisters to
provide refuge, protection and

345
00:26:55,680 –> 00:26:58,440
hope.
They’re symbolised in the

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00:26:58,440 –> 00:27:02,080
Caribbean above the mercy seat
in the Tabernacle, those wings

347
00:27:02,080 –> 00:27:06,280
that that touched each other and
were joined to that mercy seat.

348
00:27:06,760 –> 00:27:10,960
The almighty power of God to
support, to forgive, to protect.

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00:27:11,800 –> 00:27:15,640
We find that kind of expression
quite a number of times

350
00:27:15,640 –> 00:27:19,000
throughout the Scriptures.
God said of Israel, He bore them

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00:27:19,000 –> 00:27:23,000
on eagle’s wings.
He said of Ruth in Ruth chapter

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00:27:23,000 –> 00:27:26,720
2 and verse 12.
Yahweh has always said to her,

353
00:27:26,720 –> 00:27:32,080
Yahweh, recompense thy work.
Yahweh, Elohim, under whose

354
00:27:32,080 –> 00:27:38,400
wings Thou art come to trust,
Thou art my refuge.

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00:27:39,240 –> 00:27:44,040
Psalm 17 and verse 8.
Keep me as the apple of the eye.

356
00:27:44,680 –> 00:27:47,840
Hide me under the shadow of Thy
wings.

357
00:27:48,560 –> 00:27:52,280
Psalm 91 and verse four.
He shall cover thee with His

358
00:27:52,320 –> 00:27:55,880
feathers.
Under Thee His wings Thou such

359
00:27:55,880 –> 00:27:59,080
trust.
Thou art my refuge.

360
00:27:59,880 –> 00:28:03,800
Of that we can be assured, even
our Lord.

361
00:28:03,880 –> 00:28:07,640
Remember He came to the city of
Jerusalem, he wept over it

362
00:28:07,640 –> 00:28:12,360
because he wanted that people to
be gathered under the wings of

363
00:28:12,360 –> 00:28:18,680
the Almighty and they would not.
But God is our refuge of that we

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00:28:18,680 –> 00:28:25,080
can be assured under those wings
we find another anchor in our

365
00:28:25,080 –> 00:28:30,520
personal storms.
In verse 5, David said you are

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00:28:30,800 –> 00:28:35,600
my portion.
Yahweh is our portion.

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00:28:35,800 –> 00:28:39,920
That word portion is used right
throughout the book of Joshua to

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00:28:40,400 –> 00:28:43,200
describe the petitioning of the
land.

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00:28:43,200 –> 00:28:45,840
The lots that they cast, That’s
the word portion.

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00:28:46,560 –> 00:28:52,840
It’s an inheritance or a lot.
Yahweh is our portion of the

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00:28:52,880 –> 00:28:54,960
Lord.
It was said in Psalm 16 and

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00:28:54,960 –> 00:28:59,480
verse 5.
Yahweh is the portion of mine

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00:28:59,480 –> 00:29:02,720
inheritance.
Another little anchor, brethren

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00:29:02,720 –> 00:29:08,520
and sisters, God wants us to
share his character.

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00:29:09,320 –> 00:29:15,120
He is our inheritance.
He wants us to reflect Him, to

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00:29:15,120 –> 00:29:17,400
be His glory in the Kingdom of
God.

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00:29:18,360 –> 00:29:25,000
Hang on to that anchor.
In verse 7, David says, For thou

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00:29:25,000 –> 00:29:31,560
shalt deal bountifully with me.
Bountifully is translated to

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00:29:31,560 –> 00:29:36,640
good, to reward, to recompense,
he says in his last expression

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00:29:36,640 –> 00:29:41,760
There I do.
I really know you shall deal

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00:29:41,920 –> 00:29:46,880
bountifully with me.
In reflecting on these events,

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00:29:46,880 –> 00:29:53,200
he himself said in Second Samuel
22, verses 2021, that he brought

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00:29:53,200 –> 00:29:59,720
me forth into a large place.
He delivered me because He

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00:29:59,720 –> 00:30:03,880
delighted in me.
Yahweh rewarded me.

385
00:30:04,560 –> 00:30:09,000
He dealt bountifully with me.
He was brought forth out of that

386
00:30:09,640 –> 00:30:15,440
lonely cave, that mental prison
of His mind, into a large place

387
00:30:15,440 –> 00:30:22,560
of sunshine and joy.
Brethren and sisters, God can

388
00:30:22,560 –> 00:30:26,360
deliver.
He may do that now.

389
00:30:27,600 –> 00:30:31,040
It may not come until the
Kingdom of God.

390
00:30:32,160 –> 00:30:35,720
Those things are entirely in His
hands.

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00:30:36,800 –> 00:30:42,040
But Paul says He will deal
bountifully with us if we are

392
00:30:42,040 –> 00:30:45,520
exercised by those experiences
of life.

393
00:30:46,440 –> 00:30:50,200
Hebrews 12 and verse 11
afterward.

394
00:30:51,400 –> 00:30:55,640
Afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness

395
00:30:56,160 –> 00:31:00,160
to them that are exercised
thereby.

396
00:31:00,960 –> 00:31:04,640
We grow by that experience.
Distress might distort the

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00:31:04,640 –> 00:31:10,440
reality, but we can grow by that
experience and it will yield

398
00:31:11,280 –> 00:31:16,760
peaceable fruit, at least in the
Kingdom of God, if not before.

399
00:31:17,960 –> 00:31:24,360
David is in great despondency.
But this was the centre of these

400
00:31:24,360 –> 00:31:29,640
Psalms, the centre of a cluster
that finished in Psalm 145.

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00:31:29,640 –> 00:31:34,000
Let’s look at those words as we
conclude our exhortation.

402
00:31:34,920 –> 00:31:42,240
Psalm 145 and verses 18 and 19.
Here’s his conclusion.

403
00:31:43,040 –> 00:31:49,800
Distortion may be the case at
times, but in verse 18 of 145,

404
00:31:50,600 –> 00:31:57,800
Yahweh is nigh to all them that
call upon Him, to all that call

405
00:31:57,800 –> 00:32:04,360
upon Him in truth.
He will for fear fulfil the

406
00:32:04,360 –> 00:32:09,280
desire of them that fear Him.
He also will will hear their

407
00:32:09,280 –> 00:32:17,960
cry, and He will save them.
Yahweh preserves all them that

408
00:32:17,960 –> 00:32:21,600
love Him.
Brothers and sisters, we come to

409
00:32:21,600 –> 00:32:28,160
the emblems, We come to our
Lord, we come to the emblems of

410
00:32:28,160 –> 00:32:33,680
His victory.
He was mistreated, He was

411
00:32:33,680 –> 00:32:37,520
unjustly accused, but he opened
not his mouth.

412
00:32:38,680 –> 00:32:43,320
He was misunderstood by his own
disciples, who fled in confusion

413
00:32:43,320 –> 00:32:48,720
at the very hour of his need.
He said on one occasion, Now is

414
00:32:48,720 –> 00:32:54,000
my soul troubled?
What shall I say, Father, save

415
00:32:54,000 –> 00:33:01,200
me from this hour for this cause
came I unto this hour.

416
00:33:02,040 –> 00:33:05,680
And we celebrate that victory
this morning.

417
00:33:06,600 –> 00:33:10,120
Paul teaches us in Hebrews 6 and
verse 18.

418
00:33:10,120 –> 00:33:14,720
He says to each one of us we
have a strong consolation.

419
00:33:15,560 –> 00:33:20,920
We who have fled for refuge to
hold heck, hold on the hope set

420
00:33:20,920 –> 00:33:28,360
before us, which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, sure and

421
00:33:28,360 –> 00:33:33,000
steadfast, which was entered
into that which is within the

422
00:33:33,000 –> 00:33:36,600
vile.
Let us take comfort in those

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00:33:36,600 –> 00:33:52,810
words.
Thank you for listening to the

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00:33:52,810 –> 00:33:54,410
good Chris Adelphian Talks
podcast.

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00:33:55,210 –> 00:33:57,690
We hope this talk helped you in
your walk and brightened your

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00:33:57,690 –> 00:34:00,050
day.
If you would like to hear more,

427
00:34:00,050 –> 00:34:01,810
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