I do want to take this opportunity of thanking the Reverend McKee for his kind words of welcome and for his invitation to be part of your week of meetings this year. It may be strange circumstances, but we do rejoice tonight the Word of God is not bound. And it is our prayer as you join with us that the Lord might bless you wherever you are this evening. and the Lord himself will draw near and give you a little word in season even as we come to this psalm. We're turning to Psalm 131. And you will appreciate it that it is a short psalm. We're just going to read it together. A song of degrees of David. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters. or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth. and forever. Amen. May the Lord bless even the reading of his precious and fallible word tonight to our hearts for his own name's sake. We'll bow in a further word of prayer, seeking the Lord's blessing and help, even as we come to the preaching of his truth this evening. Our Father and our God, we continue in Thy presence in the Savior's precious and all-prevailing name. We thank Thee, Lord, that Thy Word is truth, and it is forever settled in heaven. And O God, we pray that Thou would bless us just now as we come around Thy Word. Lord, we would pray that Thou would pour out of Thy Holy Spirit upon each one that is under the sound of my voice this evening. And Lord, that thy Spirit would give us understanding and give us that teachable spirit even as we come to look at this short psalm. Thank Thee, Lord, for Thy blessings in nights past. But, O God, we look to Thee just now that Thou would take full control of this meeting and, Lord, that Thy Word would run and be glorified. To that end, I pray, Thou would fill us with the power of Thy Spirit. Give me words that must and shall prevail. Give us, Lord, those prevailing words And we pray, Lord, through it all and in it all, that Christ might be exalted and God might be glorified, for we ask these things in our Savior's name. Amen. This psalm might be short, but that is not to mean it is light in content or in substance. It is entitled A Song of Degrees. One of those, in other words, that would have been sung as the people made their ascent up to the holy city of Jerusalem. And this journey was made so that the people might keep the feasts, and those feasts were held three times a year. So in other words, here was a psalm that was repeated three times as they made their way to the holy city. Some commentators suggest it was one of the Psalms that was near toward the end of the journey, but we cannot be dogmatic on that. The other part of the title that is worthy of our attention is the fact that it is attributed to David. It's a Psalm of David. And I want us just to stop and think about that, and I want you to fully consider that. This is David, that man after God's own heart, that man whom God had chose to be keen over his people Israel, and who would also replace King Saul. King Saul was the one whom the people had chosen. so as just to be like all the other nations, because they had kings. Saul, however, had forfeited his right to be king because of his disobedience to the Lord's command. He had preserved Agag, the Amalekite king. He had also kept the best of the flocks. I want you to understand, men and women, that half obedience is not obedience at all. And it's interesting what Samuel the prophet said unto Saul following that time. For Saul was made aware that his kingdom from that time would be taken from him. First Samuel 15 we read, the Lord hath rent the kingdom of heaven from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbor of thine that is better than thou. David was a better man than Saul ever would be. And if you want to see at least one aspect where he was better, then we have this little psalm before us to show us. David is speaking about trusting, about humility. Those were the very things that Saul lacked. He was a man who was proud, the very opposite of humility. And great was his fall, of course, from his lofty position. If you desire another contrasting figure, this time from the New Testament, then it would be Diotrephes that we read about in 3 John. He was a man that loved to have the preeminence. He wanted to be in control. He desired to have authority, even to the extent that he rejected the apostle John. That was John who was close to the Savior. That was the man in whom the majority in many cases of the disciples wasn't with the Lord, but John was there. This is the man that we read about that was leaning on the breast of the Savior, yet this man didn't receive John. And when John would come to that church, he would do so with the aim of administering discipline upon diatrophies. If it was a man who needed a good dose of humility, then surely it was he. And dear loved ones, sometimes we need to learn and to be taught these things ourselves over and over again. I encourage you to come with me into these three verses of Psalm 131. They fall nicely into three points. I suppose it's a good job I wasn't given Psalm 132 or I'd be here all night. But let me ask you this. Do you believe, do we believe that the Lord is sovereign? Do we believe that He is in absolute control? Of course we do. And that includes even when these ministry meetings are concerned. For if there's something that we need to learn again in what are extraordinary times, and therefore I believe tonight it is a word from God to our hearts. It is trusting in God. You could write that title just across our psalm tonight. Trusting in God. I want you to see first of all here from verse one, his profession. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. If there's ever a man that could be boastful, and could exalt himself, then surely it would have been the king. He had a right to great pomp and ceremony, yet we find by the words of his very own lips that he is anything but that. He is found to be speaking about humility. He's found to be speaking about smallness in one's own estimation. Today, men have a great estimation of what they are and who they are. It's the very opposite of what David is found to be saying here. And what this psalm essentially reveals to us is that we can't really be trusting in the Lord without humility. Dear child of God, you will appreciate that life is a continuous test of our faith. We are being called upon every day to demonstrate that our faith is in God, and that was also true of King David. And these opening words are by way of his profession, and I want you to see that he touches upon three areas of his life. His profession is with regard to his heart. My heart is not haughty." He takes the Lord's name upon his lips. That's not hypocrisy. That's not using the Lord's name in vain. David is a man who understands that nothing can be hidden from the One with whom we have to do. David knew that such profession that he was making was in the full knowledge of the Lord, knowing his heart and knowing everything about him. He intentionally, he deliberately puts off having a proud heart. He was a man who humbled himself and didn't seek to exalt himself. His heart instead continuously submits unto the Lord. He's not focused on thinking upon himself, but instead upon God. A lot of people in our circumstance that we find ourselves in in our province tonight are just thinking about themselves. That's why you see the empty shelves in many supermarkets. Some commentators have placed this psalm in 1 Samuel 17. First Samuel 17 is that time when David was to leave the father's sheep behind and he was to go and see what was happening with Israel and with the giant Goliath. His elder brother saw him and he wasn't too pleased. His elder brother also heard what he had said, and he accuses him of having a proud heart. I want to read the words of verse 28. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle." That doesn't seem to ring true when you consider that he had such a lowly task of looking after just a few sheep in the wilderness. It doesn't seem to me that he was guilty of having a proud heart. But the problem with placing this psalm at this time in 1 Samuel 17 is that David wasn't the king. This profession of David could be stated at a time, any time throughout his reign. And dear loved one, it is a profession that every one of God's people ought also to make or be able to make before the Lord. Lord, my heart is not hot. But we can only make that profession if there is an examining of ourselves. Resist the devil trying to plant pride in your heart or in your thoughts. Men and women, child of God, learn to process praise. You might say to me, what does that mean? When another one bestows praise on you for doing something well, maybe in the church setting, don't let it go to your head. Thank the Lord that He enabled you to not make a mess out of what you were doing and move on. Process praise. Can you say, Lord, my heart is not Then you'll see his profession had to do with his eyes. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. The eyes are the window into the heart. Lofty eyes follow a proud heart. If the heart is lifted up, then the eyes will soon look down upon others. If you care to turn back to another psalm, Psalm 121 verse 1, you'll see that the eyes are in focus there as well. It says, I will lift up mine eyes onto the hills, from whence cometh mine help. In this psalm, he's able to profess, Lord, my eyes are not lofty. He's deliberately wasn't looking down on people. It is a sense of having that exalted look. Instead, there was a humility with King David, for he only had to remember, he only had to recognize his own failures and his own inadequacies. And if that was so with David, then how much more should it be with lesser mortals such as we? You consider the Proverbs 6 and verse 17. You have the list of the seven things that the Lord hates and an abomination unto him. You know what the top of the list is? A proud look. See then that this profession has to do not only with his heart and with his eyes, but with his walk. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in good matters or in things too high for me." You might wonder, where's the walk? Well, if you look at your margin, you'll see that the word exercise there is rendered walk. He wasn't one who had an unhealthy ambition to climb to great heights, to do the things that the Lord never meant him to do, or never give him as a task to do. He had put away selfish ambitions, and he chose rather to follow what God wanted him to be. I think we should underline the last two words in verse 1. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me." I say that because the psalm is not teaching that all ambition is wrong. You may have an ambition to witness to someone every day of the Lord what the Lord has done for you. That's a good ambition. That's commendable. This psalm is not against all ambition. but ambition it is for me. It is selfish ambition as opposed to what is for God, for the exalting of Christ's name, for the extending of God's kingdom. It begs us to ask ourselves, what ambitions do I have? Am I seeking great things for myself? Am I trying to do more than God ever intended me to do? The profession of King David is worthy of our consideration. And it's worthy to be our profession as well before the Lord. He must have experienced this humility in a very personal manner. You just think of Israel. You think that now they were settled well in the land of Canaan, the land of promise. They had their stone houses. They had their vineyards. They had all their comforts. But David was concerned because the house of God was still a tent. he wanted to build that permanent structure, that temple. But he wasn't to walk in this way of this great matter. This wasn't something that God intended him to do. It would rather be his Son who would build it. David would merely gather the materials together. He would get things in order. and he submits to the sovereignty of God with a humble heart. Dear people, are we not in need of humility in this our day? I read to you a verse or two which is very familiar, 2 Chronicles 7. Verse 13, I wonder, did you notice it? If I shut up heaven, that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, seek my face, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. But before I leave that thought, I desire you to see Christ in these Scriptures. It's not just about David. You see the Messiah here. Surely these words are applicable to David's Lord. For when he walked this earth, his robe was humility. He was not haughty, but meek, lowly in heart. His eyes weren't lofty. His eyes, rather, were kindly and merciful toward the meanest object that was presented before him. He looked not to great matters, nor high things, but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man." Verse 1 can speak of Christ. What Christ was is also how his servants should be. You listen to me as I read to you what Paul said to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1. He said, Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent, am bold toward you. He himself professed to be least of the apostles, He even goes further in the book of Ephesians, saying he was least of all the saints. And when that time came for him to receive the martyr's crown, he has left state that of sinners, I am chief. Yet in such humility, how much, how greatly he was used of God. Is that our profession? Let's go to verse 2, because then you'll notice his practice. For having noted what King David said, we're given to see what is his everyday practice. I want you to see further marks here of what it is to be trusting in God. Surely, verse 2 says, I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother, my soul is even as a weaned child. I want you to see this practice was deliberate. This is not just some empty words. This is not just some fleeting notion that David had taken. You'll see his words are, surely I have behaved and quieted myself. I want to just pause there. The word surely, almost, almost causes this to have the effect of an oath. In other words, I can solemnly affirm that this is my practice. I swear that I have behaved and quieted myself. You get the sense. His heart is open before God. The Lord knew that this was what he had done. He could have been boastful. He could have sought to exalt himself. But instead, he deliberately chose to have a stillness and to have a silence before the Lord. There's another little verse, of course, that may come to mind. Be still and know that I am God. You know, there are times when we need to make that conscious decision that we will be quiet. we listen to what God is saying. The easiest thing to do is to be up and doing. The flesh delights in always having to do something, but the scriptures exhort us to be still and to wait for God's solutions to our problems. You listen to the words of Psalm 62 verse 1, again a psalm of David. He says, Truly my soul waiteth upon God, from him cometh my salvation. Tell me, is this practice something that you can identify with tonight? You see how his practice here is described in verse 2 in the following words. He likens himself to a weaned child. Now that's a picture that is very vivid. A child not weaned isn't able to control themselves in terms of their feeding. It isn't able to wait until tea time or lunch time. What it does instead is cry. It has to be satisfied there and then. Its instinct is to cry, and it will cry until the mother satisfies it with her milk. But move forward. a number of months. Move forward into those tentative early years when that child is grown and the mother is no longer feeding it. It is now a weaned child, and that being so, it is more controlled. And so if there's hunger that comes upon it, it will be able to wait until the next round of feeding there is in that household. It may, of course, attempt, like any child will, to get something in between meals, especially if it's of a sweet nature. But often that may be refused, and it learns to wait. It's a child no longer on the breast, but it is still a child that is close to the mother. And that is how the psalmist describes himself here. His soul is even as a weaned child. In other words, he has learnt more and more to wait patiently upon the Lord. There's a calmness in his soul. He's trusting in the Lord. He's saying that he is no longer a spiritual infant anymore. You know, men and women, young people, many of God's people have not put away childish behavior. They're still spiritually infants. There's a spiritual immaturity and infancy still about them. And do you know how that manifests itself? When things don't go their way, or when troubles or difficulties arise, they start to panic. And instead of trusting in the Lord, they make their own fires, and they take their own course. And what I've said, which concerns individual believers, is likewise the case with churches collectively. And so what you find when there seems to be a decreasing interest in the things of God, and maybe the numbers are not coming out, they're going down, there's a panic sets in, and what do they do? They turn to Egypt for help. The woe of heaven is upon those who turn to the world for its guidance and for help. Isaiah chapter 31 verse 1 makes it clear, Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses and trust in chariots, because they are men. That's what churches are about today in Christendom. Just because that place down the road does such and such, then we must do the same. We must get in the drums. We must get in even the drama. They trust in chariots because there are many, and in horsemen because they're very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. It's not science we need. We're hearing a lot about what science is saying today. It's the Scriptures we need. That's the answer. and the God who is unchanging, who alone can help us, even at this very time. See that his practice here, it led to his dependence upon the Lord. The disposition of the psalmist is one of patience, of control, of calmness. He was as the child, yet depending entirely upon the Lord to give him his every need. But he was now that little bit older spiritually. He wasn't just as weak spiritually as a child, not weaned. And so he now was more able to trust in the Lord's plan and purpose for him and for his people in general. Men and women, if there is ever a day in which our dependence needs to be entirely upon the Lord, to rest in him, to patiently wait upon him, knowing that he has a plan. knowing that he has a purpose in all of our circumstances, for we believe Romans 8 and 28, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. If there's ever a day that we need this, then it's today. This is the day we need a rest and we need to depend on the Lord. to fail to wait upon the Lord, to fail to trust him implicitly, is to offend the Lord. The one who will never fail us, the one who has said, I will never forsake thee. For be assured that his promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. The promises that he has given are enough and his grace is sufficient. And in verse 2, I want you to see that Christ is there also. For the resignation of the Son of God to his Father's will is surely depicted in these words. I must work the work of him that sent His will was totally resigned to finishing the work that the Father gave Him to do, even when it meant the withdrawing of that divine presence and the support that had been afforded to Him. For there on the cross, He cried, Father, into Thy hands, I commend my spirit. Oh, in this short but sweet psalm, see Christ. There is his profession. There is his practice. Verse 3, there is his proclamation. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever. The first verse, This last verse, I should say this final verse, it amounts to a great statement from David. It has to do with our present state. David makes it very precise. Let Israel hope in the Lord. See that this is imperative. Let the people of God, if you like, hope in the Lord. The word hope there is in the imperative tense. not just something that we can take or leave, but here's a proclamation exhorting us what to do. Hope in the Lord. Hoping and trusting in the Lord is the opposite of unbelief. You know, there's a preacher of old who said this, there is no conceivable situation where it is not right to trust in God. Men and women, don't hesitate to commit the unknown future to the known God. You'll observe when we should hope in God. You see, it's a proclamation that is for this very instant. He said, Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth. Here's something that we must do right now. Right now. That's why I said right at the start, I believe this is a word from the Lord to our hearts in this very week. It's from this time right now, this instant right now, and thereafter. And if we trust the Lord for the current situation, then we could add the additional words that follows. Let a child of God hope. By the way, the word hope there also can mean wait. Let the child of God wait upon the Lord. Today's problem, the Lord is causing to be tomorrow's game. if we only hope and wait on him to bring it to pass. Are you waiting? Are you hoping in God now? How long do we hope and wait upon the Lord? From now it will become forever. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever. Let us through the good times and is also through the bad and the difficult times. A man who is trusting in God for today will be able to commit every day after into his care as well. It's forever. David knew this from experience when he waited upon God for that time when he should ascend the throne in the land. You consider that he could have taken it by force. There were at least two occasions in which he could have put Saul to death, but he wouldn't touch the Lord's anointed. And he left that in the hands of the Lord. And in due time, in the Lord's time, his waiting was over, and he was crowned king on his throne. You see, he's a man that has put this psalm into practice. And I want you to see that this proclamation is illustrated, and it's illustrated by what are very familiar words. If you turn just to the next book, you turn to Proverbs chapter 3. I want you to read just with me those two verses, verse 5 and 6. Proverbs 3 verse 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lead not unto thine own understanding. They would be familiar words. Trust in the Lord. The word trust is the same as is found in our psalm that we've been looking at tonight. It literally gives the picture of lying helplessly in one's face. You can't do anything. You've cast your all upon the Lord. There's nothing you can do. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on thine own understanding. Then we'll go to verse 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Don't be tempted to go your own way. Don't be tempted to depend on your own knowledge. and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Do you see the word direct? It means to straighten out. It means to level. And of course, with the Hebrew language, it's very pictorial. And behind that verse, behind that one word direct, there's the picture. And the picture is of the king, and he's making preparation. He's going to go to one of the cities. He's going to visit that city. But in preparation for the king coming to that city, there would have been the workforce that would have went out, and they would have raised the low places. They would have built them up. And then the high places, they would have lowered them. And the end effect was that the road that the king would travel on right to the city, it would be straightened out, it would be leveled. And child of God, that is what God has promised to do for you and me. That's what the Lord has promised to do for his people, for those that trust in him with all their heart. for those that don't lean on their own understanding, for those that acknowledge God in all the paths that they have to trod. He says, I will level that path. I will make that path straight. He will make those paths straight and level in your life if you implicitly trust in Him And don't be tempted to trust in yourself or someone else. And these days, let us not trust in our own wisdom. Let us not trust in our own power, our own initiative. But let us trust in Jehovah alone, who will not fail to exalt us in due time. You know why? Because he has already exalted him. He has already exalted our Redeemer, even the Lord Jesus Christ. For God hath given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What a word this is from the Lord. That Israel, Let God's people, let the church trust in the Lord from this instant and forever. Oliver Cromwell had a secretary who he sent on very important business to a foreign nation. That man was troubled as he lay down to sleep that night. In those times, the servant also stayed in the same room. And he noted that the servant was sleeping like a baby. He couldn't. And so he went over and he asked the servant, and he woke him, he said, why does your master find it hard to sleep tonight? And that man He asked him a series of questions. He said, Sir, do you believe that God ordered the world aright before you were born? Yes, I do. Sir, do you believe that God will order this world aright after you die? Yes, I do. And he said, Sir, Surely then you'll believe that the Lord will order this world aright during the time of your living." And Cromwell's secretary said, it all fitted into place. He said, it all came together. I had to trust in the Lord, not in myself. Men and women, may we be enabled to be a trusting people more and more in our God, in our God in these days. And you know, one day, one day maybe sooner than many of us realize, one day we'll realize the path had been leveled out and we've reached that city. whose builder and maker is God. And we'll hear the welcome of the King. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And we'll see him. And we'll see him face to face. We'll look into the face of the one who loved us, and the one who laid down his life on the cross for us. and will only say, worthy is the Lamb. Thank you for listening, for joining in with us tonight. I pray the Lord will bless the story of that little Psalm to each of our hearts for his own name's sake. Trusting in God. Let's unite our hearts together in closing in a word of prayer. Father, we thank Thee for Thy goodness toward us. We thank You, Lord, for bringing this psalm even to our attention. And now it's so ordered this week of meetings to include this psalm for this very moment. Lord, we pray that we might self-examine tonight. We might examine our heart that it's not haughty, that our eyes are not lofty, that, O God, our walk is one that is pleasing with thee in the walk of humility. We pray, Lord, that thou would be pleased to draw near. And, O God, that our practice might be of, Lord, following thee, of giving the Savior the right place, of being clothed in humility, of trusting in thee, of waiting upon thee. Let Israel hope in the Lord. from henceforth and forever. Lord, may we make it our prayer tonight, and we pray, O God, that thou would even write this word in each heart under the sound of my voice. In these days, Lord, days of difficulty, days of trial, days, Lord, where our faith has been battered, Lord, we pray, and might be strengthened. And we pray, Lord, as others might look on, that they might see that there's a man, there's a woman, who's trusting in God. Father, hear our prayer. Continue with us. Bless the rest of the meetings this week. Bless the Word yet as it goes forth. For we ask these things, giving thanks in our Savior's precious and all-worthy name, and for God's eternal glory. Amen.