We turn in God's holy word to Psalm 143. Psalm 143 is Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul. He hath smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake, for thy righteousness' sake. Bring my soul out of trouble, and of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am thy servant. The text to which I call your attention this evening is Psalm 143, verse 8. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has mercifully spoken to our needs in the Psalms. There is hardly an occasion we face, a trial that we bear, that is not addressed in this inspired songbook of the Bible. There's a reason for that, and a reason that we easily forget, but which reason really is critical to our proper understanding of the Psalms and especially the Psalms of David, one of which is Psalm 143. David, who under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit penned not all but the majority of the Psalms, was a type of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. There are certain Psalms in which that truth is abundantly clear and plain. In a season we have just completed considering the suffering of our Lord, we find in Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, for example, a number of texts that clearly reveal David speaking as a type of the Messiah. affirmed in the New Testament references to those texts with direct application to the suffering of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So it was not only as a consequence of his own sin, therefore, which showed that David was a type, and only a type, as the king, the true king, but because of the Christ whom he represented and who by faith lived in David, that David's life was one of great difficulties and trials and comes to expression in the Psalms. Also, as our confession of those in whose hearts Christ lives The fact is David seemed to have faced all human temptations, all forms of persecution, all trials as well as joys, being led by the spirit in order that he might occupy the place that he did as the Old Testament type of the king of kings who had yet to come to save us from our sins. It was because Christ lived in David, therefore, being in all points tempted like as we are, that the Psalms are full of rich instruction for us and in fact serve as a testimony of our own experience as we express ourselves in these inspired songs. Our praise to our great Redeemer in whom alone we have life, and in whom alone we do sing these songs. The earthly sojourn of the Christian is not easy. For some, even now, their way is very difficult. Many are the trials and sorrows that we face. Some of those trials continue. without any sign of letting up. We confess that the way of the Lord is perfect, not because we see it with these earthly eyes, but because God has said so, and because he has proven that his word is true. Proven it in the entire history of his church, but also in our own lives. We know too with the knowledge of faith that God is working also in the way of our trials and afflictions. So that we confess in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 17 that our afflictions work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. God is working in us. both to polish us and prepare us, purify us, even as gold is purified by fire. In addition, God leads us in a way that is connected with the lives of many others. When finally all is made perfect, and we are able to reflect upon the perfection of God's ways with us, one of the things that will most amaze us is how what God did in our lives was intertwined with what he was accomplishing in the lives of those around us. Here we can scarcely see how our sufferings have to do with our usefulness to others, and how the trials that we face serve to draw out of our brothers and sisters in the Lord the expressions of Christ's life and love. But nothing happens to us in isolation from our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that's why we can rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those who weep. Tonight, however, in the light of this text, we take into account the broader picture of our lives in the midst of this world. We are mindful of the fact that we are living and our children are growing up in a world that is rapidly developing in wickedness. Not only has Western civilization as we have known it been in a state of decline, but the very foundations of Western civilization with its broader past influences of Christianity have been riddled by the attacks of the evil one, who I am convinced has been loosed for that time in which he shall deceive the nations ultimately to gather them together to battle against Christ's church. The rapid apostasy in the church world, the advance of Islam into much of Europe, the attacks upon Christianity, both subtle and brazen, all call to remembrance the perilous times in which we live. We have seen in our own country and in this state frightening developments politically, economically, culturally. We have reason to wonder what our children and grandchildren, if not we ourselves, will face in the near future. And as we look back and we contemplate the relationship of these events to the future, God graciously brings us to his word to comfort us, to strengthen us anew, so that we cry out, as did David the psalmist, unto the Lord our God, cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. For in thee do I trust, cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Psalm 143 verse eight conveys our longing to hear Jehovah's loving-kindness. As we consider this text, let us notice, first of all, Jehovah's loving-kindness. Secondly, why we desire to hear that loving-kindness. And finally, the parallel and consequent confession. Jehovah's loving-kindness is on the foreground of David's mind as he makes his plea in the words of this text. But that desire for the loving kindness of his heavenly father arises with urgency because of the circumstances of his present earthly existence. It's evident that what David writes here arises during a time of great distress. Psalm 143 is denoted a song of lamentation, an expression of deep sorrow and distress. The occasion for the writing of the psalm is not known. It could have been written during one of the many times where David had to flee from Saul and some of it place the psalm in the midst of one or another of those events. Many find that the psalm reflects the distress incurred during the attempt of David's own son, Absalom, to seize the kingdom from him. And certainly there are many expressions in the psalm that would reflect the intensity of David's distress during that difficult time. Notice, though, the psalm doesn't even speak so much of the physical trial of David being on the run, David attempting to flee the danger to his life. Rather, David speaks of the spiritual distress that is his, and that troubles him. Verse three, for the enemy hath persecuted my soul. Verse four, therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. His remembrances of the days of old, his meditations on the works that he had seen of God's hands, in contrast to his present experience, caused him to cry out fervently, hear me speedily, oh Lord, my spirit faileth. He sensed God being far from him. And the very thought tormented him. Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit. Now do you see here how David pens this Psalm, giving expression to the voice of Christ? If we are going to understand the Psalms, we have to see Jesus speaking in the Psalms. And we have to see Jesus giving expression to the suffering that he would bear, because he would bear that suffering in our place, and on our behalf, also in David's place, and on David's behalf. Isaiah would later write of that coming Messiah, he is despised and rejected of men. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isaiah 53, verses three and four. And in the garden of Gethsemane, As Jesus pleaded, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. He was really voicing the same thing that David expressed here in verse seven when he said, hide not thy face from me. You and I have not experienced. the persecution that David experienced. And we will never experience the measure of suffering that Jesus endured in our place at the hands of his enemies because he bore at the cross the wrath, the infinite wrath of God that we could never bear. But we do experience in various measures the trials of life that cause us to cry out in distress, my spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate. And we can experience that oppression of spirit in many different ways. That cry can be pressed out of us as a result of the oppressive consciousness of the sinfulness of our sins. That's what lay at the heart of David's plea in verse two. And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. But there are also trials, various trials, that can become so difficult, so oppressive, that our spirits are overwhelmed. We feel like our very life is clamped in a vice that's slowly being tightened and squeezing our life from us. Perhaps you live with chronic pain that saps your strength or that an affliction that drains your energy so that you can hardly go on. Some live with the burden of broken relationships, even severed ties in family relationships. Some have family members that would torment their souls, not unlike what David experienced with Absalom. Some face difficulties in the workplace with unbelieving and antagonistic coworkers who take delight in rubbing in your faces their ungodly worldview. Children can even face the mockery of other children, though may that not be true among us in the school setting as children of the living God. Think of the saints then in Myanmar who live under the very real threat of persecution. Or some of God's people in India who have to look over their shoulders for those who would threaten their lives. And this is just to mention some with whom we have contact in various degrees. But then there are the saints in China where for a period of time Our highest percentage of overseas internet listeners to our sermons were found in China. Not anymore. Probably some of those who listened are now in prison. Some may have been put to death. And you can't fail to take into account the increasing hatred toward Christianity in our own country, even among the leadership in our country, even among the leadership in our state, where court cases are brought against Christian businessmen and women merely because of their stand as Christians against an increasingly ungodly culture. We find laws being passed which would restrict us in what we preach and what we say, which would even attempt, even when we attempt to convey our Christian convictions, as Paul instructed Titus, in a way that is gentle, showing meekness unto all men, Titus 3 verse 2, with sound doctrine, that cannot be condemned, Titus 2 verse 8. So we have in our own state an attorney general and those in other offices that have actively pursued believing Christian businessmen and hauled them into court to prosecute them as enemies of mankind for refusing not only to approve, but to promote lifestyles that are at enmity with the divinely instilled laws of nature, the very creation ordinances of God. David, therefore, gives expression to that which must also be our prayer. Because of all the trials in which he found himself, David longed to hear Jehovah's loving kindness. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness. Isn't it interesting, beloved, that God uses even the trials of our earthly soldier, to increase our longing to hear his loving kindness? How pitifully weak we show ourselves when that loving kindness, which as we sang from Psalm 63, is more than life to me, so quickly departs from our thoughts? What a blessing that God knows that we are flesh. And he leads us, his children, in his love, even using the trials of our lives to draw us to a greater understanding of the precious gift of his loving kindness towards us, how we need Jehovah's loving kindness. Obviously David views the loving-kindness of God not as an abstract attribute, but as an attitude of God that affects David personally. That term loving-kindness is a beautiful term used repeatedly in the Old Testament. Oftentimes it's translated mercy, but there's another term for mercy. One, and this one is a more comprehensive term. Loving kindness is probably as accurate a translation as we could find. It includes God's mercy, but it also emphasizes his love and the keeping of his covenant. If I may put it most simply, I would say God's loving kindness is his eternal intention to bless the objects of his love, to care for his friend's servants. That means that in his loving kindness, Jehovah always blesses his people. There is never a moment when he does not bless his people. Although David apparently sat out in the wilderness of Judah, far from his throne in Jerusalem, he knew the indispensable importance of Jehovah's loving kindness. But he needed to hear the concrete assurances of Jehovah's loving kindness. and especially is that the case in times of trial and distress and difficulties. The weakness of our humanness is such that we are easily consumed by our own trials. We lose sight of the bigger picture and of the sovereign and wise government of God over our circumstances And sometimes we act as if we have a reason to be unthankful. Sometimes it even looks to us that God hurts his people unnecessarily and without love for them. We might even complain and say, has God forgotten to be kind? We need to join the psalmist in the confession, in the petition. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. After all, the lovingkindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Psalm 103 verse 17. This lovingkindness is life to us. When we hear Jehovah's loving kindness, then we know that health and sickness, riches and poverty, all the various trials of our lives, come not by chance, but by his fatherly hand and for our sakes. Why? Because we are in Christ Jesus. who is the personal manifestation of Jehovah's loving kindness to us. The loving kindness of God is all in Christ. The sovereign, almighty God beholds from heaven Those whom he has chosen as his from before the foundation of the world, he looks upon us in our misery and shame and sends his own son, his only begotten. He sends him not only to purchase us, but to pour out his spirit to dwell in our hearts. He gives us to hear his word in the faithful preaching of the gospel, so that this too speaks then to the importance of preaching for us. And if we are truly to pray this petition, We must make faithful use of the means of grace and hear the word of Christ that he himself speaks to us in the preaching of his gospel because in him we hear the loving kindness of our God without fail. When we hear the loving kindness of Jehovah, there's no question about it. We receive all the blessings of salvation and know it. We receive the forgiveness of sins and know it. We receive faith and know it. That's the way we hear the loving kindness of Jehovah, as did David, even in the wilderness. We hear it by the word of the gospel to us, God himself saying to us, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Jehovah says that to us by his word. And that's Jeremiah 31 verse 3. David longs to hear that word of God in the morning, at the dawn of the new day, that it might carry him through the trials of the day. So important it is that we hear Jehovah's loving kindness. Psalm 143 verse 8 also expresses the reason why we desire to hear that loving kindness. For in thee do I trust. To trust is to rest in him. Trust speaks of the activity of faith. Confiding in or resting upon our faithful Savior Jehovah. To trust is to place your confidence in, to set your hope upon someone, knowing that in him we are safe. You find comfort and security in the object of your trust. Trust is one of the two principal elements of faith. that wonderful living bond, that tie that unites us to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Faith, you recall, is not only a certain knowledge, an assured knowledge, but also a hearty confidence. Those two elements, though they may be distinguished are always inseparably connected. You don't put your confidence in someone you do not know. And therefore, if you are going to place your confidence in someone, you must first know him as an object worthy of your confidence. David confessed, that his trust was in Jehovah, the I am that I am. He is from all eternity the one whom his name implies, the unchangeable one whose counsel shall stand and who accomplishes all his purpose which is wise and perfect. Jehovah alone is the one able to supply all our needs and to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. And his name marks him as one who is forever faithful. Faithful he is with regard to himself, faithful in everything he says, what he promises, he certainly fulfills all his promises. Our yea and amen in Christ Jesus, he only is trustworthy. After all, everything else passes away. He abides. When all others disappoint us, he is faithful. Though he often chastens those whom he loves, which was the experience of the psalmist, He does so in unchangeable love and faithfulness to his word, David trusted in Jehovah God. That implies a couple things. That David trusted in Jehovah implies, first, that David knew him in a relationship of love. Do you know him? To trust in him, it's necessary that you know him. Know him like the psalmist knew him. That knowledge is not mere knowledge about him. Oh, the psalmist knew about him. Jehovah, right in all his ways, sovereign in all his works, ever merciful and faithful, He forsaketh not his saints, the Savior of all those who trust in him, but David knew him with an intimate knowledge of love. His was a knowledge that comes from intimate relationship, being taken into the very fellowship of God's covenant life. It was a knowledge, therefore, of the relationship that God had established with David through faith in the promised Messiah. David knew Jehovah as his constant companion, who surrounded him with his love and constant care, who was with him in all his ways. Listen to David's testimony. In Psalm 16, verses seven and eight, I will also bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, not lack anything. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside still waters. Or again, in Psalm 25, verses 14 and 15, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. And he will show them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. We sing those Psalms too, don't we? You sing them from the heart, don't you? That Jehovah is the object of our trust also implies that we humble ourselves before him. How often we try to carry our burdens ourselves. We have to be warned against our reliance upon our own strength or wisdom or abilities. There is nothing more difficult for us than to roll everything onto Jehovah, to trust in him You know why that's so difficult? It is difficult because for us to trust the Lord entirely requires humility and the confession that we are entirely dependent upon him. It requires humble submission. a surrendering of self to the sovereignty of God. So it's really quite a confession that David makes here. He does so longing to hear Jehovah's loving kindness, expecting it too, because he has seen the Lord's faithfulness and had heard his promise. Finally, and not without great importance, There's another petition in this text that stands as a parallel and consequent confession to that longing to hear Jehovah's loving kindness. For the psalmist adds this. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. That word way is used regularly in the Bible to refer to the pathway of our life. Literally a path worn bare by walking. Some of you might know that in the past I have enjoyed hiking in the backcountry. in Colorado and usually I would access that back country by beginning on a path worn by previous hikers and then branching off that beaten path to mark my own way. But when David Praise caused me to know the way wherein I should walk, He is acknowledging the truth that God has marked out a pathway for us, a pathway in which alone we walk safely to our destination. David also understands that we are inclined to wander off the way. Now, when you wander off a well-worn path into the backcountry, you have to be well-equipped for being in the backcountry, and you want someone to know the area where you are hiking, because there are dangers to be faced. There are circumstances and terrain where a person can very easily get himself into trouble. but the dangers that one might experience in the back country are nothing compared to the dangers of departing from the way that God would have us walk. When we wander off the pathway that God has marked out for us, we immediately subject ourselves to dangers that we are not equipped to handle. David has learned also by experience that to depart from God's way is never a good thing, is never something we do without serious harm to our souls. He knows the inclination to wander. He knows how foolish our desires can sometimes be. He knows that by experience. But lifting up his soul unto his faithful Savior, he pleads, cause me to know the way that I should walk. God has marked out the way which is to the spiritual benefit, the well-being of his church. but he has also, in perfect wisdom, marked out the way for each one of us, so that we might also say, with personal application, cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. Lifting up his soul unto Jehovah, David would make God's way his own way. He longs that his walk coincides with the way that God would have him go. And by his walk, he's expressing his longing that his entire life be in harmony with God's will. Our walk includes our whole life. in its outward manifestation, also as governed by our inward thoughts and desires and decisions. Your calling in life and how you are to carry out that calling. Whether you marry and what your marriage is to be like, what you are to be like as a husband or as a wife. All the decisions that you make, how you treat your children if you have children, how you children view your schooling, how you treat your classmates, as well as how you behave in the home, all belongs to your watch. And as David, so also with us, when we know Jehovah in all our way, our desire is to make our way his way. Then our way coincides with his way. The way of the wicked and rebellious, the unbelieving and disobedient, is the way that ends in confusion and desolation. But all of you who trust in Jehovah, committing your way unto him shall never be ashamed. There's a striking similarity in this text to what David wrote in Psalm 26, verse three, After he voiced his petition, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart. Now notice, for thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. There David makes the confession. Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. Here, in Psalm 143, he expresses his longing to hear Jehovah's lovingkindness and to know the way wherein he should walk. But notice the inseparable relationship between hearing or knowing Jehovah's lovingkindness and walking in his truth. He knows that with the loving kindness of Jehovah before his eyes, a godly walk will follow. And that's his desire, too. He would live to the glory of his Redeemer, his Savior. For I lift up my soul unto thee. Do you confess that? was confessing his dependence upon Jehovah for everything. He knew that he had absolutely no ability to fight victoriously the Lord's battles in his own strength, let alone overcome all the challenges that he had to face in his earthly pathway and in the calling that God had given him. He knew that, because he had been so beaten to the ground, having experienced what it is to be overwhelmed. He also knew from difficult experience what happened in those times when he didn't think so clearly. When his own sinful flesh and desires clouded his judgments, when he made his decisions with God being far from his thoughts, the results were always disastrous. He knew that. In the wondrous ways of God, David, With all his strengths pointing us to Christ, the true King, and with all David's faults serving as a mirror to our own natures and lives, David could write the Psalms as an expression of our own spiritual struggles. We are strong in the battle only as the blessed spirit of Christ sanctifies us and gives us strength. But blessed be God. With David, we lift up our souls unto him, Jehovah, our faithful savior. Ours is the confidence of belonging to him. He is the one who has proclaimed his loving kindness toward us. who has revealed his lovingkindness in his only begotten Son, the mediator between God and us and the one through whom Jehovah has reconciled us unto himself. In him is our refuge. Even when the developments in our own lives shake us to the foundation, God is accomplishing his purpose in your salvation and mine. You may readily and freely cry unto him, cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Jehovah is faithful. That belongs to the very essence of his name. He who has expressed, he who has established his covenant with his people in Christ maintains it faithfully, unchangeably, forever. Live in that joy, beloved. Go forward in a hope that endures. Amen. Heavenly Father, it is our longing to hear thy loving kindness, not just today as we have heard it in the gospel, Cause us to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning and every day, for in thee do we trust. Cause us to know the way wherein we should walk, for we lift up our souls unto thee. Thou art our Savior, for Jesus' sake, amen.