Hope In God

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help, turn back to the portion of Scripture that we read, the book of Psalms, Psalm 42.

[0:12] The book of Psalms, Psalm 42, and if we read again at verse 5. Psalm 42 at verse 5. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

[0:36] I'm sure that many of us are familiar with John Calvin's beautiful description of the book of Psalms.

[0:49] In the preface to his commentary on the book of Psalms, Calvin stated, he says, I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, an anatomy of all parts of the soul, for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.

[1:12] And there can be no doubt that Calvin's statement is so true and so telling of the experience of all of the Lord's people, that in the mirror of God's word, and especially in the book of Psalms, we see not only who God is, but we are given the reflection of who we are before a holy God.

[1:35] Because the Psalms present to us the anatomy, an anatomy of all parts of the soul, and they address every area and every circumstance and every feeling and every emotion that we go through in our lives.

[1:49] But what many of us find so wonderful about the Psalms is that they manage to address the deep issues of the soul. And they use expressions and metaphors that we can so easily relate to, and they often describe our experience so perfectly.

[2:09] Whether we are in the depths of joy and praise, or we are in the depths. Whether it's joy and praise with thankfulness and to the Lord and for his goodness towards us, or we are in the depths crying to God and longing to hear his voice.

[2:28] My friend, this precious book truly does address the anatomy of all parts of the soul. But the part of the soul that Psalms 42 and 43 address is the downcast soul.

[2:43] It is the depressed soul. It's the soul that is in the depths suffering from spiritual depression. And many of the Lord's people find these two Psalms a great comfort because they are real.

[2:57] And they present the reality of the Christian life. That the Christian life is not easy. It's not all plain sailing.

[3:08] That it's not always joy and happiness. It's not always the feeling of soaring high and riding on the wings of an eagle. Because sometimes, and maybe there are many times, in which we can be in the depths of despair.

[3:25] Walking in what seems to be darkness and wondering where the Lord is in it all. But the beauty of Psalms 42 and 43 is that when we are spiritually depressed or downcast, the Psalmist tells us what to do and where to go.

[3:42] And he does so from his own experience. Because both these Psalms are written from personal experience. In fact, you could say that they are the outpouring of the inner soul.

[3:57] And in order for us to be given the full picture of the Psalmist soul, we have to see that Psalms 42 and Psalm 43, they are to be understood as one unit.

[4:09] They should be viewed as one Psalm. And the reason for this, as you may have noticed, is the repetition of the words we read in verse 5. Because these words, they're repeated again in verse 11 of Psalm 42, and then again in verse 5 of Psalm 43.

[4:27] And these words are key to both Psalms. Not only because it's what you would call the chorus of the Psalm that's repeated throughout. But it also explains how the Psalmist came to discover what to do in his situation of spiritual depression and where to go with it.

[4:48] And what we will discover is that the chorus is a summary of the entire Psalm. It's a summary. It sums up the feelings of the Psalmist. Because it seems to me that the Psalmist, who was in the depths, and he's standing in the mirror of God's Word, and as he stands there in the mirror, he's seeing his own soul.

[5:09] And as he sees his soul in the mirror, he begins to ask himself. He's asking his own soul, and he's saying, Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you so dismayed within me?

[5:21] Why are you unsettled? What's wrong with you? What is it that's bothering you? And it's from his self-analysis of looking in the mirror, and in the mirror, and you could see the mirror of God's Word.

[5:35] The Psalmist, he then proceeds to give this word of encouragement and redirection, because he says, Hope in God. Hope in God.

[5:49] For you shall yet praise him for all his help. And looking at these Psalms, I don't think there's any particular historical context connected with them, apart from the fact that they express the outpouring of an inner soul.

[6:06] And it's from one of the Lawrence people, where the Psalm is a Psalm of Christian experience. And by looking at it this evening, we can see that by the repetition of the chorus, it's very neatly divided into three sections.

[6:21] And as we move through each section, we'll see that there is this progression towards the remedy, or the outcome, of the Psalmist's spiritual depression.

[6:33] And the outcome is hope in God. Hope in God. And so at the outset of this self-analysis of his soul, by looking in the mirror, we see that the Psalmist is longing for God.

[6:47] And then as he progresses, he's looking to God. And then as he concludes, he's living with God. So he's longing for God, he's looking to God, and he's living with God.

[7:02] Longing for God, looking to God, and living with God. So first of all, he speaks about longing for God. Longing for God.

[7:14] If we just read the first five verses quickly. He says, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My thirst, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

[7:28] When I shall, when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night. While they say to me all the day long, where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul.

[7:40] How I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God. With glad shouts and songs of praise, as a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul?

[7:50] Why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God. And what we can see is that the psalmist opens with a familiar illustration of the deer panting and thirsting for water.

[8:10] And the illustration is familiar to us, not only because we know these words fairly well, but also because of where we live. We are often confronted by deer as we travel across the moor.

[8:22] And no doubt, there are many deer who are enticed by the lovely flowing stream of the Barbas River. But here the psalmist compares his thirst for God to the experience of a deer.

[8:37] A deer that was in search of water. And he says, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. And you'll notice from the psalmist's comparison that he repeats the expression panting to describe both a deer and his situation.

[8:57] He is panting like a deer. And as we know with dogs, they pant a lot. And they pant when they're tired and when they're worn out and feeling weak and sometimes, well, if it's hot, their thirst needs to be quenched.

[9:14] And here we're given this image of a deer thirsting for flowing streams. Thirsting for the water brooks of life-giving and satisfying water.

[9:26] But it was one commentator who said, This stricken deer is no camel. Desert dwelling and self-sufficient. He's no camel.

[9:36] In other words, the psalmist wasn't content to be in the wilderness and try and survive on the reservoir of stored water. He wasn't content anymore just to get by on past experience and previous occasions when he had tasted and seen the Lord's goodness.

[9:56] No, he wanted this fresh water supply and the flowing stream. He wanted water to quench his thirst and to satisfy his longing.

[10:07] And his longing, his panting, his desire was for God. His thirst was for God and he wouldn't settle for anything less. And that's what the psalmist explains in verse 2.

[10:20] He says, My soul, it's thirsting for God. But not just any God. Not just any idol. Not any false God. My thirst, he says, is for the living God.

[10:33] It's for the living God. And he says this because he's come to discover like every Christian that in their own experience that there is no other God, no other idol in this world that will ever satisfy the deep desires and the spiritual longings apart from the living God.

[10:53] And this longing and this thirsting that the psalmist had, it's further expressed when he asks the question, he asks the question, When shall I come and appear before God?

[11:08] And what he's asking is, When will I be able to satisfy my longing? When will I be able to quench my thirst? When will I be able to come into God's presence and fill my soul with the goodness of his house?

[11:22] When will I be able to see God's face and stand in his presence and experience his peace in my soul? And when will I have that fullness that I once had?

[11:34] When will I have that well of water springing up to everlasting life? When will I have that again? When will I ever have that again? When shall I come and appear before God?

[11:48] Because he says, At the moment, my diet only consists of my tears. My diet is only my tears. They have been my food.

[11:59] They have been my meat and my drink both day and night. I have had to survive on the droplets of my own tears rather than the deluge of water from the flowing streams of the living God.

[12:15] And that's the comparison he's making where he's had to try and satisfy his thirst and all the feelings of the emotions by the things of the years gone by.

[12:29] He's trying to satisfy himself from everything in the past in which the rivers from his eyes he knows they're no comparison to the rivers from the living God.

[12:42] But what has made his whole experience worse is not the weeping and the wondering where the Lord is in it all. He says the enemies have made my experience unbearable because they have been continually asking me where is your God?

[13:00] Where is your God? But his enemies they weren't warriors wanting to fight him. His enemies weren't the world questioning the Christian. His enemies were all the other gods.

[13:14] All the other gods that were bidding for his soul. The enemies were all the distractions and all the alternatives to seeking God.

[13:24] They were all the other options to turn to and worship. And they were always asking where is your God? Where is your God? Because they were always there as the alternative to God.

[13:40] They were always there for the psalmist. They were always there to try and quench his thirst and satisfy him for the moment. And though these false gods they have always been there they have surrounded the psalmist and they are easier to access they're easier to reach for than the difficulty of trying to satisfy his thirst for the living God.

[14:05] These other gods and these other rivers they're only distractions they're only mirages you could say of the real thing. They're only shadows of the true life-giving water that is able to satisfy and quench the deep desires of the soul.

[14:24] But what becomes clear in his outpouring of his inner soul is that the distractions weren't the problem the other gods weren't the problem they were only trying to take advantage of something that was missing.

[14:40] The other gods and the idols were only trying to distract the psalmist from the real problem the root cause of his spiritual depression. Because what had brought him so low was that when he looked back when he looked back all he could think about was what he used to enjoy what he used to have and what he used to be in his experience but is no longer there.

[15:11] And in that sense the psalmist thinks back to the good old days to things when it was so different and his providence was not what it used to be because he says in verse 4 these things I remember as I pour out my soul how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise a multitude keeping festival.

[15:40] the psalmist looks back and all he can see are the times when he was blessed the times when he used to travel with all of the Lord's people to all the feasts he remembers the joy that he had then and the worship that he partook in then and the fellowship of the Lord's people that he enjoyed then and maybe he even missed those who used to go to these festivals but are now gone they used to be at all the pilgrim feasts they used to gather with us he's saying but now it's all gone it's all so different now it's all changed I've changed it's not what it once was I'm not what I once was it's not how it used to be in the past I'm not how I used to be in the past it's not the way I remember it it's not the way I remember it and all the time the psalmist he's longing he's longing to experience what he experienced in the past he's longing to relive past experience because he knows that what he had in the past was good what he had then is nothing in comparison to what he has now all that he has now are the idols tempting him away from the Lord but here's the psalmist and I'm sure that we can see our own experience being portrayed in his life where he's thirsting for the water of life thirsting for the

[17:11] Lord he's longing to be strengthened longing to be encouraged longing to be uplifted longing to have the blessedness he once knew and loved because all he sees when he looks into his soul is failure disappointment he sees sin he sees his own weakness because he sees that he's not what he thought he would be by now and he sees that he's not where he thought he would be by now when he looks at the past all he sees when he sees how close he used to be to the Lord and he was so prayerful to the Lord he was so full of the Lord and so fervent in spirit and when we consider our own experience we see that we're so like him because we're asking where is it all gone where is the joy I once had where is it gone where is it gone because in the depth of my soul there is this longing to be made perfect this longing to be a better

[18:21] Christian to be more Christ like to be more diligent to be more faithful to the Lord to be more committed more prayerful more diligent in my Bible reading and the reading of other books and even when we look back and I'm sure every one of us can say it I'm not what I used to be I'm not as fervent as I once was I'm not as faithful as I once was to the Lord my sin it used to bother me I sometimes wonder if it bothers me at all I don't read as often as I used to I don't pray as often or as long as I used to my desire to be in church and amongst the Lord's people it's not what it used to be my heart doesn't burn within me like it did in the past and maybe like this psalmist his chorus is so fitting for you because you long to hear from God you long to feel what you once felt you long to feel that closeness that you once encountered revived and awakened you you're looking into the mirror of

[19:34] God's word and you're asking why are you downcast oh my soul why are you so disquieted within me and this question which the psalmist poses in the chorus it's to give us the image that he's he's sinking deeper and deeper all the time into the depths of spiritual depression he's downcast because the strength of his faith in God which was solid and firm in the past it's now melting away and he's disquieted within himself he's groaning he's unsecled he's unhappy he's discontent with his present spiritual situation but he doesn't know what to do he doesn't know what to do he's longing for God but in his longing he needs to look to God he needs to look to

[20:35] God which brings us to the second section of this psalm looking to God we've seen longing for God but now we see the psalmist looking to God and he says in verse 6 oh my God it says I'm my God my soul is cast down within me therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and from Hermon from Mount Mizar deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls all your breakers and your waves have gone over me by day the Lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is within me a prayer to the God of my life I say to God my rock why as with a deadly wound in my bones my adversaries taunt me when they say to me all the day long where is your God why are you cast down on my soul why are you in turmoil within me hope in

[21:36] God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God so in the opening section the psalmist was longing for God but now he's looking to God because in this section you can see him crying to God he's crying to God and he's telling God what's wrong he's pouring out his soul and saying oh my God my soul is cast down within me and this cry is a proof of his progression out of the depths it's a proof that he is slowly rising out of his spiritual depression because he's no longer looking inward to himself he's now looking upward to God and in this cry to God the psalmist explains how he feels within his soul he says oh my God my soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember you but in this remembrance it's not of past experience as it was in the first section when he looked back in the past and he was crippled by all the blessings he once experienced and wondered where they had all gone this time the psalmist desire to remember is more positive because he's describing his present situation and the psalmist describes how he feels by using all these geographical expressions because he says that he will remember the

[23:08] Lord from the land of Jordan from Harmon and from Mount Mizal and what's interesting is that these locations they were all far away from Jerusalem that's where the temple was the temple was in Jerusalem the land of Jordan it was over the border of Israel to the east Harmon was the largest mountain in Israel it was located right in the very far north and then the Mount of Mizar it was actually Mizar means little mountain so it's the smallest mountain in Israel and it was feels having looked at his past experience and considered what he once had he concludes he is distant from the

[24:22] Lord he has a longing to be in the Lord's presence and to experience what he had in the past and although he still felt turmoil and that he was in the depths and distant from God he was still looking to God he was still looking to God because he says in deep cause to deep at the roar of your waterfalls all your breakers and your waves have gone over me and the images of struggling in the depths and trying to stay afloat trying to keep your head above the water when the waves are crashing over and the billows are drowning him and yet when he looked to God he knew that he wouldn't sink completely he knew that he wouldn't be completely overwhelmed and we may ask well why why could he cope with his spiritual depression why did he know deep down in his soul that he was not lost why did he know that he could still cling on with his fingertips he says in verse 8 by day the

[25:33] Lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is within me a prayer to the God of my life it's a beautiful verse by day the Lord commands his steadfast love at night his song is with with me a prayer to the God of my life and this verse it's a key verse because it's the only time in this psalm that the psalmist uses the covenant name Lord the capital letter Lord he uses the name of God in every other expression and occasion throughout the psalm but in this verse he uses the title Lord and the reason the psalmist does so is because as he looks to the Lord he's reminded that the covenant God will always remain faithful despite his failures despite his weakness and despite the fact that he feels so inadequate and such a failure before the

[26:38] Lord what strengthens him and what encourages the psalmist is the loving kindness of the Lord the steadfast love the covenant love of the Lord that never changes that's what encourages him in his weakness that's what assures him in his doubt that's what fills him with praise when he is disquieted within himself and the expression in this verse it describes the vast change in the psalmist this progression in his spiritual depression because as he looked in the past he longed to have what he had in the past he longed to feel the presence of God with him like he did in the past he yearned to be uplifted and strengthened like he was in days gone by he thirsted after the Lord to speak like him to speak to him like he did before he desperately wanted to feel close to the Lord he longed to be rid of this depression and his doubts and his distance from the

[27:43] Lord and separate from the Lord's people but when we come to this verse it seems that the psalmist realises that looking to the past was crippling him looking to the past was disabling him looking to the past was making him doubt and become despondent and what he discovered when looking to God and laying hold upon the love of God the covenant love of God he realised that it wasn't actually the past that he needed to relive and it wasn't past experiences that he needed to place his trust in and it wasn't past feelings and past desires that he had to ground his salvation upon no he says it was the Lord it was the Lord he says he is my loving kindness in the daytime he is my song in the night not my tears not my tears they were my meat and drink too in the day and in the night but how could

[28:58] I be so foolish how could I doubt how could I question everything because the Lord has he's been there all along he hasn't moved he hasn't changed his promises haven't altered his love for me is still the same he has always commanded his loving kindness to be shown to me in the daytime and he has always given me his songs to sing in the night seasons and my prayers she says my prayers they weren't just said to the living God in front of all the dead gods and the false idols of this world no no no he says he's not just the living God to me he's the God of my life he's the God of my life he's everything to me he means everything to me he is everything to me because my salvation is not grounded upon my thoughts and my feelings of a past life past experience my salvation is grounded upon and secure because it stands for me he says upon

[30:08] God my rock oh my dear friend how quick we are to forget the Lord's faithfulness towards us how quick we are to look inwards and not look upwards to the Lord how quick we are to forget that this covenant God loves us with an everlasting love and that he loves us and he gave himself for us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins he loved us when we didn't do all these things when we didn't pray when we didn't read when we didn't know his presence when we weren't walking with the Lord when we were complete strangers to grace and to God the marvel is that he still loved us then so why do we think that love has changed why do we somehow in our own minds think that it has diminished why do we ever think that it is dependent upon us why do we question the love of

[31:15] God maybe we don't even question the love of God maybe we question our love of God and think that the problem is our love and our lack of love to the Lord but what my friend what the psalmist came to discover was that the remedy to his lack of love was not to look to himself but look to the Lord look to the Lord the solution to his problem was take your eyes off self fix your eyes on him he was not the psalmist was not to look inward look upward look upward and you know I love those words in Psalm 62 we sing them often a wonderful reminder of what our confession should be because the psalmist in Psalm 62 he knew that he was so weak and that his salvation could never be grounded upon feelings or past experience that's why he confessed the singular reason for his salvation he only my salvation is and my strong rock is he he only is my sure defense

[32:31] I shall not move to be in God my glory placed is and my salvation sure in God the rock is of my strength my refuge most secure and having made such a wonderful discovery the psalmist went on to exhort every one of the Lord's people to do the same he says you people you place your confidence in him continually before him pour ye out your heart God is our refuge high and having come to this conclusion of how good the Lord is to him and how the Lord hasn't changed the psalmist in this psalm he wonders why did it happen why did it happen he says in verse 9 I said to God my rock why have you forgotten me why do I go mourning because of the enemy because of the oppression of the enemy and he was asking why has this happened why am

[33:42] I mourning literally he was asking why was I left to walk in the darkness under the oppression of my enemy why were all the other gods allowed to come in and tempt me away from following the Lord and why were they continually asking me where is your God why did this happen what was the cause of my spiritual depression I wasn't hoping in God I wasn't hoping in God just why the psalmist says in the chorus why are you cast down oh my soul why are you in turmoil within me hope in God hope in God when he says hope in God he's saying wait expectantly upon the covenant promises of the Lord that's what hope is it's to wait expectantly not in doubt or uncertainty or to look inward it's to wait expectantly knowing that he who has promised is faithful to fulfill his promise hope in

[34:50] God and this expression clearly shows that the psalmist has found redirection he's found rededication as he seeks to wait expectantly upon the Lord he was longing for God he was looking to God but now as he concludes this beautiful psalm he explains that he is living with God he's living with God he goes into psalm 43 he says vindicate me O God and defend my cause against an ungodly people from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me for you are the God in whom I take refuge why have you rejected me why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy send out your life and your truth let them lead me let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling then I will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy and I will praise you with a lyre O God my God why you cast down

[35:52] O my soul why are you in turmoil within me hope in God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God so our psalmist began he began in the depths longing to rediscover the experiences of the past he longed to reignite and recover what he felt was missing from his own soul he longed to know the Lord's presence as in days gone by but as he conducted this self analysis in the mirror he realised that he was wrong to look back and try and relive the past because as he sought to relive the past he was ignoring the present and by ignoring the present he was unable to see that the Lord was still faithful and still loving towards him in the present as he was in the past but as the psalmist progressed and he climbed out of this spiritual depression he stopped longing for the past because by refocusing his attention and redirecting his gaze to looking to

[37:02] God the psalmist was looking to the future he was longing to be in the presence of God he had confessed that he felt so distant from the Lord so far away but now his deep desire was to be in the immediate presence of God that's why he says vindicate me judge me plead my cause deliver me from the deceitful and the unjust man why he says you are the God of my strength you are the God in whom I take refuge and find safety and security but then he repeats the question from Psalm 42 why do you cast me off why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy why was I made to walk in this darkness and just before the psalmist comes to this climactic conclusion the psalmist brings us back to where he was he reminds us of the darkness that he was in he reminds us of the spiritual depth that he had sank to in order for us to see how much the

[38:13] Lord had helped him because he goes on to make this wonderful plea and it's a plea to go home it's a plea to be in the presence of God it's a plea to be taken out of this world send out your light and your truth let them lead me let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling and what's so beautiful is that he would be led to the sanctuary of God but not to the sanctuary of Jerusalem no he longs to be led to a greater sanctuary and to an even better tabernacle to the most holy place around the throne of God the psalmist is asking to be taken home to glory and we might think that it's wrong that he was asking to be taken out of this world but you know as I was preparing to preach on this psalm all I could think about was that this psalm reflects the experience of many of the elderly people in our congregation in which they're no longer able to gather at the means of grace or gather with the

[39:36] Lord's people in the Lord's house and all they have is their memories of days gone by when they used to gather with the Lord's people where they used to experience fellowship where they used to be in the Lord's house all they have is their memories of the past days when they knew the Lord's presence days when they spent time in company of the Lord's people but in their old age these things are gone what they once knew has now faded and very often those who are housebound they become despondent and disheartened because they miss being in church they long to be of the word they long to sing the Lord's songs with the Lord's people but because they're so distant from it they feel distant from it and they wonder if the Lord has forgotten them and it should make us thankful that we have the strength to be here and we should make every effort to be here because probably one day we won't be able to come here but deep down those who are elderly maybe those who are ill and they are in the

[40:51] Lord they long to be taken home that's what you find them talking about going home they long to be removed from the enemies that have been continually around them throughout their wilderness journey they long for the Lord to send his light forth and his truth and lead them to his holy hill that's one commentator who described God's light and God's truth as two angels beautiful image two angels that will lead the Lord's people through the wilderness over the banks of the Jordan into Emmanuel's land and just listen to the way the psalmist describes his entrance into the presence of God he says in verse 4 of Psalm 43 then I will go to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy and I will praise you with a lyre

[41:52] O God my God O God my God I am his he is mine and the psalmist concludes his song with the chorus why are you cast down O my soul why are you in turmoil within me hope in God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God as we said before this verse or this chorus the summary of the entire psalm the psalmist said that he was longing for God and his depression and despondency when he's asking why are you cast down why are you in turmoil then he was looking to God looking to God in hope hope in God then he was living with God in praise and in his presence so what is the cure to spiritual depression to being downcast the psalmist discovered that the only cure is to praise the

[42:58] Lord and look to the one called my salvation and my God the ESV has that translation that I would say is probably the right translation it talks about the AV talks about the countenance of God but the literal word is salvation that we were to look upon the one called salvation and my God what did the angels say you shall call his name Jesus call his name salvation he shall save his people from their sin the cure to any spiritual depression or despondency is to hope in the God of the covenant and look to Jesus look to Jesus it's to look upon him face to face and that's what the title of this psalm means there's no title in psalm 43 which is another indicator that these two psalms were to be understood as one psalm but the beginning of psalm 42 we're told that this psalm is a mas keel which literally means

[44:10] I see the face of God I see the face psalm the cure to the psalmist problem was in the title it was in the title the cure to being downcast look to Jesus come face to face with Jesus is that what the writer of the Hebrews said to all the despondent Christians suffering the persecution and onslaught of the world lay aside every weight put aside all the sins look to Jesus the author the finisher of our faith oh why are you cast down oh my soul why are you in turmoil within me hope in God for I shall again praise him my salvation and my God may the Lord bless these thoughts please let us pray oh

[45:12] Lord our gracious God teach us oh Lord we pray not to look inward but to look to Jesus we realize oh Lord there are many idols there are many distractions there are many things that can take our mind off Jesus there are many things that can cause us to look inward and to see how much we feel but yet we thank thee oh Lord for the reminder of the apostle that he was able to say that I'm not what I used to be but I am what I am by the grace of God and oh Lord help us we pray to know that thou art one who is still working in us still shaping us and still molding us encourage us Lord that thou wouldst lift us up strengthen our weak hands oh Lord lift us up we plead that the promises that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint oh do us good then we plead go before us and cleanse us for

[46:20] Jesus sake Amen we shall conclude by singing in Psalm 43 Psalm 43 in the Scottish Psalter verse 3 down to the end of the psalm Psalm 43 from verse 3 O send thy light forth and thy truth let them be guides to me and bring me to thine holy hill in where thy dwellings be down to the end of the psalm to God's praise O send thy light forth on thy truth let death be kind to me and bring me to thy holy will thee twerring be than will

[47:37] I tune God's alter 2008 dr fe thought of my child those may My God, thy name to praise.

[48:03] My heart, why will I? Why are the men passed out of my soul?

[48:21] What should discourage me? And why with venting thoughts are dull?

[48:40] Disquieting me. Still trusting God for him to praise.

[48:59] With most I yet shall bow. He of my countenance is the hell.

[49:17] My God, thou art me same. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.