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Psalm 119:81-88 - Kaph · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. For those of you that are
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  watching the video version of this podcast, you might say,
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  Brian, you are not in your office.
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  Where in the world are you? Well, today was a particularly
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  cold day, and so I actually needed to move over to a
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  different room at the church because my office was a little
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  too cold. And so I'm excited to be
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  studying Psalm 1/19 with you today.
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  We are in Psalm 119 versus 81 through 8881 through 88, and we
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  are in the section that all of the verses start with the Hebrew
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  letter cough, cough or calf. The kaftarim is one of the
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  people in one of the people groups in the Bible.
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  And so the calf letter is what this section starts with Psalm
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  119. It's God's Word A-Z, if you
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  will, and through the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
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  And so today we're going to be looking at these verses that
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  specifically highlight the fact that God's Word requires
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  patience. God's Word requires patience.
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  Let's read through, and I think you'll see this pretty instantly
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  as we get into the passage. Today I long for your salvation.
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  I put my hope in your word. My eyes grow weary, looking for
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  what you have promised. I ask, when will you comfort me?
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  Though I've become like a wineskin dried by smoke, I do
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  not forget your statutes. How many days must your servant
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  wait? When will you execute judgement
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  on my persecutors? The arrogant have dug pits for
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  me. They violate your instruction.
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  All your commands are true. People persecute me with lies.
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  Help me. They almost ended my life on
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  earth. But I did not abandon your
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  precepts. Give me life in accordance with
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  Your faithful love, and I will obey the decree you have spoken.
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  So here, as the psalmist is writing in this portion of Psalm
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  119, you can hear the desperate need that they have for God to
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  act because He's not currently acting.
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  Man, I think about my life. How many times have I prayed for
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  something and not seen it come to pass for day after day, week
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  after week, sometimes even month after month or year over year?
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  In those times of waiting when patience is needed, is God
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  absent? Has He forgotten, as Psalm 73
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  told us? Has He forgotten to be good?
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  And the simple answer is no. The truth is we want things
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  instantaneously. We want microwave prayers, we
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  want Burger King. Have it your way Christianity,
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  in which our every need gets met instantaneously, where every
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  prayer request is fits perfectly within the will of God.
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  And so we get everything that we want.
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  But the truth is, the word of God is something that requires
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  our patience. Even the illustrations that we
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  hear of God's word in scripture would show us this.
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  I think I mentioned last episode or a couple episodes ago James
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  chapter 1 where James tells the believers scattered all across
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  the Roman Empire that the word of God is like a seed that is
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  planted and it grows and it brings spiritual life and it
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  eventually results in fruit coming out of our life.
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  Sometimes fruit is talked about like new people that we bring to
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  faith in the Lord. More often, fruit is talked
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  about as the way that we live our life as a result of being
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  indwelt and controlled by the Holy Spirit, that the Holy
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  Spirit makes us be loving, the Holy Spirit brings us peace, the
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  Holy Spirit leads us to self-control and so we
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  experience fruit. But I don't know how much
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  gardening I've really done in my life, but I've seen some gardens
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  and I've seen some a big trees coming from Colorado, there's
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  tons of beautiful Evergreen trees, especially during this,
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  you know, December season. But the thing about trees, the
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  thing about fruit and and plant planting is that it does not
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  happen instantaneously. Instead, you plant one day and
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  you water and you water and you wait and you weed.
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  And then hopefully eventually you begin to see a small sprout
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  that comes up and you keep on watering and you keep on giving
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  it the nutrients and soil and sunlight that it needs.
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  And one day that little seed that you planted becomes
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  something great. The same is true for the Word of
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  God. In my life, I grew up learning
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  the Word of God, memorizing it from the time I was probably 5
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  or 6 years old. And as I memorized the word of
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  God, there were things that I learned at 5 or at 10 or 15 that
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  frankly just now at 28, I'm starting to get a handle on.
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  There's things I'm just starting to see, oh, this is how I adopt
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  this into my life or I am just now understanding this truly for
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  the first time. And you might ask, all right, I
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  get it. I got to wait for God's Word.
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  It's going to take a while to to, you know, bring about some
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  results. What am I supposed to think
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  about this? Like, what do I do?
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  Well, let's look at these verses and see what did this look like
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  in the life of the psalmist. He had God's word.
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  He talks a lot about it. Every verse here deals with it.
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  And So what did that look like in his life?
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  Why did he need to be patient? What was he patient for?
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  And then what should it tell us to give it time to allow the
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  Word of God to do what it needs to do?
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  Let's begin in verse #81 says I long for your salvation.
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  I put my hope in your Word. When we think about the ultimate
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  salvation of our souls, it is not instantaneous.
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  The the moment that I accepted Christ as my Savior was not the
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  moment when I became fully like Jesus in my words and thoughts
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  and actions. I did not receive a glorified
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  body. I was not instantly taken up
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  into the the physical presence of Jesus when I accepted the
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  Lord. Even my eternal salvation is
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  something that I have to wait for so you can think about that
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  within your life that in the times when Satan wants you to
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  abandon ship when he wants you to walk away from a lifelong
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  commitment to follow and obey Jesus and and he'll often
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  baptize it as. Listen, you don't have to become
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  an atheist. You just don't really have to
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  care about the word of God. You don't have to care about
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  your church family. You don't have to care about
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  evangelism. You can just live your life,
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  make your money, have fun, participate in your hobbies,
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  spend time with people you want to spend time with.
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  But don't love what God loves. Don't pursue Jesus and obeying
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  Him above everything. The times when Satan wants to
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  trick you and tell you that that's a better way to live your
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  life, know that he is wrong and that though you go through
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  hardship, God's salvation is there for you in a real and a
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  full way. Wait for it.
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  Wait for that day when you receive your new heavenly body
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  like that. That Jesus has verse #82 He
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  says, My eyes grow weary looking for what you have promised.
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  I ask, when will you comfort me? We have to wait in life often
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  for God to comfort us. Man, I, I think, let me see how
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  many minutes I'm, I'm 8 1/2 minutes into this podcast today.
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  I'll be, I'll be a little vulnerable with you guys there.
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  There was a situation at my church last year that just
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  absolutely broke my heart. I, I spent time, tons of time
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  praying to the Lord crying out to him.
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  I lost hours of sleep over it and it was a really, really hard
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  time. And frankly, it wasn't till this
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  past Saturday that I actually heard some news that totally
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  affirmed, hey, all of this like heartache and hurt that you have
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  had over the course of, of over a year.
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  Realize that you were pursuing Jesus, that it was seen that it
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  was recognized and that God loves you and he cares about you
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  and you are within his will, even when it hurts.
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  I if it was my decision, I would say, OK, Brian is going to make
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  this decision on a Tuesday and he's going to get comfort on a
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  Wednesday. But that's not how God works.
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  And I'm so thankful that God's timeline isn't my timeline
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  because it actually it means more now.
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  I feel the the comfort and the joy now in a much bigger way
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  than I would have. I was able to like glorify the
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  Lord and go, yeah, God, that had to have been you because I
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  couldn't have foreseen everything that would take
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  place. You were the one that saw and so
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  God brings comfort, but he brings it in his time.
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  For many of you, you might have lost a loved 1.
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  You may have had a really difficult family situation like
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  a divorce, like a sibling or a kid or grandkid that's kind of
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  cut you out of their life and and they don't want you around
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  and you might be looking for comfort from the Lord.
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  Can I tell you, wait for that comfort?
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  It doesn't mean that he's not good.
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  He just might be waiting for the perfect time to bring you
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  comfort. And if you don't receive comfort
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  in the here and now on this earth, I promise you, you will
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  receive eternal comfort from our heavenly Father when you are
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  reunited with Jesus. The comfort is promised and so
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  you can trust it here. The psalmist says my eyes grow
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  weary. I encourage you when your eyes
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  grow weary, take some sleep, find rest in what Jesus has done
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  here. These weary eyes, this this
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  would even include being teary that someone goes, I, I have no
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  tears left to cry. Can I encourage you re I'm I'm
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  going to mix a little bit of the, the, the physical remedy
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  and the spiritual remedy here. Get rehydrated so you can cry
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  some more. Take some rest so that you are
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  able to open your eyes with fresh vision.
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  Well, what is the rest that we find?
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  It's in knowing that our God is good, that He's trustworthy,
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  that He's faithful, that He sees and He knows and He cares.
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  And He will not leave you forever uncomforted.
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  You need to refresh yourself through the water of life,
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  through the word of God, through recognizing who Jesus is and
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  what he accomplished in reconciliation and in making US1
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  with himself and now one with God.
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  And so we can draw strength from that relationship and we can
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  find comfort in those times. Verse 83 says, though I've
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  become like a wine wineskin dried by smoke, I do not forget
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  your statutes. He says when you are so tired
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  and worn out and you're just at the end of yourself here, like a
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  wineskin dried by smoke, this would be very brittle and easy
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  to break when you're on your last leg.
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  I want you to know that God still cares about you and I want
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  you to know that you can rely on the word.
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  Do not forget the Word of God and his instruction and his love
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  and the stories of His victory when you have reached the
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  absolute end of yourself. As a as a pastor, I say this.
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  I say this with some trepidation because I know that everyone
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  goes through trials and hardships in life.
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  Frankly, this year I've, I've felt spiritual battling from
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  Satan and, and his demons and work in a way that I've never
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  felt before in my life, or at least that I've not recognized
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  before in my life. And there have been several
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  times when I've gone K God, am I supposed to be here?
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  Am I supposed to do this? Do you want me to just like go
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  and be out of church, be an encouragement to someone else,
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  you know, work a secular job, be able to, you know, provide for
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  my family in that way, like God, Is that what you want me to do?
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  And I'm thankful that as I've continued to just try to rely on
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  the Lord, it, it's not that I have some great strength to like
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  buck up and be like, no, I, I'm, I'm strong enough and I can go
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  through all sorts of hardships. Frankly, I'm I'm just not that
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  I'm I'm deeply a people person. My, you know, go to is is
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  happiness and enjoy. And so when I encounter hard
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  times, I feel like that wineskin dried by smoke that it's like,
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  OK, one more thing goes wrong and I'm I'm just toast.
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  You know how long I got to hang up my skates at that point, but
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  I'm thankful that through not anything I've done, just trying
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  to still rely on the Lord that I found his strength again and
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  again. Verse 84, he says how many days
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  must your servant wait? When will you execute judgment
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  on my persecutors? We wait on the Word of God
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  because we know that a day of justice is coming.
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  And I was just listening through 2nd Thessalonians 1 again, where
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  the apostle Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica, they had
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  undergone tons of persecution from people.
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  And Paul reminds them that the hardships that they were going
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  through and the people that were harming them, that God would
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  bring justice on those individuals.
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  And so Paul encourages the Thessalonicans, keep going
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  because God is glorified in you, because God wants to glorify you
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  and you will be ultimately vindicated for all eternity.
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  And so we are going through hardships with other people and
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  all of us have times where we fail and we sin.
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  We are selfish. We said things that we shouldn't
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  have said. We did things that we shouldn't
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  have done. And so we ought to apologize to
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  others. But there are genuinely times
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  when people are just operating in in the same way that Satan
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  would want them to in unforgiveness and and cruelty.
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  I can think of some of my friends at a church in downtown
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  Baltimore that there's an incredibly political
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  representative of the city in there that has lobbied many
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  verbal attacks against that church.
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  And that church has done incredible things for the city
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  of Baltimore. And it's just wholly undo that
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  they would be persecuted by this elected representative.
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  And I know that that person, unless they turn to Christ in
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  faith, they are going to experience judgment.
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  And on that day where Jesus returns, there will be
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  vindication for that church. And so I'm thankful that that's
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  promised. As I've mentioned before, our
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  goal though is not as as humans in the here and now, as
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  Christians, believers in Jesus, forgiven and redeemed.
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  We should want our enemies to be turned into friends through
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  accepting the gospel. But if they don't do that, then
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  know that justice will be poured out on them for their
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  wickedness. And if they become our friends,
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  it's not that their sins were unpunished.
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  Jesus was punished for those sins.
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  Continuing now in verse 85, the arrogant have dug pits for me
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  like they're they're trying to trap the psalmist.
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  He says they violate your instruction.
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  Sometimes you can see things going bad for you and you can
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  see the traps that people are laying out for you.
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  Can I encourage you rely on the word of God to say it doesn't
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  matter what people plan against me.
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  I know what my God's plans for me are and so I can rest in
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  them. I can, if you will, I can even
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  walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not fear any
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  evil because God is with me. So rely on the word of God.
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  Even when you see hardships happening, when you see people
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  that do not love you and do not appreciate you and maybe don't
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  even want you around. You can rely on God's word and
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  you can wait on him. Verse 86, All your commands are
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  true. People persecute me with lies.
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  Help me. You can rely on God's word.
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  You can wait on God's word because you believe that the
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  truth will eventually come out. And I love there's a verse in I
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  believe it's Deuteronomy. It could be Numbers that says be
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  sure your sin will find you out. Be sure your sin will find you
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  out. And that can be scary if you are
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  living your life in sin. It can be such a comfort when
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  you are walking with the Lord and you go, I know what the
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  truth is. And it doesn't really matter
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  what people think about lies when I know what reality is,
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  when I know the truth. And so you can believe that
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  God's Word will bring the truth to light and you will have
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  vindication as you walk in the truth.
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  Verse 87 They almost ended my life on earth, but I did not
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  abandon your precepts. You can rely on the Word of God
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  and wait on the Word of God to bring results even when you go
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  through the hardest times of life.
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  Hopefully most of you will never be be sought to be killed by
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  another human being, but many less go through sicknesses or
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  kind of near death experiences. And I love that God is the one
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  that he says when our time on earth is up and until then we
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  are immortal. And so you can rely and you can
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  wait on God's word to say God, I know I'm going to encounter, you
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  know, even some health scares. We've got many people at our
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  church even that battle cancer and and friends of people in our
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  church that are battling cancer. And in those moments when it can
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  be so easy to fully despair, can I encourage you to have a a
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  patience, a reliance on the Lord that you're able to say, God, if
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  this is my time, then thank you that I'm returning to you.
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  Thank you that I get to see Jesus and all my loved ones that
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  have gone before. But God, you are the one that
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  even if the doctors don't think I have a great shot, unless you
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  say it's time for me to go, I'm I'm still going to keep on
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  kicking. I'm going to keep on living for
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  you. And so rely on God and have
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  faith that when it's your time to go, it's good you are
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  returning to him. But until that time, he's still
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  got work for you to do. And so you will do it.
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  Then the the section ends. Give me life in accordance with
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  your faithful love, and I will obey the decree you have spoken.
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  You can wait on God to give you life.
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  That fullness, that joy, that purpose, it is found in the
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  Lord. And right now, if you feel
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  purposeless, if you feel aimless, if you don't feel like
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  you have that joy, pray. Ask God to give that to you.
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  It may take some time. It may take days or weeks or
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  months, sometimes even years. But I promise you that God's
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  promise is that He gives life and that He gives it more
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  abundantly. It may be that you need to talk
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  with someone, whether that could be a counselor or a therapist,
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  Maybe if there's some things in your mind that you're just not
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  thinking through the process correctly.
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  Certainly as a pastor, I'd love to talk to you and I would love
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  to encourage you about what God has for your life, especially if
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  you're someone that's here at Tabernacle.
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  You might not necessarily think I don't know if Brian like knows
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  knows me, but I I see you. I see the way that you live and
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  and interact and serve and worship.
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  I see the way that people love you and interact with you, maybe
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  even sometimes more than you see it yourself.
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  And so I want to be an encouragement and I hope to you,
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  even as your pastor. Well, much, much more could be
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  said about waiting on the Lord, waiting on His word, but I hope
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  that all of these verses in the calf section have been an
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  encouragement to you. Wait on the Lord.
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  Isaiah 40, I think it's Isaiah 40, I think it's 40 and verse 31
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  or thereabouts. They that weighed upon the Lord
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  shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
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  like eagles. They will run and not be weary.
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  They will walk and not faint. Wait on the Lord and find His
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  strength for today. Thanks for tuning in.
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  See you next episode.