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Psalm 119:145-152 - Qoph · 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. Today we are in Psalm 119 and
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  verses 145 through one, 52145 through 152, and these are all
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  of the verses that start with the Hebrew letter cough, cough,
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  not COUGH. It's kind of transliterated into
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  English, QOPHQOPH cough. So let's read through these
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  verses and see what the Lord has for us today.
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  I call with all my heart. Answer me, Yahweh, I will obey
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  your statutes. I call to you.
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  Save me and I will keep your decrees.
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  I rise before dawn and cry out for help.
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  I put my hope in Your Word. I'm awake through each watch of
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  the night to meditate on Your promise.
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  In keeping with your faithful love.
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  Hear my voice, Yahweh. Give me life in keeping with
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  Your justice. Those who pursue evil plans come
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  near. They are far from your
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  instruction. You are near Yahweh and all your
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  commands are true. Long ago I learned from your
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  decrees that you have established them forever.
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  Well, I want to look at a few things as we begin this
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  particular portion of Scripture. In verse 145 the psalmist says I
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  call with all my heart here. I don't know if you guys noticed
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  the desperation that is within the heart of this psalmist as he
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  looks at his situation. From all appearances, this could
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  very well be, you know, David during the time when he's
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  getting pursued by Saul or when he is, you know, being pursued
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  by the Philistines when his son Absalom has usurped the Kingdom
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  and is hunting for him. It would just fit very well
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  within one of those time periods.
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  Even from verse 150, those who pursue evil plans come near.
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  They are far from your instruction or verse 149 in
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  keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice, Lord, give me
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  life in keeping with your justice.
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  So into that time of desperation, The psalmist says,
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  God, I'm putting all of my chips in on you.
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  I'm not a gambler, but I know the phrase, you know, putting it
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  all on red. And so here this psalmist,
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  possibly David says God, I'm placing everything on you.
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  And so he says, I call with all my heart.
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  Answer me, Yahweh, I will obey your statutes here.
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  There is a need to hear from God.
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  And so the psalmist says everything that I am has to be
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  centered on you. Can I tell you this is something
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  that I don't know if it's just me that struggles with it, if
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  you struggle with this as well. I can compartmentalize my life
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  sometimes. And so I can say, OK, well, yes,
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  I need God to work in my job, but I'm going to just live my
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  life with my family however I want to.
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  And I can be living against God, but I really want God to work in
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  my job. Or perhaps I'm not spending any
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  time with the Lord. I'm not, you know, perhaps
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  gathering with his people, the church as God commands me to.
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  And yet I'm going to be like God.
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  I really need you to, like, save this family situation.
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  And I want to encourage us. God is not interested in just
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  being the God of a portion of your life.
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  He wants to be the God of every part of your life that there is
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  no portion of Brian's existence or of you know, Melissa's
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  existence that you say God, you can't touch this.
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  It it goes into my calendar needs to be submitted to the
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  Lord that I can say God. I am going to give a portion of
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  my day every day to spend time with you in in prayer in the
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  word. I am going to spend time talking
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  with someone else about you, whether that's a a family
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  member, a friend, coworker, neighbor, a friend from church.
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  I am going to choose to spend time with and about you.
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  I'm going to set aside the Lord's Day, Sunday, to your
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  worship and whether I am here, whether I'm on vacation, I'm
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  going to choose to spend time with God's people because that's
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  what Jesus set up. He died for the church and so I
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  need to be faithful to to be there to join with the people of
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  God. So my my calendar needs to
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  belong to the Lord. My wallet needs to belong to the
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  Lord. I can't just do what I want with
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  my money because I have responsibilities given to me
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  from God. One of those, a primary one is
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  to provide for my family. You can read First Timothy 5 and
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  see that those that do not, I actually can't remember if I've
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  gone through First Timothy yet in Tabernacle Talk.
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  I'll have to look back through that after I record this
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  episode. First Timothy 5, those that do
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  not provide for their own family, Paul says, are worse
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  than an unbeliever or if you have an older translation, worse
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  than an infidel. And so I have to provide for my
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  family. That's one of the things God
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  commands me to do. Another thing God commands me to
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  do is to give to the Lord's work that in the Old Testament you
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  had the tithes and offerings that were given for the
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  sustaining of the Levites and the priests and the temple.
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  And while we don't have a, you know, Levite priest temple set
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  up now, well, I have this building that I'm recording in
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  right now. And so I need to be faithful as
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  a member of Tabernacle Baptist to give of my money that the
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  Lord's work would continue here. And so that's one of the other
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  financial obligations that I have.
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  I also think of. So my calendar, my oh finances,
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  I have a responsibility to pay my taxes.
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  Romans 13 says that God has set up the authorities in nations to
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  punish evil doers and appraise those that do well.
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  And he specifically says those that enforce the laws of a given
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  nation are the servant of God to execute justice on evil doers.
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  And so part of what my taxes are for is to help foster public
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  safety. There's obviously a number of
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  other things that the taxes can do, but God tells me give to
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  Caesar what is Caesar's. So when I have, you know, a
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  dollar or something on it, it's got United States of America on
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  it. It's got a president and so that
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  belongs to the United States government, especially the
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  person that they say, hey, we want this back.
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  And so I, I have a responsibility to pay my taxes
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  and then I have a responsibility to be generous to the the poor.
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  And that is something mentioned over and over and over again
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  within scripture. And so I I should give of my
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  calendar. I should give them my finances.
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  I should give even of my home to be able to have people over to
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  encourage them in their walks with the Lord or to tell someone
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  that doesn't know Jesus about Jesus.
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  My home doesn't belong to me. My calendar doesn't belong to
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  me. My wallet doesn't belong to me.
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  My entertainment choices don't just belong to me.
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  That I always, and this is hard in America because we are so
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  used to the kind of like libertine freedom of I can do
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  whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want.
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  But Scripture tells us that whatever things are true,
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  honest, just pure, lovely, reputable, if there's anything
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  praiseworthy about it, we are to think on those things.
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  And so even my entertainment choices ought to be those things
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  that would lead me in a right path.
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  Now, that doesn't always have to be like a, you know, straight up
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  religious or Christian thing. I watched actually just the
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  other day, A Muppet Christmas Carol.
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  And as I watched that, I thought about the marriage supper of the
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  lamb through the like feast scene that's at the end of that
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  movie. And so even though the movie,
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  you know, it's, it's goofy, obviously written, adapted from
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  a, a book from 200 years ago, but I was encouraged in my like
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  walk with the Lord through watching this secular, the
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  secular movie. And so the, the trick is not
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  just OK, well, if a you know, if Angel studios or if you know
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  someone else made it, I know there's a David movie that's out
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  right now that actually saw some really good reviews for it
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  doesn't just have to be Christian in order for us to
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  partake of it, but in our personal walks with the Lord, if
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  it draws us to Christ, then wonderful, let's do that.
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  But if it doesn't draw us to Christ, we should not imbibe on
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  those things. We shouldn't meditate on those
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  things. Instead, we say, God, all of my
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  heart, my, my words, my thoughts, my actions, my
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  finances, my home, my entertainment, my calendar, all
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  of it is submitted to you. And if you go, well, I don't
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  really know if I want to do that.
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  That seems like a lot. Can I encourage you, friend?
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  Jesus gave up heaven for you. He gave up his life for you.
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  I would not want to stand before God on judgment day and go yeah,
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  I know you gave everything for me, but you know I couldn't give
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  up two hours a week for you like I I just would not want to stand
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  before God and say that. So I want to encourage you give
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  it all to the Lord. I'm going to hasten through here
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  now the the the rest of this Psalm 146.
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  I called you save me and I will keep your decrease.
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  This is actually been a really common verse all throughout
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  Psalm 119 where the psalmist is like, hey God, I, I need your
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  help. I want to follow you.
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  I might die from this situation that I'm going through.
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  So save me and I will follow you.
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  I had my friend Roger just mentioned to me yesterday at the
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  time of recording that he had a green light that had just come
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  on and he felt like the Holy Spirit told him, Hey, wait for
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  it. And sure enough, this car would
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  just came flying through the intersection.
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  And he was like, man, if I, if I had gone, if I hadn't listened
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  to the Lord saying, Hey, hold back for a SEC.
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  He, he said, I, I would have died and God saved me.
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  And I'm, I'm thankful that the Lord looks out for us, obviously
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  first and foremost our eternal souls, but then often he saves
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  us even in the here and now. Verse 147 and 1:48, I see here
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  that the psalmist says, God, I'm desperate.
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  And so as a result of my desperation, I'm going to invest
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  in the only thing that can really like, save or sustain me,
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  which is your word. He says, I rise before dawn and
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  cry out for help. I put my hope in your word.
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  I've experienced this plenty of times over the last year.
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  We're all wake up at like, you know, 435 o'clock.
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  Not because I'm super spiritual and intended to do it, but
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  because like I woke up, my brain started just running a mile a
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  minute and I'm thinking about like hard situations at the
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  church and things that people are going through and fights
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  that people are in. And I'm God like, would you
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  please give wisdom? Would you help there to be
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  reconciliation? Would you give me wisdom so that
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  I would know what I'm supposed to be saying?
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  Lord, would you give humility that people would lay down their
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  their arms and their, you know, puffed chest to just be able to
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  say like, OK, yeah, Jesus forgave me.
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  I can forgive this person and that it would be reciprocated.
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  Like I, I have felt this where I say, God, I put my hope in your
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  word because God, you're the only person that can fix things
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  that are broken on the soul level.
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  And so I, I want to encourage you, if you're in a time of
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  desperation, maybe wake up a little early during the day and
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  cry out to the Lord, spend some time in prayer.
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  And can I tell you, I, I know that there is two things of like
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  #1 there is power in prayer because the Lord that we're
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  praying to is powerful. It's not that you have some
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  great power as you pray. No, no, our Lord has power.
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  And so when we call to him in prayer, he works.
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  But God is not impressed by the amount of time that you spend in
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  the word or in prayer. Like he's not impressed by, I
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  would venture to say he's probably more impressed by the
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  amount of time that the prayer or the word lives in you.
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  So instead of being like, oh man, I spent two hours straight
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  in Bible reading today. I'm really spiritual.
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  How about if you read and you read for, you know, five, 10-15
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  minutes, but one verse that was in there, maybe in Ephesians
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  432, be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one
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  another, just as God for Jesus sake has forgiven you.
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  And if you just allow that to live in your heart throughout
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  the day that each time that someone you know wrongs you or
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  insults you or demeans you, you go what?
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  I remember the verse that I read earlier today.
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  And so I'm going to choose to forgive that person because I've
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  been forgiven. Well, the Lord might use that in
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  a wonderful way. Allow the word to spend all day
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  in you, even more so than you spending all day in the word.
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  As you pray and you ask the Lord for things, allow that to then
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  influence how you live your day. So if you're like, hey, God use
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  me to be a blessing to someone today and you pray that for two
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  hours. Well, actually, you could have
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  maybe prayed that in 5 minutes and then taken like an hour of
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  your day and called someone that that needed some encouragement.
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  Or you could go be a blessing to a, a neighbor and mow their
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  lawn. Or you could, you know, come
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  across someone that, that, that just needs encouragement, a
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  helping hand, you know, maybe someone that's kind of down on
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  their luck that you're able to provide some funds to any of
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  those things God could use. I, I want to encourage you, just
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  the action of spirituality isn't necessarily what God wants.
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  And you can see that over and over again in the prophets that
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  God says, I don't desire, like the sacrifices of bulls or
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  goats. I don't want you observing the
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  holy days like I want you to do right by other people.
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  I want you to act lovingly. So he says, take away all this
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  stuff, Just do what's right. And then I'll rejoice in in the
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  sacrifices. And so I I think that that's
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  something that we can often turn to.
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  All right, So that's verse 147. Rise before dawn, cry out for
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  help. I put my hope in your word.
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  Verse 148, I'm awake through each watch of the night to
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  meditate on your promise. Take time all throughout your
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  day to meditate on the word of God that you bring it back up to
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  mind and you go, OK, God. Yeah, I know you that you said
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  be holy because I am holy. What does that mean for me
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  today? What do I need to be set apart
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  for today as a result of who you are and that you just choose to
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  consistently think about that through the day when you read be
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  reading with an intention to say I'm going to apply this
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  throughout the rest of my day and you might not know at the
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  beginning of the day everything that God will lead you to
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  throughout the day. So the verse he leads you to
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  meditate on might not be the one that you expect.
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  Verse 149 in keeping with your faithful love, hear my voice
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  Yahweh give me life in keeping with your justice.
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  You can call out to the character of God to intervene
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  when you have need and then as we end verses 150 and 151, those
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  who pursue evil plans come near. They are far from your
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  instruction that when trouble comes close to you, when trouble
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  comes in people, verse 151 says you are near Yahweh, just like
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  those who pursue evil plans come near.
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  God is near and he says in all your commands are true.
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  And so as you think about hardships being near you realize
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  that God is always there, especially in times of trouble.
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  And you can rely on what God has said to get you through the hard
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  times in your life with that sick family member, with that
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  troubled, you know, teen or young adult.
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  God knows he cares about you. And so rely on his instruction,
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  His way of doing things as you interact in his world.
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  Well, thank you for tuning in today.
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  Next episode is the third to the last.
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  So we've got only three more episodes in Psalm 119.
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  And we will have completed all 22 sections of Psalm 119.
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  Thank you for joining us on this journey.
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  Hope you have a wonderful day.