Psalms 119:176 At The End We Are Lost Sheep

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm Oh, it's bittersweet, isn't it, as we reach the 176th verse of the 119th Psalm.

It's been a long adventure since last July, I'm sure. Oh, what a delight it has absolutely been, and, like I said, this is bittersweet, because this verse is so mind-blowing in so many different ways. It is the miracle verse of the letter Tav, and I think you'll agree with me, if I could really get my head wrapped around this, it's an absolute miracle. You know, you can't help but see the similarity between this verse, the miracle verse of the letter Tav, and the miracle verse of the letter Aleph that we studied clear back in verse number eight, and so I'm going to go ahead and read this in English, and we'll dig in.

There's lots of digging to do today, so how wonderful is that? Verse 176 in English, which is, again, in the Tav section, the idea of, you know, at the end we're going to know the truth, and so all these things are headed in some direction based on, you know, where we are in Christ. So, verse 176, I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments. And so, you know, the straightforward situation here is not unlike, right, I told you the last verse in the Aleph section, the miracle verse of the Aleph was, I will keep your statutes, oh forsake me not utterly, and that idea of, you know, I'm not everything I need to be, and here, you know, I wonder if I can get my head wrapped around the fact that I am a lost sheep, right, that I can go nowhere if I don't have a shepherd. And, you know, he makes it very clear, the psalmist does, and when I think about, here we have the psalmist who clearly understood through the Holy Spirit all these different letters in the Hebrew alphabet way better than I'll ever understand them. He understood so many different things, and yet here he comes down to this conclusion that he has gone astray like a lost sheep. You know, when you think about all the things he said he did and all the things that he worked on and hidden God's Word in his heart and all these different ways that he turned his feet from every evil path, and yet here he comes down here at the end, and as we realize that if we're just, you know, a half a degree off the path, we're off the path.

And so, you know, the further you go, if you're headed in the wrong direction, even one degree, the further you get off the path, and so we desperately, desperately need that shepherd. And so you can't help but note, and I would note, that King David was a shepherd in his earlier life, as were all the patriarchs, right? So if you look at Abraham was certainly a shepherd, and as was Isaac, and as was Jacob, and as was Moses. Moses was reportedly looking for a sheep at the point that he saw the burning bush, and clearly, you know, he was Jethro's shepherd for his flocks for all those years in the wilderness, and there's a clear understanding that the Jews teach about this, that only a shepherd, you know, that God tests people through being shepherds, because they have this heart for the sheep that Jesus spoke of so clearly, right? That, you know, will they have compassion on a lost sheep, you know? And here's an understanding that really can I come to the point that I just can't do life without God, that I really am a lost sheep, and I really can't do anything unless he comes after me? And I know if you look at your life, what does that look like?

And so when I was thinking about this, there's two aspects to that. Number one, you got to mention that you're a lost sheep, and then there's the hope that says, for I do not forget thy commandments. We'll get to that in a second, but I wonder if you look at your life, if you can think about all the times that Jesus came after you and the way he came after you. And as I was processing that this morning, I was thinking, wow, you know, he came after me through my wife wanting me to go to church. He came after me through Dr. Redhead teaching me a prayer. He came after me through Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, you know, saying you got to get up an hour early every morning and begin to read the Bible. And he came after me with a band by the name of Ted Burton, who was with Christian Businessmen's Committee, who discipled me when I was a baby Christian and got me in the Word and got me memorizing scripture and he had me, you know, just do a whole lot of processes that had to do with getting in the Word, staying in the Word. And all these things, you know, were coming after me.

But then what happened? If I really look at it honestly, you know, I started to slip into legalism, right? You know, and I'm sure my family would tell you that I did in so many different ways. And so God sent people again in my path that would show me specifically Darren Kuhn and Sam Main with The Masculine Journey, who invited me to this boot camp. And as I began to understand these new pieces, information, new ideas and concepts in the Bible and seeing how I'd fallen into legalism, wow, what a world it opened up for me as I began to get away from that and go after, you know, what God had for my heart in the many different ways that we do that through the boot camps that we have. And it's amazing as I just keep going through that, you know, somebody shows up to father me by the Heavenly Father at the point in time when I needed it. And just like he shows up to tell me to memorize the 119 Psalm, God continues to shepherd me and shepherd me and shepherd me. And yet somehow I still think I can do it on my own.

I don't understand that. And so, you know, you can't help but go astray the minute that you fall away from the shepherd's guidance, whatever that may be for the, you know, 15 seconds that you do it. And I'll never forget when I came to that understanding of that God is the ultimate father, right? Especially, you know, Jesus is the way to the father. And the more I think about what the Psalmist is telling us here is that, you know, seek thy servant, you know, that fortunately he does do that. And, you know, even if, you know, my father wasn't what he was supposed to be, my Heavenly Father clearly had it in mind always that I would exist and had it in mind to put me on this path and that path and all these different paths that only he knew to put me on in order for my heart to get where it is and to get further on in, in the trip that I'm taking into actually all these different letters in the Hebrew alphabet, right? You know, because when I think back now going through every single letter from the Aleph to the Tov to the Mem, you know, to the Kuf, all these different ways that I can push into God now based on the understandings of this 176 Psalm. But at the end of the day, you know, that doesn't any of them give me independence.

It actually gives me more dependence, right? That is, I, as I think through, you know, the idea of the Kuf of drawing close to God, or I think of the idea of the race of choosing God, or I think even of the letter Tov, like we've talked about for the last seven verses, that I'm looking for the proof of the pudding, that I'm looking for the truth in situations that I can make sure that I'm truly on the right track, on the right path, because in the end, you know, this thing's going to show up. And so, you know, beautifully, beautifully, beautifully, he gives us the answer right there, right? And I can't help but think of what Jesus said, if you love me, you what? You'll keep my commandments. So what does the psalmist say is the reason that he needs to be sought, that the shepherd needs to seek him out?

It's because I have not forgotten your commandments. Well, how do you know they didn't forget him? Because he continued to love people. Light, in spite of all the horrible things that happened to King David throughout his lifetime, you know, here's what he did. He kept the commandments to love the Lord thy God with all our heart, with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his all, his all his mioed, as the idea is. And he loved, you know, others as himself. And so here's this idea that I think we come to the end of this psalm.

And it's an idea of humility, like, no, I can't do this alone. Yes, I need my shepherd. Yes, I do. I do.

I do. And I'm also praying that he's going to send further people into shepherd me along the path that he has for me. And so in my role in this, what is that? To love the Lord, my God with all my heart, and keep that commandment, right? And I don't know how many times we've said in the hundred nineteen Psalm to keep it means to make it. It's precious to me. It's precious to me to love the Lord, my God with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength. It's precious to me to love others to myself more than myself. And the only way that I can do that actually is through this humility that comes from understanding that we all need this.

We all need it and we need it desperately. And so I hope you're as excited about continuing the journey into all these letters as I am. I do plan on doing another follow up episode or two as before I completely get off the hundred nineteen Psalm. But we've been digging around and I am so grateful for you sticking with me. And I hope you're as excited as I am to be a lost sheep, because that means the shepherd is going to show up. And all I have to do is. Thanks for listening.