O Lord, How Long – Part 2 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, The chorus of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is Lisei Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. My dear Jesus, blessed Jesus, what a grand and gracious being! Oh, the precious name of Jesus, what a bright and brilliant being! Oh, my Jesus, dearest Jesus, how I love to hear the sound! Thou whose name is filled with music, may I in thy love be found! Precious Jesus, dearest Jesus, may I love thee as I should! Thou art altogether lovely, thou art altogether good! Oh, sweet Jesus, wondrous Jesus, what great works thy hands have wrought! What great things for wretched sinners!

Oh, how precious is the thought! Oh, thou gracious, loving Jesus, wouldst thou raise me to thy feet? So that in thy troubled posture thy dear name I might repeat! Jesus, Jesus, lovely Jesus, I would dwell before thy throne! Praying, praising, seeking, finding, ever humbly resting on, resting on! Oh, dear Jesus, my Lord Jesus, how I love to speak thy name! Thou art lovely on our mountains, in our valleys you're the same! Precious Jesus, my dear Savior, thou thy college-darling Son, how we hope one day to see, when our race down here is won! We're going to be continuing with our message from Psalm 13, entitled, O Lord, How Long. I pray that it will be a blessing to you.

We would love to hear from you if you'll address your letter to the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. You ever get that confused? Or at one moment you're saying one thing and a little bit later you've changed your tune and you're saying something else.

You're just plain old mixed up. Well, these are some of the dark, troubling, confusing thoughts that God's people may have. David talks about his enemies and David knew what it was to have an enemy. Saul was his perpetual enemy. Members of his own family became his enemy. Men that had fought with him in battle became his enemy. He had a lot of enemies, and we see that that's not unusual. Isaiah had his enemies. They put him in a pit. They wanted to get rid of him.

They didn't want this message. The Apostle Paul had his enemies. Forty men vowed, we're not going to eat or drink till we've killed him.

Everywhere he went there were those who were seeking his life, spent a lot of time as a prisoner. Well, you may say, thankfully I'm not in that state. I don't have a lot of identifiable enemies. I can't pick out very many, if any at all, that I know that are really standing in opposition to me.

I'll tell you, if you feel you don't know much about having opposition, let me remind you of this. There is one enemy we all have. First Peter chapter 5 says that Satan is as a roaring lion seeking who we may devour.

First Peter 5, 8. He is our enemy. Are we aware of that? Do we like to ignore it?

Do we tend to forget about it? Satan is our adversary and what's he doing? He's going about seeking whom he may devour. If he can find someone who has not put on the whole armor of God, if he can find someone that's thinking incorrectly and entice them, he wants to devour them. He wants to devour you.

Are you aware of that? If you really believe that, you know how important it is to put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil. And then David says, how long shall I take counsel in my soul? Seems to be trying to work out a solution to the problem. Now there's nothing wrong with working out a solution if it is a biblical one, but generally what happens and what it appears was happening here with David, when he says I take counsel in my own soul, he doesn't say a word here about taking counsel in God's Word, but at this point with all of these dark thoughts, all of these deep emotions, he says I take counsel in my soul.

Have you been guilty of that? You take counsel, but what do you do? You just sit down and think about it. You think about where you are, you think about your problems, and you come up with your own conclusion, and sometimes it may be I give up. I've struggled on so long, I don't know how to keep going. I'm so tired of fighting the battle, I'm so tired of satan hurling his fiery darts, I'm so weary, what's the use?

I give up. Maybe a lot of other wrong conclusions that are drawn, but let's remember these words. Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

In all your ways acknowledge him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. You don't want to be taking counsel in your own soul, trying to resolve things according to your confused state of mind, and your disturbed emotions. You want to find your counsel in the Lord. Now, having seen something of the psalmist's complaint, we see his prayer. First of all, we note in the third verse that he is speaking to my God.

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. How wonderful when you approach the Lord to know that you're not talking to God at a distance, God who doesn't know your name or know your condition, you're talking to my God. David said in the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

That's comforting in itself to know. It's not just that the Lord is a shepherd in general, He's a shepherd in particular. If you're His sheep, He is your shepherd. And you can say, the Lord is my shepherd, the Lord is my God. And then as he speaks to his God, he says, Lord hear me, hear me. I need to be heard. I feel it's been a long time since I've been able to pray and sense that you have heard me and I need your help.

I need, Lord, that you would hear me at this time. Think about the experience of Jonah. Jonah was attempting to run away from God and when he boards that ship to go to Tarshish rather than to go to Nineveh, his thought was, I want to be out of God's sight.

I really just want to go my own way and do my own thing. I don't want to go where God has directed me, so I just want to be separated from God. But I'll tell you, by the time the Lord rocked that ship with the great storm that he sent, and it became evident that Jonah was going to have to be thrown overboard for the ship to survive, he had a change of attitude. Chapter 2 of the book of Jonah, verse 1, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God.

There's the personal God once again. The Lord was his God. Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

How does he describe his position in the belly of the great fish? I cried out of the belly of hell. In other words, his state being away from the Lord was not a pleasant one, it turned into an experience of great misery. For thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compass me about, and all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. I feel that I'm cast out of his sight. The Lord is not looking favorably upon me, but I've got nothing else to do.

I'm down for the count. There's nobody else can help me, yet will I look again toward thy holy temple. Verse 7, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee into thy holy temple.

His first thought was, God surely will not hear a runaway preacher. I've gone the wrong direction, I've done the wrong thing, and God has sent this terrible storm because of my rebellion and disobedience. God will not hear me, but I've got only one option. There's only one thing I can do, and that's call on the Lord, and he did, and his prayer went all the way from the belly of the great fish into the portents of heaven, into the throne room of glory, and God heard him, answered his prayer, and directed that fish to spew him out on dry land, and he comes out shouting salvation is of the Lord.

How wonderful to know that we prayed to such a God. The next thing he prays for, he says, lighten mine eyes. Lord get my eyes open so I can see things clearly. I realize in these days of darkness, in these days of spiritual coldness, in these days when I have complained, how long, how long, Lord, wilt thou forget me? Will it be forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? I've gotten to the place that I don't see things clearly. Lord, lighten my eyes. When Elijah was going through that terrible time of depression, just as soon been dead, feeling like there wasn't any use to go on, he said, Lord, I'm the only one left.

Everybody else has bowed the knee to Baal. The Lord said, I've got seven thousand yet that haven't bowed the knee. Elijah needed to be enlightened. He needed to have his eyes open.

He needed to see some things that he wasn't aware of. And in our days of discouragement and depression, we can get a distorted view. We're looking on the dark side. Some people are specialists at that. They can see something potentially dark in any situation. If it's good today, well, you can't really enjoy it because you know it can't last.

If it was good today, it's surely going to be bad tomorrow. And so they're constantly thinking about potential trouble and danger and digging up things to worry about. And here is Elijah who's so confused he can't decide whether he wants to live or die. He's so confused that he thinks he's the only servant God has left. And God said, you need to recognize I've got seven thousand that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. And then we think of the experience of Elijah and his servant.

An army had camped around. They had concluded that Elijah was the problem. He was revealing the secrets of the invading army.

They said, we've got to remove him. The servant looks out the window and everywhere he looks he sees horses and chariots. And he says, alas my master, how shall we do? What's Elijah do? He prayed, Lord, open his eyes.

Open his eyes so he can see. And when his eyes were open he saw chariots of fire. He saw angels and camped around. They were being guarded and protected.

What better protection than to have angels and chariots of fire that God had sent. Yes, David is praying, lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death. I'm not going to be able to go on. I'm going to ultimately come to the end of my way. He said in one place, I am but a step from death.

Lighten my eyes. Jeremiah needed that. And you find in the third chapter of the book of Lamentations after saying, I shout, I cry and shout and he should have out my prayer. He goes on to say, my hope is perished from the Lord. Maybe you've never said that, but you might have been close.

You're very close to saying, what's the use? Just seemed like everything's wrong with me. Nothing is right.

Nothing's going right. Jeremiah, a prophet of God, actually made the statement, my hope is perished from the Lord. What did he need? He needed to have his eyes lightened, his eyes open that he could see and he did. He was blessed of God quickly thereafter to say, it's of the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed.

They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. When he got his eyes open so he could look back and see that it had been by God's mercy he had come this far. It was only because of the mercy of God that he had not been consumed.

He says, great is thy faithfulness. So it was with the disciples when they were on the ship and there was a great storm and they looked out across the waters and there was a figure moving on the water coming toward them and they cried out with great alarm. They needed to have their eyes opened and when their eyes were opened they saw that it was Jesus. Not some dreadful figure that they had to fear. Not some creature coming to harm them but the Savior that they loved.

The one who could say, peace be still and the wind would cease to blow and the ship would rest peacefully on the tranquil sea. And then there were those disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus. Their hearts were heavy.

A stranger comes to walk with them and asks the question, why are you so sorrowful? First they did not know who it was. Their eyes needed to be enlightened and when their eyes were opened they saw that it was the resurrected Savior. And then they talked about what it was like when He first joined them walking along the road though they didn't know who it was.

They said, did not our hearts burn within us? There was something special about His presence. We couldn't see who it was. We didn't recognize Him at first but it was still wonderful to hear His voice and be in His presence. How many times may we conclude that we're traveling a dark road all by ourselves and yet the Lord's walking with us.

But we haven't recognized it. We've been looking inside like David was taking counsel in our own soul. We've been overwhelmed with our dark doleful thoughts. But the very reason that we've been sustained, the very reason that we find a desire to come to the Lord once more in prayer and ask His help is that the Lord is traveling with us. Oh may we pray, Lord lighten mine eyes that I may see. And finally the third part of this psalm is the victory.

The victory. Verse 5 says, but I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I have trusted in the mercy of God and because of trusting in His mercy now I can rejoice.

Is it not true with every one of us? No matter what our struggles have been, no matter how Satan has hurled his fiery darts, no matter how doubts have troubled us, must we not say that it's mercy that we stand in need of. It's not just mercy as a one-time experience when the Lord first deals with us and calls us to Himself. Do you not need mercy every day that you live?

There can never be a time that we can say, Lord I've made such progress. I no longer need mercy. No we need it. We need it tonight.

We'll need it in the morning. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's where we gain the victory. Victory doesn't come as we continue to wallow in our misery. As we continue to condemn ourself by looking back repeatedly to our past failures. It's only as we turn from them coming to confess our sins asking for His forgiveness and realizing that we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

We're coming there for what? Not to receive justice but to obtain mercy. And that mercy is ours through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Find grace to help in the time of need. There's a transition here after talking about his deep trouble after speaking of the things for which he prayed. He says in verse 5, But I have trusted in thy mercy. In spite of everything else that I have dealt with all that I've encountered I have trusted in thy mercies. Very similar to what we observed in Jonah's experience. It says, I feel to be cast out of his sight yet yet once more while I look toward thy holy temple.

Yes, I've got a real problem. Yes, the Lord is displeased with me but yet I will look one more time. I'll look toward thy holy temple. Psalm 25 and verse 6 says, Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old.

Thy tender mercies, thy loving kindnesses. The psalmist is gaining victory over the darkness through which it passed because he's trusting in the mercy of the Lord. And secondly he says, My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

I'm going to rejoice. Jonah rejoiced when he was delivered. He said salvation is of the Lord. Can we not rejoice to know that truth? Would it not be a horrible thing to consider that any part of the salvation of your soul was left to your own effort? But when you understand that salvation is of the Lord it's by his free and sovereign grace that the same God that planned it is the same God that executed it, the same God that applied it, the same God that will consummate it.

It's all of his free and sovereign grace. We give him the praise and the glory for it and that gives us peace and joy as we travel here. Yes, he says, I will rejoice in thy salvation. Not only rejoice to believe that God has called us by his grace, not only rejoice to believe that Jesus Christ died to put away our sin, has purchased us, redeemed us, not only rejoice to believe that heaven will be our home but rejoice in the deliverances that come even now. Rejoice in the deliverances that come from these dark seasons when there are moments that we say, oh Lord, how long wilt thou forget me?

Yes, there is not continuous night. Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning. Rejoice in those deliverances. And then he says in the sixth verse, I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. The Lord has dealt bountifully. The Lord gives us assurance in spite of our weakness, in spite of the doubts that we've had, in spite of considering at times that God has not even looked upon us or remembered us that he has totally hidden himself and may have cleaned on forever. We find these words in Isaiah 49 verse 13. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people and will have mercy upon his afflicted. Sing, here's reason to sing, because of the mercies of God. Now notice, but Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me.

Isn't that what David said? The Lord's hidden his face, the Lord's forsaken me. This is a bad time.

This is a dark day. But now, verse 15, can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Here's assurance. David was saying, I feel like God has forgotten. God says here that even if a mother would forget her nursing child, as preposterous as that seems to be, how can a mother do it?

Yet in our day we see that happening from time to time. But God said, even if that did happen, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. There's victory. There's ultimate victory. There's victory for today, victory for tomorrow, victory forever, because the names of his people are graven from the palms of his hands. How long?

How long? When the complaint is made, let's remember the next step of the psalmist. What was it? Prayer. He turned to God. He spoke to his God, my God. He says, hear me.

Lighten my eyes. And when the deliverance comes, he gives thanks. He praises God for his salvation, and he sings.

He sings aloud. This indicates that David did not keep his joy to himself. He let others know about it. And we ought to be ready when the Lord delivers us and blesses us to express our gratitude not only to him, but let others know the Lord is good and his mercy endureth forever. Today we brought to the concluding portion of a message entitled, Oh Lord, How Long? If you would like to get the complete message on CD, request it when writing us at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Till we greet you next time, this is LeSaire Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye, and may God bless you. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.