A PRAYER OF FIVE LETS
May 29, 2005 AM
Sermon Outline
PS 119:169-176
INTRO: Although there are many other brief prayers to be found in the 119th Psalm, I am going to conclude this series with this last section of the great chapter. It is my hope the lessons in this series have been thought provoking lessons ... both about prayer and our relationship with God. There are so many wonderful places in scripture to learn more about prayer. The little book of Nehemiah is one such place. And, of course, we learn much about prayer from our Lord Jesus Christ. But I commend the 119th Psalm to you as a place for study and meditation about the lifeline of relationship with God ... prayer. In this last study we hear the psalmist in prayer with five lets.
1. We begin, though, with a great confession - v. 176
a. I have gone astray like a lost sheep
b. it is against the background of that confession that these lets are prayed
c. again, we are left to wonder just what prompted such a confession
d. but the important thing may be for us to see the brokenness of this man of God as he contemplates his life before God
e. Isa 53:6 - ...we have turned every one to his own way...
f. 1 Pet 2:25 - what one of us has not been in this situation - and/or have recognized the lostness of which the psalmist speaks?
g. seek thy servant - Lk 19:10 is our confidence!
2. Let my cry come near before thee - v. 169
a. several times in Davids psalms we find this word cry
b. my thought is that this prayer, then, is truly heart felt - from deep within
c. the life of prayer is the cry of the heart - are our prayers such cries?
d. Lk 22:44 - And being in an agony he prayed...
e. we want our prayers to come near before the Father
f. question: is anything blocking the way of our prayers?
g. Isa 59:1,2 - are carelessness, neglect, inattentiveness, outright sin keeping our prayers from coming near before Him?
3. Let my supplication come before thee - v. 170
a. one commented that David always saw himself as the supplicant
b. in supplication there can be no pride ... no presumption
c. supplication is suggestive of the request made in prayer - the petition
d. Davids supplication comes from the depths of his being!
e. in this verse his supplication is in the words deliver me
f. Heb 5:7 - are we able to sense the depth here? I cannot help but wonder if our prayers are far too much ritual ... far too little feeling
g. am I far afield in thinking of what is happening here as pleading? pleading with God Who can change things?
4. Let thine hand help me - v. 173
a. oh, how David could personalize the Father - the Fathers hand
b. I recall so often holding the little hands of my children, grandchildren as we have crossed a street or have been in some uncertain situation
c. feeling their little hands in my much bigger hands - what do they think? is there security in such a feeling?
d. or, those times when my hands have helped the children with what would have been an impossible task for them ... without my hands
e. Heb 4:16 - ...and find grace to help in time of need
f. Lk 23:46 - ...into thy hands... - if not His, whose?
g. I have chosen... - the psalmist had made a choice for his life - have you?
5. Let my soul live... - v. 175a
a. (this is what I. hear in these words - dont give up on me!)
b. but we must also consider that we need to correct our relationship with God ... then we are in a position to praise Him
c. Ps 51:14 - to praise Him while on a divergent course is hypocrisy
d. one more thought ... are we as concerned about the future of our souls as we should be?
6. Let thy judgments help me - v. 175b
a. in effect, let me learn from the history of your dealings with humanity
b. Ps 19:9b - Gods actions have always been absolutely right and just
c. if I study His judgments and learn from them, I will be well along the way to understanding what I must do to please Him
d. those who refuse the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them!
CLOSE: As I read, studied and meditated on this very prayerful section of the 119th Psalm, I found myself thinking that this had been, for me, the most instructive and beneficial of my meditations from the chapter. And I found myself thinking that I long for the same disposition in prayer the psalmist possessed!
Cecil A. Hutson
May 29, 2005