Wisdom of the Ages
Psalm 71:1-24
February 2-3, 2024
Psalm 71. Now, the introduction of the Psalm oftentimes tells us who wrote it, but not this time. We don't really know, but I submit that David's fingerprints are all over it, because the words and the phrases, they sound like David. The attitude of faith that we read, it sounds like David. The beautiful heart after God, sounds like David. In other words, I'm pretty sure it was written by David. Pretty sure. David is an old man when he wrote this Psalm. Now, we know that because he says so.
It's right there in the Psalm. Interestingly, even in David's old age, he is pressured by many, many troubles that you would think, I suppose, David would get a break. He's been going through years and years and years of troubles. There is still an unrelenting pressure of trouble, and so the Psalm is David crying out to God, asking God for help and deliverance. Now, while David is crying out to God for help, at the same time, we read then some of the greatest spiritual lessons of life.
We would do well to listen to the words of life, the wisdom of the ages that is found in this Psalm. Someone who has walked with faithfulness throughout a very difficult journey. He's got something to say. Someone who has learned to rely on the help of God through all of the circumstance of adversity, he's got something to say. When he has come through every battle with a testimony of God's help, he's got something to say that we need to take hold of for ourselves.
Now, what we have again is someone in this Psalm who gives us the testimony of the wisdom of the ages. He's pleading with God for strength to finish well. In his older age, he cannot afford any missteps. I think older people would recognize when you get a little older, you cannot afford missteps. He has learned to rely on God's help, and he is crying out to God here again. He's older, he needs God's help. The problem with being young is that you can't see very well.
Now, right away, I can already hear somebody saying, well, wait, I think you're confused, pastor. You see, it's the young people who've got better eyesight and it's the older people that need glasses. It's the older people who can't see very well. Well, in a physical sense, that's true. By the way, do you know what they call the condition when somebody has-- they need glasses in their older years? Is called Presbyterianopia. Actually, that's not true. It's called presbyopia.
It comes through the Greek word presbuteros which means elder. That's why they call it the Presbyterian Church because it's run by elders. This is true. I'm not making this up. When you get older and have an elder eye, they call it presbyopia. Here's my point. You're probably wondering where are you going with this? Here's my point. When you're older, your physical eyes may be dimmer, but your spiritual eyes are stronger because you can see farther. What I mean by that is, you can look back and see farther.
You have all of these years to see back and all of the wisdom, and all of the lessons, and all that you've gained from all of those years so that now you can look with eyes that can see. Now you can see in a deeper spiritual sense what people who don't have that wisdom and that experience, and that revival have a very difficult time seeing. See, when you've been through the battles and you have seen God revive you and help you and be that help in time of need, and you believe and know that God will do it again, you can see better than you've ever seen in your life.
That's the point. You've been through so many tough roads, you can see now there are things that you can only gain by wisdom. You can see the consequences of choices that can bring spiritual disaster. You can see the consequences that will bring spiritual blessings in your life. You know where blessing comes from, you can see. That is the wisdom of the ages. This is difficult for those who are young because they have physical strength, but there are things you can only gain by the wisdom of living in the battle and the trenches of life.
There are things you can only learn by being in the fight, by being in the battle. When you've been through enough of those battles. When you've walked with the help of God through so many hard roads and you've seen God's help over and over and you've seen God walking with you, you have learned a great lesson. You have learned to rely on the help of God more and more. This Psalm is one of those Psalms filled with the wisdom of the ages. You might even call it the wisdom of the aged. As we hear these words of wisdom, take them to heart.
I. God will Meet You in Your Insufficiency
When you take these words to heart, I tell you, you will have gained the ability to see just a little bit farther. Let's read it. Psalm 71:1, "To thee, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be ashamed and in your righteousness, deliver me, rescue me, incline your ear to me, and save me. Be thou to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come." Write that down. I mean, underline that. That's a great phrase. "Be thou to me, a rock of habitation to which I may continually come. For you have given commandment to save me, for you are my rock and you are my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrong door, out of the grasp of the ruthless man, for you are my hope. O Lord God."
Here's another one of those great phrases. Underline, highlight, dogear, memorize this right here. "For you are my hope, and O Lord God, you are my confidence since my youth, for by you, I have been sustained from my birth. You are He who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of thee. I have become a marvel to many." This is a great phrase. "I have become a marvel to many because you are my strong refuge and my mouth is filled with your praise, and my mouth is filled with your glory all day long.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails, for my enemies have spoken against me and those who watch for my life." David is still, even in his older time, he's still the threat of his very life. He says, "Those who have consulted together, and they say, "Look, God has forsaken him. Now is our opportunity. Pursue him, seize him. There is no one to deliver him. Now is our chance," but God, do not be far from me. O my God, hasten to my help. Let those who are my adversaries of my soul, let them be ashamed and consumed. Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor those who seek to injure me, but as for me, I will hope continually and I will praise you yet more and more, and my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and of your salvation all day long for I do not know the sum of them. In other words, I have not yet seen the end of them. For I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord God, and I will make mention of your righteousness. Yours alone. O God, you have taught me from my youth, and I still declare your righteousness.
I still declare your wonderful deeds. Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare your strength to this generation or the next generation. Until I declare your power to all who are to come. For you, your righteousness, O God, it reaches to the heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who Has shown me many troubles and many distresses, I know you will revive me again and you will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
Oh, may you increase my greatness and turn and comfort me. I will praise you with the harp, even your truth, O my God, to you, I will sing praises with the lyre, O thou holy one of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you, and all my soul will sing praises that which you have redeemed. My tongue will utter righteousness all day long for they aren't ashamed and they are humiliated who seek my heart." Oh, what a great Psalm is this. Don't you just love the Psalms?
I mean, they're just filled with such richness of glory and great words of life, wisdom of the ages, so much for us to take hold of and to apply and to gain the insight for our lives. Starting with this, great life lesson, wisdom of the ages that God will meet you in your insufficiency. This is one of the great truths of life. I tell you what I have come to really trust in this great truth that God will meet you in your insufficiency. See, David's crying out to God because he needs God's help. The problems and stresses are very great.
In fact, I submit that this was written when he is in the darkest hour, the deepest trouble he's ever faced in his life. One of the greatest lessons of David's life is that God would meet him in that insufficiency. In other words, without God, David is insufficient. That's what it means. That David could do none of those great things attributed to David unless God were with him. Now, it's God's help that makes me great. You can see all of the amazing feats and attributes and things accomplished, and battle and war and leadership.
All of this, David says, "Only because God helped." He believed that God would meet him in his insufficiency. God is a refuge. God is a strength, the very present help in times of trouble. Notice Verse 1, "In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. In your righteousness deliver me, be thou to me, a rock of habitation to which I may continually come." I love that. That is a beautiful picture. God is a habitation, and David comes continually to dwell in that place. What does that mean?
Be thou to me a rock of habitation means David loves to be there. David loves to stay in the nearness of the Almighty's beautiful. It's a life lesson. You come to the rock of habitation and God will meet you in your insufficiency. God will meet you in your time of need. When you are in trouble, God will meet you there when you come to the rock. Psalm 91:1-2 gives us the same idea. "He who dwells in the shelter of the most high." See, you're dwelling in the rock of habitation in the nearness of God.
He is the one who will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Oh, I love that phrase. "I will say to the Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust." When Moses was an old man, he gave the speech that we know as the book of Deuteronomy. That's Moses' old man wisdom of the ages speech. In that book of Deuteronomy, he at one point says, "The eternal God is a dwelling place." That is a beautiful deep spiritual truth. The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Beautiful.
You may be pressed down, weighted down, burden down, but there's a dwelling place, and there you will find the everlasting arms. Jude 1:24, "Now unto Him, who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence, without fault, and with great joy." David has learned that God is that rock of habitation. David has made a habit in his life of just dwelling in the nearness of God. For when you come to the rock of habitation, something amazing happens on the soul.
Something glorious is poured out upon you when you come to the rock of habitation. That's where David's strength comes from. That's where David's faith comes from because he's learned to dwell on the rock of habitation. He has learned to dwell in the nearness of God. That reminded of the time when David wanted to build the temple in Jerusalem to honor God, and the Lord responded with a very firm, "No, David, you are a man of war. You will not build the temple. The temple will be built by a man in peace.
However, David, it was good that you had that on your heart. It pleases me that you wanted to do something for me, so grand. Now, I want to do something for you." He says, "I will build you a house." This is glorious. "I will build you a house and everlasting kingdom, and the great Messiah who comes at the end of the age will be known as the Son of David. I will do something for you." David is so amazed at this blessing. I love what David does in response.
When he hears this word of God of just, "David, you did well that you desire to do such a glorious thing. I will do something for you. I will build your name a house, even to the point that the great Messiah who comes to rule and reign the nations of the world at the end of the age will be called the Son of David." David is so amazed at this that he goes to the Tabernacle and he just sits there. I love that scene. David just wants to dwell. You're amazing. This is amazing.
2 Samuel 7, "Who am I, Lord? Who am I, O Lord God, that you have brought me this far? You are great. O Lord God, there is none like you and there is no God besides you according to all that we've heard with our ears." David just wanted to dwell and to give God his heart, because then we see in Psalm 71, where David is going next with this. He understood that God would meet him in his insufficiency, so much so that he said, "You are my confidence." O Lord God, this is a great truth.
A. God must become your confidence
God must become your confidence, the bearing of confidence in your life. Verse 5, this is a very difficult lesson to learn. See, when you're young, your security and your confidence can be in your youth itself. You're strong, you're young, you got your whole future ahead of you. You got time on your side. You've got strength on your side, you got vitality on your side, you got youth. You may not have much, but you got your youth. I remember when Jordy and I first started our relationship, I literally had nothing and I drove an old junker of a car. I know. Let me tell you how bad of a car it was. How bad was it? It was so bad that to take her home from Hillsboro to Beaverton, where she lived, burned a quart of oil. Then to get home from Beaverton to Hillsboro, burned a quart of oil. I had a case of oil in my trunk. I was young and I was virile and I was strong. You know what I'm talking about, guys. I'm young, right?
It doesn't matter whether you're young or whether you're old, it's a mistake to trust in yourself. It's a mistake. Let's give the Lord praise. Absolutely right. It is a misstep. It's a mistake. Those who trust in the Lord, those who wait for the Lord, they will renew their strength. God will make you walk on high places. Let God be your confidence. I was thinking of an illustration. 1872, church leaders in England were planning a revival meeting. At the revival meeting, one of the leaders said to the group, we need D.L. Moody.
Now, D.L. Moody we might remember as one of the famous American pastors that was really bringing great revival. We need D.L. Moody here. They started to debate, and finally, somebody said, "Why do we need D.L. Moody? What is it? What? Does D.L. Moody have a monopoly on God?" One of the young pastors says, "No, but God has a monopoly on him," That changes everything. God is the strength. See, God is a rock of habitation. It's a theme of the Scriptures. This is a life lesson.
It is a theme of Scriptures that God does not want you to be self-confident. God doesn't want me self-confident? What does He want? Does He want me insecure? What does He want? Should I be filled with anxiety and insecurity? To which I say, are those your only two options? Is that all you got for options? Is it either self-confidence or anxiety? Is that all you got? Is that all the options we got here, self-confidence or fear and insecurity? No, I submit to you there's another option.
It's called God confidence. God confidence. Because by definition, self-confidence is confidence in self. If you are confident in self, then you don't need God. If you don't need God, you will only go so far as your strength, and it's not much. If you don't have God, you will only go as far as your insufficiency. If you have God, God will meet you at that point of insufficiency. Then from there, it's all God. It's all God, it's all God's help. Amen? Absolutely right. Psalm 20:7, "Some boast in chariots, some boast in horses.
In other words, strength. No, we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God." You want to boast about something, boast about the name. Psalm 27, David gives us this insight. "The Lord is my light, the Lord is my salvation. You tell me, whom should I fear?" This is not confidence in self. No, God is my light. "The Lord is the defense of my life. You tell me, whom should I dread?" It's not self-confidence. God is my defense. Then he says, "Though a host arise against me, that's a large army. If I'm outnumbered, my heart will not fear."
B. God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness
"Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident." I am confident, but it's confidence in my God. That is what faith is because it's the great principle. God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. It's a principle. It's in the Bible as a principle to take hold of. David believed that God would meet him in that weakness, in that insufficiency. He believed that God's strength was made perfect in that weakness.
Notice verses 7-8, "I have become a marvel to many." They looked at David's life and they're like, "That's amazing. He's a marvel. Would you look at that?" It's like David. What is it with David? I mean, David gets in the deepest troubles and then somehow, some way, he comes out victorious. What is it with this David?" What is it? People get, "This is amazing. This is a marvel." I'm a marvel to many. You are my strong refuge and my mouth will be filled with your praise.
"I give you praise and my mouth is filled with your glory all day long. Don't cast me off in the time of my old age. Don't forsake me now when my strength fails." In other words, David has seen God rescue him over and over and over. Now that he's come to his weakest point, his darkest hour.
I tell you when it was, it was when his own virile son, his own virile son, Absalom, betrayed him and brought about a great conspiracy. Even went over the men of the army to Absalom's side.
Young virile, good-looking Absalom, he was, you can read it. It says he was one of the best-looking young men in Israel. If you're going to do a conspiracy, I suppose it helps if you're good-looking. He had it all. He had the height, the look, and he had wonderful, beautiful hair. That helps a lot too, just hair. The men were like, "Oh, there's a man, look at the man." The women go," Uh, he is something." That's what David is up against. The virile young Absalom, David's old. "Don't forsake me now, O Lord."
People were wagging their tongues at this point. They're wagging their tongues. There is no help for him in God. Notice, look, verse 11, "God has forsaken him." That's what they said. Because David had to flee Jerusalem to save his life, to save the city, he had to flee. David the king is running, fleeing Jerusalem. They, "Aha. See, see, see, there's no help for him. God has forsaken him. Now is our opportunity. Seize him, pursue him." Psalm 3, he speaks of it there. "Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him.
There's no help for him now. He's beyond it. God has forsaken him." He says there in Psalm 3, "But you, Lord, you are a shield. I know, my God." Here he is. He's in his old age. He's not the virile young man he once was, but now he declares it, but I know, my God, that I know. I have better eyes today than ever before in my life. I can tell you that God is a shield about me. He is my glory and He is the lifter of my head.
See, now that David is old, his strength is waning. Yes, and he now has need of God to meet him in that efficiency more than ever before. Anyone over 50 knows that you get weaker as you get older. David did. In fact, there was this one scene that's described when David is older. Interestingly, even though he's older, he was in the battle, in the thick of the battle. It was a battle against the Philistines and David was right there in the thick of it with his solder wailing about and says that he began to grow weary because he's getting older now, but he's right there he's still doing it. You start to get weary. Now, it tells us that there was one of the sons of Goliath in that battle and when that son of Goliath saw that David was there, he decided to make his way right toward David. When one of the generals, one of the commanders, saw him coming barreling right at David, he came in to help David and put down the son of Goliath.
Then after the battle, they said, "David, no more. You're not going out to battle ever again." It happens to all of us, everyone gets older, but those who are wise will know that God will meet you in your insufficiency. I'm here to tell you that your life will be far greater if you will learn this lesson when you are young. David says, "You are my confidence and You have been my confidence since my youth." God was David's confidence when he went out to face that giant the first time.
God was David's confidence when he was victorious in battle, after battle, after battle. Great feats of victory, God was his confidence. When he was young and now that he's old, it's still his confidence. My point being is that this is something that if you would learn it when you are young, it will completely transform your life. Amen? Let's give the Lord praise. It's a great humbling truth.
It's a great humbling truth that we were born in the weakness and sin of man and you will continue in that sin the rest of your life until you have learned what it means to find the help of God. Amen? Let's give the Lord praise. Exactly right. God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Do you believe it? I have seen it over and over and over in my life. It's a life lesson for me. I know we're short in time, but I want to tell you something, my own struggle. I'm getting older, you all saw that. Yes, I know.
Many of you know also that I have been struggling in the last two years with my voice and I've been seeing doctors and specialists and the ENTs and neurologists and they've done genetic testing and all manner of testing. They've decided that I have a myopathy, which is an inherited muscle weakness of my throat and my speaking muscles and that is genetic inherited, and that it will progress slowly and get worse and worse. In other words, it'll never get better.
Of all the things and I thought, "I'm a pastor, I speak, and that's what I do. I speak five times a week." It was very hard to hear, honestly. At first, when they were trying to figure out what it was, for two months they thought it was ALS which would've meant I wouldn't have had long to live, but praise God it was not that. Yes, praise God. I've come to see that now, God will need to meet me in my insufficiency. Moses, you might remember, had difficulty with speech. Did you know that? Moses had difficulty with speech.
Paul had difficulty with speech. Did you know that? He did. I thought, "Well, if Moses had trouble with speech and Paul had trouble with speech, at least I'm in good company." Then I realized if God does anything with me, even with my weakness of trouble in speaking, then you know it's God who did it and it wasn't me. Amen? Amen. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 where Paul spoke of his weakness, he said, "I implored the Lord three times that this thorn in my flesh," whatever it was.
II. Declare God’s Strength to this Generation
"I implored the Lord three times that this thing, this thorn in my flesh, might leave me, but the Lord said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Now, that is a life lesson.
Then notice when David goes next in the song because it's quite beautiful to declare God's strength to this generation, verses 17-18, "O God, you have taught me from my youth and I still declare your wondrous deeds and even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation until I declare your power to all who are to come." David is saying, I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. I'm not done until I declare your strength to this generation, the young generation.
I want the next generation to know what I have come to know. I want them to know the wisdom of the ages. I want them to be men and women of strength, a victory of faith. You have taught me from my youth, I am still declaring your wonderful deeds. See, youth need the wisdom that comes from the experience of trusting God through the hard battles of life, but they don't have that experience but those who are older do.
A. God has done great things
When you're old, you want to tell the younger people what great things that God can do so that they don't repeat the mistakes that you made. Anybody who's old enough want to give your testimony? I don't want them to repeat my mistakes, I want them to stand taller and higher. This is what David wants them to know, that God has done great things. Notice verses 18-19, "I will declare your strength to this generation. I will declare your power to all who are to come.
For your righteousness, O God, it reaches to the heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you." Then there's this, we read it when we were in Psalm 37:25-26, "Once I was young, now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, I've never seen it. I have never ever seen the righteous forsaken, and I have never seen his descendants begging bread. All day long, He is gracious and lends, and His descendants are a blessing."
Notice, deep truths in those verses. I have never seen the righteous forsaken. I'm an old man, I've never seen the righteous forsaken and I've never seen His descendants begging bread. Notice, His descendants. All day long, He's gracious, He lends and His descendants are a blessing. See the influence from one generation to another? See the blessing that flows from my faithful generation to the next generation? I was hearing the story of two men giving their testimony at a revival meeting.
The first man got up to give us testimony and he said, "Once I was an alcoholic, a drunk, worldly in every way. I chased women, booze, parties. I went to the bottom of everything the world had and there in the bottom, in the pit, God got a hold on my life. God saved me and God strengthened me. God gave me forgiveness, God gave me hope, God gave me life, and I am thankful to God for His grace." Amen. Then the second man stood up. Now, the first gentleman who spoke gave a powerful testimony of how God can save out of the the brokenness and worldliness of life, but that is not my testimony. I've never been drunk. I've never slept around. I have not gone the way of the world. I was raised in a Christian home. My parents prayed for me every day. All I've ever known is church. All my life, we went to church every week. My testimony is that not only does God have the power to save you from the world, but He also has the power to keep you from the world. Amen.
He said, "My testimony is that I thank God for His glory in my life and for keeping me from falling, so that I can declare his faithfulness today." I was at a wedding earlier today, young man, young woman who've been in the church for several years. I looked at them as I sat in the watching this wedding. What a fine, fine young man? What a wonderful character of a young woman? Godly families. Both of them. Both of them, Godly families. They came from Godly families.
I thought this is the result of those parents praying for those children, pouring their lives into those children so that those children could stand that day. I started to think of their children one day when that fine young man and that fine young woman, they're getting married today, one day when they have kids, oh, those kids will be raised with the advantage of having parents who will pour into them and pour into them and pour into them. Right? David is saying the same thing.
"Sustain me, Lord, until I can speak to the next generation. I want to build something in the next generation. I want to do something for the next generation." If you are old, you got something to say. Your view is a lot better, you can see better than people can see when they're young. They've invested. I can add my own testimony. Though I was raised with every disadvantage. Many of you know my story, my father being an alcoholic, and angry and all that, that my mother made a point of making sure that somehow, some way we got to church so that I could hear a better word.
Her steadfast faithfulness was she invested in my life. She spoke of issues of character in life many years ago. I remember a funny story many years ago when the church was very young. We used to have recordings of the messages available on cassette tape. If you don't know what a cassette tape is, turn to somebody who's got gray hair and they will tell you what a cassette tape is. People could order tapes. They would've to fill out a piece of paper and then we would make the cassette tape, and then send it to them.
One day, I'm walking by the desk and I saw an order for a tape. I'm just a young pastor, I'm excited that anybody wants one of my tapes. Then I said, "Oh, somebody ordered a tape." I said, "Who was it? Who was it?" She said, "Your mother." Actually, she used to listen to Bible teachers on the radio. That was what she did. She would spend her evenings listening to the radio and she would take notes in these notebooks. Then when she passed, we were going through her things and we found stacks and stacks and stacks of notebooks. Isn't that amazing?
What a blessing it was for me at her funeral. My mom didn't have anything to speak of in her life. She was poor all her life. Didn't have anything. Never owned a home, never owned a car, never learned to drive, worked hard all her life, but she was faithful and she endured and she got to see her son become a pastor. When she passed, what an honor it was, this old woman who didn't have a thing in her life, the church was filled with those who wanted to give honor to a faithful old saint. Amen? Amen.
David wants to be that influence. Sustain me, Lord, until I've said I want to speak of your greatness. Older people have something to say to those who are young. You know the story of the prodigal son is filled with this very lesson. It's the story of the younger of two sons who comes to his father and he says, "Father, give me my share of the estate that falls to me." He divided his wealth between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything and went on a journey into a distant country.
There, he squandered all that money. He squandered all of it, all of his estate on the world, on the parties, the women, the alcohol. You can imagine his thought, "Give me my share of the estate. I need some money. I got some living to do. I need some money. Give me the portion of the estate." There was a lot of money there. Give me the portion of the estate. I need some money because I got some living to do and I need some money to do that living with. I got some parties to do. I got some alcohol to buy.
I got some women to pay for. I need that money because I got me some living to do. There's a lot of older people who would like to say to the young man, "You call that living? You think that's life?" We need some older people who can speak the truth to the younger people. That's not living. I've been there, I've done that. I've tasted it. That's not living. You think that's life, but it's not. I've been there. I can see farther than you can see. That's not living. I've lived long enough that I can tell you where life is found.
That kind of life, it brings death and trouble and sorrow and grief. Let me tell you what I know the older generation would say to a young-- Let me tell you what I know. God is the fountain of life and He wants you to drink deeply from the river of His delights that my friend is living. Amen? Amen. David has something to say about God who Has done such great things in his life. He wants the next generation to believe that God will do great things for them.
By the way, that story of David's darkest hour, David's fleeing Jerusalem, it was amazing because God met him in his insufficiency. God met him in that darkest hour. Through the amazing hand of God, moving amongst the circumstances of that whole situation meant that one day after Absalom was defeated, that David came marching back into Jerusalem to rule and to reign as the king over to Israel yet again. They all said, "That is amazing. God did it again. That was amazing."
B. May God increase your greatness
Then David says, "They say to me, they say, God has forsaken him, but God, here's my prayer. Increase my greatness. Increase my greatness." May God do that. Verses 19-21, "God has done great things. Who is like you or God? You, who have shown me many troubles many distresses, I know you will revive me again. Because you have done it over and over and over and over again, and I know you'll do it. May you increase my greatness." Now, he's not saying I want to be greater than others. No, he's saying, increase the greatness of my soul. Increase the capacity of my soul. I got something, David has got something to say. This life is filled with troubles far greater than you can ever imagine. David would say to a young man or a young woman, but God will see you through it. God will revive you, for there is none like you, O God. May you increase my soul. You may grow physically weaker, but you can grow spiritually stronger.
The greatest lessons you have learned in your life have everything to do with your soul. You have come to discover that God can make your soul sing. Sing the glory, sing the praises of the one who has revived your soul. Oh, may God increase His glory and His beauty as he pours more and more upon your soul. Dwell on that rock of habitation and God will meet you in your insufficiency.
Let's pray. Lord, we love you and honor you and thank you for what a glorious great truth is discovered in these words. Lord, we pray that you would just meet us tonight in this place and we would say to you, be thou to me a rock of habitation, that I may continually come. I know you'll meet me in my weakness. You meet me in my insufficiency. You pour out your glory and life, your strength, meet me. Church, how many would say to the Lord tonight I want you to be my rock of habitation, that I may continually come?
I want to dwell there on that rock and receive the glory and the strength and the power and the increase that comes because you will meet me in my insufficiency. You will pour strength into my weakness. Be thou to me that rock of habitation. Church, how many would say that to the Lord by just raising your hand? Just raise your hand to the Lord just as a prayer. Be thou to me that rock of habitation because I will continually come.
I will dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. God, we give you thanks, and glory, and honor for meeting us here in this place in Jesus' name. Everyone said, can we give the Lord praise? Amen. Amen.