Psalm 139

 Psalms 139

Tonight‘s Psalm is about God‘s perfect knowledge of man.  

• His knowledge is 100% complete - he knows every detail
• His knowledge is absolutely accurate - there are no errors in his knowledge
• His knowledge is intricately, precise - he knows us to the smallest detail
• His knowledge is permanent - he doesn’t forget anything … Hmmm, this leaves us in a little bit of a tough spot though, because he knows our sin and yet because his knowledge is perfect he doesn’t forget.  God himself provided a solution for that problem.

Let’s pray..  Lord please show us how we can be completely honest with You..

Psalms 139:1-24 (NASB95) 1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. 

This psalm starts with David saying that this is for the choir director of Israel. While other translations say it’s for the chief musician.  It makes you wonder who is this choir director or this chief musician of Israel?

If you were to ask the Sunday school kids, their favorite answer is Jesus. And it may very well be that David wrote this psalm for the Lord himself.  As we think about it, though we remember that the book of Psalms was the hymnal for the nation of Israel so more likely some 139 written by David is addressed to Heman or Asaph.

 1 Chronicles 6:33 (NASB95) These are those who served with their sons: From the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,

1 Chronicles 15:17 (NASB95) So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah,

One aspect we learned about the psalmists is that they were prophetic.

1 Chronicles 25:1-5 (NASB95) 1 Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals; and the number of those who performed their service was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising the LORD. 4 Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman.

All of this context goes hand-in-hand with the fact that God has perfect knowledge of us and of everything in the entire universe.  It’s really unfathomable it’s incomprehensible that God knows everything about everything.  You and I, we may have one or more subjects that we are experts in. We dive deep into that one thing.  Even this age that we live in is the age of specialization.  You don’t just go to the doctor anymore you go to a specialist. People learn more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing. Quite a contrast to God who knows everything about everything.

Continuing with the second half of verse 1 through verse 12

O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. 

We get the picture that God is actively intentionally watching us.  We can’t escape him if we were to go to the furthest parts of the universe he’s there already.  The bottom of the ocean he’s there. Heaven, he’s there even hell he’s there. So when people say that going to hell is to be out of God‘s presence really in truth, that’s not correct. God is there. He’s everywhere. It’s just that there will be no possibility in hell of knowing and communing with God.

So God not only knows what we do and what we say, but also what we think.  Even beyond that God knows and understands our motives. He knows what’s behind or what’s the cause of what we do, say and think.  

We might do, say or think the right thing, but if it’s with the wrong motives, it’s worthless and even worse harmful.   if we do something good but we do it for selfish reasons it’s worthless. If we say something nice, but it’s for the purpose of flattery to get in good with someone it’s a sin.

Romans 14:23b and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Last thing on this topic; since God‘s knowledge is permanent in other words, God can’t forget, does that mean he’s unable to forget our sin.  I think we know the answer to that already but let’s apply scripture to this.

Psalms 51:3 (NASB95) For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.

If David felt like his sin was ever before him, in other words, he didn’t forget his own sin. How could God forget our sin.

Psalms 103:11-12 (NASB95) 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

We need a permanent removal of our sins. We know that the Old Testament sacrifices provided what’s called atonement. In Hebrew the word for atonement is Kaphar.  It means covering. In other words, cleansing from sin. But they had to make sacrifices year after year, demonstrating that the blood of bulls and goats cannot permanently erase sin. I am just going to refer you to Hebrews 9 for this.

Romans 8:1 (NASB95) Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:2 (NASB95) To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NASB95) But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

1 Corinthians 15:22 (NASB95) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

So if you’re in Christ, if God sees you in Christ, he sees Christ’s righteousness not your sin. Your sins are permanently dealt with.

Now to Psalm 139:13-16

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

These verses give us a pro life context.  Let’s just ask and answer a few questions that get to the point of whether abortion is ever okay?

One argument the pro choice people make is that we conservative Christians are not truly pro life in all cases. They would accuse us of hypocrisy and inconsistency, if we endorse capital punishment. They’d say you can’t call yourself pro life and yet be okay with putting someone to death.  In a sense, they’re right.  One way to solve this is to call abortion the unjust termination of a pregnancy.  It ends the life of a baby. I.e it’s murder.  So we can  indeed be against abortion.   Now as pertains to capital punishment, we would argue it is the just execution of someone who forfeited their right to life by committing murder.  I am not here to argue for capital punishment.  But let’s look at it biblically.

Genesis 9:6 institutes capital punishment, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.

Exodus 21:12 codifies it in law, “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 24:17 affirms it as law, ‘If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death.

Here’s the kicker, if we were to follow the biblical procedure for determining guilt or innocence, we’d use Numbers 35:30  ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

The biblical procedure for determining guilt or innocence is itself reiterated (witnessed a second time) in Deuteronomy 17:6  “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

Since our system of justice isn’t entirely biblical, we can see the flaws and at least understand the shortcomings. 

Another pro choice argument is “it’s not a human being”.  You have heard it called a clump of cells, just protoplasm (prehuman).  Answer: it is as human as it will ever be.  Genetically it is identifiable as human. It will develop through various stages from zygote to embryo to infant to toddler to juvenile, etc, etc. to adult.  Each of those stages are stages of human development.

Look at a few pictures…

Another pro choice argument is that it isn’t truly alive.  Ask them to define life or what it means to be alive.  By all modern scientific definitions of life, a child in the womb is alive.   It moves, it grows, etc.  If I could read into what they’re saying, it’s not conscious.  Again this is a matter of developmental stages.   But does consciousness define what it means to be human?  Try to apply the consciousness argument in other stages of life.  We don’t get to kill someone just because they aren’t completely conscious.

What about rape or incest?  Should we allow abortion in those cases?   I refer you to the prior questions and answers.  But also, name any crime where we punish an innocent bystander.  The child conceived by rape or incest is definitely a victim in this circumstance.   Or to state it another way, is it ok to punish the child for the crime of the father?

The biggie today is “ my body, my choice”. I do believe a person should have some level of autonomy over their own body.  The question is whether or not the child in the womb is part of the mother‘s body or is it its own separate body with its own blood supply and own internal organs.   Yes the child is connected to the mom by the placenta and the umbilical cord, but the child is its own separate body.

How about this one? It’s not a child, it's a fetus.  Well fetus is just Latin for a little one or small one.  I call children, “little ones”, all the time. Think about the Bible’s term for pregnant; “with child”.

Isaiah 7:14 (NASB95)

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Also think about some things God says about children in the womb.

Luke 1:39-45 (NASB95) 39 Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 45 “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB95) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Another argument is; “what if the child will be born into 

• Poverty 
• A broken, fatherless home
• A life of misery 
• A life of disease 
• A home with dead-beat parents 
• A life of physical or sexual abuse 
• Abandonement

So what you’re telling me is that you should be able to preemptively kill a child so it won’t have to endure any of these circumstances?  You are saying you can predict the future.  That really is the definition of playing god.  

It boils down to choosing 

• An education 
• A career 
• A boyfriend or a husband 
• Convenience 

Over having a child.

Please understand, God is rich in mercy and full of loving kindness.   God offers forgiveness to all who would humbly call on him.   God will in no wise cast us out.

God will not only forgive, but he will restore that which has been lost.

Psalms 86:5-7 (NASB95) 5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. 6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications! 7 In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me.

Back to psalm 139 verses 17 & 18

 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. 

God’s thoughts are precious.   I think of Jeremiah 29:11 where God says ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Another one comes to mind, Zepheniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy

Now we get to God’s knowledge of wicked people.

Verses 19-22 O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. 20 For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. 

People may get away with stuff here on earth during this life, but unless they repent and place their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, justice will be served in eternity.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. 

The Gospel in the Field

 three young men exited an infiniti coupe and walked down the greenbelt trail to the field.  I went and grabbed a handful of Gospel tracts and followed them down to the field.   I handed them million-dollar bill gospel tracts and got a chuckle from them.  They were very gracious, patient and interactive with me as we dialoged our way through the Gospel.

The encounter ended by them shaking my hand and thanking me.

God bless...

Psalm 4

 Psalm chapter 4

You guys know I like to do studies that bring in doctrine. Doctrine is what we believe in. It’s basically a teaching on what we believe..  you can kind of think about it as theoretical. But I also desire to offer some practical things that you can do that you can implement and live out. So hopefully, we’ll get the meaning and understanding from what Psalm 4 says, but hopefully we’ll also get something we can live out practically.

Sometimes, when we don’t have the answer to some question, it can interrupt our sleep.   Tonight, I plan to offer you a cure for insomnia.   I just hope it isn’t my message that’s the cure.

With that in mind, let’s pray for the Lord to help us understand what’s being said and to be able to put into practice what is being taught.

Psalms 4:1-8 (NASB95) 1 For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. 2 O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah. 3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself; The LORD hears when I call to Him. 4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. 5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD. 6 Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD! 7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound. 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.

Psalm 4, traditionally recited at night, is the evening counterpart to Psalm 3’s morning prayer.    Sort of like how we teach our kids to pray, when they’re little. “Now I lay me down to sleep…”   Perhaps the earliest version was written by George Wheler in his 1698 book The Protestant Monastery, which reads:[1]

Upon lying down, and going to sleep.

Here I lay me down to sleep.
 To thee, O Lord, I give my Soul to keep,
 Wake I ever, Or, Wake I never;
 To thee O Lord, I give my Soul to keep for ever.

A later version printed in The New England Primer goes:[2]

Now I lay me down to sleep,
 I pray the Lord my Soul to keep[;]
 If I should die before I 'wake,
 I pray the Lord my Soul to take.

 In Jewish thought, sleep itself is not simply rest, it is a “small death,” like a miniature death, where you surrender your soul into God's hands. This idiom of “sleep” representing death, is a new testament concept as well.   Which makes sense, since most of the new testament was written by Jewish authors.   But in 1 Corinthians 11:30 it says, For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

And in 1 Corinthians 15:51 it says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

So let’s think of this for a sec.  Why do you think sleep represents death?

And so, psalm 4 becomes a liturgy of trust in the LORD, at the day’s end.  We at Calvary Chapel may not tend to be very into “liturgy”.   In fact, some of us, in the “evangelical” christian tradition, may even pooh pooh the idea that there is value in liturgy.  Where liturgy is kind of a formula or a ritual that you do by rote, by memory.   Maybe we look at liturgy kind of like a “fake it till you make it” kind of a thing.   But I think there can be value in following a certain prescribed routine.   At least as a way to get started.  Repetition is a way I learn things.   Anyways, for what it’s worth, that’s what I think.

You guys know, I’m a software engineer.   More than once, I’ve laid down in bed to go to sleep, and I have some problem I’m trying to solve at work.  I’ll pray about it, and go to sleep and my mind (by God’s creative design) will keep working on the problem while I sleep.  Sometimes I’ve dreamt about it.  Then I wake up and think to myself, Oh, yeah, that’s the solution.  I’ll write it down or go to work and write it down, and sure enough.  The LORD made our minds to be able to work and the LORD speaks directly to our mind while we’re asleep.

“Answer me when I call…”

David’s opening line is bold. He isn’t demanding instant results, but he shows a confidence that God hears, even in silence. We also see some similarities between psalm chapter 4 and Psalm chapter 3 you'll notice here that it begins with David referring to God in a special way and I want you to see this in verse 1 he says answer me when I call Oh God of my righteousness I want to talk about that. Let’s re-read the verse Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

“when I was in distress”, David is talking in the past.   In the midst of a severe trial, David says, “be gracious to me and hear my prayer”.  Now did you notice that David refers to God as O God of my righteousness? This is another of David's declarations of faith. He is declaring that God can be depended upon as a judge to judge properly and righteously even when men cannot.   We don’t think of God as a “judge” too much. Why?   Because God’s judgement was poured out on Jesus.   God’s wrath towards us was all used up (so to speak) on Jesus.  That’s why we can be confident and have this close intimate faith in God.  God is now our friend.   We’re not presumptuous, we know God and His character.   And we trust in that.

Here's the point; David is going through a situation where men are turning against him but he's saying to God as he opens up this prayer Lord you are the one who judges my situations without negative influence without turning away from the truth and I know that you see the real facts of what's going on and I now that justice is going to triumph in the end I know that it's going to triumph in the and David comforted himself with those kind of statements

I want us to think about our attitude in prayer.  Do we have confidence that God hears and God answers, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the ultimate outcome?   This really boils down to knowing God’s character; that He’s gracious and kind and generous and giving and caring and gentle.

Verse 2 How long, will my honor become a reproach?   In other words, I stand for you LORD.   I boast in You.   Yet, I receive dishonor and reproach.   My question for us, Are you confident enough in God to live your faith out loud?

I know this gets said a lot, but we still live in a country that has “freedom of speech on the books”.   We are allowed to talk about our faith.  We’re aren’t put into jail, or hit or spit on, like Paul, Peter, and even Jesus Himself.   Okay, I’ll admit the soil is getting harder.   The climate toward spiritual things is getting colder.   You might get mocked, or scorned, or rejected or ignored.   You might even lose a friend by talking about your Savior.  But that’s a small price to be consistent with your faith.   If we really believe that someone goes to hell without turning to Christ in faith, we would do more to encourage and invite others to faith in the Living God.

Please reflect on this: what’s more important, your friendship with someone, or their eternal salvation.   I’m not saying we should be obnoxious about it.   We can be “winsome” and try to win some (that’s probably been said before, but that just came to my head).

I will have to say, one of the things that really encourages me is when I hear your stories of boldness and how you have shared your faith with someone.   We’re told to speak the truth in love.   The bible says to preach the word, in season and out of season.   That’s just about all the time.

All of this amounts to giving glory to God.

Here are some scripture references that bless me…

1 Timothy 1:17 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen

Revelation 5:12-13 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

Revelation 7:11-12 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Verse 3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly man for Himself, David says, “But know”, knowing something or someone, really knowing is more than just something that goes on mentally in your brain.   It’s experiential.  When you are little, your parents tell you don’t touch that, it’s hot.   What do you do?   You touch it.   Then you know for yourself.   When someone says they used to believe in God, but they don’t now.  Ask them, did you know the LORD?   The best they can say is that they “thought they knew” God.   You can press it, but did you know God?   If they’re honest, they’ll have to say, no. 

You and I can know that the LORD has set us apart, because we’ve experienced conversion.   We’ve been changed.   We’ve been born again.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

Verse 4 Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.   Other translations say “be angry and do not sin”.   The word “tremble” is well, have you ever been so mad that you were shaking.   This is quoted in Ephesians 4:26 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.  Here in context, David is speaking to those who have maligned and gossip about him and betrayed him.   He still has a heart for these guys.   He says, go ahead, be angry, but don’t let that anger become deep seated bitterness.  Even though their anger had become that. These words are meant to confront wicked men as a warning against their anger overflowing into violence. James 1:19-20 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

Also in this verse, “meditate in your heart, on your bed and be still”.  One of my little pet peeves is when someone promotes meditation for the health and emotional/psychological benefits.   Usually, it’s my company, or the medical community or some TV program that recommends meditation.   What they’re really recommending is eastern or Hindu meditation.  Yes, there might be some health benefits.   There might even be some emotional/psychological benefits, but spiritually it is very dangerous.   Eastern meditation teaches that the practitioner must empty their mind.   Here’s what the bible says can happen when you do that, Matthew 12:43-45 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

An empty mind is open to demonic influence.

Christian meditation is about filling your mind with the scriptures.   Thinking about the goodness of God and all that He has done.

The reason I warn about eastern meditation is because I new someone who started out with yoga, for the health benefits and it led him into the Hindu practices and believing in reincarnation.

Verse 5 says  5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the LORD. This might be a little difficult for a Christian to understand.   We are taught that Jesus’ sacrifice was a one and done.   He died once for all we’re told in Hebrews 7:27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself and 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit

Every other religion is a system of works to earn righteousness.   They are all about do, do, do (if you get my drift).   But true biblical Christianity is about “it is finished.”

So the ultimate meaning of this can be found in Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

The reason this kind of a sacrifice is acceptable is because it is accomplished by faith and performed in the Holy Spirit.

Verse 6 Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD!

Here in verse 6 he is saying there are many who say who will show us some good in other words people are looking for a change in their circumstances and for some kind of hope in challenging times and so they ask the question you know who can who can show us some good who will lead us into times of prosperity times of peace it sounds to me like the cry of our culture today doesn't it and you know what it's going to continue to be the cry of our culture and it is going to lead the people of this world right into the hands of the Antichrist system because they are going to continue to cry out and say who can show us some good and he's gonna come along and he's gonna say I can. people today want to be happy and they're constantly yearning for to see something good in life and that’s natural but the trouble is they want they want blessing and they want happiness without bending their knee to the Lord you know they're looking for blessing without coming to him who blesses and understanding his word and understanding that God who created this earth and created the people who live upon it knows best how they should live and instead of people looking God in the eye and saying no I'm not going to live the way you tell me to live they want to live their own way and yet they still want to be happy and that's just not gonna happen

Verse 7

notice David's answer to their question of you know who can show us some good David says light up the light of your Face (or your countenance) upon us Oh Lord. David knew that it was God and God alone who's gonna who can deliver what our hearts need and want the most and listen as David ends this Psalm now speaking of the benefits of knowing and and trusting God look at verse 7 you have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound here now David is describing the joy that is in his heart from knowing the Lord to the joy that people go through when they're in times of prosperity and you and I when he says there when their wine about he doesn't necessarily mean when the wine is flowing and you're happy because you're drunk he's talking about when the harvest comes in because they had their vineyards and their grain fields and when there was a prosperous harvest there was great joy because they knew that they were gonna be well set for the next year and so David understood that from a cultural standpoint and yet he challenges by saying that the joy the Lord has placed in my heart exceeds that of a worldly joy that is predicated upon some nice thing that just happened to you we might look at this different you know you've put more joy in my heart then when they get a big fat raise and go out and buy a nice house and a nice car or or or something like that you know you've put more joy in my heart then those people can experience why because their joy their happiness is based on temporal changing circumstances.

you have a great harvest one year wonderful the next year is a lousy one what happened to the joy from the year before?

Verse 8 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety 

have you ever been up all night worrying have you ever been unable to get to sleep because you just had this adrenaline rush of some thought that just went through your Head?

David knew what it was like to have those kinds of fears but he also knew what it was to have the joy of the Lord in his heart that caused him to be able even in the midst of difficulty to lie down and not just lie down but to sleep to fall asleep because he knew that he knew that he knew his safety was bound up in the hands of the Lord

This will take some pressing in.  it will take some effort to put your mind on the LORD when it would rather worry.

https://www.youtube.com/live/fCbBJjelyYE?si=xsdnRmRvHhRX7Wk7