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A couple of notices to bring to your attention. Kuna is going to take the prayer meeting on Wednesday. We look forward to that. David and Scott will be in Grabber on Wednesday evening as the presbytery. Process the official term. I think it's process the call to grabber. We don't know what that process involves but we wish you all the best.
Scott. Yeah, on Wednesday. And on Sunday, coming Sunday, David, our minister, will be taking both services. Now let's start our time together. I know this is Angus Alex's favourite hymn, I think. It's one of my favourites. It's Mission Praise 237.
Mission Praise 237.
Mission Praise 237.
Mission Praise 247. Mission crouch 247. All the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cheney and seven falling down before thee, which work and art and evermore shall be.
Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see.
Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love and purity.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty.
All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty.
God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Let's pray.
Lord God, we worship you. And we worship you because you're holy. We worship you because you are all loving.
We adore you as we realise your adoration for us and how much you love us. We love to gather together, young and old, with those who are housebound as well.
And we love to gather together under your name. We love to be in your family and to be able to sing.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee. We adore you with all the saints.
And Lord God, we confess that as we come together, we come from a dark world.
We come knowing that we are unworthy to approach you as our holy God. We're doing so confessing our sins and telling you about how we're not worthy.
And yet, we also ask and accept your forgiveness for us. And we thank you for it.
And we thank you that you love us and you accept us. We thank you that you've brought us and you're offering to bring us into an eternity.
It lasts literally forever when we can praise you along with all of heaven and adore you as being holy.
We can tell you that there's no one like you. There's no other God beside you. There is none who's holy. It's only you, God. And you're perfect. You're perfect in power.
You're perfect in love. You're perfect in purity. We love the fact that we can hear and adore the children's voices. We love the fact that we can gather here as multi-generational, praying for our young ones, even as we're reminded of them by their voices, that they would grow in the knowledge of their holy God who loves them.
And they would be children of God, redeemed and accepted and yours forever and ever. That they would be children of God even when they're adults, even when they grow to be old.
That they would be children of God who are content in your presence and to take your gospel to the ends of the earth. We pray this for them in faith.
That all of us here today, even as we worship together, would be as children of God. That we would be understanding more of who you are, how much you love us, and how we can completely trust you.
And even as we pray like this, we pray for those amongst us who cannot yet call themselves children of God. That you would put it on their hearts to accept your love for them.
And your forgiveness for them and your acceptance of them. We pray for one another, those who are going through difficult times, uncertain times. Maybe moving to another place.
Maybe starting a new job. Maybe about to get married. Maybe looking after children. Maybe understanding the difficulties of work.
Or maybe coping with illness. Or maybe worrying about family members. Maybe struggling with addiction. Or we can think of people we know struggling with various things.
But you know, Lord God, we're reminded as we sing this hymn. That we've just sung.
That you're holy. And that's forever. And you're unchanging. And as for us, we're all in the same boat. We're all the same. We're all sinners.
We're all unworthy. We're all loved by you. We're adored by you. You've paid the price for our sin. You've either already bought us and adopted us or you want to do so.
Lord God, we're all the same. And you're holy. You're wonderful. You're our God. We ask that we get a taste of that this morning.
And we ask for those in our community throughout Harris. Throughout our Long Island. Throughout our nation. And to the ends of the earth.
And we pray for the ends of the earth. That knowledge of you would be everywhere. We know in due course every knee shall bow. We pray that your children would arise from every nation.
And proclaim you as their Lord and King. And they too all over the world would be able to sing with joy. Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. Bless us for the remainder of our time together this morning.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Right. Speaking of the younger ones. Come out here. And we've got some pictures to show you.
In a wee moment. Not quite yet. So come out here. And I've got one or two questions to ask you. Which are very, very simple questions. And I don't know if you know the answer. Well, one or two of you might know the answer to this question.
I don't know. Do you guys know that we used to have a donkey? A donkey. A donkey.
And he lived in our croft. Anyone know his name? No one know the name of the donkey. Well, it's very similar to the first name of one of the doctors here.
In Gaelic. Shores. Okay. He wasn't Dr. Shores. He was just Shores the donkey. All right. Now, we have owned three donkeys in our time. And I can't remember that. I think the first was called Jenny.
She was a very old lady. The next was called Padrick. And the last was called Shores. And Shores was a donkey with attitude. He was some donkey.
He was a donkey with character. All right. Do you think we cared for Shores? Do you think we looked after him?
What do you think? You're right. We looked after him very, very, very well. We spent a fortune on him. We looked after him. He was the best looked after donkey in all of our RV.
He was the only donkey in all of our RV. Do you think we fed him every day? Every day. Twice a day. He got the most delicious donkey food.
Absolutely fantastic food. Do you think he had a nice stable? Do you know he had two stables? In fact, he had three stables. He could choose whichever one he went into.
He had fantastic accommodation. Do you think he had a nice field? He had amazing grass. But we always gave him his donkey feed as well.
Do you think Shores had anything to worry about in life at all? Do you think? You're right, Olivia. He had nothing to worry about.
Life was fantastic. Every morning I went out to feed him. Every morning I came out with a big bucket. I went into the shed. I put the delicious donkey food in the bucket.
I walked out to feed him. Well, what do you think hungry Shores did when he saw me with a bucket of delicious food? What do you think he did? Do you think he kind of wagged his donkey tail?
Do you think he got excited? Do you think he came running towards me to eat the food? No. Do you know what he did? He got anxious. When I came with the food, he started retreating.
Running back the way. Looking scared. Going back 10 metres. Going behind a rock. Peering anxiously behind the rock. To see who was this person coming with a bucket of something.
If I went out to touch him, he went further away. He was scared. After he moved away, he was peering behind a rock, seeing who this strange person was.
I put the food in his donkey bucket. And then I moved away behind the cattle grid and appeared out behind a bush. And once he couldn't see me, he came very cautiously forward, checking left and right, making sure that everything was okay.
And when he thought everything was okay, he started eating his donkey food. If I came back to give him a pat, pretend you're the donkey. I did that. Oh, he went away.
He ran away. Now, here's the question. Do you think Shoras was being sensible? Do you think he needed to run away?
Was I going to hurt him? No. I was spending a fortune on donkey food to give to him. He wasn't being sensible. Do you think he trusted me? No.
He didn't trust me at all. But, you know, a few years later, Shoras moved home. Because Kirsten and I went to work away, abroad for a while.
And so he moved home to Artasic. He went from Ardbe to Artasic to a new home with Bella. Now, Bella looked after him. And, you know, he began to trust Bella.
You know that Bella got to know Shoras so well, she could reach out and touch him like this. And he didn't run away. She could put his arm around his neck. And he liked it.
You know, she could even sit on his back. And he was happy. He trusted Bella. He didn't trust me. It took years. But eventually he trusted someone.
Now, I don't have any photographs of Shoras with me. I should have asked Kirstie. She could have given me hundreds. But I don't. But I've got other photographs. Now, here's the first one. It's from the film Shrek.
And I was trying to remember, what's the name of the donkey in Shrek? Anyone know? No. Donkey. Yeah, I remembered. The name of the donkey in Shrek's donkey.
So here we are. What do you think he looks like? How's he feeling? A little bit scared? Let's show the next photograph. Oh! What's he looking like now?
Very scared. What about the next one? Oh! Now, what's he doing now? He's running away. All right? Now, what about the last photograph? Oh! Look at this.
Is that donkey scared? No. Does that donkey trust its owner? Yes. This is a picture of what we should be like with God.
And this is what we're going to be thinking about in the sermon today. There's times in life when we might feel like Shores. Anxious. Scared.
Want to run away. Want to avoid people. We might even want to avoid God. Oh! But this photo shows what we should be like with God.
We can trust him. We can be at peace with him. God loves us. He wants us to accept his love for us. He wants us to come so close to him, he can put his arms around us.
That's what God wants us to be like with him. He wants to look after us for how long? Today? Tomorrow? How long?
How long does God want to look after us for? Forever. Forever. And ever. And ever.
Right, guys? So when you see Shores, he's moved again. He's moved to Lurbost. So if you're passing by Lurbost, you tell me when you see a donkey, is he anxious or is he like that guy there?
And you can let me know. And we're going to sing a song. About a little bit of this. It's Mission Praise 50. And it says, Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here.
Come now before him now with reverence and fear. In him no sin is found. We stand on holy ground. Be still. Be still. Be still. For the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here.
Let's stand and sing. Come now before him now. For the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.
Come now, we call in love with reverence and fear.
In hypnosynis' plan, we stand on holy ground.
Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here. Be still for the glory of the Lord, the shining on the ground.
He burns with holy light, with splendor He is God. How awesome is the sight, our radiant take of light.
Be still for the glory of the Lord, the shining on the ground. Be still for the power of the Lord, the shining on the ground.
He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister His grace.
No work too hard for Him, if they receive from Him. Be still for the power of the Lord, His moving in His grace.
Amen. Well guys, enjoy Sunday school. And we'll pray for them as they go.
And we thank God for their teachers.
Let's open God's Word. Let's open God's Word. We're going to read from three different Psalms. Psalm 12, Psalm 13 and Psalm 131.
So first of all, Psalm 12, Psalm 131. And I'm reminded to say too late that there's a creche back there, but I think everyone of appropriate age has now found it.
So Psalm 12, Psalm 13 and Psalm 131. Psalm 12. Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts.
Those who say, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us. Who is master over us? Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord.
I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.
Lest my enemies say I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. And then Psalm 131, which is the Psalm that we'll be looking at today.
Psalm 131. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. That I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.
Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
We thank God for his holy word this morning. Let's sing again and we're going to sing this psalm in Gaelic. We stay seated when we sing in Gaelic.
So three stanzas, Psalm 131 in Gaelic. O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
Psalm 131. . . . . .
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Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Just before we turn to God's word, let me welcome all visitors. I think we've got a few visitors here today. So very welcome.
And we have a nice habit of having tea and coffee and lovely baking after the morning service. So please stay behind. Let's get to know you as visitors. Let's have time of fellowship together after the service.
So let's pray before we turn to God's word. Thank you Lord God for the words of this psalm that we're going to look at.
And we pray that our meditation on the word would be pleasing to you that you would speak with us and have your way with us this morning. Keep our minds focused. We pray and give us the pleasure of fellowship with you. And learning from you. And learning from you. In Jesus name. Amen. How many of us are like donkeys? How many of us are like shawdice?
Well, I'm like shawdice. Well, I'm like shawdice quite a lot of the time. Maybe, maybe all of us are like shawdice. Quite a lot of the time. I mean, how many of us spend at least some time having a day. Through you and learning from you. In Jesus name. Amen. .
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. every day trying to do things our own way trying to sort things out or be unnecessarily anxious about stuff trying to rely on my own our own strength and crucially in the process avoid relying upon God when we do so because we can't do both we can't rely on our own strength like Shoros and also at the same time rely on God's strength you know donkeys were not given the ability to reason and to think and to plan I mean if you know Shoros that's very obvious but even the most intelligent of animals they cannot reflect upon knowledge of God they can't do it they've not been given the ability to do that they cannot reason and reflect like we humans we were made in God's image for this reason we're different from the animals and not only can we reason and reflect but we've also been given this amazing ability to understand God's word and to let God's word safely guide us to him in case some people here doubt that it's a very logical route that very logically leads you to a philosophical understanding that we are most certainly different from the animals there's a long conversation to be had about that you might need to trust me on this but we're very very different different from the animals and if you look into that you'll find lots of evidence about that we're different God wants us to come to him and in these psalms that we've read we see David using his reasoning using his logic in the light of God's word to think about God and he goes back and forth and back and forth and you can see him working things out questions and answers Psalm 13 how long oh Lord will you forget me forever and then later on in the same psalm like Shores eventually I have trusted in your steadfast love it goes back and forth we're going to spend time in Psalm 131 just now and in this psalm we can almost imagine
David like in that last donkey picture you know the one for the donkey was content with that old lady we can almost imagine David like that trusting God content no more questions for the moment at peace with God we can see him realizing that he is in fact a child of God it's come clear to him and we're going to look at three things this morning this morning about being a child of God number one the simplicity of being a child of God and number two the contentment of being a child of God and number three the longing that we have for other people to become children of God so firstly the great simplicity of being a child of God verse one oh Lord my heart is not lifted up my eyes are not raised too high I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me the simplicity Christopher Ash says about this psalm and this verse he says peace is the opposite of what peace is the opposite of pride he says peace is the opposite of pride David was in a very powerful position he was king but he was able to show such humility he had his struggles in the past and he would have them in the future he used to think he could do whatever he wanted he sat on that rooftop he looked down at Bathsheba he wanted her he took her and he arranged for her husband to be killed he thought he could do anything he wanted but since then he had learned he had been rebuked by Nathan the prophet to Samuel 12 who told him David why have you despised the words of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight David what was his reaction he confessed he said I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said to David the Lord has put away your sin you shall not die David's wrongdoing was not without consequence and David suffered because of it but crucially he found forgiveness and he found acceptance by God even with that history with that history and it's worth pausing here as we must because David sinned and he was rebuked about it and he told God about it and he accepted God's forgiveness and the question of course for us is will we allow God to rebuke us for our sin and when we are rebuked will we tell God about it about our sin and will we accept his forgiveness and I speak to those of us who are already children of God and to those of us who are not yet children of God will we accept the rebuke and confess and accept his forgiveness forgiveness. David was a child of God. There's some here who haven't yet ever come to that place of confession and repentance and forgiveness, and we understand that, and yet we think God ordained for us all to be here today. It's not random. It's God's planning. He's made it happen.
He wants us all to hear this. He wants us all to understand the simplicity of what happened to David, adulterer, murderer, completely and absolutely forgiven and accepted by God.
Are we all open to that? Can we be open to that? Can we pray for one another that we can be open to that? And that leads with pure simplicity to becoming a child of God instantly. And as I said to the kids, for how long? How long? How long would we be a child of God for? Not just today and tomorrow, but for all eternity. David was a powerful man. He learned a very important lesson about pride. He was king, not because of his own efforts, because he was chosen by God. He would know a lot of hardship. He would know opposition. But he didn't try to get revenge. He talked about vengeance. He talked about God taking vengeance. He didn't try. He learned not to put himself on a level with God. He learned to let God deal with his enemies, not him. And this points to who? It points to Jesus. It's an image of Jesus.
Think of Gethsemane. Think of Pilate. Think of the cross. David was powerful. Jesus infinitely more so. David was opposed. Jesus infinitely more opposed. We see the pattern in David of not taking vengeance on his enemies.
We see this coming to fulfillment in Jesus. As Paul said in Philippians 2, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, he didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. He took the form of a servant. This is Jesus. Being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death, on a cross. It's Jesus.
And David, a pattern of Jesus, asking God to do what God would do, not occupying himself with things too great and too marvellous for him.
David comes across in this psalm as somebody who is completely at ease with himself. He's found his place before God. He's got nothing to prove. He's completely forgiven.
He's got no power without God's power. His heart doesn't crave any longer for what it can't get. His eyes no longer lift up with ambition or lift down with arrogance, like he did with Bathsheba, thinking he can get whatever he wants. He doesn't regard himself on a par with God, but he is king. He's got more responsibility than anyone in all of Israel, and certainly more than any of us here. He had so much to keep him awake at night. He could have been awake constantly, worrying about kingship, but he realised his limits and his mortality. And he realised, as Paul says in Romans 12, there's no need, and in fact he mustn't think of himself more highly than he ought. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. The king of Israel learnt that lesson.
Humility. Simplicity. And it led him to understand his focus, to understand the reason for being alive. The main thing is the main thing. It's very simple. David realised, what's the main thing?
The main thing is the main thing. What's the main thing in this psalm? The main thing is being a child of God. David realised that. The main thing is being a child of God. That's our main thing this morning, being a child of God. There's a song about it called Child of God. I listened to it some mornings.
This is how it goes. I won't sing it. With every breath, with every thought, from what is seen to the deepest part, I offer all that have come to be, to know your love, fathering me. Father, you are all I need. My soul's sufficiency, my strength when I am weak, the love that carries me, your arms enfold me, till I am only a child of God. Wow. That's the main thing. That's what David realised.
It's the main thing. It defines us. That's the reason we wake up in the morning. That's the reason we go to bed at night. That's the reason for everything we do in between. We're children of God. Now, immediately we say that. We get a thought coming in here saying, but what about this? What about that? What about the next thing? I need to do that. I'm worried about this. The point is, David had so much of that responsibility, but he realised nothing makes any sense unless I approach these things as a child of God. Now, maintaining that simplicity needs discipline.
That simplicity doesn't always come easily. Think of that wee child in its mother's hip that we're about to come on to in verse two. Wind, meaning no longer has breast milk, has other food. Doesn't need to cry day and night as my granddaughter sometimes does, looking for its next feed from the breast. Now, this child has learnt that food comes at food time, you know, breakfast and lunchtime and evening time and supper. And it's quite content in theory between times. And its whole world is there. Think of that kid. What's its world consisting of? Its mum, its dad, the four walls of the house, maybe a wee garden, but that's the child's whole world. It doesn't go beyond that. It's not thinking about that. Its world is defined by its mum and dad and being with them. Everything is in reference to them. Now, think of that child growing up. Grows up, goes to school or the hassle that school throws at it. Exams, worries, but a hassle with friends and enemies, maybe work, maybe getting married, maybe, maybe having a family, maybe the responsibilities of running a home. As that kid gets older, its main definition is not that it's the son and daughter of its parent. That's not its main definition anymore.
It's still true, but it's not its main thing. It doesn't wake up saying, oh, you know, I'm dad's daughter, I'm dad's son. No, life moves on. But as children of God, it's different. All the way through our life as a child of God, our whole lives are defined as being children of God. No matter what we do in life, no matter how many botch-ups we make, no matter how many worries we have, the main thing is we're children of God. And in fact, it's meant to get even more simple. So as we get older, we're meant to see more of Jesus in one another. We're meant to see more simplicity of being children of God, not more complexity of being intellectually advanced and complicated creatures. We're meant to be simple children of God in everything we do. A real simplicity. And that takes us to our second point. We've dealt with the simplicity. Now think of the contentment of being a child of God. Verse two, verse one, simplicity. Verse two, contentment. But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. And if we take time to think about this, about being a child of God, inevitably it must bring contentment. Think of people through the ages who have endured the most horrendous circumstances. Paul's a good example. Eventually martyred, writes to the Philippians, this is Paul writing,
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Now this is a guy who spent so much time in prison, but he'd learned to be content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. This is a guy who was thrown out of villages and stoned, whipped, eventually killed. He learned the secret. What was the secret? The secret was he understood his relationship with God. He understood he was a child of God. He belonged to God. He was completely forgiven. He was adopted into God's family. He was a child of God. He learned that no one could ever remove him from being a child of God. Never. For all eternity, he's a child of God. There's numerous accounts of martyrs approaching violent deaths with absolute peace and contentment, knowing that they're safe. David writes, Psalm 27, in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. So knowing that we are children of God is bound to bring contentment, but it takes a bit of discipline. What do I mean by that? How can we have discipline and simplicity at the same time? Well, notice the words in verse 2, but I have calmed and quieted my soul. Now, if I was to go around everyone here and ask the question, are you content? Are you content? Are you absolutely content? I wonder what the answer would be. I wonder how you'd answer.
Maybe if I ask now, because we've been worshipping and singing songs about God's holiness, we've been praying, maybe many people could say, yeah, I'm content. Maybe if I ask at the prayer meeting, maybe we'd say, yes, I'm wonderfully content. But what if I ask you tomorrow morning?
What if I ask you during a busy spell at work, or when you're getting the kids ready for school, the grandkids ready for school, or at dinner time when the kids are kicking off, you want to shout at them, you're so fed up, or a difficult meeting at work, or when you're doubting, you're really doubting you can get through the day, or when you're worried about the health of a family member, or you're stuck behind a tourist driving at 50 miles per hour on the road. What then? Are you absolutely content?
Content and that peace. And I think we'd all agree that all of us are not content all of the time. There's significant times in the day when we're not content. I went to the men's breakfast yesterday.
I can highly recommend it if you're a bloke. It's really good once a month. We got talking about, we heard a great story, I won't go into the story that Duncan told, but it was brilliant, about bears in Canada. But we got talking about whether or not we should spend any time thinking about what the enemy wants to do to us. We got thinking about bears and the enemy and we thought, well, it's good for us to be aware of the work of Satan, but not to obsess about it too much, not to get too focused on it, but just to be aware that we need to wear the armour that Paul describes in Ephesians 6. The armour that we wear facing the enemy, not running from the enemy. Nothing protected at the back facing the enemy, but aware. And it's worth understanding that one strategy of the enemy is to absolutely wreck our contentment with God. He can't remove us from being children of God, it's impossible. But he can spoil our contentment. Now David calmed and quieted his soul. That's a very deliberate action. And that would lead me to ask, how did he do that, David? Please give us the answer.
How did you quieten your soul? What can we learn? Let's look at three things that we know that David did to calm and quieten his soul. Three things. He spent time, often alone, but not always. He spent time with God. Number two, he worshipped God, privately and publicly. And number three, he spent loads of time meditating upon God's word. We know this. There's proof of it all the way through scripture.
Not all the way through scripture. We know that David did this. We can read about it. The first one then, how did he calm and quieten his soul? Thinking about contentment with God. He spent time listening and talking to him. You know, in Psalm 24, written by David, he talks about, how can I ascend the holy hill? He says, we need clean hearts. We need, what does he say? Is it clean hearts and pure hands? Let me see. Psalm 24. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Clean hands and a pure heart. That's what he writes. You can see that he's thinking about this. And Jesus shows how this is to be done.
That's Psalm 13, shows a wonderful progression from asking questions of God to then reflecting on the fact. Let's just praise God because he's wonderful. David asked these questions. He spent time with God, questioning and listening. Jesus shows how this is to be done. Jesus says, come away by yourself to a quiet place with me, he says, and get some rest. So he says, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place, get some rest. Get some rest. And then it says, Jesus setting the pattern for us. Very early in the morning, Mark 1.35, very early in the morning, when it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where he prayed. It's Jesus. That's the pattern that he sets us.
How did David calm and quieten his soul? He spent time with God. And this is the very essence of Sabbath rest, being with God, away from the difficulties of the world, enjoying it. I've heard it said that the Sabbath was not instituted simply to give us relief from work, not at all. Work was instituted to let us really appreciate Sabbath. And it was the pattern was set right at the beginning of creation, the pattern of Sabbath rest. Time with God like a weaned child with its mother, like that last donkey picture. Sabbath rest. So he spent time with God. What else did David do? He worshiped God. He said, one thing I asked from the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. He loved this, to worship God. And maybe this is an indicator, do we have contentment with God? Do we long to worship him? Maybe a weaned child worships its mum? I'm not sure. But if a child goes even 10 metres from its mum and dad, it panics and comes back. Maybe it's a form of worship. Maybe there's something beautiful there that we learn about us and God. David's dancing before the ark in a linen garment that his wife despised him for it because it was so simple. He worshipped God. And yet David knew that the God he was worshipping very recently had killed someone for touching the ark. And David knew this.
He knew that God was holy and all-powerful. And yet he danced before him in the simplest of garments, worshipping him with everything that he had. Echoes of Psalm 150, praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. So David calmed and quieted his soul by spending time with God in prayer, often alone, by worshipping God. One more thing to highlight. He meditated upon God's word. Stuart expounded this on Wednesday night at the prayer meeting, Psalm 1. This wonderful picture of someone who meditates upon God's word being like a tree by living water that bears its fruit in season and its leaf never withers. Meditating upon God's word. Or Psalm 119, how can a young man keep his way pure?
How can a young man keep his way pure? The answer? By living according to his word. I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your commands. I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Hidden his word in our hearts. That's how David, do you reckon David had memorized great portions of the scripture at that time? Absolutely. He sang about it. He couldn't stop himself singing about it. Alistair Begg has something to say about this. Alistair Begg, very direct question from Alistair Begg. Do you give priority to God's voice?
Alistair Begg, very direct question from Alistair Begg. Do you let his word hold pride of place among the voices you listen to? Every older person, listen to this. Do you give him an hour on Sunday and assume that will be enough to hold you over for a week? The Almighty God, calls his people to allow their minds to be renewed, transformed by exposure to a meditation upon his holy word. The blessed person is not the one who knows the ins and outs of every news story, every cultural crisis, but the one who knows the ins and outs of every news story.
The one who knows the ins and outs of every news story, every cultural crisis, but the one who delights in the world.
In the law of the Lord and on the law, he meditates day and night. And then he finishes with a question, Alistair, what are you reading most? What are you hearing about most? What are you thinking about most? Perhaps now is a time to recommit yourself to the teaching. In other words, to read, to meditate upon a memorized scripture for the good and stability of your soul.
That's a word for all of us. That's a word for all of us. And for all of us who have the privilege of being grandparents or being parents of the young children. The privilege and the responsibility we have to make God's word the focus in our homes.
As the Lord said to Joshua, Joshua one, do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate upon a day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful, ie you will be content, will be fulfilled. And then he says, be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
The basis of that is meditation upon God's word. Now, we're not going to spend most of our life sitting meditating. We're active. We're busy. We have to deal with all the complexities of life.
We're given a Sabbath rest once a week. Praise God for that. But these words help us through the busy week. David clearly did this. And if we can maximize our awareness of God's word through the week, we will know something of this contentment that comes.
That comes from being a child of God. There's a routine about this. There's a discipline about it. I mean, disciple, discipline. We can't make ourselves children of God, but once we are children of God, there's a rhythm.
Maybe we could call it the rhythm of discipleship. The rhythm of discipleship. Can we aspire to this? What would that rhythm look like for each one of us in our own circumstances?
How could we make this happen? Time with God in prayer, time to worship, time to meditation upon his work. So, look, we've looked in verse one at the simplicity of being a child of God.
And we've looked in verse two about the contentment that that inevitably brings. And finally, and briefly, Scott, I'm sure you must have learned to say that in your ministry training, that final brief point.
Yeah, don't know how long the final brief point is, but we're trying to be brief. The longing for others to become children of God. Look at this. Verse three. Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever more.
I'm working in Stornoway just now, one or two days a week and a GP practice. And this last week was particularly a, I don't know the word to use.
I met so many young people who were addicted to drugs, cocaine, alcohol and sex. And my heart broke for them as I sat with them, sometimes on one occasion with the 18 year old's mum as well.
So many. And how my heart longed for them. They were lost. Absolutely lost, but not lost without hope. There's an invitation to them. The invitation Jesus gives in Matthew.
We can all relate to it. These young people were looking for contentment in all. The wrong places. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
You know, it's our natural response. It was David's natural response as he thought about the simplicity of being a child of God and how content he was. He quite naturally longed for other people to become children of God.
Just as we can all think of people sitting here just now, we can be thinking of people. We long for them to become children of God. And for avoidance of doubt.
I should simply explain that it really is as simple. And I remember the first time I heard this explained to me by Eric Alexander in Glasgow in 1983.
I was like, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. But Angus, if you could just tell God about your sin and accept his forgiveness, he'll forgive you.
And you'll be a child of God forever. And I remember hearing that. And by God's grace, he gave me the grace to believe it.
And I ran back to my, I walked back to my flat in South Park Avenue and got on my knees that very moment and accepted Jesus. And it really is as simple as that.
It's as simple as that. David was a king, but he knew the simplicity. He longed for the people of Israel to put their hope in God in the same way as he did. And Alistair Begg makes the point, David was surrounded by evil and defiance and difficulty, but he cried out to God.
Now, there are dark forces all around. We've read this in the scripture in Psalm 12 and 13. The darkness is real and it's here now and it's forevermore.
But the light is infinitely powerful and that's here now. And the light is here forevermore for all infinity. And this darkness and this light, the darkness that, that leads those young people in Stornoway and in Harris to turn to anything to bring them contentment.
Or less dramatically, these things that all this talk, why is it only under 16 so they're banning these things from, by the way, you know, it'd be quite a good thing if you could ban it from all of us in some ways, you know.
All the things that bind us. I was explaining it to one 18 year old in Stornoway. It's almost like, as I tried to help her understand that she is addicted to cocaine. I said, it's like it's got a grip of your ankles and it's dragging you.
You have to accept that we're being dragged away. And yet the simplicity of simply coming to God with all the forgiveness and acceptance that brings and being forever a child of God will forever free us from that power of darkness.
And David felt a great responsibility for his people's spiritual warfare. So my question is, who's God putting on our hearts? As we think about other people who are not children of God, who's he putting on our hearts?
I watched a YouTube video. I was down seeing Mara and Rona and Andy. Amazing. And Rona showed me a YouTube video.
We took Mara on her first and my granddaughter, her first train journey and we were looking at a video. And the YouTube video was a YouTuber who goes around interviewing people. The guy's not a Christian, but he was this time he was interviewing people about Christianity.
And he was going onto trains and asking people questions. And I asked this woman about this. Do you believe in Jesus? No, I don't. Are you an atheist? I'm agnostic. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. But then she said, but I'm really sure about one thing. If Christians really believe this stuff, why are they not telling everyone about it?
And her conclusion was either Christians don't really believe this stuff or they do believe it, but they couldn't care less about the people around them. Because if they did care and they did believe, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops.
And she went on to say that her auntie, who's a Christian, sends her a text every day with a verse on it. And the interviewer said, does that not irritate you because you don't believe in God?
And she says, no, number one, clearly my aunt believes in God. So she's been true to herself with her belief. And clearly she believes in me. And that's why she sends me the text.
Doesn't mean I need to believe it, but she cares for me. So then Rona and I started discussing this and she asked a very good friend of hers, maybe one of her best friends, who's a non-Christian. She asked him, do I speak to you too much about God?
And the friend actually said, you know, it's funny you should say that Rona, because we've been discussing this recently, me and my pals. It's strange that you don't speak to us more about God, because if you really believe and we think you do really believe.
And if you really care for us and we know you care for us, Rona, why are you not trying harder to convert us? Do you not care if we go to hell? That's what he said.
Do you not care if we go to hell? This is a non-believer. Now we cannot in our own strength convert people, right? We can't do it.
I tried as soon as I was converted. I was trying to persuade people into the gospel. It didn't work. All right. It didn't work. I had to learn. Angus, you can't do this in your own strength. But we can do as David did.
We can have these people in our hearts. Now, this is a calling for all of us to be salt and light, not just for the elders. It's a calling for everyone who's a child of God to be salt and light.
We don't have time to go through the scriptural proofs of this. This is a calling for every member of this church. Absolutely. A calling for every member of this. Anyone who's nailed the colors to the mast, it's a calling to be salt and light, gentle, respectful, lovingly ready to explain the reason for the hope that we have with wisdom.
This is a psalm about being a child of God. It's been wonderful to have time meditating upon it together. We've discussed the simplicity of being a child of God, the contentment of being a child of God and our longing for others also to become children of God.
Let's close our time together singing a song that captures some of these thoughts. Mission Praise 735.
We rest on thee, our shield, our defender. We don't go alone against the foe. We're strong in your strength, safe in your tender keeping.
We rest on thee. And in your name, what do we do? In your name, we go. Let's stand and sing Mission Praise 735.
We rest on thee, our shield and our defender.
We go. We go. We go. We go. We go. against the whole. Strong in thy strength, save in thy keeping tender, we rest on thee and in thy name we go.
Strong in thy strength, save in thy keeping tender, we rest on thee and in thy name we go.
Yes, in thy name, O captain of salvation, in thy dear name all other names have come.
Jesus, our righteousness, our sure foundation, our planks of glory and our king of love.
Jesus, our righteousness, our sure foundation, our blenso of glory and our king of love.
O'er we go and pay our own great sweetness feeling and need in the Lord.
O'er we go and pay our grace to go. O'er we go and pay our hearts, our song of triumph feeling, we rest on thee and in thy name we go.
Hear from our hearts, our song of triumph feeling, we rest on thee and in thy name we go.
O'er we rest on thee, our shield and our defender, thy is the battle, thy is the battle, thine shall be the place.
When passing through the gates of perish slender, may church we rest with thee through endless days.
When passing through the gates of perish slender, may church we rest with thee through endless days.
Stay standing for the last prayer. May grace, mercy and peace from father, son and Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore.
Amen.