In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the distress and brokenness that can be felt in life. He uses the analogy of chopping wood and the scattered chips to describe the scattered state of our lives. Despite the mess, Pastor Chuck emphasizes the importance of looking to God for help and guidance. He then delves into David's prayer for deliverance in Psalm 140, highlighting David's lack of kindness towards his enemies and his affirmation of faith in God's goodness and love. The sermon concludes with the story of Jesus' delayed arrival to heal Lazarus, illustrating the importance of trusting in God's timing even when it seems like He has missed our deadlines.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole As we pick up in the 140th Psalm, beginning with verse 1. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck. Psalm 140 is another Psalm of David. And it is basically prayer for God's help from the enemies of David, which he seemed to have many. And so the prayer is for deliverance from the evil man. Preservation from the violent men. David lived in a day of violence. So David is praying for the Lord to deliver him, to preserve him. Those who are imagined mischiefs in their heart, who are continually gathered together for war, for they have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Adder's poison is under their lips. They were seeking to destroy David with their tongue. And so, deliver, O Lord, in verse 4. It's keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me. And back in verse 1, the prayer for preservation from the violent man. Who have purposed to overthrow me. Who have set themselves against me, plan to overthrow me. For the proud have hid a snare for me. And cords, they have spread a net by the wayside. They have set the traps for me. So David realizes that his life is in constant jeopardy. There were those who were seeking to trap him. They've hid the snare. They've spread their nets. I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God. Hear the voice of my prayers, O Lord. I've made you my God. Hear my prayer. O God the Lord. Now, the God you notice is all capitals. Signifying in the translators that the word is Yahweh in the Hebrew. Which is usually translated Lord, all capitals in our English Bibles. But O Lord the Lord would not fly in a translation. So they put the capital God, all capitals to indicate to you that it is the Hebrew Yahweh. And thus in Hebrew it is, O Yahweh the Adonai. The Lord is the title there, the Adonai of the Hebrew. But Yahweh the Adonai. And that's the only time in the Bible that that phrase is used. The strength of my salvation. You have covered my head in the day of battle. And so now the acknowledging of the Lord as my Lord. Jehovah as my Lord. Who is my strength. Has saved me. He shields me. Covers me in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device. Lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that surround me. Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Lord turn their evil back on them. And throughout the Bible it is interesting how many times the Lord turned the evil back on the person who was devising it. I think especially of the case of Haman. Who built the gallows 90 feet high to swing Mordecai in the eyes of all the people. And how that the Lord turned things on him and Haman swung from his own gallows that he had built. And how many times the enemies will come against you as a child of God. But God will just turn their devices against them. And you escape. And so that's basically what David is praying for. Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them. David wasn't really that generous or kind with his enemies. He surely didn't pray that God would bless them. But that God would really take care of them. Let them be cast into the fire. Into deep pits. So deep that they can't rise again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth. For the evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. Now David, having prayed this, then affirms his faith. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. It's always good to know certain basic things about God. There are a lot of times when we are facing uncertain situations in life. And it looks like maybe the enemy is prevailing. It looks like maybe we're going to go under. And there is surely no way that we can see out of this. And so it's just good to know basic things about God. I know that God is good. I know that God loves me. I know that God is more powerful than any power on earth. I know that God cares for me. And I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name, and the upright shall dwell in thy presence. The 141st Psalm, short little psalm, it is a prayer of David. He begins it by saying, Lord, I cry unto thee. Make haste unto me. Give ear unto my voice when I cry to thee. Lord, I'm crying unto you. Listen to me. Hurry, Lord. Have you ever thought that maybe God was moving too slow? I so often give God deadlines. Because if he doesn't come through by Friday afternoon, I'm going to have to do something about it. So Lord, you have until Friday to work. And if you don't work by then, then Lord, you know, I'm just going to have to take over. And I have found that oftentimes God doesn't meet my deadlines. And I get very disturbed when he misses my deadlines. Lord, I gave you a chance. You had your chance. You could have worked. I know you could have worked. And you had your chance. And I gave you a chance. Mary and Martha were worried because their brother Lazarus was so sick. They sent a terse message to Jesus who was down at the Jordan River with his disciples. It said, come quickly, the one you love is dying. And the scripture said that when Jesus received the message, he stayed there at the Jordan River for two days with his disciples. And then he said unto them, let's make a journey to Bethany that we might see Lazarus. Now, from Jordan to Bethany is a two-day journey. Remember, they're walking. By the time Jesus was approaching Bethany, Lazarus had already died and had been buried four days earlier. Jesus missed the deadline. He's too late. Your friend is dead. The body is already deteriorating. It smells by now. When word came to Mary and Martha as they were gathered with their friends and they were in that period of mourning, and they mourned for 30 days over the death of a loved one by culture and tradition, and as they were gathered with their friends mourning, someone came in and they said, Jesus and the disciples are coming up the road. So Martha left the other mourners, went running down the road towards Jericho until she caught up with Jesus. And when she did, she sort of rebuked him. She said, Lord, if you could only have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. She was upset. You missed the deadline, Lord. Why didn't you come quickly like we asked you to? Lord, where were you when we needed you? It's too late. It's too late. If you'd only have been here. It's too late. You missed the deadline. Jesus said, your brother will live again. Oh, yes, Lord, I know. Last day, the great resurrection. Jesus said, no, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And you live and believe in me, you'll never die. Don't you believe this, Martha? Well, yes, Lord, I believe. Well, where did you bury him? Well, come on, and I'll show you. And when they came to the tomb where Lazarus was buried, Jesus said, roll back the stone. I said, oh, no, Lord. You know, it smells pretty bad by now. You know, he's been there for four days. But they rolled back the stone, and Jesus said, Lazarus, come on out of there. Lazarus came hopping up. He was still wrapped in his grave clothes. Someone said it was good Jesus said, Lazarus, come out of there, because if he had just said, come out of there, the whole place would have emptied. Too late. No. Too late to meet Martha's schedule, but not too late to do his work. And, in fact, the work that he did was really a much greater work than just the healing of a sick man. If he had just been there in time to bring Lazarus out of the sickness, everybody would have said, well, he probably would have gotten over it in a day or so. Anyhow, you know, he was looking better. But, man, when the guy's been buried all for four days, it's awfully hard then to say, well, you know, he would have gotten better. Too late. My time schedule. I often am saying to the Lord, hurry up, Lord. Hurry when I cry unto you. I'm not always that quick to respond when he cries to me. I say, give me time now, Lord. I want to think about this. It's interesting, isn't it? We're slow to respond to him, but, boy, when we call on him, we want him to jump. Make haste. Give ear to my voice when I cry to you. Lord, listen to me when I'm crying. Then the beautiful phrase, let my prayer be set before you as incense. In the book of Revelation, chapter 5, as John there in the heavenly scene observes the goings-on, there's the father sitting on the throne with a scroll in his right hand with seven seals. And the angel proclaims, who is worthy to take this scroll and break the seals? And John said, there was no one worthy in heaven or earth to take the scroll or even to look upon it. And I began to weep because no one could take the scroll and loose the seals. And then the elder said, don't weep, John, for behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to take the scroll and to break the seals. And he said, I turned and I saw him as a lamb that had been slaughtered. And he stepped forth and he took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he did, the 24 elders came forth with their little golden bowls that were filled with odors, which were the prayers of the saints. Now when the priest would go into the tabernacle or into the temple, he would go before the altar with these little golden bowls that had the incense. They would take the coals from off of the altar where they offered the sacrifices. They burned the sacrifices. He would take coals, he would put incense in these little bowls, golden bowls, and then they would take these coals and they would put them on the incense. And this sweet smoke would rise. And he would go in before the altar and he would swing these little bowls, golden bowls, that were filled with the odors, the fragrance of the incense that would rise as a symbol of the sweetness of the prayers of God's people as they arise to the Father. So God receives your prayers as a sweet aroma. And so David is praying here that his prayer might be set before him as incense. In the 8th chapter of Revelation, verse 2, he said, I saw seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And so that sweet aroma coming up to God, how God loves the prayers of his children. He receives them as a sweet fragrance. And so let my prayer be set before thee as incense. And the lifting of my hands, Lord, let it be equated to the evening sacrifice. Offering unto God the sacrifice of praise, the lifting of my hands being a form of the evening sacrifice. And then the prayer of David, an important prayer, oh God help us. Set a watch, oh Lord, over my mouth and keep the door of my lips. How many times have you said to yourself, I wish I had not said that. You see the tragic thing about words is that it's hard to retract them once they're out. The damage is done. It's awfully hard to go back and retract once you've just spouted off. So Lord, you set a watch before my mouth. You keep the door of my lips. And do not let my heart incline to any evil thing. God, don't let my heart be turned towards anything that's evil. God, keep me pure. I don't want to practice wicked works with those men that work iniquity. Let me not be partakers with them. Don't let me eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me. It shall be kindness. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. You know, if I am rebuked by the righteous because of what I've done, that's good. Let them smite me, Lord. Let him reprove me. It shall be excellent oil which shall not break my head. For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. So, David is praying that the judgment or the rebuke or the reproofs will come not from the wicked but from the righteous. Because with the righteous bringing rebuke, there is always that side of mercy. Not of condemnation. And if God should call you to go and to help someone who is slipping in the way, don't go with a self-righteous, pompous, holier-than-thou, how-could-you-do-that-brother attitude. But Paul said, if a brother is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore him in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. And so, the rebuke of the righteous is healing oil. It's like pouring oil over a wound. It is to help to heal. It's to mollify. And thus, any time we're called to that ministry of going out to lift a brother who has fallen, do so with love and with mercy. With the purpose of restoring, not of cutting down, not of smashing him in, how-could-you, but with mercy. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words, for they are sweet. I'll speak kindness to them, comfort to them. A picture of speech here, and see if you can get the picture. Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cuts and cleaves wood upon the earth. You ever chop wood and the chips fly all over the place? And so, our bones are scattered at his grave's mouth and his chips of wood flying upon the earth. But my eyes are unto thee. He's just talking about the distress. I feel like I'm all broken up, you know, and I'm just, my life is just scattered. It's fractured. It's just, you know, a mess. But, Lord, I'm looking to you. And that's such an important thing. When your life is in a mess, and it just looks like things are just not coming together. It just looks like it's hopeless. How important to turn our eyes towards the Lord. In thee is my trust. Do not leave my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares, the traps, which have been laid for me, the djinns, or traps, of the workers of iniquity. Lord, keep me out of the snare of the enemy who is seeking to snare the child of God. And then let the wicked fall in their own nets while I escape. I don't blame him, I agree. I have to go along. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the book of Psalms in our next lesson. As Pastor Chuck Smith continues with a plea for relief. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. Now, for those of you that would like to secure a copy of today's message, simply order Psalm 140, verse 1, when visiting the wordfortoday.org. And while there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast, or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, that's thewordfortoday.org. And for those of you wishing to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD. And our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Again, that's 1-800-272-9673. And if you prefer to write, our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time, as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible. That's right here, on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing prayer. Thank you, Lord, that your mercy endures forever, and that when we call upon you, you hear us, and you answer us, and you forgive us our sins, because your mercy endures forever. O Lord, we praise you. We give thanks unto you, because you're so good to us, and your mercy endures forever. Thank you, Lord. Amen. The Word for Today has put together a booklet series by Pastor Chuck called The Answers for Today. It addresses questions pertaining to hot topics, such as, what does God say about alternative lifestyles? If God is love, then why are people so against him in the first place? And, of course, the always-asked questions, why does God allow suffering? Or what is the rapture, and when is Jesus coming again? It's time these questions are put to rest, and we help our loved ones come to a simple understanding of the Bible, and how to have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. To order the Answers for Today booklets individually or collectively as a set, you can call The Word for Today at 1-800-272-9673, or you can order them online at thewordfortoday.org. I want to encourage you, order these to keep on hand, because you never know when you're going to get asked that question. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.