In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible, focusing on Psalm 142 and 143. He begins by acknowledging his low state and pleading for deliverance from his persecutors. Pastor Chuck emphasizes the importance of prayer and encourages listeners to seek God's will and purpose for their lives. He also highlights the need for believers to walk in holiness and righteousness, protected from the influences of the world. The sermon concludes with a reminder to meditate on God's faithfulness and to thirst after Him with a surrendered heart.

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 mold you And His Spirit and His love We'll descend upon your life and make you whole Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I And so David's prayer, his cry to the Lord, he was down at the bottom But he's praying that God will deliver him Because he realized that the forces that he faced were stronger than he was How wonderful it is when faced with situations that we're not able to handle We acknowledge that this is too much for me, I can't handle this How wonderful it is to be able to just cry out to the Lord And know that He is able to bring me victory Over forces and powers that are greater than I Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name The righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me Now, notice how that David had prayed and he was still in the cave And Saul was still after him But yet, having prayed, he now has that confidence that God is going to answer And so often, we are encouraged and strengthened through prayer There are so many times when I am faced with desperate situations And my heart is in turmoil, my spirit is overwhelmed And I take it to the Lord in prayer, and I articulate to the Lord The problems that I'm facing, the things that I'm disturbed about And as I lay them out before the Lord, even as I am praying The Spirit of God ministers to me So that by the time I'm through with my prayer, I have victory God is going to take care of it I just have that assurance that the Lord is going to work it out And the fears are gone, the anxiety is gone I end up, most of the time, I end up my prayers just rejoicing Because even in prayer, I experience that assurance of God's help and God's victory And so often in prayer, during prayer The Spirit of God ministers to your heart Brings assurance, brings comfort And that's really what prayer is about It's a meeting together with God Laying out your complaint, laying out your burdens Telling God your feelings And then letting God speak to you and minister to you The strength, the comfort of His Spirit The assurance that God's going to take care of it So that prayer then ends in confidence and in victory So this prayer of David, he was still in the cave And Saul was still looking for him And the Ziphites were still ratting on him And Doeg was still, you know, after him But he said, the righteous shall surround me For you will deal bountifully with me Lord, you're going to take care of it The wicked aren't going to overwhelm me I'm going to be surrounded, Lord, by the righteous Because, Lord, you will deal bountifully And so that assurance that comes in prayer And you'll notice, so many of David's prayers The last verse, though he goes, you know, takes the dive On down into the bottom and the pits Yet the last verse, you know, as he has committed it to the Lord And said it out before the Lord The last verse is often a verse of confidence God, you're going to take care of it Lord, you're going to come through The 143rd Psalm is another prayer of David David had a life that was filled with problems and troubles And thus David was a man of prayer It's amazing how difficulties and problems Can sort of drive people to their knees Don McClure speaks of his mother As being a very godly praying woman And Don seeks to take credit for his mother being such a woman of prayer He said that he was the one that drove her to her knees All during the years that he was growing up And so he goes around boasting how that he made his mother Such a spiritual, godly praying woman David had all kinds of problems And thus driven so many times to prayer A man of prayer And he begins the 143rd Psalm by asking God to hear his prayer To give ear to his supplications And in God's faithfulness answer him And in God's righteousness He says, Lord, I don't want judgment Because if you would judge then no one could stand before you David is saying, Lord, I don't really want to enter into judgment with your servant Because I know that in your sight no man can be justified No living man can be justified The story is told how that Napoleon Was riding down in a parade Down the streets there in France in a parade And a young girl came rushing out of the crowd That was watching the parade When he came to that area she came rushing out Up to his horse and she began to cry My mercy, sire, mercy Mercy for my father, he said, who is your father? And she named her father and he said Your father is a traitor to France, he deserves to die She said, I didn't say justice, sire, I said mercy And justice, aye, we deserve to die But by the mercy of God we have eternal life through Jesus Christ So Lord, I'm not really asking that you would Enter into judgment with me Because I know that no living man could stand before your judgment But Lord, I desire your mercy For the enemy has persecuted my soul Again, the previous chapter, David's enemies were the cause of his seeking the Lord And so we find it again, the enemies persecuting him He has smitten my life down to the ground David again is at the bottom David surely went through The wide gamut and spectrum of emotions I suppose he must have been sort of a sanguine He just, he could hit the peaks in praise Celebration, dancing before the Lord, and excitement Just really the top, but then also he could go way down to the bottom Just like the bottom's fallen out And Lord, they've smitten my life down to the ground They've made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead That darkness that comes when all hope is gone Now, there is that phrase, while there is life, there is hope In fact, David sort of used that at one time When he had had this illicit relationship with Bathsheba And she became pregnant as the result When the baby was born Of course, David had gone over and tried to cover his sin He had Bathsheba's husband put to death in battle And sent him to battle in such a way that he would surely be killed And then David took Bathsheba as his wife And as far as the people around Jerusalem, they were none the wiser They just figured that David was a very magnanimous person Here's one of his soldiers get killed in battle, his wife is pregnant And so, just gracious, wonderful David married her Isn't that a marvelous thing for the king? Not really knowing the whole story And so, David, when the child was born The child became very sick And David for days laid with his face in the dirt Weeping and crying before God To spare the child And God did not spare the child, God took the child And the servants were standing around And when the word came to them that the child was dead And here's David lying with his face in the dirt Weeping and wailing before God And the child is now dead And they said, what should we do? We tell them the child is dead, he's going to, you know Wailing, oh, you know, who's going to tell him? How should we tell him? And David heard the guys whispering And he realized something was up, he could feel it And he said, is the child okay? And they said, David, your child died And David stood up and he said, well, I'll get a bath He said, have dinner ready And they said, man, what's wrong with you? You know, how come this dramatic change? He said, well, as long as the child was alive I had hoped that maybe God would be merciful and heal the child Now that the child is gone, I cannot bring it back I shall go to be where he is, I can't bring him back to me And thus there's nothing more I can do As long as the child was alive, he had hope, he had hope, you see But death brings that end of hope When Jesus was crucified And on the road to Emmaus, he joined with the two disciples That were walking along He said, what's wrong with you guys? You look like, you know, death-worn brothers What happened? He said, are you a stranger around here? You don't know the things that's been going on in Jerusalem In the last few days? He said, what? What are you talking about? Oh, how Jesus of Nazareth A man who went around doing good Marvelous man We had hoped in him for the salvation of Israel Death ends the hope And so David is talking about that hopelessness That happens at death I was in that darkness of hopelessness As those who have been long dead Therefore, my spirit was overwhelmed within me The enemies were pressing him His spirit was just overwhelmed I don't know what to do My heart within me is desolate It's just empty There's nothing left inside And I remember the days of old I remember how God has worked in the past And that's always good To reflect on what God has done Because the past blessings of God Are prophecies of the future If God has worked in the past He has not brought me here to just leave me Perish at this point The Lord will perfect that which concerns me And so I remember the days of old I meditate on all of thy works I muse on the works of thy hands I look around and I can see the work of God in my life I can see how God had his hand upon my life I can see in those situations that were so dark And I didn't know how I was going to ever get out of there But I see how God provided I see how God came through I see how God met the needs And I meditate on these things God has been faithful God has brought me this far And therefore I stretch out, Lord, my hands to you The Bible tells us that we should lift up holy hands unto the Lord The lifting of hands is a sign of supplication Also a sign of surrender So, supplication to the Lord My soul thirsteth after thee As a thirsty land As the deer panteth for the water brooks, David said So panteth my heart after thee, O God My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God And here again, my soul, Lord, just thirsts after thee How true this is Not only of David, but of every man Every man has a thirst deep within for a relationship with God Man basically is incomplete When his spirit is dead Man is not a total being until the spirit is alive And sin is spiritual death Sin brings about spiritual death God said to Adam in the day that you sin Or eat, which would be sin You will surely die It brings spiritual death And thus you has he made alive Who were dead in your trespasses and sins You were two-thirds of a person You were body and consciousness But your spirit was dead And thus you were functioning on an animal level Body conscious level It was not until you received Jesus Christ And your spirit came alive That you became then a total person Now the body has its thirst The physical thirst of the body The emotions have their thirst The thirst for love The thirst for security The need to be needed But the spirit also has its thirst My soul thirsteth for God And way down deep in every man There is that thirsting after God Jesus said if any man thirsts Talking about the spiritual thirst He said let him come unto me and drink For he who drinks of the water that I give As the scripture sayeth Out of his innermost being There will flow rivers of living water My soul thirsteth after God And so now the petitions This is the background to the prayer Now the petitions of David are First of all hear me Hear me speedily How many times has David prayed Lord make no tearing Hurry up Lord If you would pray before you got Into such a desperate situation It probably wouldn't be So that I would have to pray Lord right now It's too bad that we wait so long Before we pray about a situation We wait until it's absolutely Desperate and hopeless And then we pray And thus as we pray Usually it's at that point Where we need help immediately Hear me speedily O Lord For my spirit faileth I'm just wiped out Lord I have no reserve left I'm empty Hide not thy face from me Lest I be like those who go down to the pit Lord if you hide your face from me I'm through I've had it I'm dead Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning Let me hear your words of comfort Your words of assurance in the morning There is that scripture that says that Crying endureth for the night But joy cometh in the morning It seems like When a person is Is very very ill It's the night hours that are the hardest If they can just make it through tonight You know tomorrow With the dawning of a new day Seems to be no hope And new strength And so Lord Let me hear your loving kindness in the morning For in thee do I trust No place else to turn My trust is in God Cause me to know the way Wherein I should walk Because Lord I lift up my soul to you I'm turning to you Lord for guidance For direction for my life Deliver me O Lord from my enemies Those that are persecuting me and have driven me down to the ground For I flee unto thee To hide me So He Gives the petition and then He states his position In relationship to it Hear me speedily O Lord Because My spirit is failing Hide not thy face from me that's petition And the circumstances Lest I be like those who go down to the pit Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning that's the petition And here's the circumstance for In thee do I trust I'm Lord I'm trusting in you I'm looking to you Cause me to know the way and where I should walk Because Lord I'm lifting up my soul To you Deliver me O Lord from my enemies Because I am fleeing to you To hide me You are going to be my place of refuge and defense Teach me Lord to do your will For you are my God I am surrendering my life to be mastered To be controlled Therefore Lord teach me To do your will We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study through the Psalms In our next lesson As Pastor Chuck Smith continues with A Prayer for Guidance And we do hope you'll make plans to join us Now for those of you who would like to secure a copy of today's message Simply order Psalm 142 verse 6 When visiting the wordfortoday.org And while you're 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 8am to 5pm 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 In today's closing comments I pray that God will make this a very special week for you A week of greater understanding Of the will and the purpose of God for your life That you might follow after the things of the Spirit That He'll protect and shield you from those Influences of the world that are so prevalent We're surrounded by them on all sides But may the Lord just put a shield around you And may you walk in holiness and in purity And in righteousness before Him May your life be committed fully unto Him And may the love of Christ just dwell in your hearts richly As you experience His love and power Working in and through your life In Jesus' name I've got some exciting news to share with you The Word for Today is releasing Pastor Chuck and Kay's books in e-book format For those who like to read books electronically You can now download Pastor Chuck's books to your Kindle reader iPad, iPod or even cell phone What a blessing to be able to have these resources with you at all times Especially when you're in a place to minister to another person If you have an e-reader then you know the advantage of being able to Search, find and minister within seconds And with all of Pastor Chuck and Kay's insights into biblical wisdom This is a great opportunity to be able to gain from their books So you can share the good news with others If you would like more information on how to download Pastor Chuck and Kay's e-books You can call the Word for Today customer service department At 1-800-272-WORD Or visit us online at thewordfortoday.org This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today In Costa Mesa, California