Psalms

[0:00] as the lord may help this evening I will direct your attention to psalm 104 verse 27 psalm 104 verse 27 these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season because of the hardness of people's hearts and the blindness of their minds it is rarely realized how true the words of our text are broadly speaking in relation to god's provision in respect to all his creation and yet as we look at one or two of the verses preceding this one for example the young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from god how much sweetness to faith is lost if we do not contemplate the wonderful provision of god even for the lower strata of flesh even the animals themselves and yet we have many instances of god's wonderful provision men in their pride and arrogance would think that they are their own providers we have no stones to throw at the mider because that same spirit is in all men it is a mercy if the grace of god has given us a new nature which sees things differently and as it sees things differently so it praises the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men the lord in his teaching brings forth some most beautiful illustrations illustrations concerning his provision for birds and fish and animals and flowers and so on he says this are not four sparrows sold for a farthing two sparrows sold for a farthing and ye are of more value than many sparrows the provision is further emphasized in the seventh chapter of matthew where the lord says behold the ferrules of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feedeth them are ye are ye not much better than they then he says consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet

[4:06] I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you o ye of little faith we may under the blessing of God find it a profitable meditation to consider the wonders of God the condescension of God the kindness of God as we look at things like this and make their comparison how very clear it is that the Lord provides for the fowls of the air how very clear it is that the Lord provides food for the cattle how very clear it is that the

[5:13] Lord looks after that which is in the flower gardens and so forth and in looking at this oh it may speak to us that ye are more than thee of more value than thee is more value because ye have a soul these are soon cut down their spirit goeth to the earth for whence it came but ye are of more value because your spirit goeth upwards whilst the spirit of the beast goeth downwards and so the psalmist here gathers these points together and says these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season want to our souls wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season in the center of this text there are two pronouns and to my mind they form the center indeed these two words are thee and thou the same person these wait all upon thee and thou that is thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season it hath pleased God that in Christ Jesus should all fullness dwell it is in him we live and move and have our being and to him every comfort we owe above what the fiends have in hell and shall we not sing as we go my Jesus does everything well well now there are also these wait all upon thee we are solemnly reminded that man in his elevated position over the brute creation is unthankful and unholy having no regard for God at all how this is demonstrated by multitudes even those that call themselves Christians who have no regular habit of even giving thanks to God for the table spread before them how low has man fallen in this respect how truly are we living in those times perilous indeed wherein it is written that men will be unthankful unholy serving their own lusts seeking after pleasures their own pleasures being lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God yet there is a people called by grace to know his matchless name and I believe we can look at this text that the first word refers to them these wait all upon thee the election of grace wait upon God because they are instructed in this by the spirit of God they find that they themselves can produce nothing to their soul satisfaction in some cases it hath pleased God to bless people with many riches and many comforts so that from that point of view they may be said to want nothing but you will find that some of those people even though they are blessed with many benefits will still be amongst those that wait wait for God and wait upon God all the comforts we may have and the ability given to us to enjoy them in this present world will not have a satisfying effect upon the soul

[11:37] David surely was wonderfully blessed in the temporal things that he had this is demonstrated if you look in the last chapter the first book of Chronicles I think it is where David made such a wonderful preparation in respect to the materials required for the building of Solomon's temple but these were not his God and therefore you find him crying out as the heart panted after the water brooks so panted my soul after thee O God he was waiting upon God for that which money could not buy he was waiting upon

[12:37] God for that which fame could not bring he was waiting upon God for that which with all his kingly grandeur and authority he could not command it the Lord Jesus in observing that centurion who said to him I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof and speak the word only and my child shall be healed went on to say I say unto this man go and he goeth and to this man come and he cometh and to this one do that and he doeth it and the Lord said I have not seen so great faith no not in Israel a man in great authority having great respect able to just speak and it was done yet here was a man who was conscious of his own unworthiness in respect to something he could not do we should not find the rich dying if money could buy them immortality but no they die riches cannot purchase eternal life but the people of

[14:18] God they have to wait upon thee who so cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him may we ask the question of ourselves today have we had to wait upon God today because religion is constant with the people of God with the election of grace in their lively states it is not a question of asking one day and then going on for months or years without asking again as life is continual so is eternal life as temporal life and natural life is continual so is spiritual life there are ebbs and flows there are periods of health and unhealthiness but nevertheless the life still continues and oh how sad it is if our appetite for spiritual things should be so vitiated and almost destroyed that we should say have to say

[15:42] I'm not waiting upon God today what a blessing if God should suddenly bring into your soul a sense of hunger a sense of your great need these wait all upon thee now as we have mentioned those that come to God that wait upon him must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him that is as they come to him and wait upon him they believe that he will surely grant unto them or at least is capable of granting unto them their request and this brings us to look at thee the hymn writer picks it up in a few words when he says a fullness resides in Jesus our head whichever abides to answer our need the father's good pleasure has laid up in store a plentiful treasure to give to the poor here again though king david was blessed with many temporal riches we hear him saying this but i am poor and needy furthermore he says yet the lord thinketh upon me are you waiting upon one who you believe is thinking upon you in another place the psalmist speaks on these lines the lord hath been mindful of us he will bless us he will bless the house of

[17:49] Aaron he will bless the house of Israel he will bless those that fear him both small and great and thinking of that sometimes the fact the persuasion that the lord has been mindful of us will be a means to an end being the inspiration of hope rising in our breast that the lord will bless us these wait all upon thee waiting upon is a very necessary experience of god's children how clearly had the apostle paul waited upon god if we have waited upon god can we commend god to others in the same terms my god shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by christ jesus this is the result and the outcome of a person that was numbered amongst these wait all upon thee this is where continual waiting will bring us to to bring us to believe that the lord will supply not only our own personal needs but the needs of others you know in the experience of the saints of god there are down cities and uprisings mercifully it has pleased god that when some are low others are higher and where there is a godly husband and a godly wife joined together in holy matrimony you know there are times when perhaps the wife may be low but the husband may be a support and strength and so the case may be reversed now it is also in respect to those members of the body of

[20:38] Christ even the church there are some perhaps that are in a low place but we read those encouraging words that bring to a conclusion the 27th psalm wait on the lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the lord so we may expect to come unto thee in whom we verily believe is all our strength and the lord god is the strength of his people in the previous verse psalm 27 i had fainted unless i had believed to see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living this is truly the land of the living where the yeasts wait all upon thee the living he shall praise thee as i do this day how hezekiah had to wait upon god in the time of his affection in the prospect of death it will be the same with you and me because the prospect of death will really bring our religion into the melting pot we may play with it whilst we are in good health or whilst our pathway is easy but when trouble temptation fire and death itself is before us then we shall prove whether our religion is worth anything or not and if we find just a small piece of real religion

[22:53] Mr. Philpott said at one time he would have been glad to have found a sufficient religion to a real religion to put on the top of a pin point the word of God says this in the 37th psalm that a little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked have you considered that that little may be so small that you yourself are not capable of seeing it but remember that God sees it God sees it he sees his own work and if there is a little faith and if there is a little love and if there is a little hope and if there is a little patience and if there is a little waiting it is the work of

[24:06] God we may often become distressed I was going to say despondent by looking at a text like this these wait all upon thee because we see so many deficiencies in ourselves our waiting seems to be poverty stricken indeed so that we may almost come to the conclusion as to whether we have ever waited at all perhaps we can prove the matter by quoting to you the experience of Peter his religion and the religion of the apostles was greatly tried and proved when after the Lord had been teaching the people we read this and from that time many went back and walked no more with him it would appear from the context that this great multitude going away had a profound effect upon the hearts of the disciples we deduce this from the question that the

[25:39] Lord asked will he also go away we can scarcely imagine that the Lord would have asked such a question as that had he the eternal son of God perceived in their hearts that they were thinking about it I feel confident that if we were gathered with a multitude of people that followed a certain person and suddenly that multitude left that person we should be greatly affected as to whether we have followed the right man or indeed been deceived so in this hour of trial the Lord puts this question to Peter will he also go away and Peter replies to whom else can we go there has the words of eternal life if you should feel that your waiting has been indifferent then this is the situation that will bring out its reality to whom else can we go thou has the words of eternal life so these wait all upon thee primarily primarily principally for the words of eternal life with respect to the centurion he said speak the word only one would feel that his desire for his child was not only the salvation and restoration of the body and deliverance from the disease therein but also that he might know the

[27:43] Lord but it requires the words of eternal life the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life can we say this evening that we are waiting upon God as we read in the tenth chapter to the Acts where Cornelius is waiting for Peter to come and to in accordance with his request by the power of God and then we come to this remarkable expression which

[28:47] Peter which Cornelius gave voice to immediately therefore I sent to thee and thou hast well done that thou art come now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God how good it would be if we bore this verse in our mind whenever we gather together for worship and for preaching services not what Peter had to say not to consider the remarkable way in which he might open up a text or delineate in a particular subject but we are here before

[29:54] God we are waiting upon God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God these wait all upon thee this waiting is a very necessary prerequisite in his teaching in the seventh chapter of Matthew the Lord says ask and ye shall receive seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened these all wait upon these wait all upon thee sometimes they are asking sometimes they are seeking sometimes they are knocking but it is all as they come to the Lord himself well what position or condition of things overrules our lives at the present time are we asking our way to

[31:28] Zion with our faces little wards we are waiting upon God are we seeking seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near but more than seeking you know we have to remember that these words are not to be taken in in a manner where no effort is required this is particularly emphasized in respect to seeking you may recall the scripture which says strive to enter in at the straight gate for many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able we need to be aware of the expression being loosely used seekers there are

[32:36] I would not discourage anybody by saying this there are seekers who do not find simply because they have not the energy of the holy ghost brought into their souls to make them strive we can be assured that the enemy of our souls will be in opposition have you found him in opposition to your asking trying to introduce into your soul an unbelieving in this matter you know the people of God have known this kind of experience when they have been on their knees before God and have asked him for a certain thing and they haven't got off their knees before that word has come into their mind but of course he won't now that's very real opposition but nevertheless it is a manner of waiting these wait all upon

[33:45] God they wait upon God in spite of all the opposition and if God has granted you a true prayer unto him a true asking then all the opposition in the world will not prevent that asking becoming a receiving in the same way the seeking will surely be prevailing if God is with you in it John Berridge raises the point very specifically when he says if unto Jesus thou art bound a crowd about him will be found attending day and night a worldly crowd to tin thine ears and crowds of unbelieving fears to hide him from thy sight if thou press on the crowds will fly and if thou faint to Jesus cry and he will send supplies you see if we are striving to enter in at the straight gate there will be times when we shall be fainting and as we are fainting so then we shall be amongst these these wait all upon

[34:56] God these wait all upon thee they cry unto God most high unto God who is able to perform all things for them they cry unto God that he will send them some cordial that he will communicate strength to them now some of us I believe have felt that strength communicated and it has come from no other source but from God and then there is knocking knocking well this is evidently an experience of the people of God are we afraid that the door will be shut have we been turned inside out and upside down by just a few words in one of the chapters I think it is in Luke and they that were ready went into the marriage of the lamb and the door was shut the temptations of

[36:10] Satan will sometimes bring us to the point that we are too late well if that looks like it to you what are you going to do you're either going to despair but then what happens what good will that do you if you despair if you give up and if you give up and say well it's no use you know fatalism does not find its place in the experience of the election of grace they do not say well if I'm to be saved I shall be saved and if I'm to be lost I shall be lost and there's nothing I can do about it life of God in the soul makes eternal life a necessity and therefore there is a knocking even if everybody says to you the door is shut one of our hymns puts it like this

[37:23] I feel forsaken and alone I hear the lion roar and every door is shut but one and that is mercy's door now we have every reason to believe that the door of mercy stands open all day to the poor and the needy who not by the way none that ever came seeking were empty sent back who came seeking mercy for Jesus sake how important these three or four words are for Jesus sake if your asking is to prevail if your seeking is to be successful if your knocking is to be heard in heaven it must be accompanied by these all prevailing words the name which is above every name for

[38:25] Jesus sake these all wait these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season article of death sometimes these temptations fall out like this my fears sometimes say I never shall find in death's awful day true peace to my mind what are you going to do if you're a child of

[39:43] God you'll be amongst those that wait upon God because you will believe that he is able to deliver you from all your fears the hymn writer goes on but though that surrounded yet when I come there I can't be confounded the Lord will appear how good it is to remember this appear notice in this verse it says give us them their meat in due season he never comes before his time and never is behind we take another situation concerning the temptations which come upon the people of God as we are seeking asking knocking he tells us we are weak that our hope is in vain that the good that we seek we now shall obtain but when such suggestions our spirit apply this answers all questions the

[40:58] Lord will provide wonderful when we see God's hand in providence in this respect wonderful indeed when there is a working out of what Abraham saw when Isaac said to him father behold the wood and the fire but where is the lamb for a burnt offering are our eyes upon him as we say where is the lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering there's a great deal of blessed truth in that you know if

[42:03] God should ever answer your prayer in waiting upon God for saying to him my father where is the lamb burnt offering where is that provision that will put away my sin where is the power and fullness of the atonement and if the Lord should say by the blessed spirit of adoption my son God will provide himself a lamb have faith in God these wait all upon thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season now in the Lord's teaching there were some things which greatly disturbed the mere professors of religion the scribes the

[43:05] Pharisees and so on and that was when the Lord said except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God there is no life in you bringing that into a perhaps more simple language except you see in the life of the Lord Jesus in the days of his flesh all that is necessary to your clothing except ye are able to drink into the richness of the blood of Christ in his atonement then there is no life in you people may have what they call a lively religion full of emotion but if we can use an expression like this it is dead life but the people of

[44:07] God you know they eat their bread with quietness this is a very important point for us to consider I think it's in the Proverbs it says something like that eat my bread with quietness and whenever you are favoured to consider a little of the glory and blessedness of the life of Jesus Christ as walking out that life for you to see the glory by Christ fulfilled to hear his pardoning voice change as a slave into a child and duty into choice I say you will see the glory of the law the excellency of it reflecting the perfection of beauty in respect to God himself well that will be worth meditating upon and as you meditate upon it so it will be meat to your soul and if you should reflect upon the blood of

[45:10] Christ and it's all prevailing efficacy and that it is able to deal with Mary's or Manasseh's stains or sins more vile than they what a provision God has made in in due season he tells us after men are faint and comes as evening late but then this is that which singles you out from the rest I think we may say this that God doesn't allow the sin of gluttony it's a dreadful sin you know in our land the sin of gluttony I wish as much notice was taken of it as the sin of drinking yet people will hold up their hands to see a person drunk and yet not raise an eyelid to see a person the worst for overeating now

[46:20] God will not allow you to come into excesses you may be tempted to sometimes but God controls our excesses in spiritual things now openest that thou mayest give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather they that gathered much of the manner had none over and they that gathered little had no lack we need a word of warning here it is very clear that speaking about ourselves naturally we have varying appetites some require more food than others which would be quite unwise to castigate those that felt their need of a greater meal only because we had a lighter meal and for the vice person to take place in the minds of the other person may we be satisfied in this consideration that

[47:40] God knows God knows you see sometimes we need more because the day's labors are more I remember some years ago one of hearing of one poor woman I say she was a poor woman who would speak often of receiving some help almost in every service and this brought forth a criticism from some oh well of course she always gets on well now as I thought about this woman's case she needed to get on because she was in a time of great trouble and temptation she needed more food because she was brought into more trying circumstances sapping more strength that thou givest them they gather and they that gathered much had none over but they that gathered little had no lack that thou mayest give them their meat in due season this is a good expression their meat you see in a sense others meat would not be suitable to you and your meat would not be suitable to others we shall not have time to go into the fullness of this text this evening we shall have to leave it for the most part but we just mentioned this from the prophecy of

[49:36] Isaiah we read of the Lord's people being given the bread and water of affliction perhaps we never considered it as being our meat my tears says the psalmist are my meat and drink all the day well it is good if they are tears of confusion if they are tears of repentance if they are tears of godly sorrow if they are tears brought about by reason of that which causes people to cry out o wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death that thou mayest give them their meat in due season how your soul has grown some of you can say under affliction there's a very instructive word in the 119th psalm where the psalmist speaks of being glad that he was afflicted that

[50:51] I might learn thy statutes we are familiar with the verse afflictions make us see what else would escape our sight or very vile and dim are we and God are pure and bright but have we had the affliction that the psalmist had which caused him to learn God's statutes and these things are meat to the soul to see some beauty in the word of the Lord to see the glory of Christ reflected on this page and that page that you never seen before it is good that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes meat indeed that thou mayst give them their meat in due season just one more thought you will remember the

[52:00] Lord Jesus said my meat is to do the will of him that sent me these wait all upon thee to know the will of him that sent me to know the will of him that called me are you familiar I'm sure you are with those words of the Lord Jesus when he says father if it be possible let this cut pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done that thou mayst give them their meat in due season that they may know the will of the Lord what is the will of the Lord well sometimes we need to look right upon him what is the will of the

[53:11] Lord there is a great deal of communion between Christ and his church much more than a good many people ever realize I cannot at all subscribe to those people who speak about taking a step in the dark it is not agreeable to scripture when Zedekiah called Jeremiah out of his prison house he inquired of him secretly and he said is there any word from the Lord is there any word from the Lord and Jeremiah said there is and I believe that will follow us throughout life and in all our decisions so the meat may here be considered as knowing what the will of the Lord is and let us be kept back from presumptuous sins when we see not a matter clear we say well it must be you know there was one godly old soul that used to be in membership with us

[54:36] I read her diary after she had died and on one of the pages she says this you know god has three answers sometimes he says yes sometimes he says no and sometimes he says wait now this brings us back to our text these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season well may the Lord bless us with an interest in this world because surely it is the experience of the people of God that wait and have the satisfaction of receiving receiving of his fullness grace for grace first what he hearts through things of mów upper in my�?

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