Ps. 25:1-5; 37:3-8; 62:5-8; 130:5-8
August 20, 2023
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“If our hope is anchored in our own experience or efforts, we will never be settled.”

~ Rankin Wilbourne, contemporary pastor and writer

“Contentment is far more powerful than a change of circumstances. Instead of being sourced on the outside and subject to changing circumstances, biblical contentment comes from within and endures through the spectrum of circumstances.”

~ Erik Raymond, contemporary pastor and author

“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”

“I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian missionary, author and speaker

“That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, ‘Thou art my refuge.’”

~ George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish writer and minister

“If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make peace within. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble.”

~ Thomas Watson (1620-1686), English pastor and author

Sermon Passage

Ps. 25:1-5; 37:3-8; 62:5-8; 130:5-8 (ESV)

Psalm 25

¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. ² O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. ³ Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. ⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. ⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

Psalm 37

³ Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! ⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

Psalm 62

⁵ For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. ⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. ⁷ On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah

Psalm 130

⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; ⁶ my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. ⁸ And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.