Now we turn in our Bible to Psalm forty-two and Psalm forty-three. We would like to read both of the Psalms. They very fittingly are together. By the Holy Spirit the psalmist is writing. As the heart canceth after the water brook, so canceth my soul after thee, O God, my soul precious for God. For the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say, unto me, where is thy God? When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise. with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou this quieten in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mysore, Deep call upon to deep at the noise of thy waters spout. All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me. While they say, Daming unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the house of my countenance and my gond. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O, send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me into thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the heart will I praise thee, O God, my God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise them, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of this portion from his precious word. I'm sure you may have noticed, I trust you did, that in both of the Psalms, you've got the repetition of that question. Why? Why? Why? Were you to count them together, you would find ten occasions, ten times that the psalmist raises the question. Why? I'm sure that many of us, if not all of us, are just as guilty of finding in the experiences of our lives that we question the feelings of God and the conditions and circumstances that we think. May I very earnestly and lovingly and reverently remind you that on one occasion the Lord Jesus raised that question as you may well read in Luke chapter twenty three where the Lord Jesus upon the cross raised the question why has thou forsaken me oh God do you know the answer to that why the answer can only be you and me. That was the reason when he became sin for you and for me upon the cross and for the judgment that his blessed and holy, impeccable soul tasted the forsaking of his God and the answer to the why, beloved, you and I are the answer. For it was for you and for me he died as we sang. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. For me I go to the question again. As you have in the psalm, thought of the psalm, the psalmist experiencing trials and difficulties and troubles. The oppression of the enemy, and if you may have noticed, twice in the Psalm, those two Psalms, one in forty-two, the other in forty-three, the oppression of the enemy, is mentioned. Do I need to say that today the oppression of the adversary, who is Satan, is unquestionably greater in its manifestation in the world? And certainly even the children of God. He know what it is to face the oppression of Satan, the tempter, the serpent, the adversary, the one who's called the great dragon. And sometimes due to the circumstances, we may raise the question, why? May I direct your thoughts particularly at the moment to the eighth verse of chapter forty-two in this psalm. The eighth verse we'd like to meditate upon one phrase in that verse, but let me read it all. For the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Know first of all, whether day or whether night, the presence of the Lord can be and is with his own. In the daytime he commands his loving kindness. In the night time there are songs in the night whereby God sings as it were to the heart of his own dear people. So let me particularly emphasize the closing words of that song where David declares, My prayer is to the God of my life. Let me take those last two words. The God of my life. My beloved, did you ever consider in a high properly that God is the God of my life? He is in command of my life. And as the psalmist declared, He is the God of my life. May I first of all direct your thoughts The most important experience in anyone's life is to have a personal relationship with God. A personal relationship with God. May I give the suggestion, simply? Did you ever consider these two facts? God, on one hand, means myself or the other, God and me, is the person, is the personal relationship between God and me as it ought to be. Now will you please follow with me? Why I should call him the God of my life? I hope you have your Bible. Turn with me to Psalm one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy-three. Psalm one hundred and nineteen and verse seventy-three. That long chapter in the Bible, the longest in the Word of God. And in the seventy-third verse, let me read the opening words of that verse only. Where the psalmist addresses the words to God, Thy hands have made me and fashion me. Now get the personal relationship and expression, God and me. And here the words of the psalmist declare, To God, thy hands have made me, and fashion me. Can I suggest the thought that it implies? Say to yourself, May I do the same? I am the object of divine creation. God made me. And I'm sure if you know your Bible, you go back to Genesis chapter two, where God made the first man, Adam, out of the dust of the earth. And from that one man has produced the human family. And you and I today, no matter who your parents may have been or your ancestors, you come down from Adam and you must confess God made this. And the object of divine creation. A dear friend, servant of God of mine, speaking to an atheist, who was ridiculing the creation of God, challenged him. He said, let me ask you, can you even make the hind leg of a mosquito? He's the God of creation. And may I suggest from the creation account in Genesis one, and coming into chapter two, the greatest creation he ever made was when he made man. For more important to him, than all the creation of glory around us. Making him for his glory, for the chief end of man, as well as been stated, is to glorify God. Say to yourself, I don't care whether you believe it or not, I know it's true, you're the object of divine creation. God made me with his hand. Thy hands are fashioned me. Go back with me to the book of Genesis chapter sixteen, if you please. Back to the first book in the Bible, if you please. Let us read the word of one of God's human creatures, one who was like you and like me, when and upon occasion when she was in difficulty and danger. We read, let me begin reading at verse eleven, we'll get the connection. The angel of the Lord said unto her, That is unto Hagar, the Egyptian bondmaid, Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard thy affliction. He will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Now please, may I first of all infer, that she was in danger of dying alone in the wilderness, driven by her mistress Sarah from her home and ready to perish when the angel of the Lord appeared and delivered her. Now know verse thirteen. She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her. Thou God seest who? Me. For she said, Have I also here looked after him that seest me? Beloved, do I need to state, if I am the object of divine creation, if I must confess the truth of the word, thy hands have made me and fashioned me, the God who made me is the God who sees me. Thou God, see it, who? Me. Do I need to infer? Every one of us can say we are personally seen. by God. The eyes of the Lord go through and pray through all the earth, seeing all men, all of His creation, all of His creatures. And there's not one individual that no one here in this audience can deny. You must confess, the God who made me is the God who sees me. I'm the object of divine observation. Now please me, I say, I don't know Actually, how many millions of people are still in the world alive. And I want to tell you, God sees every one of them. It's a precious truth to know, to believe. Whatever your circumstances may be, He's the God of my life. He made me. He saved me. Many years ago, following a message I gave to children, I would say, sixty years ago in the city of Miami, and emphasizing the truth that God sees me to the children. One of the teachers came to me later. She said, let me tell you this incident. A good friend of mine at that time, living in the upper part of Michigan, in a farmhouse and upon a farm where there was no near neighbors, and having five children, it was their responsibility to try and train those children as a Christian mother in the truth of God. There was no church, there was no Sunday school, there was no any place near she could go with her children and husbands to hear the word of God. Being a Christian, she got them together every Sunday and had a Sunday school in the home, and seated together around her she would teach them. On one occasion, when she had a favorite fruit bush, it was called a gooseberry bush, You may never have seen a gooseberry. They're not very palatable unless they're sweetened. But it looked like a little berry with a lot of whiskers on it. But she had a favorite bush that she desired to save the fruit and preserve it for the family. She warned the children, don't touch the gooseberry bush. Don't eat the berries. Well, you know what children like to do. One day she came to look at the bush and found it and every berry was gone. Well, there's only herself, her husband, and five children. No one lived near. No one had ever been near it. But just the family, so she knew someone of the family must have taken them. She questioned every boy and every girl, all her children. Every one of them said, no, no, no, no, I didn't do it. I didn't do it. They all denied it. Well, nobody left with her son and her husband, and they even, neither one of them had done it. Well, she thought, I'll find out someday. And she did. Teaching the children the story of Hagar in the wilderness. How she was alone in the wilderness and ready to perish. God saw her. And she related the truth of it and the story of it. But she gave the application. She said, our children, let me tell you. No matter where you go, whether it's dark or whether it's light, God sees you. God sees you. And I want you to always remember it. And I ask that each one of you say the verse from this one. Thou God sees me. And beginning at the first, seated around her, they began. Thou God sees me. Next, thou God sees me. And on to the third, to the fourth, and at the end was the little boy feeding me. And he looked a bit embarrassed. And she said, Sonny, go ahead, say the verse. He started, he didn't want to. She said, say the verse. So he began. Now, God, see, me behind the gooseberry bush. Don't you wish everybody would find that out? I am a sinner. I am a sinner. So God sees me. I'm the object of divine observation. And may I say, God is the complete, perfect record of every part of your life and mind. Oh boy, don't get old. You'll have a long time to account for. But anyway, realize, thou God seest me. And may I say, it's not only perhaps a little bit discombatant, but thank God for many others it's real company. I'm glad he sees me. Watching over me. But let me go on another verse. Psalm chapter forty and verse seventeen. Psalm forty back in the book of Psalms and verse seventeen. Right at the end of that chapter. Where again, and please note, a personal relationship between God and me. Chapter forty of the Psalms. Let me read the first half of the verse. But I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord... Thinketh upon me. Take the words in. The Lord thinketh. He not only has hands. He not only has eyes. He's got the most perfect eternal intellect that anyone has. How precious are thy thoughts under me, O God, writes the psalmist in chapter one, thirty-nine, verse seventeen. If I should count, then there are more in none than the sand. My beloved, let me say this. God doesn't need a computer. Like men need today and are using it. God is his own computer. The Lord thinketh upon me. I'm not only the object of divine creation. I'm not only the object of divine observation. I am the object of divine consideration. He thinketh upon me. I don't know how often you and I think of him, but I wanted to tell you that he think of you. The Lord thinketh upon me. Who's me? Me. Not you, it's me. I hope you recognize it. God and me. He's the God of my life. He made me. He sees me. He takes with me. Go to the New Testament, please. Galatians chapter two. May read the twenty-first in Galatians chapter two. And find the words of the dear apostle writing in our New Testament, the second chapter in the epistle of Paul to the Galatians. You may know the verse well. Chapter two and verse twenty. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Note the last words. Who loved who? Me. And gave himself for me. Not particularly. I'm not only the object of divine creation, divine observation, divine consideration. Note those words, particularly three of them. Who loved me? I'm the object of divine affection. We find that lovely, old him. Love found the way. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And if he's the God who made me with his hands, if he's the God who sees me with his eyes, if he's the God who thinks of me with his mind, his intellect, he's also the God who loves me with his heart. Please, may I say, I can't describe God, but can I say this? He's not only a man which reminds us of his power to create, He not only has I, which reminds us of his omniscience to see us, he not only has an intellect of mine, which reminds us of his omnipotence and all of his all-knowledge. God is the heart. He loves me. I'm the object of divine affection. The greatest hymn that you can ever sing would be the children's hymn in all of his blessed truths. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Please say to yourself, this is the God of my life. He made me with his hand. He sees me with his eyes. He thinks of me with his mind. But he loves me with his heart. Don't tell me why. I can't answer that. We often sing a dear old hymn. Why should he love me so? Why should my Savior, the Calvary, go? Why should he love me so? And the article is the fetching. May I say lovingly? If there's anyone here who never takes the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior or her Savior and goes to hell, they're going to hell and they are loved by the God who has to put them there. They're never going to hell without being loved. Never. Never! The exhibition of that love is Calvary's cross. There the love of God has been revealed. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now that brings us to the next thought. In the same verse of Galatians, he is not only the Son of God who loved me, But he gave himself for me. Let me enumerate them again and bring them together. God made me with his hands. God sees me with his eyes. God thinks of me with his mind. God loves me with his heart. But when he came to redeem my soul, he came from heaven himself. the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. Very God. Equal with God the Father. Equal with God the Spirit. God the Son. Came. And as it is written, no man has seen God at any time. But the only begotten in of the Father. His Son, his beloved Son, the only begotten of the Father. He has revealed in. For the word was made flesh, dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and we behold his glory, wrote John again. And there at Calvary displayed his love. He loved me with his heart, but when he came to redeem my soul, he had to do it himself. Can I hold it but very earnestly say, when he came to save your soul and mine, God had to do it himself. Do you have the words in Hebrews chapter one and verse three? By himself he purged out me. My beloved, take the thought in from making me with his hands, seeing me with his eyes, thinking of me with his mind, loving me with his heart. When he came to save my soul from hell, he had to come down and do it himself. and the object of his redemption. Redeemed, oh, I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed through his infinite mercy. His child, forever I have. Oh, my beloved, he's the God of my life. Let me go further to him. Father, he's the God of my eternal life. This is life eternal that they may know thee. the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John seventeen three said God is my wife you've got a lot of wives so do I we all have them but here he is commanding his loving kindness in the daytime and in the nighttime his song with me and my prayer unto the God of mine please Let me ask the question, how long is he the God of your life all the way through? From the beginning when you were first born, or even conceived, down to the end when you may die. If you die before the Lord comes, he's the God of my life. Please let me say, before going further, every man and woman will give an account of his and her life to God. Every one of us shall give an account to God. Why? He's the God of the life of every man, woman, boy and girl. But it was to God that every man, woman, boy and girl had seen him as the Savior who came from heaven to redeem them. He gave himself for me. Let me tell the story. It was a precious story to read. I know not how many of you remember first the World War I. But in World War I, the soldiers in Belgium, France, and in that area had to fight from trenches. Many were the times that they had to go over the top, as they said. And during that World War, King Albert of Belgium was a very kind king, a good king. And wherever his soldiers went, that king of Belgium followed them in battle. And after every battle, he went around trying to find wounded soldiers that needed help. One time driving his car through a battlefield after the battle was over. He finds a wounded soldier lying helpless in the field, stopping his car. He went out, went over to the man, found that he was still alive. And he picked him up in his arms to carry him to a car and take him to a medical aid. And as the man saw someone lifting him up, he opened his eyes to look and see who it was that might be carrying him. And he recognized him. But the king of Belgium is all king. And he cried out, Oh, my king! My king has come to save me. What an honor. The king for whom he was finding was rescuing him. My beloved Lord, did you ever look at the Lord Jesus? You say, my God, he came to save me. He gave himself. Well, did the poet like there was none other good enough to pay the price of sin? He only could unlock the gate of heaven that lends in. Oh dearly, dearly, if he loved him, we should love him too, and trust in his redeeming blood, then seek his will to do. Listen, because the God of my life, he made me, please, I cannot deny it, the word of God teaches it. All the glory of creation is given to the Son as the Creator. Puri Colossians chapter one. All things were made by him, wrote John. And for him, without him there was not anything made than was made. And Colossians one, put him as the head of the creation. That blessed the Creator. He died on the cross that saved me. You can't deny it. He's the God of my life. I'm glad I'm not a healer. I'd hate to be worshipped in the monument of stone, wood, name what you will. There may have eyes that cannot see, a nose cannot smell, ears that they cannot hear, a mouth and lips which cannot be. Absolutely lifeless, but not my God. Not my God. He made me. He sees me. He thinks of me. He loves me. Thank God he saved me. There I am. Can you say the God of my life has saved my soul? He gave himself for me. But know something else in the same verse. Galatians two's wedding. Let's not debuff them there. Go back to the beginning of it. Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I. But no, Christ liveth in me. Let me enumerate them again. No apology for the repetition. I enjoy repetition. I learn more by repeating things. And I don't apologize if for you. He made me with his hands. I'm the object of divine creation. He sees me with his eyes. I'm the object of divine observation. He thinks of me with his mind. I'm the object of divine consideration. He loves me with his heart. I'm the object of divine affection. He died to save me. He gave himself for me. I'm the object of divine redemption. And why? Now that I trust in him as my Savior, I'm the object of divine habitation. Christ, live at where? In me? Christ, live at where? In me? Oh, I wish I knew it better. I wish I understood it deeper. The God who made me, my beloved Blessed Savior, the God who sees me, the God who thinks of me and loves me and dives for me, I received him and he lives in me. Well, I feel like him saved again, don't you? Thank God you don't have to. If you've done it, Christ liveth in me. By the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now, please don't make the mistake. I had to listen to a man that I certainly could not agree with him if he said to me, I'm God. Whoa! No, no. He lives in there, yes. By the Spirit of God. Christ liveth in me. He's there. And the life Paul says, and I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Christ liveth, and his desire is to live in, not only in it, but through us, as we well know. I'm the object of divine habitation. Beloved, I hope that's true for all of us. Go to Psalm chapter twenty-three again, will you? Back in the book of Psalms. Chapter twenty-three, please. You know well that old Psalm, the Shepherd's Psalms. And please, may I read, may I read two words, three words in two verses, verse two, right in the center of verse two, he leadeth me, right in the center of verse three, he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for the same thing. The moment I'm saved, and he lives in me, and I'm the object of divine direction. I'm the object of divine direction. He leadeth me. I go back to my boyhood days, early teens, when I had the privilege of going to one particular office that I sometimes had to visit, where the writer of that lovely old hymn, he leadeth me. Henry Gilmore was his name. a dear preacher that lived back in my hometown of Rochester, New York, when I lived there. I could see in the office of this man that I visited, who was the son of this preacher, the original words of that old him that the old brother wrote on the wall. I read them through. He leadeth me, oh, blesseth thought, or words with heavenly comfort God. Whatever I do, wherever I be, still his God's hand that leadeth me. I'm the object of divine direction. Oh, beloved, he's the God of my life. I'm sure we can recognize the necessity of the Lord Jesus' head. My sheep hear my voice. I know that, and they follow me. Are we following him? We're the object of his direction where we belong to him. We go to verse four of our chapter in the Psalm. I love this. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I'm the object of divine protection. Not only the object of divine direction, but my beloved, I pray humbly and earnestly. I may know carefully, prayerfully, and constantly he leads me. But whatever may be the path, he may lead me through. I'm the object of divine protection. Thou art with me. Thy rod, the shepherd's rod, used to protect the sheep from the wild animals and robbers. as well as the staff that guided the sheep. For comfort, thou art with me. The blessed companionship. I am the object of divine direction and divine protection. God is with me. Did not the Savior say, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I shall not Seeing what man can do unto me, the object of divine protection, he's the God of my life. Oh, beloved, we can go on and on. But may I enumerate it before closing with a final thought? Say it to yourself. He made me with his hands. I'm the object of divine creation. He seized me with his eyes. I'm the object of divine observation. May I tell you very frankly, he must have awful big eyes, and he sure does, to see every living person upon the earth. The eyes of the Lord run through and throw through all the earth. The psalmist well wrote, noting everyone and everything. But I'm the object of divine consideration. What a joy that is to a Christian as going through this scene. Thou thinkest Lord of me. And the joy of knowing, he thinks the same. I'm never forgotten. By God, you may forget it. He won't forget you. And I'm the opposite. I'm God of his divine affection. And of his divine redemption. He gave himself for me. And of his divine habitation. He takes off his home. in me. Let me call it Revelation three twenty. You know it well. Jesus says, I stand, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and will open the door, I will come into him and stop with him and he with me. And oh at the door, how many times the Savior keeps knocking, knocking, knocking, seeking to get in. For I'm the object of divine redemption, to be made the object of divine habitation He wants to live in me. Many of you may have seen that picture painted by a famous artist by the name of Holman Hunt. Sometimes you find it in some Bible print it, where Christ is seen knocking at the door. On the occasion of the first showing of that picture, the artist to his friends, to whom he was giving them the opportunity of seeing it for the first occasion, he told them to criticize it any way they wished. And when they looked at it, one party said, one person said, Mr. Hunt, you made a mistake. You forgot to put a handle on that door you painted, where Christ is knocking. The painter smiled and said, that's not a mistake. There's no handle on the outside. The handle's on the inside. You've got to open it from the inside to let him in. During World War I, that famous painting was taken out of the art gallery in London. and moved to a city within the interior of the country to be sheltered and protected from the bombs that the Zeppelin from Germany brought over the country. When the wall was finished, the picture was exhibited in the local building of that little village. All the villages were given the privilege of piling one by one from one's entrance out to the other, one by one, and passed by the picture and see it in its original painting. And many of them were gathered there to do it. They were commanded to do it silently. No speaking, no whispering, quietly, reverently. Go by the picture and see that famous artist painting. As they came near the picture, there was a man with a little boy. And the little father said, Daddy, I don't mean Daddy, I'll explain. But Dad, shh, Lord, you can't talk in here. And he hushed a little chap. Told him to be quiet. till they went by the picture and outside the other way. And after they came outside, the Father said, Son, why did you whisper in there and talk? We were not supposed to. But, Daddy, I want to ask you something. Well, what did you want to know? But, Daddy, did Jesus ever get in? Did he get in? What a joy when he gets in? I'd be offering to divine habitation. And then, thank God, I become the object of divine direction and divine protection and many other things could be added. But one more in closing. Psalm one thirty-eight and verse eight, if you please. Psalm one thirty-eight, the last verse. In this one hundred and thirty-eight psalms, where we have these words written, and surely we can say it, with what joy we find these words recorded. Chapter one thirty-eight and the last verse and the opening words. The Lord will perfect. And that word can be translated. The world, the Lord will finish. That which concerneth who? Me! He made me with his hands. Seek me with his eyes. Fixed me with his mind. Loved me with his heart. Died to save me upon the cross. And lived in me. Direct me. Protect me. Someday he's going to finish me. I'm not finished yet. I'll promise. You see what's going to do with me? Praise God. I'm sure glad he's going to finish me. You remember that Paul wrote to the Philippians? He that has begun a good work in you will finish it. Protect it until the day of Jesus Christ. What's going to be the finish? Please. When God made me with his hand, his purpose was not to make me like Adam forever. His purpose was to make me like Christ. Let me quote first John chapter three and verse two. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. He does not yet appear, or we shall be. But we know when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Look. I'm not going to compliment you on your good looks or bad looks, whatever you got. But when God is finished with you, when you know Christ is your Savior, he's going to be like Christ. It's a lot better than being like Adam, isn't it? Sure. You're too much like Adam right now. Far too much. But when God finishes with me, he's going to make me like Christ. Well, did the poet like that lovely old hymn? She and Darby wrote it, And is it so that I shall be like thy son? Is this the grace which he for me is one? Father of glory, thought beyond all thought, in glory to his own likeness brought the God of my life. Oh, my beloved, I feel like nothing. He's everything. the God of my life from the beginning to the glory of them when he finishes me. Perfect that with concern to me. I hope your name is me. I belong to that company who trust them as their Savior and know because of my life. Please, may I say in closing, I know you've got a lot of wives who have