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[Silence] [Music] ♪ Do not, do not let me die ♪ ♪ Let me not, oh dear God, make me die ♪

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♪ Oh, dear God's savior ♪ ♪ Here I am, no strife ♪ ♪ I won a curse ♪ ♪ Now I'm for the end ♪

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♪ To the past divine ♪ ♪ To the past divine ♪ ♪ To the past divine ♪ ♪ Oh my sweet Savior ♪

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♪ Oh my sweet Savior ♪ [Music] ♪ I'll be proud ♪ ♪ While on earth ♪

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♪ God is holding ♪ ♪ You now ♪ ♪ You now ♪ ♪ To the dancing heart ♪

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♪ Señor ♪ ♪ Señor ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ Good night ♪

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♪ One more night ♪ ♪ Not a morning ♪ ♪ Good night ♪ ♪ Good night ♪

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♪ To the heavenly Lord ♪ ♪ To the heavenly Lord ♪ - Amen. Our text is found Psalm 4, verse 9.

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Would you repeat after me these words? As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep. For you alone, O Lord,

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bring security to my dwelling. Subject of the message, now I lay me down to sleep. This subject, our sermon title is based on what many children learn as a bedtime prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep.

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I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. We taught this at an early age by our parents, many of us. After learning it, sometimes the parent would say, "Let me hear you say your prayers."

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And then there would be times, no doubt, when the parent would join with the child in praying this prayer. I can remember during my early childhood when I was living for a period with my grandmother that she would call after I'd gone to bed sometimes and say, "Marvin, have you said

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your prayers?" And sometimes I would say, "No, well get up boy out of that bed and get on your knees and say your prayers." That was good advice then, it's good advice now.

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Or as we consider the Psalter, last time we were concerned with the third psalm, which is sometimes called a morning prayer, a morning prayer or meditation. Today we are concerned with the fourth psalm, which is called "An Evening Prayer" or "An Evening Meditation."

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It is a prayer which is to be prayed at the close of the day. Prayer has been a long day filled with activity, varied experiences, and at the end of the day, before going to bed, this prayer is uttered, "Now I lay me down to sleep." I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

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If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Now since all of us are apprentices of prayer, trying to learn how to pray, it's good for us to study the book of Psalms. Here we have the record of man speaking to God. In the Psalms we have many recorded prayers. Psalm 4 expresses a lament of the individual. First

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First of all, let us consider the situation of the psalmist. The lament emerges from the fact that the psalmist is in distress. He is up against a number of circumstances. He is engaged in a tight fight with a short stick.

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He's facing hard times. He's in the midst of a crisis. And a crisis is to be caught between a defiant no and a loving yes, between a life and death situation. There are times when the circumstances that surround our

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existence say no to us. These are times of distress when we struggle against negatives. We are plagued by the discontinuities of human existence. The pilgrim travels an upward road, and it's not easy to march onward and upward. The prayer comes out of the experience of an individual who is committed to the struggle

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upward and who finds himself in a crisis. The hills are steep, the mountains are rough and rugged, but the road winds upward all the way. There are bumps in the road.

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There is occasion for the traveler to encounter distress. It is out of a mood weighed down by distress encountered on the journey toward the heights of perfection that the traveler seeks relief and rest through the Eternal, the Lord God, heavenly father. And so the psalmist cries, "Answer me when I call, O my just God. You

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who relieve me when I am in distress, have pity on me, hear my prayer." The psalmist you see serves a prayer hearing God. He knows that God hears and answers his prayers because God has heard him pray many times before and here he is again and we must keep going to God in prayer Lord here I am again

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I've had a hard day, the struggle has been difficult. Time and time again you have set me free in days gone by. Through your spirit I have found release and renewal. Lord, here I am again.

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You Lord have enabled me to overcome distress within myself. You have strengthened me through the knowledge that you are near and that you hear my cry. Lord, here I am again. Yes, this is the bedtime prayer of the psalmist.

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When I said my prayers and went to bed and the lights were out, there was darkness. There would be times when as a child I would call to my mother and I would hear her voice in the darkness and that was reassuring. many times as a child there was some uncertainty and fear when left in the dark.

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So this is a cry of distress that's uttered in the night. And just as we have our daytime experiences, there's some nighttime experiences. some experiences that come to us in the night. And we we can do fairly well we think sometimes in the day and we have our struggles in the during the day we

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have a hard time many times in the day. I I can cope with daytime driving much better than I can night driving because you know I can see so much further and I I don't mind driving as fast as I can possibly drive many times in the daytime. But at night, I got a lot of reservations because I can't see what's over the hill.

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We can't see that in the day, but I certainly can't even, I often wonder that if I'm going too fast and come over there and I don't, I can't see that far, that there may be some car up there that stopped and with the lights out and all of that. I think about all those things at night.

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I don't know what's out there in that darkness. Well here is a man who sort of expresses the human condition and he utters this prayer. Well not only is it sometimes called an evening prayer or meditation, it's also called by some Bible scholars as a prayer for rain, a prayer for rain.

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And it's based on this Hebrew word "tob" that we find in the passage as we read it. Many keep saying, "Who will show us rain?" That's one interpretation of it. Who will show us rain?

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Many keep saying, "Who will show us rain?" Now that's in verse 6. There be many that say, who will show us any good? And some have interpreted the Hebrew word there as rain.

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Who will show us any rain in verse 6? Well, I don't think I need to emphasize a great deal here today. For those of us who've been in Austin this year,

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how we have been concerned about rain, period of dryness, of drought, and it's been necessary for us to have water rationing so that even just on certain days we would water our lawns.

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And not only has Austin been affected, but other sections of the country have been so affected, and there's been distress because there's no rain in the land.

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And that's true in our national life. We find ourselves in distress because there is no rain in the land. And the psalmist expresses his personal lament

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because he's concerned not only by how this has affected him in his personal life, but he's concerned about how it has affected the nation. His concern is both personal and social.

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And we ought to have some personal concerns in our prayers. We ought to do that. We ought to, sure, we ought to be concerned about what's happening to us and about our families,

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but we ought not stop there. We ought not stop with that. As that old prayer that you often hear repeated, Lord, bless me and my wife and my son, Joe,

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and his wife, us four and no more. We ought to go farther than that. We ought to go farther than that. So here, the nation has faced troubles, hard times.

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And many times, there are occasions in our lives when we suffer from the hard, unproductive ground that due to unbelief and doubt and cynicism and this all happens because there is no rain in the land. We are pessimistic about the future many times because

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there is no rain in the land, fields are bare, no abundant harvest, there's a drought no grapes are produced now no no grapes are on the vine no wine will be placed in the cellar because there is a drought there is there'll be no joy there'll be no corn in the fields and so there's no great harvest in store

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because there is no rain in the land so here is a prayer for rain a family difficulties that often occur because there's no rain, no rain. Difficulties all around us because no rain, there's no rain in the land. We look at the particular situation which we face as a nation and it all develops because there

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is a drought in the land, there's a drought in our world and we cry out for rain. And you see this isn't something that can be manufactured by human hands, talk about rain. You see rain is something that God gives. God gives. We talk about rain makers and all that. But God somehow from the heavens above, God showers down upon us rain and there is a distress in the life of the

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Psalmist because there is no rain in the land. So rain is the supreme need of the hour the psalmist prays for freedom of the nation man of rank must put away idols overcome dullness of heart and love of vanities and seek the truth and he talks about his enemies his enemies you know it's good thing for us to talk

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to think about our you know how often do we think about and pray about our enemies in our prayers at the close of the day really pray for your enemy the psalmist here takes his enemy within the circle of his concern a lot of us take the enemy within the circle of our concern it's like an outstanding layman

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in our convention brother A.W. Jackson down in South Texas he said you know I pray for my enemies oh yeah he said I pray for my enemies every day he said I pray that God will trip them up trip them up so a lot of people pray for the enemy but they will say Lord let something terrible happen and and

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sometimes our prayers expressed in the language of a song it was popular when I I was a boy I'll be glad when you're dead you rascal you. You know that's that's the way some people remember the enemy. But here the psalmist includes the enemy within the circle of his concern and not only does he he pray for the enemy you

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see he talks here about those who seek to turn his glory into shame by false standards and the enemy has false standards and he considers this person not just his personal enemy but the enemy of God because he's with God and and because he is hooked up with God he talks about how this person is not

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rightly related to God he's the enemy and he has false standards empty pursuits and many of the circumstances that we face it may somehow give us a different view if we have the ability to take our enemy within our circle of prayer. The terrible thing you know many of the circumstances that we have

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the adversities, we wish it wouldn't happen to us, these are enemies, this is a part of the opposition, this is a hindrance that I'm up against, this is an obstacle that I face, this is an adversity. Well, you know, the terrible thing is not to have a hard time, but to have false standards and engage in empty pursuits. That's the terrible thing. God had never promised us that we weren't going to have a hard time.

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If you read the scripture, Jesus had a hard time. And we say we are following him. He has never promised us a rose garden without any thorns. He hasn't promised us that. He has promised us that he will be with us and somehow in the midst of our adversities, it's not the adversity that we ought to be so afraid of, it's our attitude toward our adversities because there may be a sweetness even in adversities.

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Sweet are the uses of adversity. at the close of the day the psalmist thinks about his enemies he thinks about hindrances thinks about the opposition and he reproves his enemy in other words he says to the enemy you can be angry but sin not and in other words he's

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looking at the end of life in other words how are we related to God you know sometimes we can get so concerned so much in a rage I remember a man the friend of mine who's passed on now. You know when someone crossed him, you know, things didn't go to suit him, he just blew up. He just blew up. He was engaged in education,

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he was an administrator, he just blew up. Well, one day he blew up and he died in one of his fits of rage. That somehow we must learn how, as we come to the fact at the end of the day he says now now as he looks back across all that's happened toward the end of the day he says now I lay me down to sleep now I'm going to sleep and

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now I'm gonna be able to sleep peacefully Lord because I'm putting everything in your hand that's the way to close the day or to close every day whatever may have happened Lord I'm committing it to you because I know that you can take care of it and so I'm gonna rest tonight I'm gonna rest bombs may be

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bursting all around and the wind may be howling outside but I'll rest because I'll put it in your hands be able to put it in God's hand in other words he hadn't got an answer from God yet but he's able to rest peacefully because he knows the one in whose hands he has placed it so he's able to rest rest in God he's able to sleep because

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he has trusted God and he's able to take care of that's that's an evening prayer we come to the close of the day put your trust in God Oh God our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal put your trust in him and you can rest securely what air may be tied

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as we sing now the hymn the haven of rest we extend the privilege of the church. I invite you to put your life in the hands of God so that it may be anchored in a haven of rest, the haven that only God provides, which is secure amid all of the uncertainties of life

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that at the close of the day you can sleep peacefully because you're rightly related to the Heavenly Father. I invite you to come now. [ Music ] ♪ I hope that they know the love of my soul ♪

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♪ The love of my soul ♪ ♪ And that it's in this land ♪ ♪ The earth's great walls ♪ ♪ Make many a choice ♪

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♪ And I'll live forever in the land ♪ ♪ I'll make you my soul ♪ ♪ In the land where I live ♪ ♪ Until the white sea is no more ♪

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♪ What can they see ♪ ♪ For the ones who remain ♪ ♪ In the arms of day ♪ ♪ Nevermore ♪

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♪ I give myself ♪ ♪ To his hand, very brave ♪ ♪ And we sing it o'er all the land ♪ ♪ Our praise will go ♪

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♪ Till earth and high sky ♪ ♪ Are there to bless your name ♪ ♪ God bless the White Soil ♪ ♪ And your heavenly host ♪

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♪ God bless the White Sea ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ God keep this land ♪ ♪ From all harm, sorrow, and pain ♪

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♪ It feels so safe ♪ - Let's just sing that chorus once more. ♪ I thank the Lord ♪ ♪ He gave us ♪

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♪ Your gift of freedom ♪ [Music] [ Silence ]