Thank you for joining us for today’s encouraging word, turn in your Bibles to the Book of Psalms, chapter number 55. And then we will also be going to look at something in First Peter as well. So you might get that primed and ready to go. But I want to start off here in Psalms chapter 55. Here’s a psalm that David wrote and it says:

Psalm 55:1

1 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

It’s good for us to recognize it for what it is

It’s good to serve a God who inclines his ear unto us. Who doesn’t hide himself from our requests and the things that we need. It’s good to know that, but it’s also good, as David does here. It’s not like God was not going to listen to David, that God was going to hide himself from David’s supplications. But oh, but David asked me not to, so I guess I won’t. That’s not what’s going on here. It’s just David recognizing the fact that the Lord was going to listen to his prayers, that the Lord doesn’t hide himself from his requests, from his needs. And that’s David making a recognition of that fact. And it’d be good for us to recognize that when we pray, we’re not just praying to the ceiling that’s just bouncing off the ceiling. It’s it’s not a speech that we say just with our eyes closed or something like that. It’s a conversation that you’re having with the Lord. He gives us that opportunity. He gives us that blessing that we’re able to do that. But it’s good for us to recognize it for what it is. It’s not just something that we do. It’s not for nothing.

He goes on here in verse two he says:

Psalm 55:2–6

2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;

3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.

4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.

6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.

Now go ahead and turn over to First Peter chapter five. But before we get to First Peter chapter five, I want to tell you a little story. It is not so much of a story, because stories have the implication of something that I’m getting ready to tell you is something that’s make-believe. You know, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That’s my favorite fairy tale. My wife’s favorite fairy tales usually start with Once Upon a Time, but this story isn’t so much a story as something that actually occurred.

So there were these two people and at some point early in their marriage. They decided it’s not me and Catherine, so just don’t. Don’t be distracted. Sometime early in their marriage, they had two little boys and they decided that they didn’t want to live in the big city anymore, instead they wanted to live out in the quote-unquote country.

So they built a house out in the suburbs, and they built the house. They bought property and they built a house, and they put that house up, and they raised their boys in this house. And the boys, you know, got married and moved out and all this kind of stuff and everything.

The man and wife stayed in the house. For all these years. And over the course of time, they accumulated. Some things. Right, and they didn’t accumulate them all at once. It was just a little, little something here, a little something there. And it just slowly but surely piled up. They have a two-car garage that you can’t walk through. They have an outbuilding that you can’t walk through. And more importantly, to this discussion, they have a specific room in the house that used to be at one point in time, their eldest son’s last place where he was allowed to sleep before he moved out the front door. He got kicked out of the bedroom because I think there was a dark room or something in there, I don’t remember. I mean, somebody doesn’t remember. Anyway,, over the course of time, the wife, ended up being the president of the Indiana Lupus Foundation. And so they made this room into what we reverently referred to as the Lupus room.

Not because if you go in there, you’ll get bit by a wolf. That’s why they call that disease lupus. Because it looks like a wolf bite. The blotches on your skin and stuff looks like a wolf bite. Okay. Anyway, Eventually The foundation dissolved. They no longer have an Indiana Lupus Foundation, so the organization was dissolved so that room was no longer needed for office space.

So then whenever the kids moved 15 different times into 28 different houses or whatever it is that they’ve done, and the kids grow up and this and that and all this stuff ends up over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house or whatever. And it’s like, well, we got this room we’re not using, so we’ll put a little bit of it in here and we’ll put a little bit of it over here. We’ll put a little bit of over here until eventually over the course of time. And this took years for this to occur. But over the course of time it became where this entire room that was a living room at one time, you could not even put one foot into this room. It was packed wall to wall, almost all the way up to the ceiling, all the way through. There’s no way that you could even know what was in the back of this room. Just packed full of stuff. Just sat there for years and years and years. Just holding on to all this baggage. Holding on onto all this stuff, all this burdensome stuff.

Just holding on to it. Just keeping it there. Just letting it sit there and letting it reside there and not doing anything with it and seeing that it’s an eyesore and just kind of acting like we don’t see it, and we just kind of move along and everything else. Well, eventually, for whatever reason, they decided, you know what? It’s time to empty that room out. So they proceeded. Over a few days time of going through, they got a huge, big, gigantic roll-off dumpster out in the front yard and everything else, and they’re just going through and to throw everything out.

Now me. Some of you have moved with me or helped me move. Help me move. Some of you have moved with me, but most of you haven’t. We know this because we’re still friends. Me? I’m like, if I don’t know what’s in that box. And if I don’t know what’s in there, I’m not going to miss it if it’s gone. Just get rid of it. I just, throw it out. Kirk about has a heart attack Every time he helps me move. He’s like, just let me know when you’re ready for stuff to go in the vehicle. I’ll show up. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to be involved in the decision-making process.

Not so with the wife of this couple, though. She has to go through every single box, every single envelope, in every single box to see what it is, to see whether it’s his keep or throw out.

So it’s a long process and everything else because she just wanted to hold on to some stuff. And I know you’re wondering to yourself, what does this have to do with Psalms chapter 55 or First Peter chapter five? I’ll explain it real soon. Real soon. Okay. They were holding on to all this stuff. Didn’t want to let it go, or Whatever. Finally, she gets rid of the majority of the stuff.

Well, here’s the thing. So all this stuff was piled in this room for years and years and years and years and at least 20 years, at least 20 years, maybe longer. Now you go to walk into that room and you step in there and you almost fall down to the crawl space because there was so much burden on that floor that the floor joist was actually broken underneath. You’re looking at me like you think I’m making this up. I’m not making this up. I got there and they would say, hey, come on in here or whatever. And I’m like, what’s the trick? And well just come on in. And I stepped in and It was like a big hill of a roller coaster. I was like, whoa, whoa, what is going on? The floor joist is cracked under all that pressure.

Okay, so David, back here in Psalms chapter 55, he’s talking about all these burdens and everything that he has. And if I could just grow wings and be like a dove and I could just fly away and get away, then I would be at rest. Well, here’s the thing. You don’t have to grow wings to be like a dove to get rid of the burden. And you don’t have to let the burden break you down and tear you up and ruin your foundation. You don’t have to allow that to happen. You can just simply follow the prescription that we have over here in First Peter chapter five starting in verse six. Where the Bible tells you:

1 Peter 5:6

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Humble yourself. Don’t ever ask the Lord to humble you. He can and he will. You don’t want anything to do with that. Take my word for it.

Verse seven is what I want you to notice for the encouraging word today:

1 Peter 5:7

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you! So you don’t have to let all those burdens build up and pile up. You don’t have to hold on to them, and you don’t have to allow that just to be tearing up your foundation and tearing you down and weighing you down and putting all that pressure on you. It doesn’t have to be that way.

All you need to do is pray and cast those burdens. Cast all those cares upon the Lord because he cares for you.

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.