Taking the Wings of Morning — Carter Conlon

Finding Strength for the Coming Days

If you'll turn to your Bibles, please, to Psalm 139. I'm going to speak this evening a message called, Taking the Wings of the Morning. Taking the wings of the morning. This is a message, brethren, about where to find strength for the coming days.

Open your heart tonight, and I believe that God will bless you in a wonderful measure. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the anointing. Holy Spirit, we ask you to come now and quicken the word.

Quicken it to our hearts and our minds and our lives. And grant to each of us a desire, oh God, not to just hear with our ears, but to hear with our hearts. And to open our hearts to what you would speak to us as your beloved bride in this hour, this season in New York City.

I ask you for the unction of the Holy Ghost. Lord, I stand completely and utterly dependent on you. God, I thank you for the empowerment that quickens my mind, the physical body, and gives me wisdom far beyond my ability.

Help me, oh God, to disappear that you may appear, and not to be seen that you may be seen. Lord, I seek only, I have only one desire, that you might be honored and glorified. That you might be laid hold of in the hearts of your people.

That your kingdom may advance with great power. And all the kingdom of darkness that's pitted against your house may suffer great violence. Oh Jesus, be honored, be loved in this house tonight. God, let your kingdom come.

Let the saints of God shout aloud for glory. Father, I thank you, Lord, that there's going to be a shout of glory in the hearts of your people. For this we give you all the praise and the honor and the glory.

In Jesus' mighty name. Psalm 139. This is a psalm of David that we heard about this afternoon so powerfully. The king of Israel, a wonderful psalmist, a worshiper of God. Now, before we even attempt to look at Psalm 139, it's important to understand that David, the king of Israel, is writing from the perspective of a man who has an intimate knowledge of God.

He intimately knows God, and God intimately knows him. And he knows things that you're going to see in this particular psalm have been given to him by divine revelation of the Holy Ghost. There's no other way he could know it.

The things he's about to speak he didn't have. There was not the medical technology in his day that we have today. Some of the things that he's about to explain and speak about go actually far beyond our technological limitations today and go right to the very origins of humanity and what was in the heart of God for his creation.

And it's very important to understand these things and keep that at the forefront of your memory. This is not just somebody writing a psalm. This is an absolute revelation of somebody who's in intimate communion, intimate relationship with God, with the living God.

David says in Psalm 139, beginning at verse 1, he says, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. David states this is an absolute. He says, God, you know everything about me. There is nothing in me that is hidden from you.

You know my inmost parts, you know my inmost thoughts. The word known really technically I suppose means that you have an intimate awareness. You know everything about me. There's nothing hidden from your eye.

Folks, that's a wonderful position to be in when you and I have that knowledge. The one who's far from God is really still back in the Garden of Eden hiding somewhere in a bush. Thinking in frail human thinking that we can hide from God, what fool is this?

To think that the God who created this universe, somehow finite man can hide from an infinite God. How weak and pitiful man can hide from an all-knowing, all-powerful God? And just like Adam couldn't hide from God when he had sinned against Him.

Beloved, if there's things in our lives that are not right, there's no excuse. There's no trying to hide from God. The man who puts on a religious pretense is only fooling himself. He's not fooling anybody else.

For God is not fooled by his act in the house of the Lord. God knows everything that's in his heart. And David said, you've searched me. In other words, it implies a continual search. Your eye is always looking upon me.

You are always completely and intimately aware of everything that's in me. He said in verse 2, you know. God, before I even think them, you know I'm going to think them. You talk about the all-knowingness as it is.

We call it omniscience, but the all-knowingness of God. David says, if I'm going to think it, God, you know I'm going to think it before I'm even aware that I'm going to think it. Lord, you know that it's going to come into my mind.

You know when I'm sitting down. You know when I stand up. You know where I'm going. You know why I'm going there. Even motives of my heart are completely laid bare before you, absolutely and entirely.

Verse 3 says, thou compass my path and my lying down, and you're acquainted with all my ways. As I travel through my day, as I walk through the office, as I go through my apartment block, whatever the situation is, the things I speak, the things I do, you know the very motives for the reason I'm doing what I do.

You know the things that I'm not even aware of. God, you know them. You surround me. You're all around my path. And when I'm done my day and go and lie down upon my bed, Lord, you are completely acquainted with all my ways.

Everything I've done and why I've done them, Lord, you know it. For there's not a word, verse 4, in my tongue, but, Lord, thou knowest it altogether. God, you have complete knowledge of what the intent of my heart is even when I'm speaking, even if the words don't correspond to the intent of my heart.

God, you know it. You know everything about me. Verse 5, he says, thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. You are all around me. You go before me. You walk behind me. And even with the intimacy of this knowledge, David was awestruck at the fact that God, in tenderness, would touch his life.

You laid your hand upon me, not for harm, but for good. Not to hurt, but to protect. Not to squash down, but to lift up. Not to cause me difficulty, but to shield me from all of my enemies. God, in your mercy, you laid your hand upon me, even though you know me.

Still, you lay your hand upon me for good. Such knowledge, he says in verse 6, is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain to it. It's too much for me, David says, to understand. How can I understand as higher than the heavens are than the earth, so your thoughts are higher than my thoughts?

Verse 7, he says, whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? David said, where do I go, and how do I hide from the God of the universe? How do I get away from an all-seeing and all-knowing God, who has created me, and is intimately aware with everything about my life?

Verse 12, he says, yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. David is saying, God, no time of the day, no season of the year, no time of day or night hide anything from you.

Your thoughts are completely undisturbed by changing times. Times change, but you don't change. You are completely undisturbed. You have had a plan in your heart from before the creation of the world.

Your plan is moving forward, and let things in the world come as they may. Nothing disturbs you. Nothing changes your course of action. Nothing changes your perspective. You understand all things. Malachi 3 .6, the Lord said, for I am the Lord.

I change not. Revelation 1 .17, the beloved apostle John, the scripture says, was in the Isle of Patmos, tells us, for the testimony of Christ. And Jesus appeared to him. And John says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last. That's an incredible thing when we begin to think about that. What was Jesus really saying to John? He appeared to him in all of his glory.

And if Christ came into this room in the fullness of his resurrected glory, tonight you can be sure that you and I would fall down dead just like John did. We would become completely aware of the infinite distance of fallen man from a holy God.

If there was any confusion, the glory of God would clear it up immediately. The glory of the risen Christ would bring the confusion to an end. And we would all be on our faces in the house of God, unable to breathe.

But by the permission of God, we wouldn't be able to draw the next breath. And we would be aware of that fact that we are completely held in the palm of God. But Jesus was saying to John, John, what you're now living and seeing is beyond your ability to fully understand.

But know this, in me you will find a place where you can live without fear. For John, I was here before you, and I am intimately aware of you. And I will keep you to bring you into eternity with me. John, don't be afraid.

I was here before you. I am the first. John, I have prepared a place of life for you in the palm of my Father's hand. And John, I am also the last. Don't be afraid. Because when it's all over, you will still be safe in the hand of God.

I have prepared a place for you. I'm going to keep you in that place, and no power of hell is going to take you out of my Father's hand. You are to find comfort in that, John, even though I know everything about you.

I understand you intimately and fully. But you are not to be afraid, John. Fear not. For the right hand of power touched him and said, John, I am the first and I am the last. Don't be afraid. Psalm 139 again, verse 13.

David says, you've possessed my reins, and you've covered me in my mother's womb. Technically, that means that the reins really means my inward parts. Actually, in Hebrew, it's translated liver, believe it or not.

It means my insides. And he says, God, you have possession of me. David says, you have possession of everything that's in me. You are the owner of all that I am, in other words. Even from my mother's womb, your hand has been upon me.

There was an awareness in David's heart. He says, I will praise thee, verse 14, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knows right well. Oh God, we heard that so wonderfully this afternoon.

That David could say, God, your works are marvelous, and I know it right well. I know my own frailties. I know my own faults. But oh God, I've seen your mercy. I've seen your grace. It passes my understanding.

Hallelujah. Even knowing, even with intimate awareness of everything that's in me. God, I've found mercy in your sight. My substance, he says, was not hid from you when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

God, I'm not, I wasn't thrown into the world as a surprise to you. You knew everything about me even before I was formed. He said, thine eyes did see my substance being yet imperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there were none of them.

David is saying, God, you had a purpose and plan for my life from before I was formed in my mother's womb. You had an intimate knowledge of me. You knew who I was going to be, what kind of a man I was going to be.

You knew how you were going to touch my life. You knew what you were going to do through my life. You have a plan and had a plan that is undisturbed by calamities all around me. Hallelujah! Thanks be to God.

Do you understand now why Jesus said to John, Don't be afraid. If you are in me, I was here before it all began, and I'll be here when it's all over. If you are in me, you're going to travel through, and the water will not overflow you, and the fire will not burn you, and your enemies will not conquer you, for you're already seated in me at the right hand of all victory.

Hallelujah! Verse 17 and 18, David says, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.

And David is saying, verse 17, I want to read it to you from a paraphrased translation. It says it this way, How precious is it, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly. I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me.

And when I awaken in the morning, you are still thinking of me. You are still thinking of me. You were thinking of me when I went to bed at night, and when I get up in the morning, you're still thinking of me, and you're thinking more thoughts about me than the sand that is by the seashore.

David said, My God, my God, help me to understand who I am in you. Help me to understand your plan for my life. O God, open my finite mind to what it really means to be in you. What it really means to be walking with you.

Divine Purpose and the Choices of Faith

Now I skipped in particular verses 8 and 10, if you want to go back there in Psalm 139. Because in these verses, I believe that David is speaking of the choices which both he and every man after him, men and women who possess this type of knowledge of God, have to make.

Now if you and I have been sitting here in Times Square Church for any amount of time, the truths that I'm speaking tonight from this Word, you already know them. You know them. These are not brand new truths to you.

You become aware of His presence. You become aware of His plan. You become aware of His promise to give and keep and protect and bring through according to His covenant which He made in His blood with His Father.

You've been aware of our position before the throne of God the Father through Jesus Christ. You've heard the promises of God. You've understood the power of God and to a great degree know the thoughts of God tonight which are towards you.

In spite of where you are, in spite of your walk, in spite of your failings tonight, God is still thinking wonderful things about you. He's not looking at you and I as we are. He's looking at you and I as we will be should we lay hold of Him, should we turn to Him and talk to Him, should we begin to embrace Him.

He doesn't see things that are. He sees things that He can speak into existence. He is the God that speaks about things that are not. The Scripture says, as if they are. Hallelujah! Isn't that a wonderful thing?

Something doesn't have to be there for Him to create something. There can be nothing there and He can create something out of nothing. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Isn't that a wonderful truth tonight to know?

He can look in my life and there can be nothing there in that area of my life. God says, I'm not hindered by that. I can speak something into nothing. I can make something out of nothing. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Blessed is the man who knows it is God. Blessed is the man who is not strong in himself. Blessed is the man who doesn't look into the mirror and find some good thing within himself, but knows that within himself there is nothing good apart from the power of God that is upon him.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Beloved, we have choices to make with this knowledge. This knowledge can lead us into the fullness that God has for us or this knowledge can leave us frustrated and cold. It can be knowledge without any personal application.

Believe me, there's probably no shortage of people in the world like that today who can tell me today everything that I'm telling you, but yet have no personal experience of what we're speaking about tonight.

Making One’s Bed in Hell

I want to start with verse 8, the second half. I'll read the whole verse. He said, If I ascend up into heaven... Now, these are Christian choices. Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Now, I want to talk about people who literally make their bed in hell. Now, the word for hell is sheol, and it means in the Hebrew text the world of the dead. Now, it means the land of no return. Now, hell, as we know it, is a place of eternal separation.

We know hell as a place of eternal separation from God. And therefore, at least in my opinion, the hell that David is speaking about has another context. I believe it speaks of the man who dwells among the thoughts of those who live without God.

You see, the word hell speaks about a place of death. It speaks about a land of confusion. In particular, it's the man who knows about God, but he looks for hope, encouragement, direction, and future.

He looks for stability in present times, in the mixed-up myriad of his own confusing thoughts, and those of others in this world who live without God. If I make my bed... Now, the context of making my bed, as I understood it, at least when I was researching this, it speaks about throwing out straw at the end of the day, and preparing a place to lie down.

And he says, if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Isaiah the prophet, in chapter 24, verse 10, said, The city of confusion is broken down. Every house is shut up that no man may come in. We are living in a time of confusion.

We're living in a time when that which has been founded apart from God is breaking down. The knowledge of man is failing man. People for fear now are beginning to shut up as it is their houses, and to lock everything and everybody outside, just simply trying to survive the coming trying days.

I see in this context, even in the house of God, Revelation 3 .20 talks about Jesus Christ Himself knocking at the door of those who once professed to know Him. Knocking at the door of those who were dwelling without the true intimate knowledge of God.

The true purposes of God. Living their lives according to another agenda. And He's knocking and pleading for entry into their lives, the lives of those that He died for, to give them life. We love it how utterly foolish and tragic it is for those who refuse the love of their Creator.

And instead they look within to try to find one last glimmer of hope that without God doesn't exist. There is no lasting hope without God. There's no hope. Turn on the radio all you want. Listen to secular commentators all you desire.

Listen to every fool who says in his heart there is no God. But I tell you that city is broken down. And the hour of that confusion is going to be very great as it comes upon society here in the United States and all over the world.

The Bible speaks of a day that we're heading into of utter chaos and confusion upon the whole known world. How tragic in that day to have been called by the name of Jesus and to have gone into the house and shut the door just trying to survive with God Almighty Himself while standing outside and knocking and trying to get in.

And how especially tragic for the one who knows Him and yet leaves Him standing beside their bed morning and night as they try to chart their course through a darkness that's too thick for any man to find the direction he seeks.

If I make my bed in hell, if I end my day and lay my head down, my hope, my encouragement is among those who live in confusion. Thou art there. Now this speaks about a person who knows God, but yet doesn't consult Him, doesn't talk to Him, a person who doesn't seek Him with all their heart, are not found daily at His gates, are not looking to Him for the direction that He alone can give and the stability He alone can provide.

Looking to every other voice, they're involved in myriads of conversations about today, tomorrow, and the days to come. And they leave Jesus Christ, the Son of God, standing night after night beside their bed.

Waiting. Waiting that He might impart strength. Waiting that He might give the revelation, the glory that David has had in this song. If I make my bed in hell, you are there. Isaiah chapter 30, if you'll go there with me.

Please mark Psalm 139. We're coming back there again. Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15. God, again, in a perishing generation, cried out through the prophet Isaiah to His people. Verse 15. He says, For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved.

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And you would not. It's as if the Lord was saying, My people, you were making your bed in hell as it is. You were living among the confused. And I wanted to speak to you.

I wanted you to come to Me. And I would have saved you from your difficulty. I would have spoken quietness, peace as it is into your spirit. I would have given you faith if you would have turned to My Word.

And in that confidence you would have become strong. But you wouldn't come. But you said, No. We will flee upon horses. In other words, we will exhaust every possible human avenue to escape the distress that's come upon us.

Therefore the Lord says, Shall you flee? And we will ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one. And at the rebuke of five shall you flee.

Until you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain as in an on sign on a hill. God says, Now I'm going to do something. For those who are not seeking Me, I'm going to let your enemies now pursue you.

I'm going to let them come against you. I'm going to let them overpower you. And you're going to have to start to run from them. You're going to start running from your fears. You're going to start running from the false arguments that you have thought that you could hold to.

They're going to turn against you. And I'm going to let them now run against you. And overpower you. And you're going to run until you reach the top of a hill. And on the top of that hill you're going to be all alone.

And you're going to have nobody else to turn to up there. And therefore, verse 18, He says, Will the Lord wait? God says, I will meet you there. I'll meet you on that hill. That He may be gracious unto you.

And therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. And blessed are all they that wait for Him. He said, I will let you exhaust all of your own resources.

And you're going to be driven to a place. And in that place I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait for you. Now the word wait is chaka in the Hebrew. And here's what it means. It means to tarry long. To wait.

And it carries the meaning of being adhered to. That means fastened to or pierced through to something. That's right out of the Zodiac. It's the Hebrew-Greek dictionary. He said, I'm going to be pierced to something.

And on that hill I'm going to wait for you. And when you've exhausted all your resources, and you get down, when you finally get back to that hill again, that hill where I was pierced through for you, nailed to a cross, that hill where I bought you victory, where I triumphed over your enemies, where I defeated all the powers of hell, where I promised to give you strength for your weakness, I'm going to wait there for you.

Hallelujah. And when you finally get there, I'm going to be gracious to you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I'm going to be exalted, because I'm going to have mercy upon you, says the Lord. I'm going to have mercy upon you.

And I'm going to strengthen you. And I'm going to empower you. And I'm going to lift you up from your weakness. And I'm going to make you strong. When you have nobody else to turn to but me. When you've forsaken all the other thoughts and all your other loves, and finally come to that place where I have committed myself to you, God says, I'm going to be gracious to you.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed, verse 18 says, are all they that wait for Him. Blessed are all they that wait for Him. Isaiah 40, go there very quickly with me. Isaiah 40, verse 28. He says, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, and there is no searching of His understanding.

Remember what we read in Psalm 139. Isaiah is saying to God's own people, have you not known, have you not heard, that God doesn't faint? God is not weak. He's not weary. And there's no end to His understanding.

Have you not known? Have you not heard these words? Isaiah is crying out to a nation that is about to go into captivity. He gives power to the faint. And to them that have no might, He increases strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord. Now the word wait, in the Hebrew text, means to look for, to expect, to be confident. It means to be bound together by twisting.

I shared it a couple of weeks ago, it's like you take two twist ties and turn them together. That's what it means. They that wait upon the Lord. They that are in God's presence. They who hear His words.

They who embrace Him as their very source of their salvation and their life. They who cry out and say, Jesus, I want Your thoughts, I want Your ways. I want You to live Your life in me. I want Your character to be formed in my character.

I want Your power to come into my life. They that wait upon the Lord, He says, shall renew their strength. Hallelujah. Those that have known Him, perhaps, but have lost their strength. But they shall renew it.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. God said, I will do three things for you. I will teach you how to fly. When you come and you're facing an adversity that's going to overpower you, all you have to do is spread out your wings.

Just spread out your wings. To me. And God says, I'm going to send the courage of my spirit and I'm going to lift you and I'm going to carry you. Right over the top of your enemies. Right over the power of your adversaries.

Right over the difficulty of your future. I'm going to cause you to fly over it. I'm going to teach you how to run. I'm going to teach you as Paul how to run that race and fix your eyes on the goal. And in spite of the voices on your left and the voices on your right, in spite of those that say you can't make it, I'm going to fix your eyes on the goal.

And I'm going to give you the power to finish the race. I'm going to teach you how to run. David said, by my God, I have run through a troop. I have leapt over a wall. David said, there's no power of the enemy can stop what God has determined to do in my life.

Hallelujah. And they shall walk and not faint. Hallelujah. There are times we can't fly, and there are times we can't run. I don't know about you, but I've been there a few times myself. I don't feel like much of an eagle, and I don't look like much of a racer, a marathon racer.

But by God's grace, I can still walk. I can still go forward. Hallelujah. I can still put my left foot in front of my right foot, because I have a voice that is behind me saying, this is the way. Walk in it.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the way. And we all have those kinds of days when it's just one foot in front of another foot. We're not going fast. We're not flying. But we're moving forward in the grace of God.

Taking the Wings of the Morning

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now I'll go back to Psalm 139, verse 8. David says, now, let's leave the people who make their bed in hell behind. And David says, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there.

The words ascend up in the Hebrew text over 100 times are translated bring up, and 77 times are translated to offer. If I ascend up into heaven, they are also translated, the word ala, or ela rather, is also translated morning.

It's also used to describe a battle which is becoming heavy. It's also used to describe increasing wealth, putting on a garment, and also exalting God. There's an awful lot of meanings for one word in the Hebrew text.

But if you put it all together, which I did, and make one sentence out of every meaning of the word ela, here's what it means. When I get up in the morning, if the battle is becoming heavy, I put on a garment of praise.

I bring my petitions to God. I offer to Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. I exalt Him, and He increases in me the wealth of His presence, and gives me the strength I need to make it through the day. Hallelujah!

If I ascend into heaven, you are there. Verse 9, he says, if I take the wings of the morning. Now Psalm 5, if you'll turn there very quickly with me, Psalm 5. Again, this is a song of David. If I take the wings of the morning, Psalm 5, verse 1.

The scripture says, David says, give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God. For unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning.

O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. We were talking today earlier at 3 o 'clock about the success of David and what made him a worshipper. And I believe this is what makes any man or woman of God, not only a worshipper, but victorious in their walk.

David says, in the morning, in the best part of my day, the beginning of my day. I'm not making my bed in hell at the end of my day. But in the morning, David says, I'm going to look up to You. I'm going to direct my prayer to You, O God, in the morning.

I'm going to ask You because You are the one who understands my day before I come into my day. You are the one, Lord, who knows all things. You know the end from the beginning. You are the first and the last.

You are the one. So God, I have to get my instruction from You first thing in the morning. I have to know what awaits me because You're already at the end of my day. You're already there. So You can tell me.

You can tell me what awaits me. And then I will turn to You for the strength to face it. And You will give it to me, God. You will not withhold from me what I need. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. David says, Lord, let Your thoughts to me be formed in me before my day begins.

Lord, You think so many thoughts about me. There are more than the sand of the sea. God, let them be formed in me before my day starts. Don't let me go through my day trying to find my way through in my own strength and wisdom, listening to voices that don't know You, and then laying down and making my bed among those that are dead and without the life of God.

He says, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Now, the word for sea in the Hebrew text is yim, which means to roar. It means as the breaking of a noisy surf.

And David is saying, God, if in the morning I get up and seek You, and then I head out, and I dwell in a place of noise and roaring, You will hold me up above the roaring noise of my day. God, You will hold me up.

You will keep me above it. Because Your thoughts are not like the thoughts of this world, and Your ways are not like their ways. And because I will know the end from the beginning. God, You will hold me up above the roar and the noise and the confusion of the day that awaits me.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. He says, Lord, even there Thy hand shall lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me. God, You will lead me through the noise that I have to face.

I don't escape it because I'm a Christian. I don't live in some kind of a bubble that I don't have to hear what's going on. God, I've got to walk through it. I've got to walk right where everybody else is walking.

But God, if I get my word from You, if I get my strength from You in the beginning of my day, as I walk through these roaring places, Your hand is going to hold me. You will lead me and Your right hand will hold me up.