(Through the Bible) Psalms 31-40 — Chuck Smith

Psalm 31: Trusting God Through Trial

Let's turn now in our Bibles to Psalm 31. This thirty-first psalm is actually divided into three sections. The first one covering the first eight verses. The second one covering verses 9 through 18. And then the final section from 19 to the end of the psalm.

In the first section of the psalm, with David, it's sort of a mixture between trust and trial. In the next section, the trial is overcome by the trust. And then in the final section, it is the triumph of the trusting in the Lord.

So the first section through verse 8, the trusting and the trials. In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in Thy righteousness. Bow down Thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily.

Be Thou my strong rock for a house of defense to save me. For Thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for Thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. So a prayer of David. Declaring that he put his trust in the Lord.

Asking God to deliver him. Asking God to hear him. And to hear him speedily. I like that. When I pray, I like God to hear me speedily. I really don't like it when God says wait. Or when he exhorts me towards patience.

I like, I'm a man of action. And I like God to work quickly when I'm in trouble. Be Thou my strong rock and a house of defense. For Thou art my rock and my fortress. Now, David often speaks of God as his rock and as his fortress.

I guess you'd have to really go over to the land of Israel to appreciate this fully. The Israelis have a joke that they will tell you when you first arrive. They will say that God dispatched two angels to distribute the rocks over the face of the earth.

And that the one angel went all over the earth scattering his rocks. Sort of spreading them out all over the entire earth. And the other angel just was tired and so he dumped all of his rocks on Israel.

It is a rocky place. But the rocks afforded a tremendous place of defense in those days. And so in speaking of God as a rock. You are speaking actually of God being a shield to you. A defense. So God is my rock.

He is my place of defense. He is my fortress. And often times God is spoken of in the figure of a rock. Now, in the Proverbs. There are three things on the earth that are small. There are three things on the earth.

Yea, four that are small but exceedingly wise. And he speaks of the Cones. They're just a feeble folk. It's sort of a Coney is sort of related. I think partly to the rabbit family. It looks something like a rabbit.

And yet, on the other hand, it looks sort of like an overgrown rat. Down in En Gedi. When you go in there. There's a lot of reeds along the stream. And there are hundreds of these Coneys. Down in that area.

And the scripture says the Coney is a feeble folk. It's actually a very defenseless kind of an animal. It's sort of a. Well, it really is a defenseless animal. It doesn't have any way of defending itself from a predatory type of an animal.

And so it says a Coney is a feeble folk. But he makes his home in the rock. So the Coneys crawl back in the rocks. And the wolves or whatever can stand on the outside and bark and howl and all. But they can't get to them.

So it's actually the four things on the earth small, exceeding wise. The Coney is one of them. The wisdom is knowing its weakness. It has enough sense to make its home in the rock. Now, we knowing our weakness ought to have enough sense to make our home in the rock.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress. I know that I am weak. I know that I cannot really defend myself from the attacks of the enemy. I know his powers. I know his wiles. I know his guises. I know that I am no match.

So it's so important knowing my weaknesses that I make my home in the rock. Jesus Christ, who then becomes my rock and my fortress. And then asking God to lead me and guide me for his name's sake. Pull me out of the net that they have privately laid for me.

For thou art my strength for into thine hand. I commit my spirit. This is what Jesus, of course, cried from the cross at the time of his death. Father into thy hands. I come in my spirit. Thou has redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.

I've hated them that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For you consider my trouble. You've known my soul in adversity. Thou has not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.

You have set my feet in a large room. Now we enter into the second section where the trial is overcome by the trust. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. My eye is consumed with grief. Yea, my soul and my belly, for my life is spent with grief.

My years with sighing, my strength fails because of my iniquity. And my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors. And a fear to mine acquaintance.

They that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man. Out of mind, I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me.

They devised to take away my life. So they've set a net for David. They're talking about him. His life is filled with grief and sighing. He is a reproach of his enemies. Even his friends have forsaken him.

They treat him like a dead man. Out of mind, like a vessel that is broken of no further value. But I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those that persecute me.

Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. Save me for Thy mercy's sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord. For I have called upon Thee. Let the wicked be ashamed. And let them be silent in the grave. And let the lying lips be put to silence.

Which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Into the final session now the triumph of his trusting. O how great is Thy goodness which Thou has laid up for them that fear Thee.

Which Thou has wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Blessed be the Lord, for He hath showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I'm cut off from before Thine eyes. Nevertheless, Thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee.

O love the Lord, all ye His saints. For the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewards the proud doer. Be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart. All ye that hope in the Lord. So the triumph of trusting and then the encouragement of others.

Psalm 32: Forgiveness and Confession

Having experienced the help of God. I then seek to share and to encourage others to also receive God's help and God's work in their life. Now, this next psalm is thought to have been written at the time of David's sin with Bathsheba.

After the prophet of God, Nathan, had come to him and spoken to him of that sin. We will get another psalm that relates to this same situation in Psalm 51. Another of the penitent psalms. David had many wives.

And yet, one day while standing on the roof of his house and looking over the city of Jerusalem, he saw on the roof of a house nearby a beautiful lady bathing. And he was attracted to her. And he sent his servants over to her house to bid her to come to him.

David had an adulterous affair with her. Her husband at the time was out fighting with the armies of David under the leadership of Joab. David received in a few weeks a message from her. I'm pregnant.

And David ordered that her husband be brought home from war. And he sort of just said, well, how are things going? How is the battle going? How are the men? How's the morale and all? And then he expected the guy to go home and spend the night with his wife.

What he was hoping is that the guy would go to bed with his wife. And then later on, when she says, I'm pregnant, the guy would never know the difference. But it didn't quite work out that way because this fellow, rather than going home, spent the night on the porch of David's palace with David's servants.

And in the morning it was told David he didn't go home last night. He spent the night here. And David called him in and said, you know, why didn't you go home? You have this wonderful opportunity to be with your wife.

And the fellow said, well, he said, all of my buddies are out there in the trenches. And it wouldn't be right for me to enjoy a night with my wife when all of my buddies are still out there in the field fighting.

So David that day got him pretty drunk, thinking that if I get it, if he gets drunk enough, he'll stagger home and still never know the difference. But he only staggered to David's porch and again spent the night there.

And so David was faced with a dilemma and he took a tragic way out, a horrible way out. For David ordered Joab, his general, to put this fellow into the thick of the battle and then to withdraw the other troops from him that he might be killed.

And the ploy worked. Uriah was killed. And David then took Bathsheba as his wife. The child that was born became very sick. David prayed. The child died. And then the prophet Nathan came to David and the prophet said, David, there was a man in your kingdom who was an extremely wealthy man.

He had many servants, many flocks. Now next door to him, there lived a very poor man who had just one lamb. And the lamb was like a child. It went to bed with him. It ate at his table. And it was just a pet, a family pet.

Now this very wealthy man had friends come for dinner and he ordered his servants to go and by force take the one lamb from his poor neighbor and kill it in order that he might feed his guest. And David became very angry and he said to the prophet, that man shall surely be put to death.

And Nathan said, David, thou art the man. Now David's response to that was that of repentance. David's actions were terrible. The scripture in Novi seeks to excuse the actions of David. But they also do point out the repentance of David.

This is thought to be a psalm that relates to that period of David's life when he was going through this guilt of sin. He was trying to carry it. He was trying to hide it. He was trying to bury it and going through the guilt of this illicit affair.

And this particular psalm relates to this period. And David begins the psalm by saying, Blessed, which is, oh, how happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Oh, what a happy moment it is.

When I have that assurance that my transgression has been forgiven, that my sin has been covered. Now there is a difference between a transgression and a sin. A sin is not always a willful act. The word sin comes from a root word which means to miss the mark.

God says, here's the mark. I want you to hit it. All right. And I take aim. And I miss. Now I may not deliberately miss. I may be trying to hit it. I might just be a poor shot. That's still a sin. I have missed the mark.

Whether it's deliberate or just a lack of weakness or failure, it is still missing the mark that God has set. That's why the Bible says all have sinned. The Bible calls you a sinner. And you may get uptight about that.

But God said you've all missed the mark. Now when I tell you the mark is perfection, that's what God wants you to be. Then is there anyone here willing to stand up and say I've hit the mark? I'm perfect.

Look at me, I'm Mr. Perfect. No, I think we'll all confess I've missed the mark. Not always willingly. I've sought to be a better person than I really am. I'm not as good as I would like to be. I've missed the mark.

A transgression is a little different because transgression is a willful, a deliberate missing of the mark. It's a deliberate action of disobedience on my part. God says here's a line. Now Chuck, I don't want you to go over that line.

And I get busy with my activities. I'm not paying any attention. All of a sudden I'm over here on the other side of the line and God says, Hey, hey, wait a minute. There's the line I told you not to go over.

Oh Lord, I'm sorry. Forgot all about it. I didn't mean to. I still went over, but it was a sin and it was a missing of the mark. Wasn't really a deliberate, willful kind of a transgression. Whereas if God says, here's the line, Chuck.

Now, don't you cross over? And I step over and say, OK, God, what are you going to do about it? That is a deliberate, willful transgression. Many times sins compound into transgressions. I start off innocently enough, but then rather than repenting and turning, I seek to try to cover it and hide it and all.

And it compounds until it becomes a transgression. But either way. Oh, how happy I am when it's all forgiven. When it's all over, when it's all covered. Oh, how happy is the man. Unto whom the Lord imputed, not iniquity.

In whose spirit there is no deceit. Now, David had done his best to deceive. I mean, he was trying to set up Uriah, you know, go home and spend the night with your wife. And he was trying this whole deceitful little scheme.

But he's talking now about an interesting experience here. Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. Now, I think that many people, because of Santa Claus, have gotten a wrong concept of God.

And many people think of God as a glorified Santa Claus. That just anything I want, All I have to do is come to God and just tell him what I want him to lay under my tree this Christmas. And God will give me anything that I insist on.

Anything that I believe for. Anything that I'll confess, God will give to me. Because after all, he's just a Santa Claus waiting to hear my request. And in carrying this concept of God as Santa Claus, We know that Santa Claus is making out a list and checking it twice and going to find out who's naughty and nice.

And if you've been naughty, you're going to get a bundle of sticks. You know, he doesn't bring toys to bad little boys. Making this list, keeping the records. Now, he is speaking about a man. Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute or account iniquity.

Who in the world would that be? A man that God isn't even making a blacklist on his deeds. Not imputing iniquity. Paul tells us in Romans that that happy man is the man who is in Christ Jesus. For there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

Oh, how happy is my life in Christ. This glorious life I have in him. For if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other. And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is continually cleansing me from all sin.

God is not even keeping a record of my failure of my sin. Oh, what a happy man I am. Not only has he forgiven my transgressions, not only has he blotted out my sins, but he's not even keeping a record of my current failings.

Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. That man who is in Christ Jesus. Now, David goes on to express when he was trying to cover the whole thing and hide the whole thing and the reaction that it had upon him.

When I kept silence, that is, when I was trying to hide it, when I would not confess, when I wouldn't bring it out and confess. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

You know, you may try to hide your sins, you may try to cover your guilt, but it will find a way out. With guilt, there is always the developing subconscious desire for punishment, which, if I cannot find a relief for that guilt, I will begin some abnormal behavioral pattern by which I am seeking to be punished.

And I'll start just doing weird things because I'm feeling guilty. And I want someone to punish me. I want someone to say, Hey, man, you're weird, you're crazy, something's wrong with you. You ought to go jump off the pier.

Oh, thank you, brother, I needed that. Now I feel relieved from my guilt. Someone has punished me. When I was a kid, I had no problems. My father took care of my guilt complexes very efficiently. And the old apricot tree, those switches always stung.

But it sure got rid of my guilt complex. It was healthy psychologically. But now I'm older. No one to take me into the bedroom and apply the psychology. And so I have to do things, abnormal things, neurotic things, in order to be punished.

Get people to punish me. Don't tell Romain I said it, but this is why he's such a fantastic counselor. I mean, you come in and he'll lay it on you. If you're wrong, I mean, he'll tell you. And you go home relieved.

You get angry with him because he's so straightforward. I mean, he'll just tell you what a rat you are, you know. And he doesn't realize it, I'm sure, but from a psychological standpoint, it's very healthy.

We see him storming out here sometimes. Steam coming out of the top of their heads. Well, they've been counseling with Romain. It's so good. But when you're trying to hide and cover your guilt, there's an inward roaring that is going on all the time.

This inward turmoil. When I sought to keep silent, my bones were waxing old because of the roaring all day long. For day and night, thy hand was heavy on me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.

Well, I'll tell you, my life just became all dry. Just like a drought in summertime. No moisture, no life. Felt like I was dying. The sea law brings an end to that trophy of the psalm. And now we move into a new direction.

The first is the endeavor to cover the sin, the endeavor to hide the guilt. But now, as we move into the new direction, I acknowledged my sin. Now, the Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So I acknowledge my sin unto thee. And mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. Now, in the Hebrew language, there is here the intimation of an immediate process.

In other words, the moment in my heart, I said, I'm going to confess my transgressions. In my heart, before I could ever get the words out of my lips, God had already forgiven me. God is only looking for the change of the attitude of your heart.

The moment in your heart, you say, oh, God, I'm sorry, I'm going to confess. I'm going to get I'm going to get it right with God. In that very moment, God's grace comes flowing over your life and the sins are all obliterated.

Why should we carry guilt? Why should we carry the sins when God is so ready to forgive, so ready to cleanse, so ready to pardon? The moment I said, I'm going to confess, thou forgave us my transgressions.

Now we enter into the third strophe. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when you may be found. Surely in the floods of great waters, they shall not come near unto him. Surely all of us ought to be seeking God because of his love, of his grace and of his preserving power.

In the times of these great waters, in the times of tragedy, he will not touch you. For thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

So another Selah, we enter into a new strophe of the psalm. God is my hiding place. He is my preserver from trouble. He encircles me with songs of deliverance. Now in verse 8, we have a whole change of voice.

And God is now responding to the psalmist. Up till now, David has been speaking of God and his relationship to God. But now God responds to David. And David writes God's response to him. Now this is God speaking to David.

God said, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide you with my eye. The steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. God said, I will teach you and instruct you in the way that you shall go.

I will guide you with my eye. Be not as a horse or a mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in a bit and a bridle, lest he comes near to you. So God is saying, don't be like a stubborn mule.

Where you got to put a bit in its mouth in order to guide it. Now a bit is painful when you jerk on it. But the bit is put in the mouth of a mule or a horse in order that he might be led. That you might have control so he doesn't walk or step all over you.

You put the bit in their mouth and if they don't hearken or respond to your rain upon them, then you pull on the bit and it jerks the mouth and it's painful. But you get the message. You're led. Now God is saying, hey, I don't want to lead you that way.

Don't be stubborn like a mule. Where I have to use harsh methods to lead and guide you. I want to guide you with my eye. Okay, that way, son. We are the ones that make it tough on ourselves. When we rebel against God, when we won't listen to God, when we're insensitive to God, then he has to get rough.

God doesn't delight in the painful processes. God didn't want to send a whale after Jonah. It was just that's the only way he could get his attention. God doesn't want to lead you in a painful process.

He doesn't want to bring painful experiences into your life in order to get your attention, in order to change your directions. So he's saying, look, be sensitive. Be obedient. I will guide you in the right way.

I'll guide you with my eye. Don't be like a horse of a mule. You got to put a bit into its mouth in order that you might lead it so it won't step on you and all. Many are the sorrows. Many sorrows will be to the wicked.

But he that trusts in the Lord, mercy shall come past him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. As I said, when you're in your own reading of the Psalms, it might be an interesting experience for you to, as you read, just sort of follow the exhortations.

When it says be glad in the Lord, just be glad in the Lord. When it says rejoice, then you should rejoice. And if it says shout for joy, try it sometime. Shout for joy unto the Lord. Thirty-three. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely or beautiful for the upright.

Psalm 33: The Power of God's Word

Now, this is something you might not be able to do as you read it. Praise the Lord with a harp. Sing unto him with a psaltery. Another instrument in those days. And an instrument of ten strings. Actually, David was quite a musician.

These were all written to be sung. And he invented many instruments. David actually was an inventor of instruments. And so he had some instruments that he had made with strings. And he was a skillful player on the harp himself.

And he was called the beautiful psalmist of Israel. Sing unto him a new song and play skillfully with a loud noise. And that's the motto of our Myrnothic groups. For the word of the Lord is right, and all of his works are done in truth.

He loves righteousness and judgment. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. If you look around, you can find the goodness of God that has been extended to us in so many ways. Now he speaks of the power of God's word.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all of the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea together as a heap. He laid up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth reverence the Lord.

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. I was up at the conference center last weekend with a lot of the fellows, and we had just a beautiful night up there.

And after the service, I took a walk out through the woods. Just the Lord and I. I could see the Pleiades because it was getting close to midnight, and the winter constellations are starting now. If you wait until after midnight, you can see the Pleiades and Taurus and Orion, and of course, right above head was Corona.

And I was looking up, and of course, you can still see up there the Milky Way. And looking up into the skies, I thought of this verse. For the word of the Lord is right, his works are done in truth, and by the word of the Lord were the heavens made.

Created by his word. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God said, let there be light holders. The stars, the sun. And it was so. And I got to thinking of the power of God's word.

He spake, and it was done. And then he said, let the earth stand in awe of him. And I'll tell you, when you look at those skies up there, you stand in awe of God. Oh, how great is the power of his word.

The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nothing. He makes the devices of the people of none effect. For the counsel of the Lord stands forever in the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, and the people whom he hath chosen as his own inheritance.

Oh, how blessed is that nation who will honor God, and who will serve God, and who will put God at the heart of their national life. Blessed, happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah. Not whose God is materialism, but whose God is Jehovah.

And you look at the nations that have honored God, and put God at the heart of the nations, and you'll see nations that have been blessed. I think of our forefathers, and the founding of our nation. And I would recommend to you the book, The Light and the Glory, which brings out some interesting facets of the history of the United States that you don't find in your usual textbooks.

Gives you a little insight on the spiritual foundations of our nation. Putting on the coinage in God we trust. Placing within the pledge of allegiance, one nation under God. Oh, blessed, happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah.

And those people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance, that's you. You are God's inheritance. Oh, that you might know what is the hope of his calling, and the riches of his inheritance in the saints.

The Lord looks from heaven, and he beholds the sons of men. Now, God is watching you. That can be very comforting. It can also be very terrifying. It all depends on what you're doing. The Lord looks from heaven.

He beholds the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike. He considers all their works. There is no king that is saved by the multitude of a host.

A mighty man is not delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those that reverence him, upon those that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, for our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.

Psalm 34 is a psalm of David when it says, changed his behavior before Abimelech. Actually, it probably is the case of when he had gone down and Abimelech or Achish, the king, who drove him away and departed.

Now, David, when he was fleeing from Saul, Saul was trying to kill him, fled into the land of the Philistines and he was brought to the Philistine king, Achish. And suddenly David thought, hey, here I am, you know, and the Philistines hate me because he had killed the Goliath and he had been the champion of the Israelites in many battles against the Philistines, so much so that the ladies would come out in their dances and they would sing, Saul has killed his thousands, David his tens of thousands.

And so here I am now in the land of the Philistines and here I'm surrounded by the king and all of his army and everything else. And David thought, man, you know, what if the king gets angry and orders me to wipe him out?

I'm a dead man. So David began to act like he was crazy. And of course, you know, he was a character and I love him. We used to do so many dumb, stupid things when we were kids to get reaction from people and all and, you know, the charades and everything else that you go through.

And so David just started slobbering all over his beard. And when he was brought in before King Achish, here he was slobbering all over and he went over and scrabbled on the walls, just started scratching on the walls and trying to climb the walls and everything else.

And the king says, what do you bring a madman to me for? Get him out of here. And so David escaped from Achish by this little ruse of feigning insanity. And so when he got out of it, when he was delivered, he wrote this song.

And so that's the background after he's out there and he's probably laughing, you know, I wasn't that funny, you know, you see me trying to climb the walls and all this kind of stuff. But the ruse worked, at least, and he was able to escape.

And he said, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

For I sought the Lord and he heard me and deliver me from my fears. Now, David is pointing out that this action of pretending to be a madman was prompted by fear. He delivered me out of all my fears. Now, in the book of Proverbs, it says the fear of man bringeth a snare.

Now, here David was afraid of King Achish, but look what it did to him. It reduced him to a slobbering idiot. And the fear of man can reduce you. The fear of man is a snare. But whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

But David is calling upon the people, oh, magnify the Lord with me. The praising of the Lord by his people. They looked unto him and were light and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that reverence him and delivers them. Now, the Bible says that he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways, to bear thee up, lest at any time you should dash your foot against a stone.

In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, we are told concerning angels that they are ministering spirits who have been sent forth to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. So you hear of your guardian angel.

For the angel of the Lord encamps round about them that reverence him and he delivers them. So there is the opinion that we each of us have sort of a guardian angel. Sort of watches over us. They are ministering spirits who have been sent forth to minister to us who are the heirs of salvation.

Now, I plan to have a few words with my angel when I get to heaven. I want to know where he was on a few occasions. Now, on the other hand, I want to thank him. For, I'll tell you, so many times I've been delivered, I know only by divine providence.

God's divine hand upon my life was the only, I don't know how I got out of it. To this day, I don't know how. And yet God's glorious hand, the angel of the Lord. I had a very interesting experience with my angel many years ago while in high school.

And I know that the angel of the Lord was with me and protected me and kept me. And it was a very unique and fascinating experience. I look back upon it with great gratitude for God's protecting hand.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. You have to experience it. I can stand here and tell you all day how good God is, but you've got to experience it for yourself. I could be eating one of those drumsticks from Swenson's up here.

And I could tell you how delicious that chocolate with the almonds embedded in it. How creamy the ice cream. And I could just go on telling you, man, this is just delicious. And eat it right there in front of you.