Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Pray, Sacrifice, Watch


Psalm 5
English Standard Version (ESV)
Lead Me in Your Righteousness
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    consider my (A)groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
    my (B)King and my God,
    for (C)to you do I pray.
Lord, in (D)the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you[a] and (E)watch.
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil may not dwell with you.
The (F)boastful shall not (G)stand before your eyes;
    you (H)hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak (I)lies;
    the Lord abhors (J)the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house.
I will (K)bow down (L)toward your (M)holy temple
    in the fear of you.
8 (N)Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    (O)make your way straight before me.
For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is (P)destruction;
(Q)their throat is (R)an open grave;
    they (S)flatter with their tongue.
10 (T)Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them (U)fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who (V)take refuge in you (W)rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may (X)exult in you.
12 For you (Y)bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you (Z)cover him with favor as with (AA)a shield.

Have you ever had someone talk to you and you could never get a word in?  Was it frustrating?  Maybe even a little painful?  By the time they took a breath you had nothing to say or had forgotten what you were wanting to say.  That is how I think God must feel when we talk to Him.  Yet, He is patient and He never forgets, so He waits for us to pause and then He does miraculous things for us.  He does exceedingly more than we could have ever imagined. 

In this Psalm we see the emotions of life.  David, the Psalmist, has been let down by his friends. I know how that one feels!  He has been deceived by those he trusted. I can relate to that as well.  He has been utterly hurt and He cries to God.  Once again, I see myself in this scenario.  When I first read this I thought that he was telling God what these liars deserved but then I realized that he was recognizing that God cannot dwell with evil doers.  Evildoers, backstabbers, liars, cheaters, God cannot dwell with them and their destruction is eminent and the Psalmist realizes this.  Yet, Praise the Lord, God made a way for even these evildoers to come to them if they will only repent and turn from their wicked ways.  The point is, change must occur, honesty must happen, love must prevail.  If not, there is no place for this type of person in the eternal presence of the Lord.

Yet, David is sure of his salvation.  He prays in the morning and offers sacrifices.  What do you think the sacrifices are and why in the morning?  Sometimes for me it is a sacrifice of my will to just get out of bed.  I have to ask for God’s guidance to make it through the day, I have to turn the day over to Him and then, I can get up with confidence.  I don’t believe the David got up and directly went out and sacrificed a lamb.  I think he did what we need to do daily.  He began his day by approaching the throne.  What do you think would happen if we began our morning something like this “Good morning Lord, I bring myself to you, the desires of my life, my hopes and dreams that are worldly and I give them to you.  You and you alone know what is best for me so I ask that you lead me down the path that leads straight to you.  Help me to forgive those who have hurt me, reveal yourself to them so that they may have eternal life with you rather than eternal separation from you.”?

David sacrificed his desires in order to fulfill the desires of the Father.  We too, need to do the same.  If we start our morning off not only speaking to Him but communicating with Him through His word our day will be more focused on Him and not on our own desires.  When we focus on Him the things of this world will become dimmer and dimmer and the desires of our hearts will be solely directed towards His will.  One last important thing, David didn’t just pray and sacrifice, he watched, he waited expectantly to see the mighty wonders of our Lord.  We need to expect and watch and just see what our Great and Glorious Lord can and will do!!!!

As He hears you when you pray and sees you as you seek Him, may He find you faithful to His calling, daily sacrificing your worldly desires for the sake of the Kingdom.  Rest assured He hears you and He feels the pain of being hurt by others yet His desire is for you to know Him and trust Him in all things.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila 

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