1 Give ear to my words, O LORD,
consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.
4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
the LORD abhors.
7 But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
This is one of my favorite Psalms. Just a couple of comments from me…verse 3 I love the thought of asking God and then waiting in expectation for the answer. Too often in my life I have prayed without believing God would hear. Or if He did hear He wouldn’t care. That is so wrong! What matters to me, matters to Him. He wants me to ask…and then watch for the answer.
Also verse 8. I find it interesting that he says “lead me…BECAUSE of my enemies”. What is your take on that? I’d love to hear from you and I will put in my thoughts along the way.
I tried to look at some different versions to get a better understanding of verse 8. From what I could see it’s like he knows that his enemies want to distract him; he knows he can’t trust their ways. So, he asks the one he can trust, to lead him in righteousness. He wants the path straight so that there are no decisions or doubts. If God sets a straight path before him then he can follow it knowing it is right … it’s the only road.
I ask God for that often. Please show me the way to go. Then I wait and feel like He’s not showing me. Just recently I realized that it’s possible I’m already on the right path and that’s why nothing new is popping into my sight. I automatically assume that by asking Him to guide me He is going to turn my whole world upside down … sometimes I think I expect that for it to be His will it has to be uncomfortable, so if it’s smooth and straight, I think I must be on the wrong path.
I’m so glad He’s patient with my misunderstanding of Him.
I WAS THINKING…”BECAUSE OF MY ENEMIES”… BECAUSE I WILL BE MISLED BY THEM OR BECAUSE I WILL ACT IMPULSIVELY IN MY ANGER TOWARDS THEM. EITHER WAY I NEED GOD TO SET A STRAIGHT PATH BEFORE ME AND LEAD ME. I DON’T WANT TO REACT TO THE ENEMIES. I WANT TO ACT THE WAY THE FATHER WOULD HAVE ME ACT.
ISN’T IT AMAZING HOW WE ARE IN THE HABIT OF THINKING GOD’S WAY HAS TO BE HARD OR UNCOMFORTABLE? AND I AM WITH YOU…GLAD HE IS PATIENT WITH ME AND MY THINKING.
When enemies are pursuing, we don’t have the leisure to take the scenic route to safety, do we? We are wanting the clearest, safest, most direct route in order to distance ourselves from those who mean us harm. To know that, since we have thrown in our lot with God, our enemies are also His enemies, is huge comfort. To know that the path we are on is God’s path…to know that not only are we running from enemies, but we are running towards our Father…to know that not only do we run to Him but He watches over us as we run…to know that just as God confused the host of Pharoah when they pursued Israel out to the Red Sea, so He can confuse and confound our pursuing enemies…to know all this and more, blesses us richly…keeps us going.
I really like the insight Paige offered above when she spoke of beseeching God for direction and nothing new is shown, very possibly because we are actually headed in the right direction. Excellent.
It’s a privilege to read the thoughts of those in love with Father God…who take His word into their hearts and look for things to hang onto and share. Thank you for being one of those.
Good and helpful stuff. Have a good day today!
BEING ABLE TO RUN DIRECTLY TO GOD IS A COMFORT! IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT ENEMIES ARE PURSUING, I CAN KNOW THAT GOD IS AHEAD OF ME AND HE WILL HANDLE THOSE THAT WOULD HAVE ME FALL. LEAD ME STRAIGHT TO YOUR SHELTER FATHER…TODAY AND ALWAYS. THANKS AS ALWAYS DOUG FOR SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS~
Sometimes David makes me laugh. I love the way he tells God on people. I do that sometimes too…..if it’s good enough for David……
I know we’ve discussed the favor of God before. That is a humbling thought….surrounding us with his favor like a shield. I can’t imagine anything more comforting!
I LOVE DAVID TOO! “I KNOW YOU HATE EVIL GOD. GO GET ‘EM! KICK ‘EM IN THE JAW!” IT HAS BEEN GOOD FOR ME TO READ THOSE TYPE OF THINGS FROM HIM. (FROM GOD) I NEVER REALLY LEARNED HOW TO BE ANGRY….I HAD NO WAY IN MY MIND TO TELL IF I WAS ANGRY SINFULLY OR ANGRY RIGHTEOUSLY. I THOUGHT ALL ANGER WAS BAD. BUT I LEARNED THAT IF YOU ARE AGREEING WITH GOD..AND HE IS ANGRY…THEN YOU GET TO BE ANGRY TOO! (MATTER OF FACT YOU BETTER BE ANGRY TOO!)