“Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies – make your way straight before me. 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. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”
(v2,3,7,8,11,12)
My main takeaway from this is three-fold.
David seems to be driven into a closer relationship with God because of the struggles (enemies) in his life: “Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies” (v8a) This reinforces for me that God does allow struggles in our life – not because He likes to see us suffer, but because He wants us to draw near to Him and we sometimes need a reminder to do that. I know I will sometimes forget to draw near to Him when things are going well (the “I don’t need you right now” kind of feeling) but when circumstances get tough it’s easier to turn to Him (the “I really need you now” kind of feeling).
My second takeaway is that David mentions “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (v3) This would indicate that David knew how to place his troubles, his burdens, his anxiety, all of his cares at the feet of God, and then stood back and watched how God worked. One of my favorite examples of giving it all to God and then watching Him do the word is the feeding of the five thousand: ” ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’ Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” (Jhn 6:9,11) The boy gave what he had to Jesus, and then stood back, watching with expectation as to how Jesus would work with it.
My third takeaway is a reminder that God is omnipresent – everywhere at all times. David says: “But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.” (v7) If he is bowing down toward the temple, then he probably is not physically in Jerusalem at the moment, yet he is still coming into the Lord’s house (presence). It’s a great thing to remember that we can pray and talk to God literally everywhere – even in the middle of that difficult conversation – we can speak to Him always.
My prayer for today is that I learn how to more fully trust all of my burdens and cares to the Lord, no matter when/where I find myself, and then step back and watch how He works. He is God, and I am not, so His solutions in my life will be far more effective than anything I can come up with. I’m not suggesting that we “cast our cares on Him” and then do nothing, however, I am suggesting that involving Him in the process and following His will/leading is critical, as David said “Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness”.
Have a great weekend, finding yourself in His presence no matter the circumstances.
~ Conqueror in Training