Psalm 5:8 (NIV) - Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because
of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.
Most of us
cannot say we have real physical enemies like King David did, unless we work in
law enforcement or are leaving a former life of crime. But many of us know what
it is like to have so little room for mistakes in our lives, to face tricky
situations where we are on the edge of things going wrong. make straight your way before me.
And that is when we realize how much we need
God to lead us!
I’m talking
about seasons when time is so tight, when we have so much to do, many issues to
manage, and all are important. I’m talking about times when we have just about
enough money to pay for everything but we cannot afford anything else going
wrong. And let’s not forget the times we have to deal fairly with family
members who are so different, and what is right for one would be unfair for the
other (like my two sons, for example).
In tight
situations like these, time spent in the presence of God is vital. It sometimes
baffles me how people can say they need God’s wisdom, strength and peace, and
yet when I ask about their prayer and Bible time all I get from them are blank
stares. Did they think God owed it to them to zap them full of wisdom and
strength while they were pretty much ignoring him day by day?
David knew
where he had to be in order to receive God’s leading. Look at the verse before
his prayer for guidance.
Psalm 5:7-8 (NIV) – But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.
This is what God says to us when we are
discouraged facing tough situations:in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.
Isaiah 41:8-9 (NIV) - “But you, O
Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham
my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”
God reminded the Israelites of that time
that they were his chosen people, chosen not because of who they were or what
good they could do, but because of the covenant God already made with Abraham.
Likewise we too are already chosen by God,
Colossians 3:12 (ESV) - Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate
hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…
… chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) - So do
not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
When we spend time in the
presence of God, seeking him for direction and waiting upon him for his
strength, he gives us victory over our enemies.
Isaiah 41:11-12 (NIV) - “All
who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who
oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will
not find them. Those who wage war against you will be
as nothing at all.
We may not have literal
enemies that rage against us physically, but unpaid bills and creditors
hounding us aren’t exactly a walk in the park either. A crisis that threatens
to tear the family apart or serious illness can make us want to run and hide
(through drugs, alcohol or even TV). But
God promises us victory.
Some people (including me)
want to wake up the next morning and suddenly discover all our problems
disappear. We find a few million dollars suddenly credited to our bank accounts
out of nowhere, we open the newspapers and discover that the people threatening
us in court got swallowed up in an earthquake overnight (one we miraculously
slept through somehow) and the argumentative spouse and defiant kids repented
in their sleep and woke up as absolute angels.
And all without us doing
anything on our part.
But the passage in Isaiah
tells us that we are to search out our enemies, to proactively confront them.
In the account of King Jehoshaphat’s victory in 2 Chronicles 20, the victory
came from the LORD, the people received the victory through faith expressed in
their praising God, but they still had to march out to battle and be ready for
confrontation.
Isaiah 41:13 (NIV) - For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,
“Do not fear; I will help you.”
God says he will help us. He is there for
us in the midst of it all. And if we seek him and spend time in his presence
through worship, prayer and the Scriptures, we are able to receive his specific
guidance to lead us through serious problems and tricky situations.
And those situations won’t last forever.
Follow closely after God and obey him. One day you, like King David, will
joyfully proclaim:
Psalm 18:18-19 (NIV) - They
confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the
Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he
rescued me because he delighted in me.
Be blessed!
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