Psalm 5

Psalm 5

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.

2 Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.

3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.

5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast mercy, will enter your house.

I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.

8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction;

their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them 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 take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

 

My enemies, might well be, my own thinking. In these troubling times of "shelter in place" I am drawn to the TV to have something to do. I think I have forgotten how to sit and read. I turn to my computer or tablet to play video games or solitaire. 

I mentioned in church last Sunday, take those thoughts and turn them into prayers. Let those thoughts be the guidance of the Holy Spirit directing your prayers towards events and people in your life for a specific purpose. 

In verse 7 of this psalm, David says, "I, through the abundance of your steadfast mercy, will enter your house." God is the one drawing us to prayer. It is His mercy that allows us as sinners to come into His presence and talk with Him. It is because of His gracious love we can have an audience with the Father in heaven at any moment of our day. We can ask Him for anything and He will lovingly hear and respond. 

I don't know about your parenting style, but I did not give my children everything they wanted. God could because of His wealth and power; I couldn't because of my financial limitations. But I would not have given my children everything they wanted even if I could have. I have seen too many indulged kids grow up to be spoiled brats and worse as they age. I knew the value of hard work and I wanted my children to have the same. I am glad I did. But I have to realize that God is a better parent than I am. 

God not only wishes us to be happy in the moment, but for the rest of our lives. He will never give to us something we ask for, if He knows it will not be for our best. He can see the selfish request for what it is, a temporary fix for our happiness but not a lasting "good" for us. God wants us to enjoy this life but He also knows that certain "joys" are just momentary events that will lead to lots of hurt and pain down the road, and He answers "no" to our request. 

Does that discourage me from asking? Never. I ask knowing that the Holy Spirit will take my request and turn it into the best prayer possible. I ask knowing that deep inside of my heart I only want what God wants for me and for my community. I would ask at this moment that God would stop the spread of the virus; limit its boundaries, render it ineffective from this moment on. Is that the prayer of a compassionate person or the lack of understanding of truth in the mouth of the enemies of God. 

Two things come to mind, does this virus have some greater good that I cannot understand. Even if it takes the life of a person I love or care about, could God know better about what is good for the world at this point. Is this virus and the fears associated with it drawing people to faith in Jesus Christ? Are people around the world having an opportunity to care for others in ways that were not possible a few weeks ago, before the spread took place? These questions are too heavy for me. I have no answers that will make logical sense. I only have confidence in God, my Savior. 

The other thing that comes to mind is this, "What evil would I do with that kind of power?" If I could see my prayer, my resistance, effectively shut down the spread of this virus, what would I then think I could do? And if I thought I had that kind of power, would I always use it for good? What if I thought what I was doing was good and then it ended up being good only for me and not for you? How comforting it is to know I can put my trust in a God who knows the answers to these and other questions. And, how wonderful to know that He does all in His power to bring about good to us and to the world, even when we cannot understand what He is doing.

"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy,

and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield." Let us sing for joy that God is spreading His protection over His loved ones and that He blesses each of us with favor. 

Do not grow weary of praying, enjoy the added gift of time, and sing for joy. 

Blessings,
Edd