by Robert Fudge

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. 4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.

As I read the Psalms, I think of David and his experience as a young man living as a shepherd. He must have spent many days and nights in the fields with his sheep and alone with God. He could see God all around him in nature. He did not worship nature or the things of nature but realized that they demonstrated the presence of God. When he was faced with danger, God rescued him. Later in his life as king of Israel, he was surrounded by many but always depended on God to be his chief adviser, his strength and his deliverer from danger and harm.

David often spoke of God’s justice and rightful punishment of sin. He realized that he had no right to stand before a holy God or to even speak to Him. Yet he also knew the kindness, the mercy, the compassion and the love of God so he would talk often to and with Him. Realizing he was a sinner before God and that God is holy, he therefore often asked God to forgive his sin.

What better attitude for us to have than to know God in His might, His power, His justice and to still know Him in his love, mercy, compassion and to know His forgiveness. What better prayer than to ask God to instruct us with His word and then actually make the effort to study it and know it. Read verse 9 again: He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. To humble ourselves means that we really realize that we are nothing and God is everything. We like to think we are so important or so smart or so wise or so strong but we are nothing without God in total control of our lives.

What better prayer for this morning than the words of David:
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. We ask this in Jesus name.

May God bless each of us as we serve Him.