Teach Me

Today I'm looking at Psalm 143:8-12:

"Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.
Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You.

Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am Your servant." (NAS)

I still am surprised sometimes the way the Holy Spirit can suddenly speak to me through words in a particular passage - and the way in which He uses different Bible versions and daily experiences to suddenly give me a new thought.  I found myself looking at verse 8 the other day as I was looking at various passages that spoke about experiencing God "in the morning".  But I found myself coming back to this particular passage, because it speaks to what I so often want from God - "Teach me the way in which I should walk."  I want Him to "direct my paths" (Prov 3:6).  As one who sees the whole picture, He is much better able to choose the best path for me to take!  

As I continue to work to illustrate verses that speak to me, I find things happening that direct me in unexpected ways.  In this case, it related to preparing the photos for this post.  I decided to zoom in a bit on the illustration.  I took the top half and saved it to a separate file, so we could see a close-up of the words "Teach me the way".  I then took the bottom half and thought I had done the same. But something happened and all I saw when I went to the directory on my computer, was the name of the first extra file I saved.  I thought about going back in to the software and creating the close up of the 2nd half again, but decided what I really wanted to focus on was "Teach me the way" so I just left things as they were.  However, as I started to write about it here, I realized that what I must have done was overwrite my first saved 1/2 picture, and what I have left is the portion that says "I should walk".  To me, this is God's voice telling me that there is something specific, I need to do here.  I can't just ask for guidance - I have to be willing to WALK the walk!

I know this can be an issue for me - which is why most mornings when I ask for guidance for my day, I also ask for willingness and ability to follow that guidance.  

As I was pondering this passage yesterday morning, several parts of it stood out to me:

• "Let me hear Thy loving kindness in the morning" - I do, Lord, Thank You!
• "Teach me the way in which I should walk" - yes, Father!
• "Teach me to do Thy will" - Yes, Lord!
• "Let Thy good Spirit lead me on level ground" - Yes!
• "And in Thy loving kindness cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my soul" - Wait - What?  Father God, while there is an occasional person who seems to have set themselves up to be my enemy, I don't want them destroyed! That sounds so harsh and bloodthirsty! Jesus, as my example, prayed for those who were killing Him, and told me to "love my enemies, bless those who curse me, and pray for them who despitefully use me" (Matt 5:44). 

As I sat thinking about this, another verse came to mind.  "What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Matt 15:11 (NIV)  And then another "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt 12:34 NKJV). And I suddenly realized - those enemies who afflict my soul are NOT people out there somewhere - they are the negative thoughts and the pockets of selfishness within me.  They are any parts within me that are unlike the fruit of the Spirit.

Then, as I continued with my day I caught myself!  As the day moved into afternoon and things weren't going as planned to meet the deadlines I had, I started to get stressed about things.  As I heard myself speak in frustration, I realized that I was NOT living in "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal 5:22-23 ISV) in that moment.  I was allowing the things of the world to take my mind off my knowledge that God is in charge and is working all things together for my good (Rom 8:28) - and to focus instead on the outward appearances - leading me to think that all was not right with my world.  I KNOW better!  I've seen over and over again how God takes things that look like mistakes or "bad" in some way and turns them to my good!

Father, forgive me for forgetting how well you take care of me!  Father, please create that clean heart within me and fill me with the fruit of your Spirit.  May Your "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" so fill my heart and mind that these are the ONLY things that influences my words and actions - today and everyday!  Father, whether it is a seeming lack of time or sleep, a body that's hurting, unexpected things coming up, or any other circumstance that tries to take my mind from its focus on you, may I ALWAYS keep my mind on you and your love for me, and may this be what fuels my thoughts, words and actions!  Thank you, Father!

And then I get it. God told me through circumstances today (photo closeups for this blog) that there is something I need to be doing.  As I re-read today's focus verses, I realize it's plainly there in black and white. I was focusing on what I wanted from God in these verses - not what was MY part in it all!  I read it again - this time in the ISV (emphasis mine):

• In the morning let me hear of your gracious love, for in you I trust. 
• Cause me to know the way I should take, because I have set my hope on you. 
• Deliver me from my enemies, Lord.  I have taken refuge in you. 
• Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. 
• Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of your name, Lord, preserve my life. Because you are righteous, bring me out of trouble. Because of your gracious love, you will cut off my enemies. You will destroy all who oppose me, for I am your servant.

God has spoken pretty clearly to me this morning.  This is the path I should walk:

• Trust in Him (I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! - Mark 9:24)
• Set my hope on Him.
• Take refuge in Him.
• Remember He is God (and have no other gods before Him!)
• Serve Him as He directs - I am His servant.

Father, thank you for showing me yesterday how far I still need to come in fully trusting you and taking refuge in you.  I think back to the verse you brought back to me a few days ago, "You will keep perfectly peaceful the one whose mind remains focused on you, because he remains in you." (Is 26:3, ISV)  Father, may I keep my mind focused on YOU, this day and every day - trusting you, hoping in you, taking refuge in you, making you my God, and serving you as you direct.  Thank you, Father!  You are INDEED my Father - a loving, patient, gentle Father, guiding my steps to bring me ever closer to you.  Thank you, Father!