Monday 20 May, 2013

1 Lord, I worship you. 2 My God, I trust in you. Don’t let me be put to shame. Don’t let my enemies win the battle over me. 3 Those who put their hope in you will never be put to shame. But those who can’t be trusted will be put to shame. They have no excuse. 4 Lord, show me your ways. Teach me how to follow you. 5 Guide me in your truth. Teach me. You are God my Savior. I put my hope in you all day long. 6 Lord, remember your great mercy and love. You have shown them to your people for a long time. 7 Don’t remember the sins I committed when I was young. Don’t remember how often I refused to obey you. Remember me because you love me. Lord, you are good. 8 The Lord is honest and good. He teaches sinners to walk in his ways. 9 He shows those who aren’t proud how to do what is right. He teaches them his ways. 10 All of the Lord’s ways are loving and faithful for those who obey what his covenant commands. 11 Lord, be true to your name. Forgive my sin, even though it is great. 12 Who is the man who has respect for the Lord? God will teach him the way he has chosen for him. 13 Things will always go well for him. His children will be given the land. 14 The Lord shares his plans with those who have respect for him. He makes his covenant known to them. 15 My eyes always look to the Lord. He alone can set my feet free from the trap. 16 Turn to me and show me your favor. I am lonely and hurting. 17 The troubles of my heart have increased. Set me free from my great pain. 18 Look at how I’m hurting! See how much I suffer! Take away all of my sins. 19 Look at how many enemies I have! See how terrible their hatred is for me! 20 Guard my life. Save me. Don’t let me be put to shame. I go to you for safety. 21 May my honest and good life keep me safe. I have put my hope in you. 22 God, set Israel free from all of their troubles!

What an honest mix of thoughts from David. He so wants to connect with God but also knows he has mucked it up so often that maybe God doesn’t want to know him. He also acknowledges how much he needs God to help him with his enemies. He reminds himself of what God has done and he reminds himself to remember what God has done.

It is an amazing muddle really. Don’t you love how David just wrote it down anyway even though it jumps from here to there to the next thought. While it’s in the poetic style of the Psalms it covers so many ideas. It’s easy to not pray or study God’s word because we think we haven’t got our ideas perfectly organized or that we have not learned enough to do it properly. This is a great example of how God wants us to talk to Him however it works for us. He put examples of

all sorts of people connecting with Him in all sorts of ways into the Bible so each of us can find ourselves somewhere.

Thanks God that you want relationship with each of us in the way that works for each of us. You made us all different and with different areas of skills – the world wouldn’t work at all if we were all the same. Please help us to accept connections with You that work for us. Not to want the way that works for our friend or our pastor or that famous person. Thanks so much for how personal and specific you are prepared to be!!

Written by Therese Manning