Psalm 5

Give ear to my words, O Lord; *

consider my meditation.

Hearken to my cry for help, my King and my God

for I make my prayer to you.

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,

and evil cannot dwell with you.

Braggarts cannot stand in your sight;

you hate all those who work wickedness.

You destroy those who speak lies; *

the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O Lord, you abhor.

But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house; *

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

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,
because of those who lie in wait for me; *
make your way straight before me.

For there is no truth in their mouth; *
there is destruction in their heart;

Their throat is an open grave; *

they flatter with their tongue.

Declare them guilty, O God; *
let them fall, because of their schemes.

Because of their many transgressions cast them out, *
for they have rebelled against you.

But all who take refuge in you will be glad; *

they will sing out their joy for ever.

You will shelter them, *

so that those who love your Name may exult in you.

For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; *

you will defend them with your favor as with a shield.

————————————–

The Wakeup Call

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up" – Psalm 5:3

Waking up is, essentially, our first big task of every morning.

Some folks need coffee; most of us need a wakeup call.

We need something more than the clock beside our beds. We need God’s alarm clock. We need His Word to awaken our souls and tune our hearts toward Him.

Without a time of quiet in the morning when we hear from God and God hears from us, something is off center. As our days begin with prayer, worship, and Bible reading, we ground ourselves for the rest of the day.

Has God heard your voice this morning? There is no doubt that you have awakened your own heart with thoughts, desires, concerns, and responsibilities. You have mulled them over in your mind; you have begun to plan your day; you have even meditated. Having done this very hard work in your head, have you directed these matters to God?

Have you looked up?

We look inside; we look around; we look down. However, it is in looking up that we find guidance, strength, and perspective for living.

The psalmist directed his prayer to God in the morning because morning, for most of us, is the beginning of the day.  We need God at the start, God in the middle, and God at the close of our days, but more than anything else, we need Him to be in first place.

When we get first things first, everything else finds its proper place. Everything else will look up because we you are looking up.

Let God hear your voice in the morning, direct your prayer to Him, and look up!

—————————————

What the gospel writers did not and, sometimes, could not record, but first century readers knew, was the smile on Jesus' face, the chuckle in his voice, and the irony in his words as he provoked the faith response of an unlikely faith-heroine, and opened the ears of the deaf man with spit. Jesus was dramatic because drama drives home more than didactic teaching can communicate.

Grace is a very, very big deal.

Speaking of grace, there is grace that is specifically designed for our hours of deepest trial.

Few things happen TO us. Many things that happen do involve us. Most of those things provide and opportunity for us to step out of our subjective skin, look on, and learn from that character that looks like us and wears our skin.

If i am going to be ready to receive grace, I must prepare myself.

Three things I must do in the morning if nothing else (Psalm 5:3):

• Make my voice heard before God.
• Lay my requests before God.
• Wait expectantly before God.

Which of these three is the greatest challenge for you? Which brings you the greatest joy?

When we are open to grace, I believe that brings a smile to Jesus' face.