Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. 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. 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. (Psalm 5 ESV)
Make the path straight is something when I hear it I think of John the Baptist, quoting the prophet to make the path straight because the Messiah is coming. It is something we do. We make the path straight to prepare for the coming of the lord… but that is not the same here…
You notice above I have verse 3 and 8 in red… Verse 3 says O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch or some ancient texts read O LORD, in the morning I direct my prayer to you; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. So does the Lord hear your voice in the morning, or do you direct your prayers to Him? The one action in this psalm that we do is speak aloud to our creator. The psalmist says that every morning they prepare their heart by going before the Lord in prayer. They go to Him in conversation, laying before Him the wants, the trials, the daily grind stuff. They lay it our there, and do you?
The psalm says that only the righteous will stand, and we will enter His house through the abundance of His steadfast love. But in order to remain with Him, we must know the path to follow, so rather than trust on his own judgement the psalmist asks God in His righteousness because of the forces around him that will pull him away, to make His path clear before him. Verse 8 “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.” It is God who makes the way clear, and we are the ones who muck it up, with our broken relationships, our need for power and notoriety, our desire to make ourselves known and more liked… We look for our own uplifting, when God wants us to humble ourselves and rely on Him.
So each morning, carve out the time you need to go to God, in the sunrise and give Him everything and ask Him to help you through the day. He will not let you down, and the path will become clear!
aSacredRebel 