Let Your good Spirit lead me

Psalm 143 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!
² And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.
³ For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
⁴ Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart is appalled within me.

⁵ I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.

⁷ Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ 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.
⁹ Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You.

¹⁰ Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
¹¹ For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me.
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
¹² And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant.

In Acts 13:22 it says:  He (God) raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’    The qualifications and the character of David, which caused God to raise him up to be king, were that he had a heart after God and that he would do God’s will. In today’s text, we see David, the psalmist, crying out to God in a difficult time saying:    Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!... the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground… 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.   In the difficult times and the trials, David recognized that he needed the Lord and the Spirit to lead him and teach him, to teach the way he should walk and to do the will of God. We too, even if our heart is after the heart of God, need to remember when difficult times come, that we need to rely and depend on the guidance and the teaching of God’s good, Holy Spirit.

The psalmist says:  My spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me…My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.  Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me.    Like David our own heart and spirit can become overwhelmed, appalled and fail. Yet, our soul, like his longs for the Lord. James 4:5-8 says:  Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.    When our hearts are overwhelmed, when our spirit fails, we need to submit to God, asking His Spirit to teach us and guide us. We need to humble ourselves, seeking the grace of God. Hebrews 4:16 says: Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   When we draw near to God, when we go with confidence, yet humbly to His throne, the devil will flee. He is not welcome there. He cannot come to God’s presence. Darkness has no place with light.

The psalmist says:  I am Your servant… 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.  Returning to Acts 13, it says:  He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.   Jesus is our Savior. In Him we are not only revived, but also redeemed and restored, even recreated. God’s will is more than that we would be people after His heart, but rather that as it was from the beginning, we would be people created in His image and likeness. We have the knowledge of God’s will for us, revealed to us in His word and by His Spirit. We have the example and the redeeming, recreative , restorative power of Christ and we have God’s good, Holy Spirit to more than guide us lead us and teach us, but actually to dwell within us.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; I humbly submit to You that I might walk fully in Your way; redeemed, restored and recreated in Your image and likeness.   Amen.