I meditate on all Your doings

Psalm 143 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Deliverance and Guidance.  A Psalm of David.

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:  After He (God) had removed him (Saul), 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.’  In today’s text the psalmist says:  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.   If we would also be after the heart of God then, if we would do the will of God, we too should follow the Spirit of God, we should ask that He would teach us the way we should walk. Galatians 5:16-25 says:  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,  envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  We cannot continue to walk in and practice the deeds of the flesh and say that we are following the Spirit. Even if we are called by God as one who is after His heart, we still need the Spirit to teach us and lead us.

We saw in yesterday’s meditation that David had the opportunity to kill Saul, yet David respected Saul’s God ordained authority. In today’s text he says: 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.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me… 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.  Romans 12:17-19 says:  Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. In Psalm 60:11-12 David says:  O give us help against the adversary,
For deliverance by man is in vain.Through God we shall do valiantly,
And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.    We know that in Luke 6:28  Jesus says:  “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”   In John 14:27 Jesus says:  “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”  In John 16:33 He says:  “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  Romans 16:20 says:  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.   We can have and be at peace and walk in grace, knowing that God Himself will take vengeance against our enemies. Our victory, our ability to overcome our enemies and the tribulation of the world is assured in Christ. We have the peace of God knowing that the God of peace will deliver us.   

The psalmist says:  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands.  I stretch out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You, as a parched land.   We need only to remember one day. The day that Jesus stretched out His hands on the cross. The day that He was parched and thirsty as He paid the price for our sins. We need only to remember that on the cross is where He overcame sin and death. On the cross in the midst of the greatest tribulation anyone could face, He said: “Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing.” On the cross, with His last breath, in John 19:30 He said:  “It is finished.”  And so it is finished for us. We have the victory in and through Christ and we have peace.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; Thank You for calling me and teaching me the way I should walk. Thank You that I can have peace and be at peace because You have already assured the victory over anything that I might face. Amen.