A Psalm a Week - Psalm 5

This week, we're going through Psalm 5. Here we go!

So, looking at my Bible, the title for the passage is "A Prayer for Guidance." Immediately after reading this, I thought about bowling! As a child, you realize how difficult it really is to bowl - the precision, the skill ... it's unbelievable. One day long long ago, a man thought, "Hey, I should invent bumpers for bowling so kids can actually have fun playing." Thinking back, the thrill of knocking over my first pins (with bumpers of course) is fantastic ... all thanks to two metal rails blocking off the gutters. The point I'm trying to make is that life as a Christian is kinda like bowling. It takes skill, precision, dedication, perseverance (maybe not so much for bowling), and a strong heart - most of which we don't have on our own. This is where God steps in. Where you can't get a strike in this life, our heavenly father can. If it's easier to see it this way, God is our bumpers (but don't forget he's so much more). This is the prayer for guidance ... let's do it!

Verses 1-3: David prays to God. He says, "God, you will hear my voice in the morning." It's a beautiful picture that I forget to paint in my own life sometimes. How often are we willing to sacrifice our days to God - to wake up in the morning and ask him for direction, to give him control of our days. This is what we see here. Verse 3 ends with David looking to God, waiting for his command in his life. Before a kid goes bowling, he always gets his parents to put up the bumpers - if not, the chances for him to hit any pins are severely lessened. This should be the same in our Christian walk - asking the heavenly Father to be our guidance. As we looked in Luke, the model prayer is accented by the Christian asking Fathers will and not their will be done. This is exactly what David does. The first step to getting the guidance and the protection in your life is asking the Father for it. BOOM!

Verses 4-10: Here's where we see that God is good at his job, and that he truly knows how to be the guidance in our lives. Why do we go to God to stray from sin? Simple! God and sin just don't mix. It just doesn't work that way. On the contrary, God and evil are opposites. David makes this cry for justice, that God will punish those who live unrighteously. This is really cool and we can talk about it for hours, but it's not the point i want to make. David makes it clear that God is to be our guidance in these tough times. As young Christians, we have no choice - our drive and direction should be found in Christ.

Verses 11-12: Okay, we've rolled the ball, it's made its way down the lane, and then .... we get a STRIKE!! What does David say to do? He says to rejoice. He says to know that if you place your trust in God, he will never fail you. If you have God guiding your life, He will never let you go. You will struggle, you will fail sometimes, but God never lets go of those who eagerly pursue him. I know the example is kind of lame, and that's okay, but if i had to give you a challenge for this week, it would be to live like David. Wake up in the morning and ask for God to guide your day. Sit back and see what he does ... and then rejoice!

God Bless

-Chris