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Psalms 5

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Verses 1-12, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You. But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.”

This psalm speaks to the importance of putting God first in your day. Each day that we wake up, is a gift from God. Knowing the trials we will face, makes it ever so important to seek God for strength and wisdom just to get through each day without being derailed. When we ignore God in our day because we think we are too busy, we often get backed against a wall that gets our attention so that we will turn back to Him. Besides, He has things planned for us to do, and we should desire to seek out God's will for our lives...and our day.  Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

When we come to God, we need to make sure we are in right standing with Him, out of fear and reverence. We know that He hates evil. Therefore, we cannot come into His presence arrogantly, holding onto our sin; but rather humbly and repentive, acknowledging our own sinful nature.  Hebrews 10:26‭-‬27, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”  We know the judgment that awaits those who practice evil, and do not want to fall under the wrath of God. Instead, we pray daily for God's Spirit to keep us from sin, that we may escape the coming wrath of God and receive salvation.  Luke 21:36, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” 

If you are too busy to watch and pray, letting God be your shield, you will likely be caught up in the cares of this world and desire for other things and miss His coming. Even if you started strong in the faith, these things of the world that steal your focus can choke out your fruitfulness subtly and over time. Then you will be punished along with the unrighteous.  Luke 13:27‭-‬28, “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.”  Rather than feeling offended by these threats, you should allow fear to motivate you unto righteousness. Consider that God is loving enough to warn you beforehand!

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