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Teach Me Your Way

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SCRIPTURE

“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” - Psalm 86:11

 

OBSERVATION

David opens this chapter by confessing of his spiritual poverty and need for God’s guidance. He continues to rely on God’s leading in v. 11 by asking God to teach him His ways. Why God’s ways not David’s own ways? Proverbs 14:12 answers that, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” We can whole hearted and sincere in our ways yet be sincerely wrong leading to death. David continues by stating the purpose of his request i.e. that he may live and walk in God’s truth. He then asks God to unite his heart to fear God’s name. The irony of David being a man after God’s own heart is that even his heart is divided. Our hearts are divided by doubt, fear, anxiety, selfishness.

 

APPLICATION

Every hour I need God. I need his guidance and direction so that I can live in the reality of truth. Confess that my heart gets divided and fragmented by doubt and fear and ask God to unite it in order to fear the living God.

 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

I love you. May I always recognize my need for you so that not even an hour passes without acknowledging how dependent I am of your sovereignty. As the leader of my home and your church I need you to teach me your way and walk in your truth. Give me courage to walk out in your truth. I repent from a divided heart of doubt, fear and anxiety. Unite my heart of faith, confidence and resolve. I love you. Maranatha.

Posted by John Danganan with
in Faith

One Thing I Ask

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SCRIPTURE

Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple”

OBSERVATION

What’s the one thing that I have continually asked from God? What is the one thing I seek most from him? David continually asked that he can live in the house of the LORD for the rest of his life. One can get cynical pretty quickly from reading the context of this chapter. You can mask it as being a “critical thinker” and reason that David always asked to live in God’s house because it was a safe place for him to hide from always running away from his enemies. David’s predicament of being in trouble (v. 5) is prevalent with ideas of fear (vv. 1, 3), being surrounded by evildoers/adversaries/foes (vv. 2, 3, 6, 12) and being forsaken (v.10). Yet the purpose to which David seeks to live in God’s presence I believe trumps his need of simply seeking shelter—David wants to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. He just doesn’t want a get-out-of-jail card to escape from his enemies. He asks and seeks God’s presence most so that he can delight and treasure the perfection and beauty of God. He has this insatiable holy angst to behold the beauty of God and meditate in His presence. David is not just seeking a temporary fix but he wants a lifetime of God—“that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life."

APPLICATION

Where is my spiritual hunger and appetite for the presence of God? Is the lifelong presence of God the thing that I seek the most? David didn’t just turn to God as his personal fire extinguisher to “break in case of emergency” in the days of trouble. He had a soul craving to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. Point of obedience: Have a shift in focus of not just asking things from God (i.e. protection, blessings, health) but asking for God himself. Behold the beauty and majesty of Jesus. Bask in the glory of the cross and the power of the gospel. Meditate and stand in awe of who God is. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

“The one thing I ask—the thing I seek the most—is to live in your house for the rest of my life, delighting in your perfections and meditating in your temple”.

Posted by John Danganan with

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