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by Pastor Joe Garofalo
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8
Sometime last year, I recall very clearly the Lord pressing me to pray not so much what I think he should do for me, but what He wants to accomplish through me. It was a deeply moving time in that it recalibrated how I pray. In fact, from that experience I gathered two main heart attitudes of how I (we) ought to pray. On the one hand, we can pray based on who we are—demanding an audience with him on that basis. Or, we can pray based on who God is, namely His faithfulness and righteousness toward us.
In Psalm 143, the character of God is wonderfully on display as David recall’s God’s past faithfulness in the midst of deep trouble (143:5-7). This helped shape how he prays— again based on who God is and not the other way around!
I love that the entire psalm is a prayer—an expectant prayer at that, as he cried out to his God in the darkest of nights: “answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails” (v. 7). Note, David needed deliverance quickly. But again, he made requests based on the faithful, loving and just character of God. That He would not hide His face from Him (v.7); that he would hear His steadfast love, and be taught His ways (v. 8); that He would be delivered (v.9).
Can we relate? I think so. Indeed, there are many things that cause us to fear these days. The recent attacks on Israel for one. You may be asking, “where will this all lead?” Also, the seemingly endless divisiveness in our own nation, where people are wondering in whom they could truly rely.
But, like David, we must learn to rely on our Great Shepherd who can lead us through any storm. The One who is faithful. The One who loves us with an everlasting love. The One who is the lifter of our souls, as He carries us through the darkest of nights. Because of who God is, know His steadfast love is new with each morning!
I love that David prayed that God would teach him in the way he should go (v. 8). According to Spurgeon, the morning is the season in which David desires to hear the loving kindness of the Lord. That is because it is wonderful to have a subject like this occupy our waking thoughts and take hold of our first desires. Let us remember that.
David clearly knew that God’s will and way for himself (and each of us) is found in His timeless and matchless Word. We know from many of the other Psalms, how much David loved and knew God’s Word (Psalm 19, 25, 56, 119, just to name a few). In Holy Scripture, God marks our paths out as we read, learn and digest His Word with an undivided heart (Psalm 86), so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
So do not fret. Morning is coming.
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