Seeking God's Instruction

Scripture:
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.
Psalm 25: 4-5

Observation: The psalmist (David) is asking God to teach him. In this request, he defines the type of person who can be taught by God, and what we might be taught. These include: Someone who sins in their youth, so by being forgiven they reflect God's love; The humble, who will learn to the right way to live; Those who keep God's covenant, so they can follow God's path and plan for their lives; Those who fear the Lord, so they can be taught how to make wise decisions; The ones who look to God for salvation will indeed be saved from traps in their lives; The lonely, afflicted, and afraid will be taught how to trust God when he brings them out of their distress; Someone who seeks God's protection from persecution will further learn integrity and how to lead an upright life.

Application: I often ask God for guidance in my life - I state that I am open to his lessons and teaching and ask him to lead my life. David would advise me that there is an order to this request, and that therefore I must have a certain quality of heart in my request to God. I need to mentally set aside the sins of my youth, be humble before God and man, learn and keep the covenant by believing in Jesus, fear God's authority and thereby obey his commands, look to him only for salvation through surrendering my problems to him and trusting in him, and extending that trust to all worldly issues and attacks with faith that he controls all things.

Do I do those things? I fear I do each of them in limited measure only ... not whole-heartedly and completely. I try but fail to repent from old sins, and fail to obey God's commands, and I often pray for his assistance by struggle to completely turn problems over to him without myself stressing over them. Of course, as a human I will always fail to get "all the way there" in all these areas. However, if I truly am clay in the hands of the potter - if I truly want to be molded by God to be his servant in whatever he would choose for me to do - then I must make person progress in these areas.

In other words: When I truly surrender my life - fully - to God, then he can teach, guide, and lead me as I so fervently wish he would.

Prayer: Lord, in my heart I surrender to you. I believe in Jesus, in your laws, in your authority, in your sovereignty, and in your majesty. I know that what holds me back is my humility. I seek your face, but I need to learn to seek your feet, which is where my eyes should be because my head should be bowed before you. May I continue to seek humility, so that I may someday learn your ways more and more. Amen, and amen.