"Preparing for the Day" - a sermon inspired by Psalm 5

How’s the beginning of the day for you? The morning people are probably quite bright and ready for the day. The night people are dreading getting up and maybe wishing they’d gone to bed earlier. Think about how you felt when waking up this morning? When it comes to starting the day, some of us will be more positive, others less so. This probably depends upon what day it is, and what might be on the agenda for the day ahead. Whatever the case, the most important question is … where is your trust going to lie as you approach the day?

Given that we don’t live in isolation, given that other people are going to impact our day, unexpected things are going to happen. Even having undertaken good planning, there are things that are going to happen that we could not have entirely planned for. So, who are we going to put our trust in to get through unscathed?

Maybe, sometimes deliberately, but other times by omission, we will put trust in ourselves. Now, we can be confident in the person we are becoming, to make good decisions, react well to circumstances, and interact with others helpfully … but maybe we sense our limitations, and realise that if we remain purely reliant on our own abilities we might actually fall short.

So can we in our first waking moments realise that God is with us? And then as we start off into the day realise that God can and will equip us for each challenge ahead! And then as we make our first mistake for the day realise that God can turn this into a learning experience which will enhance our future! In other words, do we have a constant sense of God’s presence at all times of the day in whatever we are doing wherever we are? This is what following Jesus is all about, constantly knowing and experiencing that we have a leader.

The psalmist David had such an understanding of God. David would open his mouth in the morning and know that God was listening. David prepared himself for the day in prayer, but not only this … also in complete confidence that God had listened and heard, but not only this … have a read of verse 3 > "… in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch". David also believed that God would act, and therefore was watching for every piece of evidence of God’s activity!! The NIV translates here “…in the morning I lay my requests before you, and wait in expectation”.

The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) were often charged the responsibility of watching (for what God would do) eg. Isaiah (21:6-8):
“For thus the Lord said to me:
‘Go, post a lookout, let him announce what he sees …
… let him listen diligently, very diligently’”.

This continues the pattern of being conscious of God’s active presence right throughout the day. As we become more conscious of what God is doing about us, we are more ready to praise, sing for joy, thank and worship God throughout the day (v.11a). We see in verse 7 how David, through his experience of God, was in awe of God – so much had David embraced the abundance of God’s steadfast love.

The picture conveyed in this verse 7, is a relationship so close that it functions like a family relationship occurring within the same house. Because of this deep interactive relationship between David and God, David could rely on God to lead him in the face of all adversity. Verse 8 … "Lead me O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me". What do you think is meant by … "make your way straight before me"???

· That we might know what God’s will is, and that we might know what decisions to make; with so many confusing and critical voices around us, this can really cloud the issues and blur the vision. We want to truly know the ethically and morally right thing to do, and we need to know where the main priorities lay. This is a cry for good guidance in the face of complex choices. It is God who knows what is best for us, and the psalmist would like this plainly revealed.

· That we might not react badly, but rather positively …

Have a look at some of things David was up against. There was:
· wickedness and evil (v.4),
· boastfulness (v.5) – which of course usually means the belittling of others – the boastful are seeking their own agenda,
· lies, deceit & bloodthirstiness (v.6) – indicating a complete disregard for other people. This negativity seems to be summed up in verse 9 as we look into the hearts of some and seem to only find darkness.

Having acknowledged the reality of such negativity, David also acknowledged that there was a way through without firing back (vs. 7-8).

To seek God to make His way straight before us – is to want our response to adversity to be in line with God’s righteousness no matter how powerful the impact of what comes to us!!

We have to prepare well to have this level of trust and commitment. When we are unappreciated or unfairly criticised or personally attacked, we have to be completely and acutely aware that God loves and accepts us, and this is where we stand! This is where we draw our strength – not from human approval, but from God’s acceptance.

[[What then of our enemies? We can see how David felt about his enemies and detractors – with very strong resentment indeed. David also saw his enemies as enemies of God – given that he felt that the work he was doing was entirely God’s work. He thus desired their destruction, for them to be shown up for whom they really are and rejected – I guess this is human! David even reflected (in verse 5) that God hated his evil enemies – he might have even wished this was so!

David would have seen the corrupt behaviour of his enemies being so closely connected with their character and their person, that such an enemy could not be divorced from their actions. Hatred of the behaviour could not easily be separated by David from feelings about the person!!! We know however that God still loves people despite their behaviour – just as well for us! We know this best through Jesus who called us to love our enemies (Jesus himself dying to save those who were his own enemies).

We are called to look past negative behaviour and consider a person’s latent potential – difficult at times! Yet we do see here that wickedness, arrogance, deceitfulness and selfishness are the absolute opposite of God’s character and such behaviours have no place in God’s sight. So whereas God’s optimism about people may persist, God would also set Himself against the ultimate success of people who exhibit evil intent.

The main point to be noted here is that David left the destiny of his enemies in God’s hands. David does give God some advice (in verses 6 & 10), which we probably shouldn’t do, but David doesn’t take things into his own hands – he doesn’t even dwell long in thoughts of revenge; David quickly gets on with his own assurances of God’s undoubted protection and blessing of him (v.11-12). Even when we feel we want to, it will sometimes be impossible for us to do anything helpful when it comes to our oppressors. So, then too, we leave them for God to work with in His own way – which of course may surprise us (but hopefully also delight us)!]]

Let’s prepare well for each day by reminding ourselves of God’s availability to us. The Jerusalem Bible translates the second part of verse 3 this way – “…and at dawn I hold myself in readiness for you, I watch for you”.

As we draw close to God – God draws close to us! As God draws close to us – we should draw closer to Him!! We pray to One who we can absolutely trust. We then should be watching … observant and looking out for how God is answering our prayers and attending to our needs. God can turn difficult circumstances right around. Today’s problem can be tomorrow’s success story! So it is good for us to train ourselves to reflect often on the fact that God is travelling with us through life.