Look Up in the Morning
During my private scripture reading, I pondered Psalm 5 from the King James Bible. I noticed a key phrase that seemed to jump off the page which tells us to make sure we converse with God in the morning. In fact, it says to make sure He hears your voice by looking up (King James Bible, 1789/2017). No matter what situation I face, I am to look up in the morning and call out to God. He loves to hear my voice. As I continued to reflect on Psalm 5, I gathered some key points for my day. The direct commands I found in this Psalm were to look up in the morning, speak the truth, worship in reverential fear, rejoice, shout for joy, and be joyful in Him. Is there a better way to start out a day? I do not see a better way to start out a day. Psalm 5 ends with 2 profound statements: (a) the Lord blesses the righteous and (b) the Lord surrounds me with favor like a shield.
In the King James Bible (1769/2017), Psalm 5 says “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”
After acknowledging I need to look up every morning to see God, I quickly realized that He doesn’t like evil, wickedness, and lying as referenced in Psalm 5 so I arrived at the decision that it is best if I speak the truth in all situations. On another note, coming into God’s presence requires a fresh approach as well. Psalms 5 says I am to come into His presence with referential fear which speaks of having the utmost respect and honor for God while I worship Him. It then caught my attention in the same verse where it talked about worshipping God in fear that I am to come into His presence where I can receive a multitude of mercy from Him. What an awesome thought that God’s presence is full of mercy for me to receive. That is shouting news which leads me to the next few points on rejoicing, shouting, and being joyful. I am to rejoice because I put my trust in Him. When you put your trust in Him, everything will be alright which is a reason to rejoice. Why do I need to shout for joy? I need to shout for joy because He defends me. This denotes that God is my defender and He always wins which results in victory for me which is cause for me to shout for joy. Because I love God, it gives me reason to be joyful in Him. These simple but direct commands to me from Psalm 5 are life changing. The commands take me from a place of defeat, loneliness and no purpose to a place of joy, rejoicing, victory, and love. God is love. He blesses the righteous which is who I am. God gives me favour that is so great that is surrounds me like a shield. All these things give me a reason to look up in the morning.
References
King James Bible. (2017). King James BIble Online. https://www.biblegateway.com/ (Original work published 1769)