Psalm 6

Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;
—Psalm 6:2a

 I couldn’t have asked for a better Psalm to wake up to this morning...nor for more gracious and tender-hearted words than these.  How I love that I can cry out to the Lord in my WEAKNESS and plead for mercy.  What a constant joy it is to my heart that I don’t have to plead my goodness or my greatness to obtain mercy because I have NONE...I deserve death for my sin. How AWESOME to know that His name IS mercy.  He is my God of steadfast love and His love toward me is unchanging, eternal, and always for my good.  He relieves me in my distress and hears my prayer.  My God lifts up the light of His countenance and puts gladness in my heart. He blesses me with His favor and surrounds me as a shield...

The LORD is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy....

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame;  He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,—Psalm 103:8;10-17

Psalm 5

O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.  (Psalms 5:3, ESV)

I have portions of this Psalm memorized so this morning when I read it in the ESV the difference in the wording really jarred me.  Here is verse 3 in the NKJV...

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

I have always been blessed when reading this Psalm that in the morning the Psalmist looked to His God...he directed his voice to His God...I always assumed the words and “I will look up” meant when He prayed he looked “up” or heavenward to where his God was.  It was a good reminder to me to focus on things above and not on my circumstances.   The ESV says, “I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”

I looked up the word watch and now I love both versions because both the NKJV and the ESV remind me to direct my voice heavenward in the morning but the ESV tells me to watch and wait for God to answer!   Such a good reminder to me...God answers prayers...He does hear my cry.  My faith is encouraged as I watch and “see” him answer.

But to You I have cried out, O LORD,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.—Ps 88:13

I rise before the dawning of the morning,
And cry for help;
I hope in Your word.—Psalm 119:147

I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.—Habakkuk 2:1

My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning--
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.—Ps 130:6

Psalm 3

The most helpful thing for me to do when trying to understand a psalm is to break it up into parts.  Breaking it up, ironically, brings unity.  It also gives my heart a template to follow in my own devotional time as well as serving to remind me that I am not alone in my suffering and sorrow. A great cloud of witnesses has gone before me.

Psalm 3 really lends itself to this.  We know already from the 1st verse when it was written (when David fled from his son Absalom).  Verses 1 and 2 outline David’s complaint...to David’s credit, he is pretty succinct.  My complaints tend to go longer. :)

Verses 3 and 4 exalt God as David’s help and His Deliver.  These verses show us that David confidence is in His God.  The next two verses (5 & 6) speak to God’s support and preservation even as David sleeps.  David can rest without fear.  In the last two verses we find David strengthening himself in God for what is coming knowing that the battle is not his.  God will fight for him.

Unity...complaint...declaration of dependence on and confidence in God....freedom from fear because God is His support...and the sure and certain knowledge that God will fight His battles...Salvation is of the Lord.

Laying out my complaint...declaring my confidence...sleeping anxiety free and acknowledging that God’s help and blessing are mine. Thank you, Father, for Your word.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.—2 Tim 3:16-17

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.—Hebrews 4:12