Psalms 119:132-133

¹³² Turn to me and have mercy on me,
   as you always do to those who love your name.   David’s request is simple.   Turn to me.  Have mercy on me.   It’s a request, almost a plea.   In the previous verses he states his desire for God’s word, he states his virtual contempt for the wicked, here he requests God’s presence and mercy.   And then the statement of fact: “As you always do to those who love your name”.   God listens, comforts, and loves on those who love HIM.   That’s a simple prayer that any Christian can and should pray daily.   It’s a realization that I don’t think many have made to be honest.   We get so busy with life that we don’t realize that GOD wants us to actually say those words BEFORE we get into trouble.   We don’t have a problem saying them after the fact when trouble hits, but what about in everyday life?   Do we pray it when we get up in the morning?  Before we go to bed?  It’s something that I’m just realizing I should do.   It’s something that David has been teaching me these past couple months.

¹³³ Direct my footsteps according to your word;
   let no sin rule over me.    OH MY WORD!!   Or as we would say in this textual world we live in OMG!!!  Is this a prayer I need to pray hourly.    The first part:  Direct my footsteps according to your word is another prayer that most of us don’t pray the minute we wake up.   I know I don’t.   It’s almost scary in the concept to be honest, to pray for God’s leading in our very footsteps.   If we were to pray that and mean it, where would those steps lead me?   To what kind of person/situations/experiences would that lead me to?    It’s not a revolutionary concept, but it’s a love concept.  I would be forced to put love to the steps I take and prove it when I come upon the person those steps lead me to.    The second half of this verse: Let no sin rule over me.   How often do I just sit down and let sin just take over my brain and away I go.    David’s prayer is for freedom from the bondage, they dysfunction of sin.  Sin isn’t fun, it’s actually compounded drudgery masked in fascination.   When you come right down to it, once the mask is taken away from sin, you realize what Solomon means in Ecclesiastes 2 when he says:                                                                                                                ¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
                            I refused my heart no pleasure.
                           My heart took delight in all my labor,
                          and this was the reward for all my toil. 
¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
                          and what I had toiled to achieve,
                          everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
                           nothing was gained under the sun.      It’s meaningless, drudgery.   Pointlessness.   David’s prayer is simple:  Let it not rule over me.    That needs to be my prayer, a Christians daily prayer.