Instruction... Illumination... Implementation

I would encourage you to click on the link to this song. It is a beautiful heartfelt song of worship and petition.

April 13, 2016

Worship: Listen to Our Hearts by Geoff Moore

How do you explain?
How do you describe a love
That goes from east to west
And runs as deep as it is wide?

You know all our hopes,
Lord, you know all our fears,
And words cannot express
The love we feel
But we long for you to hear.

So listen to our hearts
(Oh, Lord, please listen)
Hear our spirit sing...
(and hear us sing)

A song of praise that flows...
(A simple song of praise)
From those you have redeemed
(From those you have redeemed)

We will use the words
We know to tell you
What an awesome God you are
But words are not enough
To tell you of our love
So listen to our hearts.

If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine
And if I had a thousand years
I would still run out of time,

So if you'll listen to my heart
Every beat will say
Thank-you for the life
Thank-you for the truth
Thank-you for the way.

So listen to our hearts
(Oh, Lord, please listen)
Hear our spirit sing...
(And hear us sing)

A song of praise that flows...
(A simple song of praise)
From those you have redeemed
(Those you have redeemed)

We will use the words
We know to tell you
What an awesome God you are
But words are not enough to tell you
Of our love, so listen to our hearts

You know all our hopes
(All our hopes)
Lord, you know all our fears
(And all our fears)
And words cannot
Express the love we feel
But we long for you to hear.

Listen to our hearts
(Oh, Lord, please listen)
Hear our spirit sing...
(And hear us sing)

A song of praise that flows...
(A song of praise)
From those you have redeemed
(From those you have redeemed)

We will use the words
We know to tell you
What an awesome God you are
But words are not enough to tell you
Of our love, so listen to our hearts.

Words are not enough to tell you
Of our love, so listen to our hearts.

http://www.newreleasetoday.com/lyricsdetail.php?lyrics_id=15023

Video: https://youtu.be/f7dRb1fIl2M

Witness:

As you can see, it’s been a few days again before I could sit down and journal my thoughts. Monday I babysat 3 of my grandkids. Tuesday was Men’s night out at the church, so here I am finally sitting down to write. My body is so weary and cries out to lay down to sleep before I go to work. I am suffering from lethargy and lack of desire. All my passion for studying and for ministering has seemed to disappear. I fell to my knees and cried out to the Lord to restore my desire and Love for Him. Life and loss have taken their toll on me and demand their due each day it seems, and I continually have to fight to regain joy and maintain focus on the things of God and not of man. As I arose from prayer, the song above began to play in my mind, and I decided to make it the song of worship for today. I make it my heart song to my God who loves me in spite of my frailties and doubts. Will you make it yours as well?

WORD:

Ps 25:4-5 4 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. NIV	Ps 25:4-5 4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. ESV
Ps 25:4-5 4 Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. 5 Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.	Ps 25:4-5 4 Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day. NASU

My thoughts on this passage are simple today. Let me preface them by including some ideas by other commentators.

Spurgeon:

           

Ver. 4. Shew me thy ways, O Lord. Unsanctified natures clamour for their own way, but gracious spirits cry, "Not my will, but thine be done." We cannot at all times discern the path of duty, and at such times it is our wisdom to apply to the Lord himself. Frequently the dealings of God with us are mysterious, and then also we may appeal to him as his own interpreter, and in due time he will make all things plain. Moral, providential and mental forms of guidance are all precious gifts of a gracious God to a teachable people. The second petition, teach me thy paths, appears to mean more than the first, and may be illustrated by the case of a little child who should say to his father, "Father, first tell me which is the way, and then teach my little trembling feet to walk in it." What weak dependent creatures we are! How constantly should we cry to the Strong for strength!

Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. The same request as in the last verse. The little child having begun to walk, asks to be still led onward by its parent's helping hand, and to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this prayer. Lead me according to thy truth, and prove thyself faithful; lead me into truth that I may know its preciousness, lead me by the way of truth that I may manifest its spirit. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance and desired to be still in the Lord's school; four times over in these two verses he applies for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable spirits.For thou art the God of my salvation. The Three-in-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfector of salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial.On thee do I wait all the day. Patience is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously he once waited for us. (from The Treasury of David, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Wiersbe:

David not only prayed for God's guidance, he asked for insight to understand the Word; for only there could he learn God's ways and understand his own path. "Lead me in your truth" reminds us that the Word and prayer always go together (1 Sam 12:23; John 15:7).
(from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)

Nelson Study Bible

25:4–7 Show me is an appeal to God to enter into David’s life more directly, to help him become conformed to the character of God (Rom. 12:1, 2).Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Ps 25:4–7). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

KJV Study Bible

4–7. Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. This echo of the prayer of Moses when his people were rebellious at Sinai (Ex 33:13) is reiterated by David here and elsewhere (cf. 27:11; 86:11). There appears to be a difference between Show and teach. Teach carries the thought of a father helping a little child learn, of giving specific ethical instruction. But greater is Lead me in thy truth, and teach me. To show the ways of the Lord and make them visible, is very basic. The next higher step is to teach them. But the higher step yet is to lead in the ways of truth, to provide example as well as instruction. This is David’s prayer: that the Lord would lead him in His truth.Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 1013). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Keil and Delitzsch

Recognizing the infamy of such black ingratitude, he prays for instruction as to the ways which he must take according to the precepts of God (Ps 18:22). The will of God, it is true, lies before us in God's written word, but the expounder required for the right understanding of that word is God Himself. He prays Him for knowledge; but in order to make what he knows a perfect and living reality, he still further needs the grace of God, viz., both His enlightening and also His guiding grace.(from Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)

To these, I will add my own feeble thoughts. David’s desire is to be not only a hearer of the word but a doer also.

James 1:22-23

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
NIV

Therefore, his prayer is twofold. First, that he may know and understand God’s will and ways as found in His word. Second, that he may live them out in his life. David is praying for instruction & illumination, as well as implementation.

1. Instruction - in the ways of God 

2. Illumination - An understanding of what they mean in specific situations

2. Implementation - the wisdom and ability to apply them to those situations