Psalms 16:7-8
“I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
My Pondering
Wow, here is some terrific insight from David.
First, he extols God for what He has done and shall do for him and his people. Earlier in the passage, he audibly speaks praise to his LORD! Second, David shares how God instructs him at night. When we sleep our conscious mind takes a break but our subconscious never sleeps. Our heart is linked to the Infinite one and can connect to our conscious mind. No doubt the subconscious is a wonderful aid and so often under utilized and ignored.
I believe the subconscious is an intangible space that we connect our mind’s inner working gears with the infinite Source’s workings. As we read, David wisely ‘sets’ the LORD before him always. This is the ultimate’mindset’ one can possess. He counts on with an expectation for God to do the heavy lifting as his strong right hand. By ‘setting’ the LORD before him, He is aligning his being, will, whole mind and heart (conscious and subconscious), & personhood to get in tune with God’s principles (ways), character (being) and good pleasure (will).
God, unlike the animals programmed wonderfully to run on instinct, has created us in His image as stated in Genesis 3, more like His being with some of micro abilities than physical image, as I imagine. Regardless, our words, thoughts, emotions, relationships and programming matter; not in physical sense since they are invisible but in essense. Think about it!
No doubt God can choose to exercise His power to influence us and our circumstance however He sees fit (like He does with the Pharoah of Egypt) yet I see plenty of free will in operation for good and/or bad. So let us ‘set’ ourselves up for making the most of the precious time, talent and treasure bequeathed, as made (past and present) and making (present and future) available by the Creator to each of us.
My prayer: LORD, You are truly wonderful in all Your ways. Help me to mine your Scripture to better understand and implement them in my life and leave this place for the better.
P.S. Some folks, especially those a bit on the legalistic or detailed side, might get tripped up on how we can possibly, ‘bless the Lord’. They would have a point in the sense that God is perfect in His being and needs nothing. Yet, that doesn’t mean He doesn’t want nothing. If you are parent, been a coach, or a teacher or something like that, aren’t you happy when your son, daughter, player, or sincerely says, ‘thank you’ or gives her best, or hits a home run – doesn’t that bless you?
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Pondering Life : Pursuing God 