This verse is a must for memorization.  Throughout our life there will important cross roads of decision.  We need to be led in the plain path of God’s choosing.  It is so difficult at times for us to see clearly down the road of life.  Our vision becomes clouded with emotions and even sin.  Pride can prompt us to step out on our own.  Hesitation can make us falter and turn back.  But the Spirit of God will guide us in His perfect way.  He knows our weaknesses and our need for the pathway to be made plain.  The dictionary definition for "plain" is very applicable to our understanding of this verse.  Plain: evident, clear, unobstructed, not intricate, simple...level, even.  In sailing terminology "plain" means an unobstructed course of action.  God’s desire is for His children to have victory and walk in His way.  He does not complicate things for us.  They are clearly laid out for us in the Word of God.  He makes them evident to us as we allow our lives to be unobstructed by sin and we face God with level headed consistency.  He teaches the way to us as we listen at His altar of learning.  Then He expects us to walk in that course of action that He has made clear to us.  I can not count the number of times that I have prayed the first part of this verse to the Lord.  I need the Lord to lead me in a plain path.  I want to know His will and way.  I want victory in my life.  Each of us needs to come to the feet of Jesus, as did Mary, Martha’s sister, and learn of Him.  It might require us to abide awhile as we are being taught.  We might have to examine our lives and make that time a priority.  Housework, jobs, duties, are important, but time with the Lord must be of first importance.  When Martin Luther knew he had much to accomplish on a given day, he arose even earlier in the morning so he could spend more time alone with the Lord.  He knew that the increase in activity meant an equal increase of need for prayer and devotion with the Lord.  If we want to be taught, we must first decide to be students.  We tell our children that their job is to be the best student in school that they can be.  As Christians, we need to realize that being a student of the Word and of prayer is our most important job.  We will only be effective servants and soul winners as we learn from the Lord.  We need to come before the Master teacher each day.  With spiritual eyes wide open, enlightened by His Word, prayer and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we should then be able to see the plain path before us.  Perhaps we can not see the entire road way or clearly read the destination markers along the way, but, with God’s help, we can clearly discern the dangerous bypaths that could lead us astray.  Those bypaths are put there by the enemies of our soul.  There are four verses of similarity in Psalms, where David prays for the Lord to lead him.  They each contain a key element in that leading: Psalm 5:8: Lead me...in thy righteousness, Psalm 25:5: Lead me in thy truth, Psalm 27:11: teach me thy way, Psalm 143:10: teach me to do thy will.  We must be led and taught of God’s righteousness, truth, way and will in order to walk on that plain path and be lead into the land of uprightness. (Psalm 143:10)  Lord, lead me in a plain path today.  You know I can not see clearly to make the right decisions on my own.  I need You to guide me and teach me.  Lord, sometimes I get confused and I could take Satan’s bypaths, so, Lord, make it a plain path, not complicated, just easy to discern.  I want to walk Your way, Lord.  I want to do Your will and take Your course of action.  Thank You for being my Guide and leading me at last to the true land of eternal uprightness where all will be made plain.

Waiting, it seems, is not a natural thing for people to do.  The natural thing is to rush ahead, jump to a decision, go off on our own.  If Eve had waited in the garden to ask the Lord whether Satan’s questioning was correct, I wonder what the outcome would have been.  If Abraham had waited in Canaan and prayed for rain, instead of rushing off to Egypt, I wonder.  Esther waited three days on the Lord, in prayer and preparation before approaching the king.  Nehemiah waited six months in prayer before bringing his request before Artexerxes.  The disciples waited in the upper room until power came from on high.  Esther, Nehemiah and the disciples had victory instead of failure.  Their lives and the lives of many others were changed.  Psalm 27 was written when David had been in great need: enemies surrounded him, he felt he could have fainted and yet, he proclaimed that he would still trust the Lord.  At the very climax of his statements, he reminded himself and his men: Wait on the Lord.  When trouble, fear and indecision rush in, just wait on the Lord.  If we forge ahead and try to do it ourselves, we will most likely fail.  Wait on the Lord.  His plan is already in motion, we just haven’t the spiritual eyes many times to see His workings.  Look at the blessings.  He will give us good courage and strengthen our hearts.  Wrong decisions are many times wrought out of fear: fear that if we do not act catastrophe will come; fear that others will take advantage of us; fear that God will not help us.  God says to us: "Be of good courage (don’t act quickly out of fear) and I shall strengthen your heart."  Deep within will come peace as we wait on Him.  Waiting is truly trusting Him.  Take a deep breath, Christian.  Slowly exhale.  Now place your concerns at the feet of the Lord and wait on Him.  Be that good steward who not only serves, but listens for his Master’s commands for the day.  One of the forms of the word serve in Hebrew is closely related to the idea of waiting.  The word "sharath" means to serve and to minister to, to wait on, especially in relationship to worship.  The main Hebrew word for wait used in this verse is the word "qavah."  Its root means to bind together, to expect, to look patiently, to tarry, to wait for, on and upon something.  What a challenging word!  God wants our thoughts to be so bound together with His that we will be at peace in our waiting.  He desires for us to be expectant of His workings, to look patiently for His coming, to tarry for the Spirit’s leading.  He wants us to wait for His direction, whispering clearly in our hearts, before we move on in decision making.  He wants us to wait on the Lord, to serve Him with all our hearts.  He wants us to wait upon Him, to be so available for His use that we would be bound together as one with Him in all that we do in our lives.  No wonder that David made this a command of emphasis to his troops: Wait, I say, on the Lord.  Today the Holy Spirit speaks to us: Wait on the Lord.  He will direct you, and fill you with courage and joy as you do.

When we think of danger in battle, possible injury to physical bodies comes to mind.  In the battle of life, it is not our body but our inner man that needs the greatest protection.  We need armor and strength in the battle that can not be seen with physical eyes.  In that struggle, only the Lord is a sufficient shield and protector for us.  Notice the five steps of our verse for the soldier of the Lord.  First of all, the Lord is already his strength and his shield.  The soldier did not wait until the battle was thick and death near to give his life to the Lord.  He did not selfishly and foolishly think that he could live his life for himself until the moment of his own choosing.  No, the good and wise soldier fully enlisted in the Lord’s army at the earliest time.  When the Holy Spirit, God’s recruitment officer, called on him, he became a soldier committed to the service of the Captain of our salvation.  As his training progressed, he knew that only the Lord was his safe shield and strength.  He laid his homemade weapons aside and took up the gleaming armor of the Cross.  Then when trouble came, the second step was easy, his heart trusted in the Lord.  Quickly, step three became a reality for him, he was helped!  With grateful eyes lifted to the Captain, the soldier enacted steps four and five: his heart greatly rejoiced and he praised the Lord with a song of devotion.  God is still calling today.  He is calling for the lost, helpless on their own, to enlist in salvation’s true army, the company of the redeemed.  To the lagging soldier, He calls: Follow Me, learn of Me, trust in Me.  Does your heart truly trust in the Lord today?  The battlefield is no place for the fearful, undertrained or confused.  Be ready and be confident that God’s help will be yours quickly in time of need as you trust in Him.  As He helps you, do not neglect to rejoice and to praise Him.  Carry the banner of the Lord high as you maintain your battle station.  Let everyone know Who your mighty Captain is.  What an interesting person David was.  He was a soldier, trusting in his Captain in life’s battle.  Yet, he was also that sweet singer of songs, that composer of music on a harp.  We may not be talented in singing or playing a musical instrument, but we can all join with the host of the redeemed as they praise their wonderful Lord.  As I examined my life today, I thought, does my heart truly rejoice within me, even if I am in the battle?  Am I praising the Savior with the song that my life is writing?  Is there a discordant harmony being allowed to creep into the lovely melody that God has composed for my life?  Are the words I speak as sweet songs to the Lord.  Are the thoughts I think a lovely background accompaniment?  Do my works adequately amplify the Lord Jesus, or do they drown out His song?  As others listen to my song, do they hear the lyrics and music that glorifies my Lord?  Lord, make my heart to be as sensitive as a practiced conductor to hear any part of my life that is out of harmony and striking a wrong note in the orchestration of my life You have written.  Let Your Word be my tuning fork to keep me on key.  Let me praise You with a heart that greatly rejoices!

It is truly amazing when we stop to realize that we can worship the Lord of lords, the Creator of the universe, the Sustainer of life, the Controller of eternity.  While many idol worshipers cower before hollow, lifeless statues, even sacrificing human lives to appease a lie, we can come boldly in love before the true God and receive mercy.  What a humbling and glorious truth!  It should cause our hearts to rejoice.  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name!  During our early missionary service, my husband and I lived in an area where God’s name was constantly used as a swear word or as a thoughtless expression.  Over and over, every day we would hear it in Portuguese and in English.  Not only did we not like it, but it wounded our hearts to hear our blessed Savior’s name so lightly and wrongfully used.  It also hurt us to realize that most of the people, though well acquainted with Jesus’ name, did not really know Him.  If they had, they could not have shamed Him so.  After a while, we started to actively comment as we heard others use our Savior’s name in vain.  Graciously, sometimes boldly, we shared why it hurt us to hear our Savior’s name used in such a way.  As a result, we were able to witness time and again about the glorious Jesus and Who He really is.  Not only should we speak in such a way as to bring glory to His name, but we should live our lives in such a way as to be a demonstration of His glory.  Each day, each action should be like an offering of praise unto His name.  The only true way to worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness, is to live lives that are holy.  Our lives need to be cleansed from sin as we come before Him in prayer and confession on a regular basis.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit’s help to live lives that exemplify a redeemed life before the world.  Holiness truly is beautiful.  The world would tell us the opposite.  They would portray a spiritual life as something out of place, ugly or strange.  But instead, their lifestyle is alien to the beautiful plan of God.  They advertise sinful ways as being full of beauty, just like the desired fruit on the tree in the Garden of Eden was pleasant to the eyes of Eve.  Yet those very sinful ways bring destruction and decay.  True beauty is always found in the inner life of gratitude and devotion to the Lord.  That life will shine through, giving the godly woman a countenance of beauty before her Lord and before others.  Worshiping in the beauty of holiness also means bowing before the Lord with whole hearted devotion, humbly praying in His will.  When we come before the Lord, in love, adoration and worship, knowing our lives are cleansed and right before Him, it is a beautiful thing.  We need to guard our holiness so that we can honor the Lord in our worship, and worship Him in the living of our lives.  God’s word challenges us to serve him without fear. In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74-75)  Lord, help me to live today as a sacrifice of praise to You.  Help me to honor Your glorious name.  Help me to remember that as a Christian, I carry that name as my own.  Let my life reflect Your majesty.  Help me to live a holy life, a life that is a praise to You.

When we are chastened by the Lord, it can many times be an occasion for the devil to whisper in our ear, trying to plant questions about God’s dealings with us.  We need to remember where these whispers and traitorous thoughts come from.  They come from one who never plans dealings for our good, the enemy of our souls.  We need to memorize this verse and quote it to Satan when he tries to tempt us so.  Verse four of this same Psalm reminds the saved to give thanks at the remembrance of [God’s] holiness.  Everything that God does is holy, perfect, good and right, even when he chastens us or uses seemingly hard circumstances to redirect us to His higher good for our lives.  We may at times view His acting upon our sin as being done in anger, but we see anger through human eyes.  The list of references in my Bible for God’s anger is very long.  It is also called "divine indignation."  God is indignant with sin and failure.  The English word "anger" can mean a strong passion when displeased.  Our God is a strong and mighty God interested in our personal lives.  We should praise Him for all His dealings with us.  All His dealings are done for us in His holiness, love and mercy.  No matter how hard the situation, how painful the going, remember to continue serving the Lord, putting full living trust in Him, for in His favour is life.  All else may pass, but we must live in view of eternity.  God, the Creator of life, is the only Sustainer of it and the only Bestower of eternal life.  Christian, don’t give up on God.  His way is always best.  Just around God’s appointed corner is victory when all seems defeat.  What a comfort the end of our verse should be.  Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.  When we are cast down, discouraged or overwhelmed, when troubles or sorrows close in like the darkest night, God can send His rays of morning light into our hearts again.  It is so sad and disheartening to see a person so devastated by the death of a loved one that they refuse to go on with life.  What a better testimony to true love, for someone to find strength to continue to live life, even living it with joy.  God alone can do that for a heart.  Our hearts will be broken many times, sorrows will continue to be part of our lives, but the Great Mender of broken hearts will come with compassion, bind up our wounds, dry our eyes, and then fill us with His joy.  Don’t live as children of the night, awake today to God’s glorious morning.  If you have a sorrow, a heart breaking situation, a grief, let God sweetly send His rays of love deep within.  When you are in a valley of life, do not ever despair: joy cometh in the morning.  In our present life, the morning may be that very physical time when the sun rises to start the new day.  What a comforting truth to know that God gives to us a new day every twenty-four hours.  A new space of time when we can step out in faith and see God mend our hurts, see God work as we implement His ways in dealing with conflicts and troubles, when He gives us time to start afresh.  In that glad morning when we awake in the heavenly kingdom, all our sorrows will truly be past.  We see a picture of this in Isaiah 35:10, when we are given a glimpse of the New Jerusalem: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  God’s eternal day is going to be a bright and glorious morning no matter what sorrows or pain we had on earth.  One of the amazing secrets of the Christian life is that we do not have to wait for Heaven to have the joy that comes with the shining of God’s light.  Jesus promises it to us now!  He encouraged his disciples just before what they were to think was their darkest hour, the hour of Christ’s death.  Included in His encouragement is this verse on joy: These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (John 15:11)  Jesus knew the valley of fear and troubled thoughts that they would go through.  Yet, He admonished them to let His joy remain in their hearts, even through it all.  On the other side was resurrection morning!  His joy would overflow in their hearts as they saw Him again face to face.  How they must have later reflected on their despairing thoughts during the three nights of the tomb.  How they must have felt challenged to never again doubt their Lord.  Let us take that challenge today for our dark moments.  In the midst of them, let us expectantly watch for the dawning of the new day as the daystar (Jesus) rises in our hearts by faith.

Our spirit is our most valuable personal property.  Our body, no matter how much one spends on it, will eventually age and deteriorate.  Our minds, no matter how much education we pursue, can become feeble.  But our eternal spirit will endure forever.  It is the one thing that truly separates us from all other life.  It was God’s gift to us at Creation.  It is His gift to be handed back to Him at the moment of salvation for His eternal protection and renewal.  There is no other keeper worthy to care for our spirit than God.  Many times this verse has been used for a dying person.  For that moment at which we have no possible control, we need to be certain ahead of time that we have truly committed our spirit to the Lord.  We need to be certain that there was that day in our lives when we committed our spirit into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who can redeem.  He paid the ransom price for the sin that enslaved our spirit and His death made possible our freedom from sin and eternal death.  The price was paid.  He waits for us to come to Him and trust Him with our spirit’s redemption price payment.  If we try to keep our spirit for ourselves, it will only remain tarnished by sin and bound for an eternal separation from God.  As we commit ourselves into His hands, we can be assured of eternal life.  Take a moment to reflect.  Can you remember and claim the day you were redeemed?  Can you remember the moment in time when your eternal transaction was made with your Lord?  That time when you committed your spirit unto Him?  If there is any doubt, then make certain today.  Commit your spirit to the God of truth.  Once committed to Him, our spirit is eternally safe.  Jesus said: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)  He has promised to keep us by the power of God. (I Peter 1:5)  There is no power stronger than the LORD our Redeemer’s power.  Has the devil tried to make you doubt your security in Christ?  Never fear, his doubts are foundless!  Since we have committed our lives to the God of Truth, we can be filled with peace and hope.  Our God is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against that day! (II Timothy 1:12)  He is the "faithful Creator."  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator. (I Peter 4:19)  He is the Creator of life and the Creator of new life.  He is the God of all truth and our Redeemer.  We can commit, fully trust, our spirit to Him.  Commit means to entrust, to give charge...to pledge or bind.  Today let us pause to entrust our spirit and our life, our day and our moments, our family and our church to the Lord.  Let us give Him charge as we pledge ourselves anew to Him and ask God to bind us together with Him in true Christian commitment.

Throughout the ages, men and woman have had a difficult time understanding the significance of this verse.  They have seemed to fight God for their possession of time, saying to God, "My time is my own!"  God says, "Wait," and man rushes ahead.  God says, "Rest," and man struggles.  God says, "Go," and man refuses to budge.  The only true peace a Christian can have greatly depends on whether or not they have prayed this prayer: [God,] my times are in thy hand.  So often you can see the lack of peace if that principle of time commitment is not understood.  The mother who resents having to stay home to care for her children, rather than giving her time to God to minister to the "little ones."  The person who becomes bitter because God has placed them in the bed of affliction, instead of accepting His time for their rest and healing.  The husband or wife who wants to use their time only for themselves, instead of for each other.  The Christian who will not give their time to God, missing church, worship, prayer, study and service opportunities.  All these lack the peace and joy that service of time can produce.  Think of the last time God changed your plans for His timing and blessing.  When we accepted that change, we received the benefits and He received the honor.  The next time a little child wants your attention, lay aside your work and listen: it is God’s time.  When a sick loved one needs your care and companionship, lay aside your plans and be used of God: it is His time.  If dreams and plans do not materialize over night, wait on God and persevere: it is His time.  His time is what is important for eternity.  Running ahead of God, selfishly guarding our own time, refusing to use our time for God, can only lead to bitterness and strife within.  Giving God your time will produce peace, direction and a new desire to use HIS TIME for HIS PURPOSE.  Give the hours and minutes of this day to God.  Know His peace and marvel at how God can make your time more fruitful, fulfilled, productive and joyful.  One of the headings for time in my Bible is: "Accepted time, the time favorable for seeking God."  We need to seek Him in all our moments!  Most Christians have committed their lives to the Lord, very few have committed every moment consciously to Him.  The latter group is the one that finds victory with God.  Lord, today I place my times into Thy hands.  Yesterday, I thought upon the commitment of my spirit into Your mighty hands.  Today, help me to think of each segment of time, to be aware of the ticking of the clock, as I place those moments on the altar to be guarded for Your glory and honor.  Help me to take my hands off and commit these moments to You for Your use.