Setting God Always Before You

I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:8-11

David wrote in Psalm 16, “I have set the Lord always before me.” What did he mean? He meant that he made God his top priority, he looked to God throughout the day, and he did it deliberately. “I have set the Lord always before me” does not sound like “I usually remember to pray before I eat” or “I think about the Bible when I happen to catch Charles Stanley on the radio a couple mornings a week” or “Sometimes I have free time at lunch and I open my Bible.” It sounds much more premeditated and purposeful doesn’t it? David took deliberate, planned steps to make sure God was always at the forefront of his mind.

This is what this blog is all about—purposefully developing habits that keep God as high as possible on the jumbled “to do” list running through our minds all day. Scheduling several times to pray, reading the Bible, and leaving some quiet spaces during the day are all ways to continually "set Him before us" and allow Him bit by bit to take over our thoughts, emotions and wills. If we stick with this, ultimately we can say along with David in Psalm 16: no circumstance shakes me up for long; my heart is no longer heavy; I don’t fear death or the aging of my body; I know the path to travel through life; I am full of joy.