"In the Morning, Let Me Hear Your Lovingkindness"
"In the morning, let me hear of Your lovingkindness, for in You I trust; make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul." (Psalm 143:8)
David, the psalmist, says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1). It is truly beautiful when brothers and sisters unite in the Lord, serving Him with one heart and one mind. What, then, should we do to maintain the unity of the Spirit in our church (Ephesians 4:3)? We need ears to hear. We must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19). Children of God who work towards the unity of the church have ears for peace and harmony. So, what should we be listening to? In today’s passage, Psalm 143:8, like the psalmist, we need to listen to the Lord's merciful words. The reason the psalmist wanted to hear God's lovingkindness in the morning was that he desired to hear God's voice and walk the path that God desired. Therefore, he prayed, "Make me know the way I should go" (v. 8). In other words, the psalmist desired to learn God’s will. So, he prayed: “For You are my God; teach me to do Your will...” (v. 10).
Like the psalmist, we too should go up to the Lord’s house in the morning and pray: “This morning, I trust in You. Please let me hear Your merciful words.” As we pray, we should meditate on God's Word, humbly listening to the voice of God's lovingkindness that the Holy Spirit speaks to us. And like the psalmist, we should rejoice in hearing God's voice and delight in doing His will.
This morning, the merciful word the Lord spoke to me was from Psalm 141:5: “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be as excellent oil, which shall not break my head…” How can we consider the rebuke of others as a kindness? Usually, when we are reproved by others, we don’t feel very good about it. And so, we often speak impulsively in the heat of the moment. Without the fear of God, we don't guard our mouths. When we hear rebukes, we do not set a watch over our mouths and are quick to speak. Why does this happen? The reason is that we have not heard, like the psalmist, the merciful words of the Lord in the morning. And even if we have heard them, we often do not obey them. The reason for our disobedience is that we prefer to do our own will rather than God's will.
However, a believer who hears the merciful words of the Lord and desires to do His will, even through the rebukes of others, will feel the faithful grace and endless love of God. Through the rebuke of others, they will once again be confronted with God’s Word and will realize more deeply the grace of God that reveals their sins. For example, God may expose our unfaithfulness to make us experience His faithful grace. When we experience that faithful grace, we do not feel hatred within the rebuke (even though it is love, not hatred), but instead, we feel God’s constant and faithful love toward us. Therefore, we even cherish the rebuke of love as a precious grace.
In order for our church to maintain unity in the midst of diversity, we must listen attentively to the Lord's merciful words. Even when people from various backgrounds come together and express their thoughts with words, our spiritual ears must be inclined to the merciful words that the Lord speaks to us. In doing so, our attitude must be humble, seeking to do the Lord's will and striving to glorify God. Even if the merciful words of the Lord, through the words of others, reveal our sins more clearly, we must still reflect on what the Lord's will is and strive to fulfill it.
If we live with this attitude, we will be able to see not only the correction of our beloved brothers and sisters, but also the curse of our enemies, as grace. Just as David, after committing sin and fleeing from the palace to the wilderness, humbly listened to the curse of Shimei from the tribe of Benjamin, we, too, if we are spiritually healthy and feed on the Lord’s merciful words in the wilderness, will be able to humbly listen to the false words, gossip, slander, and condemnation of those who hate us. And it will not stop at merely listening—through words, we will hear the Lord's voice more clearly, engraving it in our hearts and living a life that embodies His Word.
Therefore, we will be able to sincerely confess, “There is no joy greater than the voice of the Lord” (Hymn 500) and truly offer our praise to God.
Longing to hear the Lord's merciful words in the midst of the many voices of this world and people,
Pastor James Kim
(With a heart that desires to confess that there is no joy greater than the voice of the Lord)