Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. (Psalm 27:11-12)
It occurs to me that there are a couple of ways we could interpret David’s words, but I will focus on just one. It could be that he was asking the LORD to teach Him the ways of truth because his enemies were watching to see if he would, indeed, walk according to the truth. Obviously there are some people in this world who wouldn’t think of doing what is right in the eyes of God, preferring to live life in a way that suits their selfish desires. At the same time, those same people are quick to pounce if they see any of God’s people make any kind of mistake that might be viewed as sinful. Perhaps this scenario is why David prayed for the LORD to lead him “in a smooth path.”
That the world is looking at us with contempt and the intention to accuse us of hypocrisy is exactly why we need the LORD to teach us the proper way to live. We need to be so acquainted with His Word, rightly dividing it as Paul encouraged Timothy, that whenever we encounter a challenging situation, we act in a way that is honorable to our Father. The accuser of the brethren accuses God’s people night and day anyway; we certainly don’t need to behave in such a way that we hand over to him more ammunition to use against us. As David rightly says, our adversaries stand ready to breathe out violence against us.
Taking all of this into consideration, I certainly understand why David wanted the LORD to lead him in a smooth path — no one wants to have to contend with spiteful adversaries and the pitfalls of life at the same time. Yet it could be that David’s primary concern was wanting to avoid a situation whereby he might fail God in front of his enemies. Perhaps he prayed in this manner because he didn’t want to bring reproach upon the name of God, thus giving His enemies a reason to mock and ridicule the ways of truth. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: to some degree, God has entrusted His reputation into our hands, and therefore, we need to be very careful in how we handle it. We mustn’t profane His name among the people. To that end, let us all pray as David prayed, “Teach me Your way, O Lord that I may sanctify Your Holy Name in the earth.”
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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