Psalms 86:1-13 Chapter 86 1 Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer me; For I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am godly: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord; For unto thee do I cry all the day long. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant; For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness unto all them that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, O Jehovah, unto my prayer; And hearken unto the voice of my supplications. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; For thou wilt answer me. 8 There is none like unto thee among the gods, O Lord; Neither `are there any works' like unto thy works. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; And they shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone. 11 Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: Unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart; And I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy lovingkindness toward me; And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

Have you been seeking the Lord’s guidance on a particular issue yet still can’t discern what He would have you do? We don’t always know why God doesn’t make everything clear when we ask for His help. But doing certain things can prepare us to hear His directions.

Seek Cleansing. We need to ask the Lord if there is anything in our life that is hindering our prayers. Then, if He brings something to mind, we can receive His cleansing through confession ( 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ).

Surrender. If we have not fully yielded ourselves to the Lord, our heart will remain set on our own desires. When that’s the case, we’ll have difficulty perceiving His will ( James 4:3 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend `it' in your pleasures. ).

Ask Wisely. God is committed to answering our prayers if we ask according to His will ( 1 John 5:14-15 14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: 15 and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. ). Therefore, we must carefully consider if our requests align with His desires as revealed in Scripture.

Meditate. Since God’s Word is a light to our path, the more we think about the truths of Scripture, the clearer the way will become ( Psalms 119:105 105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path. ).

Wait. God promises to act on the behalf of those who wait (Isa. 64:4). Therefore, we must resist the urge to run ahead of Him by trying to fix the situation ourselves or manipulate circumstances to get our desired outcome.

Instead of letting uncertainty cause you to become anxious or fearful, consider these five practices. Then begin to look at your situation as an opportunity to trust your sovereign, omnipotent God who always works everything for your good (Rom. 8:28).

Bible in One Year:  1 Chronicles 22-24 Chapter 22 1 Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel. 2 And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. 3 And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings; and brass in abundance without weight; 4 and cedar-trees without number: for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought cedar-trees in abundance to David. 5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for Jehovah must be exceeding magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. 6 Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Jehovah, the God of Israel. 7 And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house unto the name of Jehovah my God. 8 But the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days: 10 he shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever. 11 Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of Jehovah thy God, as he hath spoken concerning thee. 12 Only Jehovah give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel; that so thou mayest keep the law of Jehovah thy God. 13 Then shalt thou prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Jehovah charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; fear not, neither be dismayed. 14 Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. 15 Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men that are skilful in every manner of work: 16 of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and Jehovah be with thee. 17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, `saying', 18 Is not Jehovah your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people. 19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah. Chapter 23 1 Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. 2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. 3 And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand. 4 Of these, twenty and four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Jehovah; and six thousand were officers and judges; 5 and four thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Jehovah with the instruments which I made, `said David', to praise therewith. 6 And David divided them into courses according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. 9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' `houses' of Ladan. 10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11 And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning. 12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons, for ever, to burn incense before Jehovah, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, for ever. 14 But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17 And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second. 21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them `to wife'. 23 The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three. 24 These were the sons of Levi after their fathers' houses, even the heads of the fathers' `houses' of those of them that were counted, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the house of Jehovah, from twenty years old and upward. 25 For David said, Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath given rest unto his people; and he dwelleth in Jerusalem for ever: 26 and also the Levites shall no more have need to carry the tabernacle and all the vessels of it for the service thereof. 27 For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward. 28 For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God; 29 for the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a meal-offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size; 30 and to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise at even; 31 and to offer all burnt-offerings unto Jehovah, on the sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Jehovah; 32 and that they should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, for the service of the house of Jehovah. Chapter 24 1 And the courses of the sons of Aaron `were these'. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office. 3 And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service. 4 And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and `thus' were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, heads of fathers' houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers' houses, eight. 5 Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for there were princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. 6 And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers' `houses' of the priests and of the Levites; one fathers' house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar. 7 Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, 17 the one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul, 18 the three and twentieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah. 19 This was the ordering of them in their service, to come into the house of Jehovah according to the ordinance `given' unto them by Aaron their father, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, had commanded him. 20 And of the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. 21 Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. 22 Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. 23 And the sons `of Hebron': Jeriah `the chief', Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. 24 The sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir. 25 The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. 26 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah: Beno. 27 The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri. 28 Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. 29 Of Kish; the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. 30 And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers' houses. 31 These likewise cast lots even as their brethren the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers' `houses' of the priests and of the Levites; the fathers' `houses' of the chief even as those of his younger brother.