Was I hungry last night?

I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. (Psalm 16:7-8)

We make a choice each day - will we enthrone Jesus in our lives, or will we take the reins and do things our way. We also choose if we will 'bless the Lord' by those actions. Do we just praise God for the things he has done in our lives, or do we choose to bless him no matter what comes our way? Tough question, I know, because to bless and exalt him for the 'good stuff' is a whole lot easier than to bless him in the midst of trying circumstances outside of our control. 

Guided and instructed - this is the reason for our exaltation. We are guided in the good and the unpleasant. We are instructed (taught) in the celebrations as much as in the trials and tribulations of life. His counsel (teaching) comes to us in the Word of God, but it is 'recalled' and 'cemented' in our lives through the action of the Holy Spirit who resides within us. He not only confirms our course, but he corrects it whenever necessary. It is indeed a good thing to celebrate this 'oversight' in our lives because we don't always do such a bang-up job with choices.

What is this 'at night my heart instructs me' thing our psalmist is speaking to in this passage? I have told you repeatedly how 'fickle' and 'unreliable' our hearts can be at times - choosing to follow the whim of our emotions rather than the sound reasoning God brings to our conscience. God gave us a conscience because he knew we would struggle with our emotions maybe more than we might actually like to admit. In the wee hours of the night, have you ever felt like your 'decisions' were kind of 'brought into the balance'? I have and I know it is the work of the Holy Spirit, interacting with my conscience - not to make me feel bad, but to help me see where my steps were a little bit disordered.

In the night hours, God speaks deep into our spirit through our conscience. Even when our 'unconscious' seems to be in control (dreamland), God's Spirit is hard at work within - teaching, bringing to mind wise choices, recalling scripture, impressing good things in our mind. Ever wake up with a scripture in mind, or feel like your spirit was just way more 'renewed' than when you went to bed? It is because God's Spirit did not abandon us to our own devices while we slept! When we take in the Word of God, our conscience will be fed the right stuff, even when we don't know we are 'feeding' upon that Word. 

If we want to be closer to God, we must begin to feed ourselves the things that will sustain us, even when we aren't aware we need to be 'fed'. Just sayin!