“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:10)

I don’t want to be a pessimistic person, but looking at how things are going in 2024 I still have to be honest. Meaning we can’t turn a blind eye to the things we see and experience each day. Recently I took a trip for work which required air travel. Now it’s true that judging humanity by all the folks going through airports is a bit unfair. But still, watching all the people I had to wonder “Does anyone know how to be polite, or even just professional.” Of course, the various unpleasantries of traveling only scratches the surface of the battle between good and evil in today’s world. We have military conflicts; confusion between science, biology and a person’s feelings; a general breakdown of the traditional family structure; and the list goes on. So this all sounds pretty pessimistic, but there is a silver lining. While it’s true that sin is alive and well in our lives, so is God. We have an almighty and powerful ally in this fight for good and righteousness. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit as an advocate, an advisor having the power of God within us. So while it’s true that our world seems to be in a downward spiral, we still have the most powerful weapon against sin and evil available to us – prayer! And today’s scripture is a perfect prayer to say. God knows what’s best for us so we need His guidance and His teaching to accomplish it. And we know that evil, with all its sinful temptation, exists wherever we are. But this Psalm reminds us that  God is there too. We need to be prayerful to be led by the Spirit and fix our feet on the steady and firm ground established by Jesus Christ. In praying for God’s will to be done, and through the “leading” of the Holy Spirit, we can stand righteously in this world and remain on “level ground.”