“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.” (Psalm 143:8)

This is a beautiful and meaningful prayer with which to start the day, and one that God must delight to answer. It is very simple, with two requests and two declarations, yet it can reach the very heart of God.

Because we trust implicitly in His Word, we hear Him speak through it as we read it at the beginning of the day. And as we hear Him speak, we rejoice again in His lovingkindness, especially in saving our souls and guiding our ways.

Then we are emboldened once again to lift up our very souls to Him (not just our voices!) and ask Him for clear guidance in the way in which we should walk today.

The psalmist also prays, and so should we: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness” (Psalm 143:10). God will “cause [us] to know the way wherein [we] should walk” by the Holy Spirit if we sincerely desire to know and to follow His will and to be led in the paths of righteousness. He will never lead us, of course, in any path contrary to His revealed Word. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).

But when He is given all priority in our lives, when we love and study and obey His Word, and when we sincerely call on Him for daily guidance in His will, He will surely answer. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6). “This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5:14-15). HMM