HomeI read Psalm 19-26 today.
Psalms are full of wisdom, emotion, rawness of life. I can’t sum up in a few moments the vast array of things covered in a few Psalms, not when a verse or two can be expounded upon at great length. But there are highlights that grab you as you read.
19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
It is a common habit of mine to walk out the front door before bed, check that the garage door is closed and then spend several moments looking upward at the heavens. contemplating the stars, the vast empty space, the glory of God. It brings perspective to life I think.
19:12-14 Who can discern his errors? (I believe that would be the servant’s errors, not God’s)
Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
God alone discerns errors, sees our hearts, knows us fully. He knows the faults we have that we do not see. We are fallen and blind in many ways. He is merciful to us in this. Those who have His spirit are kept back from bold and arrogant sins. David is asking to be kept from them and that by the spirit. David asks interesting things that one should pay attention to… he asks to be declared innocent, he asks to be held back, restricted from sinning and he asks to be declared blameless and innocent of transgression. If you read about David in Samuel 1&2, you see that he was not a perfect man, but a man who pursued God and fell into sin at times and also dealt with the consequences of his sin. But he quickly confessed and repented when his hidden faults or presumptuous sins were made known. He knew that he was faulty and he knew that he would be tempted again so he asked for protection and innocence in both. He knew who to ask for that. God. And later, when you see him proclaiming his righteousness, you are prone to think, but he’s a sinner just like everyone else, which is true, but I believe, if you look closer, David was fully resting on God for his righteousness and innocence and knew that was the only hope and source for him, not a righteousness of his own. That allowed him to continue on boldly and strongly rather than being ruined by the knowledge of his depravity. He knew he was depraved and he knew the one to fix it.
David goes a step further in that he not only asks for protection, mercy, forgiveness and innocence regarding his sins, but he then goes and asks for acceptance in the things he thinks and says. He doesn’t ask that God would accept his junk, he asks that God would sanctify the things he is thinking and saying and going to think and say, that they would be acceptable. That’s a big prayer to a God who is all light and is no darkness at all, to ask that all your words and thoughts be acceptable. That God would work in him to make it so. Do we think about that before we think or speak? I think life would be much better if I did that. If I prayed that and trusted God to work in me to bring it about. I spend a lot of time thinking how hopeless I am and not about how the only hope is in God.
God is David’s only hope. David in most cases had no plan B. In our lives, do we see God as our only hope? I want that to be more and more my consistent belief and prayer, not just words out of my mouth, but true faith.
Hasta la próxima, Si Dios quiere
(until the next time, if God wants)
tom