Busy day ahead. Tomorrow, definitely.
But one day at a time.
Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.
(Ron Kenoly’s 3 sons singing Ancient of Days in the background)
Psalm 26
I Will Bless the LORD
OF DAVID.
1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.
4 I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.
9 Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.
I don’t know what was going on in David’s mind as he was composing this Psalm; I could imagine the raw emotion which drove him to what I assume was an assertion of his own integrity and, ultimately, his own works and performance.
I mean, go through it again. Look at my integrity, Lord. Look, I’ve trusted You without wavering. Test my heart and mind, because I take in Your love and faithfulness, and I’m avoiding evildoers, men of falsehood, as well as the wicked and the hypocrites.
Look, Lord, I’m innocent, and in fact, I’m thanking You and speaking of Your wondrous deeds.
I’m probably making it sound different but that’s how it rubs off on me at first glance. Not really sure what I wrote about Psalm 26 in the past, but this is what’s jumping out right now.
Not to say that I’m NOT like this, oh no, I’m pretty sure I have the tendency to humble brag, and even before my Maker, no less.
But that’s the thing, huh? Like David was comfortable in saying all of this, I suppose we should all be so open and complete with all we feel. If we say we trust the Lord, we ought to trust Him with these thoughts and these emotions too, right?
I mean, like earlier this morning – now that I remember, I wasn’t any different. I wasn’t tooting my horn, but I didn’t have to because I just went straight up with my questions to the Lord: Why did she block me? Why did she leave me, twice even? Was it something I said? Was it something I did? Was it something I didn’t say? Was it something I didn’t do? And, really, now that I think about it, what I really was saying was I didn’t deserve to be blocked twice. I was good with everything I said and everything I didn’t say. I was good with everything I did and didn’t do.
Look at me, Lord, I’m faithful. Look at me, Lord, I was always trusting in You.
So much talk about the right way to pray, when here I’m reminded of David’s example and choice of words. Yeah, I’m not about to go ahead and ask everyone (myself included) to consider ‘checking your words’ just like I was writing about how we used to be so big on ‘checking our hearts’.
Not so much of a coincidence now that I happened upon a post on YouTube that has us considering that we should be praying with ‘shameless audacity’.
My take on all this is that if we want to be raw with anyone, the safest person to do it with is our Father… knowing that we can trust the Creator of the Universe and all things seen and unseen, with all our lowly minds thinks is of utmost importance at any given moment.
2 Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.Proverbs 26:2
I’m reminded of Seneca the Younger: ‘‘If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.’‘
Of course, I would rather quote ‘the other side of the coin’: ‘If a man knows to which port he sails, all wind is favorable‘
And to that proverb, specifically where it says a curse that is causeless does not alight, I respond with one of the earliest verses I found ‘hit’ me when I apparently started to take the Bible seriously: ‘the effective prayer of a righteous man has great results‘.
That was from James 5:16, by the way. The other verse I remember memorizing back then was the last verse of Romans 12: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Anyway. This all leads me to say that when our Father hears our prayers, raw as they may be, reckless as they likely sound, He doesn’t just know our words, but He also sees our intentions (’cause’, effectivity) and our stance (as James specified the ‘righteous‘ man in particular).
Again, am I saying we should check our intentions and even our stance? No. I’m saying that this is our Father, who hears more than what we sound like into consideration. This is our God, who knows everything, sees everything, hears everything, hearing everything there is to hear in all we say, type, and respond and react to… and He remains faithful, His everlasting love fixated on one and all, that whosoever believes in His Son shall not perish but have everlasting life.
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.Proverbs 26:4-5
I used to think this was contradiction. Confusing. Then I realized, it’s a case to case basis thing. If you don’t want the ‘fool’ to be wise in his own eyes, answer him according to his folly. If you don’t want to be like the ‘fool’, don’t go down his level.
And another reminder that Father doesn’t deal with all of us in general. He goes down to the details and handles each and every situation each and every one of us has, on a case to case basis.
Taking that in even more: The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, above all reality and time and space, is willing to go down to our lowly level to handle even the smallest details of our lives, all because He loves us with an everlasting love – Or a love that goes higher than the said heavenlies, and deeper than the lowest of valleys we could ever walk through (and His rod and staff comforts us).
Ending this here. Have to head out.
Let’s be raw and honest with our Father. He responds according to His everlasting love, His infinite power, and His eternal wisdom. He is willing and able to help us. That’s how much He loves us.
And it’s all because of Jesus Christ, all guaranteed by the Spirit.
All for unity in the body of Christ. All for the expansion of His Kingdom. All for the glory of His name.
Busy day ahead. Tomorrow, definitely.
But one day at a time.
Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.
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