Reading: Psalm 130

Verse 3: “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand”?

The psalmist begins by crying out to God. Unfortunately, I did not often begin here. I often ended up there, but I did not often begin there. I ended up there when I had failed or come up short, when my efforts were not enough, when I couldn’t just put my head down and push through.

My tendencies towards independence and self-sufficiency, coupled with a sometimes elevated sense of self, usually led me in the opposite direction of turning first to God. The combination of too many failures and crashes eventually coupled with a growing and maturing faith in God that has worked within me to produce a follower more likely to begin with prayer than not. Hindsight reveals that God has always been at work on my broken vessel.

Along the way I learned that my failures were sins, just as my not coming to God in prayer was a sin. In both cases I was placing other gods before God. The psalmist writes, “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand”? This idea comes true when one realizes that God’s love and mercy are far greater than any and all sin. This was shown on the cross. As the psalmist continues, “with you there is forgiveness”. Not once or twice or even ten times, but forever and always. What a wonderful God we serve! May we serve him well today.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for humbling me and breaking me down. Thank you for helping me to see that alone I was lost and destined to fail. Please continue to walk daily with me, guiding me to be a servant to all. Amen.