Reading: Psalm 26

Verses 1-2: “Vindicate me, O Lord … I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.”

Today’s Psalm is one of lament, one of anguish, one of crying out to the Lord. We do not know the exact trial or time of suffering that David is going through, but we can feel his emotions and feelings. There is a sense of injustice or unfairness to these words. They are the sincere and honest words of a prayer poured out from the heart.

Reflecting on our readings from the past two days, these are certainly words that Job could have prayed. He was an “upright and blameless” man that endured tragedies that tested his faith. These are words that we have prayed (or will pray) too. Whenever we feel unjustly treated we too have prayed for vindication. Our sense of fairness is offended and we want God to fix it. We too have (or will) remind God of our unwavering faithfulness. It just doesn’t seem right for that thing to be happening to someone so faithful. And as a way to plead our case, to prove that we are worthy and deserving of God intervening on our behalf, we invite (or will invite) God to examine our heart, our mind, our faith. Surely the examination will reveal our worthiness to receive God’s action on our behalf.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were truly upright and blameless, if our hearts could really withstand a millisecond of God’s inspection? We do live holy and devout lives for portions of time. David, Job, Elijah, Moses, Peter, John – all the ‘greats’ of the Bible – they all had their failures, their times when sin reared its ugly head. Only one person lived a perfect and sinless life. While upright and blameless is the goal as we follow Jesus, it is not anything we can achieve 100% of the time. In the same way, our prayers cannot be perfect. But they can be like David’s is today in Psalm 26: honest, sincere, heartfelt, desiring of God and God’s action in our lives. Our prayers, our desires, the hopes of our hearts – may we pour them out to the Lord our God, the one who loves to hear the children praying.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for this honest look at prayer. It’s good to be reminded that you just love the conversation with us. It doesn’t have to be all beautiful and polished. That’s ok. But you want it as we feel it, as we honestly pour it out to you. Stammering, stumbling, halting, run-ons – none of that matters to you. Thank you for desiring and hearing our prayers just as they are, no matter what. Amen.