Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 26 starts, “Vindicate me, O Lord.” The word “vindicate” is a complex word with a simple meaning. Here’s a story to help us find the meaning. 

Writer Ruben Navarette, Jr., a Hispanic American, attended Harvard law school. After graduating, he decided he’d rather be a struggling writer than a successful lawyer, so he abandoned law to become a freelance writer. His father was angry and disappointed watching him struggle as a writer when he could have been rich and successful. Navarette says two events vindicated his decision. First, after nine years of struggling poverty, he got a good job at the Arizona Republic. That affirmed him as a writer. And on a trip home, his doubting father introduced him by saying, “That’s my boy. He’s a writer.” 

How sweet to be vindicated: to have a difficult decision finally work out well, to see our struggle as more than a string of meaningless sufferings. How sweet to lose the shame we felt when it looked like life was going off the rails, to have our good work and good reputation recognized and appreciated. 

That’s the heart of the poet’s cry in Psalm 26. “Vindicate me, O Lord” (v. 1). For most of the psalm, he supplies God (and us) with the reasons he deserves to be vindicated:
    – His life has been blameless (v. 1)
    – He has trusted God and not faltered (v. 1)
    – He doesn’t associate with deceivers, hypocrites, or the wicked (vv. 4-5)
    – He loves going to God’s house (v. 8)

Interesting, isn’t it, that the poet does not believe his life will vindicate itself. He requires vindication from God. It’s not just the happy outcome he wants. He wants relationship with God, he wants God’s approval. It is important to him that God see and accept him. 

Let’s pray.

Our father, we try to live right. We read our Bible and pray. We go to church and give money to good causes.We are honest in our dealings. We drive the speed limit or only a bit over, we do our civic duty, we vote and pay our taxes. We reduce our use of plastic, we recycle paper and other stuff. If we haven’t been friendly to our neighbours, at least we have been civil to them, which we hope meets the minimum standard for “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 

Our father, despite all this, we do not feel vindicated. Our lives do not burn with love. Our hearts resist the deep purifying work of your spirit. You offer us a large life, but we are content with smallness. 

Father, we need you to vindicate us. If we try harder to be good, it is never good enough. If we take on more work for you, we only resent it. We are not spiritually strong enough to seek you in fasting and prayer as we ought.  

Vindicate us, Lord. We have been faithful where we can. But only when you come to us in love, only when you forgive our sins, only when you overlook our smallness and show us mercy will we hear you say, “Well done.” That is the only outcome we care about in our troubled lives. Accept our hearts and our service.Receive our small offerings. “Vindicate us, O Lord, for we trust in you.”

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Footnotes:   
Ruben Navarrette Jr. A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano (New York: Bantam Books, 1994).  
Ruben Navarrette Jr. Vindication, chapter in Canfield, Jack; Hansen, Mark Victor; Gardner, Bud Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul (California: Health Communications, Inc., 2000).                                   

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 25 is the first of seven acrostic psalms, in which each verse starts with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is a constrained way to write poetry, so why would someone choose this form?  

The simplest reason is that the acrostic is a memory aid. For example, if I quote an acrostic poem in English, I can easily recite the A B C stanzas, and then confidently inform you that there are 23 more stanzas which I have forgotten. What a great aid to memory! We know how many verses there are and what letter each verse begins with. The acrostic form also presents an interesting challenge to the poet — it allows him to demonstrate his skill and vocabulary in a simple but difficult form — a bit like the sonnet in Shakespeare’s time. And finally, an acrostic psalm communicates that God is interested in all of life from A to Z.

Psalm 25 shows God in two roles that have been mentioned but not highlighted in previous psalms . 

1.    First, God is the one who forgives sin. Verse 7 says, “Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways” and verse 11, “For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity for it is great.” The poet is realistic about human stubbornness and failure. But he trusts God to offer forgiveness, instead of administering punishment, justice, and consequences. But sometimes of course, our sins receive both consequences and forgiveness. 

2.    Second, the psalm shows God as teacher.
    Verse 4: Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.
    Verse 8: Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
    Verse 12: Who then fears the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. 

The tone of Psalm 25 is almost mellow. We see the poet as less desperate than in some earlier psalms, more somber or perhaps even melancholy.  He says,
        Turn to me and be gracious to me
            For I am lonely and afflicted.
        Relieve the troubles of my heart
          And free me from my anguish (vv. 16 – 17). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, the poet describes the precipice of shame on which we live. We are ashamed of our broken relationships, of our failures in serving you, of our slackness in seeking and loving you. We work for success and joy, but often fail. With the poet we pray, “We trust in you, do not let us be put to shame.” Form our lives and characters so they display your glory, God, instead of the shame of our inadequacy. May people see in us the radiance of your presence, not shadows of our fear and guilt. “May those who are treacherous without cause be put to shame” (v. 3). May those who trust in idols be ashamed they serve delusions. “Do not let us be put to shame, guard our lives and rescue us” (v. 20). 

Our father, like the poet, we have unhappy memories of the sins of our youth. We pray, “Do not remember the sins of our youth and our rebellious ways. According to your love remember us, for you are good” (v. 7).

Our father, we need a teacher who instructs sinners in what is right, who teaches us to make good choices, who warns us when we are wrong and encourages us when we are right. With the poet we pray, “Show us your ways, O Lord, teach us your paths” (v. 4). Train us in the way of righteousness, lead us on the path of truth. We don’t need another course in behaviour management. Give us a change of heart, a new worldview, transparent motives, and stronger desire for you. Inform our choices, discipline our actions. Help us learn a way of being and a way of life that honors you as creator and respects us and our neighbours as creatures in your image.

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Footnote:  See http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/ote/v21n2/17.pdf for a discussion of acrostic psalms. 

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Before I get to Psalm 24 today, we start with a brief review of Psalms 22 and 23.

In Psalm 22, the personal pronouns “me” and “my” occur three times in the opening sentence, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The psalm continues like that with 42 personal pronouns in the first 21 verses,  an average of two per verse. That’s a lot of talk about “me” and “my troubles”. Perhaps the poet’s perspective is, “It’s all about me.” To be fair, in the same 21 verses, he addresses God 17 times. That’s the flavor of Psalm 22: the big me addressing a God who does not seem to care. No wonder it’s classified as a Complaint Psalm.

What about Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd?” In six short verses, there are 17 personal pronouns. That’s almost three per verse, even more than Psalm 22. But Psalm 23 has a different atmosphere. The poet communicates a quiet, peaceful, reflective, secure relationship with God. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.” In this psalm, the poet isn’t focusing on his troubles, he’s focusing confidently on his personal relationship with God. He uses names or pronouns for God 13 times. This Psalm is not all about me. It’s all about me and God.

So, what about Psalm 24: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” Guess how many times the poet mentions “me” in this psalm?  Not once. Not a single mention of “me” or of the poet’s personal experience. Clearly, this psalm is not “all about me” and it’s not “all about me and God.” This time, it’s all about God.

These three psalms are a wonderful triad. They guide us through God’s excruciating absence and through his wonderful presence as shepherd, all the way to joyful worship where we are “lost in wonder, love, and praise” (Charles Wesley, hymn, Love Divine All Loves Excelling). What a great lesson. I wish I only had to learn it once. But life goes through many cycles of desperation, shepherding, and praise. Each experience is a lesson rich with new gifts from God.

Let’s pray.

Our father, thank you for this wonderful triad of psalms. You are our God when you are absent, you are our shepherd when you are present, and you are our king of glory when we forget ourselves and see only you.

“The earth is yours and everything in it, the world and those who live there” (v. 1). We worship you as owner and landlord. We are tenants on land. You own the people–good and evil, the politicians–righteous and corrupt, the entertainers–honest and deceitful, the churchgoers–faithful and hypocritical. The earth is yours, and those who live in it.

With the poet we ask, “Who can ascend your hill and stand in your holy place?” (v. 2). And we hear his  answer, “Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, those who do not worship idols, those who seek your face” (vv. 4-6). Lord, as we live on your land and journey through your world, we often ignore your presence and avoid your temple. Teach us to seek you, to wash our hands, to cleanse our hearts. Teach us to reject the false gods that tempt us. May we climb your hill and worship in your temple.  

“Lift your heads, you mighty gates, be lifted, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, he is the king of glory” (vv. 7-10). Lord, lift the gates of our befuddled reason, lift the gates of our unreliable theology, lift the gates of our narrow experience, lift the gates of our human history. Enter, O King of glory, enter.

Amen

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.