Psalm 130:7-8 (NRSV) Acknowledging Limitations
… Hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
Devotion
In Psalm 51 — our Lenten booklet theme text — David begs of God to create in him a clean heart and give him “a new and right spirit.” David clearly recognizes that making a clean heart and renewing one’s spirit are not things that we can do for ourselves… no matter how hard we try. Our own force of will is not going to fix the broken and sinful parts of our humanity.
On the one hand, that’s frustrating for somebody like me who is often tempted to see myself as being able to achieve the outcomes that I want, all on my own. Need to drop a couple of pounds, for example? Well then, buckle down: consume fewer calories and exercise more. Not necessarily fun or pleasant, but I can do that work! My six-ish decades of life so far have proven to me, however, that I am unable to do the work that will make me “a good person.”
So, on the other hand, it’s both reassuring and a relief to know that I actually am NOT in control of the outcome I desire: to have a clean heart and a new and right spirit. Just as David (a sinner, like me) begs for God to do the work that only God can do to change his heart and spirit, I too am compelled to confess my weakness and seek God’s transformative grace.
Praise be that our God is loving, merciful, and redemptive. Hope in the Lord, indeed!
Prayer
My dear loving and gracious God, have mercy on me, a sinner — one who regularly falls short and one who needs your forgiveness. Please do that work in me that only you can do. Mold me throughout my life into the clean, right-spirited person you created each of us to be. And help me to help and love others as a reflection of thanksgiving for your love for us all. I humbly pray these things in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
Clay McConnell