Psalm 26: Level Ground
Vindicate me, LORD,
for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the LORD
and have not faltered.
Test me, LORD, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;
for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.
I do not sit with the deceitful,
nor do I associate with hypocrites.
I abhor the assembly of evildoers
and refuse to sit with the wicked.
I wash my hands in innocence,
and go about your altar, LORD,
proclaiming aloud your praise
and telling of all your wonderful deeds.
LORD, I love the house where you live,
the place where your glory dwells.
Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
in whose hands are wicked schemes,
whose right hands are full of bribes.
I lead a blameless life;
redeem me and be merciful to me.
My feet stand on level ground;
in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.
\o/ — Comments Psalm 26: My feet stand on level ground! — \o/
OK, I admit I would like to be able to recite the words to this Psalm as my own. BUT, to put it in cornbread English, I just aint that good. I love the LORD and want to serve Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, I fall so short. I could never make these boasts before the LORD. The only righteousness I can claim has been given me by Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).So what I take from this Psalm — very much a claim to live the life advocated in Psalm 1 — is a desire to be more what the Father wants me to be and do what the last line of the Psalm says, “In the great congregation I will praise the LORD” for God has been so gracious and loving and merciful to me.
It is a wonderful thing when you consider what the Bible really is!! I LOVE books, they take my mind to wonderful places with great characters and scenes,
BUT the Bible, the Word, is really a LIVING ACTIVE
miracle from God. It is never in short supply of new wisdom. A verse we have read a thousand times,
by Gods answer to our yearning hearts, can show us some new wonderful revelation!!! Just reading a Pslam can bring a peace no human can give. There may never be another ‘David’ but there will always
be God.
Susan
12 Mar 08 at 7:30 am
Reading passages like this one has always left me with a certain sense of failure, knowing that I ain’t there yet either, knowing I ain’t likely to get there in the time I have left here.
But as we were reading in Romans tonight, I was reminded of why I can quit worrying over it. Thank God, thank Jesus, what a relief.
No amount of desire, no amount of repeated attempts have even helped in the past, and now, instead of all the worrying, I can focus on loving God, loving Jesus for taking all that away and giving me life, and on loving other people enough to tell them this good news.
a friend
12 Mar 08 at 9:48 pm
It took me nearly fifty years to understand, what’s more to this life, what deeper meaning am I missing…Nothing more, nothing greater, than our individual relationship with our Christ Jesus…
No matter the path we take on our journey through this life, each of us must try as much as we are able, to follow the footprints of the greatest yet most humble man to ever walk this earth. We will fail miserably at times and He knows that. He set the perfect example and only expects us to do the best we can…
I ame accross this wonderful book of poems…
Authored by Myra Brooks Welch…
This one made me think back accross your last several blog entries, Phil…
PETITION
Lord, keep my heart in tune with simple things.
Let mine not be the fickle hand that clings.
To gay and scentless flowers, the while more sweet
Though unassuming blossoms crowd my feet.
Lord, let the lyrics unafraid
And joyously as the small bird that sings
Amid unlovely sounds and missiles hurled
By wanton hands. Let me, with doubts allayed, Sweep onward, upward to the skies on wings
Of faith, a steady course with flags unfurled
Above the traffic of this changing world
And the confusion it’s disorder brings.
Oh may my harp of life be in accord
With thine own will and way for me, dear Lord.
David W. Bolender
22 Mar 08 at 12:22 am