I do love this Psalm so much! No offense concerning the rest of Your Word, Lord! Pray with me today for your own heart as I pray concerning mine, and for those who seem to be far, far away from this degree of blamelessness – or any degree of blamelessness – and far from even the desire to live and walk blamelessly with God.
A neighbor. An ex-husband or wife. The son of a friend, in prison. A wayward child. A political person who sets your teeth on edge! Pray with me …
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t always want this life, either!
O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Father God, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, like You said, and where, oh where, does any of us begin to want to fear You, or to be wise? All this comes from You, and that anyone should ever desire to dwell in Your tent, which is Christ, that, too, comes from You. I desire it! Give that desire to those for whom I pray.
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
This, seldom as we realize it, is the goal! This is the place, the whole idea, the sum of all things, to dwell in Your Presence, to sojourn in Christ. We remind ourselves. We call this to mind; then we wander off and do our own thing and think our own thoughts and want our own devices … but You are faithful. Give to our Dear Lost Friends what we need ourselves, Almighty God!
Now for the big, long list:
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3 who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
On the surface, we might say, “That’s us!” and under closer scrutiny we might say, we’ve failed a little in all of all of that, but what really matters is that You, Lord Jesus, have grace toward blamelessness in abundance for us and for those for whom we pray. Set us straight, us and them! May we, together, become the blameless in the land. Amen.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Alexander Zick, Schneewittchen (SnowWhite), unknown date, by permission, Wikipedia, death of the artist
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