You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Psalm 51:6
In this Psalm, which is often part of the Ash Wednesday service, the Psalmist calls us to be honest with ourselves as we stand in God’s presence. We have to understand the truth about ourselves before we can hope to be reconciled to God and to each other. Living an honest, authentic life, without fear, is a high calling for sure. Sometimes we feel we need to wear a mask in order to make our way in this world. We are afraid to show others who we really are, we hide our fears, our weaknesses and our disappointments.
But God challenges us to be liberated and free of fear, to live into the truth and reality of God’s generous grace and forgiveness. The grace that accepts us and forgives us as children of God. For God made us and loves us and redeems us in Jesus Christ. True wisdom is knowing and believing in this grace and the unchanging love of God. This knowing resides in the deepest places in our hearts, the “core” of our beings. And from this “secret heart” we are able to live lives of integrity, hope and thankful service.
Loving God, Help us to truly know the liberating joy and truth of your redeeming love. May we cherish this truth in the “secret” places of our hearts and also let it shine forth in all our actions in the world. Amen.
Christina Lenti, Associate Director of Music
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1 comment:
Thank you for pointing us to Psalm 51. What a powerful psalm that is!
“We have to understand the truth about ourselves before we can hope to be reconciled to God and to each other. “
Amen, Christina! Unless we understand the truth about ourselves (i.e., our total depravity) and the nature of God’s perfect goodness, justice, and wrath, we can never fully understand how incredibly wonderful the Good News really is. How sad to be a Christian and never fully understand the Gospel!
“The grace that accepts us and forgives us as children of God.”
The Scripture never says that God will accept us as we are. How can he possibly accept us with all the sin, rebellion, and idols that are wrapped up in our being?
Rather, when we repent and believe, we are joined to Christ such that, when the Father looks at us on Judgement Day, he does not see us but Christ. As C.H. Spurgeon once said, “When God accepts a sinner, He is, in fact, only accepting Christ. He looks into the sinner’s eyes, and He sees His own dear Son’s image there, and He takes him in.”
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