Answer me in your righteousness.

 

Wednesday, June 28, 2023


Psalms 143; 146

1 Samuel 19:1-17

Acts 13:1-12


Observance: Irenaeus of Lyons, bishop and teacher (d. c. 200)


Answer me in your righteousness.


It would be fair to say that God hates sin more than we know. If we were to be aware of how much our sin offends God’s holiness, our shame would utterly consume us; it is truly the grace of God that keeps us partly ignorant of our darkness.


But if we were to compare attitudes towards how confident we should be in approaching God in prayer, it is plainly obvious that God is far more sure that we should speak to Him than we are.


Because if our sin is more offensive to God than we could ever know, we are still aware of it to some degree. In these Psalms we have been looking at, there has been a fair amount of comparison between the humble receiving God’s favour, and the wicked receiving their just desserts. It is too easy for us to look at our sin and worry that we fall into the second category.


Consider David’s confidence, however. He was not innocent. But when he approached God in prayer, he was confident in the fact he should be doing so. He boldly marched up to the throne of grace and pleaded with his heavenly Father to give ear to his supplications. Because David knew that there was one thing about God above all else that he could rely on: God’s steadfast love. No matter how much David would lose his mind, forget himself, fall into sin, and infinitely offend God all over again, David’s relationship with God was as an earnest pilgrim doing his best.


But neither you nor I have been approached by a prophet of God, anointed as Prime Minister, and given the task of creating a theocratic utopia. Yet we have even greater assurance than he did of God’s steadfast love. Because in this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is in God’s righteousness that our loving relationship with Him is forever.

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