Daily Lenten Devotional

Psalm 51 makes clear that God wants a whole lot more from us than a perfectly practiced rite or ritual of worship. In fact, God seems to grow weary of empty worship. Instead, God longs for expressions of the heart.

The truth is that unless our hearts are engaged, worship really can become the emptiest hour of our lives. Worship is meant to be communion—the complete engagement of ourselves and God with one another. In order for that to happen, we have to open ourselves to God’s presence. We have to allow the Spirit to enter us.

Rites and rituals are helpful if they create a space for our hearts to open. They become inhibiting when they become an end to themselves.

What can we do to bring more heart into worship? What does true and lasting communion feel like?

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Psalm 51 is not entirely about an individual confession and being forgiven. There comes a moment within the psalm, where the psalmist begins to think of others. He decides to share his experience with someone else.

That is something that inherent in the Gospel—it is never meant to be something we hoard or keep private. It is meant to be shared. The psalmist, having found the wash of grace through prayer, now chooses to offer the invitation to others to share in that experience.

What keeps us from doing so? Have you ever had an experience of sharing the grace of Jesus with someone else? What did it feel like to do so?

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Psalm 51 addresses the ‘dirtiness’ of sin. When we carry regret and remorse, we carry a burden of responsibility. We truly feel unclean. We are afraid that if anyone knew us as we actually are, no one would want to be near us.

But the psalm does not get stuck there. It moves on.

The key is confession. When the psalmist comes clean about the weight of guilt upon him, he is able to release it. He can allow himself to move on.

Moving on is such a key step in the whole cycle of repentance. Yes, we are who we are; yes, we have made mistakes—some of them grievous; but, yes, also, we can move forward, having been cleansed of our guilt through forgiving grace.

What do you need to be let go of? Whom do you need to tell? Have you prayed over it? What did that feel like?

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This psalm is a model for how to pray in confession, beginning with its utter humility, recognition of what God truly desires from us, and a commitment to sharing the ways of redemption with others.

The superscription places it in the story of David, becoming the text of his penitential prayer after Nathan confronted him with his crime against Bathsheba and Uriah. That use informs our own use of this prayer during the season of Lent, a period of prayerful and confessional preparation for the reception of the grace found in the Passion.

The first section is a complete admission of guilt before God. The psalmist is completely dependent on what he hopes are the defining characteristics of God—mercy and compassion. The psalmist makes no bones about his sinfulness before God. He is continually reminded of his inability to live within the confines of God’s law. Therefore, he knows that God is just in condemning him. He knows there has never been a moment when he was without sin, but he knows there is hope for him because he sincerely wishes to be better and to do better. Therefore, he asks God to cleanse him as hyssop is used to cleanse the altar during sacrifice. Then he will be able to rejoice.
The second section builds on the first, beginning with the same thought—‘blot out my iniquities’—as the first.

The psalmist seeks a total transformation of his being. He wants a new heart—a new way of being within the world. That will only come through God’s grace. If God will be merciful to him, then he can be fully restored. If he is restored, he will become a witness to the world of God’s saving grace. He will gladly tell of his redemption to all others in need of it. He will become an instrument of transformation within a world lost in sin. He knows that rite and ritual are only effective if there is such a transformation of being. God wants a change of heart, not empty practice.

The last verses of the psalm are an addition from a post-exilic period. The psalmist wishes to see Jerusalem restored, comparing the city ravaged during the exile to this penitent sinner. If God will lead the restoration of the city and the temple within it, then proper worship will again reign in the covenant community.

How might this psalm inform how you pray in confession?

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We have come to the end of the second full week of Lent. Use this day to reflect on your progress through the season, even in these early days.

What have you learned? How have you grown? Has God seemed closer? Do you feel closer to God? What still needs work?

Reread Psalm 38 and see how it helps you formulate your answers to these questions for reflection.

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Even in the midst of terrible trouble, Psalm 38 never loses hope that God will be a redeemer. There is a sure trust that God is good and grace abounds even as all else seems to be falling apart.

What allows us to maintain such hope in trouble?

One quick answer is reminding ourselves of everything that God has said and done, especially as we reflect on the Gospel, calling to mind all that Christ said and did on our behalf. Emil Brunner, a noted 20th Century theologian taught that there are three great works of faith—faith (believing the history of God’s relationship with humanity as true witness to how God works with us); hope (knowing God is already present in the future, making it livable and less harmful); and love (living here and now in the trust of God, allowing us to risk connection and communion). Working through these things is our source of faithful hope here and now.

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Psalm 38 is the cry of someone who feels afflicted by God. That is certainly an uncomfortable situation to be in. He really gives us no explanation for how this has come to be, only that it has.

That immediately begs the question—have we ever felt the judgment of God upon us? We live in a time and place that rarely if ever speaks of events as being signs of God’s judgment—or if someone does, we regard them as being somewhat loopy. What have we lost in becoming like this?

That is not an excuse to immediately become judgmental ourselves about each other, the world, or anything else. An important point is that no one told the psalmist that God was punishing him; he wondered that all on his own. Only a person suffering has the right to interpret that suffering—remember the folly of Job’s friends!

Still, we need to examine ourselves. Is God correcting us? How does that feel? How might we change?

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Psalm 38 reminds us of the power of community and how much it hurts when we lose connection to our community.

We were created to live in community. Remember that the only time God declared something not good in creation was when the man stood by himself in the Garden. God never intended for any of us to live in isolation. God made us to connect.

As a community of faith, the church is meant to be present both for those within the church and for those around the church. We are to be a place of connection and communion. We are to be witnesses to the power of being connected with God.

How might we improve our connectionalism? How connected do we seem to be at church? How have you felt the power of community in your life?

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Psalm 38 reminds us that sometimes illness leaves us with nothing to do but think. And sometimes having nothing to do but think is not all that comfortable. Our mind wanders into the darkness. We begin to feel self-pity and ‘woe is me’ wallowing. We don’t really want to stay there, do we?

Praying through the darkness can really help. First, we remind ourselves that even if no person is present, God is. Knowing the presence of God offers us comfort and hope. We can pray though our illness or trouble, seeking God’s help and healing. Second, giving voice to feelings can help us to let them go. No one really enjoys wallowing. Speaking our discomfort allows us to let it go. Finally, prayer connects us to the light of God, and as St John reminds us as he opens his gospel—the light of God is life—our troubles will pass; things will change.

How does prayer help us when feeling sick? What have you seen when folks pray for someone in difficulty? What might we do to remind ourselves we are not alone in trouble?

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Something we might try in our prayer life is to pray an acrostic—the form of Psalm 38—simply offer a prayer where each line begins with one of the 26 letters of our alphabet, working through from A to Z. Yes, it may get difficult when you get to X, but it can be done.

Praying this way slows us down and really makes us think about what we are praying. That can make prayer more effectual and meaningful. Sometimes we fall into praying by rote, offering up phrases we have heard at church or simply praying the Lord’s Prayer because it is all we know. Other times, we fumble around trying to sound profound because we think we need to be artistic as we talk to God. We lose touch with our prayers.

Try this practice and see what it does for you. Does it help your prayers? Do you feel more connected to your prayers? What changed? How did it feel?

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The psalmist feels the physicality of alienation from God. He is literally wasting away. The psalm is composed in such a way that it could be an actual prayer during a time of illness, but, of course, it works metaphorically, as well. To be alienated from God is to be alienated from the One who provides and sustains life, therefore, God’s absence leads to a complete lack of health.

Note also the communal aspect of the prayer. Because of the psalmist’s plight, he is alienated and isolated from the community, too. No one wants to draw near his suffering. If the psalmist indeed suffers from a wasting disease—leprosy, e.g.—he would literally be excommunicated from the community. Isolation feeds despair. The psalmist knows his only hope is in the redeeming grace of God.

The psalm is an acrostic (each line starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet)— therefore, it is a TOTAL confession, exhaustive in its declaration. Note that there is no self- defense or self-justification offered—the psalmist knows he is suffering through his own disobedience to God.

Have you ever felt remorse so deeply that it hurt?

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We have come to the end of the first full week of Lent. Use this day to reflect on your progress through the season, even in these early days.

What have you learned? How have you grown? Has God seemed closer? Do you feel closer to God? What still needs work?

Reread Psalm 32 and see how it helps you formulate your answers to these questions for reflection.

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Psalm 32 ends with a final word of encouragement—there are two paths before us—one is the way of rebellion, and one is the way of faith. The psalmist is quite clear about the consequences of our choice—to choose the former is a way leading into darkness and a solidification of the alienation and isolation that sin brings; the latter is way to light and a release into joy.

It makes the choice seem so basic and so clear—why would anyone struggle to make it?

Namely because we all too often fall to SELF—we want what WE want; we want the world to meet OUR needs; and so on and so on…we see why God sometimes sees us as mules!

What can we do to help make the right choice? What can we do to better our chances of aligning with God? How can we stop being so mulish?

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In Psalm 32:8, the speaker changes, shifting from the one forgiven to the God who forgives. It is a powerful and profound moment.

Note what God says to us— God will teach us

God will offer us the needed wisdom to live well

God warns us not to fall to our stubbornness
God stays near to us, helping us grow from what we are into what God wants us to be. God is generous with instruction, showing us the way to live, the way to be, and how to live. God wants us to succeed.

What a tremendous affirmation!

How do we hear God’s instruction? Where do we hear it? What practices might we begin to open us to God’s wisdom?

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In Psalm 32, the psalmist realizes that grace is not a private matter—something to be held onto and hoarded—but rather it is an invitation to generosity. As we are forgiven, we are to share forgiveness with others. We are to invite others into the enfolding grace of God.

We see that move in vv.6 and 7 of the psalm. The psalmist offers a prayer for all who are enduring alienation and isolation from God. He reminds that his experience of grace can be theirs as well.

That is part of our call as a congregation of Jesus—to meet the world, not with condemnation, but with grace. No one can change if they are barred from the door of grace. Jesus practiced a radical hospitality as he met the world around him. He welcomed whomever was before him so they could be more than they were—so they could be reclaimed from sin and death.

How might we actively do so within our churches? How might we be as inviting as Jesus? What might happen to the neighborhood if grace became its foundation?

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God is good and grace abounds. It is a simple thing to say, and it is a simple thing to affirm about God, but do we ever consider just how great the gift of grace actually is?

Psalm 32 reminds us of that depth. God does not hold our sins against us. God does not bear a grudge. How different God is from so many human beings! This does not mean, however, that God does not hold us accountable. Rather, God intends for us to reform as we repent. We cannot keep going the way we were. Change has to come.

Grace is the space in which to make it so. God allows us the space and time to truly make amends. God allows us the space and time to make ourselves new. St Paul called this the process of becoming new creations—we literally make ourselves over again through grace.

So, how would a spiritual makeover feel? What would it take to do so? What might get in the way? What might encourage us to keep at it?

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