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| Ismar David. I wash my hands in innocence Psalm 26:6 The Psalms. A news English translation prepared by the Jewish Publication Society of America. |
Scripture
Psalm 26
1 Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the LORD. (NRSV)
Devotion
Psalm 26 can be a little hard for folks to swallow. To our modern sensibilities, the psalmist seems just a little too self-righteous as they declare them innocent of any wrongdoing and describe how well they've following God's commandments. Do they really expect us to believe that they have never hung out with hypocrites or spent time with people who did something evil? Can anyone truly say that their trust in God has never wavered...that they have lived every single moment of their life with integrity? At first glance, it seems as if this person is either 1) so full of themselves that they aren't aware of their own mistakes; or 2) lying through their teeth. Either way, it is not a pretty picture.
A closer look shows us that something deeper is going on. The key to unlocking the psalmist's state of mind can be found in verses 9-10. There, the psalmist begs not to cast them away with the sinners and evildoers who come armed with both physical weapons and bribes. The people who traditionally recite Psalm 26 aren't smug and self-righteousness; they are scared of rejected and forced to fight for survival among God's enemies. As Hebrew Bible scholar James Limburg puts it, Psalm 26 is "a prayer from one deathly afraid and desperately seeking deliverance" (85) The psalmist is pleading for God to test their heart and mind... to search their lives for signs of their faithfulness. All they want is to be found worthy of staying in the house of the Holy One.
When we read the psalm from this perspective, we may find ourselves sympathizing with the speaker. Who among us hasn't had a moment when we've found ourselves afraid that God will abandon us to make it on our own? Who hasn't begged God to search our lives in a desperate attempt to prove ourselves worthy of staying in God's good graces? The spiritual stakes are so high that it's only natural for us to point to signs of our faithfulness and ask the Holy One to vindicate us. Even as we ask to test us, we may find ourselves cringing in fear of God's response.
The good news is that though we may fear not being good enough, God does not demand perfection from us. Instead, our merciful God asks that we do our best to live with integrity and follow God's ways. When we spend our lives walking in faithfulness and praising God along the way, then we journey ever closer to house of the Lord. What's more, though we may stumble from time to time, we can have faith that the God who knows the yearning of our hearts will redeem us and be gracious to us. We can be assured that when we finally arrive at the doors of God's home, we will find ourselves on steady ground. Most importantly, God will welcome us there.
The next time we fear that we are not good enough to please God, let us remember that even those who wrote the psalms felt this anxiety. Like them, we can rely on the assurance found at the end of Psalm 26. We may not be perfect, but God will be gracious to us in our faithfulness. With God on our side, we do not need to fear being lumped in with or overcome by those who seek to subvert God's good plans. Instead, we can take joy in the knowledge that we will be vindicated as those who kept God's steadfast love in our sights and held onto our integrity. The day will surely come when we find ourselves standing on level ground as we join the great congregation of saints as we praise God's name forevermore.
Prayer
God, you know that we are imperfect. You know that we make mistakes. Thank you for looking into our examining note just our actions but our hearts. Grant us integrity and faithfulness so that we may rest easy in knowing that, through your grace, we have been deemed worthy to abide with you forever. Amen.
Bibliography
James Limburg. Psalms. Westminster Bible Companion. 1st. ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.
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