Getting the Point

"I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know."
--Psalm 40:10

My pastor, whom I mention from time to time in this journal, offered yet another powerful bit of wisdom in his homily this past Sunday, a lesson passed down from one of his seminary professors. When reading scripture, he advised, always remember that it is first and foremost about God.

The dramatic human stories of the bible offer us many examples of ordinary people living out great acts of courage and faith. But we can easily be discouraged by some of these stories, as we try to compare our own puny faith to that of the biblical saints. My pastor is advising that before discerning what a passage of scripture is telling us about us, we should first seek to understand what it is telling us about God.

This was particular helpful last Sunday, when the Gospel reading was then transformed from a story about courageous fisherman who abandoned their nets at Jesus' first call into a story of a God who calls very ordinary people to follow him, people with jobs and families and everday lives and, frankly, ordinary faith (as time would prove of the disciples, prior to the Resurrection, anyway).

Today's psalm is more challenging. Here, the psalmist reminds the Lord how unafraid he is to proclaim God's goodness and justice publicly, how he speaks of salvation "in the vast assembly." This all makes me a bit uncomfortable. I am not fond of bold displays of faith in public, at least outside of an explicit religious context. Granted, I write a blog about my spiritual life for all the world to see, but I think it's probably pretty clear how flawed and faltering I am, how doubt and struggle permeates my inner world as much as loud proclamations of faith and rejoicing.

Again, though, my pastor's wisdom prevails. I am making this about me, setting myself up in contrast to the psalmist, about whom I am making many assumptions. What is he telling me about God? The psalmist is reminding me, not about how brave his in speaking up about God, but rather about the Lord's grace, God's faithfulness to us:

I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.

The justice, faithfulness, kindness, truth, and grace of God, in the face of my own puny faith, is the point. God is madly in love with us, and our own resistance and bashfulness does not deter his pursuit of our hearts one bit. "Sacrifice or oblation you wished not," the psalmist writes,

Then said I, "Behold, I come."

This is all that God wants from me.