Psalm 26:1-8 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 26:1-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Verse 2Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind.
Verse 3For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you.
Verse 4I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites;
Verse 5I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
Verse 6I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O Lord,
Verse 7singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
Verse 8O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides.
Devotion
One Sunday a guest walked out of our sanctuary before worship began. Two days later, we received an envelope in the church office. On the outside Deuteronomy 22:5 was quoted: “a woman should not wear a man’s garment … .” Inside was our announcement sheet with an invitation “to those who identify as women,” now highlighted with these words of judgment: “This is a perversion … you need to check your moral compass.”
I cannot help but hear the psalmist’s words as though on this man’s lips. The psalmist claims not to sit with the worthless or with the wicked. But what to do when someone decides that’s us?
The only way I can rise above the guest’s judgment over me and the community I serve is to offer the psalm as a prayer: may we be a community who walks not in our own integrity but in the integrity we have been given in you.
Prayer
Faithful One, keep your steadfast love ever before us. May we welcome, as you did, everyone to sit with us as we gather to sing songs of thanksgiving for your wondrous deeds. Amen.