Good Morning, Lord!
I Am Baptized
Baptism … now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the
body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 3:21 ESV)
Make the sign of the cross as you say, “In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
A Morning Prayer
O Lord, it is a new day. It is a day that some will be born
and some will die. It is a day that some will have more than they need and some
will have want and lack. It is a day that will shine with your justice and
holiness but it will also reveal our sin and the injustices of our world. I do
not know what this day will bring, but I pray that you will be with me through
all of it, give me courage and grace to accept what comes, to mend what I can,
to speak when I should, to be silent only out of love, and, in the end, to
entrust the outcome of all my work to you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
I Believe …
You shall have no other gods.
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant
or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Bible Reading – Psalm
7
A Shiggaion[a] of David, which he sang
to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
7 O Lord my God, in you do
I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if
I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend[b] with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
6 Arise, O Lord, in your
anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8 The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,[c]
O righteous God!
10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
12 If a man[d] does not repent, God[e] will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
15 He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of
the Lord, the Most High.[1]
It seems pretty audacious for David to ask God to judge him according to his righteousness. That seems awfully bold to say to a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day – and we should be clear, it isn’t just that God feels indignation, he is indignant because of sin and people’s refusal to turn away and repent.
How dare David pray these words? How dare we pray these words?
It depends on what you understand to be your righteousness. If your righteousness is all the good you do, the way you obey God’s Law, and how holy you are, you will face the indignant God who sees your sin all too clearly. If, however, your righteousness is not your own, but it is a righteousness the comes from outside of you and is given to you – if your righteousness is the righteousness, forgiveness, and holiness that Jesus gives you through faith – then you’ve got something going.
You see there is only one person who could ever pray this Psalm, and that is Jesus. He is the only truly righteous one, and he chose to give us his righteousness. The only way we can pray these things is when we pray them in Christ – our shield who stands under the Father’s indignation in order to make us righteous. This is why we are baptized into Christ! When we approach God we do not come to him on our own! We come clothed in Christ. We come with Jesus’ words. We pray in Jesus’ name – as if we spoke with Jesus’ voice.
“I will give thanks to the Lord due to his righteousness”
– his righteousness is upon you. “I will sing praise to the Lord Most High.”
You praise him because he has given you mercy and grace instead of indignation
and a sharpened sword. He has dressed you in Jesus’ righteousness and given you
the confidence to say, “Judge me according to my righteousness, because it is
the best, highest and holiest righteousness of all!” Jesus’ righteousness is
yours through faith in him.
Question for Meditation
What does this reading teach you about Jesus, what He said
and did, or what He wants His followers to believe? What does it teach you
about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading
challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your
life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
The Sixth
Petition: “And lead us not into temptation.”
Father in heaven, You tempt no one. Please guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory through Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Prayer
Pray for those who are sick, injured, grieving, dying, lonely, bullied, and experiencing injustice.
Benediction
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to
present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25
to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25
ESV)
[1] English
Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers.
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