James 24:7

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The Psalms remind us that we can bring everything before God.

In his book, The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud wrote: "We hide our moral arrears in the breeches of respectability."  The story of the Fall tells us as much.  After the Great Rebellion, Adam and Eve, covered themselves in fig leaves and hid in the brush. 

No one wants to stand in the presence of God with his pants down.

We not only hide our "moral arrears", we hide our fears, doubts and questions behind veils of piety.  As a former professor of mine used to put it: "We would rather offer God our dignity than our selves."

Perhaps we think God will not notice our drooping drawers or will not call the roll and note our absence.  Maybe we think that when we are out of sight, skulking in the bushes, we are out of mind.  Maybe we think God is as easily duped by a plastic smile as our all-too-willing friends and neighbors are.

The Psalmists teach us that we can bring our sins, our failures, our doubts, our rage and even our faithlessness before God.  They remind us that God is always open.  They assume a vision of God as One who leans forward with an ear cocked to catch the slightest nuance of every gasp, groan, and growl we utter.

The Psalms teach us that we can- no, that we must- come before God "just we are without one plea". 

Naked.

The Psalms teach us to surrender our dignity and offer our briar-scratched selves to God.