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.

This past summer I conducted a Bible study on the Psalms for the good folks from North River Community Church and West Gwinnett Christian Church.  I'm no expert on the Psalms (I'm not expert on anything!) but I have found the Psalms to be of tremendous benefit in helping shape my prayers.  For the next several days, I thought I would share these thoughts on the Psalms with you.

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The Psalms teach us about the nature of God.

While all of scripture tells us things about the nature of God, I believe the Psalms teach us at least three things that figure heavily into our prayers.  The Psalms teach us (1) that God is righteous, (2) that God is faithful and (3) that God is free.

Because God is faithful, we can rest assured that God will "never leave us nor forsake us."  God has been faithful to us, God is faithful to us and God will be faithful to us.  Over and over the Psalmist speaks of the "loving kindness" of God, or of God's "covenant love".  Over and over the Psalmist recalls God's acts in the history of Israel, to testify to God's faithfulness. Because God is faithful, God can be "depended upon".

Because God is righteous, we can trust that God will do what is right.  God will act out of righteous judgment and do the right thing.  God can do nothing but the right thing because God is righteous.

However, God is also free.  Just as we can count on God to always do the right thing we can also count on God to act out of God's own freedom.  I believe that is why we often read the Pslamist crying out, "When, O Lord?" Or, "How long, O Lord?"  Or, "Where are You, Lord?"

The Psalmist knows that God is faithful and that God is righteous.  However, the Psalmist also knows that God is free.  The awareness of the freedom of God, to my mind, is what drives the Pslamist to  make promises or bargain with God.  The Psalmist is trying to get God to make a move.

I often put it this way: "Our problem is not in wondering whether God exists or whether God loves us or whether God will be faithful to us or whether God will do the right thing or not.  Our problem is the anxiety of wondering whether God will show up by Friday at 3."

We pray in light of the faithfulness of God, the righteousness of God and the freedom of God.  While we are willing to grant faithfulness and righteousness to God (after all that is in our interest!) we sometimes struggle with granting God the freedom that is due God. 

We want to depend upon God to do the right thing when we want God to do it.  "Lord, I trust that You are faithful and that You, in your infinite righteousness, will act justly but I also trust that You will do so by the end of the business day Tuesday, September 5th.  Amen."

It seems to me that if we are willing to grant God (what a funny phrase!) God's faithfulness and God's righteousness, that we ought to be willing to grant  God's freedom. 

After all, God is free.

The question is whether we are capable of such trust.