Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
That was the first line of one of my readings this morning. Psalm 26 starts with that verse. As I continued on through the psalm, I could not get passed that bold plea. All that kept coming to mind was, “I have never, nor do I now live a blameless life.” Even as I read through the rest of the verses, my mind filled with all the ways my life is anything but blameless.
Verses two and three of this psalm say, “Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.”
On my second time through this psalm, these verses are where my heart rested. Scripture teaches us that all sin and fall short of God’s expectation – His glory. So none of us are blameless. To turn our hearts and minds over to Him to be tested and examined is a terrifying proposition.
But we can confidently surrender ourselves to be examined by God – to be “tested,” because He is the God of love and compassion – His “love is ever before me.”
Our desire should be to live blamelessly before God. But we need to remember that we fall short of that ideal every single day. Thankfully, God is the God of compassion and forgiveness and our shortcomings have been covered on the cross. So we ask Him to examine our hearts and minds and point out those areas where we aren’t blameless in order for us to grow and progress to becoming more like Jesus.
So go and live blamelessly before God today. And when you fall, look to Him, ask His forgiveness, then get up and keep moving knowing that you are loved.