In other psalms, we have encountered a David who is confident and assured of his own blameless righteousness. He has called upon God to grant him victory based on his own upright behavior and the wickedness of his enemy. Here, we have a different David entirely. And we have a different Israel entirely. After all, this psalm comes to us in a songbook for public worship.
Israel, in much of biblical history, was confident in their security because they had the house of God (the Temple) in their borders. The reasoned that God would never let His own house be destroyed, so they had nothing to worry about. What they forgot is that God is so much bigger than one place could contain Him and that God does not have to live in a polluted house. God allowed for the exile of Israel as a way to give the land a sabbath (2 Chronicles 36:21), and the theology of Israel changed. It would seem that the personal prayers of David when he repented of some pretty heinous stuff became a good resource for the Israelites.
And ever since then, "the people of the Book" have counted confession and repentance as important parts of the spiritual life. In church yesterday, we prayed aloud for the forgiveness of sins. Here is that prayer, coming to us from "The Worship Sourcebook." May it be helpful for you as you continue your day.
Almighty God, we confess how hard it is to be your people.
You have called us to be the church,
to continue the mission of Jesus Christ to our lonely and confused world.
Yet we acknowledge we are more apathetic than active,
isolated than involved, callous than compassionate,
obstinate than obedient, legalistic than loving.
Gracious Lord, have mercy upon us and forgive our sins.
Remove the obstacles preventing us
from being your representatives to a broken world.
Awaken our hearts to the promised gift of your indwelling Spirit.
This we pray in Jesus’ powerful name. Amen.
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