March 9

Day 270: Everything I Think Needs To Be Said

Psalm 17 finds the writer David crying out to God for relief. He is begging God for "vindication." Unlike a certain married royal couple (who by the way have taken up residence in my hometown), David is tired of (really) being oppressed.

Vindication is not vengeance. Vengeance (noun) is revenge (verb), a "satisfaction of the desire for satisfaction."

There is an element of our legal system that smacks of vengeance. We all like being revenged. Our society likes being revenged. That's why we have prisons.

But vindication is different. It is not based on the other, but is pointed toward the self. To be regarded for what one truly is. The inner truth is recognized and affirmed by outside observation and affirmation.

So David writes this: "You [God] have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing." Bold words; a bold assertion.

How can David, or anyone else be so bold as to say that to God? We all admit that God knows us better than we know ourselves.

God will bring to light things in our hearts that we do not want to see, let alone allow anyone else to witness, right? Our lives may be nothing more than a long series of cover up's.

In David's case, however, he identifies what he is referring to. "I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress." Thus saying, I have not allowed my mouth to say things contrary to what God would say.

Impossible, at least for me! I could never write what David wrote. It wouldn't be true of me. I've often regretted things I've said.

But it seems we all imagine one way we can make this true of us. One viable response.

In our wiser moments, we choose to say nothing. Like our mothers said to us, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Those of us who are more verbose spend a lifetime trying to learn to be quiet and listen to others. For my more introverted friends, it may not be a challenge at all. We can all control what we say by not saying anything. God not necessary.

Being quiet and not saying anything is not what David has said about himself. What he did say was "I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress."

All this to say, David is talking about the words, the thoughts conveyed that he does say. When he does talk, he has decided to say only that which is true. By God's standards, if not his own.

Again, impossible! Or maybe not? It seems David has a perspective the rest of us don't share?

Later in the same psalm David writes, "Deliver my soul from the wicked...whose portion is in this life." David has purposed in his heart to have an eternal perspective, one that includes a God-given compassion toward the wicked who live exclusively on a horizontal plane. Their only satisfaction will come in this life.

David certainly lives on a horizontal plane, as we all do. But, he also has his eyes on the vertical. Where God is. Where hope of gospel vindication is found. He is content for his satisfaction to come later.

We are not vindicated because of our motives, words, or actions. We are vindicated solely because God the Father, through Jesus the Son has vindicated us on His merit. It's His motives, words and actions that vindicate us.

If we have that same perspective; if we can really believe our vindication in Christ is real, we can say and do as David has said.

He writes in another psalm, "I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence." He cannot, and we cannot do this by simply trying harder.

I can only do this if the Lord puts a guard around my mouth. Even a muzzle, if necessary. A muzzle that reflects a refreshed gospel orientation that says I can have a vertical perspective.

A compassion expressed in word and deed that is also determined to say only what the Lord Jesus would say. Finding my words from His Word. Finding my vindication in Him alone.

And not saying everything I think needs to be said.