Are You for Real?

“1 Listen while I build my case, God, the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear. 2 Show the world I’m innocent— in your heart you know I am. 3 Go ahead, examine me from inside out, surprise me in the middle of the night— You’ll find I’m just what I say I am. My words don’t run loose. 4 I’m not trying to get my way in the world’s way. I’m trying to get your way, your Word’s way. 5 I’m staying on your trail; I’m putting one foot In front of the other. I’m not giving up.” (Psalm 17:1-5 MSG).

Good words. James wrote, “1 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. 2 You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? 3 And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.” (James 4:1-3 MSG). Contrast that with our text, “1 Listen while I build my case, God, the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear. . . 4 I’m not trying to get my way in the world’s way. I’m trying to get your way, your Word’s way.”

I have to hand it to David, these are bold words. I wonder how many of us could honestly say to the God who knows everything about us, sees everything, knows even our intentions, “Go ahead, examine me from inside out, surprise me in the middle of the night— You’ll find I’m just what I say I am.” David wrote these words while running for his life from Saul. Later, David would discover that he was not so innocent, yet even in his guilt he, like us, would discover God’s mercy and grace that picks us up, dusts us off, and gets us started again on the right path.

I don’t know were you are as you read these words. Perhaps you are in a state of grace, and you identify with David, “I’m true through and through! A person of genuine integrity.” Or maybe you’ve read these words and thought, “Man, if only this were true of me!” In ether case, know this, God loves you, Christ died for you, and the Holy Spirit longs to help you become such a person. There is hope. If you’ve fallen, allow the Wonderful Counselor to pick you up. If you’re wounded, allow the Great Physician to tend to those wounds. If you are standing, praise God (but don’t forget it is by Him you stand), and like David say, “5 I’m staying on your trail; I’m putting one foot In front of the other. I’m not giving up.”