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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
August 23, 2023
Invitatory
Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 130
Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; *
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.
If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, *
O Lord, who could stand?
For there is forgiveness with you; *
therefore you shall be feared.
I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; *
in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, *
more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, wait for the Lord, *
for with the Lord there is mercy;
With him there is plenteous redemption, *
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
What is more daunting, or disturbing, or actually frightening (I’m searching for the right word here)? Is it better to be judged or forgiven? This is a serious and challenging question. It is certainly given great weight by the psalmist.
We tend to contemplate forgiveness from a safe distance, as those who, perhaps, ourselves might at some time be in need of it. As such, as an abstract concept or as something we might receive, forgiveness can seem appealing. Some might call it a grace.
But if it is attached to wrenching occurrences of wrong, forgiveness can show itself to be an intolerable offense. It is the very definition of an injustice. It may be allowable to forgive a slight; something that has no lasting effect. And it may be imaginable to forgive a deeper wound on account of an overriding affection or love or the pursuit of a goal that would provide a greater benefit. But what about the notorious villains that litter human history? In an instant we can dredge up the names of many who we consider unforgivable. Their actions, their crimes against humanity, demand their judgment. Anything less than the tortures of the damned would be abhorrent. For the harm they have done is irreparable. It cannot be undone.
This is fundamental: at some point, ultimately, we will insist that the order we rely on is grounded in justice, not forgiveness. What is right must triumph. The wrong must be punished. For only then can we make sense of things. Apart from this, all would descend into chaos.
The psalmist, however, is aware that God puts this all at risk; for God has the capacity to forgive in ways far beyond the limits set by justice. God is able to set aside the very judgments of right and wrong that we can’t imagine living without. Let’s try to take the full measure of this. It is possible for God to take no account of right and wrong in response to our actions and our lives. It is possible for God to forgive everything. It is possible for God to forgive everyone of everything.
There’s something terrifying about this. For it upends the conviction that we hold at our very core. Judgment gives us a clear sense of value. Forgiveness erases this. God approaches us on different terms, terms that are alien to us. They “pass all understanding.” And this, for the psalmist, is what qualifies God as the Lord. It’s what distinguishes true faith from idolatry.
In our secular age, it’s easy to dismiss God if God is no more than a better version of our better selves (we’ll see to justice on our own). But in one verse, the psalmist confronts us with the dimensionality of true forgiveness – for which we can only wait. It’s a waiting that humbles us. But this waiting tempers us from becoming the worst version of our worst selves, as if we are in fact the lords of our own lives.
Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
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