March 14th, Psalm 26

 "Vindicate me, O LORD, For I have walked in my integrity."  -King David, Psalm 26:1 

Really, Lord?  The word vindicate is a strong way to start an already off Monday morning.  But, in my desire to keep it on the text, and keep the context in the text, and meditate upon that, here we are with "vindicate."

To vindicate is to absolve from false accusation---that's my Monday morning on my second cup of coffee definition. Now for Merriam-Webster's:

Hmmmm.  The #2 definition feels aggressive, jugular, confrontational--throw it down and slay it; an eye for an eye. In contrast, all of the nuances of 1--a, b1, b2, and c feel protective, defensive, a coming alongside. #3 feels cold and legal, neither here nor there #4 feels healing, loose--too bad it's termed obsolete.  Deliverance is a step beyond protection and defense, and certainly a different and better thing than to avenge.

The language of deliverance is a common theme of David's in the psalms. It's also in the Lord's prayer: "deliver us from evil."  That's worth some time.

The connotations of vindication go on and on...

The KJ translates the Hebrew word as judge.  What kind of person is so supremely confident that they start a conversation with God this way? It's ballsy.  He's begging to be judged. 

Judged by God in what way?  Is he suggesting he's entirely innocent? David was chased by Saul and Absalom, but he also sinned big with Bathsheba:

"If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"  -Psalm 130:3

My hunch is that our cultural understandings and associations with this word are disparate, disjointed.

Strong's definition for שָׁפַט, shâphaṭ (shaw-fat') comes closest to Merriam's #1:

"A primitive root; to judge, that is, pronounce sentence (for or against)."  But all the other senses are possible extensions and implications as well.

The second half of that first verse helps:

"Vindicate me, O LORD, For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the LORD; I shall not slip."

And there is no time to explore all of THAT this morning, sadly.  David is surely bold--that I've got right. If I had any doubts about the confidence and frankly nerviness of Psalm 26:1, the following verse just confirms it:

Psa 26:2  Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. 

I admire David's heart to lay it all bear---his spirit to truth tell, to be known.  It's scary though.  Like Adam and Eve, I'm not so sure I want to meet God during His morning walk and talk about my heart.

I want to hide my heart. It feels yucky to me if I'm honest. The world feels scary. My experience is that it will stomp on my heart, and God will allow that. Maybe not facilitate it, but allows it all the same. The harsh nature of this world is unquestionable in my eyes.

So where is David going with this? My time for writing this morning is up....I'll continue my journey into Psalm 26 tomorrow.