The prayer of the blameless is impossible, but do your best to be honest and stay out of trouble while trusting in God

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The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is the prayer of the blameless is impossible, but do your best to be honest and stay out of trouble while trusting in God.

My primary take-away from each of the passages was this:

• Exodus 1, 2  – Everyone’s fortunes change, and so did the Israelites’. Even so, God sees all and he is with us. 
• Matthew 26 – “Stay awake and pray not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing but human nature is weak.”
• Psalms 26 – Praying from a clean conscience is a blessed thing, to be cherished. However, no one is completely innocent, so be wary of praying prideful prayers.  
• Proverbs 26 – Be wise, avoid fools, ignore gossip and slander, and if you can’t avoid hearing it, put an end to it by letting it die in your ears. 

In Genesis, a few opening sentences carries us through generations of history for the Egyptians and Hebrews; long enough that the new Pharaoh doesn’t even know who Joseph was. The Egyptians have forgotten what he did to save their people and their nation. We see the seeds of ethnic dissension planted between the Egyptians and the Hebrews, and the beginning of Moses’ story, which is the beginning of the next great story for the Hebrews.

In Matthew, “Jesus had now finished all he wanted to say,”¹ and he begins his journey toward the end of his ministry on Earth, and his death on the cross. We see a shift in Jesus’ ministry from being joyfully followed by people seeking healing to him being aware of his impending death, and preparing himself and his disciples for that inevitable outcome. He makes predictions about what will happen to him and them, speaking of Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, and his funeral preparations. He takes his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane to pray, but becomes dismayed that they simply fall asleep. He is arrested, taken before the Sanhedrin, and is abused and tormented by them. Then Peter does deny him. The disciples begin to see everything falling apart, and they start falling apart.

In both Exodus 1-2 and in Matthew 26 we see a reversal of fortunes for everyone we have been reading about. The previously blessed fall into darkness in both situations. Joy turns into sadness, and even despair. The faithful become disheartened.

Today’s Psalm has always perplexed me. It has always struck me as prideful. There is a heading under the chapter number that says, “Prayer of the blameless.”² However, none are blameless before God. In 2005, I wrote this in the margin:

“Whenever I read this, I wonder who is self-righteous enough to pray this prayer. If my salvation depended on my innocence, I would be doomed. I’m glad it does not depend on me. This is the prayer of the Pharisees of the New Testament. If I ever find myself earnestly praying this prayer I will know I’m in trouble.”

Of course, that may be the point. It may be an example of how not to pray. When Psalm 26 is juxtaposed against Matthew 26, it really does emphasize the enormous differences between Jesus and the rest of us. When you further compare this prayer with the fact that Jesus told his disciples to “Stay awake and pray not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing but human nature is weak,” the contrast is even more stark. None of us can pray Psalm 26 with a clear conscience; we are more apt to fall asleep when Jesus is telling us to pay close attention.

If we needed convincing that we are not worthy to pray Psalm 26 with sincerity, Proverbs 26 provides us with all the evidence of our basic human nature that we need to understand this. I have lost count over the years of all the times I have heard people with positive attitudes and hopeful spirits say, “All people are basically good.” I wish it were true. I do believe that most people have the capacity and potential to be good. So does God. That is why he gave us a path to him through Jesus that allows us to constantly be redeemed. However, Proverbs 26 gives us a pretty good portrait of human nature when left to our own devices. We fall into trouble, injure ourselves and our neighbors. We make foolish mistakes and do it over and over again. We gossip and hold onto grudges. And there are some of us who actively seek to do harm to others, intentionally. If you’ve never read, The Sociopath Next Door, by Martha Stout, PhD, I highly recommend it. According to research that has now been widely published (and cited by Dr. Stout and many others), 4% of the human population are sociopaths. They are born that way and there is no way to rehabilitate them. When I first read that, I wondered how that could be possible, since God has given us a plan for redemption that is available to all. The answer to that question is in Jesus’ stories of the wheat and the tares back in Matthew 13:24-30. Review those passages and think about it. Then read Dr. Stout’s book.

My favorite verse from Proverbs 26 is verse 17: “He takes a stray dog by the ears who meddles in someone else’s quarrel.”³ There are so many times when the trouble we find ourselves in was completely avoidable, if only we had minded our own business. When we see others in dissension, for some of us it is only natural to want to help. However, it is not always wise. Most often, the wisest thing we can do is stay out of it, mind our own business, let them sort it out, and if we feel a burden on our heart to do something about it, the best thing we can do is pray and give it to God.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

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This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.

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¹ Matthew 26: 1, New Jerusalem Bible, 1985.

² Psalms 26, New Jerusalem Bible, 1985.

³ Proverbs 26:17, New Jerusalem Bible, 1985