Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

Psalm 31 is full of prayers that will sounds familiar:

1 In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame; *
deliver me in your righteousness.

3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,
for you are my crag and my stronghold; *
for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.

5 Into your hands I commend my spirit, *
for you have redeemed me,
O Lord, O God of truth.

The righteousness of God is what stands out to me today in the praying of these prayers. There is a book that I have picked up off and on over the past few years called “Seculosity.” The main argument is that we cannot attain a righteousness like God’s righteousness through works - be they “career, parenting, technology, food, politics, [or] romance” - doing any of these things “just right” can become its own religion with its own salvation and mores, with its own punishment and shame, but without life- and death-altering grace and mercy. The righteousness we seek is God’s - deliver me in your righteousness. We can pray and strive and hope to do well at the things that matter in our life, the things that make us who we are. We are bade to faithfully care and give and live into who we are called to be. But the point of any of our own striving or self-made righteousness is to honor and seek, to know and love God. The whole of ourselves - not just the self-made or self-helped parts, is made to know and love God and God’s righteousness. With these prayers may we know our imperfections are the ones for which the cross is borne, our whole lives, our striving and our failing.

In Christ,

Mtr Taylor