Today was day one of the Global Leadership Summit ( #GLS20 ). After absorbing a lot of information and starting to process it, I decided that it was time for me to sit down and write again. So here I am preparing to write about the next Psalm on my list – and what do you know, it ties in with several of the speakers from today.
One of the interviews was with Sadie Robertson Huff. She had some interesting things to share but one of them really stuck out for me. She talked about how important it is for her generation to see honesty and authenticity. You see in our world messages are refined, pictures are touched-up, and our lives reflect an illusion of perfection. I know you have seen the pictures on Facebook that give the illusion of perfect family moments when down deep inside we are struggling, our families are falling apart, and we are simply hanging on by a thread – I know this because I have lived it.
Psalm 26 finds the psalmist making some rather bold declarative statements like
You be my judge and declare me innocent – verse 1
Lord, you can scrutinize me – verse 2
These statements are seeking openness and honesty. They are making a declaration of transparency. You cannot ask the God of the universe to judge you and scrutinize you while at the same time presenting a visage that is hidden or touched-up.
So where does that leave us? It leaves us open and vulnerable. It leaves us looking for ways that we can remain faithful even when the world around us is trying to drag us away. The psalmist addresses this in the remaining verses of Psalm 26. While the world is trying to draw us away, we are going to remain faithful. While the world is trying to entice us, we are going to walk only in the way that is right. When the world is trying to distract us, we are going to proclaim publicly that God is our Lord and we will stand on righteousness alone!
Today I hope you are ready to make the declarative statements that David made in verses 1 & 2. As I make those statements in my own life, I pray that the Lord will find me to be faithful. That I will have the boldness and transparency to live my life for him and him alone.