The Way to Blessedness
Read Psalm 32.
Have you ever met someone you knew you could trust? Someone who seemed, at the very outset, incredibly trustworthy? Someone you believed would never lie to you, never hide anything from you? Trust is a difficult thing to attain in our day. A recent Gallup Poll shows that there are certain people we trust implicitly more than others. In order, the ten most trusted professions are said to be:
When I read that list, other than just being glad that clergy made the list, it impresses me how much faith and trust we put in our medical professionals. We implicitly believe our doctors and nurses will not lie to us. (Yet, here I sit, typing with a hand that constantly aches because of a mistake a doctor made on a surgery many years ago, a doctor who was later arrested for attempted murder, but that's a long story...)
Of course, now we want to know what are the least trusted professions. Gallup Poll to the rescue once again (with apologies to any readers who might appear on this list—I don't make the trends, I just report them), starting with the least trusted:
Much could be said about that list—about how we place our money and our well being into the hands of people we do not trust! But the reality is the psalmist says we should all be on that list. None of us are fully trustworthy, and none of us lack deceit in our hearts. He describes us as those who transgress, those who sin, and he says the only ones among us are blessed are those whom the Lord does not count our sin against us! Those are the ones who have come willingly to God and asked for forgiveness, honestly, openly, without deceit.
In the latter part of verse 2, when he says there are some blessed people in whose spirit there is no deceit, he's not talking about being sinless. He's talking about how we come before God about the reality that we are sinners, that we are transgressors. We come openly, honestly, not trying to hide anything from God (as if we could anyway!). Only when we come to God in that way, acknowledging that we all belong on "that list," are we able to find the blessed life.
Like David, as we read yesterday, let's come to God with an open heart, daring to bare our souls and lay our sin before him. He is trustworthy, and he will forgive. And we will be blessed.
Have you ever met someone you knew you could trust? Someone who seemed, at the very outset, incredibly trustworthy? Someone you believed would never lie to you, never hide anything from you? Trust is a difficult thing to attain in our day. A recent Gallup Poll shows that there are certain people we trust implicitly more than others. In order, the ten most trusted professions are said to be:
1. Nurses
2. Pharmacists
3. Medical Doctors
4. Engineers
5. Dentists
6. Police Officers
7. College Teachers
8. Clergy
9. Psychiatrists
10. Chiropractors
When I read that list, other than just being glad that clergy made the list, it impresses me how much faith and trust we put in our medical professionals. We implicitly believe our doctors and nurses will not lie to us. (Yet, here I sit, typing with a hand that constantly aches because of a mistake a doctor made on a surgery many years ago, a doctor who was later arrested for attempted murder, but that's a long story...)
Of course, now we want to know what are the least trusted professions. Gallup Poll to the rescue once again (with apologies to any readers who might appear on this list—I don't make the trends, I just report them), starting with the least trusted:
1. Car Salespeople
2. Members of Congress
3. Advertising Executives
4. Stockbrokers
5. HMO Managers
6. Senators
7. Insurance Salespeople
8. Lawyers
9. State Governors
10. Business Executives
Much could be said about that list—about how we place our money and our well being into the hands of people we do not trust! But the reality is the psalmist says we should all be on that list. None of us are fully trustworthy, and none of us lack deceit in our hearts. He describes us as those who transgress, those who sin, and he says the only ones among us are blessed are those whom the Lord does not count our sin against us! Those are the ones who have come willingly to God and asked for forgiveness, honestly, openly, without deceit.
In the latter part of verse 2, when he says there are some blessed people in whose spirit there is no deceit, he's not talking about being sinless. He's talking about how we come before God about the reality that we are sinners, that we are transgressors. We come openly, honestly, not trying to hide anything from God (as if we could anyway!). Only when we come to God in that way, acknowledging that we all belong on "that list," are we able to find the blessed life.
Like David, as we read yesterday, let's come to God with an open heart, daring to bare our souls and lay our sin before him. He is trustworthy, and he will forgive. And we will be blessed.
Well said!
ReplyDelete