Welcome to WEEK TWO of our LENTEN DEVOTIONAL JOURNEY!
SPECIAL NOTE: As we grow forward, Let Us remember that the word of God is meant to be heard and heeded. For this cause, we encourage you to continue in the practice we began last week, of repeatedly listening to, reading, reciting, and meditating on our focal chapter for the week, Psalm 51. Please engage the text in its entirety as often as you can, in the hope of committing it to head and heart, thus allowing it to inform the practice of your faith.
Ego Imperfectus
As I read and pondered the verses of Psalm 51, a single word came to mind, “imperfectus”. Hmm?! Unfamiliar, so I dismissed it. And, again I hear, “Imperfectus!” Hearing the word in my inner ear was one thing, but then a moment later, having it disrupt my thinking… disrupt my focus when it passed through my lips, this immediately arrested my attention. You see, I am not bilingual. I do not speak any other language with any measure of fluency, so hearing it… saying it aloud, I had to google it. IMPERFECTUS… a Latin word meaning imperfect, incomplete. Other synonyms: blemished, broken, flawed, faulty… Therefore, by extension, anything or anyone having this quality or tendency is, by definition, imperfect and, therefore, fallible… One that in and of itself, lacks the capacity to fix whatever they fouled up.
It is through the verses of Psalm 51, King David cries out to God saying, “Ego imperfectus!” meaning, “I am broken… I am blemished… I am flawed. His prayer in other words is, “Lord, I fouled-up, and I can’t fix it!” In full recognition of his sins and fallen nature, David throws himself on the mercy of God. He makes this plea, not on the merits of title, position, or any good thing he may have done, but on the fullness of God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy.
A few days ago, I mentioned that God is not interested in us taking an inventory of our pantries and refrigerators, but of our heads and our hearts. I implore you now, Let Us look prayerfully and soberly at our lives. Let Us devote this week to prayer and submit to the one who is Perfection… the one who can make all things new. Let Us confess our failings, flaws, sins, and transgressions. Then, allow the God of abundant mercy and love, to have God’s own way.