Thursday 25th June - Taking Our Sunglasses Off

DAILY BYTE

The book ‘Bono on Bono’ is about the life, thought and faith of the lead singer of the mega group U2. At one point in the book Bono says: ‘… it is impossible to meet God with sunglasses on. It is impossible to meet God without abandon, without exposing yourself, being raw.’ Perhaps this is why so many of us struggle to meet God in intimate and meaningful ways – because we struggle to expose ourselves with raw abandon?”

Our society applauds strength, capability and invulnerability. Little wonder then that we struggle to admit to our inner brokenness for that entails facing personal weakness, need and vulnerability.

Facing our brokenness is about becoming vulnerable. It is about exposing ourselves with raw abandon. In one of the first cases of inner brokenness ever recorded, after Adam and Eve had sinned, they became aware for the very first time of their nakedness, and their consequent vulnerability. With this awareness came the desire to run and hide from God. They were unsure of what God’s reaction would be to their sin and resulting inner brokenness.

Consequently, one of the strongest and most consistent messages of the Bible from then on is how we can completely trust God with our weaknesses and failures. We can be wholly vulnerable with God about our inner brokenness because the Bible tells us that God loves us completely and utterly as we are. We can also trust God to know the absolute worst of us, to see the ugliest skeletons hidden in our closets, and still to love and embrace us.

This was David’s experience as recorded in Psalm 51. Legend has it that David composed this Psalm after being exposed by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery with Bathsheba and for having her husband murdered. David tried to keep his sin hidden to the extent that he even lived in personal denial as to its true evil. When he was courageously challenged by Nathan, David, to his credit, repented. He trusted God’s love for him enough to bring the very worst of his inner brokenness before God.

This is where we need to begin as well – by being truthful to God and ourselves as to who we really are. This does take courageous vulnerability but remember that God loves you completely and utterly as you are.

Read the words of Ps 51 and personalize it – wherever you read the word ‘me’ or ‘I’, insert your own name there instead.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O’ Lord we pray that you would open us up to the true extent of your incredible love for us. Help us to trust that you love as we are, with all our weaknesses and failings. Help us trust that you love us despite the ugliest skeletons we may be hiding in our closets and in this trusting help us to be completely vulnerable before you. In Christ name. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Psalm 51 : 1-7 (NIV)

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.