Psalm 143:1-12
A psalm of David.
1 Lord, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.
7 Answer me quickly, Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord,
for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
11 For your name’s sake, Lord, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies;
destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant.
Mark 2:15-17
Jesus Came for Sinners
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 7:1-6
On Judging Others
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Romans 3:9-20
No One is Righteous, Not Even One
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
David talks about the morning...Let us spend some of our morning time thinking of God...If we cannot spend time in the morning thinking and being with God, we must find the time to be with Him...God does not necessarily need the time with us, but we definitely need some time with Him...David found time throughout his day to be with God...David says that God's LOVE is unfailing...David writes, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You...Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life."...We should not only spend morning time thinking of Him, but let us meditate on all of God's works as often as we can...Meditating on God and reflecting on Him and being with Him, helps us each day...And as we read the many Psalms by David, we see that he over and over each day, made time for God...
You are my God and You make good my Spirit as you lead me down the path of righteousness, for I am your servant...Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before You...If God judges us for how we are now, what would become of us...Let us thank Him, for His unfailing LOVE for His children...
David knows we cannot stand in front of God with our own righteousness...We need His help, because we are natural sinners...This is why our Father sent us His Son...His Son is our Mediator and our Helper for sinning...Jesus came for the unrighteous sinner...Jesus makes it clear that He did not come for the righteous person...When we condemn a neighbor for their bad behavior, we often are judging...We tend to forget our own bad behavior...We have at the time of our blind judging that we have sinned, we too can repent and be better...Jesus tells us do not judge or we too will be judged...When we think someone should have higher standards, then He tells us to look at our own lives and are we doing everything we can be doing that we should be...We all can live at a higher standard...We all have these specks of sawdust in our eyes, that often we cannot see or see through or just overlook, as we judge our neighbors to be better...Jesus tells those who think that they are righteous, that He did not come for them...And in this Psalm, this prayer when David talks to His Father, David knows he cannot stand before God in a righteous way...No one living is righteous before God, not even one...