David get off making such an audacious claim to the Lord in this
prayer?
The righteousness he claimed was not what we might imagine.
Unlike our straight-laced, stiff-collared puritanical stereotype, David
was not claiming a total lack of sin. He was not parading the false
piety of the “religious” crowd.
Instead, David’s kind of righteousness meant being right with
God, having a reconciled relationship with him, shooting straight
with him, and not trying to sound pious when God knew he wasn’t.
And it meant giving God free access to his heart.
And what of David’s kind of honesty? David’s heart was an open
book before God. He had given up any attempt at deceit. He longed
for a friendship with the Father.
Now, with our terms redefined, let’s try paraphrasing David’s
prayer:
O Lord, it’s me again. I don’t want to hide from you. I need you so
much. That’s why I’m here, crying out to you. Please help me. You
can see my heart, so you know what’s in it. You know that what
I’m saying isn’t a lie. You’re the only one who knows how to
straighten out the situation I’m in. Help me, Lord. Take a good
look at my motives and my desires. If there’s anything false or self-
ish in me, show it to me so I can confess it. I want to be right with
you. I don’t want to say or do anything that will cause any harm
to anyone else. Help me to be your person in this and every situ-
ation, Father.Do you hear David’s words differently now? I believe that God is
always looking for the heart that will deal honestly with him—the
heart of a person who desires a righteous relationship with him.
101 MOST POWERFUL PRAYERS IN THE BI BLE 113