Today’s psalm is, by tradition, a psalm of David associated with David’s repentance for his great sin of adultery with Bathsheba, which the prophet Nathan challenged him to face up to and take responsibility for.  For David, facing the ugly truth about himself was a step in his spiritual maturation.  It seems fitting that we read this as we head into Holy Week, remembering the terrible betrayals of Jesus by the crowds who welcomed him as he entered Jerusalem, and by his own disciples during his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  It is a time for us to face up to our own failings, to the ways in which we fall short of being the disciples we could be. 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me….

My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart
   you, God, will not despise.

At first glance it seems odd that God would want us to have a broken spirit and heart – it doesn’t seem like the God of compassion and forgiveness, who Jesus so consistently teaches about, would take joy in our distress.  I suspect that God “will not despise” our brokenness because it is in our brokenness, when the walls of our defenses come down, that we are most open to God’s presence.  I know that it is when I am most in touch with my own powerlessness that I most know my own need of God.

Today, and throughout this sacred week, I pray that I can be honest with myself about my own failings – God already knows them – so that I can more completely commit myself to the One who was willing to take up the cross for my sake.