12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
These verses of Psalm 92 put me in mind of something T.S. O'Rama wrote the other day about certain psalms he could not pray with any real confidence. (I paraphrase). But this is one that gave me pause to think. How could I ever count myself among the righteous? I can count myself among the "justified," I trust I am in the ranks of those for whom Jesus's salvific act is not without effect--but righteous. That's certainly stretching a point.
I am a sinner, and not by any stretch of the imagination righteous nor entitled by right to those things promised here. I am as lost as anyone who can hear His voice and still choose not to respond.
And yet. . . and yet, I believe that what is promised here for the righteous is given even to those who are not righteous, but to those who attempt to live in His life, who call upon His grace and are "righteous" therefore by referring to the "right" sources for all wisdom and right-thinking.
Alone I have no righteousness, nor any claim to such, but through Him and through His great love, I have claim to all that is promised here and all that is promised beyond. Only through Him do I have claim to anything at all, because of myself I am nothing but a mass of contradictory impulses. He gives life meaning and goal; without Him all that is lost is truly lost and can never be found. Through Him all things are made new and what was not righteous becomes redeemed and a source of hope for all.
