#DailyDevotion God’s Righteousness Doesn’t Make Sense

Introit  (Psalm 71:15–18; Antiphon: Psalm 51:14)

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my sal- | vation,*

      and my tongue will sing aloud of your | righteousness.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation | all the day,*

      for their number is past my | knowledge.

With the mighty deeds of the Lord God | I will come;*

      I will remind them of your righteousness, | yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have | taught me,*

      and I still proclaim your | wondrous deeds.

So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not for- | sake me,*

      until I proclaim your might to another generation,

      your power to all | those to come.

Some people probably recoil at the thought of God letting David get away with murder. Sure, David lost his child by Bathsheba and his house would be full of trouble. Two of his sons would die, one because he raped his sister, one of David’s daughters. But David did commit adultery aaannndd he arraigned the death (murder) of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to cover up the adultery. Still our moral hackles should be shouting, Death! Not only death but he deserves eternity in hell!

Yet it that bloodguiltiness David seeks to be delivered of by God. If God would only do this, then he would sing aloud of God’s righteousness. Now wait, you may be saying. What sort of righteousness lets the damned David be delivered from his bloodguiltiness? What sort of righteousness indeed!

But Paul writes, Rom 4:5-8 “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,  (6)  just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:  (7)  ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;  (8)  blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” Yes, God is righteous and just and does not let sin go unpunished. Yet here Paul says God considers the ungodly righteous who have faith in him. God even justifies the guilty! How can this make sense. To that Paul says, 2Co 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God takes out his justice, his wrath for our sins upon the sinless one, his only Son Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus becomes our sin offering. What David deserved, what the worst person you can think of in the world deserves, and what you deserve for your sins, Jesus atoned for with the shedding of his blood, his suffering and death.

Knowing this, David rightly proclaims the righteousness of our God. For the righteousness of our God does not condemn us but saves us. With David let us open our lips and proclaim all that the Lord has done. The mighty deed of our Lord Jesus Christ suffering death yet overcoming death by his resurrection should pour forth from our mouths as it did David’s. Let us remind one another of the Lord Jesus Christ’s wondrous deeds of salvation and proclaim it to another generation. The power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to remove from us our bloodguiltiness, our sins, the wrath of God and to make us righteous before the Father we shall rejoice in and make known. If you are offended by the Lord’s righteousness to David, perhaps you don’t have a good appreciation of your own sins yet. I suggest a humble and honest appraisal of yourself with the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount starting in Matthew five. The offense of even our ‘little sins’ stinks to high heaven. Thanks be to God he provides us his righteousness in Christ Jesus.

Almighty God and Father, your righteousness saved your servant David in the midst of his bloodguiltiness. May that same righteousness save us from all our sins that we may become your righteousness on the day of judgment. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.