Vindicate Me, Lord by Chavonn Shen

Day 1 of 4: Deliver Us

Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation,  but deliver us from the evil one.
- Matthew 6:11-13 (NIV)
Vindicate me, Lord for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered. - Psalms 26:1 (NIV)

Psalms 26 starts with: “Vindicate me, Lord.” I want to make clear that to vindicate is not the same as being vindictive. Vindicate means to defend and vindictive means seek revenge. Two very different words, but how often do they go hands in hand? I know for me, there have been plenty of times where I was praying for God to deliver me from an enemy all the while plotting my revenge against that enemy. When we ask for deliverance we shouldn’t be trying to plot revenge at the same time.

Vindicate does not equal vindictiveness. Deliverance doesn’t equal deceit.

Jesus knew what he was doing when he added the lines “lead us not to temptation but deliver us from the evil one” because he knew that waiting for deliverance from evil can cause us to act in ways that aren’t always the most godly, as in plenty of the psalms. Sometimes when we bring our feelings to God we bring the messiness along with them. Sometimes when you’re so hurt, so beaten down, revenge feels right, it feels necessary.

But I pray that you won’t be led into that kind of temptation. Because when we’re able to look past our hurt, we can see that we belong to a God that still dwells with us.

God, lead us away from the temptation of revenge. Defend and deliver us from the evils of this world. Amen.

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