Do Not Turn to the Proud

Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

—Psalm 40:4

It's been a repeated theme in my devotions for a while now, so I must ask myself: Are the scriptures speaking to me, or am I speaking to the scriptures? But I continue to see in the psalms—the very passages that I turn to to teach me to pray—a condemnation of my own nation. For what are we but a people who have turned to the proud, to those whose gods are gold and silver, to people whose lust is for power and riches. Here, at any rate, regardless of my politics, I must accept that those who trust in God are not those who turn to the proud. And those who trust in the proud cannot be those who turn to God.

I cannot of my own power place my trust in you, O God. I admit that. Left to my own devices, I will trust in the proud every time, preferring human schemes that offer me material gain or exalt people like me over those who are different. Grant me faith, therefore—faith in you alone. And may that faith open my mind to simplicity and understanding; in Jesus' Name, who taught me to pray: Our Father...