Praying the 15th Psalm

"Lord, I do want to dwell where You dwell.  I want to abide in Your spacious expansive eternal tent that You have pitched on the holy hill of heaven.  Lord, I feel like I have been on my way there for a long time.  If I get there and You do welcome me, I will be the most unfit, the most sinful one You have granted entering mercy.  I pray for such mercy on that day, Lord, for more than others, I will not ever get in sight of Your holy dwelling place without it.

 

I would like to say I haven't been so bad, but You would know the words as a lie.  And I would like to say I have tried to be good.  I would like to ask You to look at those things I haven't done which I should not have done and those things I should have done that I have done.  I would like to be able to speak of what makes me blameless and right in Your sight, but I know not how.  I don't want to sound like the rich young ruler who met you on the road one day and was so blinded by his view of his own goodness that he would not allow himself to see who he was in Your sight.  I wish there was more to offer of myself than this worn out body, frayed spirit, and tainted soul.  I wish there was more to offer You than the brokenness of a life not lived as well as You intended for it to be lived.

 

Lord, in Your mercy look upon me.  Look upon me as one who pleads not for mercy according to anything I have done or not done, but as one who knows my only hope is the mercy and love of the cross.  Lord, have mercy.  Lord, continue to pray for me to come and continue to offer mercy that I might one day finish the journey in faith."