Waiting With Clean Hands

The priest in the law is taught to guard holiness, the psalmist to wait in silence, and the prophet to confess ruin before the Lord. These are not three roads, but one. Whoever draws near to God must not come with a divided tongue, polluted hands, and a proud excuse. He must come as one who knows that God is his rock, yet also knows that his own righteousness is as a soiled garment.

The holiness required of the priest was not ornament, but warning to all the people: the Lord is not approached carelessly. As Cyprian says, “For it behooves priests and ministers, who wait upon the altar and sacrifices, to be sound and stainless; since the Lord God speaks in Leviticus, and says, No man that has a stain or a blemish shall come near to offer gifts to the Lord.” If this was spoken of those who served at the altar, how much more should every baptized person fear to offer prayer while keeping deceit, grudges, or uncleanness.

The psalm exposes the sin that often hides beneath religious speech: “They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart.” Outward reverence with inward malice is no offering to God. Therefore Isaiah teaches us the true approach: not boasting, but confession; not demanding, but trembling; not trusting in ourselves, but crying for mercy from the One who comes to save.

So wait for God, but wait honestly. Put away double speech. Confess what is stained. Do the works fitting for repentance. Then your waiting will not be empty, for the Lord receives the humble and resists the false.