Whether we are as innocent and upright as Susanna or as guilty as the woman caught in adultery help us to still trust in you wholeheartedly. Let us look up to heaven even through tears.
You delight to save us. You keep the innocent safe. You stir up your Spirit in people like Daniel to protect the daughter who is trained by her parents according to the law of Moses. You protect her from those who "suppressed their consciences" and "would not allow their eyes to look to heaven".
Let us not give in to temptation because of the pressures of the world. When they press upon us let us say, "it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord." You want to guide us in right paths like this even when the valley is at its darkest.
You give us so much help, LORD. What happens when we squander it? What happens when we give in to the pressure and commit sin? Even then we should turn to you. Even if we are caught red handed in our sin we can still entrust our cause to you. You do not only help the perfect. When we are accused we hear you say:
Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.
Only you are in a place to judge us. Only you are without sin and fit to condemn anyone. Even the best among us are impure in your sight. All have sinned and fall short of your glory (cf. Rom. 3:23).
But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (cf. Eph. 2:4-6).
You are like us in all things except sin and this makes us nervous that you won't understand our weakness. Yet even though you do not fall as we do you are still tested in the same ways. You still sympathize with our weakness (cf. Heb. 4:15). You do not throw the first stone.
You lift us up and restore us when we fall. You say, "Neither do I condemn you." After all, you did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through you (cf. Joh. 3:17).
You say, "Go, and from now on do not sin any more." But you do not send us away without help. You yourself give us the grace to walk in your ways. You yourself shepherd us when the valley is dark. You send angels to defend us. You send angels to guard us. You give us defenders like Daniel to stick up for us. If we hear you say that go and sin no more we might despair on our own. But your grace makes it possible. Your grace is sufficient for us (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9).
Jesus, teach us to entrust ourselves entirely to you when we are tempted. And even when we sin teach us to throw all that way are on your mercy. You save those who hope in you. We join the assembly and cry:
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
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