None of us like to be exposed.   It’s our natural tendency to hold a little back, to not let anyone see all of the “real” us, to manipulate what we reveal to others in order to show our best side. 

We may be able to get away with that in our everyday lives.  But not with God.

“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul”.  Psalm 25:1

That’s the first verse of a Psalm I’ve come back to again and again when I need God’s guidance and direction.  But somehow, I’ve never stopped to really think about what it means.  It sounds all lofty and nice and “Here I am, Lord”.  I know I’ve said it and sung it, but today I realized something.

 It means I’m exposed. 

“Soul is not life in the abstract.  Soul is personal existence.  It is the life or self of an individual as marked by vital drives and desires.  It is the seat of emotion and will.  It is emphasized by that unique, personal and individual self. It means life as it is uniquely experienced by personal beings.”

(Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)

In other words, when I lift my soul, I lift…..me.  All of me.  My thoughts, my desires, my will.  I expose myself.

And I need to do that before I come to God with my questions and my requests, and even my praise.  God wants to see that I’m not trying to hold anything back.

It’s the first verse of Psalm 25.  But I need to make it the first verse of my life.

Does He not see all my ways, and count all my steps?  Job 31:4

Let us lift our hearts and hands To God in heaven.  Lamentations 3:41

Search me, O God, and see if there is any wicked way in me.  Psalm 139:24

Examine me, O Lord and prove me.  Try my mind and my heart.  Psalm 26:2