Merit Badges

You have said to YHWH, “You are my Lord, I have no good apart from You.”  Psalm 16:2

No Goodness – It helps if we see the literal rendering of this verse.  “My goodness is not apart from You.”  Why is this important?  Because the difference in the word order shows us what is emphasized and what conclusions must be drawn. 

Notice that the first thought is my goodness.  The Hebrew is tovati.  The root is tovah (tov), means good, well-pleasing, proper, prosperous, convenient and morally correct.  That covers it, doesn’t it?  What else is there to goodness that isn’t captured in this word?  Nothing.  In other words, whatever claim I might have about being good, proper, prosperous, moral or beneficial – all of my goodness – is summarized under this word. 

But what does David says about my goodness?  None of it belongs to me!  In Hebrew, bal-aleika.  Apart from You, Lord, it means nothing!  Whatever I might claim as goodness depends entirely on You.  You are the source of my morality, my well-being, my proper actions and my prosperity.  My goodness is not separate from You.  I do not stand apart, claiming my own rights, proclaiming my own merit.  Unless you give me the merit badges, I have nothing at all.

This is a slave’s mentality in the mouth of a king.

Do we really think like this? When the most powerful human being in the land falls face down, expressing his worthlessness before the Sovereign Lord, we can hardly consider ourselves exempt from such humility.  The servant is not greater than the master.  And if the king is a servant, what does that make us?

It’s very hard to keep bal-aleika in the forefront of our thinking.  The world surrounds us with the seductive appeal of earned merit badges.  From the time we are able to walk, we are taught to stand on our own, make our own way and take life by the throat.  We give credit where credit is due.  We expect to be recognized for our goodness.  We pursue that recognition, extolling men and women of valor, integrity and virtue.  We are, above all else, self-made human beings.  To set aside all of this, to acknowledge our essential unloveliness and deep ego sin, is incredibly difficult.  Even when we say, bal-aleika, we have a tendency to take pride in our humility.  We might acknowledge that God really is the source of all goodness, but we want just a bit rubbed off on us so that we can hold our heads up, even if just for a split second.  We would settle for just a little goodness dust to fall on us.

But the Bible won’t allow it.  “There is none righteous, no, not one.”  How hard it is to come to terms with God’s judgment.

Let’s not be mistaken.  We have no goodness apart from Him, but He values us nevertheless.  In fact, He values us so much that John 3:16 is a reality.  My goodness is a myth, but His love is not.  It is His love that credits me with goodness, not my goodness that credits me with His love. 

Today, see if bal-aleika can sink just a little deeper into your thought.  Today, worship Him because He first loved us.

Topical Index:  goodness, tov, tovah, bal-aleika, apart, Psalm 16:2, humility, pride