Through the abundance of your steadfast love, I enter

How can I enter this process of transformation? David teaches us again what he has learned. We can't enter by self-righteousness. We can't enter by mustering up enough self-will. We can't enter with special knowledge, techniques, or how-to steps. We can only enter "through the abundance of your steadfast love." (Psalm 5:7)

And it's not just entering where we need God to do for us what we can't do ourselves. We need God to lead this process. "Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness." (Psalm 5:8) This is why the order is so important when talking about what we do (our effort in trying to be obedient, "work out your salvation") and what God does (the Holy Spirit working Jesus' life in and through us, "for it is God who works in you"). I must get that order straight in my mind each and every day so that I'm lead in God's righteousness and not trying to lead in my self-righteousness. And it's the abundance of God's love that moves this whole process along, from start to finish.