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1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:1-7 NRSV Bible)
Happy Thursday,dear Friend. May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus be with you. May all we say to God in prayer be to worship Him and bring blessings to us. As we pray today, please pray for Mr. Ricardo Gonzalez, who is in Houston awaiting to get a new series of injections to bless his body. Pray that the injections and God's healing hand do what our brother Ricardo needs
I have said before the two greatest prayers of humans are "Help me, God!" and "Forgive me, God!" The Bible has enough persons saying both things, and for a reason. The Bible is our story. You and I have been in situations where we have either asked for help or forgiveness, or even both at the same time. There is no perfect person in holy scriptures, save for Jesus. Paul, one of, if not the greatest of the evangelists said among sinners, he was chief. There are days when I think I have taken away his claim. This passage is the one King David wrote after his murderous affair with the wife of one of his soldiers. You know the story; he arranges returns from the battlefield in hopes that his solider would sleep with his wife and thus think that that the child Bathsheba had in her thanks to the affair. The loyal solider did not want to enjoy the comforts of home while his brothers-in-arms did not have the same benefits, and so the king then orders this solider, Uriah, to be sent to the fiercest part of the fighting, and then the other soldiers, for whom he felt so much loyalty, pulled back, and Uriah dies. God sent a prophet to tell David a parable about a man who loves his lamb so much and a terrible neighbor steals the beloved lamb, kills it, cooks it and offers it to a guest. The king is angered by the story and the prophet says, "That thief is you!" Oops. Gulp.
The king grabs his pen and writes this psalm with sadness, anger, embarrassment, guilt, and hope. He pleads for mercy, asking that his sin be taken away from him. He confesses that he has sinned against God and though he knows he deserves the full extent of the law-type punishment, begs for the outcome to be different. He sounds a lot like me. Maybe you?
This story is our story if we're honest. The universal human experience, written daily in our hearts, minds, spirits, and lives, has the same theme; we mess up, we confess because we are sorry, and we need God. I shared last Friday the story of the lawyer turned journalist, turned atheist, turned believer, who at Easter invited a close colleague to church for Easter. His invitation was declined by the friend, but a man working on his hands and knees behind the friend's desk resonated with the invitation; he needed God and so he went to church with his wife and teenaged son, and all three became believers. Maybe we're on our hands and knees behind the desk and hear something that hits us in the heart, reminding us we all need God and God's love and mercy. King David's words are our words, "I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived (us); teach me (us) wisdom in (our) secret heart. Purge (us) with hyssop, and (we) shall be clean; wash (us) and (we) shall be whiter than snow. Let (us) hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice." And the most famous line from this passage, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." With all the filth, dust, dirt, mud that life throws at us, if our hearts had filters like our automobiles, we could replace them and have a new filter; but they don't. We need new hearts, and God provides those!
Hear the good news that David heard and experienced; that mercy and change can be ours as well if we but ask. God can restore our salvation, and sustain our willing spirits. In fact, that has been this entire season of Lent; preparing our hearts to be made new in Jesus. To fully realize that our decaying spirits can be made new, and that even those with dead hearts can fully experience personal resurrection. Where do you stand?
PRAYER: Loving God, as we pray we come with contrite hearts, knowing and confessing that we have been sinful and our need for You is great to be forgiven and made new. Create in us clean hearts and renew our spirits to a steadfast level. Lead us away from sin and help us walk in Your ways, experiencing the fullness of life that comes from being in relationship wiht You; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Spend more time in prayer; pour out your heart to God and ask Him to cleanse you and renw your spirit.
I love you and thank God for you,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
