Psalm 51

Songs: Great is Your Mercy – performed by Donnie McClurkin (written by Don Moen)
I Love You Lord (and I Lift My Voice)

Scriptures: (except where noted, all from www.biblegateway.com)
Hebrews 1 (New King James Version)
God’s Supreme Revelation

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional was around Psalm 51…

I remember a time when almost every time I opened a Bible, it opened to Psalm 51 and I knew I was to pray it. The first couple of times, I figured that repentance was good, right? So no problem. But after so much time had elapsed and I seemed to be stuck in this repentance mode for days and then weeks - (and I couldn’t even think of what I had done “that bad” recently for which to repent!) - I started having a real problem. I thought I had repented of past sins, received forgiveness, and couldn’t understand why I still kept getting this Psalm to pray.

I was beginning to dread opening the Bible, afraid of seeing this Psalm again, and feeling that I must really be beyond forgiveness. I was confused, and feeling defeated and condemned.

Then, in His mercy, when I guess my spirit was totally broken, contrite and humbled before Him, God spoke. He addressed my feelings with the truth of His Word:

Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Psalm 19:13
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 8:1
[ Free from Indwelling Sin ] There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

...and showed me how to view Psalm 51 as a finished work of Jesus, to see how Jesus was the answer to what was requested in the Psalm.

[From the Complete Jewish Bible (at www.crosswalk.com)]

For the leader. A psalm of David, when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:

1 God, in your grace, have mercy on me; in your great compassion, blot out my crimes. 2 Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that you are right in accusing me and justified in passing sentence. 5 True, I was born guilty, was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 Still, you want truth in the inner person; so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart. 7 Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, so that the bones you crushed can rejoice. 9 Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my crimes. 10 Create in me a clean heart, God; renew in me a resolute spirit. 11 Don't thrust me away from your presence, don't take your Ruach Kodesh away from me. 12 Restore my joy in your salvation, and let a willing spirit uphold me. 13 Then I will teach the wicked your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood, God, God of my salvation! Then my tongue will sing about your righteousness 15 Adonai, open my lips; then my mouth will praise you. 16 For you don't want sacrifices, or I would give them; you don't take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God, you won't spurn a broken, chastened heart. 18 In your good pleasure, make Tziyon prosper; rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim. 19 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Then He led me to pray thanksgiving from it …

1 Thessalonians 5:18
… in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Thank You, Father God, for Jesus - for revealing Yourself to us through Him, for answering all of our requests in Him. Thank You for Your grace, by which we are saved through faith- not of ourselves but as a gift from You. Thank You for Your mercy which endures forever because of Your goodness and unfailing love. I praise You, Lord God, that You have shown mercy and kindness, compassion and tenderness, according to Your nature and not limited by my need. You are an abundant God, and You have redeemed me, blotted out my transgressions, through Christ Jesus in Whom You glorified Yourself.

Lord, I am so grateful that You are so faithful, so just and so true, that if I walk in the light of Christ - letting Your Word abide in me – and I repent and confess my sins to maintain unbroken communion with You, You will forgive my sins, and cleanse me from all unrighteousness as the blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son, cleanses me from my sins. I am so humbled by Christ’s sacrifice for me, covering my sins, removing them from Your sight, such that I could be freed from my guilt and reconciled to You. Thank You, Lord, that though my sins be like scarlet, You have made and shall make them white as snow.

Lord, You loved this world that You created – loved me - so much that You gave Your best, Your only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. You did not send Your Son to condemn the world or me, but that the world- that I - through Him might be saved. You are the God of my salvation, and I thank You for loving me so completely, so personally, so redemptively.

Thank You, O Lord, for Your Son, Who is the Way, the Truth, the Life. Thank You for Your faithfulness to Your promise to put Your law, Your Spirit, Your truth into my heart and my mind – for working in me to will and to do Your good pleasure. Thank You for Your Presence in my life, for Your Spirit within me to lead me and guide me in the way that I should go; for Christ, having been made unto me wisdom. Thank You for the joy I experience in Your Presence, and for all of the reasons and opportunities You give me to praise You! Thank You for the ability to sense Your nearness, and to desire You, Whom I don’t see, but love.

Thank You for a clean heart, O Lord; for a pure heart. Please let my life be seen and experienced by others as evidence of Your goodness, Your mercy, Your grace, Your majesty, Your beauty … all that can be seen of You in and through me as I decrease and You increase and are magnified in me. Thank You for Your help in developing and sharing the fruits of Your Spirit, that others would know You, know and receive the love You have for them, and love You, too. Thank You for overcoming all my evil with Your good, for dispelling all of my darkness with Your light.

I love You, Lord. In Christ Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

... and my journey with Him continues ...