Thursday, August 2, 2018

Repentance

Thursday, August 2, 2018
Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.  Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.  Wash me clean from my guilt.  Purify me from my sin.  For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.  Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.  You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.  For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.  But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.  Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  Oh, give me back my joy again;
    you have broken me—now let me rejoice.
Don’t keep looking at my sins.  Remove the stain of my guilt.  Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me.  Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.  Psalm 51:1-12(NLT)
If you want to know how big King David’s sin was with Bathsheba you simply read the Prophet Samuel’s journal.  A quick survey of the king’s attitude and actions include most of the seven deadly sins, and breaking all of the commandments; his transgressions leap off the chart like the Dow-Jones index gone mad on a Black-Market Monday.  Just to name a few:  sloth, lust, lying, adultery, murder, conspiracy, and, perhaps worse than all, he drew others into his plots to save his own political neck. If you looked up the word “sin” or “transgression” in the dictionary, I’m pretty sure David’s picture is in on the page. During this time King David was not acting like a man after God’s own heart! 
Of course, Psalm 51 is the account of David’s confession – a prayer filled with extreme contrition and pathos.  It is such a contrast from the willful arrogance David had displayed in trying to cover his sinful tracks, it’s hard to imagine he is the same person.
Yet, if there’s any one thing that stands out to me this morning as I re-read this prayer, it is the confidence David exudes as he begs God to forgive and restore him.  David isn’t just asking for God to look the other way and let him slide; David is acknowledging how deliberately malicious he has been, and is asking God to restore him to innocence.  That is one incredible asking! 
But this goes beyond asking for forgiveness; David opens his heart for God to do holy surgery that will restore the lifeblood flow of joy between his life and God’s unfailing love.  This isn’t David’s self-confidence, it’s his confidence in God!
Many of you know my bride, Elizabeth, recently had a heart catheterization.  When the doctor saw the images of 70-80% blockages he knew exactly what to do; he inserted stents, little tubes to push back the blocking matter and open the pathway for life-giving blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. 
This is a wonderful picture of repentance and confession we see in David’s prayer.  In confession the sinful king acknowledges he has destroyed the relationship of trust between God and himself.  In repentance, he asks for restoration of that relationship, knowing that will mean two things:
1.      Joy (like the flow of blood through the heart) will once-again enliven his days.
2.      Change (like the new low-cholesterol diet, and time on the treadmill) will begin to be uppermost in David’s heart and thoughts.  He will cooperate with this new stent of honesty that holds back his spiritual death.
Everything will turn upside down (or rather right-side up).  Where there was the disease of sin, there will now be the gladness of a forgiven life that serves.  Where there was lust (selfishness), there will now be genuine love (selflessness).  Where there was lying, truth now reigns.
This is the joy of salvation restored.
For You Today
Repentance isn’t very popular in our culture.  Mostly we’re into cover-up, denial and deflect the blame onto others.  It’s not much different than our parents in Eden.  Adam blamed Eve, Eve denied understanding and blamed the serpent.
Repentance is the only true road to recovery from a sin-destroyed break from God.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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