Wednesday,
November 3, 2021
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.
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken
spirit. You will not reject a broken and
repentant heart, O God. Psalm 51:1-7, 16-17
This prayer of the Psalmist was written by King David after coming face to
face with his own sinfulness. David not
only recognized his sin, he acknowledged it…in writing…for all generations to
come. This unrestrained honesty is raw
and hard to come by. We 21st
century folk are more accustomed to finding “reasons” for why we have done what
we’ve done…albeit mostly hollow excuses that even your dog wouldn’t swallow. From politics to the workplace, and all the
way home, even in church, none of us likes the idea of repenting, admitting,
owning our rebellion against God, our Creator.
These days whatever’s wrong is everyone else’s fault.
And that may be the chief reason the culture in which we live is in such
turmoil and circling the drain. Each generation
blames its’ predecessor, blindly glossing over the fact that in a few years
they will be the blamed generation.
But perpetuately kicking the can of guilt down the road is where cowardice
is formed as a national habit. Where noone
is willing to stand accountable, everyone suffers the rust that eats away the
infrastructure of our souls. We become
teflon people, constantly denying the sin that so easily besets us – and increasingly
so devours our conscience and ability to repent. Our souls, weighted down with unacknowledged
guilt that lives like WalMart plastic bags dumped in a landfill for a thousand
years, take on the appearance of spiritual zombies…we’re existing, never
living, ever rotting in the excuses that never cleansed anything.
There’s a good, sound, and repeatable reason for why David wrote out his
confession and owned it. To do so is to
be reconciled – not only with the culpability we bear for our sins – but to be
made right with the One against Whom we have sinned…to be forgiven by God.
David went astray from his life’s purpose and he knew it. He also knew that the only way back to
genuine living (authenticity if you will) was to be forgiven, cleansed. And the only door to that bath was locked
without the key of repentance.
For You Today
Your sins may be lesser or worse than David’s; it matters
little, because one small sin, or many large ones, are still transgressions
against the One who made us. If you’re
feeling a little stuck in life, running on empty in the joy department, and
covered with questions that have no answers…there is a shower of cleansing for
those who will go to God with a broken and contrite spirit.
How to do that? It’s a
conversation with God, an honest one, absent of excuses or lame claims that you
didn’t know it was wrong. You can have
that conversation even when you’re broken…ESPECIALLY when you’re
broken. That’s because even when you are
broken you are also loved.
Is it time for that conversation?
You chew on that as you hit the
Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title and Other Images:
Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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