For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me (Psalm 51:3).
There are only two people in all of Everything you can’t hide your sin from.
As it happens, they are the only two people who matter.
Hmm…that may be more than enough to chew on for one day.
So chew, Beloved.
Happy Friday
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm 51:1-2).
There are two kinds of people in this world:
those who need forgiveness, and…
oh, wait—I guess there’s only one kind of people in this world.
Look, your sin may not be on the epic scale of King David’s—adultery, abuse of power, conspiracy to commit murder—but it’s still sin.
And you still need forgiveness.
And you still don’t deserve it.
David realized this. He claimed no special privileges as God’s anointed. He made no appeal based on his previous devotion. He expected no “do-overs” because of the mighty deeds he had done in God’s name.
He asked for mercy, not because of who he was, but because of who God is.
Oh, but Michael, we have something David didn’t have. We have the Cross.
Yes, we do, Beloved. And we don’t deserve that, either. The Cross stands as the ultimate evidence of God’s selfless love and great compassion.
Look, I’m not saying you shouldn’t expect forgiveness. If you belong to Christ, the grace purchased at the Cross is yours for the taking—every day, all the time. But don’t demand it–not with your words, or with your actions, or with your attitude.
Receive it with joy, a gift from the One who knows you best and loves you anyway.
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar (Psalm 51:18-19).
David concludes this very personal prayer with an appeal for his people.
I like that. It’s classy.
David asks God to bless his people, so that they might glorify Him. Perhaps that’s a prayer we can join in today. Maybe we ask God that we take all the blessings he showers on us and use them to praise his name.
Beloved, consider all that you deserve, but have not received.
Consider all that you do not deserve, but have received.
It could be so different, couldn’t it?
Offer up a sacrifice of praise today. I suggest we skip the burnt offering–that might be problematic. Instead, praise him with your voice and your heart and your time and your obedience.
He is always listening.
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).
He doesn’t want your stuff.
He doesn’t want your show.
He wants you.
Take that into your day, Beloved.
Happy Wednesday
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from blood guilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:13-15).
What, we got a little quid pro quo going on here? Is David trying to make a deal with God, sort of you-help-me-out-here-and-I’ll-do-you-a-solid-down-the-line?
Yeah, no, I don’t think so.
David knows better than to bargain with God. He has already thrown himself on God’s mercy and acknowledged that he can do nothing without God’s strength.
But David is making a promise. He promises that he will give God full credit for restoring David. He will help others to learn from his mistakes. David will spread the word of God’s righteousness at the top of his lungs, and he will do everything in his power to bring God glory.
Have you ever done that, Beloved? Have you ever been so carried away by God’s goodness that you vowed to declare his praises to the world?
Um…this is a bit of an awkward question…but…did you follow through?
Follow through, Beloved.
Happy Tuesday.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me (Psalm 51:12).
Boy, that David. It’s all gimme, gimme, gimme with him, isn’t it?
Forgive my sins!
Cleanse me with hyssop!
Create in me a pure heart!
Stay close to me!
Restore my joy!
Renew my spirit!
Yep, David asks and asks and asks…
And God gives and gives and gives.
Remember that, Beloved.
Happy Monday
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:11).
Priorities
After all that he has done, after all the grief he has caused, in the face of all the consequences of his most heinous crimes, David has one thing going for him.
He has finally gotten his priorities straightened out.
I mean, I think I’m on safe theological ground if I say that David’s priorities were a little out of whack going into this. Adultery, conspiracy, murder—not exactly in line with God’s truth. David was no longer content for the Lord to be his shepherd. He wanted to be Captain of his own fate, Master of his own soul.
And look where it got him.
But
By the grace of God, David got his head and his heart straight. He realized his true danger—and it wasn’t the danger of embarrassment, or losing his kingdom, or even being executed for his crimes.
The true danger was losing God’s presence in his life.
David realized that there is nothing, no thing, as valuable as knowing and being known by his Lord. It is the one thing he was most terrified of losing.
Hmm…
Beloved, do you realize that, post-resurrection, we have the opportunity for a closer relationship with God than even David knew?
Live in that relationship today. Take a few moments to simply be with Him. Enjoy his presence. Fellowship with the Lord of the Universe. Such is your right, your privilege, and your joy.
Because you are his Beloved.
Happy Friday
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).
David gets it.
He doesn’t make any excuses before God, and he doesn’t make any promises he knows he can’t keep. I mean, some of us—and by us, I mean me—would be tempted to tell God all about how we’re going to do better, try harder, be more. We would try to convince God that, if he would just give us a second chance—or third, or eighty-seventh—we wouldn’t disappoint him. David knows that’s bunk. He will never be clean unless God cleans him. He will never be reliable unless God builds that in him. He will never be of any use to God unless God does the work through him.
Yep, David gets it.
Do we?
Happy Thursday, Beloved.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity (Psalm 51:9).
“Wow, I hope nobody saw that.”
How many times have you thought those words?
Oh, come on—it’s more than that and you know it.
When you do something embarrassing, you simply don’t want people looking at you. Whether it’s missing the easy shot, tripping over your own feet, or walking into the only tetherball pole in an entire acre of middle school asphalt—all of which I have done—you don’t want an audience. You kinda want the ground to open up and swallow you, just so that no one can look at you.
When you do something truly wrong—when you intentionally sin—that feeling goes way past embarrassment.
It becomes shame.
And you would do anything, just anything, to turn back the clock, to undo what you did, or at least to dissolve into the ground, just so that no one can look at you.
David gets you. He’s been there, only bigger. He cried out to God to look away from him, to act as if he hadn’t seen David’s sin. He begged his Lord to take the sin away, to make it as though it had never occurred.
And God did.
Consequences? Oh, yes, there were consequences.
There always are.
But David’s relationship with God was restored,
and in the end
that’s all that matters.
God did that because David was his Beloved.
Oh, yeah—you and I are Beloved, too.
Take that into your day.
Happy Wednesday, Beloved.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. (Psalm 51:8).
Sin hurts.
See, that’s why you come here—the deep theological truths.
When you belong to Christ, you can’t live in sin. OK, I guess you can, but it takes a serious toll. That new heart of yours is designed to live in faithfulness; sin puts it under serious structural stress.
David is in sin as he writes these words. That sin is weighing him down. It’s crushing him. It has taken the joy and gladness from his life. David is crying out to God, asking God to forgive him and lift him out of this depression.
Whaddaya say, Beloved? Are you in danger of violating the warranty on that new heart of yours? Are you living in a way that you weren’t designed to live, and is sin robbing you of the joy and gladness of your life? If so, I know how you can get free of the pain and reclaim your right relationship with God.
But then…so do you.
Happy Tuesday, Beloved