June 25th
10Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. 14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. Psalm 51:10-15 NKJV
Psalm 51 can make a powerful prayer of repentance and renewal. In fact, when David wrote it he was repenting of his sin with Bathsheba. David was guilty of murder and adultery, which devastated him and his family. The consequences of David’s sin included family strife for the remainder of David’s life and the death of his child. Though David suffered the consequences, God forgave him and continued to bless him.
When repenting from sin, we can use the steps that David took in this Psalm. Here are the specifics:
1. Confess your sin and ask God to forgive you and purify you: No matter how awful your sin is, you can be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. His death was sufficient to pay for all of our sins. When you confess your sin to God, he will forgive you and purify you from it (1 John 1:9).
2. Ask God to renew your spirit and commitment to following him: Once we’ve tasted the delicacies of sin, sin tries to make us its slave. It weakens our spirit and tends to want to serve sin instead of God. As Solomon wrote, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls”(Proverbs 25:28 NKJV). God can restore and strengthen your spirit, so that you can subdue your sinful tendencies.
3. Ask God to restore the joy of salvation in you: Sometimes we take for granted the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Sin can make us numb to the magnitude of what God did for us. A simple prayer to restore our sensitivity and awareness of the joy of salvation will help us recover.
In addition to these steps, we can also plan what we will do for the Lord when he delivers and restores us. David pledged to share God’s salvation message with others. He also said that he would sing aloud about God and praise him. God created us to bring glory to himself. When he frees you from your bondage, how will you change and bring glory to him? What will you do differently? Will you tell someone about how God changed you?
Questions for further thought:
After we confess our sin, how much of our sin does God remember? (Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 10:17)
When we allow our spirit to be led by sin and not the Holy Spirit, what happens to our mindset? (Romans 8:5-15)
What things tend to smother our joy of salvation? (Luke 21:34)
Prayer: (based on Psalm 51)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of my sin, O God, the God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.”