July 22, 2018
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Psalms? Here’s today’s reading:
Psalm 51 (ESV)
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart....Continue Reading
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6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
What a great Psalm! It is written by David after being confronted by Nathan and provides a balance of what a situation like that brings. Certainly a cry for mercy is warranted and a need for forgiveness and yet an awareness of who has been offended, one who is proved right when He speaks and is justified when He judges. But David also recognizes it doesn’t end there….repentance is what comes next. Create in me a pure heart is his cry, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. But it doesn’t even end there…once I have been healed and restored, God calls me to minster that same truth to others. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways,” it is the natural result of all the good things God does for us….telling others about it!