NOTE: To my readers…I apologize for not posting yesterday. I had a very long training day in body armor (5AM to 8PM) and I fell asleep before I could get this message fully written. Please bear with me as I deal with the hours and still try and get my writings in daily. In Christ, Mark
Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from bloodguilt, 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.
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.
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
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today (Wednesday) is Ash Wednesday, the traditional start to the Lenten season. The Lenten season (simply called Lent) is a 40 day period which will always lead to the last week in the life of Jesus sometime referred to as the Passion Week.
Lent is intended to be a 40 day period of personal inner reflection and repentance as we prepare for the great sacrifice that Jesus makes on Calvary’s cross through His crucifixion, bearing the weight of our sins to save us. Some people enter into a daily prayer regimen, based on repentance and a concerted effort to address the sins of their lives. Additionally, some people will engage in a fast of some sort, personally sacrificing something from their life for the 40 day period to honor and respect the sacrifice that Jesus made as well as show their dependence on Him to sustain them, particularly when the fast involves a change in diet.
So how do we approach this Lenten season exactly? Does God offer us some word on this to give us a hand?
Well, of course He does. And in the case of this devotion, it comes from the very lips of David who we have been studying.
You’ll remember that David was doing pretty well in his life as God’s selected and anointed king before he set his eyes on Bathsheba…and allowed sinful lust to enter in and consume his heart. For he couldn’t stop himself from sleeping with her even though she was married and after she became pregnant, he took his sinfulness even further by deceitfully trying to pin the pregnancy on her husband, Uriah, before plotting to just have him killed in battle…which is just what happened to him.
Well, David didn’t get away with this, did he? He didn’t because although no one else was onto what he was doing…God was. And you’ll remember that God sent the prophet Nathan with a message for David…one that would let David know that God was definitely aware of his sinful actions and that there would be consequences David would have to pay for it.
And so David, in the midst of his shame over the sin he committed, wrote the words of the 51st Psalm…and in doing so, gave us great guidance in how we can approach Lent, not just this year but any year. Let’s look at some specific steps we should take:
1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion… Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
The first step we need to take is acknowledging God and His power…a power that can destroy anything including us.
We know God hates sin and we are sinners and yet He loves us…but He doesn’t like the sin within us. And so, we need His mercy and His love and His compassion to survive. God doesn’t need to allow us to live…and yet He does by His mercy. We need to first acknowledge that and enter into an attitude of humbleness before we can proceed any further in personal reflection and repentance.
So how do we deal with the sins we struggle with?
Let’s look at point 2:
2. …blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin…Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Now that we have refocused on God being almighty and in charge, we can see that only He can help us in the midst of our sin struggle. Like David, we need to show our reliance on Him, asking Him to help us to blot out our transgressions, wash away our iniquities and cleanse us from our sins…making us white as snow which God did by washing us with the precious blood of His Son Jesus, the Lamb of God sacrificed and slain to cover all our sins.
3. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart…
As we acknowledge God’s almighty power and His ability to rid us of our sins, we also realize that we need to adopt an attitude of change for God to be able to do His wondrous work within us. This requires that we humbly turn to Him with a broken spirit in need of repair and a contrite heart that is truly sorry for allowing sin to enter in and get a foothold. One thing is certain…we won’t be able to fully begin to recover from our sin addiction unless we first admit we have a problem.
So what happens when we do surrender ourselves to God’s control and allow Him to begin to change us from the inside out?
We find ourselves with a pure heart and a renewed, steadfast spirit.
4. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me…
When we allow God to purge sin from the inside out, then we open ourselves to Him creating a pure heart within us…and experience renewal in spirit that is willing and steadfast because He is willing and steadfast first. And as we gain a renewed and willing spirit, we find the joy of salvation restored to us because we refocus on the source of that salvation, Jesus…who paid the price for our sins on the cross and was resurrected so we could have an opportunity to do the same. For No one comes to the Father, except by Jesus (John 14:6).
So we have reaffirmed God’s power to do all things including the riddance of our sins which comes as result of His cleansing through the blood of Jesus. And as we allow Him to purify us, we gain a pure heart and renewed spirit that draws us back to the joy and source of our salvation, Jesus.
And this should bring us to a place of celebration.
5. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice… Save me from bloodguilt, 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.
For as we turn once again to the joy and source of our salvation, Jesus Christ, we can’t help but be drawn into gladness and constant rejoicing…we can’t help but sing of His righteousness and praise Him with our lips. For God, our Father, gave Him for us to save us from our bloodguilt…so that through Jesus, we are set free now and forever if we only believe in Him and trust Him as our Lord and Savior.
And so this Lenten season, we can stay properly tuned to what God expects from us in the pay of personal reflection and repentance if we just hold to the words of this Psalm. My prayer is that this 40 day journey will be a blessing for all Christians this year as we again journey with Jesus toward the greatest display of love ever witnessed…the love Jesus showed all creation on the cross of Calvary. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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