"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. Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.
Then I will teach Your ways to rebels, and they will return to You. Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of Your forgiveness. Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth my praise You.
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. Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit--with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be sacrificed on Your altar." (Psalm 51 NLT)
*Are you working to memorize Psalm 51 yet? It will prove to be a very valuable use of your time!
Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.
Then I will teach Your ways to rebels, and they will return to You. Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of Your forgiveness. Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth my praise You.
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. Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit--with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will be sacrificed on Your altar." (Psalm 51 NLT)
*Are you working to memorize Psalm 51 yet? It will prove to be a very valuable use of your time!
Hello, Mrs. Kurtz.
One thing that stood out to me was that our world does not have one set standard of what is just. What is strange is that the definition of "just," "acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good" can have multiple interpretations depending on an individual's own morality. This is reminiscent of the verses you mentioned (Judges 17) where Micah relies on his own ideas and worships an idol.
Like Micah, when we hold our beliefs of what is right instead of God's, we will certainly fall short of His standard because we put our interests ahead of God, rather than submitting to Him. Without God's standard of what is just, we have no direction and will fall. The complexities of the world's corruption and injustice stem from the lack of consistent guidelines or rules.
We are left to justify our unjust actions and motives to make sense of them for ourselves and others; like you said, "we find ways to prove that what we are doing is right, according to a standard other than God's." Not having one single set of guidelines corrupts justice systems because too much is left to interpretation and leads to conflicting views of justice.
(from a previous email) I'm also a little confused about the word "redeem" in the Biblical context.
Dear friend,
You've done an excellent job of studying and understanding the word "justice" and its related terms! Something that has held my fascination for quite a while is looking at how Biblical words and concepts have been redefined in our culture today. I call it "hijacking"--a word or concept is hijacked--forcibly and violently stolen and appropriated for a use completely opposite of what it was intended to mean/accomplish. You may find it interesting as well to start a little "collection" of such terms, and "justice" can begin your list.
It is a pleasure to study the word "redeem" with you as well, and I am going to use a similar format as the last blog. This word isn't as commonly used in general conversation; probably the most we hear of it is if people talk about "redeeming" a coupon, rebate or gift card.
This one minute audio clip by Ravi Zacharias will set the scene for our study of redemption: "A Worldview without Redemption".
Again, here are links that show some of the definitions of these words, both from the world and from the Bible:
Redeem (as defined by Merriam-Webster): "to buy back, to free from distresses or harms, to change for the better, to repair/restore, to free from a lien by payment or an amount secured thereby, to atone for" (and countless more sub-definitions) Note: the world's definitions include the ability of mankind to redeem itself.
Redeem (a study of the word origins used in the Bible): to release by paying a ransom, to release, to restore Note: the Biblical definition requires a ransom, a substitute; mankind cannot restore itself.
Redemption (as defined by Merriam-Webster): the act, process, or an instance of redeeming
Redemption (a study of the word origins used in the Bible): <there are a lot of uses of redemption, here I just covered #487; it would be good to look at all of them> a full ransom, referring to Christ paying the complete purchase price to secure our freedom--i.e. Christ exchanging His eternal righteousness for our sin.
A terrific way to understand a concept more is to study its usage throughout the Bible. And the words "redeem," "redemption," "redeemer" (and others) appear again and again and again. Perhaps this would be a good study for you to pursue. Your Bible probably has a small concordance in the back; this will list places where various words appear. More helpful may be a website like Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, where you can have an exhaustive list of the word uses.
You've mentioned that you are in a Bible study working through the book of Ruth. In Ruth's story we see a redeemer, a kinsman-redeemer (Boaz). When Naomi had lost everything (she thought), there arose a redeemer. He restored her property and her family name, and secured her hope and her future. This redeemer and his wife (Ruth) also had a hand in securing our hope and future as well; Christ the Redeemer came from their family line!
Like Naomi, we are hopeless, without a means to save or help ourselves.
Let's contrast beliefs about the word "redeem":
There are many other truths to be discovered by studying the word "redeem" as it appears in the Bible. May you be enriched in your faith and hope by pursuing this understanding!
One thing that stood out to me was that our world does not have one set standard of what is just. What is strange is that the definition of "just," "acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good" can have multiple interpretations depending on an individual's own morality. This is reminiscent of the verses you mentioned (Judges 17) where Micah relies on his own ideas and worships an idol.
Like Micah, when we hold our beliefs of what is right instead of God's, we will certainly fall short of His standard because we put our interests ahead of God, rather than submitting to Him. Without God's standard of what is just, we have no direction and will fall. The complexities of the world's corruption and injustice stem from the lack of consistent guidelines or rules.
We are left to justify our unjust actions and motives to make sense of them for ourselves and others; like you said, "we find ways to prove that what we are doing is right, according to a standard other than God's." Not having one single set of guidelines corrupts justice systems because too much is left to interpretation and leads to conflicting views of justice.
(from a previous email) I'm also a little confused about the word "redeem" in the Biblical context.
Dear friend,
You've done an excellent job of studying and understanding the word "justice" and its related terms! Something that has held my fascination for quite a while is looking at how Biblical words and concepts have been redefined in our culture today. I call it "hijacking"--a word or concept is hijacked--forcibly and violently stolen and appropriated for a use completely opposite of what it was intended to mean/accomplish. You may find it interesting as well to start a little "collection" of such terms, and "justice" can begin your list.
It is a pleasure to study the word "redeem" with you as well, and I am going to use a similar format as the last blog. This word isn't as commonly used in general conversation; probably the most we hear of it is if people talk about "redeeming" a coupon, rebate or gift card.
This one minute audio clip by Ravi Zacharias will set the scene for our study of redemption: "A Worldview without Redemption".
Again, here are links that show some of the definitions of these words, both from the world and from the Bible:
Redeem (as defined by Merriam-Webster): "to buy back, to free from distresses or harms, to change for the better, to repair/restore, to free from a lien by payment or an amount secured thereby, to atone for" (and countless more sub-definitions) Note: the world's definitions include the ability of mankind to redeem itself.
Redeem (a study of the word origins used in the Bible): to release by paying a ransom, to release, to restore Note: the Biblical definition requires a ransom, a substitute; mankind cannot restore itself.
Redemption (as defined by Merriam-Webster): the act, process, or an instance of redeeming
Redemption (a study of the word origins used in the Bible): <there are a lot of uses of redemption, here I just covered #487; it would be good to look at all of them> a full ransom, referring to Christ paying the complete purchase price to secure our freedom--i.e. Christ exchanging His eternal righteousness for our sin.
A terrific way to understand a concept more is to study its usage throughout the Bible. And the words "redeem," "redemption," "redeemer" (and others) appear again and again and again. Perhaps this would be a good study for you to pursue. Your Bible probably has a small concordance in the back; this will list places where various words appear. More helpful may be a website like Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, where you can have an exhaustive list of the word uses.
You've mentioned that you are in a Bible study working through the book of Ruth. In Ruth's story we see a redeemer, a kinsman-redeemer (Boaz). When Naomi had lost everything (she thought), there arose a redeemer. He restored her property and her family name, and secured her hope and her future. This redeemer and his wife (Ruth) also had a hand in securing our hope and future as well; Christ the Redeemer came from their family line!
Like Naomi, we are hopeless, without a means to save or help ourselves.
"When we were utterly helpless,
Christ came at
just the right time
and died for us sinners"
(Romans 5:6)
- Humanity cannot and will not admit to being hopeless and helpless; the prevailing worldview is of the goodness of mankind.
- The Bible teaches the opposite: we are evil and sin-prone. *This does not mean that we are incapable of doing "good" things; rather, it means that we can never undo our evil by our own means. Even the most evil human being can do "good".
- Humanity cannot and will not admit to needing a Redeemer; it somehow makes us dependent, and therefore inferior. Mankind cannot and will not conceive of the need for Someone to rescue it (us) from an inextricable sinful state. Instead, we will rearrange the definition of "redeem" to include the concept of "redeeming oneself".
- The Bible establishes our depravity, yet it does not degrade humanity. Rather, it establishes the highest value for us; God Himself paid our ransom, rescuing us from sin, and death, and hell. What a tremendous love of God for His creation!
There are many other truths to be discovered by studying the word "redeem" as it appears in the Bible. May you be enriched in your faith and hope by pursuing this understanding!
- Why can we not redeem ourselves?
- What picture comes to mind when you hear of "ransom"?
- Why do you think so many people reject the free offer of a Redeemer?
Heavenly Father,
We cannot redeem ourselves, and we have no right to cry to You for salvation when we are so sinful. We thank You for coming at just the right time, for securing our ransom, for loving us so much as to pay our debt Yourself. Knowing what You have done for us, how can we not give all of ourselves to You?
"He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed Someone to wash my sins away.
And now I sing a brand new song,
'Amazing Grace' the whole day long.
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay."
Biblical truths set to music--good for our heart, mind and soul. I strongly encourage you to use music to fill your life with Biblical truth!
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