1 "Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 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.
5 For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But You desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice.
9 Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.
13 Then I will teach Your ways to rebels, and they will return to You.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of Your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth my praise You.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 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)
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 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.
5 For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But You desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again; You have broken me--now let me rejoice.
9 Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from Your presence, and don't take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.
13 Then I will teach Your ways to rebels, and they will return to You.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of Your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth my praise You.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 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)
Hello, Mrs. Kurtz. (from a previous email)
I know I had asked you about sin silencing God when we pray, referencing questions I had from the book (70 Years of Miracles, by Richard Harvey), so your reference to Isaiah 59:2 and Psalm 66:18 clarify pretty bluntly: "It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins He has turned away and will not listen anymore" and "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." The Bible not only explains separation over sin, but also God's anger toward sin: "But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness." The Bible is clear that unrepentant sin limits our communication with God and angers Him.
Luckily, the Bible provides a solution later on in Psalm 66 - repentance. In the verses to follow, the Psalmist praises God for listening to his prayer. He came to God confessing his sin, and God was merciful and listened to his plea. This shows that the separation from God that I'm experiencing now doesn't have to be final. If I come to Him with a repentant heart, our relationship will be restored...
I think that the reason I'm feeling so overwhelmed by sin right now is because God is showing me that the very things I enjoy and hold onto are what is preventing me from having a relationship with Him. God's goal is not to torment me, but rather to point me in the direction of bettering my relationship with Him. God is showing me that I need to repent.
I think I want to take steps toward repentance rather than the alternative. To do so, I'm considering taking some time to "cleanse". I think maybe tackling my smaller sins might be a good place to start. I'm thinking about getting rid of secular movies, music, YouTube, and social media for a little bit. Although not all of it is problematic, it would definitely help to limit societal influences and even just distractions, and focus on prayer and reading the Bible, and on my relationship with God. I'm hoping if I decide to do this it will help give me direction for how to have a better attitude about being a Christian and making bigger changes in the future. Do you think I should try this?
Dear friend,
It has been a while since I said that we'd study Psalm 51, but now we are here. It is important to note the context for Psalm 51, So I'd encourage you to read from 2 Samuel 11-12. In short, David was somewhere he shouldn't have been, at a time he shouldn't have been there, doing something he shouldn't have done. The outcome is grievous.
Yet David was known as a man of God, a man "after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). This sin (not David's only one, by the way) was terrible, but it did not define who David was.
In Psalm 51 we have a powerful perspective about sin and repentance, and also a guide for our own repentance. You'll see that in the passage at the top I've added verse numbers to help our study. I'd like to note first that David cries out to God for mercy, not because of who he is, but because of who God is.
I know I had asked you about sin silencing God when we pray, referencing questions I had from the book (70 Years of Miracles, by Richard Harvey), so your reference to Isaiah 59:2 and Psalm 66:18 clarify pretty bluntly: "It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins He has turned away and will not listen anymore" and "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." The Bible not only explains separation over sin, but also God's anger toward sin: "But God shows His anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness." The Bible is clear that unrepentant sin limits our communication with God and angers Him.
Luckily, the Bible provides a solution later on in Psalm 66 - repentance. In the verses to follow, the Psalmist praises God for listening to his prayer. He came to God confessing his sin, and God was merciful and listened to his plea. This shows that the separation from God that I'm experiencing now doesn't have to be final. If I come to Him with a repentant heart, our relationship will be restored...
I think that the reason I'm feeling so overwhelmed by sin right now is because God is showing me that the very things I enjoy and hold onto are what is preventing me from having a relationship with Him. God's goal is not to torment me, but rather to point me in the direction of bettering my relationship with Him. God is showing me that I need to repent.
I think I want to take steps toward repentance rather than the alternative. To do so, I'm considering taking some time to "cleanse". I think maybe tackling my smaller sins might be a good place to start. I'm thinking about getting rid of secular movies, music, YouTube, and social media for a little bit. Although not all of it is problematic, it would definitely help to limit societal influences and even just distractions, and focus on prayer and reading the Bible, and on my relationship with God. I'm hoping if I decide to do this it will help give me direction for how to have a better attitude about being a Christian and making bigger changes in the future. Do you think I should try this?
Dear friend,
It has been a while since I said that we'd study Psalm 51, but now we are here. It is important to note the context for Psalm 51, So I'd encourage you to read from 2 Samuel 11-12. In short, David was somewhere he shouldn't have been, at a time he shouldn't have been there, doing something he shouldn't have done. The outcome is grievous.
Yet David was known as a man of God, a man "after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). This sin (not David's only one, by the way) was terrible, but it did not define who David was.
In Psalm 51 we have a powerful perspective about sin and repentance, and also a guide for our own repentance. You'll see that in the passage at the top I've added verse numbers to help our study. I'd like to note first that David cries out to God for mercy, not because of who he is, but because of who God is.
- To what attributes/characteristics of God does David appeal?
- Why doesn't David begin with his own merits?
Heavenly Father, We could not draw near to You if You did not first invite us. Will You teach us about true repentance? Will You help us to hear Your voice and to respond, that our hearts may, like David, be drawn to You?
"You did not wait for me to draw near to You,
but You clothed Yourself with frail humanity.
You did not wait for me to cry out to You,
but You let me hear Your voice calling me..."
"Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He did for me. For I cried out to Him for help, praising Him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw His unfailing love from me."
but You clothed Yourself with frail humanity.
You did not wait for me to cry out to You,
but You let me hear Your voice calling me..."
"Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what He did for me. For I cried out to Him for help, praising Him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw His unfailing love from me."
(Psalm 66:16-20 NLT)
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