Psalms 51: Guilt, Confession and Restoration

"What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

Sometimes it takes an accusation to move us to repentance. Sometimes it is the troubles that assault us that bring us to examine our lives. This is human nature, this was also the nature of King David. In Psalms 32: 3-4 David tells us, "When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer" David knew the gravity of his deeds, the depth of his sin. He could feel it in his soul, he experienced a wasting away, a void in his life. Yet! Yet, he did not come to Lord and confess his sins UNTIL Nathan came to deliver the message of wrath from the Lord. We know the background story with Nathan's parable and the proclamation of David's sin to his face.  Nathan confronts David and asks, "Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?" - II Samuel 12:9. Finally, the push and the prod has come, and David is ready to confess. Coming back to Psalms 51, we see David owns his sins. It is a very hard thing for us to own up to our sins. We always try to push the blame on to someone else. In just the first three verses of this chapter we see David using the word 'my' five times. 

1. blot out my transgressions. vs. 1
2. wash away all my iniquity vs. 2
3. cleanse me from my sin vs. 2
4. I know my transgressions vs. 3
5. my sin is always before me vs. 3 

Isn't it a common terminology for us, when we pray to utter, "Lord, IF I have sinned, IF I have done anything that is not pleasing..."? Come now, there is no more a reason to doubt, for it is you who has sinned, therefore, YOU very well know that YOU have sinned. So lets loose that mask of IF's and start owning up to our sin. David knew that his conduct, his sin has separated him from God's side. Yet David knows of the unfailing love his Father has for him and grasps on to that. He cries out, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love" When we realize that it is by our fault and transgression that we do not feel the presence of God; we should accept and submit. We NEED to confess and repent. Acknowledging our sin and professing it to God is the first step into restoration.When we commit sin, we must realize that we are committing treason against God and betraying the love and law of our Father. David proclaims, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." When this realization overcomes our very being, when this realization agonizes our very being; that is where the Lord will begin to work - In our brokenness, in our humbling. David pleads for a 'thorough washing'. When the guilt has surfaced and we are on our knees, we must ask God for a thorough wash. When we go to a Drive through car wash, we are often presented with many options of different levels of wash. In our lives, the sin we commit against our Lord, whether we think it to be small or large, always requires  the ultimate car wash. The "Father I'm Sorry. Amen" washes will not blot out your sins. David realizing his fault and complete with guilt, comes to God for a full and thorough wash. He pleads:

• Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean vs. 7
• Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow vs. 7
• Blot out all my iniquities vs. 9
• Create in me a clean heart vs. 10

Once David is sure that his sins are forgiven, he wants the closeness he had with God, before his transgressions. He wants God's approval of him. In vs. 8 he asks back for his Joy and gladness which was lost due to his sins. vs. 12 asks God to "Restore to me of your salvation, and uphold me with your generous Spirit"
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty(freedom)" Without God's restoration of our salvation in our lives, we are forever bound in the revelation of our betrayal and treason against our King.

Life's Purpose...

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, Nor my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

 Isaiah 42:6-9

                                                                                                            

Many times I have thought that I have no purpose in life. I think that I exist because of mere grace and as a useless and broken vessel. But every time I conceive these thoughts, I hear God’s voice (through a verse I read, through self instructions, and through preaching) confirming and assuring me that I was not placed in this world without a reason. In fact every one of us has a purpose in life. Not a single human being is alive in this world by mere circumstance, because God designed us, and his designs and inventions always come with a function.

                                                                                        

             In Jeremiah 29:11, it states that God knows the plans he has for us and they are of peace and not of harm. This purpose, of peace, is only entitled to the children of God. It is a gift, a part of your inheritance from the Father. Look around you, what do you see? Disasters after disasters, war after war, religion against religion… but do these affect our sleep? Does the violence take away our peace? Does our relationship with family, friends or other race change? If they do, then we need to see if we are still in the hands of God, if we are still in the right path. Because Jesus tells us, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). When we see the destruction around us, we are not afraid or troubled, because we are under wings of the Lord.

            There is always a time for our purpose and plans to be revealed. A coffeemaker’s purpose is fulfilled only when you need a cup of coffee. The same way when the right time, as said in Ecc. 3:1-8, comes for us to shine for God, we will understand why we are put in this world.

             Now coming back to the core verse in Isaiah, we see that there is always a great purpose for those He has “called in righteousness”. When you are called, get ready for a wild ride, because God’s plans are not in small measurement. When He plans, He goes full-length. The called is given the spirit of healing, is given the authority to rid of evil, to blot out darkness and inject light, to raise His name above all else. God does not leave the “called” alone, unattended. His reassurance is there with his plan for you. He tells you that he will “hold your hand” and “keep you”. What more do you need from God? He has a purpose and a plan for you, He reveals them to you in the due season, His plans exceed our imagination, and He promises a pillar of fire to guide us in the night and an angel “to keep you in all your ways”. All we have to do is, make sure we have not strayed away from His path but that we are still in the arms of God. Every one is called with a purpose and when God reveals His purpose in our lives we must submit and do His will. Nehemiah found his purpose and pursued to build up the broken walls of Jerusalem. “What is God’s purpose in my life?” “What is His will for my life?” finding the answers to these questions should push us to obey the purpose and will for our lives.

Speak Lord

"Speak, for Your servant is listening." 1 Samuel 3:10

         Noises fill our ears, bustling bodies around us, confusion that invades...This is the kind of new age lifestyle we all lead. In the middle of all this God is telling us to "Be still, and know that" He is God. Do we take time to stop and listen to God? Even our prayers have been fashioned into monologues were we have decided to do all the talking and assigned God the duty of listening. Many of us find it very difficult to sit and listen to God. We find ourselves saying, " I would listen to God if He would just speak out loud" or " I would be better at listening, if God would be better at speaking". Could it be that maybe, just maybe...It's not God's fault, but ours, for not actually listening?
          1 Samuel 3 is a great example that teaches us the art of being still and listening. While I was thinking about God speaking, I thought maybe first I need to be where God speaks. In this day and era, its hard to find a quiet place or a time of calm to even sort out our everyday problems. But we need to put ourselves in a place and position where we can hear God most clearly. Little Samuel was in the best place to hear God speak. He was in the temple where God dwelt. If we think and look hard enough, we can also find that place for us...for some its our car, our bedroom, our kitchen while cooking, our little corner of peace. 
         Even after being in that corner of peace, we should remember that prayer most definitely is not a monologue, but a conversation where I should wait to hear from my Lord. Often times I see myself going with the motion of praying, forgetting that God is searching for even a tiny interval to speak a word. In the book of Samuel we see that Eli and his sons have wandered away from God. They have robbed God by putting themselves first through immoral and impure lives and their arrogance. Because of his own arrogance of his 'priestliness' we see God passing over Eli to speak to a little child like Samuel. Even as a little boy, Samuel had the desire to hear from God, when God saw the readiness and the preparedness he started speaking. We need to prepare ourselves to hear from God.  

          Often times, we are too focused on the wrong things waiting to hear from God. Though we have heard the sermon a thousand times of the still small voice, we still think God speaks in grand terms. Lighting flashes, thunder roars, clouds surround us, trumpets blasts...we are waiting for these impressive introductions to sit up and say, "Speak, for Your servant is listening". None of this happened when God spoke to Samuel. Instead, God calls his name quietly in the night. Okay, so my mind is wandering off to Balaam's donkey. So there are some times when God speaks by opening a donkey's mouth or speaking through a fiery bush, but often times expect God to speak in quiet and simple ways.

         Distractions are our worst enemy when it comes to sitting down and waiting patiently. I have heard this story from some of the sermons in the past and its a great little moralized story. --- A pilot was having difficulty landing his plane due to unexpected fog on the runway. So the airport  decides to land him by radar. As he is receiving instructions, the pilot remembers of a tall pole that he saw before the fog in his flight path. Fearing his life and the possible accident, the pilot radios the control tower with panicked  refusal. A blunt reply comes back to the pilot, " You obey the instructions, and we will take care of the obstructions."  God will take care of all distractions as long as we take care of our end, and that is sitting at the feet of God like Mary and just listen. Jesus said in John 8:47 "He who belongs to God hears what God says." It is time and past due for us to cry out to God and say, "Speak, for Your servant is listening."

Fellowship With God

How is your fellowship with God these days?
Do you spend enough time with God? Do you sit in His presence waiting for Him to talk? Do you meditate upon His words? If you are able to answer yes to these question, then you have surpassed all of human kind. You see, spending time with God cannot be evaluated or calculated. It is an on going process, where every moment you spend talking to God brings you one step closer to him. A closer walk with God is an essential part of our lives. Without spending that 5 minutes or 1 hour in his presence, we cannot surpass this world's temptations and trials that come our way.

Here are some Bible verses that might be useful in your day to day meditation:
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against the.
Philipians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Let us not wait for God to tell us"...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" Mat 22:29. Lets take initiative and start reading the Bible and Meditating on the scriptures before we go off to our work or classes. We make time to catch up on a show we missed last week or meet with friends once in a while, don’t we also have the obligation to visit God once in a while and thank him for the air we breathe everyday? Shouldn't we thank him for all the goodness and wealth He has showered upon us?