Short and Sweet - The Heart Shift
Psalm 51 has four precious sections to my soul. God blessed me with this chapter many years ago. I've been refreshed by it this morning. One, our sins are always before us as David said, but they do not have to hold us captive. Two, our sins are against God alone. Three, we can pray for a clean heart and for His Spirit to revive us. And four, we can praise even in the hard times. Grace alone makes all this possible.
I struggled with self-condemnation for many years. I've shared in the past how I could not really believe I was forgiven. I knew it in my head but my heart was restless. I knew the passage, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This did not bring relief to my spirit. I prayed over this for a long time as God began to do a healing work in me. I often pray "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." But I pray out loud, "I receive your forgiveness, thank you for forgiving me." Something about the way I process...I have to hear it. Interesting that in church today we talked about how people respond to the "hearing of the word." Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ." One day as I was reading Psalm 51 I burst into tears as I read David's prayer that his sins were always before him. Only these tears were happy tears! I realized at that moment that although I will always battle sin, God had delivered me from condemnation! My sins were not always "before me" in my mind. I had been set free. I can't begin to tell you how that changed my life!
Second, when we sin, we affect those around us. But our sin is against God and God alone. He is the righteous judge. Our repentance is what He asks for. Yes we need to make things right with each other, but repentance at the deepest level is a heart moved by the Holy Spirit to contrition before our Holy God. He matters more than anyone or anything. That helps us keep our motives for repentance in check. We don't want to repent just to be accepted by man, but to be forgiven by a Holy God Who paid for our sin. Perspective...why are we repenting?
Third, we can pray directly from Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me." We can't clean ourselves up! How sweet to rest in the fact that He cleanses us. As we repent and draw near, He draws near. The weight is massive and yet He carried it in our place. Wow!
Fourth, no matter where we are in the cycle of repentance or what circumstances we are going through, we can ask God to help us praise. David recognized how important it was to praise, even when He found it difficult, or felt like he was not "qualified" to praise. He prayed, "unseal my lips that I may sing your praise." In Psalm 100:4 David says that we "enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise." Don't feel worthy to praise? We are never worthy apart from Christ. But we can ask Him to open our mouths to praise Him.
In conclusion, all of these precious verses in Psalm 51 remind me of the sweetness of who we are in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 says, we are redeemed, loved, chosen, adopted, accepted, forgiven, blessed. The honesty of David in Psalm 51 and sweet truth our identity being in Christ alone, allows us to never feel distanced from God or others. Just as we answer to God alone, we are accepted by God alone. This allows us to walk into any room, situation, or responsibility with the courage and confidence of Jesus. We are dressed in His robes of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 The key is recognition of our state apart from the cross and our state through the cross. Repent and believe. Two powerful words that change everything. By grace, at a moments notice of our state, we can be cleansed and renewed by the Spirit breathing life into us! Don't get bogged down in comparison to others intellect, power, money, beauty, and on and on. Be set free by God's total acceptance of us in our worst state through the blood of the perfect Lamb. This is rich to my soul and it is worth revisiting every day.
Restless, Audrey Assad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhYZrn4flo
Create in Me a Clean Heart, Keith Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD2PJ0xbAdY
I struggled with self-condemnation for many years. I've shared in the past how I could not really believe I was forgiven. I knew it in my head but my heart was restless. I knew the passage, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This did not bring relief to my spirit. I prayed over this for a long time as God began to do a healing work in me. I often pray "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." But I pray out loud, "I receive your forgiveness, thank you for forgiving me." Something about the way I process...I have to hear it. Interesting that in church today we talked about how people respond to the "hearing of the word." Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ." One day as I was reading Psalm 51 I burst into tears as I read David's prayer that his sins were always before him. Only these tears were happy tears! I realized at that moment that although I will always battle sin, God had delivered me from condemnation! My sins were not always "before me" in my mind. I had been set free. I can't begin to tell you how that changed my life!
Second, when we sin, we affect those around us. But our sin is against God and God alone. He is the righteous judge. Our repentance is what He asks for. Yes we need to make things right with each other, but repentance at the deepest level is a heart moved by the Holy Spirit to contrition before our Holy God. He matters more than anyone or anything. That helps us keep our motives for repentance in check. We don't want to repent just to be accepted by man, but to be forgiven by a Holy God Who paid for our sin. Perspective...why are we repenting?
Third, we can pray directly from Psalm 51, "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me." We can't clean ourselves up! How sweet to rest in the fact that He cleanses us. As we repent and draw near, He draws near. The weight is massive and yet He carried it in our place. Wow!
Fourth, no matter where we are in the cycle of repentance or what circumstances we are going through, we can ask God to help us praise. David recognized how important it was to praise, even when He found it difficult, or felt like he was not "qualified" to praise. He prayed, "unseal my lips that I may sing your praise." In Psalm 100:4 David says that we "enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise." Don't feel worthy to praise? We are never worthy apart from Christ. But we can ask Him to open our mouths to praise Him.
In conclusion, all of these precious verses in Psalm 51 remind me of the sweetness of who we are in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 says, we are redeemed, loved, chosen, adopted, accepted, forgiven, blessed. The honesty of David in Psalm 51 and sweet truth our identity being in Christ alone, allows us to never feel distanced from God or others. Just as we answer to God alone, we are accepted by God alone. This allows us to walk into any room, situation, or responsibility with the courage and confidence of Jesus. We are dressed in His robes of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 The key is recognition of our state apart from the cross and our state through the cross. Repent and believe. Two powerful words that change everything. By grace, at a moments notice of our state, we can be cleansed and renewed by the Spirit breathing life into us! Don't get bogged down in comparison to others intellect, power, money, beauty, and on and on. Be set free by God's total acceptance of us in our worst state through the blood of the perfect Lamb. This is rich to my soul and it is worth revisiting every day.
Restless, Audrey Assad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhYZrn4flo
Create in Me a Clean Heart, Keith Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD2PJ0xbAdY
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