Lent Day 38
by Lauren Evans
Psalm 51
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 you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret 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, so that sinners will turn back to you.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
Open my lips, Lord, 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.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Hebrews 4:16, Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Tucked away within the frame of this familiar song we can find, as Thomas Chalmers puts it, “the expulsive power of a new affection.” So often in both our pursuit and stumbling to follow faithfully after Jesus we fail to see how godliness can actually be a delight instead of a drudgery.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
In Psalm 51, David clearly sees that what he needs is not more willpower to stop committing sexual sins, but instead a complete reorientation of his affections and misplaced joy.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight....Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” (Psalm 51:3-4,8)
Look full in His wonderful face
Yet when the weight of our sins in the presence of a holy God causes us to prostrate before him we need not stay there. For we can have our drooping heads lifted to look up unto Jesus who has become our righteousness.
And then once our hearts have been postured rightly and our minds have grasped this undeserved and free gift that is the gospel, all of our backward thinking turns aright. The thinking that we have to work hard enough for him. Or the opposing thought that has us assuming we’re righteous enough on our own. And there in that place of beholding instead of striving, our affections that used to serve us have now been refined to serve Him. “The one party rejoicing over the other to do him good - the other finding that the truest gladness of his heart lies in the impulse of a gratitude, by which it is awakened to the charms of a new moral existence.” (T. Chalmers)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me...Restore unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51: 10,12)
And the things of earth
Or our lesser affections...
Or the weight of all our shame...
Or the fear to approach Him...
Or the battle with unfaithfulness…
Or the lure of self help...
Will grow strangely dim
When we move forward on this pilgrimage beholding our risen Lord, all lesser desires begin to drop off like dead leaves. Not from our personal efforts of righteousness and willpower. But by the joy set before us and the satisfying portion that He is for what our hearts truly long.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
In the light of His glory and grace.
Lauren is a home educating mother to three daughters. She tries to always be a seeker of light and beauty, is occasionally a cloth doll maker on Etsy (www.topknottwirl.etsy.com) and is an every now and then blogger when she is disciplined enough (www.asweetrepose.com). While she’s thankful to use her heart and hands, at the end of the day she’s most proud when she can look her kids in the eyes and laugh like she really means it.
Lauren Recommends:
Thomas Chalmer’s sermon on the expulsive power of a new affection:
A video on doxology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrTK5c7s9c