Tuesday October 15, 2024

Today is Tuesday, October 15th, and this week we are reflecting on how God sets us free from guilt by the power of his grace.

In this season, we are praying this prayer together.
May the cornerstone of my life, and of our life together, be Christ and Christ alone. AMEN

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against 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.
⁵Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
¹⁰Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:1-12

One great misconception of King David’s life was that he had it easy. He was the youngest son of Jesse. When the prophet Samuel comes to his father’s house to anoint the next King over Israel, Jesse doesn’t even think to invite David. Though he eventually receives Samuel’s anointing, when that happens, Israel already has a King. God had rejected King Saul but that didn’t prevent Saul from making the next few decades of David’s life miserable fleeing Saul’s wrath.

Soon after David was eventually crowned King, he seemed to throw it all away when one evening he saw a woman bathing. Seeing that she was “very beautiful,” David then sent a servant to “find out about her.” What followed was one of the most awful scandals you could imagine. David sent the woman’s husband Uriah to the front lines of battle so that he would be killed. Following his death, David took Bathsheba as his wife. By the end of 2 Samuel 11, it seemed that David had gotten away with his crimes, but God sent the prophet Nathan to confront Israel’s king.

Nathan rebuked him. God’s prophet spoke harsh truth to power, and in response David said,

I have sinned against the Lord.

David’s sin caused incredible pain. David spent the rest of his life dealing with the fallout from these events, but when Nathan confronted him, David confessed his wrongdoing and in Psalm 51 we read the fullness of David’s humility, his remorse as well as his heartfelt request for God to make his heart clean again.

Perhaps you have found yourself in a similar place at some point in your life. Maybe you are there right now. Your sin may not be as damaging as David’s was, but none of us can avoid the same decision David had to make.

Will I run and hide or stand and confess?

Hiding in guilt only leads to paralysis. Confession and repentance leads to the kind of freedom that is the fulfillment of what we find in Psalm 51:12 – the restoration of “the joy of your salvation.” Is there a choice you need to make today?

Pause and Pray

Father, help me to live this day to the full, being true to you, in every way.
Jesus, help me to give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet.
Spirit, help me to love the lost, proclaiming Christ in all I do and say. AMEN.

-Prayer from Lectio 365 App

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