Psalm 51 (NRSV) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
When I asked students in an evening college class why troubles come, one particular class came up with over forty reasons why bad things happen before suggesting “It is my own fault.” Our old sinful nature externalizes the blame. We could not possibly be at fault. In marriage and with family, it is easy to send a “you” message. Our interaction is often about “being right.”
David lays it all out before the Lord. So can we. Every act that is against the goodness of God and his creation is put out in the open. The “I” message is that I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are right and righteous in what you do. The plea is for mercy and healing. That is our new nature turning to God for help. I am not what you made me to be, O Lord, and I have acted against you. If we stand directly before the Lord, all the flip comments that divert blame dissolve into thin air.
God is thus called to act. Create a clean heart, renew a right spirit, restore me, sustain me. Work in my new nature, so that I can go on. Unbelievers deny or deflect sin. Christians lay it open before Christ Jesus the Lord and are healed. Worship unmasks our nature, yet reminds us that we are delivered from the power of our sin by Christ, hugged close again and sent forth with the Lord on the new path of life.
Pastor Tom Trapp, Mission Pastor
Walking the Emmaus Road with the Risen Lord
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XVII, Number 12, July 2016)