Friday, July 22, 2016

Today’s Reading  |  Psalm 51

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. (NRSV)

Reflection
Psalm 51 is a penitent prayer written by King David after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan for his act of adultery with Bathsheba, as well as for the plan he had executed to have her husband killed on the battlefield.

David no sooner could hide from God than he could escape from his own guilty conscience. He was brought up against his total inability to extricate himself from his moral culpability. Brought to the end of himself, he turns to the only one who can cleanse and restore him, his merciful God. This is the central theme of Psalm 51—that atonement and reconciliation comes from God’s redeeming creational intervention.

David knew that only God can deliver from the alienation we create toward ourselves and others when we generate shame and guilt through wrong actions.

In the book of Romans Paul echoes David’s understanding in Romans 7:24. “Wretched man that I am, who can rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God it is Jesus Christ our Savior.”

David looks for life in that place where he has created death. He cries to God, “You do not rejoice in sacrifice, or I would bring it. . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

David understood that all he could do is turn back to God and put himself at God’s mercy. As we see throughout scripture, it is in the turning back that an opening occurs in our heart, mind, and spirit. Through that opening God extends healing love and we are changed.

The cycle of repentance and reinstatement is part of a continual spiritual process that we are drawn into by God to complete in us a work. It is part of a repetitive redemptive journey we experience and seek time and again as we seek God’s saving, renewing spirit. Is it not a wonder that God always takes the initiative in drawing us to healing?

Prayer
Good Lord, in your mercy deliver us from contamination and corruption. Lead us, empower us, and enliven us in the redemptive life. Amen.

Written by Susan Cornelius, Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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