Psalm 51 (Day 42): Long Preparation, Short Execution

Good morning, friend!
Would you please join me in prayer as I go to the Word?

Father,

I worship You.

Jesus,

I thank and adore You.

Holy Spirit,

I await Your prompting and instruction.

May my heart, soul, mind, and body

soak in Your precious truths fully today.

In the precious name of Christ, I pray.

Amen!

For 41 days, I prayed and meditated upon the heading of Psalm 51 and the first 17 verses, reading:

For the director of music. 
A psalm of David.
When the prophet Nathan came to him
after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

"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 that You are proved right when You speak

and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, 
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts,

You teach me wisdom in the inmost 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 right 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,

and sinners will turn back to You.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

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.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, You will not despise."

Ps 51:1-17, NIV

On this forty-second morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (June 8), verse 18 greets my eyes with the following words,

 "May it please You to prosper Zion,

to build up the walls of Jerusalem."

My precious Master fills my heart with gratitude today because He has led me to see that I have just reached a beautiful and important spot on this amazing journey through Psalm 51. For seventeen verses, David focused on multiple facets of his individual sin; yet, lo and behold, we turn a corner with verse 18 as these words reveal an altruistic David who now incorporates the wellbeing of Jerusalem into the confession of his private sin. 

Why would he do that? 

Could there be a correlation between these two seemingly unrelated items (confession and intercession) on David’s prayer list?

The more I listen in my heart while peering into the mirror of God’s Word, the more vividly God connects the dots for my simple brain. He makes me realize that, utterly sinful though the psalmist felt, David still recognized that he had a responsibility—as a child of God, he had a ministry of intercession on behalf of others. Nonetheless, his priority was such that his ministry to others came only second to the private time he personally invested with God. 

In other words, when contrasting the seventeen verses he spent confessing and praising the Father with the two verses (18 and 19) devoted to intercession on behalf of his nation, one readily sees that David took a much longer time preparing himself for ministry than he did actually ministering.

Long preparation.
Short execution.

After all, the above pattern was later found to be true in Jesus. 

The Son of God, who graciously came down to earth through the line of David, became the Son of Man. As such, He spent a great amount of time preparing Himself through prayer before ministering to the crowds. He often got up, left the comfort of his bed, and went to a solitary place a great while before sunrise to do nothing but pray (Mark 1:35). 

Only after doing business with the Father did He then heal a leper (Mark 1:40-45), a paralytic (Mark 1:1-12), and a tax collector’s extortionary tendencies (Mark 1:13-17).  Only after confessing “My Father, if it is possible, may this [bitter] cup be taken from me; yet not as I will, but as You will” did Jesus then face the ultimate test of His ministry on earth—the betrayal of Judas, His arrest, the multiple trials, the mockery and flogging, His crucifixion, His agonizing death, His burial, His resurrection, and His Great Commission to all His followers (Matthew 26:36 - 28:1-20). 

Might you and I do the same today? 

Might we learn that God wants to use us to impact our community, our city, our country, and our world through our intercession? 

Might we grasp that, in order for that to happen, we are invited to embrace the opportunity to spend much time receiving and growing in the grace of the Father, hearing and heeding God's Word, glorifying and thanking the Son, acknowledging and confessing our struggles in prayer while also saying, “Yet not as I will, but as You will”?

Psalm 51 (Day 41): Inner Disposition

"You do not delight in sacrifice, 

or I would bring it;

You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, You will not despise."

Ps 51:16-17, NIV

At first glance, one may assume David's main theme discredits the validity of sacrifice and burnt offerings, deeming them unfit and unacceptable to God. It will do us well to remember that, at the time of the writing of these verses, burnt sacrifices were still being offered as acceptable and delightful offerings to God (verse 19 covers that point). Written long before Jesus came to earth as a human being, long before Christ offered Himself as the final atonement for human sin, David's penitential prayer (far from dismissing sacrifice and burnt offerings altogether) inspires us to seek more insight.

Holy Spirit,

I thank You because the holy Word tells me

that You will instruct me and teach me in the way I should go,

that You will make known to me the path of life,

and that You will open my eyes to see Your wonderful truths.

Help me to grow in my understanding

of that which this passage is meant to impart.

I pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen!

On this forty-first morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit reveals to me that verses 16 & 17 point to a crucial element of any offering that we dedicate to the Father -- it is to be accompanied by an inner disposition of gratitude, humility, brokenness, contrition, and generosity on our part. The above thought is echoed in Micah's famous message to Israel:

"With what shall I come before the Lord

and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:6-8, NIV

In other words, sincere repentance requires genuine contrition. If you and I are serious about worshipping God, whatever we present to Him has to meet the above criteria. 

If giving money to God . . .
we are to do it with zero trace of ingratitude, pride, boastfulness, apathy, or stinginess.

If pledging our time to God . . .
we are to do so without grumbling and sans double standards.

If giving our toil, talent, or treasure to God . . .
we are to surrender them all to Him with a joyful and grateful heart.

In fact, the cross invites you and me to relinquish even our filth -- our devious deeds and heinous sins -- to the Father with the sacrificial heart described in these verses, effectively pointing to the Pauline charge which urges us to offer our "bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Rom 12:1).

 So, like David, we pray to You, Holy Father. Please receive our all. Accept our repentant hearts, brother and contrite. Take our prayers and praises, filthy rags though they be. Delight in our songs and sermons, unworthy and impure though we are in our own strength. And, assist us, O Holy Spirit, in worshipping the God-head with all that we are, all that we have, all that we hope to be, each and every second of every day. Grant that our worship, once begun, never ever cease!

Psalm 51 (Day 40): Ain't Got Time to Die

Today is day 40 on my 50-day journey.
40 days already?
How did that happen?

40 days ago, I began this process of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (June 8) -- the day on which I will commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit to individual believers. During this season of 50 days of waiting, I have been blessed to park myself in Psalm 51 as I seek to glean nuggets of wisdom from the Holy Spirit.

I embrace this psalm with gratitude and excitement because it is a precious gift from God. For forty days now, God has been slowly guiding me through this penitential prayer of David. As His Spirit slows me down to read and listen every day, I find myself amazed by the truths He reveals through His Word.

Please join me in prayer as I go to the Word:

Father,

thank You for Your wisdom.

Jesus,

thank You for Your Word.

Holy Spirit,

thank You for Your winsomeness.

Please open my heart, soul, mind, and body

to receive Your truths fully today.

In the precious name of Immanuel, I pray.

Amen!

For the past 39 days, I reflected on the psalm heading and the first 14 verses, reading:

For the director of music. 
A psalm of David.
When the prophet Nathan came to him
after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

"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 that You are proved right when You speak

and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, 
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts,

You teach me wisdom in the inmost 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 right 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,

and sinners will turn back to You.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness."

Ps 51:1-14, NIV

Today, verse 15 leads me to embrace surrender in a brand new way. It reads,

"O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare Your praise."

The first 14 verses of this wonderful prayer portray David as a man whose previously elevated status received quite a humbling blow -- he sinned royally against God.

David's sin (as was revealed later) engendered severe repercussions that were manifested in broad daylight for all eyes to see. However, before any of that took place, David's own eyes failed to see the grossness of his sin until the prophet of God came to him. 

Any human soul pierced as David's was by Nathan's loving yet convicting words, "You are the man!" (2 Sam 12:7) would resort to speechlessness -- lips locked and mouth shut from shame. Yet God graciously opened David's lips as he humbly uttered, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam 12:13).

Could it be that you and I need to have our souls pierced today by the Word that is sharper than any double-edged sword? Could it be that our eyes need to see the grossness of sins unacknowledged, unrevealed, unconfessed, and unaddressed? Could it be that we need to rely humbly upon God's grace to send His Word, His Spirit, His messengers, His beautiful creation, and even the cumbersome realities of life's woes to search our hearts and confront us? Could it be that, when confronted, we need not embrace shame but, instead, humbly whisper, "I have sinned against the Lord" just like David? 

It is only then we can approach the throne of grace and genuinely encounter God in worship. It is only then our lips can be unlocked and our mouths opened to declare God's praise. It is only then every part of life -- our walk with God, our identity, our talents, our relationships, our work, our ministry, our consumption, our sexuality, our finances, our everything -- can be transformed by the unmistakable presence and grace of the Lord. It is only then we can join the choir, exulting:

"Lord, I keep so busy praisin' my Jesus

Ain't got time to die

'Cause it takes all of my time to praise my Jesus

all of my time to praise my Lord

If I don't praise Him the rocks gonna cry out

Glory and honor, glory and honor

Ain't got time to die."

-- Traditional Spiritual

Psalm 51 (Day 39): Silence

"O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare Your praise."

Ps 51:15, NIV

On this thirty-ninth morning 

of my 50 days of waiting 

for Pentecost Sunday (June 8), 

I am opting today to enter into silence . . .

Silence!

No noise

No talking

No murmuring

Silence!

Quietly wondering

and pondering,

joyfully and humbly 

waiting

Silence!

No sound

No singing

No whining

Silence!

Prayerfully meditating

and reflecting,

gratefully and contentedly

waiting

to hear what the Holy Spirit chooses to reveal. 

To God be the glory!

Psalm 51 (Day 38): David's Song

"Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness."

Ps 51:14, NIV

As I close this 3-day focus on verse 14 of this psalm, I am led to meditate upon the theme of David's song -- that is, God's righteousness.

On this thirty-eighth morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday, my meditation leads me to consider how, thus far, Psalm 51 has depicted David as a man who had every reason to wallow in self-pity and guilt. 

He could have cursed the day of his birth.
He could have condemned himself.
He could have corroded his heart.

Yet, by the grace of the Father, his tongue was loosened to sing of God's righteousness.

The above concept truly blesses my heart. It opens my eyes to see that I, too, am invited to celebrate God's abundant goodness despite the sins that threaten to invade my heart.

"You are good, You are good

When there's nothing good in me

You are love, You are love
On display for all to see
You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true
Ever in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy
You're the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life
In You death has lost its sting

O, I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In Your presence I'm made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I'm letting go"

Extracted from Forever Reign by Hillsong

I, too, am called to sing joyfully and humbly of God's faithfulness and holiness because the blood of Christ has graciously covered me and removed the stench of my bloodguilt.  

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside."

Extracted from Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas O. Chisholm

"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning my song shall rise to Thee

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty

God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide Thee,

though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;

Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,

Perfect in pow'r, in love, and purity."

Extracted from Holy, Holy, Holy by Reginald Heber

I, too, am empowered to rejoice in the salvation Christ grants when I acknowledge that He is Immanuel -- the God who is always with me.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I see."

Extracted from Amazing Grace by John Newton

Yes, the Holy Spirit is enabling me to sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
When I feel burdened by a great load of sin, He is the One to uphold me and lift me up. 

As with King David, He will use my mouth, my body, my health, my pen, my tears, my art, my confession, my relationships, my work, my position, my status, my everything to make known His faithfulness and broadcast His gracious holiness wherever He wants. 

Praise His glorious name! 

Psalm 51 (Day 37): The Tongue

On this thirty-seventh morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday, I thank the Lord for placing me in the middle of verse 14 of Psalm 51, reading,

"Save me from blooguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness."

Yesterday, my meditation consisted of the true meaning of wronging my fellow man -- it causes the very blood of Christ to shed. Each time you and I sin (even through the slightest white lie), we are once again guilty of murdering Christ.

David's request "Save me from bloodguilt, O God" appropriately gives voice to the cry of every human heart that humbly receives the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Once our bloodguilt is graciously made plain to us, we are gripped with remorse just like Judas, the betrayer.

Yet, unlike him, we are not to go to the gallows of self-destruction. On the contrary, we are brought face-to-the-floor in repentance like Isaiah, crying:

"Woe to me! I am ruined!"

Is 6:5

From that humble, prostrate position, we are invited to come to the Savior who alone can scrub away the crimson stain of bloodguilt from our hands. There, in the hollow of His comforting hand, we find salvation . . . and abundant life.

And . . . what happens next?

David aptly adds, 

" . . . and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness."

I wonder why David chose the tongue instead of any other member of his body. Perhaps, it is because he had used his tongue greatly in this deplorable affair:

     -  telling messengers to fetch Bathsheba in order to sleep with her (2 Sam 11:4)
     -  sending word to the Captain ordering the release of Uriah from his army duties in an attempt to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that David would conceal his contribution to Bathsheba's pregnancy (2 Sam 11:5-8)
     -  questioning/scolding the innocent husband after discovering that Uriah did not go home to sleep with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:13)
     -  inviting Uriah over for a drink, intoxicating him, and seeking to lure him into going back to Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:13)
     -  dictating Uriah's death sentence to Joab, "Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die" (2 Sam 11:14-15)
     -  rationalizing his murder to Joab, "Don't let this [the death of Uriah] upset you; the sword devours one as well as another" (2 Sam 11:25)

Through the economy of God's grace, David's unmistakable guilt was turned into overflowing gratitude. This tongue of his that had been used for so much evil was granted the opportunity to do much more good -- his tongue can now sing.

How very much like David you and I are!

Too often, we allow the tongue -- this small member of our body -- to go wild and neglect to put a tight rein on it. 

As such, we find ourselves using our tongue to tell "messengers" to fetch the "Bathshebas" of our lives, the worthless and enticing idols of our hearts, in order to "sleep" or commune with them. We then allow ourselves to give in to the lust of our eyes and gorge ourselves with the bread of sensual indulgence.

We find ourselves sending word to this or that "captain"in order to catch the "Uriahs" of our lives, the sacrificial lambs of our hearts, in order to conceal our own sin. We then have to shush the voice of the Holy Spirit that seeks to convict and change us.

We find ourselves scolding the "Uriahs" of our lives each time their innocent actions hinder our plans of concealment from being fulfilled. We find ourselves sinning even more as we seek to dupe our "Uriahs" again and again to no avail. We further find ourselves signing the "death sentence" of our "Uriahs," willingly placing them in vulnerable positions where they are in the very line of fire. Worse yet, we find ourselves rationalizing our decision to have our "Uriahs" killed to the point of even washing our hands in the manner of Pontius Pilate.

Like David, with the tongue, you and I routinely make room for lust, adultery, murder, and cover-up in whatever form they take.  Should this pattern continue in the bride of Christ?

No! 
God says, "No!"
His Word admonishes that, when we are negligent with our tongue, we deceive ourselves and our religion is worthless (Jas 1:26).

May the Holy Spirit convict our hearts today, just like David's, that we may no longer deceive ourselves. May we remember that we are the Lord's and that our tongue is meant to bear good fruit not destroy life. May we too implore the God who saves so that our tongue may be loosened to sing of Christ's righteousness!

Psalm 51 (Day 36): Drop after Drop

Holy Spirit, 

I thank You for teaching me, 

for instructing me in the way I should go. 

Enlighten my heart and illumine my mind 

to receive the truths of the Holy Word today. 

In Christ's name, I humbly pray. 

Amen.

On this thirty-sixth morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (scheduled for June 8 this year), I reach a new verse, which reads,

"Save me from bloodguilt, O God,

the God who saves me,

and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness."

Ps 51:14, NIV

The above is a special verse because it is the only on in the whole psalm that plainly addresses a specific sin -- bloodguilt, which stands for murder. While verses 1-13 talk about his sin in general terms (transgressions, iniquity, sin, sins, evil, sinful, transgressors, sinners), verse 14 places all sins under one umbrella: bloodguilt.

What is so special about that?

For one thing, from a purely practical perspective, David was aware that his sins warranted the death penalty. As such, his request for salvation from bloodguilt might simply be an urgent plea so that his life might not be struck by God. David might also have been asking to be saved from the potential vengeance coming his way from Uriah's family and friends. He might also have been referring to the emotional turmoil that has been ravaging his heart ever since the prophet Nathan confronted him over his lust, adultery, murder, and cover-up.

More importantly, this request points to verse 4 where David said,

"Against You, You only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in Your sight,

so that You are proved right when You speak

and justified when You judge."

Along those lines, David's bloodguilt is reminiscent of Cain's wickedness of which God said,

"What have you done? Listen! 

Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground."

Gen 4:10, NIV

Indeed, so much "blood" cried out to God from David's actions.

Drop
Drop
Drop

drop . . .
     . . . after . . .
             . . . drop . . .

David's lustful heart
. . . drop . . .

Bathsheba's shame
. . . drop . . .

Uriah's death
. . . drop . . .

the conspiracy of David's accomplices
. . . drop . . . 

the stench of David's cover-up
. . . drop . . .

and so much more

drop . . .
     . . . after . . .
             . . . drop . . .

What about you and me?
How much bloodguilt do we have on our hands?

For each hate-filled look directed at our fellow man, a drop cries out to God. For each lustful thought aimed at someone other than our spouse, a drop screams to the Father. For each conniving word, each slanderous comment, each neglected task, each aggravating sigh, each abusive deed, each betraying kiss . . . drop after drop of blood moans, sighs, laments, erupts into a great crescendo saying: 

"O Christ, 

I fell upon the ground for You." 

impatience
insolence
ingratitude
immorality
impurity
irritation

drop . . .
     . . . after . . .
             . . . drop . . .

And each such drop trickles until it mingles with that of Christ for His great and holy purposes -- to guide us to a point of desperate need for the sufficiency of Christ's own blood.

O, what grace!

That You would transform our guilt into gratitude for the gift of Your righteousness, O Christ, is too much for me to fathom, too lofty for me to attain! Thank You, Jesus!!!

Psalm 51 (Day 35): Humility

Continuing with my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (June 8), I began reflecting on verse 13 yesterday:

"Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

and sinners will turn back to You."

It led me to see that the humility of a convicted heart is the ideal platform for teaching. So, then who should be teaching? Who needs to be taught? What curriculum must be imparted and imbibed? What is the purpose of such teaching? 

As I pray for guidance, here is God's revelation to me:

Who should be teaching?

Anyone who has been humbled to see that his/her heart is coated with sin and undeserving of God's grace; anyone who has become overjoyed by daily experiencing the sweetness of surrendering that very heart to God. Like David, all such persons are psalmists of sorts, writing pedagogical poems for the people of God, sharing living testimonies of God's truths with others who have ears to hear what the Spirit reveals. Our "psalms and poems" may simply be text messages, phone conversations, emails, or dinner exchanges but as long as they are guided by the Spirit of God, they can bear much spiritual fruit.

Who needs to be taught?

This verse calls all prospective students of God's ways "transgressors" and "sinners," effectively including everyone on earth -- regardless of status, gender, fame, or consequence. Once humbled, we can see that we have a ready platform. We can talk to family members, confidants, friends, co-workers, and others placed on our paths. We can trace the history of God's gracious wonders in our lives and tell people about them so that, together, all of us can learn to honor God and live godly lives in the present. Together, we can be mutually encouraged by each other's faith and testimony.

What curriculum must be imparted and imbibed?

David suggests that God's ways should be taught to all sinners and transgressors from a "then" perspective -- which, as you and I learned yesterday, is a gentle and humble place resulting from a heart convicted by the Holy Spirit. From such a place, we can share God's deeds, miracles, wonders, warnings, commands, blessings, promises, invitations, etc. We can teach them that sin has been vanquished by the blood of the Lamb. We can encourage each other to use our ears to hear, our minds to understand, and our hearts to learn and know God's message of hope and truth.

What is the purpose of this teaching?

This verses tells us that "sinners will turn back to [God]." Therefore, we can confidently conclude that the purpose of this teaching is complete transformation. You and I are invited to teach the individuals God has placed in our circles of influence with humility and gentleness so that both they and we will cease our stubbornness and rebellion, that we will turn from wickedness and waywardness, and that we would develop loyal hearts and faithful spirits to God.

Today, would you and I embrace humility? May the way we walk and talk be the humble and gentle "teaching" that serves as a reminder and the proof that God's Word is true! May we position ourselves under the instruction of the Holy Spirit as we teach others to know that God's nature and gracious commands are relevant in our day! To God alone be the glory!

Psalm 51 (Day 34): "Then"

I am alive.
Thank You, Father, for creating me.
I am awake.
Thank You, Jesus, for living inside of me.
I am set ablaze.
Thank You, Holy Spirit, for breathing Your passion into me.

On this thirty-fourth morning of my 50 days of waiting for Pentecost Sunday (June 8), I am again very grateful that the Holy Spirit prompted me to park in Psalm 51 during this season. Thirty-three days have already come and gone. They were filled with nuggets of wisdom from the psalm heading and the first twelve verses:

For the director of music. 
A psalm of David.
When the prophet Nathan came to him
after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

"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 that You are proved right when You speak

and justified when You judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts,

You teach me wisdom in the inmost 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 right 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."
Ps 51:1-12, NIV

Today, verse 13 leads us to turn a new corner on our grace adventure. It reads,

"Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

and sinners will turn back to You."

The word "then" points us to review and revisit the contents of the psalm heading and the previous twelve verses penned by King David. 

"Then" refers to the moment after God confronts a person, after the Holy Spirit convicts an individual of sin, after one's heart is filled with remorse over wrongdoing, after one's mind recognizes the great need for divine mercy, after one's spirit turns to repentance and grace.

"Then" depicts David as having been humbled enough to gain this perspective: He deserves to be cast out from the Lord's presence (as we learned in verse 11). His sin required death as payment; his transgressions demanded separation from the holiness of God. 

Therefore, "then" is a place of humility -- the ideal platform for teaching. From this low position, he is better suited to spot other transgressors, other strugglers who need to be encouraged and taught to embrace the rich supply of God's love, mercy, compassion, and grace. 

And like David, we too are invited to take our stance upon the spot of "then." We are too are encouraged to let the Word of God convict us of sin and humble us effectively to perceive the log that blocks our vision. We too are called to let the word of our testimony speak into the lives of others on the road of faith.

Are we thus enlightened to see that God confronts us daily?

The scorching heat, the beautiful breeze, the fragrant post-rain soil, the sun-baked clay, the chirping of birds, the sound of crickets -- all the sounds of nature point to the Father addressing us, talking to us, revealing Himself to us. More importantly, His Holy Word is given to us to tell us how to live and how to receive the saving knowledge of Christ. Yet, all too often, we refuse to acknowledge God's voice through nature and boldly tune Him out when we hear or read the Word of God. 

"Then," gratefully, calls us to hear -- genuinely hear -- God's voice. 

He speaks. 

He spoke in the past.
He is speaking in the present.
He will always speak in the future.

May you and I not only hear His voice when He confronts us, but may we also acknowledge that hearing His voice invites a "then" response -- meditation, conviction, contrition, and instruction.

Thank You, Holy Spirit!