This Psalm is King David's humble prayer for forgiveness, cleansing and restoration.
I thought I'd share what my dear God has revealed to me.
Let me begin with verses six and seven.
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom."Our God wants us to be honest with Him. He knows all of it anyway, so why resist recognizing and admitting that we are sinners from a long line of sinners. No perfection in our gene pool...
The fact that Jesus is the Truth fits beautifully here.
Our God does not only desire for us to be honest about what is in our heart, but also to open our heart to His Son and allow Him to abide in place of all the junk!
The result? Wisdom!
For a definition of wisdom and what she brings with her open the book of Proverbs. The book holds a wonderful description of who wisdom is and all the benefits that come with choosing her.
Many of us struggle with what to do with all the junk we have stuffed for so long.
There is only one solution.
Bring it to Him.
David opens his prayer by acknowledging that God is gracious and that he is dependent upon His loving kindness. David calls on God's compassion to blot out his sin and to cleanse him.
He recognizes that his sin is always in his God's sight and then David states a crucial fact:
"Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak, and blameless when You judge."David's sin had affected many, but he knew that the bottom line was that he had sinned against his God.
Sin becomes a wedge between our LORD and us. Not good.
Matthew is a sweet, tenderhearted guy and has been since infancy. He was a happy little fellow with a sunny disposition.
One day he became very disagreeable and very out-of-sorts. I wondered what the problem was, but it remained a mystery until the following day.
As I was cleaning his room I discovered the source of the problem.
Under his dresser, partially hidden by the dresser's leg, was a small glass animal. As soon as I saw it I knew what Matt's trouble was.
The glass animal belonged to his cousin, Sara. The day before he had admired it while at her home and had expressed his desire to have it for himself.
It seems he had chosen to act on that desire.
I called my young son up to his room and sat with him on his bed. Before I opened my hand that held the treasure I spoke to him about how sin makes our hearts unhappy because it hurts our connection with Jesus. With that I opened my hand and my precious son burst into tears! We prayed together and resolved to make it right with Sara.
Then Matthew skipped off to play with a song in his heart and on his lips.
As simple as that!
Yes, simple, but don't we often resist and allow ourselves to grow more miserable?
Recently I have been struggling with a heavy heart. Through this Psalm the Holy Spirit helped me to uncover the source of my trouble.
I had been stuffing my struggles, because I felt so badly that I was experiencing them.
In one of my postings I spoke of a former neighbor whose husband had Parkinson's Disease and how she had constantly belittled him.
I had judged her in my heart.
Now I was wrestling with some of what she must have been feeling.
It is very difficult to see your strong, capable, fun husband become weak, needy and less engaged in life.
At times I have felt so frustrated and impatient with my honey and that has caused me to feel terribly guilty!
I was keeping it all in and it was growing heavier and heavier by the hour.
I, like David, cried out for deliverance from my self and Papa lifted it all from my heart.
As He took the place that had been occupied by all that junk, I received a bit of wisdom from Him.
We dare not judge anyone.
You know that saying about walking in another's moccasins?
Yes, we have no idea unless we have been there.
And if we do end up in similar shoes then we realize how desperately they had needed compassion not judgement.
When our God restores us and renews us, He touches areas we weren't even aware existed!
That is because He is wisdom...
David continues in the Psalm seeking God's complete work in his heart. He cried out for a totally clean heart, which he knew only God could create. He desired to have a steadfast spirit and to be in close communion with his God.
David had walked many days joyfully because of the salvation that he received from the LORD. He sought to return to such a walk.
The result that he knows will come from such restoration is stated in the thirteenth verse and it causes my heart to leap!
"Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You."
That explains why I am sitting here at my computer typing like mad!!
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