Focus
Take a few minutes to push the “pause” button on whatever is going on around you and be still with God.
Read
Psalm 51
Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 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.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Reflect
Once I heard a joke about a man who claimed to be perfect. He said that he had never made a mistake. He went on to say that one time he thought he had made a mistake, but he was mistaken. If there is one thing that all humans have in common, it is that we will make mistakes, mess up, and sin in our lives. Maybe we haven’t committed the same sins as David (adultery and murder just to name two), but we have probably done enough throughout our lives to know and understand the place David is coming from when he writes this psalm. We’ve been there- sorrow, remorse, guilt, that feeling of this was too much, and I’m too far gone.
But there is no place that far for God. David confessed his sins and sought forgiveness. He prayed for a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. If we would also confess our sins and seek God’s forgiveness, we will find it. We can also experience a pure heart, a steadfast spirit, and a chance to start over, restored and renewed because there is no place too far for God.
Pray
God of mercy and grace, we sin against you constantly, yet you love us anyway and stand with wide open arms ready to forgive us if we will confess our sins to you. You already know our sins; they are no secret to you. We confess them before you and ask with the psalmist that you would “create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
Go with God!
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