TODAY'S BIBLE READING:Song of Songs 5:1–8:14
2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Psalm 51:1-19
Proverbs 22:24-25
TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):
Psalm 51:12 (ESV) “Restore to me the joy of your salvation…”
REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):
Psalm 51 is rugged and honest. David,
who penned it, had engaged in lust and then sex with another man’s wife and
then took measures (including murder) to cover it up.
This psalm gives us insight into the
internal turmoil that David was experiencing. He felt dirty in need of
cleansing. He felt depressed. He was physically weakened by that depression. He
felt distant from God.
This Psalm reminds us that sin (whether
or big or small) will cause havoc in our spirit’s. Between our conscience and
the Holy Spirit, the Jesus-follower will not be able to get past the sin.
Everything in us demands that it be dealt with. If we can repeatedly sin and
not be bothered by it, we aren’t God’s children (see Hebrews 12:5-8).
In our Verse for Today, we see one of
the desires that brought the Psalmist back to the Lord. He wanted his joy back.
He wanted to experience and be happy in the relationship he had previously had
with his God. He wanted or God to “restore to me the joy of your salvation…”
Our relationship with God is something
that is intended to bring us happiness. It is intended to satisfy a deep
longing within our spirit. And that joy is strangely absent when we have sinned
(or are sinning) and have not taken steps to make it right.
Do you want to be restored to the joy,
the happiness, of God’s salvation? Is there some unconfessed sin(s) that is the
reason for the loss of joy? Then reread Psalm 51 reflectively and allow the
words of that Psalm to be your own words offered up to God. Call out to Him,
asking Him to restore the joy.
Yesterday, I was reflectively reading
through the Old Testament book of Joel. I meditated for quite some time on the
refreshing and hopeful truths in Joel 2:12-14. Why not read through those
verses and hear God giving you some steps to come back to Him.
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