We are well into Lent and I haven't mentioned Psalm 51 yet. Something must be wrong!
It is the most beautiful Psalm of repentance. The musician Michael Card recorded a version of it. The refrain to his song being "create in me a clean heart, O Lord"
The Psalm is one of repentance. The writer expresses sincere sorrow to God for the things in his life that hold him back from being closer.
The things that hold us back from God prevent us from being intimate with him. Sometimes we, or I, characterise these things as sin. But I wonder sometimes if that makes me believe foolishly that I am subject to an external force that makes me do wrong. Whereas in reality it is quite often down to me what has happened. Either through something I have done or, sometimes worse, something I have failed to do.
Sin is to miss the mark. Sin is unlove. To fail to love when we should. To hold back from loving. The consequences in our life of sin ranges from totally derailing it, to a minor diversion. But even a series of minor diversions can lead us far from where we want to be.
Where is God in this? He is our loving father and like any father worthy of the name, he wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. He wants us to bring our failure to love to him so that he can forgive us and heal us. In God there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
If we ask God to forgive our sin he will do so. Even when we struggle with besetting sin, repeat temptations, that we just can't seem to defeat on our own. God is here amongst us in our mired world. If we cry out to him he will answer. He will teach us to love.
These words are for myself as much as for you. As the Psalmist says "create in me a clean heart, O Lord!"
For reflection:
Dear Lord, help me to believe in you. Help me to deal with the things that hold me back from knowing you. Amen
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