Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast 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.” This episode talks about King David and how he was always so good about turning back to the Lord when he messed up. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God’s Mercy & Forgiveness
Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast 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.”
These verses come within a series of verses addressing God. The person talking to God in this psalm is David. This psalm takes place after David had been visited by the prophet Nathan. Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. This psalm includes a lot of David asking God to forgive him for his sins. One thing I love about David is that he is so good at realizing he did something wrong and then turning back to the Lord. He messed up pretty badly sometimes. It was not as if he was anointed, and so he always followed the Lord and never strayed. He broke some pretty big commandments. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not kill, being a few of them.
No matter how big the sin was, David never seemed to feel too ashamed to turn back to the Lord. This is so great. This shows such a deep level of understanding or trust, or both. I think he was never afraid to turn back because he knew how much he was loved by God. I wish we all knew and could trust God’s love like David did. How great would it be to know with every fiber of our body that no matter what we did, God would still love us and welcome us back?
Have you ever done something and then not turned back to the Lord because you didn’t think you deserved forgiveness? Have you ever thought that you did something so bad that there was no way that God would forgive you?
I think that most people have probably thought this at one time or another. I wonder if we would still think it if we remembered in that moment all the things that God has forgiven over the years? David saw a woman bathing on the roof of another house in his town and called for her to be brought to him. Then he had relations with her. I doubt she had much to say about it, as that was not really the culture back then. After he did this, she was pregnant, and he was worried her husband would find out what he had done. He tried to trick her husband, and when that didn’t work, he sent him to the front lines to be killed in the war. Then he took Bathsheba for his wife.
Take a moment and think of the thing that you have been trying to hide from God because you think there is no way he will forgive it. Is it worse than what David did? If God could forgive David, He will forgive you. What if it is worse than what David did? What do you do then? Is it worse than what Saul did when he was going around stoning to death those who believed in Jesus? Was it worse than what the soldiers did when they whipped Jesus and hung Him on a cross? Because if Jesus can forgive them, He will forgive you.
Why is it that we worry so much about God forgiving us? We know He loves us, and yet we don’t want to turn to Him when we mess up because… why? Maybe we are ashamed and we don’t want Him to see that we messed up? Guess what, he has already seen your mess-ups and already loved you through them. Maybe we don’t want to bother Him with our mess-ups because we feel we should have known better in the first place. Guess what? He loves it when we turn to Him and ask Him for help to clean up our messes. Maybe we don’t feel like we are good enough to turn back to the Lord. Guess what? He is your Heavenly Father, and He made you in His likeness and image. You are better than good enough; you are perfect just as you are.
In the verse, David asks the Lord to create a pure heart in him. He knows what he did was wrong, and he wants to do what is right. I think we all want to do what is right. I don’t think that any of us walk around all day wondering how we can sin against God. I don’t believe it is our intent to damage our relationship with God in any way. If we want to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, we can all pray for the Lord to create a pure heart in us. God knows what is in our hearts. As much as we may try to purify our own hearts, God is the one who can help us with this.
It goes on to say, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” I think this statement can be an example of David’s humility. It shows us that even though David was brave enough and trusted God enough to turn back to the Lord, even after David did some pretty awful things, David was humble enough not to assume God would forgive him. In this verse, David is asking the Lord to please not cast him away or take the Holy Spirit from him. God loves humility. It says in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” This is what David was doing. He was humbling himself and asking the Lord not to depart from him.
After David asks the Lord not to abandon him, he goes on to say, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” David knows that he is doing the things he does not want to do and not doing the things that God wants him to do. This is why he is asking the Lord for a willing spirit to sustain him. He knows that following the Lord’s word is the way to go, and he also knows that he can get off track sometimes. David did a lot of good things, and he spent a lot of his time following the Lord; however, when he veered off course, he did it in a big way. If you feel like this is you, I hope that David’s story can bring you a little bit of comfort. I hope that if you are feeling like you did something wrong and that it was so bad you can’t turn back to the Lord, that you will remember David and how he was able to turn back to the Lord even after he did some truly terrible things. And you know what, God always forgave him and kept loving Him. He does this for you, too. God will always love you, no matter what it is you do. He will always be hoping, no matter how much you think that you messed up, that you will turn back to him. He is your Heavenly Father, and you mean the world to Him!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to remember to turn back to you every time we mess up. No matter how bad a thing we think we did, help us to know that you still love us and forgive us. Help us to know that you are always there for us. Lord, create a clean heart in us and grant us a willing spirit. Lord, we want to follow you, and we don’t know why we get off course sometimes. If you create a willing spirit in us, we hope to use that spirit to follow you more closely. Lord Jesus, you are amazing, and we are so thankful that you always forgive us and that you continue to love us, even with all of our faults. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tomorrow night will be week #2 of mentoring. This week we are address this very topic, God’s Mercy & Forgiveness. I hope you will join us! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Come to me. I have given you a gift, spirit to spirit. You use it less and less. I want you to be strong in my love. Use your gifts.”