30 DoW: Day 29

I chose Psalm 51

1 To the Chief Musician.
A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him,
after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.

4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight--
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise.

18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

attribute & response:
Cleanser. I chose this psalm because this morning's sermon was built around it, with a focus on sin. We talked about this a bit throughout the week too. It's amazing how much we cover up, ignore, deny, laugh off all the evil we do—and anything less than God's perfection is evil. It's sin.

Without this realization, we can see no need for a savior. We don't think we need, or think we don't need, a savior at all.

But with this realization, we begin to see how horrible we really our in everything we do. We see that all our so-called righteousness is nothing more than "filthy rags." This angers God. And there truly is nothing we can do to help ourselves out of our dilemma.

When I finally realized this, I knew I was in trouble. I knew I needed to be saved from or bear the wrath of God. And I soon realized that nothing and no one but Jesus Christ alone could help me. Certainly I couldn't. But what He did in His death and resurrection could.

Thank God that He is the one who can cleanse us from all sinfulness, unrighteousness, evil, impurity and all the very things that otherwise make Him angry and would bring down His wrath. I thank Him for doing so for me when, by virtue of His own Law and judgment, He had every right to take me out.