How are you doing? How is your week? Can you believe it’s already August?
This past Sunday, we looked at a very well-known psalm, Psalm 51. Nathan just rebuked King David of his sins of adultery and murder. David is in the thick of his guilt and shame. Take a moment and read his plea to yourself (meditate on the whole psalm if you have time!):
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit. (vv. 7-12)
David is crying out to the gracious character of God. He is not asking for salvation from his enemies or his circumstances. He is asking for salvation from his sin. This salvation is not just forgiveness, but it’s restoration in all the areas that sin has destroyed.
To be saved means to be forgiven. To be saved means to be healed. To be saved means to be made new. To be saved means to be restored unto God.
This is all possible through Christ. He was the One who was forsaken so that we may be forgiven. He was the One from whom God turned His face so that we may always have God’s countenance upon us. He was the One who was cast out so that we may never be. We can be washed clean, because we are washed by His blood. We can be made new, because Christ through His resurrection makes us new.
When was the last time you were completely broken by your sin? When was the last time you cried out out to God’s gracious character for salvation? When was the last time you rested in and enjoyed His restoration of your life?
Take some time today to acknowledge that you are a sinner, deserving of God’s displeasure and wrath. Cry out to God for His abundant mercy. Rest and be healed by the salvation that He gives through His Son.
See you all on Sunday for the Lord’s Day Worship! Pray for yourselves, pray for one another, and pray for the world.
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
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