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40 Days of Prayer, Day 9

Day 9, Monday, August 29

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2

The Character of God and the Confidence of the Sinner

David opened this psalm by begging for grace. “Be gracious to me, O God…” The first line was the request, but in the next line David appealed to the character of God, “According to Your lovingkindness.” The very God whose holiness and righteousness established the law, is also the same God whose character of love and grace gave David a glimmer of hope. David had violated the law of God in several ways throughout his life. However, this moment of sin, the committing of adultery and murder, gave clarity to the seriousness of David’s rebellion against God. God is a God of relationships. God’s holy character is now on a collision course with God’s grace. This collision comes to infinite horror and beauty in the cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross of Christ, the justice of God for David’s rebellion comes into a head on collision with the grace of God. Christ bore David’s sin on the cross, preserving the justice of God. God in Christ offered the forgiveness of sins, preserving the grace of God. Though Christ had not yet come when David committed adultery and murder, according to Romans 3, God looked ahead to the cross of Christ for the sins committed by individuals like Abraham, Moses and David. For us, God looks back to the cross of Christ for our sins. In Christ our sins are forgiven by our righteous and gracious God. In Christ, just as David, we too appeal to the character of God. He is holy and thus we are accountable for our sins. He is also gracious and offers freely to us the forgiveness of sins.

It was the character of God that drove David to the feet of God. Grace and mercy were surely undeserved for David but he flung Himself on the love and kindness of God. He clung to the compassion of God. The seriousness of David’s sin in his adultery and murder provided clarity for David. The egregious nature of his sin clarified for David his desperate need for the compassion of God. However, in reality, all of us have this same need. Since God is holy and just, He must hold us accountable for our sin, even the sins we perceive to be far less serious. This truth applies to the King of Israel caught in adultery. This truth applies to the church going, Bible reading, teenage caught in a bad attitude toward their parent. This truth applies to the one caught in the conspiracy to commit murder. This truth applies to the grandmother who regularly attends Sunday School but struggles with jealousy or pride. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from Him because He is holy. But just as David, we throw ourselves on the grace of God. God is a God of relationships and He longs to forgive the contrite hearted person.

Prayer Focus

God, I confess that you are absolutely holy.  You are justified when You hold me to a standard of righteousness.  Oh God, I read in the Bible that You are also a God of great mercy, grace, compassion and kindness.  I confess that I am in need of Your mercy.  There are sins I have committed against You that come to my mind.  But I also know that many of my sins against You I have committed without even stopping long enough to see my actions as sin.  I throw myself on Your mercy.  Thank you for taking my sin away through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice

God gives encouragements to comfort those who are cast down; and such are the broken-hearted; as for them that are whole, they need not the physician. They are the broken in spirit that stand in need of God’s encouragements; physicians are those of no esteem except with those that feel their sickness; and this is one reason why God is so little accounted of in the world, even because they have not been made sick by the wounding stroke of God. But now when a man is wounded, has his bones broken, or is made sick, and laid at the grave's mouth, who is of that esteem with him as is an able physician? What is so much desired as are the comforts and suitable supplies of the skilful physician in those matters. And thus it is with the broken-hearted; he needs, and God has prepared for him plenty of the comforts of heaven, to secure and relieve his sinking soul. Wherefore such a one lies under all the promises that have secured in them, and consolation for men, sick and desponding under the sense of sin and the heavy wrath of God; and they, says God, shall be refreshed and revived. Yes, they are designed for them; he has therefore broken their hearts, he has therefore wounded their spirits, that he might make them apt to relish his reviving encouragements, that he might minister to them his reviving comforts.

40 Days of Prayer, Day 8

Day 8, Sunday, August 28

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2

The Prophetic Voice

“Be gracious to me…” with these words David began pouring out his heart to God. We don’t know how much time had elapsed between Nathan’s confrontational visit to David’s palace and the crafting of this psalm. The title of the psalm, which many believe dates back to the time of the original writing, says, “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” This psalm may have been an immediate reaction to that encounter, written that very day by David. During the confrontation Nathan told David a story, the account of a wealthy man who had stolen the family pet of one of his neighbors. He stole the neighbor’s one and only pet lamb in order to serve lamb chops to an out of town guest. The wealthy man had plenty of lambs in his own herd from which to choose, but instead committed a theft that left his poor neighbor devastated. Nathan was a known prophetic voice in Israel at the time. David may have assumed that this “pet theft” account was what prompted Nathan’s visit to the palace. Nathan, as a voice of righteousness may have advised David on God’s standards of righteousness within the nation of Israel on several prior occasions. With the trap set, David took the bait. Incensed at such a callous disregard for another citizen of the kingdom of Israel, King David declared, “Surely this man must die.” Nathan, in one of the most dramatic moments in human history, pointed his finger at David. He revealed the true identity of the villain of the story with these words. “You are the man.”

With a flood of emotions, David’s heart must have nearly stopped. “I’ve been found out.” “What have I done?” “Who else knows?” “God knows!” “What was I thinking to get myself in this mess?” “What happens when my family finds out?” “What happens when nation finds out?” “I am guilty of adultery and murder.” David must have also realized the significance of the condemnation he pronounced at the end of Nathan’s story of the wealthy sheep stealer. “That man must die!” If the unconscionable violation of a neighbor’s human/pet relationship warranted a death sentence, how much more did the theft of a neighbor’s wife followed by the murder of the faithful husband warrant a death sentence? I can imagine that during that sleepless evening or maybe the following day, David sat down with a pen in hand to attempt to put into words the volume of emotion in his heart. Guilt, shame, embarrassment, fear, despair, helplessness, and a host of other emotions surely dominated David’s thoughts as he picked up his pen.

As serious as David’s violation of God’s standard for righteousness was, in some ways, David speaks for the needs of all of us.   All of us need the grace of God. All of us must come to realize that God is absolutely holy and we are not.

Prayer Focus

God, I confess that you are absolutely holy.  You are justified when You hold me to a standard of righteousness.   You are also merciful.  I confess that I am in need of Your mercy.  Forgive me for the times I have sinned against You. Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice

God not only prefers such a heart before all sacrifices, but he reserves for him his chief comforts, his heart-reviving and soul-cherishing gracious encouragements. 'I dwell, ' God says,  with such to revive them, and to support and comfort them, 'to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones' (Isa 57:15). The broken-hearted man is a fainting man; he has his qualms, his sinking fits; he oftentimes dies away with pain and fear; he must be assisted or else he does not even know what to do with himself: he wastes away in his iniquity; nor can anything keep him alive and make him well but the comforts and gracious encouragements of Almighty God (Ex 33:10, 11). Wherefore with such a one God will dwell, to revive the heart, to revive the spirit. 'To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'

40 Days of Prayer, Day 7

Day 7, Saturday, August 27

“By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.” Psalm 51:18-19

The Joy of Religious Expression

God takes no delight in heartless sacrifice. He does not delight in religious expression when the heart is far from Him. When sin dominates, religious rites offend God. However, God loves our tangible acts of worship. He loves our worship when our hearts are engaged. In verse 16, David stated God’s displeasure with sacrifices. However, just two sentences later in verse 18, he states that God delights in sacrifices. What a difference verse 17 makes! When we have contrite and broken hearts before God, He receives our worship. The heart of the worshiper is the difference in God’s attitude toward our worship. David distinguished between the sacrifice offered in verse 18 from the rejected sacrifice described in 16 with the word “righteous.”   God loves “righteous sacrifices.” God distains religious expression offered without a right relationship with Him. God is a God of relationships. If our relationship with Him isn’t right, no amount of religious actions can bridge the relationship. But God loves it when we use tangible expressions to worship Him when our relationship with Him is right. When we approach Him in humility and contrition for sin, He welcomes our worship because He is a God of relationships. As we approach this coming Sunday, now is the time to prepare our hearts, minds and bodies for a time of worship. There is great joy in bringing to God tangible expression of our love for Him.

Prayer Focus

God, prepare my heart for worship. Use the gathering of the church and our offering of song, prayer, service, fellowship and giving as a means to please You and to fill our hearts with joy. Reveal to us any areas that are causing a barrier to our relationship with You. Refine us and restore us. Maximize our worship for You and Maximize our joy in our relationship with You. Amen.

From Bunyan’s The Acceptable Sacrifice

Here, therefore, is suitableness. 'Can two walk together, ' asks God, 'except they be agreed?' (Amos 3:3). The broken-hearted desires God's company; when will you come to me? He asks. The broken-hearted loves to hear God speak and talk to him. Here is what is fitting. 'Make me, ' He says, 'to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice' (Ps. 51:8). But here lies the glory, in that the high and lofty One, the God that inhabits eternity, and that was a high and holy place for his habitation, should choose to dwell with, and to be a companion of the broken in heart, and of them that are of a contrite spirit. Yes, and here also is great comfort for such.