Beyond Understanding
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Psalm 51
1. after he had gone in to Bathsheba.> Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment. 5. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8. Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice. 9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 12. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee. 14. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance. 15. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 16. For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. 17. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18. Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19. then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.
This past weekend I participated in an Emmaus Walk. It is, from what I understand, similar to the Cursillo and a couple of other experiences. From Thursday night through Sunday night, one is immersed completely in a “world set apart.” No television, watch, radio, cell phone or anything else which connects you to the “world.” And throughout the weekend, every vestige of our pride is stripped away, all our masks pulled off, all the walls we have built around ourselves are knocked down. And what is left? Just you and God. Yep, just you and God.
I get the feeling that David is in this same place as I read this psalm. Of course, he has just committed adultery, but the expanse of this psalm is more than that single transgression. I certainly recall, at some point over last weekend, feeling the way David seems to in Psalm 51. Broken. Reduced to the lowest common denominator. The enormity of our sinfulness washes over us. And as we recall and tick off in our minds every wrong we’ve ever done, in comes Jesus, cleansing us with his blood, washing us clean, making us pure white. The enormity of God’s love becomes the only truth to which you cling. The expansiveness of his mercy becomes our only mantra.
Just me and God. A Christian song I listen to often in my car has lyrics that always make me stop and think about this way of being: “When no one is watching . . . just you and the wind . . . who are you then? When the masquerade is over and the healing begins . . .” A broken spirit and a contrite heart -- that’s what is left. I was shell-shocked by Sunday night - almost in a trance and I am still walking around in a bit of a daze. Just me and God. As each vestige of my former self was stripped away, I fathomed an even greater degree of God’s love for me.
David felt that! He knew he was a sinner--born a sinner, lived a sinner, will die a sinner. But God cannot stand the thought of our not spending eternity in heaven with him! So he gave us a way to get there in spite of ourselves! Oh yes, I was convicted--on every level and in every way--I was reminded in no uncertain terms that not only am I not in charge, but that I never was -- nor will I ever be! And that has become a tremendous reassurance to me!
I hope today you offer up the vestiges of your sinful humanness to the God who made you and loves beyond understanding. And that you’ll transform your life to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ.
Mary
