Page 50 - Living light - The Psalms

Friday July 26 - Broken
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17
David had reached the lowest point in his life. He was a broken man; the sins he’d committed had taken their toll. He knew that within Israel’s religious system there were no acceptable sacrifices for deliberate sins such as adultery and murder. He knew that God desires a humble and repentant spirit more than ritual sacrifices. All he could do was to come to God in his sorrow, in a spirit of genuine repentance, asking humbly for mercy. This was the sacrifice he knew he needed to bring. He had nothing else!
‘A broken and contrite heart...’ – I’ve recalled the times I’ve felt brokenhearted and contrite. It is quite a harrowing and crushing experience as the full weight and realisation of my sin and wrongdoing impacts my relationship with God – and others. But it isn’t the end – it is the beginning. Being crushed, bruised and broken is often a prerequisite for being healed, forgiven and transformed. Just as it was for David, so it is for us. Our merciful God draws alongside and embraces us in his mercy, and brings wholeness and forgiveness once again. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, a great 18th century rabbi, once said, “There is nothing as whole as a broken heart.”
Lord, sometimes our brokenness makes us realise our deep need of you. Please make us whole again. Amen.
Saturday July 27 - A new day dawns
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners to turn back to you.
Psalm 51:13
In all our lives there are so many ‘Then(s)...’ After a harrowing experience, a time of sorrow or of feeling a distance between God and ourselves – or like David, a time of deep repentance before God – there is always ‘Then...’ We emerge, like David, who used the depths of his despair as a springboard for God’s mercy and grace to begin again, to tell others of the goodness and mercy of God.
This psalm is for us. David’s story is ours too. It is a psalm for those who think that once you’ve fallen you can never get back up again. It is for those who think it is possible to fall even beyond the reach of God’s grace and forgiveness. No-one is so holy that they cannot fall, nor so fallen that they can’t be forgiven.
Each day that I’ve come to write these notes on this familiar psalm with its familiar verses, the Keith Green song, ‘Create in me a clean heart’ has buzzed around in my head! But I hope that this week you find this to be more than just ‘familiar’, but very real in your experience. Wherever you are, whether abounding in the goodness of God or in desperate need of his mercy and grace, take heart, embrace this psalm and be embraced by God’s mercy once again.
Merciful God, thank you for your cleansing, healing and restoration, through Jesus’ death and resurrection! Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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PRAYER FOR TODAY