Psalm 51 is a Psalm of David written sometime after Nathan the prophet had confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba.
Have mercy... David knows he has done wrong. He asks the Lord the wash and cleanse him. He acknowledges that he has no one to blame but himself.
In verse 7, he asks God to cleanse him with hyssop. This is a branch from a bush with fragrant leaves used for sprinkling blood or water in rituals prescribed by God.
In verse 8, he seems to imply that living in the guilt of his sin has been crushing him and he seeks relief from that guilt.
Verses 10-12 should sound familiar from our weekly liturgy. Once we have been forgiven and released from the hold of sin and guilt, our response, as David's, is to let others know so they can experience the same joy and peace.
How important is it for our church service to include a confession of sins and a pronouncement of forgiveness?
The practice of confession to the pastor used to be much more common than it is today. Are we missing out?
What part does confession play when we hear the Gospel?
This such and evocative Psalm because it speaks what my heart feels when I struggle with my own sin. The LCMS however, is guilty of not encouraging the joyful, forgiven sinner to give voice to his joy in the telling of his salvation as vs.13 encourages. Verses 13 and 14 have been totally ignored in our liturgy. I believe that could have played a key role in evangelism from the beginning. Here we are today knowing this lack. How can we encourage one another in the sharing of the joy of our salvation. I like the part of our current liturgy in which we sing together "...shout to the Lord ... tell everyone what He has done!" That's right on the nose. [Hank]
ReplyDeleteI love to sing that as well Hank. I agree that we do struggle to tell others about our salvation. I am not sure if that is because we don't like to share our stories with others or some other reason. I like to remind believers that we are to "go and make disciples." Living out our joy is one great way to do that.
ReplyDelete