Starting tomorrow there will be 51 more days left for the July 08 World Race squad. Some of us in Malawi began reading the Psalms as ‘countdown with Scripture’. That quickly escaped my consciousness after Africa with travel and general busyness, but I took a peek today at Psalm 51.
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It spoke loudly: (10-17)
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me….Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you…O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise….The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.”
A breakdown from my mind of the passage:
A pure heart is needed for a steadfast spirit. To sustain and remain steadfast requires a willingness rising from desire for restoration. Knowledge of sin (not restored) leads to brokenness and then restoration when it results in turning to God. Joy results when the choice is made to call out in repentance and then praise, and further choices made resulting in action toward Him spurs on willingness and back to joy, which is key to being sustained. Lastly, us sinners have gone through this and continue to, so that we can testify to those who don’t know or understand — that there exists a way, the WAY. In fact, we of the faith have chosen it, continue to choose it daily, and the WAY leads to hope everlasting in the God who keeps His promises. We may not be living in the age of ram sacrificing in the “West”, but we manage to find substitutes for appeasing our guilty consciences which we often deify.
<–A good example of when I was not only imperfect in translating but more markedly very frustrated by someone who was frustrated at me — the speaker. oops, and in front of 100+ people watching. one day out of the 300+ days I’ve been on this trip interacting with all kinds of situations. You can imagine how many more similar examples I have…
My point is this…Those who “teach transgressors [God’s] ways” have been transgressors themselves and therefore can testify to the restoring power of His ways. We are still nonetheless imperfect, but yet perfectly made for the restoring, glorifying and perfected plans through those very same imperfections of our broken state. Thanks Psalm 51.
