Life After Failure Psalm 51 By: Rev. Arnel Tan Psalm 51:1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion 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 You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will [2] be converted to You. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. 16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. 18 By Your favor do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar. The life of David is best described in these words A Mess- his uncontrolled lust and series if impulsive foolish choices brought him to deep Mess that almost of his entire life was spent paying consequences of his sins. A Mystery- most mysteriously all these mess did not stop David from relating intimately With God. As deep as his sins are his repentance is prompt. Despite of all these mess he brought himself to he remains conscious, hungry for the presence of God. Perhaps what caused David to avoid making more mess is his deep communion with God. It is here he worships and surrenders and inquires of the Lord. Without deleting the consequences of his sins David received grace from the Lord A Miracle- in many ways David disqualified himself from becoming a vessel of God. His moral failure and lust brought him and the people he loved great misery. Yet in brokenness David recovered and chose to still draw close to God..... The life of David gives is the bright picture of hope at the same time the inevitable endurance of sins consequences. His praise continued as his pain is unrelenting. His failure is obvious, his shame is beyond repair. Yet David pursued God....his life is not about perfection, nor an encouragement to sin rather an invitation to avail of grace that we might live victorious lives. An honest assessment of life long consequences of compromise. And a hope of being restored, healed while still deeply aware of his wounds. Let’s learn from Psalm 51 The Need for Prompt Repentance before God Then Realities of facing lifelong consequences of compromise The Favor from God that still Qualifies us to Draw close to Him The Recovery from failure that takes a longer time than expected The Need for Prompt Repentance As Nathan rebuked David his response was repentance Repentance refuses to cast blame on anything and anyone Repentance cannot be delayed Repentance is not an escape it is courage to face the issue Repentance does not restore what sin damaged it only provide the space to move on The REALITIES OF ENDURING/LIVING WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF COMPROMISE David must realize that grace does not exempt anyone David must accept that grace wont erase the consequences of sins o Davids shame is for ever o Davids home is at war at each other o Davids son with Bathsheba will not live o Davids secret will be open to all o David will be the object of unending betrayal The grace of God is sufficient while the payment for sins is lifelong THE FAVOR FROM GOD THAT STILL QUALIFIES US TO DRAW NEAR While David did not ask God to erase the consequences of his sins he appealed for grace. He appealed for three things that God won’t take away from Him. There will no life to talk about after failure when these things are taken away from Him. 1. A Cleansed Heart 2. The Presence of God (his intimacy with God is life itself 3. The radiant joy salvation Despite of failure God can still cleanse us His Presence strengthens us to still keep in touch with Him His joy can still be availed The opportunity to become a blessing despite of failure To move on with the scars of past sins David must have thought who can go on without a clean heart Who can survive without the touch from His Presence Who can serve without joy? Who could go on doing what is right when God will not bless it to be a blessing Who could survive the haunting of deliberate sins? THE RECOVERY FROM FAILURE TAKES A LONGER TIME THAN EXPECTED Being continually broken- my need of being broken is more today than yesterday Becoming consistently a blessing - people will always see and remember my shame yet through it comes a unique blessing from a scar Becoming bold to live a victorious life - no longer enslave with the sins. Able now to say no. Applying a new perspective of grace that in Christ i dont need to sin. In His reign as my new Master i can say no to the old one Davids life ended well. At the end God is never hostage of our failure.....life after failure can still be the best life under the grace of God. Without demanding that consequences be removed, closeness and intimacy with God is enjoyed. Yes God still cleanses hearts Yes God still make His Presence felt Yes God still grant back the stolen joy Yes God still make something beautiful of our lives.... Only not in our terms! Amen
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 02:39:59 +0000
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