Wednesday 3 Jun 2009

Wednesday Reading: Psalm 51:7-13
 
Key Verse: Psalm 51:12
12  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Devotion:
King David had his ups and down just like any of us but he had a certain insight as to why things went wrong for him and it was not because God rejected him nor was God to blame for it; rather he realised that it was the sin in his life that was ruining his life... The more he began to see how much sin was in his life, the more he realised that he could not take that sin away by himself because his life was buried deep in that sin. Just like David, we cannot hope to take the sin out of our lives completely until we are given a new and glorified body in Christ.

David asked for his sins to be forgiven so that he could be released from that burden of sin. When we realise that we have got sin in our lives it gets us down too and we need it to be lifted off or shoulders as well. Only then can we then find strength in our faith; for as long as we are burdened under sin we cannot hope to have strength enough to lift our own spirits. When we then have been released from the guilt of our sins we should hope to find strength in God to turn us away from those sins so that they will not burden us again. Those sins are still going to be there and will continue to be part of our lives but God can give us the strength to turn our backs on them.

If we let Him, God will give us a clean heart, one that does not seek after sin but rather after Him. With God as the focus in our lives rather than sin, we have hope right in front of us. If we continue to focus on sin though, we have despondency right in front of us. When we ask God to forgive us of our sins, we must not forget to ask Him also to give us the strength to turn our backs on that sin by changing our hearts to look away from sin and towards Him again. When we walk towards the light, we can help others to walk towards that same light.

Points to Ponder:
Do you find it hard to do good?
 
Are you asking God for the strength?