Tuesday 11 Feb 2014

Tuesday Reading: Psalm 51:14-17

Key Verse: Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise.

Devotion:
David may have been feeling a bit low and unforgiven when this Psalm was written, but the words that came out would show that he knew that he was forgiven, no matter what. Far too often we get into a state where we think we have gone too far and that God is not going to forgive us this time… well the worst sin may be that you allowed yourself to go that far and not the actual sin itself! But no matter what, God is willing and able to forgive us of all sins that we bring to Him.

The key here is that we are bringing the sin to Him and that we are bringing it with a humble heart and an open heart. There is no use trying to get a bit of forgiveness out of anyone until you mean it, never mind a God who does know everything anyway! You cannot hide anything from God so trying to do so will not get you very far. When we do realise that we are forgiven, our heart sings aloud and others will get to see just how good God is. We have no problems giving God the glory when we know forgiveness, but when we are trying to hide things we get all tied up and the only thing that comes out is despair.

For as long as we carry round our sins by ourselves, we are caught up in something that will not allow us to give glory to God. There is nothing that we can do to lift ourselves out of the mire once we get trapped in. Someone else has to reach down to us and lift us up because the harder we struggle, the more we sink into our own pit.

God does not want open burnt sacrifices anymore because He has already given His Son as the sacrifice to cover all sins. Any sacrifice we offer that excludes Christ is not a sacrifice that will please God but one that may well anger Him instead. Remember what Christ has done and step forward with an open and humble heart, willing to listen and to learn from God Himself!

Points to Ponder:
Are you caught in a sin trap?

DO you trust God to lift you up?