Psalms that have impacted my life

Psalm 51  Part 3

In this psalm, David warns of our sinful nature – we were born sinners. Understanding this is not an excuse for us to sin but a warning of something that we need to guard against. This is why it is so important not to be dominated by our instincts and keep reminding ourselves that we are born again and as such sin has no power over us, it is against our spiritual nature to sin, it is something that we have to choose to do. Verse 6 says: “Behold you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom”   NLT “But you desire honesty for the heart, so you can teach me to be wise in my innermost being”. This verse exposes the source of our strength, it is not how mentally tough we are but whether we are led by our spirit or mind. This exposes where the battle is won or lost because at times we are not honest with ourselves. It can be so easy to justify our actions in our mind and with our mind, we compare ourselves to other people. This is a very dangerous way to live because this is living by our strength and not living by the spirit. David declares without reservation that God wants us to be honest with our assessment of whether we are living as a spiritual person or by our natural ability. Unless we are honest to ourselves and live a spiritual life, then we cannot experience Godly wisdom which is essential for us to enjoy our relationship with the Lord. I am intrigued that David calls the place where God functions as the inward part, this means we have to be careful of what we display to the world because the world is fascinated by external expression and we must be on guard not to be a superficial person. The psalm goes on to say that when we are clean before the Lord we are full of joy and gladness, this is why repentance is so important to the way that we live, acknowledging our sin is the key to experiencing a joyful Christian experience.  I am reminded that when my sins are forgiven by God, He remembers them no more. Just because my memory can remember events of the past it does not mean that God has not forgiven me. The next verse I want to look at is verse 10 which says: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me”. This verse reinforces the truth of repentance in our lives –  it is not trying harder not to sin but becoming a new person in Christ. David desired that God would make him a new person so that he would not continue to sin – he did not want sin to be part of the way that he lived and this should be how we want to live. The final thing that David desired from God was to renew a steadfast spirit in him. The word steadfast means to be constant and unwavering, this is how God wants us to live, totally predictable in all circumstances of life because we live with a clean heart.