The By-Product of Confession
July 18, 2018·Ben McEntee
Last week, my faith was strengthened as I witnessed the obedient and steadfast desire to follow the Lord in the lives of the youth of our church. Our summer camp theme was “BECOME,” and the entire week was dedicated to growing more and more like Jesus, by understanding and practicing the corporate spiritual disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.
This week, we read Psalm 51 in our Pause Bible Reading Plan, which has blended with my experience at summer camp. This Psalm is one of confession, and, yet, it also has glimpses of worship, guidance in and through the Holy Spirit, and the refrain of celebration. This celebration, however, is led by the Lord’s delight at the obedient return and restoration of His child.
King David begins the Psalm with pouring out his heart to the Lord, as he seeks forgiveness, healing, and restoration after he has been convicted of his sin. David begins by asking for mercy from the Lord, and he rightly diagnoses his situation by crying out to God, “Against You, You only, have I sinned.” David cries out that God is justified in judging him, as he asks for mercy and cleansing from the Lord.
I have read the story of David and Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah (found in 2 Samuel 11-12), and, to be honest, I‘ve looked down judgmentally upon David in that story. At times, I’ve even scoffed at David and God by saying, “this is ‘a man after God’s own heart’?” But that kind of posturing doesn’t last, when I realize that I’m just like David. I too am a sinner! As I read Psalm 51, I identify with David when he writes, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
Psalm 51 begins with the internal transformation of the heart, but now I also see the by-product of that type of confession and change: it’s the building and maintaining of relationships with those who need to turn back to God.
After David emptied himself in his brokenness, he asked for cleansing change with this refrain: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
Immediately following those words, there’s a change in David’s writing. He’s been directing all his attention on the internal healing and correction from the Lord that is required to cleanse him of his sin, but at verse 13 he states: “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, so that sinners will turn back to You.”
This is a huge shift in tone, and it begs the question: how would a person, who has just poured out their heart to God in the midst of their own fears and failures, teach transgressors God’s ways? I believe that it’s those who have uttered words like, “let the bones You have crushed rejoice” who can teach others how to turn back to God. It’s out of brokenness, mended by the Lord, that we can demonstrate God’s love to others by graciously bringing others into a right relationship with God.
I believe Psalm 51 shows us that the message of truth we teach and preach is contingent on the depth of our relationships. The depth of our relationships is hinged on the humility and transformation that takes place in our lives when God lovingly brings us back to Himself. May our message of hope in the Lord come out of a place of mended brokenness, so others can see that the Lord is good. This week, may we demonstrate God’s love to others in a new way.
Pastor Ben McEntee
