Ash Wednesday (4)
Psalm 51: The psalm of David after Nathan confronted him regarding Bathsheba is next in the Ash Wednesday liturgy. The refrain is "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (verse 10a). This reading prepares us for the Litany of Penitence (which we will get to next week). It helps us to be honest and hopeful as we confess our sin.
Honest: This Psalm models honesty with God and with ourselves. Verse 3 "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." I find it interesting to think about this in light of the fact that God already knows our sin. We don't need to confess our sin to Him to make Him aware of it like a child who confesses to stealing money from her Dad's wallet and he had not idea she did it. Confessing our sin is admitting it so that we are agreeing with God about our actions, thoughts or words. But it takes a lot of courage to be honest with ourselves about our sin. Why? We all have our reasons. A desire to be perfect (or at least meet the standard we have set), a fear of judgement, or maybe it is just hard work because we haven't been nurtured to be honest in our inmost places.
Hope: We need hope as we confess our sins or the temptation to keep our sin covered up may be too great. If we don't have hope for forgiveness, for mercy, and for reconciliation, the pain of admitting our sin would be overwhelming. But the good news is that we do have hope! Psalm 51 resonates with it. Throughout it, the psalmist asks for mercy and cleansing. We don't just confess our sin to acknowledge it... we confess it to get rid of it. To be washed clean. Our hope is in God's loving-kindness and compassion. In His ability to create in us a clean heart.
Honest: This Psalm models honesty with God and with ourselves. Verse 3 "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." I find it interesting to think about this in light of the fact that God already knows our sin. We don't need to confess our sin to Him to make Him aware of it like a child who confesses to stealing money from her Dad's wallet and he had not idea she did it. Confessing our sin is admitting it so that we are agreeing with God about our actions, thoughts or words. But it takes a lot of courage to be honest with ourselves about our sin. Why? We all have our reasons. A desire to be perfect (or at least meet the standard we have set), a fear of judgement, or maybe it is just hard work because we haven't been nurtured to be honest in our inmost places.
Hope: We need hope as we confess our sins or the temptation to keep our sin covered up may be too great. If we don't have hope for forgiveness, for mercy, and for reconciliation, the pain of admitting our sin would be overwhelming. But the good news is that we do have hope! Psalm 51 resonates with it. Throughout it, the psalmist asks for mercy and cleansing. We don't just confess our sin to acknowledge it... we confess it to get rid of it. To be washed clean. Our hope is in God's loving-kindness and compassion. In His ability to create in us a clean heart.
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