Wow! What else could I say to express how powerful the words are that the Psalmist uses in Psalm 51:7, 10? Powerful words like “purify me”, “wash me”, “create in me”, and “renew… within me” in order that I “shall be clean”, “whiter than snow”, possessing a “clean heart” and a “steadfast spirit”. These are words that require transparency and expect transformation. Maybe the honest question for us is whether we’re ready for either.
We’re in the eighth day of our 40 days of prayer and the call to pure hearts has to be embraced or ignored. Ignoring the call is like saying, “Jesus, I know this is what you want but there is only so far I’ll go in following you.” Embracing the call requires of us a bold action like I find with David in the 139th Psalm. In this Psalm it is as though we get to step into David’s personal chambers and listen to him think out loud about God.
In all the insight we are privileged to gleam from David nothing may be as important to us during these 40 days of prayer as verses 23 and 24 of Psalm 139. It is in these verses that David, as it were, gives God permission to, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” When I use the word “permission” some of us cringed because we know that God can do whatever he chooses. But we also know that God is a gentleman and he doesn’t force himself on us. So, after David revels in the wonders of God’s consuming presence, and gets excited about the potential he has with God he gives God permission to examine his life and if necessary realign it with His.
I wonder if in these 40 days of prayer if what we may need to do is give God permission to search us and know our hearts; to test us and know our anxious thoughts. To see if there is any offensive way in us so that He can purify our hearts and lead us in the way everlasting? So, does God really have permission to do that in your life?
Pastor Tim Carter, First Church Of The Nazarene
No comments:
Post a Comment