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Listen while you read: "He Hideth My Soul"1
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Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (NIV)
I struggle with my faith versus my thoughts. There are things that I believe in my heart about God, but I also have doubts in my mind. For instance, I believe that God is infinitely powerful and just, but doubts arise when I see so much violence and injustice in the world. I believe that I am saved by Christ's sacrifice on the cross, but then, I doubt His influence over the church when I see Christians aggressively hating people who oppose them. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but then, I doubt its transformative power in making us better human beings when I hear preachers ranting and raving about crushing or killing their political enemies.
I am also aware that, like David who wrote today's psalm, I am a sinful man who has, at times, made bad choices that have hurt other people, especially those whom I say that I love. My selfish thoughts and devious desires damage my faith. I am what John Newton once called himself: a wretch. In other words, I am a great sinner in need of an even greater Saviour.
If we read Psalm 51 honestly, we will be convicted by the Holy Spirit and made aware of our own foolish choices and sinful deeds. David doesn't hold back anything from God because he understands that God knows everything about him — every false choice, every greedy decision, every little secret. He comes before God as a broken man who knows that he has done something gravely wrong. But even with all that staggering burden of guilt, shame, and worthlessness, David still holds on to the fact that God can cleanse him of every sin, renew his unclean heart, and restore him to God's love forever.
David's story is our story, too — and we have even more besides: we have Jesus as our Saviour, Who cast Himself on the cross at Calvary in order to remove our blemished burdens and despicable deeds. Christ gave us His life so that we might live with God as forgiven, redeemed, and restored children of His grace forevermore. In other words, with Christ, we can begin again.
Point to ponder: What have I done that has offended God and damaged others? How can Christ cleanse and restore me?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know everything about us, so we cannot hide any sin from You. Help us humbly to approach Your throne of mercy and grace, asking You for forgiveness and restoration. We know that we do not deserve any of this, but we hold on to the fact that You have the power to do this. In Your holy name, we pray. Amen.
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About the author:
John Stuart <traqair@aol.com>
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
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Amen, and Amen.
Thanks John. Blessings.
John:
Ongoing thanks for your thoughts.
You are and always will be my favorite contributor. Thank you for your powerful message today.
Thank you, John. Your messages ALWAYS speak to me.
Peace and blessings.
John, your writing always speak to my heart. Thank you for always writing just what I need to hear and thank you for continuing to speak to my heart. Many blessings.
With the Lord’s guidance, your honest and open thoughts have surely helped me have a good look at the bottom of my barrel. I know that He will work with me to refill my soul.
Thank you.
Thank you for your devotional. Your humility is evident and your message powerful. I totally agree with you and relate to what you say at the beginning about how your mind interacts with your faith beliefs.
Greetings John and many thanks for this powerful devotional you have written today. Yes, we need be ever so thankful that our loving Lord is ready to forgive us for whatever sin or wrong we have done when we come to Him with truthful hearts. He certainly is ever deserving of our faithful praise and thankfulness. Many blessings for your special writings.
Hi John,
You certainly got my attention:
My favourite Psalm
My favourite verse in the Bible
My favourite Bible character
My favourite PresbyCan devotional to add to my list.
What else can I say but God bless you John for sharing your deepest thoughts.
Keep sharing.
Hi John
Sometimes we forget that we all live in a fallen world where God has given us free will. That means He will not intervene in anything we do unless we ask for His help. We are all sinful people and that includes us, Christians. Also there are those that call themselves Christians that are not. As far as what is going on in the Middle East; that is what Christ told us would happen. Remember He said there would be wars and rumors of wars.
God Bless.
John, Your devotional reverberates in delightful harmony with my own thoughts and discoveries. Speaking as a musician, I’ve heard those words, “Begin again” more times than I could ever count.
God seems to build our faith in a similar way. Truths become embedded through repeated experiences in life – especially our failures, weaknesses, and humiliations. I’d rather skip that messy part of the faith journey. But then I realize that one cannot become a competent musician without persevering through those humble experiences – over and over again.
blessings.
Good morning, John,
You have a wonderful gift which you use to express your thoughts so that we all can feel our own thoughts through you. Maybe we aren’t able to understand them as clearly as you state them; however, I am sure we all feel them. We have been gifted that we can always “begin again”. I think that your alcoholism has helped you understand the gift that we have been given deeply and are helping many of us with your faith to deepen and understand our faith. THANK YOU. I know alcoholism has caused you great pain; however sharing your faith and wisdom over many years has helped a lot of us.
I am joining in your prayer because I need to “begin again” many times. Blessings.
Dear John
You will never guess the extent of my relief on reading today’s devotional. It spoke directly to my heart, and it bolstered my hope. I am in my late 80s and, naturally, parts don’t work as smoothly as once they did. Parkinsons is a nuisance made more acute by hearing loss and reading difficulty. For many years I was active in the church but, for health reasons, I do not now drive, and this is very limiting. Even Bible study is restricted to my ability to read!
Your message was so relief giving. I have struggled with the true vine being pruned (John 15) set against the many promises that we remain in Jesus’ hand. John, it was so good to hear that someone had the same doubts as I. Thank you again for your honesty in putting the words together.
So true, and good … to be reminded; to review our own history of life without TRUTH or INTEGRITY, or the DEEP LOVE that saves and transforms us humans. I’ll never forget the love and joy that flooded my entire being the moment I put aside the idea of ‘proving’ God’s story, and simply accepted it because I needed and wanted HIS LOVE and received it through HIS TRUTH about my past and my regret, and my determination to follow HIS way. At that moment, I knew nothing about His Word, even though I had grown up in the church, been baptized as an infant, confirmed, and married, with small children also baptized as infants. It must be that one’s background continues to ‘call’ – and with God’s help, one finally wakes up (especially in the midst of huge need), and answers that call.
Then the struggles begin, against self-hate, doubts, obvious hypocrisy in the church (until one sees one’s own hypocrisy). The journey takes a lot of twists and turns, highs, and lows, but gradually levels out into the realization that we will be working out our salvation, our ‘perfection, our sanctification, all the days of our lives. We thank God continually for His mercy and His grace, without which we would likely have thrown in the towel innumerable times. Bless you John for your wonderful openness. What an anchor you’ve been to me for many, many years.
Thank you, John. I especially like these sentences: Christ gave us His life so that we might live with God as forgiven, redeemed, and restored children of His grace forevermore. In other words, with Christ, we can begin again.