Tuesday, March 11

To listen to the audio version, click here.

Create in me a pure 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.
Psalm 51:10-12

Many years ago a man I knew casually from our church made an appointment to come and talk to me.  He plopped down in the chair across from my desk and said rather abruptly, “Look, I’ve been a Christian for 20 years and I just want to know f this is all there is?”  I asked him what he meant, and he explained that he wanted to know if the life he was currently living was all there was or if there is something more to the Christian life? He went on to tell me that there was a time when he felt closer to God and more alive spiritually, but it had been years since he felt that way.

I think that is a question that most Christians have asked themselves at one time or another in their lives.  This is essentially what David is expressing in Psalm 51, when he asks God to restore the joy in his life.  David is saying that he has lost touch with something - the joy of God’s salvation - and that he desperately wants it to be restored.

It is very important that we notice just what exactly David is asking God for...he says, “restore to me the joy of your salvation”  Whose salvation?  Not David’s, but God’s!
It is not his own salvation that David has lost touch with; he didn’t earn it for himself, he didn’t achieve it, and he certainly didn’t deserve it, it is God’s salvation.  It is also not his own personal joy that David has lost, it is the joy of the Lord, the joy that only comes from knowing that God has forgiven all of your sin and that He loves you with and everlasting love!  David is asking God for something that only God can give.  

It is also important to recognize that David is not saying he has lost his salvation, but that he has lost the joy of it, he has lost touch with it.  Now on the one hand, it is true that David has lost the joy of God’s salvation because he sinned, but it is also true David sinned because he lost touch with the joy of God’s salvation.  Think about it...it’s pretty hard to commit adultery and murder if your heart is filled with the joy of knowing that God loves you!  

So...here is the question - how do we keep the joy?  How do we stay in touch with the joy of knowing that God loves us and has redeemed us and has great plans for our lives?  

The answer is really not all that complicated...

1. We read and meditate on God’s Word which teaches us about God’s love and purpose in our lives.
2. We get around other Christians with whom we can share the joy of God’s love and purpose in our lives.
3. We spend time in prayer talking and listening to the God who loves us and has a purpose for our lives.
4. We give and serve others so that they will know about the God who loves them and has a purpose for our lives.

We do these consistently, regularly, not just when we are struggling, or when a crisis hits.  Apart from these things, we drift away from God and lose touch with the joy of God’s salvation in our lives, and if we learn anything from David’s example (or from our own history), we should learn that doesn’t usually turn out very well.

Oh God we come before you and acknowledge that we have strayed and drifted from Your great love.  We ask You to restore our hearts and to bring us back to the place of great joy in knowing Your salvation - Amen.

Jeff Frazier