THE BLAME GAME...Saturday

11/22/14

"Surely I was sinful at birth, 

sinful from the time my mother conceived me." 

Psalm 51:5

     No one likes to acknowledge the fact that they can ever be wrong.  From the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when something was wrong, it was the other one's fault -- or better yet, God's fault.

   

  It continues still today.  We overlook our own sinfulness. It is much easier to point the finger and to tear others down.  Or we boast about our own exploits so others look small in comparison to ourselves.  We would rather hurt others than confess to God that we could be wrong.  Ultimately this hurts ourselves even more.

    Psalm 51 was written by David, acknowledging his sin before God and in repentance asking for forgiveness instead of God's righteous judgment which he really deserved.

     God heard David's prayer as He hears ours if we repent, turn from our sins, and lead a life obeying God's commands.  Jesus paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross and restoring us to the Father.  Our sins are blotted out forever by the power of Jesus' shed blood.  God will remember them no more.

     God is quick to forgive and restore our relationship to Himself when we stop playing the blame game.

Written by

Carol Steficek

Psalm 51

TLB

O loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. 2 Oh, wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again.3 For I admit my shameful deed—it haunts me day and night. 4 It is against you and you alone I sinned and did this terrible thing. You saw it all, and your sentence against me is just. 5 But I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 You deserve honesty from the heart; yes, utter sincerity and truthfulness. Oh, give me this wisdom.

7 Sprinkle me with the cleansing blood and I shall be clean again. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 And after you have punished me, give me back my joy again. 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins—erase them from your sight. 10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires. 11 Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.13 Then I will teach your ways to other sinners, and they—guilty like me—will repent and return to you. 14-15 Don’t sentence me to death. O my God, you alone can rescue me. Then I will sing of your forgiveness, for my lips will be unsealed—oh, how I will praise you.

16 You don’t want penance; if you did, how gladly I would do it! You aren’t interested in offerings burned before you on the altar. 17 It is a broken spirit you want—remorse and penitence. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore.

18 And Lord, don’t punish Israel for my sins—help your people and protect Jerusalem.

19 And when my heart is right, then you will rejoice in the good that I do and in the bullocks I bring to sacrifice upon your altar.