My Daily Devotion

Prayer
Dear Lord, create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me... cast me not away from you presence O Lord and take not your Holy Spirit from me... restore unto me the joy of your salvation and renew in me a willing spirit. Amen.

Psalm 51

Reflection
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy..." I love the beginning of this Psalm. The measure the Psalmist requests is dependent upon God's steadfast love; God's abundant mercy. He does not ask that the measure depend upon himself or upon any other human being or upon the church or upon the world... he is asking that the measure of love; the measure of mercy be determined by the LORD and his steadfastness and his abundance... I've always said that the LORD is much more merciful than any and all of us. If we were in charge of mercy... if we were in charge of grace... the world and all humankind would be lost! Instead... the measure we deserve is not the measure we get; the measure we get is far more than we could ever deserve. Praise God! Thank you Jesus! Therefore... "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity... cleanse me from my sin... create in me a clean heart O God, and put a new and right spirit within me... my one and only true response is that I want to be clean and to be made new... that I might not sin against you; that I might be for the praise of your glory... now and always.