Heroes of the Bible | Psalm 51:10-12, Psalm 42:1-2 | David

Nearly everyone knows how David defeated Goliath with just a sling and a stone. He was a strong, smart, and loyal leader, but he still came up against some pretty significant personal struggles. Let’s find out more.

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Transcription:

Nearly everyone knows how David defeated Goliath with just a sling and a stone. This was not his biggest test. However, David was a strong, smart, and loyal leader, but he still came up against some pretty significant struggles. The other day I posted on Facebook about a recent mess up I had. I this to say, do you ever feel the love, grace, and mercy of God when you mess up, something akin to this?

Me: messes up and kicks myself. I should have known better. God: Ah, yes, you should, and you will. At some point. This was just another failed practice round on the way to greatness. No harm done my child, but keep watch. Sometimes you may be a little dumb dumb, but you’re my little dumb dumb and I love you, followed by a hug. Then as peace washes over the sting of regret, a thankfulness emerges at the realized opportunity to once again become undone, because I am utterly hopeless without him.

That was my post. Now, I’m not trying to be flippant with saying God calls us his little dumb dumbs. Please forgive me for any offensiveness. I mean it in an endearing, yet acknowledging way. But my point is, even in the most innocent of mistakes, I welcome the opportunity to once again become undone before him, to acknowledge that he puts and holds me together to follow him. David had more than a dumb dumb moment. He partook in a major failing, but I’m so impressed with his response once he became undone, Psalms 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence; and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and sustain in me a willing spirit.

What a profound prayer. David prays this after the prophet Nathan nails him for his affair with Bathsheba, that you’ll find in chapters 11 and 12 of 2nd Samuel. Here’s what I love about this psalm. He realizes his error and the Psalm begins, have mercy on me. Oh God. But what’s striking about it is the confidence it expresses. This Psalm speaks to a relationship with the power of God. David doesn’t grovel, fearing that God may inflict further punishment. He’s willing to face consequences, learn lessons, make better choices, and move on. Another pastor said it like this. It speaks to me of the kind of spiritual ownership that Jesus calls us to recognize and express with a clean heart and a right and willing spirit. We can leave old mistakes behind and move confidently forward.

That same pastor who simply goes by Reverend Ed, no last name denoted, also has this to say. Psalms 42:1-2, also written by David expresses as a dear, longs for flowing streams. So my soul longs for you, oh God, my soul, thirst for God, for the living God. This beautiful statement reminds me of two of the Beatitudes from Jesus’s great Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comforted. And blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Our spiritual journey cannot arise from idle curiosity or half-hearted willingness, he says. If we are to fully release and express the Christ energy that seeks to flow through us, we must want that sense of oneness with God more than anything else in this life. Any sense of separation from our spiritual source causes a great sense of loss and mourning. The possibility of reestablishing oneness is a hunger and thirst that cannot be relieved by human measures. It is a longing that will carry us through any challenges or obstacles to the new consciousness that Jesus names the kingdom of heaven. So right you are, reverend Ed. Lord, give me a heart after you, like David.

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