One of the wonderful ways the Psalms are helpful to us is that they model the vertical conversation we can have with our God. A few years ago we shared Don Whitney’s book Praying the Bible, which shows us how to turn the Psalms and other Scripture passages into prayers. During our series in the Psalms we are modeling these, and this week one of our members, Tabetha Sheaver wrote and prayed this prayer from Psalm 51. I was especially moved by it and wanted to share it.
Psalm 51:
Good morning God, as I read Psalm 51 I am reminded how loving you are and how abundant your mercy is. I am also painfully aware of my transgression and my sins. While I like to think I am not a bad person I am reminded of my sin, iniquity and transgression as I read this psalm. Everyday that I don’t put you at the center of my life I sin, every time I try to be in control I hurt you. I can’t even image how you would view me if you hadn’t cleansed me from my sin through the death of your son.
It breaks my heart that I continue to behave like a little child, I continue to think I know better than you. I deserve your judgement and yet you continue to love to and to teach me.
God I will continue to mess up, you will continue to correct me- help me to find joy and gladness even in the correction. I plead that you continue to be merciful and blot out my iniquities but I don’t want to continue to sin against you so I need your mighty transformative power to create a clean heart in me lord. I need you Lord to renew a right spirit within me. I need you all around me at all time, I need to be surrounded with your spirit. And as I learn, little by little, as I get better and better at turning to you, trusting in your, listening with a willing spirit Lord I will teach others how you loved and supported me. I will sing aloud of your righteousness. Break me Lord, break me of these patterns of sin and self-righteousness and self-centeredness. Help me put you as the center. You don’t ask for sacrifices of animals but you do ask for us to sacrifice our hearts- to give them fully to you. When I do you delight in me. When I do others see how I delight in you. But for now Lord as I am learning, growing, transforming help me to keep coming to you and allowing you to create in me a clean heart O God.
Amen.