Lent Day One
“Trust and Forgiveness”
Psalm 51:1-14 The Passion Translation
1-2 God, give me mercy from your fountain of forgiveness!
I know your abundant love is enough
to wash away my guilt.
Because your compassion is so great,
take away this shameful guilt of sin.
Forgive the full extent of my rebellious ways,
and erase this deep stain on my conscience.
3-4 For I’m so ashamed.
I feel such pain and anguish within me
I can’t get away from the sting of my sin against you, Lord!
Everything I did, I did right in front of you, for you saw it all.
Against you, and you above all, have I sinned.
Everything you say to me is infallibly true
and your judgment conquers me.
5 Lord, I have been a sinner from birth.
Sin’s corruption has polluted my soul.
6 I know that you delight to set your truth deep in my spirit.
So come into the hidden places of my heart
and teach me wisdom.
7 Purify my conscience! Make this leper clean again!
Wash me in your love until I am pure in heart.
Within a few years of coming to believe in Jesus in my mid-teens, I had slipped into the lifestyle of unbelieving friends, adopting ungodly behaviour and distancing myself from church family. I later responded to God’s loving invitation to recommit myself to him, then took timeout for extensive travel as I made my way to train and serve with YWAM in New Zealand. While enroute, however, the Holy Spirit gently led me to Psalm 51.
Outwardly, I was back in God’s fold, but inwardly I discerned I still felt David’s ‘shameful guilt’, the ‘deep stain on my conscience’, the same self-inflicted ‘pain and anguish’, holding me back from opening myself fully to God’s love. And so, I spent the next few weeks, slowly and sincerely praying David’s prayer. During that time, his confession began to flow freely from my heart, while God’s abundant love, compassion and power to cleanse, seeped deep within my soul, releasing me from the shame of my own ‘rebellious ways’.
David’s prayer resonated with me because he wrote it from a deep-seated sense of humiliation and disgrace, albeit for different reasons to mine (for his impropriety with another man’s wife, and for manoeuvring events for that man to be killed). But because David trusted in God’s love, he felt free to pour out his desperate confession and humble plea for forgiveness. This is significant during the Lenten season of seeking to draw closer to God because one of the ways we do that is through confessing and repenting from sin (see James 4:7–8). Sadly, some of us may feel so overwhelmed by regret and shame that we doubt God will forgive us, but look up and see - Easter is on the horizon. To doubt or refuse God’s forgiveness denies the precious and most costly gift that Jesus gave to secure it; the gift of his life that he holds out to you. Dwell with this precious truth.
If you’re able, do read David’s prayer again, and if possible, throughout the coming days. Allow any word or phrase that especially resonates to become your own. Doing so will nurture your faith and prompt your own heartfelt confession. And as you immerse yourself in the truths of God’s ‘fountain of forgiveness’, his ‘abundant love’ and ‘compassion’, your anguish will be relieved as his loving mercy fills your soul.
Anne Le Tissier
Anne offers life-application bible teaching through books, bible-study notes, articles, blogs, and by speaking at Christian conferences, Sunday services, Church Away Weekends, and more. She has written seven books, her latest being 'Dwell', and writes regularly for the global ministry of Our Daily Bread, among other publications.
Although she was born and brought up in Guernsey, Anne now lives in Worcestershire. To relax she enjoys reading, growing her own veg, hill walking, chatting to her chickens, and preparing special meals to relax over with friends.