Psalm 51:1–2: “Have mercy upon me, O God, / According to Your lovingkindness; / According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, / Blot out my transgressions. / Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, / And cleanse me from my sin.”

February 26th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The title of this psalm gives us its historical background: “A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” Many have called this David’s great song of repentance. Imagine what an embarrassing and humiliating experience this must have been for David, whom God had called a man “after My own heart” (Acts 13:22). David was painfully aware of his separation from God and cried out for mercy. God heard him and gave him grace. God’s mercy is God not giving us what we deserve, and God’s grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.

When David wrote, “Blot out my transgressions,” he revealed that he understood that sin is like a debt against God. Oh yes, we can and do sin against others, but first and foremost our sins are always against God Himself. This place David was writing from was a place we have all known and will know again. Our sins become a bigger and bigger load the longer we try to ignore them. We will only find peace when we finally fall down before God, confess our sins, and ask for forgiveness. We need a revival in our own lives.

A pastor once asked the British evangelist Gypsy Smith how to start a revival. Smith replied, “Go home, lock yourself in your room, kneel down in the middle of the floor, draw a chalk circle around yourself, and ask God to start a revival inside the circle. Stay there until He answers and you will have revival.” Good advice.

“LORD, bring revival to our hearts this day, we ask in Jesus’ name.”