WATCHWORD:
A Song of David — 1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. 5 For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 51:1-12
Meditation:
House Cleaning
David, in repentance of the rape and murder, is saying, “create in me a clean heart, oh, God‘, and he is speaking for all of us. Me and you, with our cluttered minds filled with concerns and pressures, and the fatigue brought on by the violent world around us. Create me a clean heart, a nonjudgmental heart, a heart that believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior, a heart that trusts Him. We pray that, but are we doing our part?
Here at the start of Advent, that period leading up to the welcoming of the infant Jesus, the incarnate God among us, that laid the groundwork for God’s forgiveness of our sins, our unclean heart, our failure to love our neighbor. Have we considered that God does more than forgive our sins? He removes them. It isn’t that we bring those to Him and He forgives our sins, He wants those sins, He takes those sins upon Himself.
It isn’t just the ones we had made in the past, it’s the ones we are making now, and the ones we will make because, unfortunately, that is who we are. We may say, “What sins?” Maybe those in our thought-life, in our frustration with the world. Christmas is coming, yet have we taken on the love of the season? Then, there are those times we intentionally denied Christ, as we turned a blind eye toward the need in front of us, when we have ignored the call for help, nearby.
Years ago, there was a popular song by The Platters called The Great Pretender. The words go something this: Oh, yes, I’m the great pretender, pretending I am doing well, but my need is such that I pretend too much, but I am lonely and no one can tell. Later in the song is the phrase, ‘Adrift in the world on my own, you have left me to grieve on my own’.
Can you relate to those words? Have we been out on that desert, alone, ignoring God. Making all those life-decisions without any thought toward what God may want for us, straying from the path He has laid out for me. That feeling of aloneness is of our own making.
Those ill-made decisions pile up and accumulate until, in desperation, we cry out, “Jesus, help me!” And, in the depth of my soul I can hear the Lord say something like, “Well, it is about time, your name, my name goes here, come, take my hand.”
Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I’m weak, I am worn
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand, precious Lord
Lead me home.
And the Advent house-cleaning begins with love. Advent. What a good time for us to prepare our hearts for the Advent of our Lord. So be it.
Bulletin Board:
Advent thought — As the wise men traveled to witness Jesus’ birth, they had the star to guide them through the darkness. If they had taken their eyes off of it, not only would they be consumed with darkness, but they would also lose their direction. During Christmas, with the holiday commercials bombarding us on TV and billboards, it is easy to take our eyes off the One who guides and directs our path. We need Jesus’ light in our lives to guide us. That sounds right.
Closing Prayer:
Lord, I pray I don’t lose my direction or become consumed by darkness because I took my eyes off of you. Just as you guided the wise men to Jesus, be my guiding light this holiday season. Thank you that you promise to guide my steps, and that you bend low to keep me on the right path. Help me to walk in your direction and not try to go my own way. Forgive me for how quickly I become distracted by the things that don’t matter. Each day, realign my heart toward what matters most. Amen.
