Psalm 51:1-12 (NRSV)
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Verse 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Verse 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Verse 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Verse 4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Verse 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
Verse 6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Verse 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Verse 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Verse 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Verse 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Verse 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Verse 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Devotion
Create in me a clean heart, O God... Like the familiar words of the Lord's Prayer, for many these words have been sown so deeply in our consciousness that we can recite, or more likely sing, them almost without thinking. But that is good. Every actor knows the importance of learning the words of the part and growing into the character who speaks them. Martin Luther speaks of our need to grow into the rhythm of a daily return to our baptism and to the pattern of "confession" and "forgiveness" that mark the drama of restoration and discipleship that belongs to God's children. As we learn the part, these words invite us into a place of deep trust, where our innermost secrets can be exposed, and then entrusted, to a God whose ways will not be to use that secret information against us, but who in tender mercy will wash us clean, restore again and sustain us as a new creation.
Prayer
O God, you know my heart and each detail of the stains that mark the innermost haunts of my being. Some of those marks belong to when I have even sought to harm you and my status as your creation. But I trust your mercy, your steadfast love and that you will hear my prayer. Give me a complete washing, to wipe away those stains, and to restore me again as your child of promise. Amen.