Following is the second part of a series I am writing for the Season of Prayer at our church.  I posted the first one just a few days ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we continue to pray that we be a people broken before God, let us look again at David’s prayer, as recorded in Psalm 51:10-12.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:10-12 NIV

Here David is calling out pleading with God not to cast him away because of his sin. This pleading results from David’s realization that his sin is against God:

“For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.” Psalm 51:3-4 NIV

The first step in being broken before God is recognizing that when we sin, we do so against God, and that the act of our sin gives God the right to judge us. Yet, when we call out to God recognizing our sin, he does not give us what we deserve, but rather cleanses us.

Our pleading with God should be like David’s: an admission of our sins, and a recognition that God has the right to judge us. Each of us needs to recognize that only the Lord can cleanse us, and that our admission of sin is what the Lord desires of us.

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” Acts 3:19 NIV

If you do not know how to go before God in this way, use the words of David “Against you, you only, have I sinned”. Be honest before God, and plead with him “Create in me a pure heart”.

At church we are encouraging people to be in a season of prayer, pleading to God to cause brokenness in us, renew us, restore us.  In this process I am writing inserts for the bulletin on various areas of prayer.  I have decided I would share these with all of you as well.  The first few are on brokenness, following is the first one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let us pray that our hearts are fully devoted to God, so that he is able to bring us to brokenness when sin entangles us. How do we do this? Let us look at the words of David to give us a start.

David the psalmist says

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17)NIV

David reaches this conclusion after the events of 2 Samuel 11:1-12:13, when sin ensnared him and engulfed others around him. David’s heart was fully devoted to God (1 Kings 15:3) so he was able to immediately own up to his sin. David admitted to God, as we should when we sin, that his behavior was wretched and that only God could cleanse him.

David’s plea for mercy in Psalm 51 is firmly rooted in the character of God, and not in his own righteousness. David says “My transgressions and my sin is always before me” and he admits “Surely I was sinful at birth” (Psalm 51:3,5). This realization leads David to call out to God, saying

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

(Psalm 51:10-12)NIV

If we do not know how to pray when we realize that our sinful nature keeps us from being fully devoted to God, we can pray the words of David. How joyful it would be for the words of David to be our own, so that we would be renewed and restored by God!