God, be merciful to me,
On Thy grace I rest my plea;
Plenteous in compassion Thou,
Blot out my transgressions now;
Wash me, make me pure within,
Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.
My transgressions I confess,
Grief and guilt my soul oppress;
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face;
I confess Thy judgment just,
Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.
Some guy - Richard Redhead, I believe - wrote music and put the lines from Psalm 51 into it, and it's beautiful. I have to thank Jars of Clay for singing this song in their Redemption Songs album because I don't know if I've ever heard it before. Anyhow, it's had such a huge effect on me that I've read Psalm 51 as a prayer for the past few days now.
As Easter nears, I've been thinking a lot about how I've been dealing with my actions and my sins against God. Sometimes I feel I am taking advantage of Christ's sacrifice and abusing God's mercy and grace. Jesus' death and resurrection shouldn't be taken so lightly to sin so freely yet do nothing about it. This has been on my heart.
This hymn has been a wonderful song of repentance and redemption to me. I read Psalm 51 with such sincerity it almost brings me to tears. Sin is rampant in this world; it is rampant in me! Let's all remember Easter everyday of the year, and let's always go through everyday in a Christ-like manner. It's impossible for us, but something we should strive for.
I am evil, born in sin;
Thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Savior art,
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;
Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,
Wash me whiter than the snow.
Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just,
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice;
From my sins O hide Thy face,
Blot them out in boundless grace.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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15 comments:
Hmmm I've was looking at Psalm 51 the other day, My favorite is verse 12
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
We just read Psalm 51 in our office this morning. What a wonderful devotional expression!
Thanks for the post, I am tempted to buy that CD just for that song, I like most of its poetry so much.
Particularly, I love how strong the assurance of David comes across:
"Purify me with hyssop, and shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (NASB)
The Book of Common Prayer's translation reads like this:
"Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed."
I like the BCP's version because I think it communicates really well the absolute confidence that is latent in the NASB. I know that it edifies my faith to see that I can be so totally forgiven.
@Jonathan - the whole cd is great. I recommend. Go buy it.
We sing this psalm regularly at the Escondido URC. Go to:
http://opc.org/hymn.html?hymn_id=208
click "Play MIDI", and sing-along. It's still as heart-rending as when David penned it after his sins of adultery and murder, for we all transgress God's law daily in our thoughts, words, and deed.
I just found out that Caedmon Call does a reference to Richard's hymn in their song "Only Hope".
Cool beans.
Dude. Link me to my Drupal blogsite, not my Myspace one.
I feel almost insulted. Click on my name in this comment to get it.
Lem-I miss you! Can we live in the same city again?
love ur pics!
post!
"Lem-I miss you! Can we live in the same city again?"
Lem, has your contrite heart been rejoicing for 2 straight monthes? Post!
Hi Flem,
From Ryan Yango
Wasted internet space.
my heart aches every time I come here and see that there has been no change. the word "contrite" is becoming an internal cuss word. negative associations with stagnant blogs. you're giving the psalm a bad name dude.
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