Psalm 51 – written by David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. David confesses and repents – a great prayer when convicted of sin. An example of the correct response of the heart!
Psalm 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Psalm 51:9-12 Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 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 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will turn back to You.
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 71:20-21 Though You have made me see troubles, many and bitter, You will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.
Psalm 81 – another psalm of Asaph v 1-5 Reminds God’s people to observe the celebrations which honor God and bring to mind His love, deliverance, provision, and mercy. v 6-7 God says “I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” v 8-16 God says, “Hear, O my people, and I will warn you – if you would but listen to me, O Israel! You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the Lord Your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. But My people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If My people would but listen to Me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes! Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him, and their punishment would last forever. But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the Rock I would satisfy you.”
In Psalm 81, I see that God truly loves us and wants to bless us abundantly. He says to open our mouths wide and He will fill it. He wants to warn us and speak to us – if we would just listen! He has delivered us, restored us, protected us, provided for us, blessed us with His very presence – yet we get busy with everything else and forget Him. He says to us, “I am the Lord your God,” not “the” God, but “OUR GOD.” He desires our love, our worship, our reverence, our attention – so that He can fill us with more, more of Himself. He is the only one who can truly satisfy us – mind, soul, spirit, and body. If we continue ignoring Him, rejecting Him, and choosing our way over His, then He will turn us over to our own stubborn hearts to follow our own devices – O Lord, please, NO! I know there is nothing good in us and apart from God and if we are left only to our own devices, plans, schemes, desires – the only outcome ends up in destruction, devastation, desolation – evil and death. There are more ways to die than just physical death. We can lose our mind, relationships can die, our spirits dwindle and perish when we do not seek God.
