7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
David acknowledges here that he is incapable of correcting his sin problem on his own. And he not only asks for forgiveness of sin, but he also requests a renewed spirit. He's looking for, if you will, psychological healing. He also pleads with God to not take the Holy Spirit from him. Perhaps he remembers the fate of Saul? Saul forfeited the blessings of God and lived out the remainder of his life in spiritual exile.
"I also need a deep work of God in my life. Like David, I yearn for radical spiritual surgery - cleansing, restoration, a purified heart, the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, and the antidepressant of being filled with the joy of my salvation!" (From A Musician Looks At the Psalms, by Don Wyrtzen)
And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
"An eager, anxious pursuit of the things of this world, even necessary things, does not become the disciple of Christ. Fears must not prevail; when we frighten ourselves with thoughts of evil to come, and put ourselves upon needless cares how to avoid it. If we value the beauty of holiness, we shall not crave the luxuries of life." (From Matthew Henry Daily Readings)
"If we value the beauty of holiness, we shall not crave the luxuries of life."
Wow. That is a great statement. Oddly enough, we just talked about the corresponding passage in Matthew's gospel last Sunday morning in Bible Study. Obviously, God still has some things to say to me about this.
5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."
Here is a practical application of the passage from Luke, cited above. Right before Jesus performs a miracle, he looks at the massive crowd of people, and then motions to Phillip. I can almost see the twinkle in Jesus's eyes as he asks Phillip, "Where are we going to get enough bread to feed these people?" I wish that I could have seen Phillip's face. Did he sputter with disbelief? I'm sure his response was not nearly as stoic as our Scriptures seem to make it. But his response was purely in the physical realm, too. "Are you kidding? 200 denarii would not buy enough!" That's roughly half a year's salary for the average working man. Translated into modern times...somewhere around $15,000 dollars! Maybe a little less, but you still get the picture.
But Jesus's question really had nothing to do with buying bread, did it? He was simply testing Phillip's faith. Trying to get him to think "outside the box." We all know how this story ends. Jesus shakes the foundations of everything they believe in by taking a small child's sack lunch and feeding over 5000 people with it, and having enough left over to feed the disciples for a few days.
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on." (Luke 12:22 again)
Right? Right.
I also pray that I will never get to a point where I don't see the need for your forgiveness. I will never be completely free from sin until this mortal body is done. That is one of the reasons that I so look forward to heaven. I can't wait for the day when I am no longer tempted to sin. In fact, I really can't even fathom what that will be like. But I know that it will be glorious.
I pray for a good morning of worship today. Let the people praise you! Let all the people praise you!
Grace and peace, friends!