Joy of salvation and feeling bad before God

An Emoji devotions for Tue November 9th, 2021

Topic: Joy of salvation and feeling bad before God

by Pastor Wenger 

Highlights: 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)

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. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. (Psalm 51:10 – 13)

King David is in deep trouble after his affair with Bathsheba. God is his refuge and strength. He knows the joy of salvation, the assurance that God is his shepherd. He can call out with conviction: “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” (Psalm 62:5 – 7) Nevertheless he is now shaken and tormented by anxiety of losing the very stronghold he trusts in.

He feels bad and unworthy, he knows that his sin is separating him from God and he pleads for mercy: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 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 51:1 – 4) David is experiencing what every maturing follower of Christ has to live through. The joy of salvation, the knowledge that God has accepted me as his Child is indescribable. I just received life eternal and all my sins are washed away. God himself declares me to be a saint and he looks at me as if I would never have committed any sin.

 What a joy, what a glorious estate, what a reason to praise and worship the redeemer. With the justification, however, our sanctification starts under the lead of the Holy Spirit. In the justification through faith in Jesus we became a new heavenly creation, but we are still living in the flesh, which works against the godliness. 

The process of sanctification makes our life holier and more Christ like. At the same time it shows us how deeply depraved and unholy our flesh is and how much it still influences our daily living. The process of sanctification leads me individually to the acknowledgment that I am the foremost sinner in this world and that I am in need of grace and mercy before anybody else.

 The more I grow, the worse I feel concerning my own ego and the clearer and brighter the mercy and grace of God appears. My pride diminishes and my thankfulness for the Lord’s salvation begins to abound. Do not get depressed when you discover for yourselves that you are a failure, but take refuge in the Lord, like David did: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.” Your failure, your bad feeling will be the encouragement for somebody else to return to the Lord. 

Prayer: Almighty God, there is nothing within me I could be proud of except for you and your holy ways. Let me praise your salvation, let me confess my sins and my failures to you and praise you for your forgiveness and for the sanctification you are providing me. Amen.