As we study THE WORD, there are many POWERFUL PRAYERS which TEACH us in their content, and honesty, HOW we ought to approach THE LORD, and what state our mind, and heart ought to be in doing so!!!
THE WHOLE of THE BIBLE is as a guideline to aid us in our relationship with *GOD*, showing us THE WAY; the way to humility, to SINCERE regret, to obedience, to LOVE, to PRAYING, to REMAINING in FAITH and FAITHFULNESS, and SO much more! These we take to heart, and train ourselves to understand to the point of their ability to help us through this plane of lies, deception, dismay, and endless challenges, and troubles: the examples are those who strove to PLEASE *GOD*, and fulfill HIS WILL, and are noticed from beginning through the end. CHRIST JESUS is our PRIME exemplar, but there is MUCH we can learn from all those who LOVE THE LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY, THAT we might bow down before HIM in TRUTH, SPIRIT, and HONESTY, while TRUSTING, and HOPING IN HIM, as we note what invokes HIS favour, or HIS wrath...
Any time we PRAY, we ask for forgiveness, for in a penitent state of heart, and mind, we are placing ourselves IN HIS POWERS, LOVE, GRACE, and MERCY; RELYING ON HIM for ALL we need!!!
1+++Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2+++Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
3+++For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4+++Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.
5+++Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6+++Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7+++Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8+++Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which 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 steadfast spirit within me.
11+++Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12+++Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13+++Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
14+++Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15+++O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16+++For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17+++The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18+++By Your favor do good to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19+++Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Those that truly repent of their sins, will not be ashamed to own their repentance. Also, he instructs others what to do, and what to say. David had not only done much, but suffered much in the cause of God; yet he flees to God's infinite mercy, and depends upon that alone for pardon and peace. He begs the pardon of sin.
The blood of Christ, sprinkled upon the conscience, blots out the transgression, and, having reconciled us to God, reconciles us to ourselves. The believer longs to have the whole debt of his sins blotted out, and every stain cleansed; he would be thoroughly washed from all his sins; but the hypocrite always has some secret reserve, and would have some favorite lust spared. David had such a deep sense of his sin, that he was continually thinking of it, with sorrow and shame. His sin was committed against God, whose truth we deny by wilful sin; with him we deal deceitfully. And the truly penitent will ever trace back the streams of actual sin to the fountain of original depravity. He confesses his original corruption. This is that foolishness which is bound in the heart of a child, that proneness to evil, and that backwardness to good, which is the burden of the regenerate, and the ruin of the unregenerate.
Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to my soul by a lively faith, as the water of purification was sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling, Heb 12:24. If this blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we shall be clean indeed, Heb 10:2.
He asks not to be comforted, till he is first cleansed; if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, be taken away, he can pray in faith, Let me have a well-grounded peace, of thy creating, so that the bones broken by convictions may rejoice, may be comforted. Hide thy face from my sins; blot out all mine iniquities out of thy book; blot them out, as a cloud is blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun. And the believer desires renewal to holiness as much as the joy of salvation. David now saw, more than ever, what an unclean heart he had, and sadly laments it; but he sees it is not in his own power to amend it, and therefore begs God would create in him a clean heart.
When the sinner feels this change is necessary, and reads the promise of God to that purpose, he begins to ask it. He knew he had by his sin grieved the Holy Spirit, and provoked him to withdraw. This he dreads more than anything. He prays that Divine comforts may be restored to him.
When we give ourselves cause to doubt our interest in salvation, how can we expect the joy of it? This had made him weak; he prays, I am ready to fall, either into sin or into despair, therefore uphold me with thy Spirit. Thy Spirit is a free Spirit, a free Agent himself, working freely.
And the more cheerful we are in our duty, the more constant we shall be to it. What is this but the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, which is contrasted with the yoke of bondage? Ga 5:1.
Those who are thoroughly convinced of their misery and danger by sin, would spare no cost to obtain the remission of it. But as they cannot make satisfaction for sin, so God cannot take any satisfaction in them, otherwise than as expressing love and duty to him. The good work wrought in every true penitent, is a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, and sorrow for sin. It is a heart that is tender, and pliable to God's word.
Oh that there were such a heart in every one of us! God is graciously pleased to accept this; it is instead of all burnt-offering and sacrifice. The broken heart is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ; there is no true repentance without faith in him. Men despise that which is broken, but God will not. He will not overlook it, he will not refuse or reject it; though it makes God no satisfaction for the wrong done to him by sin. Those who have been in spiritual troubles, know how to pity and pray for others afflicted in like manner.
David was afraid lest his sin should bring judgements upon the city and kingdom. No personal fears or troubles of conscience can make the soul, which has received grace, careless about the interests of the church of God. And let this be the continued joy of all the redeemed, that they have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
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