Psalm 51

Now that we are hosting the youth group and helping Ali (the youth leader) out we are also having to do the same "homework" they are. Which means we have scriptures to read and some to memorize. This morning I was reading a couple of the Psalms we were supposed to read and noticed something I have never noticed before. I was reading Psalm 51, the psalm David wrote after being caught in adultery with Bathsheba. There are some very well known verses in there that are also a well known song sung in many churches and I was just reading them kind of like 'blah blah blah' heard this a million times before. But then something jumped out at me. Here are the verses that are so well known.....



¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
         And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
    ¹¹Do not cast me away from Your presence
         And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
    ¹²Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
         And sustain me with a willing spirit. 


Wonderful verses. Ones that can truly speak your heart when you know that you need to be cleansed and made pure again when you have lost the joy you once had in knowing you had been redeemed and cleansed. It was the verse after all of these ones though that jumped out at me...

    ¹³Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
         And sinners will be converted to You.


How many times do we stop at the end of verse 12, end with asking God to cleanse us and renew our joy and then we go on with our days, our lives, keeping it between God and ourselves and not sharing what He has done and can and will do? Verse 13 tells us what the next step should be! Once we have had our time with God and feel renewed and strengthened we need to share that! We need to teach others! We need to share with others what we have gone through and what God has done for us and as we do that we will see other lives changed and new hearts created in others and they in turn can go out and share with people they know. 
Perhaps I am seeing more of this kind of thing because of the church plant we are in and the encouragement we are receiving there to share God's love and hope within our communities. All I know is that my view of those first few verses has changed just a little. It is an inward personal change to be sure and it has to happen there first, but once it has happened it is time to share that!
May I be more open to what God is doing in me and then in turn to sharing with those around me who need to hear the good news and find rest for their weary souls.