Genesis 3:23 - The Voice
23 So the Eternal God banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden and exiled humanity from paradise, sentencing humans to laborious lives working the very ground man came from.
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What are some of the Life Lessons you have become aware of during our study of Genesis thus far?
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Psalm 51:1-17 - The Voice
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| (c) The Bible Project |
according to Your generous love.
According to Your great compassion,
wipe out every consequence of my shameful crimes.
2 Thoroughly wash me, inside and out, of all my crooked deeds.
Cleanse me from my sins.
3 For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong,
and my guilt is there, staring me in the face.
4 It was against You, only You, that I sinned,
for I have done what You say is wrong, right before Your eyes.
So when You speak, You are in the right.
When You judge, Your judgments are pure and true.[a]
5 For I was guilty from the day I was born,
a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.
6 But still, You long to enthrone truth throughout my being;
in unseen places deep within me, You show me wisdom.
7 Cleanse me of my wickedness with hyssop, and I will be clean.
If You wash me, I will be whiter than snow.
8 Help me hear joy and happiness as my accompaniment,
so my bones, which You have broken, will dance in delight instead.
9 Cover Your face so You will not see my sins,
and erase my guilt from the record.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
restore within me a sense of being brand new.
11 Do not throw me far away from Your presence,
and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by You;
let Your willing Spirit sustain me.
13 If You do, I promise to teach rebels Your ways
and help sinners find their way back to You.
14 Free me from the guilt of murder, of shedding a man’s blood,
O God who saves me.
Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are.
15 O Lord, pry open my lips
that this mouth will sing joyfully of Your greatness.
16 I would surrender my dearest possessions or destroy all that I prize to prove my regret,
but You don’t take pleasure in sacrifices or burnt offerings.
17 What sacrifice I can offer You is my broken spirit
because a broken spirit, O God,
a heart that honestly regrets the past,
You won’t detest.
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In this poem we hear King David’s confession after committing the heinous crimes of adultery and murder against his own people. He uses powerful imagery to describe how distorted his character has become––stained, broken, guilty––but he also paints a contrasting portrait of God’s generous mercy towards his failed human creatures. God is willing to clean and wash, to repair and recreate, to offer forgiveness. Notice that David doesn’t look for hope in his own power and ability to reform himself. Rather, he looks to God’s compassion and power to create a new humanity, one that lives by God’s will and love.
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- Why is it a given that we are slaves to SIN?
- How can we first, identify our own sin and ultimately, cleanse ourselves from it?
- Where is the significance in Christ's model prayer to "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others that trespass against us?"
- Ultimately, how do YOU connect your own heart to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to identify sin and move beyond it?
- What will YOU do this week to grow in your spiritual maturity?
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