Thoughts for the Day

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgement.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

For much of my ministry my desk held a large pad of blotting paper, with my keyboard on a pull-out shelf from my desk. I used it as a base for all my office work, so it often had odd jottings and telephone numbers. A new job would see a fresh clean sheet of blotting paper added. If you wonder why it was used, well many church registers still have to be written in ink, and the blotter often had to be used to stop the ink running.

Psalm 51 is the fourth, and in my opinion, the greatest of the seven penitential psalms, showing us David's repentance at his terrible sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and the killing of her husband Uriah the Hittite, as seen in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. David begs God for mercy, he has no reason to expect forgiveness because he knows his sin has been great, yet he knows that he still belongs to God. He also knows that there is more to forgiveness than feeling sorry at what has happened, because the consequence of the sin still remains. So it is that David asks God to "blot out" his transgressions. As the blotting paper stops the wet ink from running down a page, so God blots out his sin. There will be consequences, but David will be forgiven.

As Christians we know that the ultimate consequence of human sin and the only way that it could truly be blotted out was through the death of Jesus on the cross. He died for our sin to be blotted out.

Lord Jesus Christ,
our sins are like black blots
on our soul.
We ask forgiveness
but almost before we finish asking
we are making more blots.
May we learn to think, say, and act
in accordance with Your will
and not our own desires,
so that we walk the path
of righteousness.
Amen.