July 12, 2022 -- Psalm 51:10-14 -- Healed teachers of transgressors

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

Psalm 51:10-14 ESV

This is a well-loved Psalm. It has been set to music in a wide-range of musical styles—yet it seems to me that so many of the settings of this psalm focus on one part of the psalm. Yes, there is a longing and desire for a clean heart. Yes there is a yearning prayer for a clean heart and joy in the presence of the LORD, but that vow to’ teach transgressors Your ways’—somehow that seems to be underemphasized.

Someone who has been healed and restored by God will naturally be a disciple-maker. This happens in the world. A week ago I stopped in a little country store. Wonderful place with a learning centre, teaching about the life-cycle of bees. You could see an active hive, where one wooden side of the hive was replaced with a plexiglass window. Visitors could see the work of the bees in a living, active hive. The store also had all kinds of honey. Then I noticed there was bee pollen. I asked the clerk about it. With the zeal of an evangelist she explained to me the health benefits of bee pollen. What a strong impression this made on me. And it is a helpful illustration, highlighting the point the passage makes.

When the salvation of God has, by the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer’s life, made the forgiveness and healing of God real the newly restored Christian cannot help but share this. The sharing of such Good News is discipleship. It is more than saying “Jesus healed me”, though that is important, the next step is saying, “And I know that He can heal you too”. Here are the benefits of full-life in Christ.

Ever notice how often you meet people who are going through sins right now, the very sins from which the LORD has delivered and cleansed you. Your testimony is especially relevant to the one struggling because you have first hand experience of the healing power of God.

When you explain His healing work you are living as a disciple-maker. This meeting can be a one-time conversation which the Spirit coordinated. Or it can be something formal, like recovery groups. You may meet one on one with the person many times in order to explain more fully the restoring work of God. The point is this: those who are truly healed express it and call others to come to Jesus, the Restorer and Healer. Those who are healed by Jesus are disciple-makers for Christ who make disciples.

Thank You, O LORD, God of Steadfast Love and Mercy, for the healing You have effected in my life! Thank You for the people who regularly pointed me to the Savior, whose testimony was powerful precisely because they had already experienced the healing in the exact areas where I was longing for healing. O God, creator of the clean heart and renewer of the soul, help me to teach transgressors Your ways. Give me a heart quiet enough to be teachable, discerning enough to see, and bold to seize the opportunities to share. Such appointments which You, by Your Spirit, have prepared for the glory of Christ and the healing of sin-weary people. Truly, You are the God of Salvation; the joy of Your people, the Righteous One. Amen.

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