Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. – Psalm 51:12
It has been said that no two snowflakes are the same. They do carry distinctive common characteristics in what NASA calls their “six-fold radial symmetry.” These icy crystals are far more than frozen drops of water coming from a cloud. At their center is dirt! The crystals slowly grow only after they are attached to a “particle” of pollution in the atmosphere. Like snowflakes, pearls are also things of beauty. Yet once again, dirt or a parasite gets trapped between the shells of the mollusk and that irritant causes the oyster or mussel to protect itself with layers of nacre. Like it or not, people are like pearls and snowflakes with a dirty irritant, sin, at the center of their being which causes rebellion against the love of God.
Psalm 51 was written by King David after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. David had reflected on Nathan’s words, and this psalm was his admission of a soiled heart and life, his worship and adoration of the Lord, and his confidence in the hope of God for restoration. He acknowledged God’s justice even as he sought God’s mercy.
In Bill Gaither’s song, “Something Beautiful,” he confirms what happens when God gives restoration. “Something beautiful, something good / All my confusion He understood / All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife / But He made something beautiful of my life.” Whatever has polluted your life can be put at the center of something beautiful in the hands of your merciful God. You can be a snowflake, a pearl, or a sunbeam for Jesus. In Psalm 51, David promised to pass along the message of restoration. You, too, can honor what the Lord has done for you by sharing the incredible good news of His love with others.
Today’s Verse: Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Psalm 51:1-4, 10-17
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
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, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
10 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.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
