Musings and Contemplations

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made, and your forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.[1]

God, Be Merciful to Me

Psalm 51:1-12, 17 NRSV
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 judgment. 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.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

True confession of sin involves repentance, a sincere change of mind . . . There is a difference between admitting sins and confessing sins. Confession (1 John 1:9) literally means “to say the same thing.” If we say the same thing about our sins that God says about them, and we truly mean it, then we are confessing sin. David even went so far as to admit his sinful nature, born in sin (v. 5). Beware of “cheap confession.” Merely praying with the lips, “Lord, I have sinned, please forgive me!” is not confession. True confession costs something—a broken spirit and a contrite heart (v. 17). This does not mean that we do penance and earn forgiveness, but it does mean that we are so broken by our sins that we hide nothing from God.^[2]

Heidelberg Catechism Question #60
How are you righteous before God?
Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; that is, though my conscience accuse me that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me; if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.

O Thou Most High,
In the way of thy appointment, I am waiting for thee. My desire is to thy name, my mind to remembrance of thee. I am a sinner, but not insensible of my state. My iniquities are great and numberless, but thou art adequate to my relief, for thou art rich in mercy; the blood of thy Son can cleanse from all sin; the agency of thy Spirit can subdue my most powerful lusts.
Give me a tender, wakeful conscience that can smite and torment me when I sin. May I be consistent in conversation and conduct, the same alone as in company, in prosperity and adversity, accepting all thy commandments as right, and hating every false way.
May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress, but to faith add virtue, knowledge, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.
May I never neglect what is necessary to constitute Christian character, and needful to complete it.
May I cultivate the expedient, develop the lovely, adorn the gospel, recommend the religion of Jesus, accommodate myself to thy providence.
Keep me from sinking or sinning in the evil day; help me to carry into ordinary life portions of divine truth and use them on suitable occasions, so that its doctrines may inform, its warnings caution, its rules guide, its promises comfort me. Amen.[3]

Yet Not I, But Through Christ in Me

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. O come, let us adore him.

[1] Prayer for Ash Wednesday, Anglican Book of Comm Prayer, 2019.
^[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Ps 32–51.
[3] “Spiritual Growth.” The Valley of Vision, p. 109.