Psalms of the Summer: Do You Believe God Will?

How is your heart? In today’s society we often talk about our heart in the physical sense. Which of course is always good to get checked out as I have witnessed over the last month with two very important people in my life ending up in hospital because of something happening with their heart. If fact, heart disease is the 2nd leading cause of death in Canada. In 2020, heart disease was responsible for 17.5% of all deaths in Canada. Every hour, about 14 Canadian adults over the age of 20 who are diagnosed with heart disease will die. We go to the Dr to get our heart checked out, Dr;s listen to it by a stethoscope, take our blood pressure, run blood tests, all to see how our heart is working. It’s one of the lifelines of our body. We can live without an arm or a leg, but our body can’t survive without a heart. As the central pump of the circulatory system, it's responsible for delivering oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, while also removing waste products. Without a properly functioning heart, the body's systems cannot operate effectively, leading to a cascade of health problems, not just heart disease. Heart health - it’s important in the physical sense, yes, but what about our heart spiritually?

Psalm 51 is a very well-known psalm. The superscription of the psalms leads us to 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 51-100 The Confession of Man and the Compassion of God (Psalm 51)

David committed adultery with Bathsheba then arranged for her husband to be put to death. This tragic story is not merely there to provide historical information. We have much to learn in our own lives and in the church by looking not only at the triumphs but also at the failures of those who have gone before us. We can learn from David’s response to his failure in

Do you think about how we, even as Christians, can sometimes be quick to judge others for their sins yet struggle to see it in our own lives? Or deem what others have done to be way worse than what we have done?

When the Lord sent Nathan to David, Nathan said as found in 2 Samuel 12:1–4 “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” As it continues 2 Samuel 12:5–7 “Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

David, a king, who was supposed to be an example to the kingdom has committed adultery and murder, both of which could be punishable by death according to the Law of Moses found in Exodus 21:23–25 and Leviticus 20:10. As David pleads, Psalm 51:1–2 “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.” Those who sincerely repented of their sin and renewed their trust in God, looking to God for forgiveness, often found the letter of the law set aside. We can read this in Jeremiah 18:7–8 “At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it,” as an example. God will restore and make all things new. God didn’t owe David, or any nation or kingdom anything. But it is God’s goodness to those undeserving of any divine favor. God owes no one grace; it flows from His sovereign will and good pleasure. We have no claim to grace, but we have no hope without it. With his first utterance in prayer, David casts himself upon the sovereign good pleasure of the Lord. There is no better place to be for it is the only source of hope.

Do you see what Tam Hodge sees when she reads Psalm 51? A David who is desperate for forgiveness, face down, vulnerable before the Lord, as his guilt and sorrow pours out from his broken spirit. David left with nothing but humility, recognizing how broken he is and how deeply he needs to be restored by God, and as you follow through the psalm you see how David is forgiven, restored and then empowered by God so that he is ready to serve.

Mel Gibson has done some awful things in his past. He also has said, “I don’t think it’s any secret that I am flawed, I am by nature born an alcoholic, I did drugs, I did alcohol, and there was nothing that could stop me from doing that. Nothing. So, I regard the fact that I was able to appeal to something greater than myself to help me and actually stop me doing that, I think that’s a miracle. For me it is. Believing is that even for your transgressions you can be forgiven and you can be redeemed. I believe that God sent his son down to tell us okay, I’m going to ransom you people from your fallen nature and I’ll give you a roadmap on how to do it. The law maker’s above the law, so there’s a lot of mercy.” Mel spoke of his flaws, of his born nature, yet recognizes that one can be forgiven and redeemed.

Do you fear being broken and humbled because frightened and deceived are places of false comfort for you?

Do you truly believe God can do the impossible? And I mean anything deemed impossible? The children and youth in their Sunday School closing took us through events found throughout Scripture of God doing what so often might be deemed impossible. They took us through God parting the Red Sea, feeding the 5000, the fall of the wall of Jericho, and Jesus walking on water as examples. Sometimes we think God can do the impossible for everyone else but are afraid to ask for something we might think so minor, yet can have a significant impact in our life. As Tam Hodge also wrote that in her desperate prayer she repeated the words “I know you can Lord; I know you can.” Over and over, she said those words. Then she heard God’s gentle voice say, “I know you know I can. Do you believe I will?”

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.”

The teens took us through three scenarios, one on forgiveness, then courage and belonging. The scenario on forgiveness had the teen saying there was a time they thought they couldn't forgive someone who hurt them. The anger and sadness felt way too big. It felt... impossible. But when they prayed, God gave them the strength they didn’t even know they had. Forgiving wasn’t easy. But with God, it was possible. And now, they’re free.

Or courage: They used to believe they’d never have the courage to do hard things. Fear controlled them—what if they failed? What if they weren’t good enough? But when they asked God for help, He didn’t just make them brave… He filled their heart with His peace. And with God’s peace inside them, they could step forward, even when they were scared."

Or belonging: They thought they never belonged anywhere. They looked around and felt... invisible, like no one really saw them. But then they heard God's voice through His Word, saying: 'You are Mine.' They realized they are already chosen, already loved. They belong to Him. With God, they are never alone."

If we are honest with ourselves we have probably thought at least one of those thoughts throughout our life, these aren’t just teen problems, these are human problems. We’ve probably asked God to miraculously heal someone who is dying, but have we asked God to heal our broken heart? God’s mercy, grace and love is ready for all, you just need to accept it.

As one commentary wrote,

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 51-100 Restoration Is the Result

I was recently asked on a radio interview about some of my biggest regrets in life, and so many things came to my mind. There are things I wish I had never done or thought or desired. And when I think about those things, I can feel so dirty, so unclean, so regretful. I’m guessing I’m not alone in this. Even as Christians, those who have been forgiven and cleansed by God, we tend to beat ourselves up over past sin. So what do you do with these feelings of filth and regret? You go running to the reality that when the God of the universe—the only one whose opinion ultimately matters—looks at you, he doesn’t see the sin and filth and regret. His abundant mercy and faithful love in Christ have wiped those things away. We can find deep, abiding, eternal joy in that reality.

And David knew this, as he states in verse 12 (Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” )

We all have regrets. Have you taken them to God? Have you asked as in Psalm 51:10–12 “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.”

David, asked God for mercy. He knew his transgressions, he knew his sentence, that God desired faithfulness which he had failed on. Yet, despite all this, David knew that, even with how broken he was, he needed to be restored by God. David knew the sacrifice that God required of him, not an animal offering, but his own heart. A sacrifice of pride, which would lead to repentance and restoration.

I have started to listen to Johnny Chanh, a former gang member who now shares his story of redemption and faith, particularly with incarcerated individuals. He spent over 8 years in prison after joining a gang at the age of 12. His story focuses on how he found Jesus and how that transformed his life. He now does prison ministry and shares his testimony through various platforms. I watched one where he was at the Polunsky Unit Prison in Texas and an inmate asks if God’s Love is Unconditional? The innmate says he’s heard in church that people talk about God’s love as being unconditional but that in scripture it says John 3:16 that “whosoever believes in me” which to him sounded like a condition. Johnny goes on to explain that it is unconditional because of the act that God did. He didn’t send Jesus after you believed in Him, he sent him before you believed in Him. He’s already sent Jesus, we need to receive it.

The theme for Oasis this year was Hope Upon Hope. And when you have hope in God, you believe that God can do the impossible. One day Rev. Ross Watters, the lead pastor of Brunswick Street Baptist Church in Fredericton spoke about Hope in the Church. I want to highlight a few things he said.

As he looked to the church he recognized there was so much good, yet so much struggle. Some of the biggest hurts can happen in the church and so how do you remain hopeful? God calls broken people and overwhelms them with grace and love and calls them to be in community with each other. As he continued saying, we don’t agree with everything others do, how can we, when we don’t even agree with everything we do ourselves? What does it look like to live in grace and compassion with and for one another, and to live in a unified purpose when I don’t always get what I want? What does it look like to lay down my pride and take up my cross? Working with messy people isn’t easy. In the church we live with this hope that it’s going to be transformative, yet our experience doesn’t always lead us to believe it. We make judgments about people based on what we know about people and/or on our past experiences. Hope is hard and intentional. We know we need to change, that we can’t stay the same yet when we go to actually do the changing we’re like nope can’t change this, nope not that either and then eventually we realize we haven’t changed anything.

Do you see the irony when we acknowledge the fact that we messed up on our own lives that we needed someone to die for us, that Jesus died in our place and brought us salvation, and then show up at church that we’re perfect. The church needs to be a community where everyone is loved beyond their mess. What people need to know when they come to church is do I matter, is God with me, does God love me and do I have a home here? Do I have a home here, even if I act different here, do you love me enough to allow the Holy Spirit to work through me to convict me, and are you willing to stand by me in the struggle as I work through things or do I need to fit in long before? Are you willing to sit with people in the discomfort? If you are secure in your faith, then sitting in the discomfort shouldn’t matter. What if instead in the church we said, your life’s a mess, mine too, but let’s love Jesus. One of my favourite quotes from Ross was, “It’s not my job to judge you, it’s my job to love you back to life.”

Psalm 51 - the cry of someone who believes in the God of the impossible. It declares that:

No sin is too great.

No heart is too hard.

No situation is too far gone.

No mess is too messy

God, in His mercy and power, can cleanse, restore, and transform. Just as He did for David, He can do for anyone — because He is the God of the impossible. So, the question to you is do you believe God will?

(Would you put my heart back together - Children’s story dance)