Draw Near and Hear

Psalm 51:7-8
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice."
Here David expresses a sense of guilt over his sin. He explains that the only solution to sin is repentance. It is only by repenting of our sin that we can be cleansed of it. God promises when we are obedient to do this that he will not only restore us, but make us able to hear joy and gladness. This shows His abundance of undeserved grace towards us. When we choose to sin, we choose to distance ourselves from the lord. As Pastor Pete taught on Sunday from Luke 22, when Peter followed Jesus at a distance, he began to get distracted and started seeking comfort from an enemy's fire rather than from the Lord. How much time to we spend seeking comfort in worldly things like tv, video games, movies, our jobs...? The more we do, the more distant we become from Jesus, and the harder it is to hear from him. Peter didn't follow close enough to hear from Jesus. As a result he was made weak enough to sin (denying Jesus 3 times). If we don't follow closely, we wont hear from Him either. What do we do if we find ourselves distracted and following at a distance? We see that as a result of repenting of sin, not only does God receive praise from our brokeness, but he also allows us to draw near enough to hear from Him. Joy and gladness is a result of drawing nearness with and abiding in Jesus. Let's draw near and hear!

-Hannah