Restore To Me The Joy Of Your Salvation: Well, There’s Your Problem!
Restore to Me the Joy of Your Salvation:
Well, There’s Your Problem!
Sunday, I’m beginning a new series entitled, Restore to Me the Joy of Your Salvation. Most all of us have experienced a waning, if not an occasional loss, of our Christian joy. It is a miserable feeling when we can no longer find peace or celebrate what once was the greatest joy of our lives. I know I’ve been there!
There are many reasons we may feel this way. Life has a way of beating us down and in our pain, we grow frustrated with God and our expectations of what life was supposed to be. Sometimes, our brothers and sisters in Christ disappoint us by their behavior or hurt us by their actions. Other times our Christian enthusiasm is dampened by the distractions of man-made religion—legalism, traditionalism, perfectionism, criticism, and the like.
It is my prayer that these messages will help you recognize the reasons behind your waning joy and equip you to partner with the Holy Spirit to restore it.
The phrase, Restore to Me the Joy of Your Salvation, comes from Psalm 51. This is David’s lament after Nathan had convicted him of the sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah he Hittite. Psalm 51 is David’s public prayer of repentance.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in
your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time
my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and
renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or
take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me
a willing spirit, to sustain me.
….
In David’s case, his loss of joy was obvious; it was the result of un-repented sin —Well, There’s Your Problem!
I’ll say more in my lesson, Joey