THURSDAY - Psalm 51:1-17

The book of Psalms is the Prayer Book of the Bible. It is filled with Psalms of praise, grief, joy, and love. The Psalms cover the gambit of human emotion, and have been used by the Church for centuries to shape and form the prayer lives of God’s people. The Psalm we read today is a Psalm of Repentance. 

Repentance means to change direction; to turn around. It’s a recognition that we are going the wrong way, and we want to start going the right way. During Lent, this season of fasting and prayer, we are to recognize the wrong ways we are going. We are to recognize the places in our lives that are incongruent with the ways of God, and we are called to repent. We are called to pray for a pure heart, a loyal spirit, and a restored joy. Do you want that today? What are the places in your life that seem incongruent with the ways of God? Can you write those down? I encourage you to write out a prayer of repentance, similar to Psalm 51, confessing and asking God to restore you. End your prayer the same way Psalm 51 ends: “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” 

God does not reject you. Instead, He comes to restore you this day and every day.