How often do I skip through Psalm 51 to arrive at this verse?
Psalm 51
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.
Often to the point of forgetting the hard words that I need to internalize:
My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
While the promise of the latter half of the psalm is a great balm, the pain it is supposed to ease is that of the first half of the psalm--recognition and bone-deep recognition of my constantly sinful state. Without the first, the balm will not be withheld, but its healing will feel trivial, not worth the trouble of a prayer. When I forget my sinfulness, I cannot be deeply grateful for my salvation. If I think I have done nothing wrong or that what I have done is small and trivial, then salvation will be a bandaid--not the life altering surgery it is supposed to be.
