Shalom,
In Psalm 51:1-4 we see David confessing his sin to the Lord and asking for mercy and forgiveness:
1HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.2Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!
3For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.
4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.
I especially like that verse 4 says that his sin was against God. When we sin, we need to be concerned with what God thinks and says about it before we ever consider what other people think. Too many times believers worry about how they will be perceived by people when the most important thing is to get back in fellowship with God. He may instruct you to do something to make things right with the people involved, but that is secondary to our one-on-one with Him. David goes on to pray this in verses 10-13:
10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
11Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.
Notice that David's reason for praying this, found in verse 13, is that he may be effective in bringing people to the Lord! In accordance with our New Covenant, based on better promises (Hebrew 8:6), when WE sin, we use THIS Scripture found in 1 John 1:9:
9If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].
I love the fact that He will continually cleanse me from all that I may be doing (in ignorance) that is contrary to His Word when I confess the sin I am aware of! That sounds like David's desire to be restored and back in fellowship, only much, much better! Then WE will be in position to be effective ministers of Life again! Thank You, Jesus!
In Acts 23 we see Paul operating in great wisdom again by pitting Pharisees against Sadducees and turning the attention off of himself! I have been noticing that there is more Godly wisdom and Godly protection for Paul as he is maturing and growing in the Word! We see the plot of some of the Jews, to trick the commandant into calling for Paul so they could murder him on the way, being exposed! He is taken away to safety before anyone can touch him here! Meditate on Psalm 91 daily so that you, too, can walk in daily protection, provision and safety from all that the enemy may try to do to you or your family!
In Exodus 11-12 we see God continuing to use the hardened heart of Pharaoh to show Himself strong and powerful to all of the people watching! I am very confident that many of the Egyptians, the wise ones anyway, left with the Israelites! God's people were protected in the land of Goshen as the Egyptians suffered each new thing that happened. Then God gave them very specific instructions for His protection from the last one, which was the death of the firstborn of man and beast in all the land of Egypt. If God's people obeyed, they were protected! God always warns His people and gives them the way of protection! (Again, see Psalm 91!) Something very interesting is found in Exodus 11:2-3:
2Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man solicit and ask of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.
3And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was exceedingly great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and of the people.
and Exodus 12:35-36:
35The Israelites did according to the word of Moses; and they [urgently] asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and of gold, and clothing.
36The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they asked. And they stripped the Egyptians [of those things].
If you're wondering why the Lord would have them do this, you will find out when we get to the chapters where they build the tabernacle in the wilderness! They need to come up with gold, silver and bronze, and blue, purple and scarlet cloth! Our God truly does supply ALL of our needs when we count on Him to do it! Hallelujah!
Shalom in Him!
