Church programs for Monday, Jan. 22 will resume their normal schedule at all locations this evening.
Leawood’s Sunday night in-person worship has been moved to 4 pm for Sunday, February 11.
Psalm 51
8 Let me hear joy and celebration again;
let the bones you crushed rejoice once more.
9 Hide your face from my sins;
wipe away all my guilty deeds!
10 Create a clean heart for me, God;
put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!
11 Please don’t throw me out of your presence;
please don’t take your holy spirit away from me.
12 Return the joy of your salvation to me
and sustain me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways,
and sinners will come back to you.
Psalm 139
5 You surround me—front and back.
You put your hand on me.
6 That kind of knowledge is too much for me;
it’s so high above me that I can’t reach it.
7 Where could I go to get away from your spirit?
Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there.
If I went down to the grave [Hebrew sheol], you would be there too!
9 If I could fly on the wings of dawn,
stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand would guide me;
even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
We often read Psalm 51 through the lens of Jesus’ and the apostle Paul’s Holy Spirit teaching. But it was written centuries earlier. In its context, “God’s breath—spirit is the source of all human life and vitality… The phrase God’s holy Spirit does not carry the developed ideas it has in the New Testament and in Christian theology. Only here and in Isaiah 63:10, 11 is the phrase used in the Old Testament.” * Psalm 139 also recognized God’s presence in all of life.
O God, when I need your forgiveness (as I too often do), give me a mind willing to face the truth, and a heart willing to humble myself before your holiness and trust fully in your goodness, not my own. Amen.
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as Human Resources Lead Director. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
* Robert G. Bratcher and William D. Reyburn, A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. New York: United Bible Societies, 1991, p, 473.
** J. Clinton McCann, study note on Psalm 51:10 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 897 OT.
*** John Goldingay, Psalms for Everyone, Part 2: Psalms 73–150. Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 201.