PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
A conviction of one’s sinfulness is the most vulnerable moment in one’s life and repentance that follows is the most genuine expression man is capable of. It is in losing oneself in repentance that man finds himself again in God and rises to the highest he is capable of. David’s prayer of repentance is found in Psalms 51;
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (v 6-12)
David begins by saying that feeling sorry is only a step toward gaining God’s wisdom. The process starts by cleansing and washing that God alone can do. How does this cleansing play out? While man’s effort to resist sin and deny himself facilitates the process, cleansing eventually comes from God. This divine intervention leads to transformation wherein the desire to and the tendency to sin is replaced by inward truthfulness, which is the nature of God.
When man is still under sin, there is bone-crushing sadness and despair that evaporates with repentance. Nothing is more rejuvenating than knowing that God has forgiven you. In Christ, when God looks at a believer, he sees the cross and the price that has been paid. That is the reason why even though we are not perfect, he sees us as righteous and makes his dwelling within us.
Purity within follows and has to sustained by a steadfast spirit made real by the disciplines of spending time with God and his word, and fellowshipping with God’s people. The Spirit of God thereby makes his presence known and this enables us to experience the joy of salvation on a constant basis. In the face of worldly pressures that tend to take us away from God, it is inner rejuvenation that a willing believer finds, which enables him to remain in communion with God.
Without repentance there is no Christian faith and no Christian life.
