Go back in time with me to the summer of 1981.  I was fifteen and invited to go on a mission trip to northern Ohio.  I was not a missionary and had never been “on mission” before in my brief life, so truly, I did not know what was about to unfold.  The group was comprised of all females:  Lorretta and Shirley (our leaders and van drivers); Jennette, another girl whose name escapes me, Janie, and myself.  We packed our bag for the week’s stay, pointed the borrowed church van to the north, and headed to Zanesville, Ohio.

As noted earlier, I never knew what a missionary journey held, for I had never experienced one before that summer.  What transpired was an opportunity to understand myself better.  By day, we served as Backyard Bible Teachers, serving children in the city park, and by night, we attended the summer revival at the church that served as our home base.   In between, we slept, ate, and enjoyed time in a parishioner’s home; ours was a sweet widow woman who felt more and more like our grandmother.

This was the summer when I first learned that one could put Scripture to music for memorization’s sake.

The King James Version of the Scripture found in Galatians 2:20 & The Psalms 51: 10-12 are two I most vividly recall the guitar-strumming pastor playing and singing night-after-night, once the revival service had ended.

As a fifteen-year-old, I did not fully see the need for a “clean heart” or understand the deep desire for a renewed “right” spirit.  However, even as a teen, I understood the “casting away” that was the Lord’s to do, as well as the “restoration” the Lord could provide.  Today, at a much older stage of life, it’s important that we pause to consider David’s psalm of repentance.  David recognized his sin against Holy God, internally seeing the depth of his transgression when he desired another man’s wife so much that he positioned Uriah on the front line, where he was sure to be struck down during battle.  Prior to that sinful action, David’s infidelity, David’s lie, David’s trickery, David’s sinful actions all led to this decision to command Bathsheba’s husband to the battlefield.  As a commander, Uriah was a soldier who served his king (King David), and as a commander, Uriah was a man who served the soldiers whom he led, so when David attempted to trick Uriah into sleeping with his wife, hoping to make her pregnant, Uriah knew that action was not becoming of a leader, for the men he led had not been permitted to travel home to the comforts of their house and family.  Since they could not, neither would he.  Uriah slept apart, separated from Bathsheba, and David’s trickery proved unsuccessful.  David knew his night spent on the rooftop watching another man’s wife undress and bathe had been wrong.  David also knew that sending his servant to invite (or commission) Bathsheba to the king’s house was terribly NOT RIGHT, for she would be unable to refuse the king.  Enticing Bathsheba into his bed would have been easy, for David was the KING of Israel.

• David, the man who stayed behind in Jerusalem, when he should have been with his men on the battlefield.
• David, the commander of the army, when he knew his men faced battles without his leadership.
• David, the sinful man who sought that which he should not have wanted and finagled a way to receive that which was not his to enjoy.

After the sin of adultery & After the sin of deception & After the sin of murder—David Repented.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  (The Psalms 51: 10 NASB)

We are not King David; yet we know the weight of sinful actions.  We also understand the cleansing only our Father in heaven can provide.  Only God can renew our internal spirit.

“Do not cast me away from Your presence  And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  (The Psalms 51: 11 NASB)

• Consider for a moment what it would feel like (today) to lose one’s salvation.
• Ponder the heaviness that would come to our soul to lose the seal of God’s Holy Spirit.
• Understand the depth of the pain we would endure if the Lord cast us far away from Himself.

No, we are not the King of Israel; however, every person alive can internalize the loss of losing that single JOY we most enjoy—THE LORD’S SALVATION.

Thus, David sings the lyric we most need—

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.” (The Psalms 51: 12 NASB)

May we each be willing to sing (over & over) David’s song of repentance.

That summer so long ago, as we sat in the church singing, sometimes after the night’s revival session had ended, I was not cognizant of the implications of David’s Psalm.  We sat in a circle, all of the summer missionaries, along with our surrogate pastor who strummed his guitar as he led us to sing these Scriptures.  That was 1981 and now, 2026, the words still remain within my memory.  Truly, the Lord knew what He was doing when He sent this young teenager on a mission trip ten hours north, when He saved my soul, when He laid down His life for me, for in doing so, my Father planted His Word deep within me, reminding me even today that the life I once lived in the earthly flesh is no longer mine to live as I walk within His perfect grace.  Surely, the most universal truth of spiritual maturity is that we need—God’s merciful grace—More & More each day.

I pray this morning that you too know the Lord’s free gift of salvation and sense His compassion this day.