“Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit.”
(Psalms 51:11-12 NASB)
When we left off we were going line by line through King David’s 51st Psalm. King David, as you recall, was confronted by the Prophet Nathan about his blatant sin against a Holy God with Bathsheba. This Psalm rightly expresses how he felt having no excuses or attempted cop-outs. As we arrive at verses 11-12, verbs capture this couplet to me.
(Psalms 51:11-12 NASB)
When we left off we were going line by line through King David’s 51st Psalm. King David, as you recall, was confronted by the Prophet Nathan about his blatant sin against a Holy God with Bathsheba. This Psalm rightly expresses how he felt having no excuses or attempted cop-outs. As we arrive at verses 11-12, verbs capture this couplet to me.
Cast. I looked for a nice version of the Hebrew word we translate as “cast”. I checked 10 translations and paraphrases for something to grasp about the word. I say, hesitantly and with fear and trembling that Peterson’s THE MESSAGE (gasp) gives my favorite rendering of this verse and how it relates to the word “cast”. It says “Don't throw me out with the trash.” One of the most wealthy and powerful men in Earth’s history was afraid of getting cast out by God like
you might a flattened and crusty toothpaste tube. “The man after God’s own heart” was deathly concerned he was about to become “the man God used to use, that is now in the burn pile outside of town where the fire never stops”. David clearly remembered running from King Saul before Saul turned sharply from anointed, successful King to raging, paranoid madman who committed suicide to avoid capture by the Philistines. Fallers from grace are often not gently placed into a pit. Often it’s more like getting cast into the pit by your hair. David was both scared of being out of God’s presence and scared to be in His presence. He clearly understood His sin and who it was against primarily…God Himself.
you might a flattened and crusty toothpaste tube. “The man after God’s own heart” was deathly concerned he was about to become “the man God used to use, that is now in the burn pile outside of town where the fire never stops”. David clearly remembered running from King Saul before Saul turned sharply from anointed, successful King to raging, paranoid madman who committed suicide to avoid capture by the Philistines. Fallers from grace are often not gently placed into a pit. Often it’s more like getting cast into the pit by your hair. David was both scared of being out of God’s presence and scared to be in His presence. He clearly understood His sin and who it was against primarily…God Himself.Side note/evangelism tip…please change the phrase “separated from God for eternity” to “go to Hell for eternity.” Why in the world would a person who hates God and are enemies of God (see Col. 1:21, James 4:4
) care if they are forced to live forever without being in His presence. Duhh! (This is a highly theological yet relevant term for “He who has ears let him listen up!”) It sounds like a great thing to be separate from God until you get there and realize you don’t just party with your friends there! (For more info, search Bible for such phrases as “worm that doesn’t turn”, fire, brimstone, damnation, etc…)
) care if they are forced to live forever without being in His presence. Duhh! (This is a highly theological yet relevant term for “He who has ears let him listen up!”) It sounds like a great thing to be separate from God until you get there and realize you don’t just party with your friends there! (For more info, search Bible for such phrases as “worm that doesn’t turn”, fire, brimstone, damnation, etc…)Take. Take is our second verb. While I firmly believe you, once firmly and soundly saved, can not lose your salvation, nor can someone take it from you, I must acknowledge that there are a couple verses in the New Testament that make me say hmmm?!?, but this clearly isn’t one of them. David wasn’t in the same Covenant as we are. The Holy Spirit had a different role to an Old Testament King than an indwelt Holy Spirit does to a present day believer. Today the Holy Spirit, upon repenting and trusting Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, indwells you as a down payment of God’s presence in Heaven. He acts as a kind of teleprompter, a sin sniffer-outer (another highly theologically strong term), and many, many other things for a believer. To David, the Holy Spirit was an anointer, a wisdom-giver, and a protector for a King, and, therefore, not operationally the same as for us. He was afraid of falling out of God’s favor, not afraid of having God remove Himself, for a lack of a better/more sophisticated term, from David’s self. David knew first hand that one of the worst things that can happen is for God to give in and say “OK, have it your way...and take what happens as your lesson!” The thought of having God say this to me sends chills up my spine, as it would have David as well. Terrifying!
Restore. Have you ever done something really stupid to your best friend or your spouse? Finally an area I am an expert in! David desperately wants to be restored to God’s favor. Much like when I do something to make my way-
better-than-I-deserve wife furious in my every day life, I yearn to make up with her so she isn’t upset with me, David, in an exponentially more profound amount wants to restore the fellowship he had with God. Nehemiah 8:10b says “for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” David wanted the joy back! Just reconciling with an angry wife or a sinned-against God isn’t enough. David desperately wants restored fellowship to as good then better than it was before, yet fears the worst.
better-than-I-deserve wife furious in my every day life, I yearn to make up with her so she isn’t upset with me, David, in an exponentially more profound amount wants to restore the fellowship he had with God. Nehemiah 8:10b says “for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” David wanted the joy back! Just reconciling with an angry wife or a sinned-against God isn’t enough. David desperately wants restored fellowship to as good then better than it was before, yet fears the worst.Sustain. David wants to never do it again. He had sinned against God in a profound way and wants to stop. He needs sustaining power. Other translations call it upholding, but all point to desired holiness and help retreating from sin. Scottish preacher and evangelist Robert Murray McCheyne, as quoted in C.H. Spurgeon’s Expositions of the Psalms, writes brilliantly “I am tempted to think that I am now an established Christian, that I have overcome this or that lust so long that I have got into the habit of the opposite grace, so that there is no fear; I may venture very near the temptation, nearer than other men. This is a lie of Satan. I might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark. As long as the powder is wet it resists the spark, but when it is dry it is ready to explode at the first touch. As long as the Spirit dwells in my heart, He deadens me to sin, so that if lawfully called through temptation I may recon upon God carrying me through. But when the Spirit leaves me, I am like dry gunpowder. Oh for a sense of this!” (FYI : The Spirit of God 
always technically dwells in a believer’s heart, but our sin breaks fellowship with Him and builds up calluses that make resisting temptation harder and harder, leaving the impression, like McCheyne says, that the Spirit has left.) McCheyne knew the Holy Spirit of God is our sustainer in resisting temptation. David wanted, and needs this help badly!
As a matter of application, where are you with God? Are you a believer who has become calloused to your sin? Do you believe at all? Do you think sin is a big deal? Look at Exodus 20 and read the Ten Commandments as a tool to check to see if you are “good enough” to go to heaven. Have you ever told a lie? Have you really wanted something someone else has? Have you ever committed adultery, or even lusted in your heart? Now reread Psalm 51 and know who your sin is against. Think of it like murder. Murder a dog, get a fine. Murder a homeless man, get 15 years. Murder the president, get the chair. Who the offense is against makes all the difference in the penalty. God is Holy. God is perfectly just. Sin against Him at your own risk. David understood the ramifications…do you?
Weight update: 287.6…lost 4 pounds for a total of 49…little over half an Olson twin. God has been merciful and so very good to me!
Memory Verse: Romans 3:10.
Prayer request: I leave on a Mission trip to New Orleans Saturday morning. We are helping rebuild a church destroyed by Katrina.
always technically dwells in a believer’s heart, but our sin breaks fellowship with Him and builds up calluses that make resisting temptation harder and harder, leaving the impression, like McCheyne says, that the Spirit has left.) McCheyne knew the Holy Spirit of God is our sustainer in resisting temptation. David wanted, and needs this help badly!As a matter of application, where are you with God? Are you a believer who has become calloused to your sin? Do you believe at all? Do you think sin is a big deal? Look at Exodus 20 and read the Ten Commandments as a tool to check to see if you are “good enough” to go to heaven. Have you ever told a lie? Have you really wanted something someone else has? Have you ever committed adultery, or even lusted in your heart? Now reread Psalm 51 and know who your sin is against. Think of it like murder. Murder a dog, get a fine. Murder a homeless man, get 15 years. Murder the president, get the chair. Who the offense is against makes all the difference in the penalty. God is Holy. God is perfectly just. Sin against Him at your own risk. David understood the ramifications…do you?
Weight update: 287.6…lost 4 pounds for a total of 49…little over half an Olson twin. God has been merciful and so very good to me!
Memory Verse: Romans 3:10.
Prayer request: I leave on a Mission trip to New Orleans Saturday morning. We are helping rebuild a church destroyed by Katrina.
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