Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  – Psalm 51:10

Sitting here this morning, I can remember six times when I was truly broken over my sin.  In the verse above, David had taken another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and murdered her husband to cover it up.  He wasn’t even broken over that sin, at least until the preacher came and talked to him.  You can read it in 2 Samuel 11-12.

I only bring this up because it happened to me this past Sunday.  Right in the middle of preaching Daniel chapter 1, I apologized to my wife.  I apologized for doing something that I didn’t really even think about again until that moment in the pulpit.  I looked at her and told her that I was sorry.  Somehow, the sin that lived inside me, all of it, just surfaced and I began to weep . . . I mean sob.  I was in God’s presence, so I didn’t really think to be embarrassed about it.  I simply asked the people to pray while I emptied my soul at the altar.  It felt wonderful.  I don’t know if I have ever felt cleaner than after I said “Amen.”  

I don’t know why I tell you that this morning.  If you’ve never had a moment like this, where God is so present, where you truly see how big He is for just a moment, while at the same time seeing how small you are.  I’m talking about a moment where you see what sin truly does.  I’ve started my Bible Recap Bible study for 2024.  I don’t see where Adam nor Eve was truly sorry for their sin.  All they did was eat a piece of fruit . . . it gave a death sentence to mankind.  You’d think they would have wept bitterly before the Lord.  I’m going to look for it as I read through the Bible again, but I think David is the first person we get to who is truly broken over his sin.

Would to God that each of us would have such a moment.

Lord, I pray for each person reading this.  Give each of us a moment of clarity where our sin is ever before us.  Show us how it is only Your blood, Your mercy, and Your grace that covers it up.  You are so good, Lord . . . yet that goodness is so easy for me to forget.  Help me love You!  Grant me staying power, O Lord, for I know how prone I am to wander.  Bless us and keep us in 2024.  Bless us and keep us for all eternity.  We owed a debt we could never repay, and You paid it.  Help us to never forget.  Amen!