A Journey Through the Psalms | Delighted Brokenness

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Psalm 51:8

Psalm 51 was written after David had committed the sin of adultery and murder. In the realization of his sin, David confesses it before the Lord. He asks the Lord to cleanse him and make him pure. David knows that because of his sin, he must experience discipline from the Lord; but in the same breath, he must also experience healing from the Lord.

Often, in order to purify and change us, the Lord must discipline us. Proverbs 3:11-12 reads, “My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves whom He loves as a father the son in whom he delights.” This is precisely what David is experiencing in this Psalm. The Lord has disciplined him in such a way that his inner being feels totally destroyed, but he beauty of our Lord is what comes from that crushing discipline. It is healing, it is growth, and it is a sense of belonging that we receive when the Lord disciplines us. He restores us to Himself, and delivers us. He makes us new, and gives a song to sing.

Remember, Christian: If you are walking through a season of discipline from the Lord, it is out of His great love and mercy.

I leave you once again with words from Charles Spurgeon
"Yet if he who crushed would cure, every wound would become a new mouth for song, every bone quivering before agony would become equally sensible of delight." 

Recently, my husband and I were traveling south on I-65, and decided to take the 31W instead. It runs along 65, but with views of farm land and small towns instead of interstate. It's currently season to start harvesting and hanging tobacco. Many of the farms along that road are tobacco farms, and they all had this year's bounty hanging in the barns. I started reading more on tobacco and the harvesting process; as the plant grows it will begin to develop a flower on the top. In order to keep the plant growing bigger and taller, one must remove the flower by breaking or cutting it off. In the same way, the Lord will often remove things from our lives to discipline us. It is not to destroy us, but to help us grow and flourish.