Hearing Joy and Gladness

Hearing Joy and Gladness

Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Psalm 51:8

What does a grieving errant child, who has done wrong, long to hear from the lips of the father? He wants to hear, ‘I forgive you.’ That brings joy and gladness to the child’s heart. In confessing his sin, David has occupied the place of the penitent child. He did wrong, knew it, owned it, and confessed it. He has pled for mercy and cried for cleansing. He wants things to be right between him and his Heavenly Father. He arrives at our text for today and as the Irish saying goes, ‘is not backward in coming forward’ to speak of what he most desires. He wants to ‘hear joy and gladness.’ This will only come as he is certain of the restoration of fellowship with God. We have established over the past days that this restoration only comes by the mediatorial work of Christ. Apart from Christ, we have no relationship with God. When we have lost the fellowship of that relationship, because of our sin, it is only the cleansing of the Blood of Christ that will restore it. Therefore, we fly to the Blood of Christ for cleansing, so that we may ‘hear joy and gladness.’ Today, let us look to the Christ Who is the key to our relationship with the Eternal God. Let us seek the cleansing of the Blood, that we may ‘hear joy and gladness.’

Our Loving and Kind Father,
we rejoice that You greet us with open arms.
We praise You that Christ is the road, by which we come again,
to our Father’s house.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning