The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1903-08-28

RI MyIkAA but whose faith
IF s}sSE and repent
TE.Xa&s pave the way which
EZbm3- pNaaM leads back to God
t%|M5W IN WT' and His bles d
~ service. The Psalm
from which 1t is taken is the concluding
chapter of story of sin and its deplora-
BILE consequences. Sin had severed fell
lowship with God, and terminated &C
ceptable and efficient service. In an I'M
guarded moment, while yielding to the
ease and luxury of his royal state, he
slipped Che traces of uprightness and
bolted off into the enticing meadows of
sin. He gratified his desires, but at
fearful cost. He sacrificed his peace of
mind and heart, and destroyed his power
for good. AS the days came and went
he CROPPED in the dark, while he sought
to find light In himself and tried to JUS
tify himself by the conduct of the kings
of the nations about him. That which
he had done was only the common prac-
tice Of kings and rulers of his day. No
one in the kingdom dared call into ques
ton the acts of the great King David.
He was not in danger of punishment at
the hands of the nation. But, notwith-
standing this. those were days of dark
ness to the king who had fellowshiped
with God and performed His service.
The distress and disquiet and darkness
of those days can be realized only in
the light of David's open confession and
his yearning appeal His heart, stained
with lust and murder, oh! how black it
seemed as he turned toward God and
pleaded for the purging and cleansing
of that heart. His fickleness and in
constancy, oh! how miserably weak and
contemplate, as he longed to have a
steadfast spirit renewed within him. The
awful danger of being cast away from
Spirit who had come upon him when he
had been anointed years before as Gods
chosen one to rule His people, oh! how
1t stified his heart with its terrifying
dread! The joy of the presence END saw
ing grace of the Lord which he had
known in days past before yielding to
temptation and ipdulging in sin had van
ished, and oh! how he wished that he
might again feel the kindling within that
would warm his heart towards God and
make him long for the salvation of the
sinner. And with the realization of all
this-the weight of his sins, his IN
faithfulness, his separation from God,
his unfitness for service, there came the
longing to get back to God and again
be yoked up with Him in fellowship and
service.
TT OW common is the experience of
Ill David among Christians, of sinful
Indulgence, of separation from God.
Days of darkness come. The inspiration
for service has died out. The sense of
Joy in the salvation of the LORD has been
lost. There may be the perfunctory dis
charge of religious duties, even as there
was probably with David during the
period of his sinfulness and separation
from God. Oh! how often the Christian
goes on in this condition! No wonder
he gets no JOY out of his service. No
wonder there is dissatisfaction and dis
couragement No wonder that. if he
fails to go to God with full confession
of sin against Him, and pleads not for
the cleansed heart and the new milling
of the Spirit, gradually he gets farther
and farther away in the darkness and
finally gives up even the outward dis
play of devotion and service to the Lord
and His cause Nearly every Christian
has the experience of slipping from the
blessed yoke which he is sharing with
the Christ who has redeemed him, and
of wandering off and browsing in the
attractive fields of the worlds pleasures
and sins, but so few, comparatively, are
like David in humble confession and ear
nest pleading in faith for cleansing and
reinstatement. There is great deal OF
unyoking, but so little yoking up again
The Christian gets out of the harness
ice for the Lord, but he does not always
get back into the harness again. AS we
have said, he goes on with his accus-
toned religious duties and devotions, but
the inspiration and JOY of service are
lost because of unconfessed sin and sep
aration from God. No amount of sub
sequent service and faithfulness car
cover up the sin that is fostering III the
heart, or restore to working fellowship
with God.
TT TAKES a heart that is, cleansed
| from all sin and hands which have
been washed from iniquity to rende,
acceptable service to God. In the TWEEN.
ty-fourth Psalm David asks: "Whe
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord.
or who shall stand in his holy place.
He that hath clean hands and a pure
heart; who hath not lifted up his SOU
unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.
This was the spirit and purpose o.
Jesus teaching when He said: ''Il
thou bring thy gift to the altar, ant
there rememberest that thy brother
hath aught against thee, leave there
thy gift before the altar, and go thy
way: first be reconciled to thy brother
and then come and offer thy gift" The
gift on the altar is representative o.
christian service, but before it can b.
accepted there must be a cleaning vi
If old scores; wrongs must be righted
confessions must be made; sins mus
be cleansed; hands must be purified 1
was the consciousness of this whicl
bowed a great and mighty king in the
dust of confession and repentance, ant
tmade him plead the prayer OF our text:
"create for me clean heart, 0 God;
and renew a steadfast spirit within me