As we continue with the study on the requirements of “Restoring the Joy of Salvation,” I want to cover a couple other thoughts today.
We have discussed in the previous articles: that it requires An Examination (to find out the cause for our lack of joy), A Purging (to remove the hindrance), and Washing (to get clean through repentance and prayer). Today I will consider that it requires “The presence of God and the Power of the Holy Spirit.”
In verse eleven of Psalm 51 the Psalmist cries out to God in repentance, and asks that he be allowed to remain in God’s close presence: “Cast me not away from thy presence.”
In David’s case, it was his sin that had separated him from God’s presence. In Isaiah 59:2, we find this stark truth, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.” It is a dark and lonely place for the believer outside the presence of the Lord. Only in his presence can we have any joy, peace, or satisfaction. Psalm 16:11 says it like this: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures evermore.” There is no place in life more peaceful than in the Lord’s presence, and being in sweet communion with him.
To get in this place of closeness and sweet fellowship with the Lord also requires a “Clean heart.” David says in verse 10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” So, it seems like the heart was David’s problem, the same as it is our problem today. That’s why Proverbs 4:23 gives us this warning; “Keep thy heart will all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” David, in this Psalm, is trying to get his heart cleansed by the Lord. He knows it is the problem. Jesus even verified that in Matthew 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Just about everything bad going on in our lives and the world around us is a heart issue. If we can get the heart clean, we can get our life clean and joyous again. That certainly can hinder our joy, but the scriptures also give the remedy: 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Maybe I can finish next week.