Remembering the Joy of our Salvation
/“David had murdered this man in order to cover the sin of his adulterous relationship”
In Psalm 51, king David is broken over a sin that he has committed. The offense is not a “white lie,” because David murdered a man. The man was not a stranger to king David; he was a friend of his and a leader in David’s army: Uriah the Hittite. David had murdered this man in order to cover the sin of his adulterous relationship with Uriah’s wife and getting her pregnant. With a very well thought out plan, David invites Uriah to come home in order to relax and enjoy his wife’s company, intending for it to look as if Uriah had just gotten his own wife pregnant. When Uriah refuses to enjoy the pleasures of home while his soldiers are dying at war, David sends him back into the battle. During this same time, he has the rest of the soldiers called back, so that Uriah would surely die, as he would be facing an entire army alone.
“Just as Adam and Eve attempted to cover their sin, so did I with good works and the hope that my parents’ faith would also be good enough to cover me”
This story can be found in chapters 11 and 12 in the book of 2 Samuel. Some would ask, and rightfully so, how could this man who according to God “did [that which was] right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any [thing] that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” sin against his friend and against God in the way he did? David found himself in a place of brokenness over his sin. He thought that he had gotten away with his sin and the Lord found him out, as he promises that he will. There are so many things that David could have said and people he could have blamed in this Psalm, but that is not the route he takes. He owns up to everything that he did and acknowledges that his sin offended a righteous and holy God. But nearing the end of the Psalm, David finally comes to the solution for his sin problem: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psa 51:12). David knew what the root issue was as soon as Nathaniel the prophet called him out on this egregious sin. He had forgotten the Joy of Salvation.
There was a moment in my life in which I was confronted with the word of God‒a moment that I was confronted with the fact that the wages of my sin was death (Rom 6:23). I knew that there was no way I could do enough good things to counteract the amount of sin that I had done in order to get my ticket to heaven. In Genesis 3:7, we see the first man and woman, who have fallen to sin for the first time, trying to cover their sin by sewing fig leaves around themselves. Just as Adam and Eve attempted to cover their sin (very poorly I might add), so did I with good works and the hope that my parents’ faith would also be good enough to cover me. Needless to say, I was helpless and stuck in my sin, but there are no words to express the joy I felt the day that I repented of my sin and called on the name of Jesus Christ to save me (Rom 10:9-13).
Soon after coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, I began reading my Bible and started discipleship. I was overjoyed in all that I was learning. I progressively understood more of the sacrifice that Jesus had made for me, and it destroyed me. I remember one day reading in Hebrews 2:9, which says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” This made me fall more and more in love with God and his word, as well as with his people.
“In the times where I feel far from God or that I have forgotten his deliverance and goodness, I find myself justifying my sin or minimizing it”
In Exodus 16:3, we see the beginning of the murmurings of the children of Israel. This is coming right off the heels of God delivering the entire nation from captivity in Egypt. It says, “And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” The Bible tells us how God rescued them by bringing plagues upon the people of Egypt, led them on dry land through the Red Sea, guided them by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day through the wilderness, and yet here they are doubting God’s motives for saving them in the first place. We often think, “How could these people be so quick to forget what God had saved them from and how he led them so powerfully through the wilderness?” This is just the first of many times that the Israelites will question God’s motives and the people that he has put in charge.
The craziest part about this story of the Israelites longing for captivity over the salvation that the Lord brought them is the fact that we do the same thing. I can easily get away from my first love, Jesus Christ and the joy of salvation. Revelation 2:4 says, “Nevertheless I have ought against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” There have been times in my life, if I'm being honest, in which I have grown used to salvation. I often find myself in a place where I am no longer AMAZED at being freed from the bondage of sin and death.
In the times where I feel far from God or that I have forgotten his deliverance and goodness, I find myself justifying my sin or minimizing it, but the Holy Spirit brings me back to verses like Deuteronomy 8:2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” God emphasizes for them to REMEMBER ALL THE WAY that he delivered them. The Israelites forgot the joy that God brought them when he delivered them from bondage; as a result, they were far from God, which in turn turned into sin and the blaming of God for all their problems. Funny thing is, we are no different in that regard.
Remembering the joy of our salvation is one of the most key ways to ensure our relationship with Jesus Christ remains healthy. This produces our own spiritual growth by living a life glorifying to him.
Alex Allen is a member at Midtown Baptist Temple and a leader in C&YA. He is a part of Temple Worship and leads a men’s small group Bible study in Grandview.