Scripture Reading: “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.” (Psalm 51:19) 

Not only does penitence produce the possibility of revival in the church and the acceptability of our sacrifices of praise, but it also results in God’s glory. Nothing is more glorifying to God than a people pardoned by His grace, transformed by His power, worshipping in His Spirit, and praising His name. It is, as David proclaims in Psalm 22:3, the praise of His people that God inhabits. 

The Apostle Paul admonishes us to do everything we do to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). This should be the chief end of every Christian’s life. Like the Apostle Paul, our daily prayer should be that Christ will be magnified by us in the greatest way possible, whether it is by our life or by our death (Philippians 1:20). 

Truly, only those enthralled by Christ can be so self-forgetting. And only those whose feet have been lifted out of the miry clay of ever-sinking sin and set upon the solid rock of eternal salvation will loose all sight of themselves in the blinding light of our glorious Savior. 

We leave this magnificent psalm with David no longer morning over his sin, but mesmerized with his Savior. His guilt expunged, his sin forgiven, and his salvation assured. He is off his knees and no longer pleading; his hands are uplifted and he is now praising. No longer is his guilt ever before him and gloom all around him; instead, he now sees nothing but the glory of the Lord. 

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 

Look full in His wonderful face, 

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, 

In the light of His glory and grace.” (Helen H. Lemmel)