Psalm 51:10-19

Psalm 51:10-19 
Revised Standard Version (RSV)

  10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
  13 Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
  15 O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 16 For thou hast no delight in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, thou wouldst not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
  18 Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19 then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

**********************

  Everyone who wins the lottery has a plan, I think.  They think they know just how they spend the money.  The problem is that when they win, they get distracted.  They were going to stay just the same, but they got a bit distracted every day and eventually drifted from their original course.
  We get distracted, too.  If God answered the deepest prayers of your heart in the way you want him to, you would plan to spend your days praising him.  The reality is that we would all get a bit distracted.  We would do really well some days, giving thanks and glory to God.  Other days (most days, perhaps), we would get wrapped up in ourselves and forget about what life was like before God answered that prayer.  We might even forget about the dramatic thing God did.
  This is what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness.  It happened to the disciples, too.  They forgot.
  And so we pray for a new spirit, that we might not forget, that God's actions might lead us into prayer and praise, into lives of purpose lived for the glory of God.  We all fall short and get distracted--that's sin.  So we pray for a new spirit, for a clean heart, that we might focus on God and give him the praise and glory he deserves.

May you praise God today!