"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Psalm 51: 10-11
(Psalm means Song)
I was showing a pastor friend and his wife how this pas-
sage might be sung straight from the Bible, recently, when
his wife took exception to verse 11. She was not mistaken in
this, but when you consider the times and setting of Psalm,
you realize our Lord dealt with believers before Christ's life
on the earth, His death on the cross and resurrection, in a
different way. Before the resurrection, the Spirit came upon
believers for a particular spiritual function. When Jesus
returned to the Father, he came in the Spirit to dwell inside
the believer, saying "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."
Hebrews 13: 5. Our understanding is once a believer, born
of the Spirit, receives Jesus Christ, he has the promise above.
In Psalms there seems to be another understanding where
the Psalmist says, "take not thy Holy Spirit from me.," but
we see later the Psalmist makes a request. "Restore unto me
the Joy of thy salvation." When David sinned, he didn't lose
the Holy Spirit, (his salvation,) but the "JOY" of salvation.
So, what is the difference? Essentially, there is no discre-
pancy, just some misunderstanding on the part of readers. If
we take the whole, in context, there is no confusion. When we
sin, as did David, we lose our joy and effectiveness in living
in a way that pleases our Lord. We do not lose our salvation,
Now this couple, with whom I was talking,live the Word, and
are conservative servants of the Lord and are used in
Mexico as well as the U.S.A. to plant Hispanic churches. He
is fluent in Spanish, having majored in Spanish in college,
thinking he would make a good living as a translator. The
Lord had other plans.
He is greatly used, as is his wife, in the ministry. Both are
knowledgeable, effective teachers of Scripture and are soul
winners. Judith and I had the privilege of serving with them
in Fayetteville, N. C., when I served Grace Baptist in music
and youth. He was also involved in this work, while in the
U.S. Army before continuing his education in seminary.
Judith and I have been blessed greatly by this relationship
and from time to time are still in touch. We learned much as
we worked along side them at Grace Church and look forward
to more times together in the future
If either of them would like to clarify anything I have mucked
up, they have my email and phone... God bless you as you are
involved in the Lord's work. If this post raises questions let me
know at jlrsbnch@msn.com. Thanks, donporter,sr 12.03.19.
