The Joy of Salvation Psalm 51:1-12
Delivered to Smith Chapel UMC on August 2, 2009
What I Didn't Say
Wretched--King David knew what a sinner he was. He knew like the Apostle Paul proclaimed of himself many years later, "O, wretched man that I am!" I feel like that a lot.
Years ago, a friend of mine was chosen to be a part of a team of Mission Ambassadors to South Korea. When he came back, he told me of one his cohorts on the trip. One of the ambassadors from America was a woman who refused to sing Amazing Grace.
She wouldn't sing it because of the verse that said, "...that saved a wretch like me." She proclaimed to the group that she was "not a wretch!" Because in her own mind she was not a wretch, she refused to sing that great old hymn.
I have wondered over the years about her...and people like her. Did she feel that she was not a sinner, or did she feel that she was saved, never again to be wretched. I can't feel that way, and as a result, Amazing Grace is my favorite hymn...and has always been so. And if a man after God's own heart like David could be a wretch, I strongly suspect I am one as well.
I also strongly suspect that Amazing Grace would have been one of King David's favorite hymns as well.
