Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.

Psalm 51: 13-15

A few months ago, Patrina and I attended a David Crowder concert in Cincinnati. Crowder’s music touched on the subject of salvation and restoration because that is the heart of the Gospel message. Christ came to redeem us and then gave us the “ministry of reconciliation.”

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

David’s psalm was intended to be sung in the congregation as a hymn of reconciliation and I can imagine how his personal experience with God’s forgiveness could help those who heard.  He was willing to tell of his own failures in order to help people return to God.  David longed to sing the praise of God’s righteousness.

David longed to sing the praise of God’s righteousness and I wondered if David’s personal story might relate in these familiar words (in our household):

There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t cure

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are
Come as you are
Fall in his arms
Come as you are
There’s joy for the morning
Oh sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

Like David, the King or the modern-day musician, we all have a story to tell.  Can we or will we invite others to lean in and listen to our own story of redemption?