The Redemptive Cleansing of Repentance

The Redemptive Cleansing of Repentance

A Psalm 51 Bible Study

Written by Cheryl Samelson Skid

Psalm 51:3-5

3 For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speaketh and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Opening our Hearts to Each Other and to God

1.               Can you remember the first time you were aware that you had done something wrong? What were the circumstances? What did you think? How was it resolved?

2.               Can you remember the first time you thought about God and how He related to you? Tell about that.

3.               Do you know anything about the circumstances of your conception, birth, and how your parents related to you? 

Original Language

Shapen  חול   (khool)  to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail, be in anguish, be pained

            Conceive יָחַם  (yacham) to become hot and mate

 Let’s look at those words a little more closely and relate it to nature around us. I was watching a nature program seeing the  rarely viewed mating dance of the bird of paradise in Papua   New Guinea. The male would call to a female and then prance, twirl, twist, flutter, and cause an amazing display of feathers as he pranced, producing interesting sounds of quills clicking together! The female was passively there.  The male, all the while cavorting in a mating dance,  could tell by looking at the female when she was ready to receive him.

But God! No matter how ready your mother was to receive the seed that formed you, God wanted you. He planned for your birth and welcomed you in the world. Sometimes we feel unwanted by parents.  Perhaps you were the product of a one night stand, a drunken party, or a violent rape. None of that changes the fact that you were wanted and desired by God.  Know this: your life was planned by God. You have inherent value because He, the God of heaven and earth, WANTED YOU ON THIS EARTH AT THIS TIME.

Cross Examination

Let’s look at the circumstances surrounding the writing of Psalm 51

For this lesson we must read two chapters of the Bible. 2 Samuel 11 and 12.

2 Samuel 11:1  David sent the men to war but where was he? ____________________

11:2 Where was David and what was he doing? _________________________________

11:3 How do we know that David was very much aware of the woman’s identity and that of her husband? __________________________________________________________________

11: 4-6  Bathsheba and David have intercourse, and she tells David the news.   Why do you think David sent for her husband from the front lines of the war? ____________________________________________________________________

11:7, 8 David acts really friendly to Uriah, says (in essence) go home and sleep with your wife; after all, you deserve it. For what reason is he being so magnanimous? _______________________________________________________________________

11:9 Uriah surely is a mighty man. He refuses to sleep with his wife, and instead does what? ____________________________________________________________________________

11:11 What reason did Uriah give for not sleeping with his wife?____________________________

11:13 David’s plot did not work. Uriah didn’t sleep with his wife. He was too noble. He put loyalty to David and his fellow soldiers above his own desires. So David goes to his next plan.

Which is?__________________________________________________________________

11:14-17 How did David finally get what he wanted? _________________________________

David apparently had no twinge of conscience on his own. Instead God sent a prophet to David to show him the heinousness of his actions.

2 Samuel 12:1-13 How did the prophet Nathan get David to see the reality of his own sin? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We come to the place where Psalm 51 begins.

Discussion

1.     Instead of allowing David to sin, hurt Bathsheba, and kill a man, couldn’t God have just stopped David before he even started this cycle of destruction? _____________  Why do you think God allow David to act is such a way with such painful repercussions? ___________________________________________________________________

2.     Has there been a Nathan in your life? ___________________________

3.     Have you been a Nathan to another? ____________________________

4.     Are you holding onto anguish or pain of an unconfessed sin? _________________________________________________________________

5.     Did God forgive David? _________________________________________________

6.     Can He forgive you? ___________________________________________________

Do Work

If you are struggling with an unconfessed sin, or if you can’t forgive yourself find a Nathan to walk you through forgiveness. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed!

I’d love to hear from you! Cheryl Skid cherylskid@gmail.com  (314) 603-5687

Contributions may be sent to Women with a Vision P.O. Box 693 Florissant MO 63032 USA to help ministries around the world.

The Power of Music

Curious, how children coming from the same womb and raised in the same home can be so different. Mine each walked and talked at different ages.  They each had a favorite thing to carry, favorite book favorite past time.. One thing, however, was the same with all my children. I seemed to lost my authority and influence over them once they got their own 'boom boxes' Now it is i-pod; then it was the boom-box, a great big ungainly black machine that plugged into the wall and  out of which came the offerings or lures of various radio stations.

I had been careful with what my children ate (no sugary cereals, plenty of fruit, no soda with meals). I chose their friends by befriending their parents. TV was carefully screened. I was a stay-at- home mom so I had control over what they ate, saw, read.

However, each of them at one time or other requested and received a boom box. That meant that in their rooms they could turn on whatever stations they wanted.

And what they wanted was unacceptable to me. But I had lost them. Nothing was the same after each one got his or her own music. It was as if SUDDENLY their brains were reprogrammed. Their countenances changed as did their vocabulary and posture.

I just started reading a book called Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement by Dan Lucarini. At first I thought, "Oh come on. Everything was contemporary once. Even who we now call classical composers often scandalized their first audiences with their creations to the point that some walked out in mass.

But then I started to feel Dan's heart. And I started to remember the boom box and the effect it had on each of my children. As I am typing this I'm listening to Hillsong. It's contemporary. But as I am listening to it, I am worshipful on the inside.

However what my children heard did not make them worshipful on the inside. It turned them ito creatures I didn't recognize.

 I had worship music in the house, plenty of it and played it in the car so often they memorized the words to entire tapes! Is the answer to keep children from access to a free choice of music?   I do know this: music is mysterious in its lure, its ability to transcend and transform. It invades hearts and moves feelings.

A click on PLAY and a room changes from a cave of loneliness  to an oasis of peace; it changes from NOW  to memories of being with my father as he held me as a child; it changes from light to dark, from dark to light, from complacency to determination, from smugness to remorse. 

When my son was an older teen and was listening to 'his' music in his car I made a decision to listen to it. What I found out was that there was a message in it, and it was thought-provoking. I decided I liked his music. My liking his music opened his heart toward me. My older daughter has become a huge fan of country music.  My younger daughter loves The Grateful Dead. I had to smile when I saw her sticking her prayer request into the wailing wall in Jerusalem. I could just see the back of her t-shirt which read "Ask Someone Who Cares".

So does music change us? or do we choose music that reflects our present feelings? It was a question asked by a literature professor at Indiana University: does literature influence our opinions or do we write literature to reflect what society feels?

Music. Is there anything else with such a strong influence?

Passing the Test

I am passing the test. As I started this Facebook Fast I was GRIPPED that I need to eliminate from my heart, personality, character, words, countenance, body posture three things: Complaining, Correcting , and Criticizing. As I started the fast and began eliminating the three C's I realized how much time, energy, stress they cost me.  Since I am pruning them I am experiencing  less anxiety and more peace. It's amazing how exhausting it is to try to rule the world!

Last night was a mid-term exam! Oh it hurt! Anguish. On second thought I think it was a pop quiz, not a mid-term because I am only on day (am I counting?) 9 of a 31 day fast. Here is what happened. As I mentioned yesterday Neil said Florida was out---not enough money and not enough reason to go..useless, fruitless, nope!

I did none of the three C's! I held my peace. Huge victory.

 After all, God doesn't need programs and conferences to equip His people. I have victory in choosing the best thing: unity with my husband. I think that is MUCH more important than attending any conference.

As I sit before the Lord daily, function within my local church, stay in right fellowship with other believers, I have to trust that God will withhold nothing I need to increase in the abilities, skills, and giftings that are important to Him.

After all Joseph didn't attend a conference. He was thrown in jail. Daniel didn't attend a conference. He was tossed into a lion's den. Esther didn't attend a conference. She was you might say 'trafficked'. Ezekiel didn't attend a conference. He was exiled.

Whose bright idea was the 'CONFERENCE'?
Thanks for listening!

Dealing with Disappointment

Well, here is the story. I have enough teaching money so that Neil and I could have a room in Florida and pay for plane tickets, but Neil said it is way too much money and I agree. I have done LOTS of traveling all over the world that has been very expensive, but the difference is that when I went to those places I was going to bless the nations, speak to the people, and leave a sweet fragrance of the Lord because I was giving out the Word.

This trip to Florida would be just to attend a conference by the organization that licensed us in ministry. That would basically  be $1000 to be pumped up.

If  I truly felt STRONGLY about the need to go I would take a  stand and say, "I'm going." But it's not worth it. Not for strife or pulling away from my husband.

You see, I'm supposed to go to Guatemala this summer and minister to very poor women who live in the jungle. Now THAT is my idea of $$ well spent. Then in the fall I WANT to go to India to Garden of Life orphanage to bring a word of encouragement to the widows and to bring some cheer to the orphans.


II'm a woman's minister.  That's $1000 I'd rather spend it on an INVESTMENT in lives than in a  'feel-good' conference that would only benefit me.

Now--on the flip side of that I can say this: if it benefits me it benefits others because what is poured into me pours out into others. If I am dry as a bone I can give out nothing. But I'm not dry. I'm a well-watered garden because I am in the Word every day. There are plenty of events close by that can serve to refresh me so that I can be ready for what comes.

I'm hosting a woman from Africa for two weeks. She and her husband have an orphanage in Kenya and oversee several churches there.  It will be an honor and blessing to host her in my home. I was so delighted to go to Kenya and minister to women who had walked for hours...or even days to come..with their babies and bedrolls on their backs, then slept on the FLOOR!  Talk about pressure! When you know that ladies have walked for days and slept on the floor to hear you, you really know you have to step up to the plate.

. Therefore $1000 to go to Florida for just a time of refreshing and iron sharpens iron and being equipped for the next season....

I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I trust God that whatever I was going to get in Florida He can give me another way. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."

Got my answer this morning: Go! It is one of those defining moments; I can't let money be the determiner of what I do or don't do. I am not being foolish. I'm not borrowing money. I have a job substitute teaching which is money I use for such things. I also have my book to sell. I'd love to send you one for $15.00 plus shipping! It would help me build up my traveling money: it is a wonderful book called Taking God's Word to Heart,  a devotional journal. Just let me know and I'll pop one  in the mail.

This is sanctity of life week, so I will again post my story but I won't leave it up long.  Girls, if you are considering an abortion it is not something that you do and is over. You are always someone who killed your baby. Whenever you hear of any child accomplishing something wonderful you will think, "What could my child have accomplished?" Whenever you hear of a child contacting his or her birth mother you will think, "I didn't even give my child a chance." Whenever you are tempted to think that some hellish fiend did some awful deed and should be put away you will think, "Well, look what I did."


Precious young lady I will be SO GLAD to talk to you. Young man, if you pressure your girlfriend or wife into killing your baby you will never ever ever cease to be a man who killed his child.

Doctors, nurses who are performing and assisting abortions you know you hate what you do. Forgiveness is available for all of us. We need to receive it and walk in the freedom of being forgiven!

This is just a warning to those who are considering...it is a long journey that never ends.

If you want to talk to me just let me know in a comment and we'll make contact.

I love you!

Cheryl

Help Me Think! (That is Avalanche in the Photo)

Help me think!  Neil and I are planning to go to a conference in Destin, Florida. Sounds like a lovely place and I'm sure it would be a great week-end but it is a lot of money to go for four days and not help anyone! When I travel around the world I go with a purpose: to invest something of myself in people which will in some way make them better able to continue onward. This is just---fluff---as far as I'm concerned. A hotel room, plane fare or worse, drive! Neil said, "We'll drive." No way! It's 12 hours. It's one thing if he is used to driving, but he's pooped from a drive to and from Illinois which is only an hour. If we drove we'd be tired when we got there so we wouldn't be able to receive anything from the conference.

I'm not one to run here and there to be 'refreshed' or 'enlightened". I'm of the opinion that whatever I need, God knows, and He can give it to me where I am. Now maybe that is wrong thinking. I know that people flock to revivals to receive something they obviously think they can't get at home. I even know people who have almost died because they chose a local doctor instead of expending the time and finance to go further away to a specialist.

Back to the money. I would rather spend the same amount of money and go someplace where I am needed for the gifts that I possess. But if I use that same line of reasoning, God knows what those people need and can give it to them without my schlepping half way around the world to deposit it.

So help me think. What do I GLEAN from conferences. Well, the most wonderful thing I ever glean is new friendships, fresh revelation, a booster shot of faith, a new way of looking at things, strength to go on. Uh oh! I'm talking myself into going, or am I just opening the curtain and letting in the light so I can see clearly.

Maybe I'll go. I already reserved the room. I would get to see my cousin Robbie who would come down just to have some schmoozing time. That would be delicious. And I did feel the pull that night when I couldn't sleep where I kept sensing, "I need to go to Florida for this conference. I need to go.....pull....pull....pull....."

Thanks for listening. Good night. I'll sleep on it and we'll see what tomorrow's thoughts bring.

China Connection

I'm thinking about one of my travels to China and how people come into our lives for five minutes but  remain forever in our memories. The person in the photo with me is not among those of whom I write, because the people of whom I write would be endangered if their names or photos were found in my blog.
It was 2006 and my second trip to China. This time I determined that I would be able to meet the leaders of the underground church. The first trip I had made in 1995 didn't allow such because our guide was very fearful---not for himself--but for the safety of the Chinese Church. Contrary to what the news may say beatings and imprisonments are punishment in China for professing Christ unless it is done in the 'approved' format. Approved means that the time of the service, the place of the service, the pastor of the service and the number of people attending meets the requirements of the government. In 2006 we hired a Christian (we thought) guide who was bilingual and who would be wiling (we thought) to make our connections. It turned out that our guide was indeed a member of the 'party' and very loyal to the Communist government and did much to keep the meetings from coming to pass. However we did meet incredible people who had suffered. We were able to worship in secret places through winding streets--locations of which change weekly. We met with a female leader who was constantly watched, whose locations had to change often, whose family was endangered. We met with a man who had left his hometown to do the work of the Lord but was so so so homesick that he finally returned home for a short visit. During that short visit his entire family was arrested and imprisoned. We met an American couple who is working underground in a profession but is ministering to the poor, disabled, illiterate and bringing the response, "You care this much about ME?"
What memories. This is a process as I prepare to write a book about my travels called Traveling Through Time. I have stacks of notebooks, each with precious memories. It is so time consuming to go through, extract the stories and type them up. It takes so much longer because each memory is a jewel that I stop to polish until it  shines.  The young lady in the photo? God blessed me indeed with a Chinese daughter in law.

Fasting Facebook-----again!

Fasting Facebook again. That means tearing myself away from your exciting lives, cute kids, and great vacations and honing in on........me. So where are we? I'm going to concentrate on eliminating three C's from ME. CRITICISM, COMPLAINING AND CORRECTING. Amazing how much time and energy those three little C's take up in a day.

How about you? What is it about Facebook that we find so attracting. I don't want to say the word addicting?