June 5: The Willing Joy of Salvation

“11Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Psalm 51.11-12
We should never think that the Holy Spirit was not present in the Old Testament, establishing faith and fellowship with the Lord. If we fall into the temptation of thinking that the Holy Spirit was absent in history until Pentecost, then we miss out on the amazing ways in which He was working in the souls of men and women throughout the Old Testament.
As David mourns his sin in Psalm 51, he isn’t just sad that he has done something wrong, but he fears what the absence of God’s Holy Spirit would mean. The absence of the Holy Spirit, as David understands it, would mean losing the joy of salvation. But even beyond that, it would actually mean losing his own willingness to live a life of dependent trust upon the Lord! It’s as though David doesn’t just fear being a dog that is left outside because of his disobedience, but he fears becoming a dog who has forgotten his true home and doesn’t even remember the joy of living with his master. That is what the presence of the Holy Spirit does for us – it brings the joy of God’s salvation, and it produces in us the willing desire to trust the Lord in all of our life.
1. What losses would come upon you if the Holy Spirit were not present in your life, producing the fruits of salvation?
2. How does this mean that we should encourage brothers and sisters in Christ when they are feeling the effects of sin?