In music, there is a connection between major keys (which tend to sound brighter and more cheerful) and minor keys (which tend to sound more melancholy.) This connection is described as ‘relative’; thus, A minor is the relative minor of C major and E minor the relative minor of G major, for example.

A minor key differs from a major key in certain notes only. The third note is lowered (flattened) by a semitone, with the sixth and seventh notes also altered slightly (depending on whether a harmonic or melodic minor version of the scale is played.) Examples of minor keys in pop songs include The Moody Blues’ ‘Nights in White Satin’ or Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’; church songs include ‘Father God, I Wonder’ and ‘Take Me Past The Outer Courts.’

Life can often seem sad and melancholy, and the psalms of lament reflect the tragedy, helplessness and sorrow we feel at times. I’m sure minor keys are used to reflect those sentiments. Only when we fully reach perfection in glory will the minor key be forgotten (‘Endless Hallelujah’, Matt Redman). In this life, it is a valuable tool for expressing ambiguity, sadness, complexity and indecision.

It’s worth noting, however, that the connections to major keys is never far away. Often, it is just a semitone, a half-step, which can change the whole ‘feel’ of a piece of music. So too in life, weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 126:5-6). God is able to turn our wailing into dancing, to remove the sackcloth and clothe us with joy (Ps 30:11), to bring us back from the depths of despair and restore to us the joy of our salvation. (Ps 51:12)

I love the way composers can alternate major and minor keys within classical music to paint a richly textured musical piece. In the same way, life contains both highs and lows, joys and sorrows. It can be difficult to walk through the valley, which feel cold, dark places, but God’s promise is that He walks beside us as a man of suffering who is familiar with pain (Is 53:5), a great high priest who is not unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses. (Heb 4:15) We may not understand or even like the minor key, but God promises a triumphant ending, a resolution of troubles and the permanence of His presence. In a symphony, the final movement is usually in a major key. Now, we wait for that final movement of God’s triumph and victory.

Stephen asked us to consider how we see God tonight. For those who are not Christians, their view of God may well be tainted by their view of what they perceive to be irrelevant church doctrine or even by their view of individual Christians who may be perceived as hypocrites, responsible for wars of religion throughout the centuries. For Christians, our view of God may also be limited, especially if we try to limit Him in any way (perhaps only considering Him when we are in church  – after all, He has promised to meet with us when we gather in His name, but doesn’t live in houses built by human hands!)

It’s true that God can be found in church and that He is found in Scripture, but we need more than a physical vision of God (who is, after all, invisible – see 1 Jn 4:19.) We need true depth and perspective to see Him as Three-in-One, instead of separating Him into roles (Father, Son and Spirit). Jn 16:1-33 gives us insight into the interpersonal nature of God and how there is intrinsic unity in the Godhead. Our vision of God must encompass who He is in His fulness and His unity if we are to see God more clearly.

Mark spoke this morning about the petition in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-13), ‘give us today our daily bread.’ This is not only a prayer for daily provision of food; it encompasses everything which God provides for us. In Matt 4:4, Jesus has reminded us that we do not live by bread alone but by every word spoken by God. We need to pray every day for a daily portion of God, learning to trust Him in the difficult times as well as in the good times.

Matt 6:34 reminds us that it is pointless to worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough trouble of its own. We need to live in the now, seeking God on a daily basis. Prov 3:5-6 reminds us that God requires us to trust Him with all our hearts, not leaning on (relying on) our own understanding (or reasoning or thinking.) Trusting in God means giving up our burdens to the One who has promised to daily bear these (Ps 68:19). We are also urged to acknowledge Him in everything (involving Him in all aspects of our lives) so that He can direct (make straight) our paths. When we do this, we will see God’s guidance and provision in every aspect of our lives.

Are you the strong, silent type or a chattering conversationalist? Do you like to be surrounded by noise, even background noise, or are you comfortable with silence? These questions are often answered differently depending on our personality type, but it can certainly be disconcerting and even discouraging to us when God appears silent. The proverb says ‘silence is golden’, but we don’t always agree with that!

David prayed ‘do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.’ (Ps 28:1, see also Ps 83:1, Ps 109:1). We find it hard when God is silent, but Eccl 3:7 reminds us that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak, and we need wisdom at times to discern God’s voice among the many voices there are clamouring to be heard. God often speaks in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12) which is only heard when we have stilled and quieted our souls. (Ps 46:10, Ps 131:2) We must also acknowledge, though, that there are times when God’s voice seems completely silent and we cannot feel His presence, and the Psalms encourage us to face these times honestly, rather than pretending all is well.

One kind of silence not encouraged by the psalmists is silence over sin. David recognises that when he kept silent, he did not prosper; forgiveness only came when his sins were confessed. (Ps 32:3, 5) We are encouraged to confess our sins, not keep quiet to God over them!

The Psalms also tackle other subjects connected with speech, such as how to deal with slander and malicious talk. In Ps 38:12 & 20, we read of people talking of David’s ruin and lodging accusations against him. It is always difficult to know how to respond to situations like that, but David’s response is to imitate the deaf and mute (Ps 38:13-14) – in other words, he ignores the accusations and does not reply verbally to them. Such a response may seem cowardly to us, but the Bible is full of reminders of the dangers of rash speech (see Ps 141:3, Prov 13:3, 17:27, Eccl 5:2, James 3:6) and we are given the example of Jesus who, when accused and tried, ‘did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.’ (Is 53:7) So often, a gentle answer turns away wrath (Prov 15:1); silence too can be a potent defence against accusations. We do well to listen more than we speak and to be unafraid of silence, for even in silence, God is there.

The washing powder adverts proclaim that their detergents wash whiter than all the others; Persil Automatic washes whiter than the others  [(Persil automatic advert 1978) &  (Persil automatic advert 1982)]; Daz Ultra gets clothes ‘ultra white.’

It’s not just clothes, however, that need to be white. Sin stains our lives more effectively than mud, red wine or blood stains our clothes and we are powerless to clean sin in our own strength. David prays for God’s cleansing: ‘Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. (Ps 51:2, The Message), ‘Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean; scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.’ (Ps 51:7, The Message)

Water is, of course, traditionally the medium used in cleaning, and the Bible often talks about water in this way (see Jer 33:8, Ezek 36:5 and Eph 5:26). In Ps 51:7, however, David prays to be purged or cleansed with hyssop, and this reference to the aromatic herb reminds us that in the Bible, water is not the only method of cleansing.

In Ex 12:12-13, we see that hyssop is dipped into blood and used to daub the doorframes with blood, the signal to the angel of death to ‘pass over’ these households during that final night of death before the Exodus from Egypt. Later on, hyssop is used as a cleansing agent for people with skin diseases or houses affected by mould and mildew (see Lev 14:1-7, 33-53), as well as being tied into bunches for use in sprinkling the blood of the sacrificed animals in sacrifices. Later, in John’s Gospel, we see that Jesus’s last drink is offered on a sponge lifted up to him on a hyssop stalk (Jn 19:28-30), thus connecting him with the Passover lamb slain centuries before in Egypt, associating him with the sacrificial and cleansing ceremonies which His death superseded and reminding us that His death is the means by which we can all be purified from our sins.

The Bible makes it clear that it is through the life, the shed blood, the death, and the resurrected, eternal, glorious life of our God and Saviour that we can experience the ultimate cleansing and purification: our sins, though red like scarlet and crimson, can be whiter than snow (Is 1:18), but only through the blood of Jesus Christ (see Heb 9:14, 19-22). David’s prayer to be cleansed with hyssop takes on prophetic significance as we recognise that only God has the power to cleanse us and make us whiter than snow.

The penitential psalms focus on the need for our repentance in approaching a holy God. So often, we like to rush in to the blessings found in following God, but without a true understanding of the enormity of sin, we will likely have a shallow understanding of the riches of God’s blessings and salvation and certainly will not appreciate the cost of Christ’s sacrifice for us. These psalms are full of anguished emotion (talking of sorrow, anguish, groanings, tears, brokenness and pain), indicating the psalmists’ awareness of the gulf separating them from a holy, pure, perfect God.

In the case of Ps 51, we are given the backdrop to David’s anguish, and it is perhaps a surprise to us to realise that it took many months of apparent oblivion to sin and Nathan’s incisive, prophetic story to awaken David’s conscience. How can this king, who had once been so sensitive to God’s promptings, have fallen so far from grace and been so blind? The sobering fact about sin is that it is often insidious, a ‘slow fade’ as Casting Crowns remind us: ‘it’s a slow fade when you give yourself away; it’s a slow fade when black and white turn to grey. Thoughts invade. Choices are made; a price will be paid. People never crumble in a day; it’s a slow fade.’ We are blinded to sin by our own self-righteousness (as the Pharisee in Luke 18:11-12 reminds us) and our capacity for self-deception (Jer 17:9), hence the need to pray for cleansing, restoration and purity. (Ps 51:7, 10-12)

The penitential psalms are not just laments over sin, however. They are rich mines into forgiveness, blessing and hope. Perhaps one reason we are not so aware of the blessings of forgiveness as the psalmists is that we have not felt the guilt and burden of our sin. (Ps 32:5) It’s only when we have stumbled and fallen, bucking God’s control like a rebellious mule or horse (Ps 32:9), that we can taste the full flavour of God’s forgiveness and know how truly blessed we are: ‘What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.’ (Ps 32:1-2, The Living Bible) Or, as Paul put it, ‘where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Rom 5:20-21) May we be unafraid to repent, secure that God’s grace, unfailing love and great compassion will be enough to welcome us:

‘And if I stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through,

And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace that first brought me to You.’ (Rich Mullins, ‘If I Stand’)