Have you ever felt spiritually empty while still trying to look spiritually happy?

The beaming face has been replaced with a dutiful smile. “Yes, it is another great day to be alive. We can thank the Lord for that.” Spontaneous expressions of gratitude have been replaced with platitudes. A certain awkwardness overtakes you as you try to mingle with other believers. You wonder if they can sense that something is wrong, but you work hard to mask your feelings. You can still say all the right things and go through all the motions—but something is missing.

What are you missing? You are missing the joy of God’s salvation and the enjoyment of all the extraordinary blessings He brought you into when He saved you. This struggle is not new. Even King David experienced it.

“King David—you aren’t smiling much these days. When we talk to you, you’re there, but you’re not really there. You seem preoccupied. We catch you staring off into space. Maybe you are simply daydreaming, but could there be more to it than that? You seem to have stopped composing your poetry. When was the last time you played the harp and wrote a new song of praise to your awesome God? Is something wrong? Have you lost something? What is missing in your life?”

David’s response? Here it is:

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,
O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
Psalm 51:12–15 NASB

“We weren’t far off. We suspected something was on King David’s mind. We detected a change. The joy just wasn’t there anymore. The vibrancy of his personal enjoyment of the Lord seemed to be missing—and it was. His lips had been zippered shut by something he had done wrong. He was missing the joy of God’s salvation.”

He lost his joy when he sinned. He committed adultery, and then, to legitimize his relationship with Bathsheba, he schemed to have her husband eliminated.

Sin in my life kills my joy. Sin is vicious—it will darken your character, damage your integrity, kill your joy, and cloud your sky. It will haunt your conscience and cripple you in life.

King David could only endure the misery for so long. With a broken and contrite spirit, he turned to the Lord in Psalm 51 and poured out his deep emotions, his guilt, and his sorrow over his sins. He knew he could not placate God with a Blue Ribbon Heifer for a sacrifice. An insincere person could go through those kinds of motions—just lasso a cow and drag it to the altar. But to make things right, something far deeper than that had to happen. He said:

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:16–17 NASB

Are you missing the joy of God’s salvation? Do you have sin in your life that you must deal with? Be sure of this: it will never go away until you humbly confess it and make it right. Even unconfessed sin, years later, will hang over your head—robbing you of joy and hindering your usefulness for the Lord.

Can you get on your knees today and deeply consider each verse in Psalm 51 as your own prayer to the Lord? Can you insert into those verses the exact sin you have committed and be open and honest with the Lord?

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 KJV

When you come honestly to God in confession, He will forgive you, cleanse you, and restore the joy you have been missing. There is joy waiting on the other side of honest confession.