Scripture Reading(s)
Psalm 51:1-10
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
51:5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
51:6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Reflections
David had just committed a grave sin, one that ended the life of one and took a life for his own that was never his to begin with. He allowed for his lustful and sexual desire to overcome his love for God and fell right into sins trap.
Repentance is a beautiful display of our love for Christ. It communicates that we are sinners and in desperate need of God’s saving Grace in our lives. Being able to admit that we are wrong and are incredibly sorry for our sins is also a form of humility.
Here David is not only repenting of His specific sexual sin, He is also bringing it back to the point that we are all born sinners and in need of a forgiving Savior (vs 5). The reality is, we cannot save ourselves. We cannot rectify our sinful nature and offer Grace in order to erase our sins. We need someone who is Holy, pure and without sin to save us.
David is able to recognize all of that and therefore cries out to Our Holy God to forgive and save him from the sin that he has committed. He is not making excuses nor is he in anyway saying that he is deserving of God’s Grace. This is a cry of one who see’s the severity of their sin and knows that without God’s gracious hand, he is a lost hopeless sinner.
We have all been where David is. We know what it is like to fall into temptation and allow for sin to take over our desire to love and obey God. However, our response to sin is what truly reflects if Christ is reigning in our hearts. Guilt can sometimes be a good thing, it allows us to recognize that what we did was wrong and needs forgiveness. Staying in our guilt is also not what reveals a repentant heart. It is doing as David is, there is a call for admission of sin and asking for God’s forgiveness. God knows that we are prone to sin, yet when we come to Him with a heart that is open and honest, He is quick to answer and to remind us that His love has overcome our sin.
David was aware that the heart of man is not able to save itself. The heart of man is not without sin.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
But David’s prayer was answered, just not in his lifetime. With the new covenant we are given new hearts, not longer made of stone.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
But we are still lacking perfection. We still sin. We still fall short of the Lord’s perfection. But Jesus took care of that. As David requested, Jesus has blotted out our sins and the Spirit of the Lord is now within us.
Therefore, as Paul urged the early church, let us obey and walk in the Spirit. Do not walk according to the flesh but be lead by the Spirit.
Psalms in general and Psalm 51 in particular invites reading and performance. Through a poetic prayer, the writer opens windows and doors into new ways of seeing the world in which we live. The writer provides a timeless connection with human experience and the activity of a loving God.