Psalm 51

1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.
14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.
16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
18 Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit— with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

Sometimes we need a lot of forgiveness. The occasion of this psalm was David's sin with Bathsheba; a praticularly ugly sin since she was another man's wife...a soldier's wife...who was deployed to another country fighting David's battles.

And it was followed with another sin...the murder of Uriah...the husband. Finally God's prophet, Nathan, went to David and contronted him with his sin; which he immediately acknowledged, and showed true repentance for it. What follows is...in my mind...the most precious psalm of the entire collection.

First, David recognizes his sin and throws himself on God's mercy. And he doesn't ask forgiveness based upon his lofty status as king, but upon the basis of God's love. "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night".
We are not often as scandalized by our own sin as we should be. We spend a lot of energy justifying our actions. The end result is our spirits are not broken and we don't approach God with the sense of repentance necessary for true cleansing. Why was David so broken? Because he understood the real nature of his sin. He says "Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight". That's what kept David from rationalizing. He knew it was senseless to debate God about it.

We should learn a lesson from David.

Besides forgiveness and cleansing, David asked God for three important things.
1. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
2. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
3. Restore to me the joy of your salvationDavid knew without some major change he would certainly fall back into his same bad habits. So, he asked God to perform a miracle on his heart...making it loyal to God. He than asked God to refrain from removing His Spirit from him. David knew...without the aid of God's Spirit...the possibility of him ever pleasing God was impossible. Finally, David did not want to suffer under the guilt of his actions so he pleaded for God to restore the joy in his life...based upon the reality of his salvation.

So, I think David "got it". At the core...he was willing to do whatever God demanded in order to be forgiven. He says " You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God".
Have you got some sin in your life you have been harboring for awhile? Don't let it fester. It will eat at you and destroy your peace. Let God break your spirit and restore you to the joy of His salvation. It's a very good thing when we can say "wash me and I will be whiter than snow!"
Live boldly out there today...