Psalm 51
Confession
So what does that word stir up in you? Confession is often one of those words that leave us feeling a little less than comfortable. It is difficult to admit and face the hard stuff. This psalm is one of those that invites us into the experience of a man who struggled with the same issue in the wake of huge moral failures. It is a psalm about confession, and all that goes with it. In many ways, it is psalm about very bad news. The losses that came about as the result of David's failure were huge. But it is a psalm that is also about much more than that. It is also a psalm about restoration, and healing, and cleansing, and the gracious character of God. It is an amazing psalm on many levels, and one that is well worth reflecting upon.
It is worth taking a few moments to take the psalm, line by line, and noticing those words, phrases, places where you resonate with what David is expressing here. As you do so, pay attention not only to David's sense of his own sin, but also the conviction of God's graciousness, and what that sense of graciousness opened within David - the hope for cleansing and restoration. This, and more, is what Pastor Jon explores with us this morning as he leads us through this Psalm.
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Psalm 51
NIV
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.