Psalms 51
Psalms 51:1-19 (NLT)
1 For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. 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.
David displays an incredible life-saving response to a judgment of terminal consequences. There’s no way he should have survived that series of blunders each of which was worthy of execution, and yet His understanding of God’s love and mercy, the passion of His heart that was looking for any other possible way out, drew Him close to the Father’s side with a cry for forgiveness, mercy, and cleansing. Instead of desperately scrambling to offer sacrifices for his transgressions, he knows that no offering will be of any effect from a heart that is not broken and purified in His presence. He also understands that the greater purpose in receiving mercy and forgiveness is the enablement of ministry. Much more than personal reprieve is the qualifying for ministering the ways of God to others. Their conversion is dependent upon his, but only if his includes mercy from his certain demise. He looks beyond his personal escape to the rebuilding of Jerusalem with a people established I’m their worship of God.
Those usually not caught up in the extreme transgressions David had fallen into, there is no one equipped for ministry and the revelation of God’s ways apart from complete dependence on His mercies that endure forever. This is why this praise of the Father rises in significance above all others. There is no receiving from Him, there is no serving Him, and there definitely is no representing Him and His ways apart from a place taken by His side only because of His grace and mercy. Rather than riding on confidence gained from what is known about Him and a list of sacrifices made to ascend to a position, there is an opportunity to, with a broken heart, throw everything on His altar for the preparation in cleansing that can only come from Him there. Knowing His heart is essential, especially in times of failure, that He so passionately desires to restore us He sent Jesus to acquire for us an accessible mercy that we can treasure and apply above all other treasured gifts.