How many times have you read psalm 51, David's prayer for forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba? How many times have you truly studied it, tried to read it and understand it from the heart of David? How many times has your heart broke as you saw the pain and the anguish, not over just the sin but the fellowship he lost?
Psa 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psa 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
David knew there were consequences from his sin, that a Just and Holy God must judge him, must hold him accountable. David recognizes his need for forgiveness, his need for God to cleanse him from this sin. David also recognized that his sin was directly against God, yes Uriah paid a price, yes the baby from the illicit relationship died, but His sin was against God and His Word. David tried to hide his sin from man, he tried to cover it up but God saw, God knew, and God was the one he had to answer to.
Oh that our hearts were this pure when addressing our sin, oh that our souls quaked, our bones turned to jelly with the fear of God and the fear of His silence in our lives from our sin.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
David addresses the sin nature and the fact that we are conceived in the sin state that we fight against day in and day out.
He knows what God wants and he tells us, God wants us to do right, till the stars fall do right.
Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Psa 51:9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
David is not praying for forgiveness so he doesn't lose God's blessing. He is praying for forgiveness so he can fellowship with God again. He doesn't want the presence of God taken away from him.
Yes he sinned, yes in the heat of the moment and the events that followed he messed up, and his chief concern isn't restoration of the blessings but restoration of the fellowship.
That he might hear God, know God, see God again. That he might have the Lord in His life talking to him, with him and leading him. He is more worried about the relationship than anything else.
Do we have that kind of contrition over our sin? Do our tears fall, does our heart break? Do we worry more over the silence of God than the removal of blessing? Do we have a desire for God to restore us to fellowship without the underlying thought of what we lost in the blessings? The true repentance of a man comes when he realizes that the silence from God is far more devastating than the loss of blessing.
For, when God goes silent, do we even miss His voice? Or are we so busy salving our conscience with our "me prayers", our "me repentance" that we lose sight of the true reason for repenting? That He might cleanse us, forgive us, and that we might be in a healthy relationship with Him.
Once he repents and begs for restoration what does he do with it? Does he stay quiet about it? No he uses the lesson to teach others, to edify those who do not listen to the call of God to repentance.
Psa 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Psa 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
David is asking God for so very much that is important to Him. Him (GOD). Not David. David truly is the man after God's own heart, despite his faults, his sin, he seeks God, he seeks to do God's bidding. Even in his prayer for forgiveness he is asking God to let him be a better vessel to praise and witness for the Lord.
David wrote the Psalms, he has gone down in history as a great king, a musician, a writer, a singer, a warrior and the one whose blood line would have the Messiah. David, the sinner, the murderer, the man of the sword, has been blessed throughout history because he was a man after God's own heart. His prayer here in this chapter defines the man, even in his guilt, remorse and broken heart, he is asking for God to help him praise the Lord.
Our prayers of repentance, do they convey this? do they break us? Do they show our heart to truly be for God? Or are our prayers of repentance solely that we might have the blessing of God back? Do we confess and repent that we might be restored, so that we might have His hand on our lives, His voice in our ears, His Word speaking to us again? Do we have heart break when we do not hear from God? Do we cry out afraid He has gone silent, never to hear Him again?
Once we confess, God cleanses us and restores us to fellowship, what do we do with it? Do we sweep it under the rug? Do we hide it and go forth as if nothing has changed, that it never happened?
We should never glorify the sin, but we should tell people of the Amazing Grace, the Amazing God who restored us, yet again, despite our sin. The very fact that God forgave such a horrible sin, and that He still wants to know us should be cause for praise. It should be cause for us to never want to grieve Him again, never to cause Him hurt and pain with our disobedience. It should be cause for us to strive even harder for the fellowship and right relationship. For our God, the very Lord of the Universe has deemed us worthy to talk to, to carry His Spirit, to speak His Word.
What more can I say to that? That is it. period. God cared, how Amazing!
Even more Amazing is that God sent Nathan, not just to condemn David, not just to point out his sin before God. God sent Nathan to David so that He could have fellowship with David again.
God wants fellowship with us so much, that He tells us when we are in sin that we might be restored to Him. God wants us to talk with Him, walk with Him, so much so that He does all the work to help us see what is stopping us from His fellowship. He points it out, He forgives, He cleanses and renews our heart.
Amazing Grace indeed.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psa 51:18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Psa 51:19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
The sacrifices God wants and truly savors are a broken spirit, a contrite heart. This is what God desires when we sin, when we fall out of fellowship. He knows we will sin, He doesn't want ceremony and pomp and circumstance when we do, He wants contrition, true heart repentance that the fellowship with Him might be restored.
All the ceremonies and traditions do not matter, it is the heart He is after. It is the desire to be with Him, to talk with Him, to serve Him, to make Him the focus of our life and our hearts.
God loves you and wants you to talk to Him out of love, not for want of blessings. Not for want, but out of desire just to be with Him, near Him, of Him.
This alone should drive us to be men and women after God's heart, the Love, the Fellowship He wants with us. He Wants. Truly can you fathom this? God wants, desires a relationship with you. How can we not strive to keep our relationship with Him intact after all He has done to make it so we can.
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