Year One, September 26

Cleanse Me From My Sin1

Psalm 51

David’s conscience experienced great pain as a result of his great sin. Psalm 51 is often called “The Sinner’s Guide.” It is one of the penitential psalms2 that David composed.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

 David appealed to God’s great tenderness. Penitence has a sharp eye for the loving and merciful qualities of God. Let us also look to them.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

He could not bear to be contaminated by sin. His heart longed for complete pardon.

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

Sin clashes with God. Sin boldly defies God. It wants to be on the throne of our lives and drive God away. David had wronged Bathsheba and Uriah, but his greatest misery was that he had offended his God. Those who do not have the grace of God in their lives do not care if their actions dishonor the Almighty.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

David’s outward act of evil led him to look within and see that his innermost self was disgusting. He was a direct descendant of the first Adam whose fall in the Garden of Eden extends to the entire human race. When our falls lead us to discover and mourn over the sin within us, we are on the sure way to recovery.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

This is the wonderful voice of faith. The humbled soul, while mourning over its sin, yet trusts in the cleansing blood, and believes that it can remove all stain. Bad as I am yet I am not too filthy for the precious blood of atonement! The blood of Jesus can remove every kind of sin and blasphemy.)

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

Sin destroys! Grace must create a new heart. Penitents who are sincere are not satisfied with only a pardon. Their heart’s desire is to be holy in the future.

11 Cast me not away from your presence.

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

No one can teach about the power of forgiving love as well as those who have personally experienced it. Pardoned sinners are the best preachers to their rebellious fellow humans.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

David’s deep experience led him away from the mere practice of religion to the true spirit of the gospel. A real sense of sin will never allow someone to be satisfied with only ceremonies and forms of worship. They want the Lord himself to accept their spiritual worship and to accept their penitent cries for mercy.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

David was delighted to be able to reverse the disgrace he had brought to the church and build up the walls of honor he had pulled down by his bad example.

May the Lord be pleased to keep us from being the reason his name or people suffer. Amen. 

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¹ Psalm 51:2

² penitential psalms - Seven psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 & 143) attributed to David which express penitence, repentance, regret, sorrow, grief, guilt or pangs of conscience over sin.