Psalm 51 Part Three: Our View of Sin

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

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.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

PSALM 51:1-6

Today I want to focus on the first six verses of Psalm 51.  As I wrote yesterday, in this section I think that David sets an incredible example for us of how it looks to approach God in an honest and humble way as we bring our sins before Him.

Just as a reminder, David wrote this Psalm after what is probably the most infamous sinful incident in his life.  If you don't know the story, it's pretty basic, and unfortunately one that you have probably seen play out in the life of someone around you.  

David, the king of Israel, was at home in Israel.  It was wartime, and scripture says that while it was usually a time when kings went off to war, David sent his most trusted man instead and stayed home himself.  He was standing one day in his palace, and he saw a woman on the rooftop of a nearby building who was bathing.  Naked.  I could probably stop here and you could piece together what happened next, but I'll keep going.  

David was aroused by the woman (named Bathsheba) and asked his men about her.  They reported to him that she was the wife of Uriah, one of David's soldiers.  This should have deterred David, obviously, but it didn't, and being the powerful man that he was, sent for her to be delivered to him at the palace.  She came and he immediately slept with her.  She went home, and after a couple of months pass David gets a message from Bathsheba: "Surprise, I'm pregnant!"  And not by her husband, I might add.  

David panicked, and long-story-short he decided that he'd send Uriah to the front lines of the war that was raging, and then he told the rest of the men to pull back so that Uriah would be killed.  It worked - Uriah died.  Bathsheba mourned.  Then David took her to be his wife.  And scripture says that "the thing David had done displeased the Lord."

After all of this went down, the prophet Nathan was sent by the Lord to confront David about his sin.  Nathan showed up, and basically told David that he had despised the Lord by taking the power and stature that was given to him for the good of Israel and using it instead for wicked things.  Nathan laid out the consequences of David's actions, among them the impending death of his newborn son with Bathsheba.

In short, God allowed David to reap what he had sown, as you and I have experienced before as well.  

Sometime after Nathan chastised David, David wrote this beautiful, honest Psalm.  His story gives so much life to these words, because he knew sin.  He knew shame.  He knew humiliation.  He is you, and he is me.

It took Nathan confronting David for him to fully realize his sin.  My question for you and for me is: what does it take for us to realize our sin?

Are we quick to search our hearts and to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us when it comes to our sin?  Or do we dismiss our sin easily, choosing to see ourselves and our sin in comparison to others' sins on our man-made sin scale, which in our own minds diminishes the severity of our failures?  Do we really even view ourselves as sinners, or are we so grace-focused that sin becomes a non-focus for us because we're already children of God, forever and for good, so what does it really matter?  

It's so easy to fall into all of those habits, isn't it?

I ask these questions because sin matters.  And our response to sin matters even more.  How we respond when we sin against God and man is a reflection of our very view of God.  Do we take the time to stop and think, even just for a moment, how our sin affects our Heavenly Father?

Let's take our eyes off of ourselves and our own consequences for a moment to simply focus on how God feels when we sin.  What does our sin communicate to Him?

There are not many references in scripture to God's feelings when we sin against Him, but in Genesis 6 the Bible tells us that God saw the wickedness mans' heart and He was grieved.  Also, In Isaiah 63, scripture says that God's people rebelled, and that it grieved the Holy Spirit.

The dictionary defines "grieved" as "to cause to be sorrowful, or distressed; to hurt or harm."  We can have a theological debate all day long about whether or not we can truly hurt God in the emotional sense, but I do know that scripture is clear in the two examples above that mans' actions can and do affect the Lord.

And what does our sin communicate to Him about how we value His saving grace and His gift of love through Jesus?  I know that, as a mother, when my children disobey and disrespect me, their behavior communicates to me that they don't have much regard for my requests, my rules, and my feelings.  That what they want and what they think is more important than anyone else's desires or opinions.  That they know best.  There is nothing more hurtful as a mom.  

How our sin must show God the severity of our selfishness and pride.  We think we know better.  We think we can handle things.  We think we are exempt from following His Word.  We often think that God is there for us, not that we are, in fact, here for God.  To shift our thinking in this area alone would result in such a changed life and attitude toward sin!  

Scripture says, "what is man, that God is mindful of him?"  The only reason God is mindful of us is because He created us and is in us.  The only reason our lives have any significance is because of and only for our Heavenly Father; apart from Him we are nothing.  

When we truly grasp the fact that we have been created, chosen, and redeemed by the One who made us, and that we exist for His glory, our attitudes toward sin have to change.  When we realize the depths of our humanity and depravity, our attitudes toward His forgiveness have to change.  And when we realize the vast greatness of the love of God for you and for me, our attitudes toward the Lord have to change.

May we gain the understanding that King David did when Nathan approached him and called out his sins. May the Lord open our eyes to our filthiness and our need for a Savior.  And may we bring our sins before God in humble confession, holding nothing back and fully realizing the iniquity in our hearts.  Because the first step to being made right with God, to restoring relationship with Him, is to admit our failures freely, proving our need for a Savior like Him.

Psalm 51 Part Two: Approaching A Holy God As A Sinful Man

Psalm 51 is so rich in truth I think I could pick it apart for days.  Yesterday I wrote about the hope the can be found in this song of David, the realization that if a man as stained by sin as King David could be referred to as a man after God's own heart, there is hope for you and me yet!

Today I find myself rereading the Psalm, and in it seeing such an excellent example of how to approach the throne of God, the purest and most holy place, after dirtying ourselves in sin.

The Psalm is broken into three sections, which I will study in more detail in the days to come, but today I am looking at the overall outline of David's prayer.  The humility and brokenness that permeate his words show a contrite heart.  His desperation for God's restoration is so easy to relate to.  I believe that his approach to forgiveness and healing was right, and I want to learn to pray more like him as I bring my (many) sins before my Heavenly Father.

I believe David's prayer can be broken down into three simple sections, which can be great examples for you and for me:

1. A CONFESSION OF DEPRAVITY

2. A PLEA FOR CLEANSING

3. A RESTORATION TO MINISTRY

A CONFESSION OF DEPRAVITY
In the first six verses of Psalm 51, David approaches God as a wreck-of-a-man, mincing no words and wasting no time when confessing his many sins to his Heavenly Father.  Remember, this Psalm was written by David after he had slept with Bathsheba and started that proverbial snowball rolling.  After sleeping with a married woman and then sending her husband off to be killed at war, the prophet Nathan went to David and did what prophets do best -- called him out on his sin.  After this encounter, David was broken over his sin and came before God in the most raw and honest way he knew how.  He was ugly with sin, as you and I so often are.

When we sin, our relationship with God is broken, and we must come to Him in full repentance and humility to restore the relationship that has been damaged.  Sometimes I come to Him in a hurry, just to check another to-do off my list.  Confession -- CHECK!  Forgiveness -- CHECK!  But my God sent His only Son to die for that sin, the sin that I so flippantly write off.  Does He not deserve more from me than that?

As a mother I walk my children through the process of asking for forgiveness when they have wronged someone, which happens quite often.  I can most definitely tell when they are truly sorry and are tearfully asking to be forgiven versus the times when they do it to "check it off their list."  God's no fool -- He knows my heart.  Who am I to think that God deserves any less from me than a broken, contrite spirit.

When I need to make things right with God, I need to get alone, to get quiet, to allow His Holy Spirit to truly convict my heart and speak to my soul.  I need to take time to feel my brokenness, and to feel how my sin hurts my Father.  I need to take a moment to feel the shame that comes from my poor choices, not because shame is what we need to live under, but because it truly helps me to appreciate the forgiveness and freedom that He offers me.

This is how David approached God.  This is how I want to approach Him, too.



A PLEA FOR CLEANSING
After taking time to meditate on his depravity, David does the only thing he knows to do in order to be made right with God -- he begged for the soul cleansing that only comes from heaven.  Verses seven through twelve show the words of a man who knows that apart from God he is nothing, and that without his cleansing power he can never be made whole.

He begs for God, in His mercy, to cleanse him and make him whiter than snow.  He asks God to restore his joy and gladness, to hide His face from David's sins and blot out his iniquities.  He asks God to create a clean heart within him, to renew his spirit, and to uphold him.

God tells us that we can receive forgiveness from Him anytime we ask through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.  The debt is payed in full.  The forgiveness is available.  All we must do is ask.



A RESTORATION TO MINISTRY
From verse thirteen on David goes a step further in his request to God, a step that I don't know that I would have thought of.  I guess that's why he is a man after God's heart!  After confession and a plea for forgiveness, David then asks God to take the mess that he's made, the damage he's done, the lessons he's learned, and to use them and him to bring about life-change in those around him.  In short, he is asking God to restore his ministry and to take his past and use it for others' redemption.

It's pretty gutsy, if you ask me, and it is also such a great example of how the Lord wants for us to approach Him -- with boldness and confidence.  David believed the best about God, and trusted that God would exchange his failures for fruit.

How often to I follow David's lead on the first two steps of confession and cleansing only to allow lingering shame to hold me back from ministry.  I'm depraved, so God couldn't possibly use me, right?  Wrong.  David asked God with great confidence to restore him so that he could "teach transgressors [God's] ways, and sinners will return to [God]."  He asked God to cleanse him so that his tongue could "sing aloud of [God's] righteousness."  He begs God to open His lips so that he could declare God's praise.

This is how God wants us to operate -- in freedom and hope that comes from Him!  Our sin does separate us from Him, and we do need to go through the process of confession and cleansing, but after that He wants us to jump back up, to hit the ground running, and to use our faults and failures to highlight His amazing grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love!

What good are our sins if we can't use what God does in spite of our humanity to draw others to His heart?

As followers of Christ, we must take our sin seriously, we must approach him brokenly, we must seek his forgiveness, and then we must allow Him to use the messes that we are to shine the light on the amazing and powerful God that He is.

May we approach Him as King David did, with a heart that is ever after His righteousness.

Psalm 51: There's Hope For Us Yet!

If you have any knowledge of Old Testament figures, you probably recall King David being referred to by the Lord as "a man after God's own heart."  That is quite a statement to be made about anyone, let alone a man who, while a king who loved God and penned many a beautiful worship song, had a far-from-perfect history as a follower and man of God.

David was an amazing Biblical figure, no doubt, but he was also a perfect picture of the human condition, constantly battling between holiness and sinfulness.  He loved God and led with integrity and conviction in one moment, and in the next he gave into his lustfulness, sleeping with another man's wife and then having that man sent to slaughter.  He trusted God one moment, and then took matters into his own hands in the next.  He blessed God, then later cursed His name.

And yet God called Him a man after His own heart.

At first thought, my pious, judgmental nature protests, "But how can that be?  He was not worthy of such a title!"

And then, in the next moment, when I hold up a mirror to my own heart, my own sin, and my own shame, I simply say, "thank you, God, for choosing to give such a name to David thousands of years ago, for in that name I see Your compassion and Your unending patience with David, and with me."

I have not committed adultery, but I have lusted in my own heart.

I trust God, until I don't.

I have not cursed the name of God, but I have dragged His name through the proverbial mud by way of my actions and words.

I would like to believe that I am one that God would see as a pursuer of His heart, as a shining example of what it means to be His child.  And in that desire, in that very thing, is an element of pride, which is sin, and that in and of itself points to my complete brokenness, my complete depravity and inability to do anything at all with truly pure motives.

I scoff at what a fool David was, ignoring the plank in my own eye.

I judge others' actions and weigh them on my own sin scale, as though my opinions and judgments matter one hill of beans.  Which they don't.

God never said that David was without sin, but instead that he was a man after God's own heart.  And this isn't more evident than in the Psalm he wrote after committing adultery with Bathsheba, decimating her marriage, killing her husband, and breaking his relationship with God.  His sin was deplorable, but his repentance was real and gritty and desperate.  And his heart was after full restoration with the Lord.

Imagine the following words being penned by David after the most humiliating, offensive sin he had ever committed.  Then picture yourself, as I am picturing myself, being desperate enough for healing in your relationship with God that, no matter the magnitude of the sin, you seek God's forgiveness in this way.

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  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 judgement.  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.  Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.  Deliver me from my bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar." -- PSALM 51 (ESV)

My plan is to break this apart into a few more detailed studies, but as I prayerfully consider this entire Psalm, the thing that strikes me most is that David unabashedly and unashamedly approaches the throne of God (with confidence) to seek His forgiveness and restoration.  He knew that, no matter the gravity of our sin, God can redeem, restore, and heal.  And God called Him a man after His own heart.

May my conviction, no matter the sin, be so great that I RUN to the foot of the throne of God and beg His forgiveness and cleansing power in my own life.