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.
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