Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 ESV
Yesterday, we looked at the narrative and the outcome of David’s tryst with Bathsheba. We see David essentially commit murder to cover up his affair, and we see the prophet Nathan come and confront David about the evil that he has perpetrated.
David could have been dismissive. He could have just shrugged off Nathan’s confrontation and said, “This is where my heart led me.” He could have said, “God wants me to be happy.” But he does not deflect. Despite his error, David still desires to do what God desires of him. He wants to be right before God, and when the clarity and gravity of his treachery sink in, he shows contrition. Not combativeness. Not excuses. Contrition.
David knows that what he has done is wrong, and he knows that he is not capable of fixing himself and reorienting his life and priorities alone. He cannot wash himself clean of his sin, but God can forgive him and cleanse him of the sin that has come forth from him.
David sees what would later be written: God does not desire sacrifice, but repentance. Not a cheap get me out of this mess offering, but a recognition of the sin done and the brokenness of recognizing the gravity of the separation from God that sin causes. God accepts sacrifices, but he accepts these sacrifices from a clear conscience; he doesn’t desire sacrifices from a guilty one.
-JJ Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Why do we struggle to see the gravity of our sin?
How can we truly show contrition, not just be sad that we’ve had our sin found out?
What can we learn from Psalm 51, a psalm of repentance?
In today’s passage in Galatians, 5:23, we read of the rest of the fruits of the spirit: gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (NASB 1995) The spirit of self-control is a quality that would have served David well in today’s passage in 2 Samuel 11. What can we learn from the story of David? Sin can have a domino effect. One sin can easily lead to another. David’s first sin was probably just looking at Bathsheba longingly while she was bathing. Jesus tells us that for a married person to even look upon someone else with lust is equivalent to adultery. Ideally, David should have looked away immediately once he realized she was not clothed. We can probably safely assume his self-control did not kick in at that moment to prompt him to quickly avert his gaze, which then led to feelings of lust multiplying in him. Then, as the story goes on, we see David actively pursuing her, impregnating her and then frantically trying to figure out how to clean up his mess. David’s struggle with temptation is obviously not unique. We only have to look around to see we have many temptations competing for our attention. Pornography is more accessible than it has ever been and has been named as a major public health crisis due to the impact on individuals and their marriages and families.
Abiding in the living vine is our best defense against the onslaught of temptation that we face on a daily basis. Self-control is not easy to come by naturally because temptations are considered to be temptations because they are powerful and tap into our carnal desires and stimulate our senses. Whether it’s overindulging in alcohol or food, taking drugs that aren’t prescribed to us or abusing prescription drugs, sexual sin, etc., temptation comes in many forms. Thankfully we don’t have to rely on our own strength to resist them. Abiding in Christ helps us to cultivate that fruit of the spirit that includes self-control. Of course, like any plant, a vine must be tended to. We cannot ignore it and expect it to thrive. It is a choice that must be made daily, sometimes hourly, at times even minute by minute, to abide in Christ.
-Kristy Cisneros
Reflection Questions
Besides in this chapter, where else have you seen sin’s domino effect in action?
What temptation grabs your attention and pulls you away from where you should be? Where does it lead to next?
What does it look like when your temptation wins over your lack of self-control? What does it look like when your self-control wins over temptation? How do you feel in each instance? How are others affected in each case? What do you imagine God is thinking or feeling in each scenario?
What specific actions can you take this week to abide in Christ more and more? What will it cost you? What will the benefits be?
If there is one thing we can all do well, it is sin! We mess up and usually a lot, whether in thought, word, or action. We have all done something in our lives to fall short of God’s desires. David wrote Psalm 51 during a time in his life when he had messed up big time. Most of us probably can recall the story of David and Bathsheba, if not it can be found in 2 Samuel 11-12. At this time, David was completely broken, it was in his brokenness his heart revealed the words found in Psalm 51.
When I read this Psalm, I see three parts to it. The first is in verses 1-9. Here, David acknowledges that he has sinned, and he asks God to forgive him of his sins. The second part is verses 10-12. In these verses, David asks God to be changed from his sinful ways with the statement “create in me a clean heart.” The final section is verses 13-19. David proclaims what he is going to do because he has been forgiven. He says he will teach the ways of God, he will joyfully sing, and he will declare God’s praise.
I think we can apply all three parts of this Psalm to our lives. When we sin and mess up against God, we need to be like David by confessing our sins, and asking for forgiveness. Right away in verse 1, David asks God to “Be gracious with me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” We then need to take action, recognizing that we need a changed heart and restoration. But it doesn’t stop there, we need to take the forgiveness given to us and live for God. When you are transparent with people they will see your changed life with God and will hopefully want that as well. Just as verse 13 says, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you.” Follow David’s example, ask for forgiveness, ask to be changed, then show others how you have been changed.
-Camden Bormes
Reflection Questions
Have you experienced God’s forgiveness and the changing of your heart? If so, did you use the opportunity to declare His praises and show/teach others how you have been forgiven and changed? How?
What does your heart need to be cleansed of today? What sins stand between you and God right now? Pray this Psalm to the Lord. What does it feel like to have your sins blotted out by God? What will your clean, changed heart look like? How will you share with others what God has done for you?
What does God reveal about Himself in Psalm 51 and your reading today? What words would you use to describe Him? What will your response be?
Do you remember the first time you disobeyed your parents or did something that you knew was wrong? Chances are you felt guilty and ashamed. Those are two different things.
Let’s imagine that your Mom made fresh chocolate chip cookies. After they cooled a bit she gave you two cookies and a glass of cold milk. It was delicious! Then, after she wiped the excess chocolate off of your hands and chin and nose she put the rest of the cookies in the cookie jar and she told you, “The rest of the cookies are for your Sunday School Class. There’s enough for each person to have 2 cookies, but don’t you take any more or there won’t be enough.” She goes about her activities, but all you can think about is the cookies. They were so delicious and you’d like to have some more, but your Mom said “no more”. When Mom’s not looking you go and grab another cookie and shove it down your throat as fast as you can before she sees. You go back to coloring. Your mom comes back in the room, looks at your face and says, “did you eat another cookie after I told you not to?” You say “no, mommy”. Then she asks “then why is there chocolate all over you face and fingers again?”
You’ve been busted. If you’re like most people you’re feeling two things: guilt and shame. You feel guilty because you did something wrong, you disobeyed your mom and stole the cookies after she told you not to and then you lied to her about it. You also may feel shame. “I’m a bad boy or a bad girl, I never listen to mommy, mommy’s going to hate me now and when the kids in my class hear what I did they’re gonna hate me too, and so will my teacher and so will the pastor when he finds out, and maybe even God will hate me.”
When we feel guilt we feel bad about something we have done (or sometimes what we didn’t do that we should have.) When we feel shame we feel that there is something wrong with us. I’m broken, I’m damaged, I’m bad, I’m evil. Guilt and shame are both powerful and shattering emotions. Is there any remedy for them?
Psalm 51 was written by King David. I recently attended a musical about David at the Sight and Sound Theater. It showed David’s life from the time he was a little shepherd boy until his death as King of Israel. David was a great man, a man after God’s own heart. Most of the Psalms in the Bible were written by David. David killed the giant Philistine Goliath with stones and a sling. David was good, but he was not perfect. One of the worst things David ever did was commit adultery with his neighbor’s wife while his neighbor was off fighting in battle in David’s army. David got his neighbor’ wife pregnant and then tried to cover up his sin. In trying to cover up one sin David committed an even greater sin and had her innocent husband killed in battle. It was an act of great treachery. David succeeded in covering up his sin so that no one else (he thought) knew about it and then he took his neighbor’s wife to be his own.
David was later confronted by the prophet Nathan who revealed his sinful act. But even before his sin was revealed, David was not at peace. His heart was mired in guilt and shame. In the midst of his guilt and shame David cried out to God to be set free. Psalm 51 is one of the prayers he prayed to God. Take time to read through Psalm 51. Imagine this powerful king in anguish before God. He is so overcome by guilt and shame, that he had sinned and that he was a sinner, a wretched, broken man. What David feared most was being alienated from God, from the joy of knowing God’s saving love and the power of having God’s spirit.
David knows that if he can be set free from his feelings of guilt and shame, the joy of God will come back to him and he will be able to powerfully declare God’s grace and mercy to other people who are also trapped in their guilt and shame.
Lots of people today are trapped in guilt for what they have done and shame for who they are. So much of the evil we see going on in our world every day is born out of people trying to escape the bad feelings of guilt and shame. Rising rates of suicide and deaths from opioids, increased murder and sexual violence, the rage and confusion that so many feel all can be traced to feelings of guilt and shame and attempts to cover up or self-medicate the pain away.
There is a better way. David knew that true healing for his guilt and feelings of shame would only come from God. Only God could bring real joy to His heart. The same is true for all of us. Jesus, who was both David’s descendant and the true son of God provides the only lasting solution to guilt and shame. When Jesus went onto the cross he took upon himself the burden of our guilt for sins we committed and our feelings of worthlessness for having committed those sins. In their place we are forgiven of those sins and discover our true identities, we are also children of God made in God’s image.
I John 1:8-9 says: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Chances are, after you told your Mom that you really did eat the cookie and said that you were sorry, she wiped your face, gave you a big hug and said “I love you, don’t do it again” and you felt a lot better. Love covers over a multitude of sins.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions:
Which do you find more painful- Guilt- I did something wrong, or Shame-There’s something wrong with me, I’m worthless?
What are some of the ways we try to hide our guilt and shame? Why do they often make things even worse?
Is there still some guilt and shame hiding in your heart? What is preventing you from going to God, confessing it to him and letting him clean you up and give you a hug?
Solomon, who is he and why should I know that name? First, let’s review the salacious story that led up to the birth of Solomon. It was Spring, a time when most of the kings in the land would go to battle, due to favorable weather conditions and plentiful food. However, King David, decided for whatever reason to send his soldiers out to battle, but he himself stayed back in Jerusalem, which certainly went against the warrior king’s typical protocol. On one of these fine Spring evenings, King David took a walk out on his roof top. As he was strolling around he gazed upon a beautiful woman bathing. David inquired who the gorgeous bathing beauty was, and was told she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. King David invited Bathsheba to join him in his bedroom….which lead to…..can you guess? I’ll give you a hint. A short time later Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant, with his child.
Upon hearing that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child, King David twice tried to convince Uriah, one of his fiercest warriors, to come home to be with his wife, hoping it would appear that Bathsheba had gotten pregnant by Uriah. When both of those initial plans failed, David concocted an even more sinister scheme, this time to have Uriah killed. King David ordered that Uriah be sent to the front line of the fiercest battle, and then instructed that the rest of the soldiers fall back, leaving Uriah alone to face the enemy. Just as planned, Uriah met his untimely death in the battle that ensued. Following Uriah’s death, Bathsheba moved into David’s home and became his wife.
Not surprisingly, God was very displeased with David for taking Uriah’s wife and then sending him out to die. David had to face the consequences of his sins.
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you (David) king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, there, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (2 Samuel 12:7-12)
After God delivered this message to David the child born to David and Bathsheba became ill. David was full of remorse and pleaded with God for forgiveness and for his son’s life. God forgave David, but his first son with Bathsheba died.
David and Bathsheba had a second son, and they named him Solomon. Solomon means peaceful. Solomon went on to become King and his reign was one of peace as foretold in I Chronicles 22:9, “But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.” God loved Solomon and told the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah, which means beloved of Jehovah.
There may be consequences to pay for your sins, but if you seek forgiveness God can still work through your “mess” to accomplish great things. After all, from David and Bathsheba came Solomon.
-Jill McClain
(If you’ve been reading with us all year you know we have been working on reading and discussing one chapter of the New Testament everyday – with some FREE THEME days added in to round out the 365 days. For the month of October we will be reading one chapter of Proverbs a day – the 1st chapter on the 1st of October, 2nd chapter on the 2nd, etc… It’s a great book to help us all gain a lot of wisdom. Then, in November we will cover the book of Revelation, and finish off the year with the last gospel we saved for December: Luke. Keep reading His Word!)
Seek Grow Love 