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 readings, again we find ourselves in Psalm 51, and while I’m not going to write about it all 6 days we will be reading it, based on some commentaries I’ve read, there are definitely those who could!
It’s hard for me to read Psalm 51:10-11 and not find myself humming the chorus you may also know, “Create in me a clean hea-a-art, o-o-o, God, and renew a right spirit within me. . .” What I thought was interesting though was that reading along in my ESV, the words matched up exactly to the song I knew so I was absolutely stuck with the music running through my head. The next time I read it I must have used NASB when I stumbled into “renew a steadfast spirit within me” which is when I realized Keith Green apparently didn’t use that version, it added a syllable, and threw me off! Different versions use different words, fine and dandy. But, I realized I just didn’t equate “steadfast” with “right” in my use of the words. It makes sense reading either one in the Psalm, but it led me to do a bit more of a word study I found interesting.
The word “steadfast” (or “right”) in verse 10 is used approximately 217 times in the Bible, but the only place it is translated steadfast is 6 times in the book of Psalms. Other translations of this word throughout scripture include: made ready, established, set, formed, reliable, trustworthy. This helped me get a better grasp on the desirable type of spirit David was asking God to renew in him.
I also really liked how David wished to use his experiences of sin/guilt/repentance to help others and bring God glory as we see in verses 13-14. I am grateful David’s testimony lasted the centuries, and grateful for the testimonies I have heard in people throughout my life as well. We know as a society even from a more medical/psychological perspective that guilt and shame are two incredibly destructive emotions for mental and physical health for those of any age. Top of the list kind of emotions selected for those struggling with severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and other health problems. When we are stuck in a pattern of guilt and shame or know others stuck in that pattern, we need a sovereign God with a perfect plan of forgiveness and reconciliation to help just like David did. As we experience life including its mistakes and wrongs, like David, we want to share the mercy and hope we have been given with others in our lives.
As Psalm 51 ends, we see reference to Zion and the walls of Jerusalem prospering. It seems historically there have been some varying interpretations from theologians/commentators on these last two verses. Some hold the belief that just these two verses were added later during the time in exile after Jerusalem had been destroyed, and others suggest they were more prophetic words of David. Regardless of who wrote them and when they were written, I like that the Psalm ends with a tie to Jerusalem. A city that will continue to be in our news it seems throughout our lifetimes, and a hope of a New Jerusalem one day where there will not be sin, tears, pain, sorrow. Until then, may we seek to be restored and upheld like Psalm 51 so beautifully describes.
Ahh….Psalm 51. There are few Psalms I can remember off hand what they are about. I usually can recall that Psalm 119 is the really long one kinda smack dab in the middle of the Bible that talks about the word of God. Psalm 100 is my Mom’s favorite that she still has memorized and can recite on turbo speed which is an uplifting one full of gratitude. And then there is Psalm 51. It isn’t super long and it isn’t super cheerful, but it is authentic, transparent, and full of repentance. A psalm of confession at a time in David’s life that is so significant even our Bibles tell us what David had just been caught doing before writing this.
I don’t know about you, but I know I wouldn’t particularly want people thousands of years from now reading about my sins or finding prayers I wrote on my darkest days. But, I am so grateful that God allowed that from the man after God’s own heart, a beautiful poet and gifted communicator whose contrite and sincere words are available for us today to encourage, convict, and restore.
In Psalm 51 verse 7, hyssop caught my eye because right now I have it growing in my yard again, transitioning back to a vibrant green after the long winter of blah. For my purposes today, I like that it is a perennial with pretty foliage and purple flowers that also have some herbal benefits. But, in the Bible it is referenced as a cleansing and purifying plant, one used for cleansing lepers, ceremonial cleansings, and what the Israelites were instructed to use as a paintbrush of sorts for smearing the sacrificed lamb’s blood on the doorposts in Exodus 12. How beautiful a psalm and image to read on the first day of Passover. How wonderful to know that since David’s time, through his line, we received a Messiah through whom we can be cleansed and made right to God. It is encouraging to know that God always knew we needed this Messiah, and that Jesus was part of God’s plan from the beginning. The relationship with God we have through Jesus and the hope of the gospel he preached in the coming kingdom, a time of no more mistakes and tears, provides a source of joy today.
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
Someone else must think Psalm 51 is a noteworthy one we can relate to because like it or not. . . here we come. . . .6 days in a row!
-Jennifer Hall
Questions:
1. What do you like about Psalms and the books of poetry in scripture?
2. How do you relate to the words in Psalm 51?
3. Consider what you need to ask God to cleanse you of today, and rejoice in the mercy and great compassion David reminds us are abounding in Him when we turn to him in repentance.
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?
Have you ever done something and lacked the words to express everything to God? Saying, “God, forgive me” seems to fall short of what my sin deserves and how I feel about what I have done. If any of you have grown up in a church that was severely focused on obedience but didn’t give a full picture of who God was then you probably have felt this way, too.
Today as I was reading over Ps. 51, which is one of my favorite Psalms, I was conflicted about what I really wanted to write. What I really wanted to write about was Ps. 51.17 and correlate that back to Matthew 5.3. I actually wrote a devotion on Matthew 5.3 earlier this year and didn’t want to just duplicate the material. So today I am going to look at this Psalm in a new way.
This Psalm at its heart is a psalm of complete repentance. It expresses David’s emotion right after being confronted on his sin with Bathsheba. David’s heart is over flowing with that godly grief while in the moment of confrontation and writing his prayer to God he may have laid out a model for us to use in our own repentance. I want to break the Psalm down in sections and look at it in parts.
I think verse 1-2 provide a good preamble for what David is going to prayer for. I don’t think there is real reason to dive too deep into it.
Verse 3-6 is our first real section of the Psalm. Until recently when I looked at this section I thought lines seemed unconnected and kind of thrown together. I have changed my view on this now. I now know that all of these verses are looking to serve one purpose. In verse 3 David confesses of his sin and acknowledges that his sin is before him. Verse 4 is extremely interesting setting aside the “against you and you only” I think that this verse is referring back to 2 Samuel 12.9. David is acknowledging, according to God’s response through Nathan, that he did evil in God’s sight. By acknowledging that what God says is true is an act of obedience and submitting to God’s truth. David in line 3 and 4 says that he is admitting his fault in order to acknowledge the judgements of God as righteous and true. Verse 5 David admits that he has a deep sinfulness rooted inside him from his mother’s womb. Verse 6 is where we have the truth shine through. David says that God delights in truth in the inner being and he teaches him wisdom in his secret heart. This is a strange statement in context at first glance. David starts out this section with confession and ends it with God delighting in truth. What is confession at its root? It’s simply telling the truth. David is acknowledging throughout this whole section his sin before God and confessing God’s truth to him. He is acknowledging God’s judgements are true and the full depth of his sin. The drive of this section is confession. We can’t ignore this last line either. God teaches him wisdom in his secret heart. This sounds almost exactly like the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made David fully aware of his sin before God. So, to close this section out verses 3-6 are entirely about confession.
The next section comprises verses 7-12. They articulate exactly what I want God to do to my heart. Verse 7 in summation is, “God cleanse me, wash away my sin”. In verse 8 he is asking God to bring joy back into his heart. His sins had just drained the joy from him. In verse 9 he is asking God to overlook his sins and remove his iniquities. In verse 10 David asks God to create in him a clean heart and to put a steadfast spirit within him. In verse 11 David is asking God to not cast him away from his presence and not remove the Holy Spirit from him. In verse 12 David asks God to restore the joy he once found in how God saved him and help him have a willing spirit. I think you probably get the point but in every one of these verses David is petitioning or asking God to help or cleanse him from his sin.
I want to really delve into each one of these verses in the section 13-17 but I don’t want to wear out your attention here. So, I am just going to give away my point. In each one of these verses David is telling God his response. In each one of these verses David is ascribing an action or a change that David is making in his heart. True repentance always comes with with a new set of actions or a change in heart.
To pull all these together, David started out in verses 3-6 with a pure confession and a confession of God’s truth in the world. In verse 7-12 David petitions God to cleanse and purify him, to replace his heart, uphold him, give him a right spirit and finally to restore his joy. In verses 13-17 David tells God what he is going to do in response. David says he will teach transgressors God’s ways, his tongue will sing aloud of God’s righteousness, his mouth will declare God’s praise and finally give God the true sacrifice which is a broken or contrite spirit. This model of confession, petition of cleansing, and response is a great example for us. It firstly acknowledges our sin, then asks God to cleanse us and then gives God the response to our sin. This model allows us to do what we can do and allows God to do what ultimately only he can do. It is our responsibility to acknowledge our sin but ultimately, we can’t cleanse ourselves or restore our joy. Those things are dependent on God and David in this section of scripture acknowledges that fact. David doesn’t just stop his life, though. He acknowledges that he can still praise God and he can still offer up the proper sacrifice of a broken spirit through which God can work.
Seek Grow Love 