Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:1-2 NIV
David knew God’s love would never fail him. He trusted in the compassion of God. Though he had made horrific choices and was covered in sin, his relationship with God was close enough for David to understand God’s willingness to blot out his transgressions. Think about that for minute. God could blot them out, so they would no longer be recorded, washed away, gone forever! David could be clean again!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge. Psalm 51:3-4 NIV
David knew the depth of his sin, it was always before him, always haunting him with guilt and shame. Oh, how he longed to be clean again, to have his sin blotted out, washed away! He understood the punishment he deserved and he knew that God would be justified in his guilty verdict! So what is his request?
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity. Psalm 51:7-9 NIV
His heart’s desire was to experience joy and gladness again, for no one in sin experiences the joy of the Lord!
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12 NIV
David needed God to purify his heart, for it had gone astray and sought after other things. There’s no greater joy than that which accompanies a heart that’s fully devoted to God, unpolluted by the things of the world, but David had compromised. He went after things that God had defined as off limits. His spirit was no longer steadfastly following the ways of the Lord, and David felt the pain and loneliness of sin. So he cried out to God. He prayed for God to hit the reset button, to renew within him the right spirit, to again give him a heart purely devoted to God. For David remembered the joy that he experienced when he had that, and he wanted it back again!
There’s joy in righteous living! David knew that better than anyone. He had experienced the friendship of God, night after night, as he sat with the sheep, playing his harp and celebrating the goodness of God. We still benefit from his quiet times with God every time we read through one of his beautifully written psalms. David remembered the glory of facing the giant with nothing but a sling and confidence in God. When he walked with God, David could conquer the world! But all that departed when sin entered his life, and David desperately missed it!
Man’s heart is desperately wicked, and no one understood that better than David. He cried out to God and pleaded for a “willing spirit.” He needed a spirit that was willing to turn from sin and walk with God, for that’s when David was the most satisfied!
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Psalm 51:14 NIV
Where can we turn when we are guilty of sin and in need of intervention? To God our Savior!
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:17 NIV
And what sacrifice can we bring Him as we cry out for forgiveness and restoration? Just our broken and repentant heart!
God will never turn you away when you are truly repentant, for his love is unfailing and his compassion is great!