Do You See Your Need and His Grace? (Psalm 51:1-12)
GIST: Knowing the depths of your brokenness and the depths of God’s love and power will properly direct your desires.
The psalm we’re coming to today, Psalm 51, is one of the most famous in all the psalter—and for good reason. It’s rich. In fact, there is so much here, I feel there is no way I could mine in properly with you guys. We’re going to tackle it over two weeks, but I know we could spend much longer. Like I said during our Bible Study Wednesday night, please take this conversation as a springboard for further study. You won’t be disappointed.
Not only is the psalm itself full, but the context adds an extra layer. Sometimes we’re left to speculate about the original circumstances that led to a psalm—which is rarely helpful. We don’t have to worry about that with this one. Look at the title or inscription: “1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”
This is one of the darkest moments in David’s life. He messed up, big time. In fact, we could easily spend several Sundays just on the background information for this psalm. If you’re not familiar with the story, it can be found in 2 Samuel 11-12. Here’s a quick overview→
At a time when David should have been with his army at war, he stayed home. While he was chilling at the palace, he looked out and saw a woman bathing on her roof (yes, there are lots of questions this raises, but for today’s purposes, we’re just going to acknowledge she was there, and he was into it). He then sent to find out who she was, found out she was married to one of his men, and had her come to him anyway. He slept with her, and she ended up pregnant. Now David, who knew much better, decided to lauch a cover up anyway. He sent for Uriah, her husband. They discussed the war and ate together. Then, David sent Uriah to spend sometime with his wife. He didn’t. David kept trying, and even got him drunk. It still didn’t work. What does he do next? Sends a letter to Joab, the commander of his army, telling him to put Uriah on the front lines—and when the fighting gets intense to pull back and let him die. It works.
Then, after a period of mourning, David and Bathsheba got married. It seemed like he had gotten away with adultery and murder…until the prophet Nathan showed up. He told David a story of two men. One had a ton of sheep, and the other had just one which he raised like one of his own children. However, when the man with a bunch of sheep needed to feed a guest, instead of taking from his own flock, he took the only sheep of the other man and fed it to his company instead. David was indignant. He demanded the man’s life and said he needed to pay back four times what he took…at which point Nathan let him know, “Yeah, that was you.” David was rebuked and punished. In fact, the child he fathered with Bathsheba died as well.
Again, there is so much in that account, but for now, let’s just let that sit as the backdrop for this psalm. David was caught in adultery and murder. He was known as a man after God’s own heart, but he let sin take over and he screwed up…big time. Maybe you can relate.
Even though we’re only going to walk through the first 12 verses today, let’s read the entire psalm for context.
“1 … Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 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. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. 16 For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will You delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.”
What a beautiful picture of repentance and a wonderful reminder of God’s convicting love. To try and focus our conversation, let’s try to walk through this in three points today (which will be our gist, as well): Knowing the depths of your brokenness and the depths of God’s love and power will properly direct your desires.
I. Knowing The Depths Of Your Brokenness
“1 … Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 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. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
In Need (1-3). David doesn’t shy away from his guilt here. He is not only aware of what he’s done, but he takes ownership. He knows he’s in need. In the first three verses he calls out for mercy, asks God to blot out his transgressions and wash him thoroughly because he knows his sin. In fact, he can’t stop thinking about it. It’s in front of him all the time. Without God, he’s without hope.
Original Sin (4-5). That’s really what he emphasizes in the next two verses, but we need to break these down a bit because the wording in English can be a little tricky. When he says he has only sinned against God, he isn’t ignoring the effects his sin has had on others. Undeniably, he hurt people with his actions. We know he doesn’t view his sin in a vacuum though because the end of this psalm focuses on the impact it has on others. Instead, David is focusing here on the core of the offense. Sin, all sin, is ultimately against God. That is why the wages of sin are death. The reason sin warrants an eternal punishment is because we’ve sinned against an eternal God. On top of this, Martin Luther said it was also as if David, gazing at his own heart, thought when God looked at him all He’d be able to see was sin. It’s like he’s saying, “All I am is sin before You!”
That’s also what he means by saying he was brought forth in iniquity. He isn’t implying that he was the product of some sinful union. By all accounts, his parents were God-fearing people. Instead, his pointing to his nature… and ours. He didn’t become a sinner. He was born that way. He gets it, but he doesn’t slip into self-pity. He looks to God’s love and power→
II. And Depths Of God’s Love and Power
What makes this so beautiful to me is that David doesn’t only have a clear picture of his heart, but he understands the heart of God, as well. He’s crying out for mercy, but he’s not talking to an empty room. He’s talking to the God who He knows works: “1… according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy”.
Steadfast Love. Love that doesn’t give up. Love that doesn’t fade. Love that perseveres and pursues. Our love can so often be fickle and fleeting, but His can’t. He is the definition of love. Love itself is a reflection of His character, so He is never less loving.
Abundant Mercy. His mercy, that not giving what is deserved, is abundant. That’s the cross, right? We need rescue, and He comes and not only provides that but comes offering a personal walk with Him, a life though outwardly wasting away inwardly full of the riches of His glory!
I feel like an infomercial, but I want to say, “But wait, there’s more!”
“6 Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
He Delights In The Truth—In the Inward Being. This is the heart of God. He wants us to know the truth. He’s not trying to keep us from it. David knows this because he has witnessed it.
He Teaches Truth—In the Secret Heart, or In the Depths of the Soul. He moves to create real and lasting change. Which, again, is why David asks Him to→
Cleanse For Real! He knows that when God comes in cleaning, it works! Right now, David is stained by sin, but he knows it doesn’t have to stay that way. This picture of being made whiter than snow is a picture of purity, and the idea of the hyssop…well, that’s a really cool picture. See, hyssop leaves were used in ceremonial cleansings and offerings. One of the notable uses was in the cleansings of lepers, so this might have been what David had in mind. Another notable place where hyssop leaves were used was in Exodus 12:22 when the Israelites were told to mark their doors with the blood of a lamb. This blood was put on using a bunch of hyssop! How are we ultimately made clean? By the blood of the Lamb, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross!
So he saw himself, and he saw God, and it changed his heart. In fact, it changed his desires→
III. Will Properly Direct Your Desires
I was going to label this point “properly directs your desires to His feet”, but I didn’t want the gist to seem too abstract to be helpful. Nonetheless, that’s what we see happening here. David, aware of both his depravity and God’s loving sovereignty, wants the joy only being with God can bring. Look at the next couple verses here.
“8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
Joy. He wants joy, but how? How can he have joy when he’s done something so terrible? Honestly, this could probably be a sermon discussion in itself, but let’s walk through some key words here. Again, please take time to chew on these in your private devotions. I know I need to. In light of his understanding, here’s what David asks of God.
Hide. Where does this all start? God not seeing His sin anymore.
Blot Out. Then it progresses to removing the sin completely. For this to happen, he knows he needs God to→
Create! This is the same word used in Genesis 1 to describe God bringing everything out of nothing. This isn’t a reshaping. It’s making David something completely different. Heart change is the miraculous work of God, but it is possible precisely because of that!
Renew. David once walked in close communion with God. He longs for that again. That’s the key. He wants to be with God. That’s why he asks Him to→
Cast Not. David knows his life literally depends on being with God, but he also longs to be in His presence. He wants the Holy Spirit actively in His life. He asks God to cast not→
But Restore! This verse: “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” has resonated with me for years. So so so many things come trying to rob us of that joy of belonging to Jesus, that infectious fire of knowing we’re His—fully known and perfectly loved, rescued from the depths of our sin. David longs to rejoice in Him again. And he wants this desire upheld.
And Uphold! He’s not looking for a temporary fix, but he wants complete heart change— a spirit that willing desires to remain in the arms of his Savior!
Make me new, and may the joy of being with You last forever. What is this a picture of? Salvation! I mean look at that list again in light of Jesus.
Hide. When we’ve been rescued by Jesus, God no longer sees our sin when He looks at us. Why? Because it’s hidden beneath the covering of Jesus’ righteousness.
Blot Out. Ultimately, this will be true of us because when Jesus came, He came to destroy sin and death once and for all.
Create! In Him we are… new creations.
Renew. Made new.
Cast Not. And drawn to His side.
But Restore! Exactly where we were always meant to be, living the existence for which we were created full of everlasting joy.
And Uphold! Forever.
So our takeaways for today, when you really step back from it a bit, is a picture of the gospel.
TAKEAWAYS
You are a sinner.
God—who is holy and loving and powerful—wants to rescue you.
You can experience His salvation because of His sacrifice and the gift of His grace.
Is this perspective informing your desires?
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