Click here for an audio version of this devotion.
I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Acts 11; Psalm 51; Isaiah 18.
Psalm 51
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.
I have most of Psalm 51 functionally memorized. I get tripped up here and there, but I don’t get tripped up on the essence of the Psalm. This is a psalm of repentance, asking God for forgiveness, and a pure heart. These two things are something only God can do. He alone creates – or better yet – re-creates clean hearts. He alone forgives sin. Those two works of God are two facets of God’s gracious work in the lives of believers.
Some might say that true believers never sin. But the sinful flesh continues to cling to us until the day we die – even after we’ve been brought to faith. And though we may repent daily (as we should) we still sin much and never outgrow the need for God’s grace, forgiveness and renewing work. John says it well: “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). He also says, “But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Of this, David is a great example. This man after God’s own heart also let his heart be lured to lust after Bathsheba. He sinned with her and had to be confronted by Nathan the prophet for that sin. This psalm is his prayer of repentance. And it captures the hearts of many people, and has done so for many centuries. The portion of Psalm 51 that is used as the offertory in the liturgy of the church reaches deeply into the sinner’s heart. The good news of God’s forgiveness lifts the weight of sin and shame, and re-creates our hearts into the image of God’s love and grace, faithfulness and truth.
Today I thought of the follow-up to the most familiar part of Psalm 51 for many people, “And uphold me with a willing Spirit.” David continues, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” The greatest impact we can have in the lives of wayward and erring people is a humble, repentant, and restored heart – rejoicing in God’s salvation.
Imagine it: In your next conversation with a doubting friend or weary family member, what if your quiet “I’ve been there, and here’s the mercy that met me” draws them home? Pray Psalm 51 in sincerity today; let it re-create you for such moments. After all, God’s grace isn’t to be hoarded. It is meant to be shared in the ordinary rhythm of our daily lives.
David Bahn - Reflections 
Leave a comment