Hello everybody and welcome in to episode #244 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Psalm 51 today and our focus is on How to Pray and Seek God When You’ve Done Something Terrible We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
“How can two walk together, except they be agreed?” Amos 3:3 … The idea, to me, is that we must not entangle ourselves with non-believers or the ungodly believers in a way that will draw us away from God. We need to interact with the world, or else we cannot be salt and light, but we also need to be solidly anchored in God. We cannot allow any earthly entanglement to draw us from God. One is reminded of Solomon, who unequally yoked himself with many pagan wives, and was drawn by them into idolatry.
Today we are in Psalm 51. What he did was despicable – terrible and indefensible. It represented an abuse of power, and, had it happened to a president in the United States of America, it would have been the worst presidential scandal in American history, and that, my friends, is saying something. King David committed murder, de facto rape, abuse of power, military treason and more, and the man murdered was likely a close friend, most certainly a military hero and a man of honor, and King David had his life snuffed out treacherously in order to satisfy his fleshly desires. There is no other way to frame what King David did than to so it was utterly horrible, and it is likely worse than anything you have ever done. Hopefully.
As horrible as David was, as heinous as his crimes were, however, he did not end his life rejected by God. Indeed, God’s testimony about David, a murderer, was that David was a man after God’s own heart. How can this be? And the answer, of course, is that David truly, deeply and wholeheartedly repented of his sin, and God forgave him. This forgiveness was NOT deserved, but as our Psalm says today, God will not despise (or turn away from) a broken and contrite heart. And God, some might say scandalously, forgave David.
We’ve all seen terrible apologies – whether the’ve been wooden, or forced, or insincere, or even arrogant – few things are more annoying and troubling than a poor apology. David, in Psalm 51, however, puts on a clinic for how to repent and how to apologize. Let’s read it, and let it inform us how we should repent and apologize.
Now, you might be thinking that you’ll probably never do anything as bad as David, and probably won’t need to apologize like this, but the fact is that Psalm 51 is helpful to us in every situation of repentance, and we will need to ask forgiveness and repent every day.
Notice how David begins by appealing to God’s compassion – His love – His Chesed – His steadfast love:
Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion. (Psalm 51:1)
and then, in a variety of ways and in different places, David admits his sin and acknowledges his guilt. He calls it sin, rebellion, guilt. He acknowledges that he has done evil and he confesses that he is guilty of shedding blood.
For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me. Psalm 51:2
He acknowledges also the impact that this sin has had on him, and that God has been absolutely correct in judging him and punishing him:
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge….let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Psalm 51:4 and 8
He next asks God to cleanse him – to remove the stain of sin from him, and that tells us something – that our sinful actions aren’t just a moment in time, but sin has the effect of staining or corrupting us. David knows his, and asks for cleansing. (Hyssop, by the way, was a plant the Jews somehow used for cleaning.)
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7
And then he has the audacity to ask God for to blot out his sins, for forgiveness and healing and a new and changed heart.
Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2
and
God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
Going beyond that, David asks for restoration, and even joy. Now, does David deserve this? Absolutely not. He deserves a tortured death like he gave to Uriah. Do we deserve God’s forgiveness? Absolutely not! And yet David, and we, can and must appeal to God’s gracious nature – His mercy and kindness. It is good and right and biblical to appeal to God’s abundant mercy and compassion, and therefore David asks:
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Psalms 51:8
Restore the joy of your salvation to me,
and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12
Let Psalm 51 then be a model for us. Not that we would follow it exactly, or use David’s words as our own, but that we would learn from what is said here – admitting our sin and guilt without trying to minimize what we’ve done, appealing to God’s mercy and compassion, acknowledging God as a just Judge, asking for God to cleanse us from the stain of our sin, and helping us to not keep on sinning, and then, even as David did, ask for joy, restoration, gladness, rejoicing, and the sustaining power of God in our lives.
Bible Memory verses for the month of September: 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2nd Timothy 3:16-17
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