You Are Not the Only One

Psalms Chapter 51 verses 1-10

Context

This psalm is a lament for forgiveness. The psalmist appeals to his merciful father for the forgiveness of his sins.  This is another example of a
.This is unquestionably is one of the most memorable prayers in the Book of Psalms. The Event?

Nathan is confronting King David after his sim with Bethsheba (2 Samuel 12). 

This is not just an excellent record of a historical event, it is also a powerful example of a model prayer when God’s people have sinned.  It doesn’t matter what the circumstance maybe it will remain applicable. David knows that the dilemma that he is faced with is a result of his sins and his actions after he had sinned.

How many times have we found ourselves in this very same scenario? When you have sinned and the Holy Spirit has just gripped your heart like a vice? How about when you have said something to someone that really hurt them to the core of their being. You are not willing to admit to yourself that you should not have said it.  You have made all sorts of excuses as to why the person deserved to have it said to them, but the Holy Spirit is continually telling you that you were wrong. Then all of a sudden someone is sent to chat with you and you unload on them.  You start to tell them what you think about them. You start to tell them about a time when they wronged you and how God is going to punish them. Then the Holy Spirit reminds you of the numerous times that you have done the exact same thing to someone else and you have never, ever asked them for forgiveness. Dagger in the heart right? Well, this is what happened to David after Nathan told him about who he is and what he had done! Look at how he screamed out to God. No amount of just plan forgiveness would work in this scenario. You just want God to use spiritual radiation to burn out your bad attitude and sinful heart. This was David’s situation!

6Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

King David allowed the desires of his flesh to cloud his judgment. That is what led to his sin with Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah and his men. When we allow our flesh to reign in our thought life it results in words, then actions that led in sin Mark 7:20-23; Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 12:2. Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the embodiment of righteousness, truth, life, light, and Love. One day ALL of creation will want this “truth in [its] inward part.” That is when the entire world will come to realize that the want for peace, truth, justice, and freedom comes only from God. As we are reconciled to Him, we desire nothing more from this world. We just want Him to 7 Purge [us] with hyssop, and [we] shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Historically “hyssop” is a OT” herb that was used by the priests in a ritual. However, we need to understand its significance.

Hyssop is mentioned for the first time in the OT when the nation of Israel was preparing for their Exodus from Egypt. The people used the hyssop to wipe blood over their doorposts. When the death angel saw the blood that “Passover Night” the death angel passed over their homes. Hyssop was also used with water to wash a person who was ceremonially unclean. David uses the word hyssop  in this verse to show his acknowledgement that he was spiritually defiled or unclean.

For Christians, the purging comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit changes our mindset. We love as He loves. We give as He gives. Not with our own conditions attached to our giving, but with “everything” in “faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in love” do not just give, but give with “excellence. Not just money, but forgiveness, love, compassion, acts of service. When we give like this, our hearts begin to …” to hear joy and gladness.” 

9Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

David continues to plead his case from cleansing. He knows that God cannot look on ungodliness and sin. 

Habakkuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Could it be that David wants God to “hide his face” from him because he wants to hide from the wrath of God? He has broken the following commandments.

 

• ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery. [David lusted after Bathsheba. That lust led him to commit adultery and lust after his neighbor’s wife.] Because of his lust for Bathsheba David . . . broke this commandment. ¹³ “You shall not murder. ” He commanded Joab to carry out the act for him. Joab did not know what David was doing.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” ¹⁶ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died (2 Samuel 11).

•  ¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
• ¹⁵ “You shall not steal.  [He stole Uriah’s only wife from him. (see 2 Samuel 12). David has many wives.] 

In spite of David’s weakness and win with Bathsheba, later on God calls him a man after His [God’s] own heart.  Why? David acknowledged his sin and when to the only person who could forgive him and change his heart. He cried out to God.

10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

David, from personal experience, knew that he is a human being and subject to the weaknesses associated with human beings. Matthew 26:41 reminds us that we need to  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” As God cleanses our hearts, we develop a want to look at people the way God looks at them. We see them as special to Him, created in His image, and the barriers of color, religious denomination, political boundaries, and or affiliations melt away. His love should be flowing from us like an “ocean.”

As that ocean of love flows from us to the world, the “new creation” is realized, and we no longer live for ourselves or as ourselves. We live for Christ and as Christ lived and loved.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 2 Corinthians 5:14-18 (NIV).

References

Longman, Tremper, III. Psalms : An Introduction and Commentary, InterVarsity Press, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/detail.action?docID=2033987.
Created from liberty on 2020-03-02 08:43:16