Psalm 51 - Broken & Contrite

Psalm 51:1-12, 16-17 NIV

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. 

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. 

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 

Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; 

you taught me wisdom in that secret place. 

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. 

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. Y

ou do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

Psalm 51 is the classic prayer of confession. Tradition has it that King David wrote this psalm after his sin was discovered by the prophet Nathan. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his loyal soldiers. She got pregnant, and in order to hide his sin, David arranged to have her husband killed in battle.

What has always grabbed me about this psalm is the acknowledgement that we are sinners from birth. Our sin, above all, is a breach in our relationship with our Creator. And only our Creator can restore us. It is God's mercy that restores us.

Hyssop was used to sprinkle blood at the altar of a sacrifice. When David asks to be cleansed with hyssop, he is referring to an atonement sacrifice for his sins at the altar at the temple.

If we haven't deadened ourselves so much that we live like brute animals, then we sense within this breach between us and God. David says that God desires faithfulness. There's an inherent knowledge that we are not living up to our potential. God is calling us toward faithfulness to Him and His divine will as revealed in Holy Scripture. But his will is not simply written with words of ink on sacred page. His will is written on our hearts. There is a natural understanding of right and wrong at some level, albeit incomplete.

When your sin is ever before you, follow David's example and confess your sin to the God of unfailing love. A broken and contrite spirit God will not despise. In his love he will restore you to the joy of his salvation. He will give you a right Spirit within.