Aug-07-0485-Justified freely by his grace
485_Justified freely by his grace 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 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. There’s an old story about how Michelangelo once found a massive piece of marble lying unused in a quarry. It was regarded as useless, because of a great crack in the midst. But Michelangelo, seeing it, reportedly said, “There is an angel trapped inside, and I must set him free.” From that flawed block of stone came the masterpiece we now know as David—a towering statue that captures strength, manliness, and grace in perfect form. Like that discarded marble, we carry within us deep flaws—sins we’ve hidden, ignored, or justified. Only if we allow the Master’s hands to shape us can he make, even from our brokenness, something beautiful. Psalm 51 is the cry of such a man. Crushed under the weight of his own sin, he flees for mercy to his God and Master to be forgiven and cleansed. The painful context of this psalm is revealed in its title: David’s repentance after the prophet Nathan confronted him over his sin with Bathsheba. David—Israel’s greatest king, the “man after God’s own heart”—fell head over heels into the depths of sin. He let his eyes go astray, coveted another man’s wife, committed