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 adultery, attempted to deceive her husband Uriah, and finally ensured that he was betrayed and died while fighting in David’s defence. He describes the next ten months, “My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy on me.” And yet David continued to live in apparent ignorance that what he had done displeased the Lord.

Outwardly, everything seemed normal. He continued to administer his kingdom. When Nathan came to tell him about a rich man who had stolen, killed, and cooked a poor man’s only ewe lamb, a daughter to him, sparing his own large herds of sheep, David exploded with righteous anger, declaring, “That man deserves to die!” Then Nathan retorted: “You are the man!” For he had preyed on Uriah’s wife when he could have married any of Israel’s virgins if he desired.

That moment, David saw his sin. “I have sinned against the Lord!” he confessed. He realized that he deserved death, under the justice of God. But at the Lord’s word, Nathan told him that he was forgiven and would not die.

Yet this action sowed death and shame in his family. The child borne to him by Bathsheba died. His daughter Tamar was raped by his eldest son, Amnon. Tamar’s brother Absalom killed Amnon in revenge and was exiled for a time. Returning, he fomented rebellion against his royal father and died in the ensuing battle. Finally, Adonijah, another son, rebelled against him in his old age and was killed. Truly, the sword never departed from his house after that day.

But none of this was David’s preoccupation, as Psalm 51 shows. Not once does he ask God to spare him from punishment. Like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable, who dared not even look up to heaven as he beat his chest, crying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” David throws himself wholly on the mercy of God.

“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” That might seem strange. Didn’t he wrong Bathsheba? Didn’t he murder Uriah? Yes, but far more, in breaking the law of the Lord, he had forgotten and forsaken his God.

He goes on to affirm,“So that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.” He doesn’t argue with God’s justice. There is no self-defense, no excuses, no resting on his past righteousness. He looks back on his life, and all he sees is sin upon sin. He says in deep humiliation, “Surely I was sinful at birth.”

And therefore, as blood guilt weighs his heart down to the grave, he pleads for forgiveness and cleansing. More, he begs for a right spirit, a loyal heart, a willing spirit, in place of his disloyal heart that betrayed him into sin. And knowing God’s mercy, he asks, not just for relief from guilt, but for full restoration.

His concern isn’t primarily for his reputation, his throne, or even his family. He had tasted the goodness of the Lord. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And so, now he cries out, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, or take Your Holy Spirit from me.” He wasn’t afraid of losing the kingdom—he was afraid of losing God.

“Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” True worship cannot come from an unclean or a burdened heart – not even the psalms of David. Surely David had offered many sacrifices during those silent months. Now he understood the emptiness of those rituals. With unerring insight he realizes, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” For God delights in truth in the inward parts. Only a heart broken over its unfaithfulness to God can offer the sacrifice of atonement. God desires truth in the inmost heart. Only then, as we walk in the light, do we experience that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins.

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” The one forgiven is the one who now walks with God in repentance and humility, showing other sinners the way back to God. No hypocrite can either find or demonstrate that path.

David finally pleads for the good of Zion, the city of God. Our sin does not end with us. It involves others in ever-widening circles. But though David’s chain reaction of sin had failed his nation, he looked again to God. Accepted back through sheer love, cleansed from the sin of murder, pardoned the death penalty – David trustfully expected God to secure and strengthen his people in righteousness, so that they could worship him in spirit and in truth.

Psalm 51 has been uttered by multitudes of sinners with broken and contrite heart. It tells us that despite deep and shameful sin, restoration is more than possible. But it comes only to the humble, who acknowledge their sin, accept their guilt, and ask nothing better than to be cleansed and forgiven, so that they may enter again into the joy of the Lord.

We live in a world where image often matters more than integrity. But God sees nothing but our hearts. When we realize that we have fallen, when we know we have messed up beyond repair, let us come as David did when he saw his sin. Let us admit our offenses with heartfelt pain, for they are not errors of judgment, not lapses of discipline, but unfaithfulness to God, forgetting God. We ask Him not just to forgive, but to change us.
We ask him to restore the joy of having him at our right hand. And this joy is our witness to show others the way back to this wonderful God, the only hope for sinners.

As Corrie Ten Boom once said, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Come to Him, broken and contrite. Because only His hands can make the flawed marble of our lives bear his image and his glory. God bless.