A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Oh, David. David did a bad, bad thing. The sordid story of David’s sin, reading like a 1000 B.C. episode of “Dateline” is found in 2 Samuel 11. God then sends the prophet Nathan to rebuke and convict David of his grievous sin (2 Samuel 12).
The beautiful, penitential Psalm 51 sings of David’s right response to the conviction and condition of his sinful heart.
A good thing to remember here is that God can and does use others, such as He used Nathan, to convict us of our own sin and restore our hearts towards righteousness, as David writes in verses 13 (“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you”.) Our hearts must always be willing and open to such conviction and restoration.
Psalm 51 reminds us of God’s nature – His abundant mercy and steadfast love (v.1), His perfect justice (v.4) and His salvation, righteousness and deliverance (v.14). He is perfect and we are not. (v. 3-5). As I read through the entirety of the Old Testament it is abundantly clear that the hearts of man are as unchanged today as they were 3500 years ago, no matter how much we want to believe that we have “advanced”. Psalm 51 reminds us that only God can cleanse, blot out, wash and purge our sins, creating in us a clean heart and renewing in us a right spirit (v.10) because our nature is sinful and “brought forth in iniquity” (v.5).
In the Lenten season of preparation many believers may practice “sacrifices” or disciplines such as fasting from various foods, media or other forms of pleasure. Psalm 51 reminds us of a right, repentant posture in such practices, a reminder that God delights in “truth and wisdom in the heart (v.4) and “ a broken and contrite heart” (v.17) and only then will He delight in our sacrifices (v.19).
As we look towards the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus that washes away our iniquities once for all, and wipes away the Old Testament sacrificial system under the law (as set forth so beautifully in Hebrews 10), the words of King David in Psalm 51, as well as the words of a hymn writer 3000 years later, remind us that
“What can wash away my sin, what can make me whole again
Nothing can for sin atone, nothing good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!”
- Allison W.