Psalm 51:1-10
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 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.
4 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.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Reflect
I wonder if David ever imagined that God would include his sin in a book for the whole world to read in every generation. David certainly could not have foreseen that Hollywood would portray his sin on silver screen. Aren’t you glad that when we confess our sins God does not do us that way? Aren’t you glad that when we confess our sins, he clears the record, covers it in Jesus’ blood, and casts our sins in the depths of the sea?
King David had every intention of quickly moving on from his sin against Bathsheba. Yet, one day, David got a four-word message from Bathsheba that absolutely shattered his life — “I am with child” (2 Samuel 11:5). Instead of repenting at this point, he worked to cover it up. When that didn’t work, he committed murder and covered that up as well.
There is a principle in the Bible which we need to underscore in our heart: those sins we cover, God will uncover. But those sins we uncover, God will cover. Proverbs puts it this way: “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
God sent the prophet Nathan to David, and David heard four more words that ripped the camouflage from his soul when he said to David, “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). And with those words, God began to melt the ice that had been packed around David’s heart. David finally realized he had to do business with God.
David was shown that secret sin on the earth is open scandal in Heaven. He now comes to a most sacred place in his life, and we have been allowed to go with David into that place as he confesses his sin alone before God in Psalm 51.
Yesterday, we said that we must be willing to travel this road to restoration even though it takes us right through the valley of repentance. There is no detour around it. Second, we said that there were unavoidable prerequisites for forgiveness and restoration in our lives. We will look at the first prerequisite today:
Prerequisite One: There must be a despair that requests forgiveness
I use the word despair, and I use it intentionally. Before repentance ever comes there must be a desperation about the sin in my life.
David had not repented for almost a year because he had not become desperate before a Holy God. I have no doubt David regretted what he did. Perhaps he wished he had not made those mistakes. Maybe he said to himself, “If I only had it to do over…” Or, maybe he wished he had not gotten caught. But despite possible remorse, David never really repented because he had not despaired of his sin and iniquity until now.
Real repentance brings a desperateness before God. Our greatest need is to be forgiven and made right with God, and when David finally came to confront his sin, he went before God and spread it all out. He had a despair that requested forgiveness.
But what does that despair look like? There are three aspects to this type of despair.
The despair that leads us to want forgiveness acknowledges guilt of sin.
Look again at verses 1 and 2 and notice all of the words for sin in the Hebrew language. David uses the words transgressions, iniquity, and sin. We will examine this more on Day Five, but all three of those words mean something different in the Hebrew language. David is saying, “God, I have sinned in every way imaginable. I have rebelled against what I knew was right. I have been iniquitous in my actions. God, I have missed the mark of your purpose in my life” (paraphrase). Instead of further spelling out the details of his sin, David just goes before the Lord and says, “God, my worst problem is not what I have done; my worst problem is who I am” (paraphrase). David exhausts the Hebrew language for his sin.
As long as we say, “I’m not any worse than anyone else,” or “What I did is not nearly as bad as what they did,” we will never have victory over our sin. The despair that leads us to want forgiveness acknowledges guilt of sin.
But also, we see in Psalm 51:3-5: The despair that leads us to want forgiveness assumes full responsibility.
David is saying, “God, it is not that I have sinned against my fellow man, although that happened; but that happened because I sinned against you” (paraphrase). All sin is rebellion against God, and David assumes that responsibility and recognizes that God is right in judging him in that sin.
Notice that David did not try to blame anyone or anything else. David assumed full responsibility. The only way repentance ever comes is when we acknowledge our guilt and say, “God, not only have I sinned, but nobody else is responsible for my sin but me.”
We live in a society where we transfer blame to our parents, the government, our environment and culture we live in, and other people. We even blame the devil. We have got a “devil-made-me-do-it” philosophy. It is as if the devil is the antithesis of God and he can do anything he wants with my life, but that is not true.
We are never going to be forgiven of our sin when we blame others, including the devil, or when we blame circumstances. When we come before the Lord as David did, we have victory and we experience the forgiveness and restoration that David experienced. The despair that leads us to want forgiveness assumes full responsibility.
As we see in Psalm 51:7–9, The despair that leads us to want forgiveness accepts God’s way of cleansing.
We never give up trying to manage our lives until we are desperate enough that we cry out to God. Until I despair of my sin, I often keep covering it up or excusing it. That is no way to overcome. I am never going to be forgiven until I am so desperate that I cry out to God to do something that only he can do.
When David started praying, he used some of the strongest verbs in the Hebrew language. He said “Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” It is only when we are desperate about our sin that we get to this point of repentance. Just being aware, embarrassed, or concerned that we may get caught in our sin will never do. We only repent when we realize that we have offended the heart of a Holy God.
Have you ever experienced that kind of despair over your sin? I certainly have, and it drives me to my knees, as it certainly should. There must be a despair that requests forgiveness. That is the first prerequisite to forgiveness and restoration, and it only comes as we travel that difficult stretch of road that leads us through the valley of repentance. Tomorrow on Day Three, we will look at the second prerequisite to forgiveness and restoration.
Respond
Why do you think David avoided repentance for approximately one year? Have there been times in your life when you’ve resisted the Spirit’s call to repentance? Why did you wait?
What was missing in David’s life that could have led him to repentance?
Reflect on how you would respond if someone accurately points out sin in your life. What would your response be?