My favorite Psalm is Psalms 51. It is a prayer or psalm asking for forgiveness of sins and a psalm of restoration. David wrote the Psalm after or during the sin of adultery with Bathsheba. We as believers know that David was forgiven and eventually restored to some extent so it is consolation for other sinners. If David did what he did and could be forgiven we too can be forgiven for our sins also.
David’s spiritual relationship with God based solely on his actions was either distant or backslidden. A man adhering to the precepts and commandments of the Lord that was capable of adultery, deception and murder clearly did not have God is mind. Being this way, there is no way that we can even remotely say that David was trying to be holy. If David wasn’t attempting to be holy then he was going the opposite way in relation to God. God cannot look upon sin without judging it at some point. God is a holy God. David was at odds with God and this cannot stand. David either needed to repent or he would be judged. Judged then or judged when he died. David having a heart for the Lord repented “then” because he wanted an intimate and close relationship restored with God in this life AND the next. The only way that was possible was via the route just mentioned: repentance.
Psalm 51 is a "Lament Psalm". The function of a Lament or Psalm of Petitionary Praise (Westermann), is to provide a structure for crisis, hurt, grief, or despair; to move a worshipper from hurt to joy, from darkness to light, from desperation to hope. This movement from hurt to joy is not a psychological or liturgical experience only, although it includes those. And it is not a physical deliverance from the crisis, although that is often anticipated. The movement "out of the depths" from hurt to joy is a profoundly spiritual one. They are often the most emotionally charged Psalms also.
Psalms 51 is the ultimate sinner’s prayer seeking forgiveness and repentance to help restore a relationship with the one true Almighty God. I have written private piece on this Psalm before and it warrants typing in here from my journal. It is and outline or breakdown of this Psalm into its constituent parts and how they fit together as a whole for he believer who is truly aware of his sin. This Psalm is written by and for a sinner who truly knows his place in relation to the Lord and their need to seek His forgiveness. These people also have a very good understanding of how holy God is and how unholy man is, how wretched man is. Psalm 51 is the prayer and worship of a broken man.
It should be stated that Psalms 51 is an answer of reply to Psalms 38 which is an individual lament in which David is being chastened by the Lord for sins, transgressions and guilt. God’s wrath towards the sinner (David) in 38 becomes so ferocious David describes terms of personal attack. The discipline for sin is harsh signifying God’s severe displeasure with David. David bemoans the severity of his afflictions all throughout Psalms 38. Nothing can seem to quiet His heart. He is guilt ridden. David realizes that the only way to quiet a discordant heart is obedience and reconciliation with God. This can only come through His mercy. God is called on to remove the sense of guilt too heavy to bear. David’s suffering becomes a typology of Christ although Christ wasn’t suffering under His own sin but other’s sin.
We now know how to approach Psalms 51. David is pained and remorseful for his sins and backward spiritual state after his incident with Bathsheba. David systematically breaks down his condition and his sin and goes after it in prayer to the Lord in a manner that is reminiscent of a warrior systematically dismantling an enemy.
This will be a long post due to the entirety of Psalm 51 being in here but it is worth it to break down this Psalm to understand it fully and totally.
(v. 1-2) A Prayer for Individual Restoration
(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.
(v. 3-6) Confession and Remorse (Lamentation for Sins)
(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 that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
(5) Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
(6) Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
(v. 7-12) A Prayer For Restoration.
David pleads to God for a pardon and that this incident may promote the glory of God and the conversion of sinners.
(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.
(11) Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
(12) Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
(v. 13-17) Thanksgiving
A sinner who has experienced a deep sense of sinfulness and forgiveness then does what is proper for God and to God. Worship and thank Him.
(13) Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
(14) Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
(15) O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
(16) You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
(17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
(v. 18-19) A Prayer of National Restoration
God is pleased with a contrite heart and prayer for prosperity of Zion.
(18) In your good pleasure make Zion prosper;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
(19) Then there will be righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings to delight you;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
David had such a deep and abiding love for God that he was always thinking about Him. Conversely, when David backslid and drifted away from God he had an acute awareness of sin that he was always thinking about. Sin and God cannot coexist. Not in reality, nor in our heads. One pushes the other out. It is why we are to dwell on God and His statutes always. When we think on God there is no other room for sin.“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9. In this way I am like David and this was his best Psalm. I relate to it the most because…I am a sinner like David. Hopefully I have the same heart for God that David did also. Ultimately God was merciful with David, I pray He is merciful with me.
These principles that David used are a perfect example of a prayer of repentance and forgiveness. We would be well served to think about these steps in our prayers to our Father when approaching His throne to seek His pardon for our transgressions.
Claus Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms, John Knox, 1981.
Claus Westermann, The Psalms: Structure, Content, and Message, Augsburg, 1980.
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