Against You, You only, I have sinned.

Psalm 51 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion 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, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸  Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which 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 steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

When God called David to be king of Israel, He said of him: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My  will.” Yet this psalm was written by David after he had sinned, taking the wife another man and being responsible for the death of that man. David was far from the perfection of God. He was a man with weaknesses and failures just like you and me. But it was the heart of David in which God saw greatness. After all: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)   “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)  

What was there in the heart of David which caused God to see his greatness in spite of his weakness and failure? As we read through Psalms we get a better understanding of the heart of David. Through the best of times and the worst of times David always turned to and trusted God. In today’s text we see a critical understanding about sin which David shares. He says: ³ For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. ⁴ Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight. David was responsible for the death of another man, yet he recognizes that it is against God that he has sinned. We too may hurt others with our actions. We may need to seek their forgiveness and help to restore what they have lost. But, our sin is against God. He is the righteous judge. David says: “You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.”

Many people say that it’s not fair that God would judge sin. They say that if He really is a loving God then He would not judge people for their unrighteousness. Remember, God judges the heart of man. Jeremiah 17:9 says: "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” That is the natural condition of our hearts deceitful and sick. The psalmist says: “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  He opened the psalm saying: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” The graciousness and love of God is this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) 1 Peter 3:18 says: Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;   In Christ, God grace and loving kindness has so blotted out our transgressions that God says:” I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."(Hebrews  8:12) God not only renews our spirit, in Christ, He fills us with His Holy Spirit.

The psalmist says: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Isaiah 1:18 says: “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 

May we not question God’s right to judge. May we like David run to God, not away from Him. That’s the response and the action of one whose heart is after God. Then having received His gracious lovingkindness, having been washed clean, our sins blotted out by the cross of Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit of God, may our response be as David’s.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You….Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, may this be the heart You see in me today, a heart of gratitude for all You have done, a heart that always runs to You in the best or the worst of times. Give me a heart and a Spirit to teach transgressors Your ways, that sinners will be converted to You….Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.  Amen.

*Please see a special message on the "About this Site" page.