Be gracious to me, O God.

Psalm 51 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.      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.
⁸Make 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.

The psalmist begins his plea:   Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion…       Many people call on God expecting Him to respond in compassion, with a demonstration of His lovingkindness and grace. But we should not presume on God’s great compassion, grace or love. Like the psalmist we should come to God recognizing our condition.  The psalmist says:  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.   God’s love, compassion and grace are demonstrated to us and available for us through Christ. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)   by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)   Just as none of us have the right to demand a free gift from anyone else, we don’t have the right to demand or expect that the free gift of salvation would be given to us. 1 John 1:9 says: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Like the psalmist we should approach God from a place of confession and repentance not from presumption. God owes us nothing, but through grace and compassion He gives us everything.

David had committed adultery, he was responsible for the death of Uriah, yet he recognizes and confesses:  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.    Our actions may have negative effects and consequences for ourselves and others, but in truth it is against God that we sin. The psalmist continues:  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Each one of us is born into the human nature, the inherited sinful nature passed throughout mankind from Adam and Eve and their original sin. Regardless of how good our life circumstances or how good our natural parents may have been we all fall short of God’s righteousness. Romans 3:10-12 says: ¹⁰ as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”    Psalm 14:1-3 is where it is written:   The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”     They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,     there is none who does good. ² The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. ³ They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.  To deny God is foolishness. Romans 1:19-20 says: that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  It is because of sin that those who deny God choose to live in that denial. They know that if they acknowledge God, the creator, the intelligent designer of the universe, then they are accountable to Him. Because in truth, each one of our consciences tells us we are imperfect, those who don’t want to change deny that God exists so that they do not have to be accountable to Him.

The truth is though that God is not some wicked taskmaster requiring us to pay for our sins with a life of servitude. He is not a God who relishes His dominion and authority over His people, expecting them to grovel at His feet. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the almighty, all powerful, sovereign God, yet He is a God who Himself paid the price for our sins. The psalmist says: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸Make me to hear joy and gladness,    Mark begins his gospel account saying: The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,       The declaration of Jesus Christ and the cross is good news for all who hear and believe, it should make the hearer glad and joyful, not fearful. In Luke 2:10-11, when the angel declared the birth of Jesus, he said:   “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  

My prayer today is that the psalmist’s prayer would be your prayer, that you would say with him:    Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.  O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.  For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.   Thank You almighty God, my heavenly Father; Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior and precious Holy Spirit, the God who abides with me and in me. Amen.