Against You, You only, I have sinned

Psalm 51 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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.

¹⁸ By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

In 2 Samuel 11:14-17 it says:  In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.    This was how David covered his sin of adultery with Bathsheba from man. He was responsible for the death of Uriah, her husband. Yet in today’s text He says:    For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 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.   It is not to diminish the way our actions, our decisions, our sin affects others, but like David we should know and acknowledge that our sin is against God. In 2 Samuel 24:11-17, we see that David understood the fact that his actions and his sin affected others. David had sinned and seventy thousand Israelites died. In verses 17-24 it says: Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”    Like David we should recognize that what we do may have greater consequences for others than for ourselves, but still sin is against God.

David didn’t try to justify himself, he didn’t make excuses or blame others for his actions. He admitted his sin recognizing that if he was aware, surely God was too. He could hide his sin from man, but not from God. He didn’t blame God, as some people do. He said:  You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.  Instead, David confessed his sin, appealing to God’s righteousness, faithfulness and loving kindness. He says: Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.     1 John 1:8-9 says:  If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

David also understood that he needed more than forgiveness for his sin. David sought to be redeemed, renewed; restored. Before Jesus said:   “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” (John 3:3-7)  David understood his need to be born again. He said:  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.   We too need to understand that we need more than forgiveness. We need to be renewed, redeemed and restored. We need to be reborn and even then we need to be sustained by the Holy Spirit. God will not cast us away from His presence, but we must run to Him, not from Him. Hebrews 4:14-16 says:  Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Ephesians 2:8-10 says:  By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.     The psalmist says:  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. We are saved by grace. There is nothing we can do, no sacrifice we can make to save us from our sin. But, we are Christ’s workmanship, through the redeeming work of the cross, and so we are recreated to do good works, not for our salvation, but because of it. Like the psalmist, we should teach others God’s ways, His compassion, His righteousness and His loving kindness. We should sing and declare His praise.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You that while I sinned. Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Because of Your everlasting love, I am saved, redeemed, restored and recreated. Holy Spirit sustain me, that I would faithfully do the good works that God has prepared for me and prepared me for. I praise Your name, the name above all names, the name of Jesus.  Amen.      

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