05.11.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:53 pm by Perry
A good friend recently showed me a Psalm that I had not considered in a long time. We were doing a study of Phillippians when he refrenced Psalm 51 to emphasize a point that Paul was making. The Psalm itself was so powerful though that it held my attention throughout the rest of the study. Truly, this psalm speaks volumes about waht it means to come before God and say, "I have nothing to give, nothing to offer, and my only hope is relying on you and your grace". The title of the Psalm, "a contrite sinner’s prayer for pardon", embodies the magnitude of humility that we are to use when approaching God and His glory. Please read the Psalm and give your insight, I would love to hear what other people think.
Psalm 51
1Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
4Against 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.
5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
7Purify 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.
9Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.
15O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
18By Your favor do good to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
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Chris Said:
May 12, 2005 at 7:00 am
That’s a true sinner’s prayer.
Aaron Shafovaloff Said:
May 15, 2005 at 7:52 am
This Psalm transformed me when I memorized it / meditated over it during a summer about three years ago. I don’t think any of us know how to pray that very well. My prayers for forgiveness weren’t that humble, and didn’t have much to say (because I was even more prideful then). God is good, and listens to prayers his Spirit puts in us anyway. But this Psalm really taught me HOW to approach God and seek forgiveness and be humble (which I’m still learning).
51 goes hand in hand with 32.
Sidenode: Once, on the streets of Salt Lake City, I asked a Mormon if David got what he asked for in Psalm 51. It was relevant because most of them think some sins can keep you out of the “Celestial Kingdom” (which is basically heaven: it’s where the Father and Son reside), including murder and heinous adultery. But this is exactly what David did. And here he is, moved by the Holy Spirit to ask for full purification and complete forgiveness.
“Did David get what he asked for?”
“No, he didn’t get what he wished for.”
This is relevant for me… does AARON in Psalm 51 get what he asks for? “Ask and you will receive”, says Jesus. We have a good God.
Lenny Tavernelli Said:
May 16, 2005 at 10:04 am
A little background upon this Psalm (you may already know this, but this is for any who do not) and some of my thoughts.
This Psalm is David’s prayer after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultry, lie, and murder of Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11:1-25, 12:7-14). Yet notice, though David’s sin was against Bathsheeba, Uriah, and a whole host of others, yet he recognizes, “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.”
David recognized he had broken the greatest commandment, and that all other commandments climax in this one and pale in comparision to this one: “You shall love the LORD your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your might” (Deut. 6:5, cf. Matthew 22:37-38).
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners will be converted to You.
When David says this, he is not speaking of God taking the Spirit away from him in a salvational sense/NT sense. Rather, he is speaking as the king. The king of Israel had the Spirit of God upon him, and that is why he was able to rule over God’s people. When God took the Spirit from Saul, Saul had essentially lost his kingship (1 Sam. 16:14). David here pleads with God that He would not remove David and his line from this position. As we all know, God granted the request, because He favors the humble and contrite.
David, as king, was representative of the people before God. Under the Old Covenant, God worked with/judged the people on the basis of the king. That is why it so often tells you, “such and such was a good king” or “such and such was an evil king.” When the king went astray from the Lord, it was as if the whole nation had gone astray, and indeed, because he dictated the practice of the nation, most did go astray under an evil king. Thus it was such a big deal when Josiah reformed the nation.
This is why David says that if God will restore his right relationship to the Lord, he will teach the ways of God to sinners. If David were left in the state he was in, he would not have been a righteous king, but an evil one, just as Saul was.