Psalm 51
Walt Whitman, the great American writer once said that he wished he could go and live among the cows of the field. Why? Because, he said, “It’s my observation that cows never stay awake at night weeping over their sins.”
As I look at our culture I sometimes think that many people have achieved Walt Whitman’s goal. There are so few who weep over sin any more.
Think about it. We often hear of a criminal who is pronounced guilty, is sentenced by the judge, but sits through the whole process with no emotion. Even when faced with their guilt there is no remorse and no tears of regret.
Of course that’s an extreme example. On a more personal level we have to ask ourselves how often do we lightly skip over sin, allowing our eyes to see what they should not see, allowing our tongue to speak what it should not speak, allowing our heart to feel what it should not feel? All of it ungodly and unholy. If that’s not bad enough, we not only allow ourselves to sin, but afterward think nothing of it. How often have you rationalized sin, denied sin, or ignored sin? We do anything but see sin for what it is – a complete break from God. It is rebellion against God, the cause of Christ’s dying on the cross – and because we don’t see sin for what it is and so we fail to confess it.
This was the place in which King David found himself before writing Psalm 51. Perhaps you know the story. King David seduced the girl next door – the beautiful Bathsheba – she subsequently became pregnant and in a panic David ordered Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to the front of the battle lines so that he is killed. Then the seemingly compassionate David takes Bathsheba into his home and for a time things go on as usual. David rules the nation with impunity. He has sinned and he rationalizes it, denies it, even suppresses it. He does everything but confess it.
But all of this only brings distress, pain and anguish to everyone involved, especially to David. In another Psalm (32), that I believe is related to this same event, David says that when he did not confess his sin, when he kept silent “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” (Psalm 32:3,4)
Of course it didn’t need to be that way for David or for us. David realizes that he can confess his sin because of who God is. He is a God of “Unfailing love, and great compassion” (51:1). It is because of his love expressed for us in Christ on the cross that we can be forgiven. It is because of his great compassion that we are not consumed by his holiness.
In your prayer journal this week, don’t skip over the day of confession. Take time to examine your soul and bring to God a “broken spirit, a contrite heart.” (51:17) Having done that, know that God will cleanse you through faith in Christ’s sacrifice, so that you “hear joy and gladness”. (51:8, 1 John 1:9)
Praying that God would create a pure heart in each one of us, Pastor Tom.