Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:1-10
The fifty-first psalm has as its background God’s dealing with David concerning his sin of adultry and murder. It was in the spring time when kings go off to war, that David remained behind. One day while on his roof he gazed at a beautiful woman bathing. The story is very familiar and found in 2 Samuel chapter 11, so I won’t go into detail. But after David’s effort to cover up his sin with Bathesheba, he commits a horrible second sin when he conspires to kill her husband, who was out in the battlefield. He turns out to be one of David’s faithful soldiers under him (2 Samuel 11:14-17). And at the next chapter in 2 Samuel chapter 12, we read that God sent Nathan the prophet to David with a parable which David was the character in it, but only in a different setting. “David, there is a man in your kingdom, very wealthy, had all kinds of sheep and goods, possessions, and servants. And next door to him there lived a very poor man who had few possessions, and only one ewe lamb. He loved it like his own daughter. It ate at his own table. The rich man had company come by, and he ordered his servants to force his neighbor to give up his lamb, that he may serve it to his guests. David became angry, and said to Nathan, ” That man shall surely be put to death.” At which time Nathan pointed at David and said, ” David, you are that man!” (2 Samuel 12:1-7).
The application was very clear and spoke directly to David, and thus we see the background to David’s writing of this fifty-first psalm in which he cries out for mercy. Mercy is not getting what you deserve, while justice is getting what you deserve. David certainly had it coming to him, but here is a very profound characteristic about David, to his credit, he recognized fully how horrendous his sin was against God, and blamed no one but himself, then sought after the Lord’s mercy which he knew was his only hope. Sometimes, people do realize that I am at fault, there is no one else to blame, I deserve this punishment for this offense, but they stop short of seeking after the One who can deliver them from their sins. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7). Even though he had sinned horribly, David knew that forgiveness was available, based on God’s covenant love.
Through this prayer of forgivness by David, the Bible teaches us alot about God’s mercy. He states that God is not only a merciful God, but also He will abundantly pardon, ” According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies,” David says, ” Blot out my transgressions.” (v.1) Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me —Now David had tried unsucessfully to cover up his sin and hide his guilt, but yet, from the eyes of man one might get by with it. But it will never get by God’s all knowing and watchful eyes. And David was very conscious of his guilt. His only chance was to have God remove the weight of this guilt from him. Psalm 32 is a parallel penitent psalm in which David says, When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer(Psalm 32:3-4). These are vivid descriptions of the physical effects that unconfessed sin can have on a person’s life.
Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.—David was a shepherd in his youth, so the breaking of bones would have a significant meaning to him. Sheep have a prone to wanderness. Sheep can be led into danger by other sheep unless the shepherd is there to correct their choices. Meaning a sheep if need be would have the their leg broken by the their shepherd if it would not correct itself and follow the shepherd. This action is from love, because the shepherd would do whatever was necessary to protect his sheep. Then though, the shepherd would then carry the sheep with him for weeks until the sheep would be able to walk on its own again. And then the previously wounded sheep, would walk closely to the shepherd. A strong bond of love was given to it, and thus it would walk closely to the shepherd. Jesus is our great Shepherd, and He knows what His sheep have need of. Sometimes all that is left for Him is to break our leg metaphorically to keep us from wandering out past where He would want us. His actions as a loving Savior toward us will never be punitive, but rather corrective in His need of chastening us. “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endear chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasen? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitmate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11)
Beloved friend, The joy and gladness that come through the broken bones rejoices because it is God our heavenly Father who is behind all of our chastening. He loves us, and wants whats best for us. Jesus Christ, gave His broken body for us, to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself, so that we might partake in His holiness. It’s joy comes from the peaceable (because the Lord is behind it) fruit of righteousness we learn when we are chastened of God. We all have been chastened by Him, if you are born again. So rejoice in all of your trials, and testings, and look for the fruit that is coming from it in your lives. It is a sign that you belong to God, and are His child, and His kingdom awaits you when your days on this earth are over.
May the Lord bless your walk!
Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for! “I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me.” by William Blake.