# 49 2018. Dev. Ps. 51: Repentance! Read all of Ps. 51. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me”.
We read in the title that Psalm 51 is David’s response to God’s condemnation of his affair with Bathsheba. This Psalm is also one of seven penitential Psalms. You may read the event in 2 Samuel 12:1-7. David himself said: a man blessed with everything but steals from a poor man what is dear to him should die! Yet God spared his life and removed his sin from him. If you read the story you will see that God’s forgiveness came about before repentance on David’s part; highlighting the truth that salvation and forgiveness is solely by God’s Grace. Yet there are consequences to sin; David’s children lose their respect for him and from this time forward the sword does not leave David’s house.
David begins his prayer of repentance by appealing to God’s mercy and highlighting “God’s unfailing love and his great compassion” vs.1-2.
He moves on to acknowledging his sin, he admits doing “evil in God’s sight and to you, you only have I sinned”. He admits to being a sinner from birth and in the womb and that God’s judgments are right because God desires righteousness and teaches him wisdom vs.3-6.
David asks to be washed, to be clean again, “let me hear joy and gladness; blot out all my iniquity” vs. 7-9. Hearing joy means that David wants to include the whole community. He prays for the city v.18.
Now we come to the heart of the matter; David realizes that he can not do this on his own. We would do well to remember that forgiveness is by God’s Grace and that repentance can not be done by our own efforts. “Create in me (us) a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (us).” Don’t leave me (us) don’t allow me (us) to leave your presence, to distance ourselves from you. Grant your Holy Spirit power in my(our) life, “to sustain me(us)”.
With forgiveness comes responsibility; “then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you” v.13. “Open my (our) lips, Lord and my (our) mouth will declare your praise” v15. “My (our) sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you God will not despise” v.17. We do not deserve forgiveness or salvation for that matter, but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will not refuse a broken and contrite heart! Praise be to God!
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