A Clean Heart based on Psalm 51: 1-12
Psalm 51 is a prayer written by King David asking for God’s forgiveness of his sins which started with his affair with Bathsheba. If you want to read the story later you can find it in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
The short synopsis is that one sin led to another and in the end David is guilty of adultery, coveting another man’s wife, possibly rape or at least sexual assault, murder, abuse of power, lying, giving false testimony and more.
This is a pretty racy story for the Bible. It sounds like a modern day soap opera. David got a second chance but only after he confessed his sins and sought repentance.
Psalm 51: 1-17 in the Good News Bible begins: “Be merciful to me, O God, because of your constant love. Because of your great mercy wipe away my sins! Wash away all my evil and make me clean from my sin!”
The first thing that David recognized was that God’s love for him and us is greater than any sin we can commit. God can take the very worst thing we do or say and turn it around to be used for his glory.
God loves us unconditionally and will not give up on us no matter how terrible we become but He won’t save us unless we first surrender our strong willed ways to Him.
I prefer reading verse 6 and following from the New King James Version translation.
“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.”
This truly was a confession of sins and a sincere asking for pardon and forgiveness. David realized that God knew the depths of his soul and David wanted to be put right with God.
“Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” God knew of David’s sin the moment he laid eyes on Bathsheba and felt lust in his heart. David knew what he was doing was wrong or he wouldn’t have tried to cover it up.
How often are we like David? How often do we think unkind things in our minds but don’t say them? How often do we sin against God by doing something He would not approve of and then try to cover it up by justifying our actions?
We say things like, “I was tired or too stressed.” Or we compare ourselves to others who have done more disturbing crimes. It doesn’t matter the size or the enormity of our sins. There is no hierarchy on the sin scale. Sin is sin!