This morning I found a beautiful Psalm. In Psalm 51, David finds himself at his “wits end” with his sin. He wrote this Psalm about a year after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Up until this point, David never really acknowledged his sins - adultery, murder, lying. Having never faced them meant he had never repented. Having never repented, he could not receive forgiveness.
What I love in this Psalm is that David not only faces the depth of his sins, but David knows the depth of God’s love and His compassion. Take time to read Psalm 51 and then join me to take a deeper look into a few of the verses.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
Do you ever feel as though your sins are too much to be forgiven? It tells us here that God’s mercy is according to His unfailing love and according to His great compassion! This is what I love about David, he knew if it was according to himself that he was not worthy for such mercy, love and compassion. But David more importantly knew God and that his love was the only source of unfailing love and that His compassion was great. If you aren’t feeling worthy, know this - it is not according to you, it’s according to His unfailing love and His great compassion!
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge….You taught me wisdom in that secret place.”
Here David fully acknowledges his sins. He is finally facing the truth. The “secret place” David talks about is that inner being within us, more easily to understand as our “heart and soul”. The place that we can hide from the outside world but never from our God. He desires truth within us. We must be honest with Him and ourselves in order to receive forgiveness.
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity."
“I will be clean…I will be whiter than snow” Is this how you are accepting God’s mercy? Often times we ask for forgiveness from God but fail to forgive ourselves. We have to know that if we repent with honest hearts then we will be clean and whiter than snow. If you’re struggling with this, repeat to yourself “I am clean, I am whiter than snow, I will be joyful and glad.” You must stand on that truth in order to accept his mercy.
God sacrificed His Son so that we could be forgiven from our sins. It was a gift He freely gave us. When we don’t allow ourselves that forgiveness, we deny the cross. God sent His Son to die for us. Jesus carried that cross, was pierced by the thorns, felt the nails, and hung there to die on the cross so that we could be saved from our sins. That was a gift from God to each of us individually. When we don’t allow ourselves to accept His mercy, we aren’t accepting the gift of that precious life who died on Calvary. Allow that to sink in. God loves you, He loves you more than you love yourself. Accept His love, His mercy, His compassion, His forgiveness. It’s a gift freely given, it need not be earned or deserved.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
I know there are times when we feel God has given up on us. We feel we have done too much or not enough. If this is how you feel, you need to know that God will not cast Himself from you. He’s right there waiting for you to take His hand and walk with Him. When we accept His forgiveness, He will do the things mentioned in this verse. Pray these words of Truth over your life. Ask God to open your eyes to them. How does it feel knowing He will create in you a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit with you? How does if feel knowing He will not cast you from His presence? How does it feel knowing your joy will be restored and He will grant you with a willing spirit to sustain you?
I feel it is so important that we speak words of Truth over our lives. I encourage you to take these verses and use them as a prayer.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge…You taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Amen.”
You have no right to say that you’ve sinned too much, you haven’t done enough, you left it go for too long, etc. His mercy isn’t according to you, it is according to His love. His love sent Christ to die to save you from your sins. His mercy is not according to the amount of how worthy you are, it’s according to how worthy Christ is.
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