7 Things - Psalm 51 - David's Repentant Heart

David is a wonderful example in matters of repentance: Psalm 51

David will always be known as a man after God’s heart – yet this is the man who committed murder and adultery and a multitude of other sins.

The thing that sets David apart and causes the Lord to honor him, is his ability to turn his heart back to God again and again.

David did not minimize or deny his sin, he openly confessed his faults and repented. Psalm 51 is a record of one of the most poignant prayers in the Bible.

It is in this psalm that we witness some of the abiding principles of repentance – here it is from the Message version:

• David acknowledged God’s great mercy:

v1 Generous in love - God, give grace! Huge in mercy

• David asked for 3 layers of washing:

v1-2 …wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry.

-He asked that the erasable physical record of his sin be wiped clean

-He asked for his soul to be washed and made clean like laundry

-He asked for a spiritual cleansing of his guilt and shame

David turned from his sin – body soul and spirit. He wanted to be cleansed from it to every degree possible. He had no secret longing for it – he rejected sin completely.

• David was honest about the extent of his sinful heart:

v3 I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down. (…ever before me)

David faced the awful truth that he was rotten to the core like all of us. There was no excusing his sin, and no minimizing. David was totally aware of himself as he saw his sin looking back at him.

• David was wise enough to know that his sin and guilt was fundamentally before God:

V4 You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair.

David was willing to accept whatever punishment God deemed fair. He did not try to bargain his way out of the consequences.

• David cried out to God to make him whole at the core of his being – he wanted to be changed form the inside out:

v5-6 I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born.

What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

David knew that he was born in sin and that he must have God touch every area of his life. Redemption can only come from Him. (Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.)

Here is verse 10-11 form the Message and the NKJV. I doubt that there is any Biblical prayer that has been prayed more often than this:

God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

• David went after full restoration – he wanted to bring the healing he has found to others:

V13 Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home.

David had a heart to spoil the work of the enemy and get fully on to God’s team. He wanted to put action into his repentant life.

• David filled his life with praise:

v15 Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.

v17 I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.

V19 Then you'll get real worship from us, acts of worship small and large, Including all the bulls they can heave onto your altar!

This is surely one of the great keys of David’s life – he went from the depths of despair to worshiping the Lord. This is worship that comes from wholeness, gratitude, and a righteously broken heart. David’s heart was not broken and destroyed, but broken and made soft and full of worship.

Finally he became a man after God’s heart Acts 13:22 ‘I’ve searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.’

It is the Lord who described David in this manner. This man went to the end of himself and found God to be gracious, merciful and a healer – he came to a totally new understanding about God and himself, and devoted the rest of his life to adoring his King.