Canvey Island Methodist Church Bible Study. 13th October 2020
Bible Passage: Psalm 51[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 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.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 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.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
Footnotes. a.Psalm 51:1 In Hebrew texts 51:1-19 is numbered 51:3-21.
b. Psalm 51:17 Or The sacrifices of God are
Comments:
Psalm 51:1- Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
What a joy it has been to meet again physically at church over these past 5 weeks. After months of being apart in lockdown, confined in isolation in our homes, the very act of coming out to church and then to actually see one another in real time and space has seemed almost revolutionary if not slightly surreal! Our fellowship in Jesus Christ is indeed a precious thing, and even the imposition of a ban on us singing the praises of God is insufficient to dampen or to crush our zeal and enthusiasm to offer our worship to Him. Perhaps symbolising this joy of renewed fellowship are the services where the celebration of Holy communion or the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper has been included. I wonder if the Service of Holy Communion came to mind when you read the words of Psalm 51 above. If so, it is with good reason as these are included in the Ash Wednesday/Easter Communion services as the Ministry of the word as a prayer of confession. The words are powerful and far reaching as they heart wrenchingly acknowledge the need for God's love, forgiveness renewal and restoration. And they do this with the power and majesty of poetry.
Scholars consider the Psalms to be Hebrew poetry. However, unlike much traditional poetry that ends in rhyme, the Psalms are characterized in rhythmic thought patterns of parallelism. For the technically minded amongst us, Psalm 51 contains examples of two different types of parallelism.
Firstly Synonymous parallelism where a thought is presented and then slightly rephrased: v2 is one such example:
Wash me through and through from my wickedness
and cleanse me from my sin.
Secondly antithetic parallelism, in which the second phrase is in contrast to the first: v9 of Psalm 51 is an example of this.
Make me hear of joy and gladness,
that that body you have broken may rejoice.
(More can be read about such technical analysis of the Psalms at
http://www.holycommunion.org/notes/posts/parallelism-and-penitence. )
But what of the rather sombre background to Psalm 51? It was written by King David after the prophet Nathan, rather bravely, came to him to tackle his immoral behaviour after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
We all know that the news media of all kinds are very quick to report all the details of the wrongdoings of particular individuals and their subsequent confessions. Juicy stories sell newspapers and boost viewing figures for advertisers!! Perhaps it’s a footballer who has been arrested for drink driving. Or it could be a politician caught in an indiscretion. In these and other instances though, only God knows the heart, but when we hear those identified offering a stuttered “I’m…..er…..sorry” we may wonder if they are truly repentant or just sorry that they got caught.
When we read the confession of the famous King David, we see what looks like genuine contrition. In his public discussion of his sins in Psalm 51, this disgraced Monarch- who had an embarrassing record of flagrant sins which he had kept hidden (as texts below) pleads for mercy.
(A) 2 Samuel 12:1-13; - Nathan Rebukes David- 12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
B). Psalm 32:3-5. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night. your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.[a] 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
To his credit, King David recognised that his sin was an affront to God- not just to people- and that it was God alone who would judge him (Psalm 51:1-6). He realised that he must be cleansed by God (vv7-10), and he celebrated the restoration he received through service and worship (vv11-17).
What about us though? We may not think that we are anywhere near being in the same “Sin league” as King David, but the point about sin is that it simply means, “missing the target or falling short”. We can miss the target by a little or by a lot, but we still have missed the target. Thus we read in scripture that “All of us sin and fall short of God's glory”. (Romans 3:23) . This is a sorry state to be in. But the good news is that there is hope for all of us that comes bubbling up out of the loving heart of God. When we feel the heavy burden of sin weighing us down, we have the blessing of confession and forgiveness to lift us up. (9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.(1John 1:9) )
Jesus is the One who has cleansed us through the shedding of his own blood. Through trusting in his death and resurrection, we are fully redeemed! Isn’t it just like Almighty God to turn even our sins into an opportunity to grow in grace and power and love! (Adapted from ‘Finding Hope in the Psalms by DAVE BRANON).
God Forgave My Sin In Jesus Name
Points to Ponder?
Confessing is agreeing with God about our sin. What does it mean to be completely forgiven from all sin? What helps you to remember that Jesus has forgiven you for all eternity?
Prayer
Dear Lord, please give me a humble heart and the courage to confess my sins before you and others. Thankyou for your promise to be faithful to forgive my sins and to cleanse me. Amen.
May God Bless us all
God Bless
Colin