The Prayer of a Man After God’s Own Heart

Psalm 51:1-19

The first thing that we come across when we turn to Psalm 51 is that it is a Psalm of David. In 1 Samuel 13:14, God tells the prophet Samuel that after rejecting Saul as king, that He was going to replace Saul with a man after His own heart. Then God chooses David as that person. When one thinks of the beauty of the 23rd Psalm and the other psalms he wrote, you hear the voice of one close to God. When David stands up to Goliath because he is zealous for the Lord’s honor, He is a man after God’s own heart.

But if one reads the words after it says a Psalm of David, it says that David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and was confronted by Nathan the Prophet for this. What is not said is that David had tried to cover up his sin by enticing Uriah the Hittite to sleep with his wife to cover up the pregnancy which resulted. Uriah who ws in the middle of holy war against Jerusalem which was still held by the Jebusites did not wish to become ritually unclean by sleeping with her. He also considered that the same privilege had not been offered to any of the other brave troops in battle. When Uriah refused to take the advice, David sent Joab the commander of the army a sealed order which was to arrange for the death of Uriah. The final insult is that he had Uriah deliver it. This man who was a Gentile was far more honorable than David and faithfully delivered his own death warrant. Kings and leaders do this type of thing all the time. Ahab and Jezebel had Naboth brought up on false charges and killed him to get his vineyard. But David was supposed to be different. He was God’s man. But this hardly seems like the behavior of someone after God’s own heart.

God sent prophets to confront both Ahab and David. Ahab, Jezebel, and his entire household was sentenced to death by God. There was no mercy offered. And truly Ahab and Jezebel were worthy of judgment. They were only getting what they deserved. It is a little harder for us to understand the judgment on Ahab’s children, but God say clearly that every one is judged for their own sin and not of their parents. We can onlt assume that their children were evil like themselves.

But David, even though he practically sentences himself to death when he tells Nathan that the rich shepherd who stole the only lamb of the poor man deserved death, not realizing that Nathan was actually talking about him. “You are the man!” says Nathan. But yet, David is not sentenced to death. His children would suffer terribly as a result of his sin. The son that Bathsheba was about to bear him would die. It is the son of David who would die for his sin, but not David. This seems unfair, but David said he would go to him later. The son would die in this world for the sin of David but would live in the next.

This is the stated occasion for the psalm, which is essentially a prayer of repentance and plea for God’s mercy. It is an elaborate prayer as one would expect from David. It goes back and forth between David looking to God and looking at himself. It begins with a petition to God for mercy. He reminds God of God’s lovingkindness, that He is a merciful God, and hopes God will respond to David’s plea favorably.

But why single out God’s mercifulness when God can also be described as holy, righteous, sovereign, judge or majestic? This is because this is what David needs. The man after God’s own heart realizes that his heart is not after God’s heart. He knows he has transgressed God’s law. He has committed iniquity. He askes God to wash him and cleanse him. This petition is done in fine Hebrew style.

David then confesses his sin to God. He does not provide the details of his sin. These things are already known to God. And as this psalm was meant by God to be preserved as Scripture, it allows anyone who reads it to look into one’s own self and see that that person is a sinner and needs to come to God. Indeed, the Psalms can become quite personal to us because of this general nature that even if we were not given the occasion for this psalm, it would still speak to our hearts. Reading these words make us aware that we too have transgressed God’s laws and need to be cleansed, even as David.

David had certainly sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah, and against the people of Israel in that he as the appointed shepherd over God’s flock had set an awful example by his conduct. David was not supposed to be a king after the likeness of the other kings around him. But David is singular in that he confesses that he has sinned against God alone. Ultimately, the evil we commit against others is ultimately a sin against God who created mankind.

David confesses that he was a sinner from conception. At first this might seem as an excuse for sin. Should sin be excused because “I was born this way?” Indeed it is true that we are all born with a sinful nature. But this is not an excuse for sinning. David immediately answers with that God is one who seeks truth in the inward man, in his heart. This is more than just true facts, although God expects us to be truthful in that way. But truth in Hebrew is more than that. An example of this is when a couple in love pledge to be true to each other. Truth is relational. God expects our hearts to be true to Him. We are not to go out and serve either ourselves or other gods. To this is to transgress. This is what David did with Bathsheba and his attempts to cover his own sin which involved murder of an innocent man. He had an untrue heart to God.

God is good to reveal to His people when our hearts get out of step. He lets us know when we transgress. He prods us to call out to Him, even as David. He wants us to call out for cleansing so that we can be whiter than snow in His sight. The hyssop was used in the Israelite rites of purification as part of the Law of Moses. So David is reminded of the way God had made in the Old Covenant to purge sin. David also realizes that punishment is part of God’s mercy. Even the broken bones rejoice in that they were broken. One of the worst terrors is when God abandons one to his or her own sin by not confronting it. We are reminded in Hebrews not to complain about discipline because a father only disciplines his own children. If one is not disciplined, then tht person is not longe part of the family. Think of what that means in relation to God when God no longer confronts our sin, when we have burnt our conscience. Thank God when He. brings our sin to remembrance. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. What a horror to lose the Holy Spirit by which we have been sealed until the day of redemption. David realizes this horror and ask God not to withdraw the Holy Spirit.

We must take comfort in that the God who has called us unto His people will chase us down even as He did David. He will chase us down antil we are brought to our knees. He will send a pastor or a fellow believer. Perhaps you will hear the sting of God in your heart when you read a psalm like this one. If you can read this psalm and not feel it personally, is this a sign of hardness in your heart? Perhaps the Holy Spirit will awaken you in the middle of the night in a moment of restlessness. Be thanful when God chases you down and repent even as David. This is why the gospel is preached by people who are all too much like David. Even though we mau not have overtly sinned to the degree David, or even if we have , we are sinners who need God’s mercy. It is through broken people who have felt God’s forgiveness that can preach the gospel of forgiveness to the unbeliever. The gospel is not preached by perfect angels who have not tasted the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of redemption. Sinners are converted by restored sinners. They are taught by people who have understood the mercy of God personally. This is what David calls for. He wants othes to be converted to the God of Israel. His actions had hardly been seen in worldly terms as a becon of God’s righteousness. But the mercy of God who forgives sinners who come to him does. This is why David cries out from his heart to once again experience the mercy of God. In this, David is truly a man after God’s own heart. When a sinner who is healed goes out and tells others about the mercy God showed to him, he or she is being obedient to the heart of God who calls us to do such.

Even though David had talked about the hyssop, he realizes that something more than outward obedience to sacrificial rites is needed. The heart has to be in it. The outward sign God has appointed to demonstrate His willingness to forgive sin must proceed from a grateful heart. This is the sacrifice that God really wants. Too often, we do the outward rites. We go through the motions. We come to communion and mumble our prayer of confession. Baptism and communion are meant to be outward signs of an inward reality. The heart which has been made right rejoices to come to the table. The one that is out of sorts needs to be challenged by the cup and bread the way that Nathan came to David. We need to be confronted by both Word and Sacrament.

When the heart is right with God, all is right. The walls of Jerusalem did not protect the Jebusites in the end. Nor did the walls of Jericho protect the Canaanites. By the help of God, the walls of Jerusalem were overcome by David. The wall that protected Israel was the God of Israel Himself. It is He who is the true Shepherd of Israel who came down to earth in human flesh. This Jesus is the one who bore our sins at the cross. This is the Son of David who died for the sins of David. And not just the sins of David, but the sins of the whole world. It is the cross of Christ which confronts the sinner and calls him or her to repent and believe the gospel. It is this gospel with which we need to confront the world who is in bondage to sin. It is the only message that can save. It is the message which converts sinners unto God. It is this Jesus who dies and rose. Even though David could hope that he would see the son born to Bathsheba again, the greater joy will be when one sees the one who died for our sins in glory.