For Such A Time As This 4
For Such A Time As This
Psalm 51
March 29, 2000
The voice of Moses, in Numbers 32:23, trumpets this warning to the Israelites: “you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” The point is this, we dare not stand in the way of God’s direction for his people, as did a generation of Israelites who failed to stand up to God’s command and challenge to go in and possess the land at Kadesh Barnea. We dare not, like David, presume that God doesn’t care about our petty sins. You may be sure that your sin will find you out.” When God’s rod of reproof for sin strikes, we can be sure that in His Fatherly goodness he is seeking to turn us from our sin so we might live. This Psalm is written for such a time as this. To the penitent heart it brings much assurance of God’s compassion and mercy.
The great sin of David is his vile attempt to hide his adultery with Bathsheba with yet another ungodly act, the murder of her husband Uriah. Nathan, the prophet, is sent to subdue his ranting and raving of unfairness, by turning David’s anger retrospectively on his own evil heart. What we see in Psalm 51 is a penitent heart conversing with God about the reality of sin in one’s life. For David, this is a time when the pride of life has been torn from him. It is a time when regret redresses him so that he goes to the only source of salvation, the Lord God Himself. In other words, his human spirit is broken, and his heart contrite.
There is no presumption in this Psalm that the sinner can “do better next time.” Such presumption fails to realize the depth of one’s human depravity. Just like any other sinner, what David needs to remove himself from the curse of his sin is death. You see, “the wages of sin is death.” He must die with respect to his sinful human nature, because that nature cannot be tamed, mollified, or treated with indifference. It must die to free the sinner from the certainty of hell. The same is obviously true for us. The reason why is because we possess the same human nature as David, which, from the moment of conception, is thoroughly conditioned and moved by innate sin. “Surely I was sinful at birth,” David says, “sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
That poses another question we might like to ask of God. “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?” To this question comes God’s immediate answer. “He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow-man, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.” (Psalms 15) Doesn’t that make you want to say, “My gosh! It’s mission impossible? A curse.” But that’s the point. In truth the flesh will not submit to God’s Law. It actually seeks to do just the opposite. But, only the Spirit of God can acknowledge this. And only the one in whom the Spirit of God lives can believe it.
No wonder David prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” He now knows that apart from God he can do nothing to help himself. It takes the creative power of God working in us to see ourselves as we really are. It takes His power to be able to pray this penitent prayer in sincerity. And thank God, we have that power in Jesus Christ. Listen to Paul’s prayer for Christians: “ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus …, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, … , may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 1:15-21)
My friends this is the power that brings truth to our inner parts. This is the power that teaches us wisdom in the inmost places of our hearts. This is the power that enables us to pray, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” This is the power that enables us to see and to seek the one who is able to save. It is only by God’s great mercy, love, and compassion that we have hope. In Him, guilt is washed away, sin is cleansed, righteousness is secured, the heart is purified, the human spirit is made steadfast, and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit restores joy and grants the desire to do God’s will in the human spirit. And this power makes us His living sacrifices.
Is it any wonder that Paul immediately adds to the words “The wages of sin is death,” this phrase, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” May that life and power continue to indwell us, wholly and completely, just as it did in David, to the praise of His glory. Amen.
