Brokenness: A Call to Reflect

New Year, 2022 series: Message One

Psalm 51

ETS: David prayed with a genuine and sincere heart of brokenness.

ESS: We should be broken over our sin.

OSS: [MO: Devotional, ethical] {SO: I want the hearers to respond to their sin with brokenness and genuine repentance.}

PQ: What aspects can we observe of this Psalm?

UW: Aspects

Intro.: As we transition from Christmas to the New Year, it is important that we reflect upon the year of 2021. What good happened? What bad happened? What patterns occurred in our life (if any)? What struggles did we face? etc., Upon reflection, a key question as we transition should be this, “What negative recurring patterns were present in my life in 2021 that may hinder me from accomplishing God’s purpose and plan for my life in 2022?”

Specifically, I want us to look at an occasion in one man’s life that led to brokenness over his sin and a cry for God’s mercy. Let’s put ourself in the shoes of David for a moment. David was an important man with an important role (as are many of you). He had a task, but he decided to do something different than the task- he became distracted. During his distraction, he was taking an evening stroll when he noticed something that caught his eye- a beautiful lady. David pursued the lady. He knew her in an intimate way. There was one issue: Bathsheba was married. Her husband was out on the war field as a soldier. David took advantage of this. After being with another man’s wife, David tried to cover up his sin. He called in her husband from the battlefield. You know the rest of the story, right? David ends up sending orders for a death sentence for Uriah, having him put on the frontline of the battlefield providing certainty that death would strike him. Thus, now…David, the king, was guilty of not only lust and adultery, but also of murder. Now, let’s fast forward to Psalm 51 which David wrote in response to the appearing of Nathan to reveal the sin of David...

TS: Let us examine together a few aspects of this Psalm together.

The first aspect is the genuine cry for help. (vv. 1-2)

David pleaded for the mercy of God, “be gracious (merciful) to men, God”

“blot out my rebellion” means to remove it from the slate or record.

The second aspect is the genuine confession. (vv. 3-5)

The confession consists of two important aspects: an acknowledgement of his own responsibility, “I am conscious of my rebellion- my sin is always before me;” and an acknowledgement of the offense against God, “Against you- you alone- I have sinned...”

The third aspect is the genuine request for restoration. (vv. 7-15)

Notice the words here:

Purify me

Wash me

Let me hear

Turn your face away from my sin

Blot out all my guilt

Create a clean heart

Renew steadfast spirit

Restore the joy

Sustain me

Save me

Open my lips

David requested that God restore him to who God created him to be rather than the fallen man he had become.

The fourth aspect is the genuine brokenness. (vv. 16-17)

Throughout the Psalm, the reader can sense a tone of brokenness through reading the strong words and the overall message of the Psalm. David was genuinely broken.

David acknowledges, though, that what God desires of any person is not sacrifice in the traditional sense. Rather, it was a broken and contrite heart (ESV); “broken and humbled heart” (CSB)

God simply desires us to be broken over our sins and offenses against Him.

CONCLUSION:

Often times we aren’t truly broken over our sins. We may feel conviction. We may acknowledge sin. However, often times, missing from our worship and lives is a brokenness over our sins in response to conviction. We simply confess because “we know we’ve done wrong.” With that attitude, we turn back to it, again. God, break us for what breaks you.

Psalm 139:23-24 also written by David can serve as a prayer for us today in leading our time of reflection: God, search me and know my heart- test me and know my concepts (thoughts)- see if there is any offensive way in me- lead me in the everlasting way.

Reflection board: Write down a thing or two that God has revealed to you that you are either broken over or you feel you should be broken over. Let our prayer be: God, break our hearts for what breaks yours.