Psalm 51 – Day 1

"Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me – now let me rejoice."– Psalm 51:7-8 NLT

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Grace that is greater than all our sin. What a marvelous, almost impossible truth for us to comprehend. That God could love us so much that He would be willing to extend us grace in spite our consistent struggle with sin. David knew this truth first-hand. Here in Psalm 51 we have the aftermath of his sin with Bathsheba. Here is the man known as the man after God's own heart and the anointed king of Israel, wrestling with the guilt and conviction of his affair with this woman and his premeditated murder of her husband in order that he might have her as his own. This is a sin of the first degree. It is something that shocks even the most hard-core agnostic or atheist. These kinds of things are just not done in civilized society. But here is the leader of God's chosen people confessing his guilt and willingly accepting God just judgment. "Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just" (Psalm 51:4 NLT).

David knew he was guilty, but he also knew that God was ready and willing to forgive his sin and restore him to a right relationship with Himself. David also knew that God was the only one who could restore him. So he cries out to God for mercy. He appeals to God's unfailing love. He asks God to show him compassion. He begs God to blot our the stain of his sin, wash him clean from his guilt, and purify him from his sin. He knows only God can make him clean. Only God can restore his joy. Only God can give him a new heart. Only God can give him back the joy associated with salvation. Only God can give him the ability to obey. The key to David's appeal to God was his understanding that God was looking for true repentance that comes from a heart that is grieved over its treatment of God and His Word. David knew that his sin was ultimately against God, not Bathsheba or Uriah, her husband. And David knew that God was looking for godly sorrow in David's heart. Paul refers to this kind of sorrow in his letter to the Corinthian church. "For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death" (1 Corinthians 7:9-10 NLT).

The sacrifice God wanted from David had little to do with lambs and goats, blood and offerings. But it had everything to do with a broken and contrite heart. A heart that is broken and crushed because it understands that it has offended a holy, yet loving and merciful God. God wanted sacrifices offered in the right spirit, with the right kind of heart behind them. David's sin was against God and that sin needed to bother him as much as it did God. And it did. So David came to God in sorrow, repentance, openness, honesty, and complete reliance on God to restore him. And he had every confidence that God would. Because David's God is a gracious, kind, loving, and merciful God. David's God was a forgiving God. His grace was greater than all of David's sins – from the smallest to the biggest. David's sins of adultery and murder rank high on our ranking of transgressions against God, and yet God was willing to extend mercy, grace and forgiveness even for these two hideous sins against His holiness. God's grace really is greater than all our sins. Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.

Father, thank You that Your grace truly is greater than my sin. And because of Your grace I can receive forgiveness, cleansing complete restoration, joy and the constant awareness of Your love. Amen