Context No. 3085 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 51:1-19: in context

1Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. 4Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. 5Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin. 6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. 11Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you. 14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise. 16For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. 18Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. 19Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

This is the great prayer of repentance in Scripture, David's cry after his sin. Have mercy on me, God, according to your steadfast love; wash me thoroughly from my iniquity; against you, and you only, have I sinned. Create in me a clean heart, O God; do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me; restore the joy of your salvation.

Notice what David actually asks for. Not only forgiveness of the deed, but a new heart, create in me a clean heart; he knows he needs more than pardon, he needs remaking. He grounds his whole plea in God's mercy, not his own worth. And he grasps what God truly wants: not the ritual of sacrifice by itself, but a broken and contrite heart, which God will not despise. God does not turn away the sinner who comes genuinely broken over sin. And restored, David longs to teach others and to praise. Repentance ends not in despair but in renewed joy and renewed usefulness.

When I have sinned, do I ask God not only to forgive the act but to create in me a clean heart, and do I come with the broken and contrite heart he will not despise?

Sources

Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me."
Psalm 51:17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart."
1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."