Have mercy on me, O God, according to your mercy; According to the multitude of your mercies, it erases my rebellions. 2 Wash me more and more of my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you I have only sinned against you, and I have done evil in your sight; So that you may be recognized right in your word, and had it pure in your judgment. 5 Behold, in wickedness have I been formed, and in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, you love the truth intimately, and in the secret you have made me understand wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, And the bones you have slain will be recreated. 9 Hide your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me, O God, a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Do not drive me out from before you, and do not take away from me your holy Spirit. 12 Return to me the joy of your salvation, and a noble spirit sustain me. 13 Then I will teach the transgressors your ways, and the sinners will be converted to you. 14 Deliver me from murders, O God, the God of my salvation; My tongue will sing your justice. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise."
Psalm 51: 1-15
David had become obsessed with his sin; His sin was always before him. In these verses, David refers to when he slept with Bathsheba, pregnant and kills her husband; All life David had to pay for that mistake. The worst thing you can do when you do not confess your sin, is to try to cover it yourself; Every time you try, you get into more trouble. David sends for the captain of the army, husband of Bathsheba, and gives him days off to be with his wife and so he thought that son was his; But the captain was so faithful, he stayed at the palace gate. David sins because he stays in the house; A king, when there was war, had to be in the war; By staying in the house when he had to leave, he sinned. Now, before him is a man who turned out to be more faithful to his position than David; And that eats David's head. Has not that happened to you? You with so many blessings, and sometimes others are more grateful, more faithful; And you complain. When you face that, you see how bad you are.
David sends a letter with new orders of war to the captain of the army: Let the captain go to the front, and let the army leave him alone. And so they did, and there the man died. And David became obsessed with his sin because, when you do not really repent, your sin becomes your obsession, you can not sleep, it stays in your head; You try to cover it, but there's no way to get it out of your head. Maybe a financial mistake that you made one day, still eats your head; You remember certain things, and they stay in your head. And it is in those moments that you have to go before the Lord, because you can not keep trying to cover your mistake yourself; Never and never will your prayer reach anywhere.
This psalm expresses four very important things:
Sin makes you dirty. David expresses feeling dirty before God. One of the worst feelings a believer has is not feeling clean, because you do not feel worthy of anything; You think: How do I present myself like this before God?
It shows that guilt sick. The you bear the guilt, sick. In another Psalm, David says: My bones grew old. Because, if there's something that makes you old, it's carrying guilt. And people like to blame you; And guilt makes you bitter, it makes you sick, it poisons you, your body resents it; Your bones can not stand it.
Your iniquity - continuous sin - breaks your relationship with God.
Ask for forgiveness and mercy. In front of God is where only you can change your life. David recognized this, and said: I repent.
You must, yes, feel free of condemnation and guilt; But, from time to time, reflect on where God delivered you, where you would be if it were not for Him; Because we forget. You would not be where you are, if it were not for God. David acknowledged the following:
Every sin requires judgment, and that is why you have to ask for mercy. Every action that you take, has to be judged. Faced with an error, there is a judgment; Therefore, there is something to fix, we must ask for mercy.
You need to be clean. There is no such thing as going through multiple experiences and not leaving something dirty in your life. Jesus himself said that he who repented, all he needs is for someone to clean his feet; For he who is clean in heart, at least his feet, has them dirty; Because there is no way to walk in this life and that your feet do not get dirty. You are not totally clean. Ask God to cleanse your conscience.
David did everything possible to hide a sin, but he could not remove the guilt by himself; That is why you need prayer for sins, your confession; Because you can cover your sin, but only God can remove your guilt, only in his presence can you get out of that consciousness and present yourself totally clean and restored.