Committed to 150: Psalm 51 - A Model for Confession and a Plea for forgiveness

Psalm 51 

"1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy 

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions, 

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words 

and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin di my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, 

and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar."

It is time for a little honesty - I kept dragging my feet writing something for this Psalm because...well, it has always just sat so heavy with me. David has sinned (big time: 2 Samuel 11-12) and the consequences of the sin are so sad. BUT this Psalm is so important for all of us, because it is the most pre-eminent confession text we have from the Old Testament. 

We, like David, have fallen way short of the glory of God, and the wages for that sin is death. It is only because of the abundant and lavish grace of God through Christ's death and resurrection that we can have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. As I've been meditating on Psalm 51 this week, the words from 1 John 1:9 keep coming back "when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Another challenge of this Psalm is finding a clear cut structure that makes it easy to follow and memorize. Some people divide it by grammar/verbs - imperatives, indicatives, confessions, etc. This line of interpretation requires quite the sophisticated verse making (which is entirely possible), but this Psalm could also just simply be David's outpouring of "facts, and feelings, pleas, and  promises, which come from the heart of a sinner through the mind of a poet and musician" - Cohen.

You can find some helpful structure charts like the one to the left here where you can see a good flow of the poetry. I do think we can sometimes over analyze and get so infatuated with the structure of the poetry that we forget the message of the poetry that God has for His people. This Psalm is to teach us how to repent of our sin - that we have sinned against God. That God will only be pleased with an inward heart change and not with outward sacrifices.

This Psalm teaches us that we need a Mediator. We can confess our sins, but there is no forgiveness without the work of Christ. We can only be washed or "laundered" as it is in Hebrew because Christ's blood has done the washing. We are the undeserving recipients of the grace of God through Jesus. There are so many places in this Psalm to point your children (and yourself) to the Gospel - sin, clean, God of my salvation, righteousness, sacrifices - do you see Jesus everywhere?

I am finding that this Psalm takes times. Continue to memorize and meditate and review it. There are also so many good songs for parts of this Psalm but you rarely find ones that sing the entire text. Make it a priority to sing the entire text since it was meant to all go together.

Tips, Tricks and Songs

• Google Psalms coloring pages. (Pinterest would also be helpful). I am going to have a piece of art or something for my children to color for each Psalm. This will use another sense to help them remember, and it will also help Scripture to be tangible for them

• If you are the artistic sort (I envy you), try drawing each Psalm or writing it out in calligraphy to help you remember and understand it

• hymnary.org will be your friend. Search for Psalm 51, and you will find several texts to sing

• Consider buying The Book of Psalms for Worship. I believe you can purchase a version that is downloadable for an iPad  - this just helps get the words/emphasis of the Psalm in your brain using music. This will help you retain the meaning better. We have been singing 51A for this Psalm.
• Use technology to help you memorize (if that does help you) - I am using the Bible memory app and have a group Committed to 150. This app sets up review and uses different ways to help you remember the verses. I am still figuring it out, because I tend to just memorize as I work on it with the children. This is a good way to keep track of what you have done and to set up review. 
• I have made a chart for our wall (it will be there for a few years) and we are marking off the Psalms as we go.