Book 2: Psalms 42 to 72

As we gather around God’s Word to study another psalm, we come to God in prayer:

Our Father in Heaven, we come into your presence to feast upon a portion of your Word. As we gather, pour out your Holy Spirit, so that our conversations may be guided by you and your will. Be with our loved ones while we are here and please protect them from all physical and spiritual danger. We ask this in the name of your Son and our Lord. Amen.

Last time we gathered I asked the question of what your favourite Psalm was and why. 

Today my question is where do we use the Psalms in our worship services? 

It might help if someone has a hymnbook handy so that you have a look through it. 

Today our Bible study is based on Psalm 51. 

Take turns in reading Psalm 51 in its entirety. What words or phrases strike you as odd or different? 

Historically, Psalm 51 was written by King David when he was confronted by the Prophet Nathan, after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. (For more information look up 2 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12.)

As you may have guessed from the reading of the Psalm this affair affected King David and Bathsheba greatly. This affected not only them, but their children and the community that they lived in too.

Re-read verses 1 and 2. How do these verses strike you? 

Here we have a cry for mercy and a plea for abundant mercy. David makes an appeal to a higher authority than himself because the weight of his sin is so heavy. Even though it takes two to tango, David takes full responsibility for what he and Bathsheba have done. He asks that his transgressions be blotted out, just like ink from a fountain pen is blotted out after a mistake.

David pleads with God: “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin”. He realises that it is only God who can thoroughly cleanse someone. 

How do you feel before you go to or have confession in church? And how do you feel when you have received the forgiveness for your sins when the absolution is spoken?  

Please read verses 3–6

David then states what the sin or the crime is. He bears his heart to God and acknowledges that his sin is affecting his entire being. David knows that he has sinned against God.

Which of the Ten Commandments has David broken? (there is more than one broken here.)

When we sin against our fellow human-beings, we also sin against God.

How does it make you feel when you see

verse 5? 

Our modern way of thinking says that babies and young children cannot sin, yet this statement suggests something different.

Do you agree with King David or disagree with him? Why?

This is a hard argument. What David is trying to say is that he has inherited sin through his parents which goes back to Adam and Eve. David is admitting that he has been a sinner since the day he was conceived in the womb.

In verse 6, David realises that God desires truth in the innermost part of the heart. This is more than just the soul; this is the entire person. Because of this, David asks that God would teach him wisdom, not just on a knowledge level, but in the depth of his heart. 

Read verses 7–12

Have you ever seen hyssop? It is mentioned at the crucifixion, and it is also used when people and objects are cleansed in rituals (Leviticus 14:4–6; Numbers 19:18). It has hairy looking branches and it was used to apply the blood to the doorposts, to sprinkle water for purification on those who had touched a corpse, and to cleanse leprosy. Purge … wash me. By God’s hand alone, the stain of sin is removed.

Have you ever had to scrub a hard stain off the floor? In verse 7, the Hebrew word wash, that is used here, is a strong word like vigorous rubbing and pounding so as to loosen that caked on dirt. It is only after this hard work that God can make us clean, even whiter than snow. 

Then we come to verse 8 and the broken bones. 

Have you ever had broken bones? Was it self-inflicted? Or did someone break your bones? 

It is not nice when this happens. Normally there is intense pain associated with physical broken bones. But here David is speaking about the crush of spiritual anguish (which can include physical illness). This sadness can only be removed as our relationship with God is restored through the forgiveness that only God can give.

As we move from verse 9 to verse 10, we transition into another thought. Verse 10 begins “Create in me a clean heart”. 

Who can give you a clean heart, a heart that doesn’t have sin? 

Many of us are aware of how unclean our heart is. We think that we can clean it up ourselves, yet we often fail and fall off the well-trodden path.

Verses 11 and 12 can be a quandary for some people. 

Your presence. To be denied access to the earthly tabernacle of God’s mercy is the worst of all possibilities to David. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. The tragic example of Saul’s rejection might have motivated this urgent request as David contemplated the ultimate end of a hardened heart: separation from God. 

Please read 1 Samuel 16:14

In my lifetime, I have come across people who have said, once you have God’s Spirit, you can never lose it. Yet here David suggests otherwise. He was aware of what had happened to King Saul and he didn’t want to suffer the same fate.

Read verses 13–17. These are known as vows of thanksgiving. How would you describe these verses? How are they connected to previous verses?

God’s forgiveness has now transformed King David. How?

One fruit of repentance is leading others to God’s grace and mercy. 

Even though he knows that he is forgiven, David still fears blood guilt.

Knowing why this psalm was written what was he fearing? (2 Samuel 11:17; 2 Samuel 12:9). 

Bathsheba is a constant reminder that David had killed her husband. Seeing Bathsheba constantly would remind David that he had committed adultery and killed someone with malice intent. For Bathsheba, seeing David would be a constant reminder of her previous husband Uriah.

So David asks that the guilt of blood is taken away from him (v14) and when this happens his tongue will be open and sing of God’s righteousness and deliverance (v15). 

Have you ever praised God for how he has delivered you?

In verses 16 and 17, David realises that a burnt offering will not appease God, especially if it is done only for show. This is what we would call empty repentance, and we know what this is like if we have children. What God accepts is a broken spirit. Even the best sacrifice is nothing if it is not done with a repentant heart. This is a heart which knows it owes everything to God, deserves nothing from him, and has forgiveness, life, and salvation only in him.

We then come to verses 18 and 19 which are a prayer for Zion. They talk about rebuilding Jerusalem and delighting in right sacrifices being done with a right heart. It is an interesting thought that we are told within Scripture to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

So we have learnt that this psalm is an anguished cry of confession from the depths of guilt and sins that finds God’s absolution and renewal on the certain footing of grace alone. Sin is an inheritance, born in us, that continues damaging us. None of our works can ever set us free from terror, despair, or death. However, God has blotted out even the worst of our sins—adultery and murder—by Jesus’ sacrifice. 

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, make me new again, give me joy for sadness. Have mercy on me, O God, and cleanse me from my sin. Amen.

 

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