scripture and prayer reflection
Click HERE to listen to the song on Spotify
Lyrics
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to Your unfailing love
According to Your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to Your unfailing love
According to Your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of Your salvation
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of my salvation
The sacrifices of our God
Are a broken and a contrite heart
Against You and You alone
Have I sinned
The sacrifices of our God
Are a broken and a contrite heart
Against You and You alone
Have I sinned
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of Your salvation
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of my salvation
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of Your salvation
Would You create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of Your salvation
Psalm 51:1-19
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 did 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 bloodguiltiness, 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.
Reflection
Confession is a practice much neglected in some strains of Christianity. Being confronted with our own failures, mistakes, and evil choices is a humbling and painful experience. The weight of shame and guilt sits heavy on us, especially when observed by others. The psalm on which this song is based was written out of just such a circumstance.
The context is David’s most famous and spectacular failure — having first slept with his friend Uriah’s wife and gotten her pregnant, David tried to manipulate Uriah into going home, hoping that he would assume she was pregnant with his own child. When his schemes to this end failed, David was so desperate to cover up his sin that he chose to order Uriah abandoned on the battlefield, to murder him rather than take responsibility for his actions.
But God isn’t a God that only pays attention some of the time, or who doesn’t understand unless we tell Him. He sees into the very core of our hearts, and knows even more than we do all of the selfish desires that lurk in us. He’s not surprised when we fail or when we are faithless. He knew what David had done, and sent Nathan to confront him about it. Doing so was a painful but necessary gift. It was an invitation to David, giving him the opportunity to repent and throw himself on God’s mercy rather than to continue living in deception.
And David does repent. In this psalm we see David own the humiliating guilt and shame of his sin, and plead for mercy. This isn’t a private, secret repentance with no impact on his relational world — he allows his pride and his reputation to crumble in order to live in the honest truth of the evil he has done before others. He acknowledges that the choices he has made have come from the evil that lives in his own heart, and sees his own inability to fix himself or to make himself better, crying out and asking God to create a new heart in him — one that desires good, and seeks righteousness. It is this humbled, penitent response when confronted with his own sin that marks David as a man after God’s own heart.
Take some time to reflect on your own life. When you recognize your own sin, how do you usually respond? Is it easy to sweep things under the rug and bypass confession? Why or why not? What might God be inviting you to bring out into the light? Who might be a good person to confide in, as a way to lean into the humility necessary for true repentance? Talk with God about what comes up.