Tuesday, Feb. 25

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Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

    Psalm 51:1-2

If (as we have been learning) worship is the act of ascribing ultimate value or worth to someone or something, and if the only one in all the universe worthy or our worship is the God of the Bible, then God must be far beyond us in every possible way.  Worshipping God means recognizing His absolute perfection, what the Bible calls “holiness”.  To worship this holy God also means to recognize how unholy and imperfect we are in His presence.  

This is why confession is a gateway into true worship.  We cannot come into the presence of a holy God with any kind of entitlement or presumption.  We can only approach Him in humility, acknowledging our sin and our need for His mercy and grace.

Psalm 51 is David’s great confession Psalm.  He wrote this Psalm sometime after (we really don’t know how long) he was confronted about his great sin.  David had seduced and slept with a woman that was not his wife, in fact she was the wife of one of his generals.  He tried to cover it up by deceiving her husband, and when that didn’t work, David essentially had him killed.  You can read about all of this in 2 Samuel 11.  But be warned, the account of David’s lust, adultery, cover-up and murder read more like something for a cable TV drama, than a Bible story.  The chapter ends with what may be the most understated verse in all of the Bible.  “The thing David had done displeased the Lord.” (2 Sam. 11:27)

For a while it seemed like David might get away with it.  However, God had other plans, he sent a prophet named Nathan to confront David about his sin.  It took a little while for David to get the message, but eventually he recognized the awful weight of what he had done and he confessed his sin.  Then in 2 Samuel 12:13, Nathan simply says, “the Lord has put away your sin”  What??  Just like that?  How can God just put away such terrible sins of adultery and murder?

In a sense, Psalm 51 shows us how it is possible for God to forgive and restore even the worst of sinners.  This Psalm is essentially an anatomy of a confession.  

Notice the basis of David’s appeal, he asks on the basis of two things: first, “according to your steadfast love.” He understands that he himself deserves nothing from God, that God is not bound to forgive him. Some people are never able to realize forgiveness because they think they deserve it, that God owes it to them. But David knows better. He realizes that only because of God's love may he even approach God to ask. On the basis of that unqualified acceptance, that marvelous continuing love-that-will-not-let-me-go, he says to God, “I am coming to you and asking now for this.”

Second, as David appeals to God “according to your abundant mercy,” he again indicates his understanding of the character of God. God is not an old miser when it comes to mercy; He does not dole out bits of mercy, drop by drop. No, He pours it out. His are abundant mercies. When God forgives, He forgives beyond our imagination. 

Two figures of speech that are used in the Old Testament depict the forgiveness of God. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). How far is that? Well, how far do you have to go east before you start going west? You never come to west. Then God says He will “hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Someone has added that he puts up a sign that reads “NO FISHING.” Do not go down there and try to fish old sins out once God has dealt with them. What relief comes when we begin to understand this fullness of God's forgiveness.

Father, thank You that I can come to You with my sin and cry out for mercy and love. Your love is steadfast; your mercy is abundant. I trust that You are always willing to forgive - Amen.

Jeff Frazier