Day 384: Mercy alone! – Psalm 51 vs 1 - 4

For the Music Director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1-2 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,  and cleanse me from my sin. 3-4 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak, and You are blameless when You judge. Psalm 51:1-4 Modern English Version

I suspect not everyone reads the little introduction that comes before some Psalms giving the background to when or why it was written, but this one tells us the Psalm was written following a very wicked thing David did when he was King in Israel. The story is in Chapters 11-12 of 2 Samuel. A man named Uriah was with David's army who were besieging an enemy city. David, still in Jerusalem, saw from his palace rooftop a beautiful lady nearby who was bathing. After inquiring, David learned she was the wife of Uriah, but he still sent for her and committed adultery with her. She learned soon after that she was pregnant, so David immediately had Uriah brought from the war front to 'give him an update' on how the battle was going. He hoped Uriah would spend the night with his wife and no-one would know the child was illegitimate.

Uriah, however, nobly chose not to go to his house while all his comrades were at the battlefront. Realizing his plan had failed, David sent a sealed note back with Uriah to the army commander instructing him to launch a dangerous attack where there would be Israelite fatalities, and to make sure Uriah was in the group attacking! Uriah was killed in battle and, quickly afterwards, David took Uriah's widow for himself.

But God sees what even Kings do in secret! He sent the prophet Nathan to tell David a story of a rich man with a large flock of sheep who got an unexpected visitor, who then despicably took the only lamb of a poor neighbour for a feast for his guest. David was enraged at such a selfish act. But Nathan pointed out that David was the real villain. And, apart form the sheer wickedness of his deeds, Nathan charged David that he had shown contempt for God. God's judgement in the matter was that the child born from their adultery would be taken from them. That's what sadly happened, the child died very young.

The whole Bible is truth from God and every part deserves to be read. But, just as in an Art Gallery with many priceless works of art there are some that catch our attention more and we linger longer before them, so there are some parts of the Bible that strike us with more impact. This Psalm is one such part.

We see here a man who has come under deep conviction of the sinfulness of what he has done crying out to God for mercy. He uses the picture of a garment with a deep stain, perhaps even the blot of blood, that needs somehow to be washed clean. The garment, as he says later, is his own heart. But on what does he base his plea for mercy? (vs 1-2)

We see that he doesn't try to make any excuses to justify what he did. He doesn't offer, what lawyers call, 'extenuating circumstances'. He doesn't hold up to God the good parts of his life in the hope that they will outweigh the bad parts. He appeals to the abundance of God's compassion and loving kindness. He knows it is only mercy that can save him. What is the other important thing we see in this cry of repentance from David in vs 3-4?

He admits fully his guilt - and he doesn't question God's authority and right to judge him. While he knew he had terribly wronged men and women, the sinning was against God. That's true of all of us. We wrong people by our actions, and even harm them. But it is against God we are sinning – and it is His commandments we break. Most of us won't have done the acts David did, but Jesus said if we've thought such things in our hearts we are just as guilty. Can any of us say we have no guilt, and there are no stains in our life that need blotting out? Let us join with David in crying out for the forgiveness that is based on mercy alone, and which flows from God's abundant compassion through the sacrifice Jesus made for sinners.