I have a problem: when I read my Bible, I tend to allow a certain voice called "Mr. Monotone" to read it for me. I heard it said once that if you get the same feeling when you read Galatians (which opens with Paul being very concerned) as when you read Philippians (which opens with Paul being very thankful), Mr. Monotone is reading for you. When I first looked at Psalm 51, I let Mr. Monotone read and I missed out on a great deal. This is a Psalm in which David is crying out for mercy, not gazing ponderously out a window. Pushing Mr. Monotone to the side, I was able to hear David's emotions and relate to his pain.
David’s raw emotion comes through in verse 11 where he says, "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." There is a simple illustration that helps me understand David’s emotions: The parent of a child who is misbehaving in a store begins to walk away from the child, and of course an eruption of tears begins. The child feels that it is possibly the worst moment of their life; not only do they know that they’ve misbehaved, they are feeling abandoned by the person that their life depends on completely. David’s situation is far more weighty and, knowing that a life without God is so hopeless it is unimaginable, he is pleading desperately that God not abandon him for his sinful acts.
Psalm 51 is said to be "A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after committing adultery with Bathsheba." If you haven't read the story of David and Bathsheba, check it out in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. I love in chapter 12 how Nathan, long advisor to the king and follower of the Lord, uses a parable to make David aware of his sin. Have you ever heard the saying 'we detest in others what we find in ourselves?' When David hears Nathan’s parable of a man who violated justice and acted wrongly, he responds “As surely as the Lord lives, this man deserves to die!” "And really, as verses 5 and 6 in the psalm depict, we all deserve this fate. We are “sinful from birth” and in desperate need of a God who is loving, able, and willing to “cleanse [us] with hyssop… [and] make [us] white as snow.” After David realizes that he is the man in Nathan's parable, he says in verse 13 "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan replies in the most honest fashion, (and who could ever hear better words?) “The Lord has taken away your sin."
Something I love about this Psalm is the juxtaposition of God’s unfailing love against David’s sinfulness. David first acknowledges who God is ("Your unfailing love") and then identifies himself based on that. This is as it should be; the truest thing about one's identity is based on the Truth that is within him. David bares himself openly before God (as if his sin could be hidden from Him) and says he knows his sin. David knows that God is powerful and just, and that, as a sinner, he is in a bad place. He knows the adultery and murder he has committed weren’t just bad things to do to other people, but sins against God ("It is against You and You only that I have sinned”).
It is also clear that David is in a RELATIONSHIP with God. This is another problem of mine when I approach my Bible-I sometimes sit down and think of reading it as "getting it done" as opposed to being in a relationship with my Heavenly Father. David speaks to God as someone who knows him completely (“surely I was sinful at birth…You desired faithfulness even then"), and as someone who has a hold on David's heart. Verses 1-12 are David's appeals to God; from verse 13 on he shifts the focus to the people around him. David receives God's mercy, and then goes to share it with others. He asks for God's help in doing this, and after covering that front, he moves on to praise. So there is this pattern of pleading, receiving, giving, praising. How often do we follow this pattern? The face-down pleading is often watered down to a fearless murmur, we often receive and receive without ever giving, and our praising is less genuine because we don't feel the massive gratefulness and relief of God's forgiveness. The less I come face to face in acknowledgment of my sin, the less joy I feel in God's salvation. If there’s anything I can say regarding Psalm 51, it’s to not let Mr. Monotone rob you of the joy that David is begging for here!
Thanks for putting so much thought into your reflection, Molly. And thanks for the song!
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