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A BROKEN HEART (II)
SATURDAY, APRIL 3
Psalm 51:5-12

2 Samuel 11:5-27

 

“Purge me with hyssop, and

I shall be clean…”

 

A BROKEN HEART (II)
 
A broken heart desires mending by God. In Psalm 51, David acknowledges how far he has fallen from God’s standard ‒ God desires “truth in the inward parts,” while he was “shapen in iniquity” (vv 5-6). Nor is this falling short a matter merely of academic fact: there is a recognition throughout this passage of sin as something genuinely heinous, and producing terrible debilitating effects. Sin brings filth that needs to be cleansed and washed (v 7); sin brings spiritual sorrow so great that the burden is bonecrushing (v 8).
 
We must beware lest the oft-repeated statement that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) lose its seriousness in our minds. Like children who play, and make themselves filthy with dirt, then traipse into the house and across the floor with their muddy shoes; even so we often treat our sin as something inconsequential and easily covered up. Even David made that mistake, when he thought to cover up his adultery! How we need to see sin for the God-defying, soul-destroying canker that it is!
 
Such a view of sin will then lead us, with David in this psalm, not to minimise or ignore the problem, nor to wallow in self-pity, but to find a solution. So great is the problem of sin, that we are utterly helpless to fix it ‒ but God is not helpless. Thus we see that as much as David feels all the terrible effects of his sin, he also recognises that God can remedy the situation: not just by forgiving him and blotting out his iniquities (v 9), but also by sanctifying him and creating in him a clean heart (v 10), restoring his joy and enabling him to serve God once more (vv 11-12).
 
When David’s thoughts were centred on self, he sought to hide his sin from the world, but as soon as his thoughts turned to God, he sought instead for spiritual restoration. The broken heart that we ought to have when we sin, will lead us to seek God’s help in urgent desire that He would mend what has been broken, and cleanse what has been made filthy.
 
THOUGHT: Do I have a light-hearted attitude towards sin?

PRAYER: Father, renew a right spirit within me!

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