It is recommended that you read Psalm 51 (ESV) before reading this week's article:

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!

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
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.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

(This summary is from II Samuel 12)

Once David saw his sin clearly, he owned his guilt. Previously, his self-image was clouded by the guilt and the kingly arrogance that led to his affair with Bathsheba. He literally used the gift of authority God gave him as king to abuse that power. What was Bathsheba to do? He was the king. This wasn’t like our modern-day democracy. It was a monarchy. There was one voice of ultimate consequence—the king’s. He used that same control to bring Uriah home to his wife and then send him back to his inevitable death.

When the prophet Nathan pointed at the king and announced, “You’re the man!”, he reminded David that he was not God. He was not a god. In that moment, he was not even a good king. He had not just failed in military strategy or diplomatic decisions. He stole, abused, and killed. Nathan reminded David that everything he owned and became was from God. Everything!

And then David got it. The smog that polluted his thinking cleared. He heard God and saw himself as he really was. “I have sinned against the LORD.” (II Samuel 12:13) What now? The child born as the result of his sinful relationship with Bathsheba would die. Even though David prayed fervently that it would not happen, it did. Once David learned of the death of his son, “…(he) arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped.” (II Samuel 12:20)

At some point, in the quiet of his private chambers, or perhaps in an isolated field, maybe looking at a flock of sheep like the one he used to tend as a boy, he wrote what we know as Psalm 51. The great chapter of repentance.

When we are guilty and we know it, there is no better place to land in God’s Book. David stripped away the pride and hubris that could come so easily to one who is the king. He did not look left or right (or up) to lay the blame at the feet of someone else. He did not blame Bathsheba because she was so alluring or because she took a bath. He did not blame the circumstances (“I should have been at the battlefront.”). He did not blame God for an unfair consequence.

He blamed himself. What a heavy burden to bear; too heavy to carry. So, he took it to the LORD.

From the final verses of the chapter, it seems David had not offered any sacrifices yet to atone for his sin and guilt. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. (verse 16) Instead, David brought his own broken and contrite heart as the sacrifice to lay on the altar before the LORD. An animal sacrifice could be offered without remorse, depending on the ritual. A penitent heart could not be given falsely. By its very definition, it is seeking the healing only God can give.

When I planned this article, I thought that I would grab the key statements to capture the sentiment of the chapter. But that is a realistic possibility. Virtually every line is significant.

You must read Psalm 51 for this article to carry any weight. It will take you about two minutes, and that is if you read it out loud (which I highly recommend).

I have chosen verses 10-12 as the centerpiece for the last quarter of this article. These words transcend any time, place, nationality, or societal status. They capture the plea of the sinner to the only One Who can heal. God doesn’t just repair us—he heals us:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

David lost what was most important. He lost a clean heart. He lost a right spirit. He was fearful of being removed from the very presence of God. He was desperate that God’s Holy Spirit remain in him. He lost the joy that comes from the salvation only God would provide. He had to have God’s help to have a steady willing spirit of obedience.

The Presence of God is everything! Being with Him and abiding in Him is the safest, purest, and ultimate place we can be.

And it is there we receive true forgiveness.