Psalm 51: Penitent Pleading

Say what you will about David's sin with Bathsheba.  The tone of Psalm 51 demonstrates the depth of his repentance and desire to be made right with God.

Here are the pleading requests made by David:

• Have mercy on me...
• Blot out my transgressions...
• Wash me thoroughly...
• Cleanse me...
• Purge me...
• Hide your face from my sins...
• Create in me a clean heart...
• Put a new and right spirit within me...
• Do not cast me away from Your presence...
• Do not take Your holy spirit from me...
• Restore to me the joy of Your salvation...
• Sustain in me a willing spirit...
• Deliver me from bloodshed...

In the throes of his pleading for mercy, David hits upon some very important truths about divine forgiveness.  He realizes that his sin (although it directly impacted others, especially Uriah) is chiefly an offense against God (vs. 4).  He knows that God, as holy, is perfectly justified in passing sentence on sinners (vs. 4).  And David discovers the truth that God desires repentance and return from sinners (vs. 13-14).  What God really wants, David understands, is not a burnt offering but a broken and contrite spirit (vs. 17) because that is what leads to healing and forgiveness.

I think a parallel here is Jesus' opening of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."