Commentary from Papa JoeMac:
#44 - Confess and Be Restored - Psalm 51Psalm 51 was written by David and I can only imagine how heavy David’s heart and soul were when he penned this chapter. David had an affair with Bathsheba and then to put the icing on the cake, he had her husband, Uriah, murdered! None of us are that bad, eh? On the contrary, we are all sinners just as David and the theme of Psalm 51 should be ingrained in each of us. We all need God’s mercy, His cleansing of our souls, His forgiveness of our sins and His restoration of our relationship with Him.
I’ve read Psalm 51 numerous times over the years and while I studied it and appreciated the pain and misery David was going through, it was never real to me until one Wednesday night about 3 years ago. Each Wednesday night, I lead praise and worship at an inner city church. The Wednesday night service was started when one of the lay ministers was led to give the homeless a mid-week service to encourage them, provide them with a meal, and give them a warm place on those cold Wednesday nights! My relationship with this minister had been formed over a period of two years and he and I were ‘on the same’ page with the Wednesday night ‘goals’. That is, provide a meal for the stomach, provide praise and worship for the heart, and provide a message for the soul.
One particular Wednesday night, the minister introduced the topic for the night as being Psalm 51. I had heard this man preach no less than 50 times but on this night, his preaching was gut wrenching and heartfelt. I could tell that he was not only preaching the Word and how Psalm 51 had resulted from David’s sins but I sensed he was preaching to himself. I could tell that this minister had ‘fallen’. My spirit discerned that he had inflicted pain on others close to him and he was miserable because of it. But, I couldn’t quite determine what was going on. After the service that night, I prayed with him and asked him what I could do as I knew he was obviously struggling. Unfortunately, he would not confide in me so my prayer for him was very general in nature.
About one month later, when he had reached the valley of his life, he came before the leaders of the church and admitted that he was having an affair and he was leaving his wife for another woman. I was stunned. I could not believe my ears. Being Biblically sound, the church elders offered him counseling and restoration. Much to my distress, the minister, my friend, rejected the counsel, divorced his wife, and married the other woman. He left the church and I have only seen him one time since.
Psalm 51 became very real to me. The groaning and pleas of David came to life. Although my friend had hurt his wife and those around him, he had sinned primarily against God Himself. Usually when a ‘sin’ is committed, there is a victim. Theft takes from people, murder takes lives and impacts families, adultery hurts spouses and destroys the family, and drunkards can ruin their lives and those around them. Unfortunately, there are worldly views that believe sin is OK if no one gets hurt. But every time a sin is committed, God is hurt. God wants us to live for Him. He cannot tolerate sin and it comes between us and damages our relationship with Him.
We are all born of the flesh and as such, our natural inclination is to sin. We have this drive to please ourselves; not God. To live a godly life, our hearts must be cleansed. Do you feel your faith is at a standstill? Do you feel you are not growing in the Lord? Is there a sin in your life that has brought your prayer life to a halt because of your guilt? Sins often bring earthly consequences because we ‘never get away with anything’. More importantly, un-confessed sin can totally throw us out of sync with God. Our hearts need cleansing. Our relationship with God needs restoring. It is hard to confess our sins but it is easier to do when we realize that through our confession to God, our relationship with Him is restored. God will forgive your sins – all of your sins – and He is faithful to do so. Praise God that He is God! God wants us to be open with Him in our confessions. Our brokenness brings us closer to Him. His restoration of our souls through His cleansing makes us want to share this joy with others! Confess your sins to the Lord. Get your heart and soul cleansed. It feels so good!
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