Rejoicing in Restoration

“For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge….

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness,

Let the bones which 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 steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will be converted to You.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

The God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Your praise.”

(Psalm 51:3-4, 7-15)

Ok, this is one wonderful psalm and much preached on and written about. The background is that King David had been busted by the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba, the subsequent murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite, and then the cover-up. This is his psalm of repentance.

In verses 3 and 4 David is recognizing and admitting his sin. There is no longer any cover-up. He recognizes that sin is against God, and God only. God is always blameless in His judgments.

In verse 7 David asks to be cleansed, washed, and made whiter than snow. If God does that, cleanses David of the guilt of adultery, murder, and hypocrisy, he will be whiter than snow. Nothing he could do, or anyone else do, could achieve guiltlessness.

And then we see what will happen in verse 8. He asks God to make him hear joy and to let his broken bones rejoice. David wants to once again to hear joy, and he wants the rejoicing to reach his bones. When overwhelmed with his sins he could neither hear joy nor rejoice himself. And this is only possible after he is washed of his sins.

This is also true of us. Joy is the first thing to go when we sin. We don’t feel like rejoicing nor can we see reasons to rejoice when we are knee deep in unrepentant sin.

In vv. 10-11 David continues to ask God to fix him, to create a clean heart in him, and renew his steadfast spirit. He asked God to not throw him out of His presence nor take His Holy Spirit from him.

Then he asks, not that his salvation be restored, but that the joy of God’s salvation be restored to him. When we sin we don’t lose our salvation, but we certainly lose the joy of it. We have broken fellowship with the source of our joy. The joy can be faked, however, with acceptable Christian lingo and behavior while before other believers. News flash! God is not fooled.

And here is a fun part in v. 13. When the joy of His salvation is restored, David will teach transgressors God’s way and they will be converted. But if we are in the joy of the Lord, a by-product is having the ability to teach other sinners of God’s way and conversions will result. The desire to evangelize picks up because we have joy.

In vv. 14-15 David once again asked God to deliver him from the guilt of murder. He recognizes that his salvation comes from God and his behavior deserved the opposite of salvation. When David is forgiven he will joyfully sing of God’s righteousness. Again, the result of forgiveness is joy.

Several times over we see that joy should be the ‘in-fellowship with God’ indicator. We should have joy in our salvation but that is taken away when we cling to our sin. Repent and rejoice!

Heather Jean Torosyan