Living Worth Pt 1: A clean heart

Psalm 51:1-12                        1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  2Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.  5Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  6Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.  7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.  9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

2Samuel 11:14-15                  14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.  15In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest.  Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

The context

I suppose that many beli8:eving people know at least vaguely the story of King David and his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.  David was walking one night on the rooftop of his palace when he noticed Bathsheba having a bath on the rooftop of her home.  David lusted after her and so, as King, he commanded that she be brought to him and after that meeting, she became pregnant.  That adultery was bad, of course, but it gets worse.  Bathsheba’s husband was Uriah, one of David’s elite guard, a member of a sort of personal fighting force, and as such David knew him very well.

What was David’s response to what he had done?  Like many of us might do, he tried to cover it up!  He called Uriah home from battle and told him to go home to his wife hoping people would assume the coming child was theirs.  Uriah twice refused to abandon his fellow warriors, and in the end, David had him killed.  David was guilty of both adultery and murder!

The transformation

Yet this hard-hearted, adulterous and murderous man wrote these beautiful words of Psalm 51.  How could this be, because it doesn’t seem like the two hearts could be in one body.  God knew what was going on of course and sent his prophet Nathan to confront David.  There are two kinds of pain associated with sin, at least that I am aware of, the one being the embarrassment and humiliation at being caught, and the other being the transgression of trust.  Public humiliation can be a force for good or can cause denial and cover-up.  The recent rash of fallen church leaders has shown this, as some have denied and attempted cover-up, and some have repented and sought restoration.

The result

David was a man after God’s own heart, but he was not a man without flaws.  Still, when confronted by Nathan, David recognized what he had done.  Psalm 51 is a penitent psalm as David acknowledged his guilt, begged for mercy, and sought spiritual renewal.  At his core David knows he is a sinful human, and he understands that his sin is dragging him downward in a negative spiral.  He understands that there is nothing he can do about that spiral except turn to God who, in his mercy, can forgive and restore.  David knows God’s love is unfailing and that, for all his sinfulness, he is still a member in God’s family.  He asks for God to blot out, to remove, any evidence of his sin.  But on his side of the Cross, David has no idea of the cost inherent in the answering of that request. 

In 2Samuel, David’s attitude was, “How can I cover my tracks?”  In Psalm 51 his attitude is, “How could I have treated God like this?”  In the midst of his awakening David realizes he has broken relationship with God, and nothing is more frightening than that.  David so loves God that he will do anything, seek anything that will restore that relationship.  On our side of the Cross, we know that we have been freed from the consequences of our sin, but still, we have trouble accepting that God loves us in spite of our sin.  Think what it must have been like for David, whose Messiah had not yet come.

We should take the example from David.  Not that we should engage in such horrendous sin, but that amid the fear of being cast away because of sin, we turn towards God rather than run away from him.  David asks for cleansing, for blotting out, and maybe most importantly for the creation of a clean heart.  He recognizes that his heart, the essence of his being, is ungodly and unholy and he recognizes that he can’t do anything about that except turn to God.

What about me?

I find it very difficult to turn to God when I’ve done something I’m ashamed of.  I know better, but sometimes I feel that He can’t possibly love me and that my sin has so polluted me that a relationship with him is no longer possible.  That, of course, is just another lie from Satan.

It seems that David felt this way but found a strength to overcome that attitude and seek restoration and healing from God.  I used to have a friend (we have gone our separate ways) who thought he was too sinful to come to church and that God wouldn’t welcome him there until he cleaned up his act.  Of course, his act never got cleaned up because my friend didn’t have the ability to clean it up.  Only God can do that. 

My friend, none of us are sin-free.  All of us have habitual things we do, and those things are sometimes there for a reason.  When Paul complained to God about the thorn in his side, God’s answer:

9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2Corinthians 12:9)

God wants us in relationship with him.  Certainly, I wouldn’t want egregious sin like adultery or murder to be in my life, and I especially don’t want sin to separate me from God.

So, please don’t let your personal weaknesses keep you away from God.  He is the One who cleanses and restores.  Certainly, that doesn’t have to happen in a church facility, but churches to provide opportunities to interact and communicate with him and with others about him.  If right now, you feel the weight of some action, then may be God is calling you to come to him for restoration.  Please cooperate with him on this:  It is in your best interest.