Seeking Restoration

Having freely acknowledged his sin with Bathsheba, David boldly comes to God to ask that his guilt be purged away and his relationship with God be fully restored. He makes this prayer in several different ways in the second part of Psalm 51.

David first asserts his belief that if God will “purge” him, “wash” him, and “blot out” his sins, he will be “clean” and “whiter than snow,” he will “hear joy and gladness” again, and the crushing conviction God has brought upon him will yield to rejoicing. There is a note of utter helplessness here; David understands that only God can get him out of the morass of sin and guilt into which he has cast himself. But his heartfelt desire is for a “clean heart” and a “steadfast spirit.” He desperately wants to be restored to God’s good graces. So he pleads anew for mercy by asking, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” David is pleading that God will not give up on him and abandon him to his sin. Such is the worst thing that can happen to any sinner. He also is asking God not to take away his royal anointing, as Saul’s was removed after his great sin (1 Sam. 10:6–7; 1 Sam. 16:14).

If God will cleanse and restore him, David says, he will “teach transgressors Your ways”; he will do his best to see that others will be converted, brought to repentance. Furthermore, he will worship and glorify God. “My tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness,” he says. “My mouth shall show forth your praise.”

The psalm concludes with a beautiful expression of the nature of true repentance. David says he knows that God does not desire a sacrifice for sin. The blood of sheep and goats cannot cover his transgression; if it could, David would be on the way to the sanctuary. Rather, God wants from a sinner “a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.” God, who looks upon the heart, desires to see not just outward rituals of repentance but real sorrow over sin, even heartbreak for having offended God. David has faith that if such heartbreak is present, true repentance is taking place and God will act in mercy. He is saying, in essence, “I trust, O Lord, that You see the sorrow for sin that fills my heart, and You will look on me with mercy.”