Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Psalm 51:14–19
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise (v. 17).
In Psalm 51:14, David asks God to “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed.” This is a specific request for forgiveness for David’s arranged murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite. Like David, believers seeking forgiveness should acknowledge their specific sins to God. Forgiveness does not rest on specific recounting of sins. But since each sin we commit is a slap in God’s face, it is good to own each one and express contrition for it, as much as we are able.
David promises, in response to God’s forgiveness, to “sing aloud of Your righteousness.” Deep down, he still loves the law of God, which expresses the righteousness of God, and he is more than willing to laud that righteousness. But he acknowledges in verse 15 that he needs divine help to praise God as he should. Only if God “opens his lips,” giving David the desire to praise Him and the words with which to do it, will David be able to worship and honor God rightly.
In verses 16 and 17, David declares that he would gladly make sacrifices to God to atone for his sin—if that were what God desired. He is saying that there is no inherent power in the system of sacrifices that God laid down in the Law for His people Israel. He understands that the offerings of bulls, goats, and other animals are impotent to satisfy God’s justice, but merely serve as a symbol of the perfect sacrifice that is yet to come. Thus, God is not so much interested in the sacrifices as in having His people look to His provision for their need in that future sacrifice. The only thing God wants a person to “offer” Him is a heart that is broken and contrite over sin, and completely dependent upon Him for forgiveness. He wants to see genuine sorrow for sin. If this attitude is present, God will accept it and will not “despise” it. Such contrition is a key element of true repentance. It is distinguished in theology from attrition, which is a repentance motivated by a fear of punishment or a subsequent loss due to the consequences of the action. It does not involve genuine remorse for offending God. God will indeed despise this sort of repentance, and will not accept it.
Finally, David prays that God will “Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion.” He is asking that God will not punish Jerusalem or Israel for his sin, but will bless and keep them. Enabled by God’s Spirit, the people will walk with God in righteousness.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Scriptures sometimes characterize our sin as a “debt,” and the natural human instinct is to do something to pay that debt. But we cannot possibly pay it—only Christ could. If you are a believer, thank God today that Jesus became the acceptable sacrifice for your sins. Strive to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart.
For Further Study
- Matt. 6:12; 18:21–35
- Gal. 4:1–5
- Titus 2:14