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 51:5–13
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (v. 5).
As David continues his prayer of repentance in Psalm 51, he confesses, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” At first glance, this seems like an attempt by David to excuse his sin by saying that God caused him to be born sinful. Actually, however, he is confessing the depth of his sin, acknowledging that he has a sin nature. He is saying that he produces bad fruit because he is a rotten tree. He goes on to say that he knows God desires truth “in the inward parts.” He understands that God does not want mere external conformity to His law; He requires service that proceeds from the depths of a heart that is wholly His. David is confessing that his heart is still not fully given to God, and he is asking God to complete His good work of rooting out the remnants of sin. Such is the desire of every penitent person.
In verses 7, 9, and 10, David reiterates his plea that God will cleanse him from the guilt of his sins and blot out the memory of them. He said earlier, “My sin is always before me.” We can sense something of his deep distress over his iniquity by this repeated plea for cleansing and for the purging of all wrongs from his record. The distress also comes through in verse 8, where David speaks of God breaking his bones. The pressure of conviction has been crushing him, taking away his joy and gladness. So he asks for that cleansing which alone can relieve the pressure. He makes much the same request when he asks God to “make me hear joy and gladness” (v. 8) and “restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (v. 12). He wants to be restored to the position of blessedness he knew before he spat in God’s face. But he does not ask with scant hope. Rather, he asks in full assurance that God can and will wipe away all trace of his sin: “I shall be whiter than snow,” he says—as if he had not sinned at all.
Above all else, David pleads with God not to cast him out of His presence or take the Holy Spirit away from him. For an Israelite, the presence of God was the place of greatest joy and gladness, and David could not stand the thought of losing that hope. Neither did he want to be deprived of the Spirit of God, who for so long had been with him to empower him for his kingly task. David had seen God withdraw His Spirit from Saul, and he did not want to suffer the same loss.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
When you violate God’s law, do you sense that “your iniquities have separated you from your God; and … hidden His face from you” (Isa. 59:2)? Usually, the Holy Spirit must do His painful work of conviction before we see our need for reconciliation with God. Seek to cultivate a heart mat hates any disruption in fellowship with Him.
For Further Study
- John 16:8
- Rom. 5:11
- 2 Cor. 5:18–19