When it comes to bath time in our family, I think of our Beagle first. She will find any puddle, any bit of mud and immediately step in it. Matter of fact her first desire after being bathed is to get outside and roll around in the yard. She seems to like living like this. The rest of us don’t.

I’ll never forget during Covid my daughter’s hands got so chapped from washing that they looked raw. She said they hurt, and we had to get ointment and make sure she was patting them dry.

Psalm 51 was written by David about a time in his life when he badly needed a bath. He had been rolling around in the dirt, not living for the Lord for a while. He had sought to hide his filthy condition from everyone. There was no ointment or comfort given to him during these filthy days of his life.

In time the prophet Nathan was told by the Lord to come to see the King of Israel. He tells King David that his sins of adultery and murder were abhorrent to the Lord. Moreover, David’s repression of these sins had left him living in a filthy condition that God found detestable. David had not only slept with one of his soldier’s wives while the man was away fighting a war for the King. But David then had the man killed to hide the fact that she was pregnant, and David was the father. David was fully aware what he had done was unforgivable under the law. So, he had lived for a year trying to hide from the truth of what he had done.

To summarize: David’s need was very great, and he deserved only death.

His response to this situation is on full display in this Psalm. It’s a response we should consider because it helped David immensely. We may not be as dirty as Sally, my Beagle. But we all carry the sore hands of sin. We all need to be made even cleaner by the Lord to draw close to His perfection.

David writes in Psalm 51 of the three phases of dealing with his terrible sins.

1. Confession

The first six verses contain David’s full confession. He decries his sin before the Lord. He doesn’t seek to make excuses or minimize the severity of his conduct. He says it is fully his fault and uses the phrase me and my, to show total ownership. He holds nothing back. Never compares himself to others. His approach is unlike anything we see today. In fact, he never says, “That wasn’t who I really am.” King David says, this is EXACTLY who I am without you Lord, only YOU can teach me how to act correctly. You have wanted better for me. I ignored your ways.

David doesn’t focus on his punishment or coming consequences here. He is solely focused on how he failed God. He leaves the penalty up to the Lord. He knows he deserves to die under the weight of the law. He asks the Father to do whatever he decides is right. This is true confession.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against 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.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

2. Consequences

Next in verses 7-12 David is factual concerning the consequences of the ongoing sin in his life. He admits his attempts to ignore it, deny it and hope it would go away all failed. He faces what his sin has done to him. He’s been badly in need of a bath for a long, long time. David asks the Father to reverse His decision, wipe away his shame and wash him thoroughly inside and out. As you can see from David’s words, He wants to be washed with the strongest cleaners available until he is bleached white. He wants this cleaning to go to the bone. He knows even the secret passions deep in his beating heart must be cleansed by the cleaning power only God possesses.

In other-words David asks the Lord to scrub him ruthlessly inside and out.

He wants to be made new.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

3. Restoration

Finally in the remaining verses (13-19) David seeks to live a life of full restoration. Asking the Lord to use him again. Not only to be the King, but to be a righteous man who can teach God’s people how-to live-in ways that do not lead to the filth and ruin of sin. He wants to show everyone that the Lord cleans us so we can worship Him in a close and personal way. I like that David makes a point to tell us that the Lord wants us to come directly before Him to go through this process. We can’t just give money to the church or do something as a sacrifice to be forgiven. Only the Lord can make us clean. Then once clean, we can give to and worship the Lord, not to make up for our sin, but out of His purity and righteousness in us. We now give in joy from the clean lives He has given us.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar

We live in a world that encourages us to minimize our sin. You may not feel like you’ve been as bad as David was. But God’s word says we are all born to sin. We all need to be scrubbed deeply. Giving to your church or serving in a charity won’t work. Maybe you’ve tried it and still feel dirty. The Lord doesn’t ask for penance. He asks for repentance. You alone know the sins in your thought life and the things you’ve done that you hope to keep hidden from everyone. Don’t minimize them. They are keeping you from being close to the Lord.

Peter faced the crying eyes of people who had cheered the death of Jesus as they asked him if they could be forgiven. He didn’t use this as a time to raise money for the church. Peter also didn’t tell them it was, no big deal. Here’s what he told them.

 “Repent and be Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

David needed a bath, we do too.

David had been silenced by sin. He had lived with the filth of his sin for far too long. When he fully confessed his sin to the Lord, the Lord washed him whiter than snow. By the end of this Psalm, David is praising God with a heart able to worship because He’s been made right with God. Peter had the same words for those who persecuted Jesus.

Long term, effective joy stems from being faithful to Christ. That faith comes when you fully repent of your sin and trust in the goodness of our Savior. Jesus alone can give you the scrubbing you need. Only then can you praise the Lord with a heart made right by Him.

David tells us of God’s forgiveness when we are honest with Him.

Jesus made the sacrifice for David and for us. He bore the consequences for our sin on the cross.

Maybe today is the day for you to come to Christ in repentance or back to Him in confession to be restored to a life you had once, but have fallen away from. Or a life you have never had but desperately want.

The Lord wants you home with Him and He wants you clean and ready to experience true joy that can only be found in the Lord and His purity.

Get a bath.

P. C. Kinner 6/15/23