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Prayer for Spiritual Cleansing
Psalms 51
This Psalms accredited to David is one of the greatest passages in the Bible. This Psalms deals with confession and forgiveness. Confession the act of speaking with your mouth and agreeing in your heart with God that you are wrong, that you have missed the mark, asking the Lord for forgiveness of your ugly sin.
Forgiveness - the act of forgiving the trespasses, wrongful doings, actions, words, and deeds of another.
This Psalms was written after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and subsequently had her husband Uriah killed in battle (see 2 Sam. 11:2-17). In this Psalms David admits that he is in need of God’s mercy (verse 1) as the wages of sin is death. By acknowledging his sin David takes full responsibility for his actions. It is in the nature of man to blame others, society, circumstances, and situations for our own failures, problems, and mistakes; but, David beseeches the Lord to have mercy on him, thus, admitting of his own will he sinned. Satan can only bring you temptation, you choose to accept it and sin. The Bible tells us in James 4:7 (Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.) Micheal, the arch angel in Jude 9 (yet, Micheal the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation but, said, The Lord rebuke thee.) This scripture shows that neither believers nor angels will be able to put the devil out of commission, but that the time of his demis will soon come (Rev 20). Until this time (Luke 10:19) (Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpins, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Not withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.) Psalms 8:4,5,6?? What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visited him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over thee works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet.
God knew in this world you would have trials and tribulations and that temptation would be on either side. But God promised never to leave you nor forsake you and God is not a man that He should lie, hath He said it and will He not do it.
Now nothing is in the Bible by accident. The Bible is God’s infallible Word written by man through the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Because David yielded to temptation and David surcommed we have Psalms 51. A testimony of what Satan means for evil God will use it for God! Isaiah 54:17 (No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;) Satan will try again and again but remember Psalms 51.
David shows us the key to Godly Repentance. Repentance a changing of one’s mind (attitude) and ways. Agreeing with God and seeing God’s side. God calls those things that are not as though they were.
David’s repentance included:
1.) A godly sorrow for his sin. 2 Cor 7:10 (For godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world
worketh death..)
In 2 Samuel 12 we find the prophet Nathan confronting David. Here the consequences of David’s great sin become evident to him. Nathan uses a parable - a story - of two men one rich the other poor dwelling in the same city. The rich man had everything but the poor man had nothing save one little ewe. The poor man cared for this ewe nourished and cherished it as his own children. Then the rich man had a visitor wanting to feed his guest the rich man ignored his own sheep and south the poor man’s lamb killed it and fed it to his guest.
David saw that this rich man’s actions was wrong; but, couldn’t see what he had done unto himself, Uriah, and God. Sin effects everyone not just the sinner. David violated four of the 10 commandments in one rash sin: thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife.
David’s sin brought about a Godly sorrow in his heart and he cried out unto the Lord (Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: - to thy loving kindness - David didn’t want to trust his fate to man. Man is fickle, man will forgive, accept your apology, may even tell you a thing or two; but, man has a hard time of forgetting!
#2 - David’s repentance brought about a verbal confession. Verse 2 (Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Verse 3 (For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.)
David didn’t blame Bathsheba for taking a bath out in the open for everyone to see. David acknowledged it was him, his choice to sin and took full responsibility. No one can make you do anything you haven’t already made up in your mind to do! David choice to sin then took responsibility for his actions.
#3 - David’s repentance brought about a turning away from sin and denouncing it. Often we will admit that we have sin, but not turn from it. Turn means you no longer view the sin as fun, exciting, a source of entertainment; but you see the sin as God see’s it. God loves the sinner but hates the sin!
David said, Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. I like that because nothing you can say, do, feel, think, or act that God doesn’t use to give you Godly wisdom.
David tried to cover up his sin. He brought Uriah home from battle and told him to go to his wife. When Uriah refused David has him sent to his death.
But David had to take God’s position and denounce that sin verse 5 (Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.)
God’s work is thorough!