Psalm 51:1-10 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 51:1-10 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Verse 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Verse 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Verse 4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
Verse 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
Verse 6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Verse 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Verse 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Verse 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
Verse 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Devotion
On a recent trip to Berlin, I met a woman who was raised in Communist East Germany. She told me that after the Berlin Wall came down, she asked to see the security file that the secret police had kept on her. She was surprised to discover that one of her best friends had informed them about her. The friend had written a letter disclosing minor items like what kind of music she enjoyed and who her friends were. While small details, the woman was upset that the woman had written anything at all. She went to her friend and asked why she had done this. The friend’s face fell and she turned away and could not speak to her. The woman told me that they had not spoken since that day because her friend was so guilt-ridden and ashamed.
I wonder if that is how David felt when Nathan confronted him about the sin that he had committed with Bathsheba. David, in his guilt and shame, turned to the Lord and asked God to do what he could not do: create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. When we feel guilty and ashamed we are invited to go to the Lord. God will forgive and renew us and help us ask forgiveness of those we have wronged. Through it all God promises to be with us so that, instead of living in guilt and shame and turning away from our friends, we might befriend others and share God’s love and forgiveness with all in our world.
Prayer
Most gracious God, forgive us all our sins and help us to know your forgiveness when we are feeling guilty and ashamed. Help us not to turn away from our neighbors in our guilt, but through your grace ask others for your forgiveness, in Jesus' name, Amen.