Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Psalm 51:12-14

 

David had written Psalm 51 as a confession of guilt after Nathan had showed him his sin with Bathsheba. Read the whole Psalm! We are convicted of sin by the Word of God, by his Spirit, sometimes God uses a friend who loves us to tell us. How does one react? How does confession work? We learn from David:

 

1.    Trust in God’s love and mercy (Psalm 51:3). God is your heavenly Father and He loves you. He desires to live in a healthy relationship with you. He wants to forgive and heal your broken life.

2.    Ask the Lord to wash away your sin (Psalm 51:2). We understand this verse better when we know Jesus as Lord. He came to wash away our sins with his blood on the cross. The price is paid, come and get your pardon from God.

3.    Confess that what you did was sin against God (Psalm 51:4).

4.    Ask the Lord to guide you, to serve him with a pure heart again (Psalm 51:10).

5.    Ask God to take away your sin, to be whiter than snow again in his eyes (Psalm 51:7).

6.    Ask the Lord to restore you to your personal relationship with him, that joy may return, and you serve him again with a willing spirit (Psalm 51:12).

7.    Ask for restoration from the faith community. David asks, in Psalm 51:19, that Zion may prosper again, that Jerusalem’s walls may be restored. His sin as the king had an influence on his people. Sin brings collateral damage, innocent people get hurt. Ask for God’s healing for them as well.

8.    Be a witness of God’s salvation, his mercy in your life (Psalm 51:15).

 

May the Lord help us to live with pure hearts before him again. Sin has serious implications for our lives, but God’s mercy is larger than anything we have done wrong.

 

Prayer: Lord, you know me. You know my deepest secrets and my darkest thoughts. You know that I have a hard time to say and do the right thing in life. But thank you for your grace and mercy in my life. See my broken spirit and my contrite heart, and restore me to walk with you once more. Thank you for your forgiveness, and help me to do the right thing in future. Amen.