The Clean Heart

Merry Christmas Happy Church,

We'll be taking a slight break from our study of Romans, and we'll be discussing Psalm 51. I love Psalm 51. The author was King David. Now King David was a bit of a wild card. He had an affair, killed the woman's husband, and lied to cover the whole thing up. And yes, this is the same King David who had killed the villain Goliath, had been persecuted by Saul, and had to fight a brutal civil war to be the king that God had called him to be. But it wasn't long before getting on the throne, he started to drift. To some of our perspectives, David was a bit of disappointment. Here is someone literally handpicked by God who crashes and burns so spectacularly.

Nevertheless, when David is caught for the whole disaster about his affair, he has the audacity to ask God to "Have mercy on me" (Ps 51:1).

Why does he think that God will possibly give him mercy? Why does he think that God could possibly forgive him?

He tells us why, "According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy" (Ps 51:1).

The reason that David thinks he can find forgiveness from God is because God has "steadfast love" and "abundant mercy." David thinks he can find forgiveness and mercy because God is a merciful and forgiving God. In other words, God forgives because God is forgiving. God loves because God is loving. God shows mercy because God is merciful. It is who he is. This is good news. Because if I ask God to be forgiving and he is not fundamentally a forgiving God, then I am in trouble. But if I ask God to forgive and he is forgiving, then I have a sure and steady place to put my feet, a shelter and sanctuary from the storm. It is good news, because it means that when I mess up and I need a place to turn, there is someone who is disposed to hear me, to welcome me, and to be gracious and kindhearted to me. I have someone who loves me and brings me home from the heat. 

The question is, do we have the audacity to, like King David ask, "Have mercy on me, O God!"? I pray we do.

In Christ,
Pastor Matt