Lent in Psalm 51. We cannot repair ourselves.

 

Psalm 51:1-2 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

 

Psalm 51 is about the consequences of and remedy for our sinfulness, rather than merely the individual sins that lies heavily on our conscience as well.

Psalm 51 describes the totality and the radical nature of our sinfulness.

Verse 3: For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Sin leaves the sinner liable to judgment and punishment.

Verse 4: Against you (God), 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.

Everyone knows that this is true. But what makes the Psalm's inventory of the consequences of sin noteworthy is what comes after these initial general comments.

 

The Psalmist teaches us about the deep-seated and universal nature of our sinfulness that saturates every aspect of human life.

 

Verse 5: Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me!

He states it clearly that the effects and consequences of our sinfulness are unavoidable through mere human action and initiative. He therefore goes on to spell out these consequences in intimidating detail.

 

Verse 8: Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Sin, he says, deafens the sinner to the experience of joy and it causes physical agony.

 

Verse 11: Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.  Our sinfulness creates the feelings of being cast out from God's presence, of being rejected and abandoned – even by the Holy Spirit.

 

Verse 12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.  Our sinfulness obstructs the enjoyment of the good news of God's redemption and salvation and destroys the willingness to even attempt to follow God's way, thus spreading its own malignant influence across all the boundaries of our lives.

 

Verses 15 and 16: 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.   The Psalmist concludes that our sinfulness even prevents the offering of true praise and that it perverts our sacrifices for God.

 

Verse 17: My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

 

The deadly consequences of being sinners prevent us from repairing our own lives. Any idea that we can do something by ourselves to patch up the results of our evil nature is foolishness. Psalm 51 reminds me that the purpose of repentance is to beg for God’s gracious help to restore our lives and the lives of those we impacted with our evil choices. Only God can do anything about our sin and our weak and evil human nature.

 

We need Jesus Christ, our only hope, redemption and true salvation!

The Season of Lent is a blessed time of receiving the reparation that Jesus died for on the cross of redemption.   It is a time of healing and receiving help and remedy for our natural sinful spiritual state, by the power of his resurrection and ascension.