An excerpt from the sermon I preached recently at Good Samaritan Anglican Church in Summerville.
David turns to the mercy and love of God. And in doing so is seeking three things. He seeks to be cleansed of his sin. He seeks to be transparent and honest with God. He seeks restoration and renewal. So let’s look at each of those.
David seeks to be cleansed. He starts in v 2 asking God to show mercy and erase or wipe out his transgression, the things that he has done wrong. Then using the language of ceremonial purifying, he asks God to wash away all his iniquity and cleanse him of sin. He wants all wickedness in him removed. In ceremonial cleansing, the point is that in order to be in God’s presence we have to be cleansed of our sin. It is why we pray the collect for purity in our services. Yet David understands this is far more than ceremonial. He’s guilty of major violations of God’s law. He deserves to face the wrath of God and be punished for his crimes.
So he goes on in v7 to say “purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow”. Hyssop was used in ceremonial cleansing. It is a plant with hairy leaves and it was used to sprinkle sacrificial blood. In v9 he comes back to where he was in the first two verses, “blot out all my iniquities” and then adds “create in me a clean heart”. This is the ultimate desire of David. He wants a clean heart. This is more than just appealing to God’s mercy for forgiveness. He desires to be a changed man. And he knows that the key to real change is the heart. It needs to be pure. It needs to be focused on God’s love.
David seeks to be transparent and honest with God. v3 expresses David’s painful awareness of his situation. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” He cannot escape his conscience. He knows that God is fully aware of what he has done. It is constantly on his mind. The second half of v4 here says “so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” The NIV translation sheds light on what may be otherwise kind of a confusing statement. It says “so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” David not only knows the depth of his sin, he knows that God is right to judge him as he pleases. There is no crying “not fair” when it comes to God deciding whether or not we are guilty and what to do about it. In v5 we see David expressing that he was born in sin, that he was sinful from the womb. This is not a statement about David’s birth or how he was conceived. What is being conveyed here is the nature of depravity. Sin is a condition we are born with. My very first sin was… oh wait, I can’t remember it because my earliest memories are when I was like 2 years old.
David seeks to be restored and renewed. More than just cleansing from sin, David wants restoration and renewal. We start to see this in v6. “you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” David is talking about what God does deep in his life. And every other verse now focuses on this idea of renewal, of reviving the soul. “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
The Psalm goes a bit further than our reading for today and it continues this direction of renewal. David intends to continue praising God and sharing of his goodness. He has turned his attention away from himself and to the glory of God.
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