God loves us so much that he left us a psalm of repentance in the Bible because he knows that we are sinners and we need his help. He knows in detail in this article about the powerful and healing psalm of repentance and his wonderful prayer to the repentant sinner.
Table of Contents
psalm of repentance
Psalms 51: 1-19
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your mercy;
According to the multitude of your mercy erase my rebellions.2 Wash me more and more of my evil,
And cleanse me from my sin.3 Because I recognize my rebellions,
And my sin is always before me.4 Against you, against you alone I have sinned,
And I have done evil before your eyes;
So that you are recognized just in your word,
And considered pure in your judgment.5 Behold, I have been formed in wickedness,
And in sin my mother conceived me.6 Behold, you love truth in the inmost,
And in secret you have made me understand wisdom.7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow.8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
And the bones you have crushed rejoice.9 Hide your face from my sins,
And erase all my evils.10 Create in me, O God, a clean heart,
And renew a right spirit within me.11 Don't throw me out in front of you
And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And noble spirit sustain me.13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
And sinners will turn to you.14 Deliver me from murder, O God, God of my salvation;
My tongue will sing your justice.15 Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall declare your praise.16 Because you don't want sacrifice, which I would give;
You don't want a holocaust.17 The sacrifices of God are the broken spirit;
You will not despise a contrite and humbled heart, O God.18 Do good with your benevolence to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.19 Then you will be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
The holocaust or completely burnt offering;
Then they will offer calves on your altar.
a sinner's prayer
When Eve initially disobeyed the Lord's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered human beings. That is, the original sin was disobedience to God.
From then on, humanity has entered into a constant degradation as a consequence of sin. However, the Lord in his mercy established a New Covenant in the redeeming Blood of Christ. All of us who have recognized the Lord and those who wish to approach God, we must cry out for forgiveness. Well, our sinful condition leads us to sin constantly.
In the Bible, which is the guide we Christians have, we find a psalm of repentance written by David after he was confronted with the sin that changed his life.
The story behind this psalm of repentance is found in the narrative of the book 2 Samuel. It all begins when King David sees a young woman bathing in the distance. She was a very pretty woman and he wanted to meet her right away. He sent to investigate who she was, about her family and what he was doing with her. A few days later, they brought her information that the woman's name was Bathsheba and that she was married to Uriah, a man who fought with David on the battlefield.
2 Samuel 11: 2-3
2 And it happened one day, late in the afternoon, that David got up from his bed and was walking on the roof of the royal house; and he saw from the housetop a woman who was bathing, and she was very beautiful.
3 David sent to inquire after that woman, and they told him, This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite.
David's Sin and the Psalm of Repentance
David couldn't stop thinking about her and sent for her. Both committed sin when they were intimate. This sinful act was further complicated when Bathsheba informed the king that she was pregnant. David tried to convince Uriah to return home so that he would be with his wife and that he would think that the son was his. But Urias was a man faithful to battle and to his soldiers, so he appreciated the king's gesture but declined the offer.
2 Samuel 11: 4-5
4 And David sent messengers, and took it; and she came to him, and he slept with her. Then she purified herself from her uncleanness, and went back to her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent word to David, saying, I am with child.
David felt trapped and sent a letter to his army commander ordering Uriah to be put in a vulnerable position where he could be attacked by the enemy. He also ordered to leave Uriah alone, without any support to ensure that the enemy killed him. Simply put, King David planned and executed Uriah's death.
When Uriah's death was confirmed, Bathsheba kept mourning for a while, but when it was over, David sent for her to marry, but the Lord saw these actions badly.
As we can see, the sin of lust was first a thought, then it is consummated with the sin of adultery. Both sins were tried to hide, which led to the murder of Uriah.
2 Samuel 11: 26-27
26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned her husband.
27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house; and she became his wife, and she bore him a son. But what David had done was unpleasant in the eyes of the Lord.
Consequences of your sin
When David committed the sin, he never imagined that he would be opening the doors to a greater misfortune for his family and for everything around him. Nathan arrived in the city, who was a prophet who exclaimed to the king the annoyance that the Lord had with him.
Nathan told King David that his son would die and that God would do the things that David had done in secret in the light of the people of Israel because for the Lord one cannot walk in the shadows since HE is the light of the world.
2 Samuel 12: 11-13
11 Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will cause evil to rise up against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, who will lie with your wives in the sight of the sun.
12 Because you did it in secret; but I will do this before all Israel and in full sun.
13 Then David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has remitted your sin; you will not die
2 Samuel 12: 18
18 And on the seventh day the child died; and David's servants were afraid to let him know that the child was dead, saying among themselves: While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he would not hear our voice; how much more will he grieve if we tell him that the child is dead?
acceptance of sin
Psalm 51 or as we Christians know it, the psalm of repentance, David writes with much sadness, shame and pain in his heart. He begins the scripture asking for pity and mercy for the sin that he confessed. He knows that God the Father is the only one who can forgive him and the only one who can wash away his sins.
To this day no matter what your sin is if you confess it with all your heart, with humility and repentance the Lord will listen to you and you will see his mercy. David describes how important it is that intimate life is directed by God, since Christ is everywhere, sees everything and knows everything. In the intimacy that we maintain with God, he can give us humility, knowledge, understanding and wisdom of what we do not know.
The Grace of Sin in the Psalm of Repentance
In this same order of ideas, King David in verses 10 to 12 asks the Lord for a restructuring of thought, heart and feeling. David knows that he has done wrong and that only God can fix it, since the king does not want to spend his life without the presence of the Holy Spirit or live apart from Jehovah.
As Christians we know that if we know the voice of the Lord and we manage to live in his path, our spirit will be in a joy that only God can give us. That is why Christ always calls us to live in his presence because he knows that this is happiness.
Psalm 51: 10-12
10 Create in me, O God, a clean heart,
And renew a right spirit within me.11 Don't throw me out in front of you
And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
And noble spirit sustain me.
a psalm of repentance
Finally, in the psalm of repentance, King David assures the Lord that he will return to his path and that he will teach others the way of truth and life. David assures Jehovah that his life will be centered on the praises, love, and fear he feels for God. The king was not going to let this mistake take him forever away from the presence of God.
We know that our human condition makes us sin easily, but firstly we must have the strength to continue on the path of the Lord and secondly enough humility to approach Him and be accountable for our actions.
We know that without God in our lives it is impossible to walk, so let us not depart from the Lord, let us pray, let us live in daily communion with Christ, let us ask for his strength and wisdom to walk in his path. And he was able to assure you that God would listen to your every prayer and prayer.
Psalm 51: 13-16
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
And sinners will turn to you.14 Deliver me from murder, O God, God of my salvation;
My tongue will sing your justice.15 Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall declare your praise.16 Because you don't want sacrifice, which I would give;
You don't want a holocaust.
Let us understand that Christ loves us and wants us by his side, we just have to accept him as God and Savior, live in his way and fulfill his mandates. We know that it is not easy but with God everything is possible, so let us trust our good shepherd and we will see his blessings in our lives.
In the same way we leave you the following link so that you can continue in communication with the Lord biblical characters
We also leave you this video for your enjoyment.