We have all heard that David was a man after God’s own heart; yet, he was also a sinner, just like you and me.  And just like our sins, his sin cost him a great deal of suffering and anguish.  This anguish can be clearly seen in Psalm 51.  In this passage, David is crying out to God for mercy, for his heart to be clean, and for a joyful spirit to be renewed.  He is in anguish that God’s Holy Spirit may be taken from him, and longing for a right relationship with God again.

In Verses 7 to 8, David cries,

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

Let the bones you have crushed rejoice.”

When David made these requests, he completely submitted to God.  I remember taking care of my Grandmother before she passed away and giving her a bath since she was too weak and feeble to do it herself.  I remember the pain of seeing someone I loved so dearly so weak but since I knew it would probably be her last bath, myself and the CNA made sure that she was clean – especially by painstakingly cleaning under each fingernail.  She had the prettiest hands and I wanted to make sure that when they were shown in her casket, they looked beautiful and clean – how she always had them when she could care for herself.  The point is that she was completely dependent on the CNA and me.  We didn’t have to show her love and mercy and care, but we did.

Just so, David knew that God would do the same.  He didn’t even doubt God’s love.  He didn’t say, “God, if you love me, cleanse me so I can be clean.”  He knew that God would cleanse him.  What’s interesting about hyssop is that it was used for spiritual cleansing.  This was not your average herb bought from a local shop.  This was used to cleanse temples and lepers alike.  It was symbolically used to take what was old and dirty and make it new and fresh again.  David knew this, and was asking God for forgiveness, for the kind that would make him new; knowing that God, out of love and mercy, would do this for him.

Verse 8 also emphasizes David’s acknowledgment of His dependence on God’s love and mercy.  The first word David uses is “Let”, which implies that he cannot do the things he is asking without God’s permission; or in the spiritual sense, David is requesting freedom from his sins so he can again have joy, gladness, and rejoicing in his life again.  In David’s case, his sin and the anguish over it was so great that he could not even hear gladness.  I’m sure there are many of us who understand the kinds of thoughts of despair and helplessness and grief that were swirling around in David’s head constantly.  Yet, David asked God to essential unplug his ears from all the thoughts that come with sin and instead to replace them with thoughts that come with freedom in God and forgiveness; knowing that he could, trusting that He would.  It isn’t even until later in the passage that David asks God to give him back joy, and even after that David explains why he wants the joy back – to praise God (v. 12, v. 15).  Furthermore, David didn’t ask for broken bones to be healed; no, he asked for crushed bones to rejoice.  Why?  Because this verse translates into a request from David to let him be free from suffering – from the suffering of the weight of sin, to be replaced with the healing of freedom in God’s guidance.

In these 2 verses, we can see why David was indeed a man after God’s own heart.  In fact, this whole Psalm is a wonderful daily read for anyone, just to reminded ourselves of our deep need for God’s mercy and to ask for it daily.  We read in the whole of Psalm 51 that David understood that God was indeed Lord of all, and that David was dependent upon him for everything; yet, in these 2 verses, we see David begging with a sincere heart for salvation, forgiveness, and a newness of heart.  David knew that out of the remorseful and repentant heart he had, the heart that God had given him; God would not deny him forgiveness and a newness.

We need to take that same knowledge with us.  Many times, we forget that God is always true to His Word.  Maybe we think our sin, or the length of it voids God’s promises.  Maybe some people believe that there should be more groveling, or carrying around the guilt a little longer.  Others choose to make promises to God that they know they cannot keep, perhaps out of gratitude that is really indentured service based on pride or guilt.  When Jesus simply said “repent and you will be forgiven”, there were no disciples giggling behind him because they knew about some secret fine print behind those words.  Those precious words do not come with a legal binder a foot thick filled with must-dos between the repent and the forgiven part.  God is truth and in him there are no lies.  So, today, tomorrow, and forever – the words repent and be forgiven should make the hearts of all people soar because those four words mean true freedom.