Renewal and Restoration

In 2 Samuel 22:20-27 David refers to himself as both blameless and righteous, as

one in whom the Lord delights and as one who has kept himself from iniquity. In 2
Samuel 23:1-2 he refers to himself as the one the Lord spoke to and whose Word was on
his tongue. He names himself the Sweet Psalmist of Israel. And a sweet psalmist he was,
penning a large number of the psalms left for us in Scripture. But ‘blameless’ and ‘free
from iniquity’?
A look at the beginning of Psalm 51 is evidence enough that David had sinned
seriously. And a further look at the account of his life as King of Israel fills in the details
of his sins and the very serious consequences they had for both his family and the nation
he was charged to protect. But the Word of God insists that he was ‘blameless’ and ‘free
from iniquity’, how can this be?
The answer lies in the very nature of the God that David served and that we are
privileged to serve. God announced himself to Moses as “The Lord, the Lord God,
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness…”(Exodus
34:6-7) This God is one who loves his children, who cares for them and who patiently
deals with them with love and forgiveness for the sins that so separate us from Him.
In Psalm 51 David calls on these very same traits of the Lord to ask forgiveness
for the grievous sins he had committed. He had sinned against God Himself. In verse 4
David declares, “Against You, You only I have sinned and done what is evil in Your
sight.” David’s transgressions, as well as ours, are a breaking of His law and a turning
away from God. When we sin we are rebelling against His Lordship and setting up for
ourselves our own righteousness. David’s sins brought him such great chastising by the
Lord that he described it as a breaking of his bones (verse 8). He was led to repentance by
this severe discipline and to his knees by the weight of the distance between God and
himself. David realized that he had no way back to God on his own. It was against God
alone that he had sinned and it was up to God alone whether or not he would be forgiven.
So he calls on God’s attributes to ask forgiveness, admitting his sin, confessing
his sinfulness and acknowledging God’s perfect righteousness. But then in verse 5 and
on, David asks to be purified and cleansed and washed so that he can “hear joy and
gladness again.” Just as God is the only one whom we sin against, God is also the only
one who can work to make us sin-less. In ourselves we have only the power to make the
sinful messes, the stains on the robes we have been given- but God, God can make these
robes clean again, He can make us white as snow and clean as when we first believed.
And more than that He can cast our sins far from us as east is from west, making us, as
David was, both blameless and free. As we go through our lives, as we teach in this
school, we incrementally pile sin upon sin, building layer upon layer of stains on our
once spotless robes. The weight of these sins dulls our zest for life and soon we can’t
‘hear’ the joy in it anymore, just as David could not.
David asked to be made new again. He asked for a clean heart and a steadfast, or
right, spirit. He asked that God never leave him and that the Spirit be with him always.
And he asked to have the joy of God’s salvation (verse 11) restored to him. This is the
joy of a fresh start, shoulders free from the burden of weeks or months or years of labor
and sin, with a clear perspective of the Lord, His cross, and our salvation from bended
knee and outstretched hands.
 David makes the connection between all of this and a return to teaching and
leading the children God entrusted Him with. We too ought make that connection. To see
the need for repentance for our basic iniquity, the need for renewal of a heart cluttered
with burden and the need for restoration of our spirits to the joy of our simple salvation.
With this granted from a God who delights to shower us with love we can then
enter His world to teach his children the way to the cross and we can open our lips in
praise and gratitude for the privilege of being the children of such a Righteous King.

December 31, 2006