Psalms 51:7 - Meaning and Application

Here David shows what he asks God to do for him. He makes many worthy requests, and if we add, “for Christ’s sake,” they are fully in line with the gospel. First, he asks God to cleanse him from his sin and from the stain his sin had left on him (Psalm 51:7). “Cleanse me with hyssop” means, “Forgive my sins and let me know they are forgiven, so I may be restored to the privileges I lost by sin.”

This language points to an Old Testament ceremony. Lepers, and others made unclean by contact with a dead body, were sprinkled with water, blood, or both by means of a bunch of hyssop, and then they were released from the restrictions tied to their uncleanness. David is saying, “Lord, let me be as sure of being brought back into your favor, and into fellowship with you, as they were sure of being brought back to their former standing.” But this rests on gospel grace. “Cleanse me with hyssop” means, in effect, “Apply the blood of Christ to my soul by living faith,” just as the water of cleansing was sprinkled with hyssop.

It is the blood of Christ, called “the blood of sprinkling” (Hebrews 12:24), that cleanses the conscience from dead works, meaning from sin’s guilt and the fear of God that kept us from fellowship with him. Under the law, touching a dead body made a person unfit to enter God’s house. In the same way, sin shuts us out from communion with God. If this blood, which cleanses from all sin, cleanses us, then we are truly clean (Hebrews 10:2). If we are washed in that open fountain, we will be whiter than snow, not only forgiven, but accepted, as all who are justified are. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

Second, David asks for the comfort of forgiveness. He does not ask for comfort before cleansing. But if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, is taken away, then he can pray in faith, “Make me hear joy and gladness” (Psalm 51:8). That means, let me have a solid peace that comes from you speaking it. Then the bones you have broken by conviction and warning may rejoice. They will not only be set again and relieved of pain, but they will also feel refreshment, like a healed body. The pain of a heart truly broken for sin may be compared to a broken bone. The same Spirit who wounds as a Spirit of bondage also heals as a Spirit of adoption. And the joy that comes from a sealed pardon for a repentant sinner is as refreshing as relief from the worst pain.

David also knows that this comfort is God’s work. God must not only speak joy and gladness, he must make us hear it and receive it. David wants God to lift up the light of his face upon him, so that gladness will enter his heart. In other words, he asks not only to be reconciled to God, but also to know that he is reconciled.

Third, he asks for a full and effective pardon, which is the basis of all his comfort (Psalm 51:9). “Hide your face from my sins” means, do not let them provoke you to treat me as I deserve. “They are always before me,” he says, “so let them be put out of your sight.” “Blot out all my iniquities” means, erase them from your account, as a cloud is wiped away and scattered by the sun’s rays (Isaiah 44:22).

Fourth, he asks for sanctifying grace, that is, grace that makes him holy. Every true repentant person should desire this as much as pardon and peace (Psalm 51:10). David does not pray, “Lord, protect my reputation,” as Saul did when he said, “I have sinned, yet honor me before this people.” No, David’s main concern is that his sinful nature be changed. His sin showed that his heart was unclean, so he says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” He now sees more clearly than ever how unclean his heart is, and he grieves over it. But he also knows he cannot fix it himself, so he asks God, whose special work is to create, to make him new. Only the one who made the heart can remake it. Nothing is impossible for his power.

God created the world by the word of his power as the God of nature, and by the word of his power as the God of grace we are made clean (John 15:3) and made holy (John 17:17). David also says, “Renew a right spirit within me.” His sin had disturbed his inward life and undone much of the good work that had been done in him. So he asks God to repair the damage and set him right again. Some read this as, “Renew a constant spirit within me.” David had shown much changeability and inconsistency in this matter, so he asks God to steady him for the future, so he will never turn away from him in the same way again.

Fifth, he asks that God’s good favor toward him would continue, and that God’s work in him would go on (Psalm 51:11). He first asks that he never be cast out from God’s presence, as one hated and no longer fit to be seen. He asks not to be thrown out of God’s protection, but to go wherever he goes with God’s presence guiding him by wisdom and guarding him by power. He also asks not to be driven away from worship: “Let me not be banished from your courts, but always have access to you in prayer.” He does not try to escape the outward punishments God had warned him about through Nathan. “God’s will be done,” he seems to say, “but Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath.” Even if the sword should remain in his house, he still wants a God to whom he can run in trouble.

He also begs, “Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” David knows he has grieved the Spirit by his sin and made the Spirit withdraw. Since he was also flesh, God would be right to stop striving with him (Genesis 6:3). This frightens him more than anything else. We are lost if God takes away his Holy Spirit. Saul was a sad example of that. How sinful and miserable Saul became when the Spirit of the Lord departed from him. David knew this, so he pleads earnestly, “Lord, take whatever else you will, my children, my crown, my life, but do not take your Holy Spirit from me” (see 2 Samuel 7:15). He wants the Spirit to stay with him to complete his repentance, keep him from falling back into sin, and help him do his duty as both king and psalmist.

Sixth, David asks for the return of God’s comfort and for the steady flow of God’s grace (Psalm 51:12). His sin had caused two harmful results. First, it had made him sad, so he prays, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” A child of God knows no true or lasting joy except the joy that comes from God’s salvation, joy in God his Savior and in the hope of eternal life.

By deliberate sin we lose this joy and rob ourselves of it. Our marks of grace cannot help but grow dim, and our hopes become unsettled. When we give ourselves so much reason to doubt that we share in salvation, how can we expect its joy?

But when we truly repent, we may pray and hope that God will give those joys back to us. Those who sow with tears of repentance will reap the joys of God’s salvation when times of refreshment come (Acts 3:19). Sin had also made David weak, so he prays, “Sustain me with your willing Spirit.” He means, “I am ready to fall, either into sin or into despair. Lord, hold me up. My own spirit, though a person’s spirit can do much to support weakness, is not enough. If I am left to myself, I will surely fall. So uphold me by your Spirit, and let him oppose the evil spirit that wants to bring me down from my honor.”

God’s Spirit is a free Spirit, a noble and willing Spirit, working freely. And because he works in us, he makes us free, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). David also calls him God’s generous, princely Spirit. He knew he had acted in the matter of Uriah in a dishonest and unworthy way, not like a prince. His behavior had been low and mean. So he asks, “Lord, let your Spirit shape my soul with noble and generous principles, so I may always act as I should.” A free spirit will also be a firm and steady spirit, and it will hold us up. The more cheerful we are in doing our duty, the more constant we will be in it.

David then tells what he promises to do, in Psalm 51:13. First, he promises a good work: “I will teach transgressors your ways.” David had been a transgressor himself, so he could speak from experience to other sinners. Since he had found mercy with God through repentance, he now resolves to teach others God’s ways. That means, first, the way back to God through repentance, teaching sinners to take the same path he took, to humble themselves, confess their sins, and seek God’s face. It also means God’s way toward us in forgiving mercy, how ready he is to receive those who return to him.

David taught the first truth by his own example, as a guide to repentant sinners. He taught the second by his own experience, as encouragement to them. In this psalm, he is, and will remain to the end of the world, teaching transgressors and telling them what God has done for his soul. Penitent people should become preachers. Solomon did this, and so did the blessed apostle Paul.

Second, David promises himself a good result from doing this: “Sinners will be converted to you.” They will not keep wandering from God, and they will not despair of mercy when they come back to him. The great goal in teaching transgressors is their conversion to God. That is a blessed result, and blessed are those who help bring it about (James 5:20).