Psalm 51
January 4, 2026 Father, through the words of your servant David you show us how to pray when we have sinned. In this song we rehearse the wonderful truth that You forgive no matter how grievous our sin, for David had committed adultery, then murder, acts of willful treachery and cruelty in a scenario that makes all but hardened criminal shudder.
We wonder how David, who was considered a man after Your own heart, could do such things. But he did, and this is humbling, because sin lurks in our nature and one day we may have to cry out to You with the words of this Psalm having done something heinous.
We observe that David asks for mercy, apparently knowing that You will be faithful to Your character, that You will “blot out” his sin according to Your steadfast love. Yet we observe that this is not easy forgiveism in David’s mind, merely a quick release from guilty sorrow, for we read that David’s sin rises up before him even as he recalls Your mercy; he recognizes that sin in him was systemic: that his sin was ultimately against you, Almighty God; that he had done evil in Your sight. But wonderfully and mysteriously, David takes comfort in knowing that You take delight in a disposition that seems counter-intuitive: complete openness; not the piety of religious practice, but a broken and a contrite heart.
Father, we confess that we are quick to attempt to hide our sin from You, to rationalize our sinfulness through bargaining, weighing good against bad in a fruitless effort to feel better about ourselves. May we, like David, come clean; actually take comfort in living in complete openness with You; living a life of continual humble confession, knowing that you desire truth in our inward being, knowing that you will give mercy, knowing this is where we can find rest, knowing that you even give grace to endure the consequences of our sin. May we live in openness with each other as well; being quick to confess our faults to one another and, thus, be healed.
Father, today we set out before you all in our family who face the weight of sin. Restore to them in this time of testing the joy of your salvation; uphold them by your Spirit. We pray this for all here who grieve and are bewildered in the face of calamity, either beset by sin or overwhelmed by difficult circumstances. Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.
Create in us all a clean heart, O God. Purge us with the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, and we shall be clean. Wash us and we shall be whiter than snow. May we rehearse Your ways of mercy and forgiveness here and with everyone we know so that sinners will return to you.
O Lord, open our lips and our mouths will declare your praise.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen