Let us read two verses as we begin to meditate on God’s word today. Psalms 51:16,17, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Let us also read James 4:6-10, “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Psalms 51 was written by David when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. We all are familiar with this Psalm and the context in which it was written. David writes this Psalms when he was in great distress knowing the depth of the iniquity which he committed. He was trying to find a way to set right the sins he had done. He says that God doesn’t delight in a sacrifice or a burnt offering. But David understood that God would not despise his broken and contrite heart. In 2 Samuel 12 we read of what happened when Nathan came to David. In verses 1-4 Nathan tells David of a story where a rich man took the lamb of a poor man. In verse 5 we read that David’s anger burned against the rich man. Even without Nathan asking David for a response, King David wanted to bring justice for the poor man. David gets a shock when Nathan tells David that he is the rich man. Nathan reminds David of all the goodness that God had given David and rebukes David for his sin. In verse 11 and 12 we read, “Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.” This was the consequence that David had to face for his sin. In verse 13, David who was quiet all this while realizes the graveness of his sin and says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Notice what Nathan says in verse 13. “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” In the above verses Nathan was talking about the punishment for David and he spoke in a way that there was no way for David to come out of this sin; but as soon as David says that he has sinned against the Lord, God is ready to forgive him. David understood the depth of his iniquity and says that he should die. It is after this that David writes Psalm 51. David was the King of Israel, but he realized that nothing that he could offer would help him to repay for his sin.
Let us also look at the life of Saul in 1 Samuel 15. Saul was David’s predecessor. Here we see Samuel rebuking Saul for a sin he had done; just like Nathan rebuked David. Saul was asked to destroy the Amalekites completely, but he spared the best of the sheep and oxen. Let us look at Saul’s response when he was rebuked. In verse 20, 21 we read, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” Saul had a justification for what he did. He put the blame on his people and also twisted the truth saying he took the sheep and oxen so that he could offer sacrifice to the Lord. Notice the difference in the response of Saul and David when they were rebuked. In verse 24 we read Saul also says that he has sinned, but notice what was his first response. David has a broken spirit and cried out to God knowing the depth of his sin, but Saul was trying to justify his sin. In Acts 13:22 we read, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will”. David was a man who had done sins in his life but this is what God had to say about David. When David realized his sin, he ran to God and had a broken heart. David was anointed to be King of Israel at the age of 17, but he became King only at the age of 30. Even after he was anointed as King, he waited for his time. He was initially given a smaller responsibility as the King of Judah and then later he became the King of Israel. He patiently waited for God’s time. He knew that it was God who establishes him and his Kingdom. Even though David fell into sin, when he realized his sin he wanted to come back immediately to the Lord. David had a broken and contrite heart while Saul had a proud and justifying heart thinking highly of himself.
In James 4 we read that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. In every area of our lives, we have to submit to God. By the blood of Christ we can be cleansed from our sins. When we draw near to God, He will also draw near to us. When we look at David’s life we see that he did this. He wanted to be close to God. He yielded to the rebuke from Nathan. He wanted to get away from his filthiness and wept and mourned and humbled himself. And we see that God finally says that David was a man after His own heart. In our lives also, we may have pride or a complaining attitude that is obstructing us from coming near to God. We may have unknown sins in our life. When David sinned, he didn’t realize the graveness of what he was doing. Nathan had to expose it. In our lives, we can also be insensitive to sins and God will send his word to rebuke us and for us to see our sins. What is important is our response to God’s rebuke. We shouldn’t be like Saul trying to justify ourselves but follow the example of David to have a broken spirit and run to God. Being nothing in front of God means being completely broken. Why does God want us to be broken? So that we will completely depend on Him at all times. God wants to break us and mold us. When we are forgiven, God will not take our sins into consideration nor will he remember them. Br. Zac gives an example of a video tape of our life being blank in many portions. The blank portions are those areas where God has forgiven us.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is hope for us. When God rebukes us for our sin, our response is what is important. God sees our heart. Saul also said at some point that he had sinned against God. But Saul was removed as King. Is God showing partiality in the case of Saul and David? No. Saul was not broken. We know how God responded to the offering of Cain and Abel – God looked at their hearts. Let us covet to have this brokenness in our hearts. Let us not be satisfied on just being saved, or baptized but yearn to have a spirit of brokenness. Let us be like David, not to be puffed up by the things of this world; rather yield to God’s corrections.
In Romans 8:28-30 we read, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Sin may come in our lives, but we shouldn’t stay in that state of sin but rather run back to God. God will cause that to be for our good. God wants us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Everyday let us press on towards this goal; responding to God’s correction. Satan wants us to be trapped in sin, but if we cry out with a broken heart knowing that the one within us is greater that he who is in the world; God will help us. Let us respond positively to the call of God.
