Friday, October 13, 2023  

---

Today’s Scripture Reading 
Psalm 51:1–10

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy,

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

 

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your sentence

and blameless when you pass judgment.

Indeed, I was born guilty,

a sinner when my mother conceived me.

 

You desire truth in the inward being;

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right spirit within me. (NRSV)

---

Reflection

This psalm has a title inscribed in the Bible before verse one “A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” This is David’s prayer of contrition after he has realized the magnitude of the wrong he has done. He had “sent messengers to get Bathsheba” (about which she had no choice), slept with her, impregnated her, then had her husband killed (2 Samuel 11). Then the prophet Nathan came to David to make David see the magnitude of the evil that he had done (2 Samuel 12).

This heartrending prayer for forgiveness is written in a context of David realizing the gravity of his failure. Sometimes our hearts are also broken when we realize our mistakes — things we have done knowingly, or things that we realize only in retrospect were hurtful to others.

David’s prayer reminds us that God’s capacity to love and forgive us is vast. There is truth in our “inward being” and wisdom in our “secret” hearts. God calls to this truth and wisdom in us, drawing it out from those inward places so that we can shape our lives by this truth and wisdom. A new start is always possible from God’s perspective.

---

Prayer
God of possibilities, your mercy and compassion are greater than I can even comprehend. Purge me and wash me; let me imagine new joy and gladness. Make my spirit new and help me to stand firm on what is right and just. Amen.

---

Written by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email