Day 89: Psalm 51:6–13

Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice (v. 8).

This line from verse 8 is perhaps my favorite in Psalm 51—”Let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” I know exactly what the psalmist was talking about. Do you? David mixes the pain of confessing and turning from sin with the pleasure of restored fellowship. God sometimes uses circumstances and discipline to figuratively break our legs from continuing on the path of sin. Only the repentant know what it’s like to dance with joy and gladness on broken legs!

Then verse 10: “Create in me a pure heart.” The Hebrew word for “create” is bara. Also used in Genesis 1:1, the word “refers only to an activity which can be performed by God” and describes “entirely new productions.”26 David was admitting his need for something only God could do. Pure hearts never come naturally. In fact, a pure human heart is perhaps God’s most creative work.

Most of us have borrowed the precious words of verse 12 from time to time. Sometimes our prayers seem to go unanswered because, in our misery, we beg for our joy to be restored without the obedience of fully turning from our sin. Nothing equals the moment you begin to sense the return of the joy of His salvation, but we must have the willing spirit to cooperate in His marvelous work!

Finally, let’s look at verse 13: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.” What happens after God has created a pure heart in a repentant sinner, renewed his spirit, and restored the joy of His salvation? No more willing and effective evangelist and teacher exists than one who has been humbled, cleansed, renewed, and restored! God will never have to goad this person to witness. His or her life will have eternal impact.

David’s entire purpose in writing Psalm 51 was to ask for mercy. Did God grant his request? Speaking for myself as a repentant sinner who has experienced the misery of broken fellowship with God and reveled in the freshness of forgiveness, I have a hunch that He was delighted to.