David’s Road Map Back to God
After David's great sin, he fell so far so fast that the result was a dullness to his very soul. His cold heart trapped him in a painful place spiritually and he stayed in that place for almost one year.
While David had never been defeated in battle, and as, far as we know, nyver wounded even though literally tens of thousands of weapons had been aimed at him by his enemies. His only wound was self inflicted and this wound was most serious. During this time he wrote of his state of mind and body in Psalm 32:
" ... my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me ... "
Only God could relieve David's cold and distant and tormented heart by granting complete forgiveness and restoration of joy, peace, and security. Psalm 51 is about David coming back to the Lord and seeking that forgiveness.
Out of the 327 words in this Psalm, 35 times David used the words "I", "me", or "my". Here was David's complete confession and is the point at which he took complete accountability for his sin. David took the blame and God was his desire. David focused upon God only in this writing and in verses 10-19 showed this focus by mentioning the Lord and His ways 20 times.
The primary lesson of this Rsalm is that ALL SIN IS AGAINST GOD!
What exactly is the road map that will show us the pathway back to God when we find ourselves lost in the darkness of our own sin? When sin's defeat conquers us we must seek restoration in the following ways:
UNDERSTAND THAT ALL SIN IS AGAINST GOD
The Lord can renew our relationship ( 1)
The Lord can wash us clean (2)
The Lord can remove the roadblock (3)
The Lord can utterly forgive ( 4)
TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR SIN
As sinners we are spiritually barren (5)
As sinners we need to be truthful ( 6)
As sinners we need ·cleansing (7)
As sinners we need to regain joy (8)
As sinners we need to regain fellowship (9)
BELIEVE THAT ONLY GOD CAN CLEANSE AND RESTORE U.S
God wants to wash our hearts (10)
God wants to restore our spiritual walk ( 11)
God wants to restore our fruit of the spirit ( 12)
God wants to prepare us for further work for him ( 13)
SEEK GOD AND REPENT
Call sin exactly what it is ( 14)
Talk to God directly with an open heart ( 15)
Bring true contrition, not shallow regret ( 16-1 7)
Begin again in strong worship, renewed & refreshed (18-19)
David began his appeal to the Lord properly in verses 1 & 2 by using three different verbs to ask for the Lord to work in his life once again:
Blot out my transgressions
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
Cleanse me from my sins
David did not forget the foundation of his problem and he showed Godly sorrow: Against you, you only, have I sinned
David sinned greatly, was chastened and convicted of that transgression and he turned back to God in humble and complete submission and repentance to gain the cleansing and forgiveness that only the Lord can give.
Here is the heart of our study of the life of David. Here is the summary of all we have reviewed so far. Here is how David once more was the man after God's own heart. As we all are sinners, here is the truth we all seek:
THE RESTORATION OF A SINNER