May 24, 2024 - Psalms 51-55

One of the best known psalms is Psalm 51 in which David cries out to the Lord for forgiveness for his sins of adultery (Bathsheba) and murder (her husband Uriah).  In the very next psalm we see a very different David:  “A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’  Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? . . . Your tongue plots destruction . . . You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right” (52:1-3).  Rather than the evil doer, David condemns the evil doer and testifies, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.  I will thank you forever, because you have done it.  I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly” (52:8-9).

Here is an example of a great sinner transformed into a great lover of God.  That’s what God does, isn’t it?  He changes people.  The gospel transforms people.  God does this all the time.  What about our own lives?  Paul wrote of the Ephesians (which is true of us, also):  “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked . . . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-5).

Grace! ‘tis a charming sound

Harmonious to my ear;

Heaven with the echo shall resound,

And all the earth shall hear.

Grace first contrived the way

To save rebellious man;

And all the steps that grace display

Which drew the wondrous plan.   --Philip Doddridge (1791)