A Prayer of Repentance
For Meditation (Elisabeth Hayes)
This week’s psalms is one of the most well-known and also one of the most emotional prayers in the entire Bible. Church tradition attributes this prayer to King David, his response of repentance right after the prophet Nathan confronts him over his violence against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. Just like all of the psalms, this prayer offers us words to use when we find ourselves in a dark place of our own making. To be apprenticed by this psalm is to learn to come to God with honesty and faith, even when we are buried under the weight of our shame.
In preparation for worship, read the backstory for this psalm found in 2 Samuel 11–12. Consider Nathan's evocative words to David—“You are the man!”—and bring to mind a time when you have felt caught in your sin.
Psalm 51:1–12
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.