Scumbag

Psalm 51

V. 4 “Against You, and You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgement…”

V. 6 “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart…”

V.9 “Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. V. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

V. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

V. 12 Restore to me, the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

V.16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with burnt offering.

v. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Author: David “A man after God’s own heart”

The guy in the story

When I think about David, and the story of his life, I sometimes get angry. He really was a scumbag sometimes! How was he such a huge figure in the Bible? How did God use him so mightily?

If you look at his story, around the middle part of his life, he really screwed up. He not only had a bunch of wives (customary in that time), but he had this huge crush on a married woman! What he ended up doing to get that woman, is crazy!

So, instead of leaving it alone, he ended up lusting after her so much, and “had to have her so bad”, that he ended up sending her husband to the front lines of battle, knowing full well that it was a suicide mission! Then, to top off the [raunchy] story, David takes that woman to be his own wife!

Sounds like a story from Jerry Springer, right?

So, why does God call David “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22)??? I never could understand this. Until I really understood Psalm 51.

If you notice the words in the Psalm, you see that he says to God, “against you, you only have I sinned…”, and , “hide your face from my sins…”. Here, he is truly repentant of his sins. He not only repented, but he turned away from his sin. He quite doing the bad stuff. He ended up seeking God relentlessly. There was a heart change. And, God ended up blessing him incredibly! In fact, Jesus came from the line of David!

(The whole story of David is quite dramatic. You should read it for yourself! Start in 1 Samuel)

But, that’s the key. The whole point of the story…true repentance.

God desires brokenness

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with burnt offering.The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart…”

The God of the universe doesn’t want you to be the perfect mom, the perfect wife, He doesn’t want you to be perfect in all your conduct or to never slip. He wants you to be broken. Just like David was.

The world views brokenness as weakness. Why is that? Why is it that when you are at a place of surrender or brokenness, that you are viewed as weak? Hmm. The world really doesn’t understand the paradoxes of God (“the first will be last”, “love your neighbor as yourself”, “if you’re humble, God will lift you up” etc).

What is a contrite heart?

Contrite:”feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming”

God sees brokenness and contriteness as beautiful.

Let’s relate

So, what did I learn from Davids story? I learned that I am a scumbag! Just because my story doesn’t sound like something off of Jerry Springer, doesn’t mean that I am not just as bad as David was. My story might not go like his did, but boy do I screw up. All the time.

I get angry, I get selfish, I get stupid.

I need Jesus.

By myself, I am a dirty-rotten sinner. I need to be broken and contrite, and realize my need for a savior. Just like David did.

I love Psalm 51. I love the fact that it shows the real person that David was. I love the fact that God loves us despite ourselves, and that He desires a relationship with us…

…even when we are scumbags.

-Z