For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalms 51:16-17 LSB
There are things we can count on in life. We can be assured that at some point, or many points no matter how perfect we strive to be, we will mess up. It may be at work or in a relationship, but along the line, we will make mistakes. This comes from being human.
God created us to be in close fellowship with Him. He realized, however, that because He gave us free will, we would sometimes choose to do what is wrong. Praise God in all His wisdom, He also provided a way to clean up our mess. He sent a Savior to save us from our sins.
David wrote Psalm 51 when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had tried to cover his sin of adultery by murdering Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. David was described as man after God’s own heart. Remember he was a man, a mere mortal who messed up big time.
As you read Psalm 51, you can feel the anguish that David was experiencing over his sin. Sin will do that. It will leave us grief-stricken. David asks God to cleanse him from his sins. He asks God to blot out his sins. He also asks God to create in him a clean heart and renew his steadfast spirit. Our sin is very destructive.
In our Scripture passage, David realizes that simply sacrificing a bull or an ox will not do. Jesus has not come down to die for our sins yet, so God’s people offered burnt sacrifices. God doesn’t just want an offering; He wants David’s heart to change. The only way his heart will change is if it’s crushed. It must be broken, feeling remorseful and repentant.
David succeeded Saul on the throne. Saul’s problem was his heart. Saul did what many of us do. He disobeyed God’s commands and hoped God would approve of it. He didn’t. He thought he could sacrifice to God and all would be well.
In 1 Samuel 15:22, Samuel told Saul, “Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?”
God doesn’t want our money or our belongings; He wants our repentance. He wants us to feel guilt and remorse and to repent of our sins. When this happens, we don’t want to repeat the mistake we made.
We serve a gracious God who loves us and doesn’t want to see us hurt. We must remember, however, that He cannot tolerate and will not overlook our sin (Hebrews 10:26). We must also remember to never deliberately sin thinking God will simply forgive it.
We must be mindful that there could come a time when God gets fed up with us and our sins, just as He did with Saul. We are told in Romans 1:19-24 that if we continually reject Christ, God will give us over to our sinful desires.
If we truly love the Lord, we should not want to sin. We should strive to do what He calls us to do and obey His commands. We should be glad to surrender our lives to Him.
Even if we do this, however, there will still be times when we mess up because we are only human. When this happens, confess your sin to God. Repent of your sin and ask Him to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and forgive you of your sin. We are told in 1 John 1:9 He is faithful to do this. Trust in Him.
So, you messed up. Maybe you messed up big time, God can clean up your mess. He can turn your mess into your message if you will only give it all over to Him and trust in Him. He will not despise your broken heart and contrite spirit.
Have a great day!