“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Psalm 51:1-2
There are three different words for wrongdoing. The word transgression means, “to cross a forbidden boundary,” and “to rebel against God’s law.” The word iniquity means, “perversity,” because if you think about it, it is perverse to think that you could sin against an all-knowing, ever-present God and get away with it. The word sin literally means, “to miss the mark.” It doesn’t just mean to miss the mark of what God wants for you, but it means to miss the mark of what is best for you.
That’s the point. The psalmist doesn’t call sin a “mistake,” a “misfortune,” or a “misjudgment.” He calls it what God calls it. That is what the word confess means…to agree with God on what sin is. It is not an affair - it is adultery. It isn’t fudging the figures - it is lying. It is not borrowing indefinitely - it is stealing. To get rid of sin takes radical transformation, so what does the writer of Psalm 51 ask for?
He asks God to blot out his transgressions. Sin leaves a record. The writer wants the record wiped clean. In this time period, if a Hebrew committed an offense, he could perform some kind of a sacrifice to pay for it, but there were two sins that no one could pay for—adultery and murder. The author of this psalm, King David, had committed both. It is impossible to take the act of adultery back, and you can’t restore the life that you took. The only thing David could do was go to the only One that could wipe the slate clean, and that is God.
Then, the psalmist says, “Wash away all my iniquity.” Sin doesn’t just make you guilty in the eyes of God; it makes you dirty. That is what sin does to a healthy conscience—it makes you feel filthy and dirty. Like the prodigal son, you wind up in the pigpen of life and you literally want to take a sin shower. You want to come clean so you will be clean. He says, “Cleanse me from my sin.” The word cleanse means, “to purge.” It literally means, “de-sin me”. He is asking for a spiritual detox because that is the only thing that will provide release from guilt. Sin causes you to miss God's best for you. However, He is always willing to receive you in your sin, clean you up, and restore you to righteousness so that you can live in a way that glorifies Him.
God, I confess my sins to you today. In doing so, through Jesus, I ask that You wipe them away…that You blot them out and cleanse me from my sin and its penalty. I also ask Your Holy Spirit to help me put these sins behind me and to live more fully for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Topics: Sin
