1

ASSEMBLIES OF GOD BIBLE SEMINARY-BOGOTÁ

Prayer and Worship

Praying like David according to Psalm 51

Pastor Julio Jiménez Carrera

Daniel José Sieber Caro

BOGOTA 15 de June de 2023

 Praying like David according to Psalm 51 2

Praying like David according to Psalm 51

“1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant
mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from
my sin! 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4Against you, 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 judgment. 5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me. 6Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me
wisdom in the secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O
God,
and renew a right spirit within me. 11Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your
Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing
spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me
from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your
righteousness. 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For you will
not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;19then will you
delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered
on your altar” Psalm 51, ESV

Psalm 51 has been an anthem in my life since I fell into a sin I never thought I would fall
into in college in 2018, much like David in this chapter. God has been restoring me since then,
and what I have learned in the process is something I will never forget. God has also used what
He taught me in Psalm 51 to minister to and touch the lives of others who are going through
similar and even different situations than mine. David is most often described as "a man after
God's own heart" (Acts 13:22; 1 Sam 13:14), and this prayer of repentance describes that heart,
even in the midst of terrible sin. His heart to return to the Lord was sincere, honest, and truly
broken. I chose this not only because it helped me to pray and cry out to God in my past sin, but
also as a model to keep me from it and to instill in my heart the desire to be formed into a man
after God's own heart. There are some key principles in this prayer for having a heart that seeks
God's when one comes to God in prayer: recognizing His character, recognizing one's need for
Him, and longing to be in His presence. Let's look at each of these in Psalm 51.

In order to pray for hearts to be conformed to God's, it's vital to recognize His character.
We see David constantly mentioning who God is and His attributes as he comes before the Lord
in raw repentance. In verse 1 in the ESV and NLT, we see David speak of God's ABUNDANT
MERCY, COMPASSION, and STEADFAST LOVE. He also shows God's ability to BLOT
OUT his transgression. In verse 2, David asks God to "WASH ME THOROUGHLY" and
"CLEANSE ME," showing God's character of WASHING and CLEANSING one from sin and
iniquity. In verse 4, David speaks of God as being JUST IN WORD and BLAMELESS IN
JUDGMENT. In verse 6, David talks about how God " DELIGHTS IN TRUTH IN THE
INWARD BEING" and " TEACHES WISDOM". The NLT has it as God DESIRING
HONESTY and TEACHING WISDOM from the WOMB! This gives a glimpse of how God not
only DELIGHTS and TEACHES these things in intimacy with Him, but how this has been His
 Praying like David according to Psalm 51 3

heart since before one was even born! How great He is! Verse 7 mentions how God PURGES or
PURIFIES (NLT), and again David asks the Lord to WASH him, and he will be made white as
snow. Verse 8 shows how David recognizes that God gives JOY and GLADNESS so that his
broken bones can rejoice again. God restores what was broken by JOY and GLADNESS! In
verse 9, when David tells God to HIDE HIS FACE FROM SIN and to BLOT OUT ALL
INIQUITY, it shows that God is not only holy and does not tolerate sin, but that He ALSO
REMOVES INIQUITY. Amazing! Verse 10, David talks about God CREATING A CLEAN
HEART and RENEWING A RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN him. God CREATES and RENEWS
what was once dirty and crooked! Verse 11 is sobering as we see that in David's day, God could
CAST PEOPLE AWAY FROM HIS PRESENCE and TAKE HIS SPIRIT from them. He still
could, but He has chosen to leave His Spirit in those who have put their faith in Him. God has
SEALED US WITH HIS HOLY SPIRIT (Ephesians 1:13), and so for us, God is the Holy Spirit
who dwells and never leaves, because that is how God intended it to be after the death and
resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. His great MERCY is
revealed in the fact that He chose to leave His Spirit with us! With Jesus as our Advocate, we
need not fear of being CAST AWAY from His presence. What a God we have! David expresses
in verse 12 how God RESTORES JOY in us and UPHOLDS us with a willing spirit. In verse 14,
David mentions three of God's qualities: DELIVERER (Deliver me from bloodguiltiness),
SAVIOR (O God of my salvation), and RIGHTEOUS (My tongue will sing aloud of your
righteousness). Like David, sing of His incredible qualities, deeds, and character! In verse 15,
David shows that God helps OPEN one's mouth to sing and declare PRAISE to Him! And in
verses 16-17, David talks about God's heart for sacrifices, that He does NOT delight in burnt
offerings, but rather in a "broken spirit" and a "broken and contrite heart. He DELIGHTS to
receive our heart and spirit in humility! In the last two verses, 18-19, David shows God's heart
for His promised people and for the grafted people. David points to God's PLEASURE in doing
good to Zion and, again, His DELIGHT in right sacrifices. God LOVES His people and
DELIGHTS in right sacrifices, or as the NLT puts it, in a RIGHT SPIRIT. We see David
mentioning countless qualities and characteristics of God. It is pretty clear that David's heart is
set on who God is and what He does. He recognized His character when he came into His
presence. So, becoming a man after God's own heart means recognizing God's character in one's
life and when one prays.

As one continues to pray to become a person after God's own heart, it's also important to
recognize one's great need of Him. In verse 1, David acknowledges that his actions were
transgressions against God and only He could remove them according to His character. In verse
2, David again mentions INIQUITY and SIN and how they need to be THOROUGHLY
WASHED and CLEANSED from his life by God. In verses 3 and 4, David clearly tells the Lord
that he is well aware of his transgressions and sins and that they were against God alone. He
states that it is EVIL in the eyes of the Lord! In verses 5-6, David tells the Lord that he knows
that INIQUITY and SIN have been present from the womb and expresses his need for His
character! Verse 7 depicts David's need for the Lord to PURGE, PURIFY, and WASH him so he
may be CLEAN and WHITER THAN SNOW. Verse 8 shows David's need for his broken bones
to REJOICE through the JOY and GLADNESS that comes from Him. Verse 9 again shows
David recognizing his sin and expressing his need for God to BLOT it out. In verse 10, David
tells God that he needs a CLEAN HEART and a RIGHT SPIRIT to be CREATED and
RENEWED in him by the Lord. Verse 12 gives the clear picture that David knew he needed the
 Praying like David according to Psalm 51 4

JOY OF HIS SALVATION restored and a RIGHT SPIRIT renewed in him, and he also knew
that God was the only one who could. In verse 14, David cries out to his RIGHTEOUS SAVIOR
for DELIVERANCE from blood-guilt and shows that he also confessed the sin of murder. Verse
15 shows David revealing his need for God to help him sing praises by OPENING HIS LIPS.
Verses 16 and 17 show David acknowledging to God the need to have a BROKEN SPIRIT and a
BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART in order to please Him. And finally, verses 18-19 show
that David also knew that Israel needed the Lord to do GOOD to them, because only then could
they present RIGHT SACRIFICES to the Lord. So, it's clear to David that he had sinned and that
only through God and by God could he be forgiven and cleansed, which is why David lays all his
sins before the Lord in prayer. He cries out to the Lord, expressing his desperate need for the
Lord to cleanse, make right, and remove all that separates him from God's presence. He had a
broken and contrite heart that hid nothing from the Lord. As one seeks to conform one's heart to
God's, we should follow David's example and manifest our need in the presence of the Lord.

In praying to become people after God's own heart, David has already shown two
important things to do: recognize God's character and recognize one's need for Him. The third
and final thing seen is, without question, to truly long for God's presence. Verse 4 provides the
first taste of this when David says, "...SO THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR
WORDS AND BLAMELESS IN YOUR JUDGEMENT." This shows that David wanted to
align himself with God's judgment and character. Craving God's presence also means
conforming everything in oneself to God's standards and designs. So, verse 4 reflects David's
heart to agree with God's heart and judgment, even when it was against him. He wanted to see
God PROVEN JUST and BLAMELESS, as the NLT says. As mentioned in the first principle in
verse 6, David describes God as DELIGHTING IN TRUTH and TEACHING WISDOM.
David's mention of this reflects that he craved that which comes from God and that which He
delights in. Verse 1, 2, and 7 show that David also desired God's character, not only in showing
him ABUNDANT MERCY, COMPASSION, and LOVE, but also in BLOTTING, WASHING,
PURGING, PURIFYING, and CLEANSING him from his sins. Why? Because of what is seen
in the rest of the chapter in verses 8-19. David begins to show how he longs for God's presence
and His things. Verse 8 describes David's longing to HEAR JOY and GLADNESS and to HAVE
his broken bones REJOICE. And in verses 10-11, David's desires come to light: a CLEAN heart,
a right spirit (v. 10), to BE in God's presence (the key principle), to keep His Spirit (v. 11), the
joy of God's salvation, and to be UPHELD BY GOD with a willing spirit (v. 12)! In verse 13,
David desires SINNERS to RETURN TO GOD, thus he also desires others to be in HIS
presence! Is this not the heart of God! Verses 14 and 15 show that David longed for God's
DELIVERANCE so that his tongue may SING and his lips may PRAISE the Lord. Verses 16-17
show that David wanted to offer what the Lord was DELIGHTED in and what pleased Him, he
went beyond the law and into the heart of God. He wanted and desired what God does. And it's
reflected again in the next two verses where David goes to the heart of God which is to do good
to Israel and to receive right sacrifices. There is a great connection in this whole chapter between
what is seen of God's character and the longing for His presence! David longed to be in His
presence because of His character! And so, the longing for His presence is a result of the
recognition of His character, but also of his desperate need for the Lord.

The recognition of God's character, of one's need, and the desire to be in God's presence were
three things that David demonstrated in Psalm 51 in order to pray for God to create in him a
 Praying like David according to Psalm 51 5

heart like God's own. David's eyes were fixed on God and His character, which not only allowed
him to come to God with his needs, but also caused him to long to be and to remain in His
presence. And all three of these things are woven into one prayer, one cry to the Lord in his
moment of greatest sin. These takeaways from David's prayer can be applied not only to
moments of sin, but rather as a constant principle in coming to God. Being a person after God's
own heart isn't just something to do when seeking God's forgiveness for sin, but rather to be a
constant in one's life.