Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Psalm 51

What should I learn from this chapter?

• You were created to glow!

A Prayer of Repentance

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Psalm 51:¹ Have mercy upon me, O God (‘ĕlōhîm),
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 51:² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:³ For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.

Psalm 51:⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak (in Your words),
And blameless when You judge.

Psalm 51:⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51:⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Psalm 51:⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

• Medicinally, Hyssop is considered a stimulant, carminative and expectorant and is used in colds, coughs, congestion and lung complaints. A tea made from the herb is effective in nervous disorders and toothache. It is also effective in pulmonary, digestive, uterine and urinary troubles and asthma and coughs.
  
• Jesus rejected Gall when it was offered to Him, but He drank the hyssop.
  
  • John 19: ²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” ²⁹ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. ³⁰ So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
    
• During the night when the death angel passed over Egypt, the Hebrews dipped the Lamb’s blood in hyssop dabbing it three places, on the door lintel and posts, making the sign of the cross. Hyssop is prophetically telling the story of Jesus on the cross.
  
  • Exodus 12:22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

Psalm 51:⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

• David’s fractured relationship with God pained him as much as a broken bone.

Psalm 51:⁹ Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

Psalm 51:¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God (‘ĕlōhîm),
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Psalm 51:¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Psalm 51:¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

Psalm 51:¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God (‘ĕlōhîm),
The God (‘ĕlōhîm ) of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

Psalm 51:¹⁵ O Lord (‘ăḏōnāy), open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

Psalm 51:¹⁶ For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.

Psalm 51:¹⁷ The sacrifices of God (‘ĕlōhîm) are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God (‘ĕlōhîm), You will not despise.

I was in Dollar Tree last night and there was a lady with two kids behind me in the LONG line. One was a big kid, one was a toddler. The bigger one had a pack of glow sticks and the toddler was screaming for them, so the Mom opened the pack and gave him one, which stopped his tears. He walked around with it smiling, but then the bigger boy took it and the toddler started screaming again. Just as the Mom was about to fuss at the older child, he bent the glow stick and handed it back to the toddler. As we walked outside, the toddler noticed that the stick was glowing and his brother said “I had to break it so you could get the full effect of it.

“l could hear God saying to me, “I had to break you to show you why I created you. You had to go through everything in your path, so you could fulfill your purpose.”

That little toddler was happy just swinging his “unbroken” glow stick around in the air because he didn’t understand it was created to “glow”.

There are some people who will be content just “being”, but some of us have to be “broken”. We have to get sick. We have to lose a job, or go through a divorce, or bury our spouse, or parent, or best friend, or child, because, in those moments of extreme desperation, God is breaking us, but when the breaking is done, we are truly able to see, and understand, the reason for which we were created. To Glow !!!

• A broken spirit becomes a glow stick for God.

Psalm 51:¹⁸ Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Psalm 51:¹⁹ Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.