Psalm 51 is one of the most known passages of scripture in the whole of the Bible - at least the first portion of it at least. It is rich with experiential religion and speaks to the rawness of life with God, where a man can come so vulnerably and openly before a Holy God with hope. This is why we love this Psalm. It allows us to be honest before the Lord with gut wrenching openness about our failures.
I want to begin this look at repentance by, first, defining it and then describing it as I see it. Repentance means to change one's mind. It means to see specific actions, thoughts, etc., as the Lord sees them. In other words, repentance takes place, not merely when one says they are sorry for what they did, but when they see, feel, understand and agree that what God says about their action is true. One can say they are sorry for their sin and even do acts of outward confession but still not truly repent because they do not think that what they did is that bad or offensive to God.
Repentance as a change of mind should not, however, be conceived of as something only related to how we think. Mind, in the scriptures, speaks to the whole life of a human being. In essence, the Bible only speaks in disconnected ways - mind, body, soul etc., as a way of helping us to better understand the fact that the Lord's commands are spoken to the whole of who we are. Min, biblically speaking, is representative of the will (determination) and the affections (feelings). Therefore, when the Bible speaks of repentance as a change of mind it is actually saying something much deeper and more expansive. Repentance, then, should be conceived of as the change in our affections towards sin and a transformation of our determination to never do what we are repenting of again.
With this understanding repentance takes on a totally different (broader) meaning. The Lord expects that when I repent that not only is my thinking about sin changed, but my desire for sin and my determination to kill it have and are changing too! Paul tells us to put sin to death (Colossians 3:5) but the truth is that we do not kill what we love, or tolerate because we want it more than we want to be without it. We confess our sorrow over such actions, but we do not do the real work to address our lingeringdesires for sin. Nor do we detach ourselves from the environment that constantly incites sinful actions, thoughts, feelings, etc.
What we see in Psalm 51 is not a mere "I am sorry" from a man who got caught in his sin. What we see is something deeper than that. We see a man who, at his very being is transformed, through and through, with remorse and a determination to never do again what he now sees is most offensive to the Lord. We see an exploration of the change of mind, the change of affections and the change in determination from David's repentance before the Lord. Let that sink in. Repentance is whole life transformation and anything less than that falls short of Gospel Repentance.
And yet, here is the beauty of the gospel: we get to repent of our false repentance! Amen to that! When we discover that our repentance has not met the commanding qualifications of the Lord, we are given, in that moment, the opportunity to repent of our repentance. John the Baptist tells us what the Lord's standard of repentance is in Matthew 3:8, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." Do not simply confess your sin, demonstrate the reality and truthfulness of such confession by bearing fruit that matches (is in keeping with) your repentance.
In this series we will examine specific phrases within this Psalm that illuminates the essence of David's heart of contrition. The hope and aim are that we all, seeing what we will see, will be gripped by a vision of repentance that not only honors the Lord but magnifies His majestic forgiveness of our monumental sinfulness. If you need this teaching, this truth, stick around over the next few days and let's journey together into the heart of God's mercy as we examine the heart of God's man, David.