Psalms that have impacted my life

Psalm 51

Before I look at this psalm in detail, because of the uniqueness of the psalm and its message it is important to look at the background and reason for this psalm. The story is found in  2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12 and there are many issues for us to consider. It goes like this, every year David would lead his army to fight the enemy and had been very successful, Israel was being enlarged year by year.  After 20 years of this routine, David decided to stay at home and rest instead of leading his army to battle. One night when he could not sleep he went up to the rooftop to refresh himself, there he saw his next-door neighbour’s wife taking a bath, instead of looking away, he sent his servant to get her and committed adultery with her. Because of that union, she became pregnant and so to cover up his sin sent for the husband to come home, but Uriah was a man of integrity – he would not sleep with his wife while his fellow soldiers slept on the ground. So, David, had him killed in battle, after a time of mourning David married Bathsheba, then the baby was born and later he died. David thought that he had got away with his sinful acts until the Lord sent the prophet Nathan and exposed his wrong deeds. Later on, Bathsheba had a son and his name was Solomon and the Lord chose him to be the next king after David. It is difficult to understand how a man after God’s own heart could be so far from God to do what he did. The starting point of David’s sin was when he got tired of fighting, nothing would have happened if he was fighting the enemy. This is one of the tricks of Satan in that he tries to convince us not to take our Christian life too serious, and there are many other things that we can do. As I look back over my life there have been times when I have backed off and have found it hard again to have that passion for the Lord and put Him first in my life. The longer we stay lukewarm the easier it is to justify the way that we live because we start comparing ourselves to others not to what the bible says about living with Jesus. Backing off is something that I guard against and I am saddened by the number of people who believe it is alright to retire from being passionate for the Lord in the church. There are so many people that could be setting a Godly example to the next generation. The other thing to understand is the power of true repentance. Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon who was to be the next king after David, this means in God’s plan for David’s life he was to marry her – he just went about it the wrong way. Because he truly repented, the wrong that he committed did not stop God’s plan for his life from taking place. This is so encouraging to me for I know my sins are gone and nothing is stopping me from reaching the plan and purpose God has for my life. In the next blog, we will look at this psalm which is called “A prayer of repentance”.