Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Against 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. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:1,4,10-12, 17

Repentance is a gift mending the same soul it pierces. This may sound odd, but one of my favorite psalms to read is Psalm 51. Like many of the psalms, it is a raw and transparent peering into the life of a believer in Christ who is deeply broken over his sin before the Lord. It displays the sorrow we are to have over sin against our holy God, and it displays His kindness, mercy, and discipline for us as His children. God is faithful to cleanse us from unrighteousness and to give us a heart that sings from the hymnal of His Word written on it, the joy of His salvation.

When I think on God’s rich mercy and grace extended to me personally, it is overwhelming and liberating. There have been many moments of asking God to forgive me and thanking Him for giving me what I did not deserve and not giving me what I did deserve. Have mercy on me, O God. Matthew Henry said about this verse, “David does not balance his evil deeds with his good deeds, nor can he think that his services will atone for his offenses; but he flies to God’s infinite mercy and depends upon that only for pardon and peace.” It is because of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross in taking on the full wrath of God that we are justified and sanctified before God the Father. It is the beautiful ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).

At the same time, there is brokenness in true repentance. There is contrition in acknowledging the enormity of our trespasses. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. It is a sobering thing to understand the severity of sin against God. It is beyond an apology. True repentance brings a brokenness and a mirror to our faces. It hides nothing, and God is the only One who can cleanse us and regenerate us. He is the only One who can transform our hearts and our lives and the broken reflection staring back in the mirror. True repentance brings transformation and a change in our desires and in our love for God and His ways. It lives in dependency upon God and His forgiveness, love, and strength while also knowing that God chastises those He loves.

Many of us are familiar with verse 10 because we have sung it numerous times in song. May we not forget the context of David singing this to God. He was broken before the Lord, and in his repentance, he longed for God’s redemption and fellowship. He recognized his sin had broken that fellowship, and like David, we need to remember the joy of salvation that only comes through saving faith and eternal life in Christ Jesus. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. There are no sweeter words than the gospel of Jesus Christ, testifying of our glorious Lord and Savior and His sacrifice for our sins and redemption. Dear Christian, in your repentance before the Lord of glory, pray that He would restore to you the joy of your salvation in Him alone.

A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Personally, I think on this one often. God was not offended in my brokenness before Him years ago as a repentant false prophet. The sorrow of realizing I had ascribed things to God that He did not say brought great brokenness and contrition. I had sinned against God, and my past sincerity in that did not change it being sinful. To quote Matthew Henry again, he said regarding this verse, “The breaking of Christ’s body for sin is the only sacrifice of atonement, for no sacrifice but that could take away sin; but the breaking of our hearts for sin is a sacrifice of acknowledgment.”

Repentance a gift from God. It is a gift He gives us to be opened on a daily basis. As born-again believers, it is a vital part of our walk with the Lord. We have a High Priest ever interceding for us at the right hand of the Father, and I don’t know about you, but I need Him interceding for me. I am thankful He saved me and that He forgave me of so much. He continues to forgive me and to sanctify me by His Spirit, and I do not want to lose that brokenness before Him when repentance is necessary. I do not want my heart to grow cold and to not pray that others would also be granted this precious gift by God in the proclamation of His gospel and the power of His Spirit to bring others from death to life. I am a sinner saved by the grace of God, and His gift of repentance helps me to remember that.

Listen to this in-depth episode regarding Biblical repentance and public false prophecy: The Lovesick Scribe Podcast: Biblical Repentance or Rebranding-Revisiting a Trump Prophet on Apple Podcasts