Psalm 55 - A Prayer for the Destruction of the Deceitful - Part 1

Psalm 55 A Psalm of David, when he was driven from Jerusalem and from his throne, by Absalom’s rebellion and conspiracy. Read 2 Samuel 15-18:17. Comments by Dennis Edwards.

55:1-3 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not Yourself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.

David’s first reaction in times of trouble is to call upon the Lord with all his heart and soul. In Jeremiah we read, “You shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me, with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.

When the Amalekites had attacked the town of Ziklag, where David and his men’s wives and families were; “David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep,” I Samuel 30:4. The people were so grieved that they spoke of stoning David. “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” 1 Samuel 30:6.

The beauty of David’s Psalms is that they teach us to cry out to the Lord in our distress, to poor out our complaint before the Lord, and trust that the Lord will hear, respond, and save. David teaches us to encourage ourselves in the Lord and in His word. “Great peace have they that love Your law, and nothing shall offend them,” Psalm 119:165.

Psalm 55:4-5 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me.

I remember at the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic seeing various YouTube posts out of China of many people dying from the unknown sickness. On viewing these posts, my heart was overwhelmed with fear. A spirit of fear came upon me, as I faced the unknown menace.

However, knowing God’s word, I knew that the emotional fear that I was experiencing was not of God. God’s word over and over again tells us to, “Fear not.” Some scholars say that over 365 times the phrase or idea of “fear not” can be found in God’s word.

Apostle Paul wrote, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” 2 Timothy 1:7.   Apostle John similarly stated, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love,” 1 John 4:18.

I had to call out to God with all my heart to rebuke the fear I was feeling and claim God’s word for peace. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heat be troubled, neither let it be afraid,” John 14:27. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.

Reading, studying, praying, and remembering God’s word helped me to overcome that spirit of fear.

Psalm 55:6-8 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

That’s exactly how we feel with all the troubles we see daily in the world around us. We would like to fly away to some safe place, some Shangri-La, free from the problems of the present evil world. Similarly to what C.S Lewis wrote, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

However, there is no safe place in our present world. For that reason, Jesus has sent us the Holy Spirit, to be a strength and comfort in times of trouble and distress. We can find our hiding place through prayer, through reading and meditating on God’s word, through listening to His still small voice. We can find our Shangri-La in the arms of Jesus.

God has promised to be a “strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat,” Isaiah 25:4. He has promised to be “our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble,” Psalm 46:1.

He has told us that we shall dwell under the shadow of His wings. He shall be to us as a refuge and a fortress. He shall deliver us from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover us with His feathers, and under His wings shall we trust. His truth shall be our shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4.

We shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day; nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand shall fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand; but it shall not come nigh us. Psalm 91:5-7.

Only with our eyes shall we behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because we have made the Lord, which is our refuge, even the most High, our habitation (and desire); there shall no evil befall us, neither shall any plague come nigh our dwelling. Psalm 91:8-10.

Psalm 55:9-11 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.  Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.  Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.

As David was moved and in anguish with the sins of his own people, so we should be in lamentation over the sins of our own culture or nation. When God was ready to judge Jerusalem for her sins, He sent an angel ahead to place “a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof,” Ezekiel 9:4b. Those with the mark would be protected from coming destruction.

We should never become comfortable with evil. We should sigh and cry for all the abominations committed in the midst of our nations. Apostle Paul admonishes us to, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine,” 2 Timothy 4:2.

Apostle Peter, also, advises, “You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things (the coming judgment) before (hand), beware less you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” 2 Peter 3:17-18a.

We need to be sober and vigilant because the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter 5:8.

Go to Part 2 HERE

Originally published March 30, 2025.

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Psalm 54 - Prayer For Protection From Enemies

 

Psalm 54 A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, “Does not David hide himself with us?” Commentary by Dennis Edwards.

1 Samuel 23:13-29

13 Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.

14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. 15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.

16 And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knows. 18 And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.

19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
20 Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand.

21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me. 22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.

24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David; wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. 27 But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. 28 Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Selahammahlekoth.

29 And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at Engedi.

Psalm 54:1-2 Save me, O God, by Your name, and judge me by Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.

David and his six-hundred men were hiding in the wilderness of Ziph in the territory of Judah. The men of Ziph reported to Saul of David’s where abouts. Saul has David and his men surrounded, when he receives a message that the Philistines are invading the land. Saul has to leave off from pursuing after David

Psalm 54:3 For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.

Instead of “strangers,” some expositors translate the word for “the proud.” It could therefore read, “For the proud are risen up against me.” The proud are also those who “have not set God before them.”

In the Book of James, we find the same idea.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble….Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up,” James 4:6&10.

In Job we find,

“When men are cast down, then You shall say, There is lifting up; and He shall save the humble person.”

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Isaiah 66:2b “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My word.”

Numerous proverbs warn us against pride.

Proverb 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the lowly is wisdom.”

Proverb 16:5 “Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.”

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

Proverbs 16:19 “Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”

Psalm 54:4 Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

“The Lord is with them that uphold my soul.” Who are the “them,” David is talking about? Is he alluding to “angels,” the ministering spirits that God has ordained to help us in our battles?

After Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness we read, “Then the devil left Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him,” Matthew 4:11.

Before going into Jerusalem to be crucified, Jesus goes to a mountain and is transfigured before three of his disciples and receives encouragement from Moses and Elijah. “And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elijah: who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem,” Luke 9:30-31.

Lastly, at the end of Jesus’ time of desperate prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel came and strengthened Him for the battle ahead. “And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him,” Luke 22:43.

The author of Hebrews calls the angels, “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” Hebrews 1:14. Later in the book, he refers to the departed saints of the Old Testament as being “so great a cloud of witnesses,” Hebrews 12:1.

Could David had sensed or realised the help of angels?

Psalm 54:5 He (the Lord) shall reward evil unto my enemies: cut them off in Your truth.

Judgment is coming for the wicked. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17. “But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord,” Jeremiah 12:17.

Or as we read in the psalm.

Psalm 37:9-11 “For evildoers shall be cut off: but those who wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

In the writings of Apostle Paul we find,

2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”

Psalm 54:6 I will freely sacrifice unto You: I will praise Your name, O Lord; for it is good.

The name of the Lord is good. His name is wonderful. He is “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” Isaiah 9:6b. Jesus is the name to which every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.

Psalm 54:7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has seen His desire upon my enemies.

As David wrote elsewhere, “The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles,” Psalm 34:17. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all,” Psalm 34:19.

Or as Apostle Paul affirmed, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” 2 Corinthians 1:10. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen, 2 Timothy 4:18.

Originally published March 17, 2025.

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Psalm 53 - The Folly and Wickedness of Men

 

Psalm 53 A Psalm of David with Comments by Dennis Edwards.

Psalm 53 is a repetition of Psalm 14 with a few minor changes. It is tucked in between two prayers against David’s enemies: Saul, who knew God and had been baptised by the Holy Spirit, but in self-pride and men-pleasing turned away from the Lord; and Doeg, who seems to have not known God. Doeg was led by his desire to move up in the world, and was willing to commit whatever atrocities necessary, in order to do so.  

Both these men are fools, and typify the antichrist types: Saul, the former believer who has lost faith and becomes embittered against God and becomes God’s enemy; and Doeg, the unbeliever who has no faith and lives for this present evil world and the lusts thereof, and as a result is the enemy of God.  

In James we read, “You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God,” James 4:4.

Instead of loving the Lord God with all their heart, mind, body, and soul; they love the world. As a result, they are committing spiritual fornication with the world and the things of the world.

Apostle John makes a similar point:

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever,” 1 John 2:15-17.

Jesus Himself had said, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you,” John 15:19.

In Revelation 17, we see that the great commercial city system of the world is depicted as a great whore, “with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication,” Revelation 17:2.

By loving the world and the things of the world, we are committing spiritual fornication with the world. However, ultimately, none of those things, whether they be power, wealth, or sex and pleasure; can satisfy the deepest longer of our soul, which yearns for communion with its Maker.

God’s first commandment to the children of Israel reflects that very reality: “I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,” Exodus 20:2a-5a.

Solomon tells us, if we do not search and find our greater purpose in life, we are no more than the beasts of the field. He concludes that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments, Ecclesiastes 12:13.

Psalm 53:1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.

If we do not fear God, if we do not have God in our understanding, we open the door to becoming our own gods. We open the door to Dostoevsky’s conclusion: “If there is no God, everything is permissible.”

As a result of culture abandoning God, each person becomes his own moral authority and seeks to do his own thing. Self-identity becomes the great driving concept of society, rather than loving God and having our identity revolve around our relationship with Him.  

Psalm 53:2-3 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one.

Without God in our lives, we strive in our own righteousness to be and do good. However, as a result of our sinful nature from the fall of Adam and Eve, we are incapable of being righteous. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. As Apostle Paul honestly confesses, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:24.

But, the victory is in Jesus. The victory is in humbly confessing and admitting that we cannot do it in our own strength. We cannot be righteous and do righteously continuously. We fail over and over again. We are in need of a Redeemer, the Promised Seed, which shall bruise the head of the Serpent and deliver us from the bondage of sin and death.

The fool, however, the atheist, believes he can make it on his own. He can do it his way.

Psalm 53:4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.

If we do not call upon God, we remain in darkness and become capable of the most heinous acts. Apostle Paul tells us what happens.

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which were not convenient.”

When King Saul was little in his own sight God made him head of the tribes of Israel. But pride and the fear of man caused him to disobey the voice of the Lord. The Prophet proclaimed, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:23. As a result, seeing that Saul only feigned repentance so that the Prophet would worship God with him in the presence of the people, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him,” 1 Samuel 16:14.

Going back to Apostle Paul, we read that as a result of rejecting God, men are “filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them,” Romans 1:29-32.

Psalm 53:5 There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God has scattered the bones of him that encamps against you: you have put them to shame, because God has despised them.

We that believe on the Lord, fear not, because He has redeemed us, He has called us by His name, and we are His, Isaiah 43:1. He has told us not to be dismayed. He will strengthen us. He will help us. He will uphold us with the right hand of His righteousness, Isaiah 41:10.

He has told us that when we pass through the waters, He will be with us; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow us: when we pass through the fire, we shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon us, Isaiah 43:2.

But for the wicked, it is not so, but a fearful looking forward to of judgment.

“For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, (and we all have received the knowledge of the truth through creation and moral consciousness, and yet some suppress the truth and their foolish hearts become darkened, Romans 1:21), there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” Hebrews 10:26-27.

Psalm 53:6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

The salvation of Israel has come out of Zion in the person of Jesus Christ, the promised Seed of Abraham. God has brought back the salvation of His people through the blood of Jesus Christ. All that call upon His name and follow His precepts shall be saved.

Originally published March 18, 2025. 

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Psalm 51 - Part 2 - A Prayer of Cleansing

 

Psalm 51 Part 2. A Psalm of David with comments by Dennis Edwards

To go back to Part 1

Psalm 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have broken may rejoice.

When we have strayed from the Lord and entered into sin, God’s correction feels like our bones are being broken. We lose the joy of the Lord. A dark cloud may hang over us. But it is the joy of the Lord, that is our strength. In Psalm 32, another penitent psalm, we find the same imagery.

Psalm 32:4 “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.”

Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, that He will not hear.”

It is our own iniquities that separate us from God. But when we acknowledge our sins, and move from them, we are on the path to victory.

Hosea 6:1 “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up.”

Psalm 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

Acknowledging, confessing, and changing are the pathway to forgiveness and renewed joy and happiness.

Psalm 51:9-12 Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 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 unto me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your free spirit.

As we read earlier, “If we confess our sins (in truth), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9.

Apostle Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Only our own self-righteousness will separate us from God, if we do not humble ourselves before Him and seek His mercy and forgiveness. In Jonah, we see the same idea.

Jonah 2:8 “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.”

If we believe the lies of Satan, that what we have done is beyond the forgiveness of God, then we forsake the mercy He offers to those who come to Him with all their heart. The dying thief found forgiveness on the cross with Christ. It’s never too late. We have never sinned beyond the power of God to forgive.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. For whom the Son has set free, is free indeed. God’s Holy Spirit frees us from the condemnation the enemy tries to place upon us. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, (and continues to save us), by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5.

We need a constant washing of regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Ghost. The outer man must perish, but the inward man must be renewed day by day, 2 Corinthians 4:16b. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Psalm 51:13 Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You.

The fact that we have sinned greatly and have found forgiveness in the arms of Jesus, compels us to want to share the truth of the Gospel with others. The greatest sinners become the greatest testimonies to God’s goodness and grace.

Psalm 51:14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, You, God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

Having found forgiveness in God through the love of Jesus, for sins that are punishable by death, we sing aloud of God’s goodness. David found forgiveness in God’s arms from the guilt he felt on killing Uriah. He was able to sing and praise God in spite of his great falling from grace. His great fall brought great repentance and helped David to be a humbler and wiser king. Usually, God’s ways up are down, contrary to what we think.

Psalm 51:15 O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

God dwells in the praises of His people, Psalm 22:3. “And when they (Jerusalem and Judah) began to sing and to praise,” the enemies of God were smitten, and God’s people were delivered, 2 Chronicles 20:22. We enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise, Psalm 100:4a. Praise is the victory! It causes God to rise in our defence.

Acts 16:25-26 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and all the doors were opened, and every one’s hands were loosed.”

Psalm 51:16-17 For You desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

All the Old Testament sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the death of the Messiah. When Jesus was on earth, He had a broken and contrite heart. He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Philippines 2:7-8.

Isaiah 66:2b “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My word.”

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Hebrews 13:15-16 “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Our praise to God is considered a sacrifice in His eyes. Our doing good and communicating with others are also seen as pleasing sacrifices to the Lord.

Psalm 51:18-19 Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion: build the walls of Jerusalem. Then shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon Your altar.

If we walk in praise and thanksgiving, God will build us up. The spiritual walls of our lives will be strengthened and renewed as we walk humbly before our God in obedience and submission to His voice. Apostle Paul tells us our lives should be a “living sacrifice,” not by following the culture, but by following God.

Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

Our lives should be a living sacrifice in service to God and our fellow man. Jesus said, “For he that is greatest among you, must be servant of all,” Matthew 23:11. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it,” Luke 9:23-24.

As Jesus sacrificed Himself for us to be the propitiation for our sins, so we should do likewise and lay down our lives in humble service to our Lord and King, and to those around us. May our lives be a living sacrifice unto God our Father. Amen.

Here are two comments on Psalm 51 from famous people:

“Thus was David led from the knowledge of this one sin to the knowledge of his whole sinful nature. As if he would say—‘That such a one as I, endowed with so much grace, should have fallen at once as from heaven to hell, is to me, and all others, a palpable sign that there is no good thing in the flesh.’” Martin Luther

“This sin did not David when he was suffering from Saul’s persecutions. Beware of prosperity, more perilous to the soul than adversity to the body….He was nearer to God then, in his tribulations, when to men he seemed most miserable.” Augustine

Both found in A Commentary on the Book of Psalms by William de Burgh, 1801-1866.

Originally published March 14, 2025. Republished February 21, 2026.

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Psalm 51 - A Prayer for Cleansing - Part 1

 

Psalm 51 A Psalm of David with Comments by Dennis Edwards

51:1-3 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

The first prerequisite for forgiveness is to honestly confess our sins, to acknowledge our transgressions. Both the Old and the New Testament teach the importance of confession.

1 John 1:8-10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Proverbs 28:13 “He that covers his sin shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

When we do confess and repent or change, God casts our sins into the depths of the sea and remembers them no longer against us.

Micah 7:18-19 “Who is a God like unto You, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will turn again; He will subdue our iniquities; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

We find a similar idea elsewhere.

Psalm 103:13 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Isaiah 38:17bc “But You have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Because of the finished work of Jesus, we have an advocate before the Father and we shall not fall into condemnation.

1 John2:1b-2a “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins.”

It is Jesus the Messiah who has died for the sins of the world. He lives to make intercession for us. He is our legal advocate before the throne of God on our behalf, that we fall not into condemnation of the Devil. His death on the cross is “the propitiation for our sins,” or what satisfies the legal punishment we are due because of them. Christ bore our iniquities on the cross, by the which He has justified those that come unto God by Him.

Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight: that You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge.

Ultimately, when we sin, we are sinning against God. It may affect other people, but the greatest cause is our rebellion against God and His precepts. The first and greatest commandment is not to love our neighbour as ourselves. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, Matthew 22:37. Loving your neighbour stems or grows out of your love for God.

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

The psalmist may be hinting at the fact that when man and wife produce a child, it is a result of fulfilling their sexual desires. The fact that David is writing the psalm, and his sin was a result of yielding to his carnal sexual desires, may have affected how he looked on sexual relations. His sex drive had led him into the sin of adultery. His pride and self-righteousness had led him to try to hide his sin, and as a result, he committed murder.

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

God is involved in winning our hearts to Him. He wants us to follow love and truth. Truth is important part of the character of God. Jesus, in fact, said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me,” John 14:6. “For the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,” John 1:17.

The Proverbs tell us, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil,” Proverbs 16:6. Jesus is the grace or mercy and truth of God. By His mercy and His truth, He cleanses us. He is the word which washes us new. “Now are you clean by the word which I have spoken unto you,” John 15:3. “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth, John 17:17.

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

Hyssop was used to apply the blood of the lamb to the door of the posts on the evening of the first Passover, Exodus 12:22. Hyssop was also used in the sacrificial cleansing ceremony of the leper found healed of his leprosy, Leviticus 14:6.

David realizes that his sin is like leprosy, and his heart needs a deep cleaning, a deep purging. How can we approach unto God when our hands are full of innocent blood? In Isaiah we read,

“When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood,” Isaiah 1:15.

David’s hands were full of the blood of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. We today in the West are full of the blood of the poor innocents killed in abortions in our own countries and in the poor third world countries where we have exported our aberration.

We are full of the blood of the innocents killed in the wars we have fought for Israel’s security in the Middle East. We are full of the blood of the poor innocents killed in Ukraine as a result of our military and political policies that encroached upon Russia’s security. We are full of the blood of the poor innocents killed in Eastern Asia during the Vietnam War period.

The Lord continues,

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow,” Isaiah 1:16-17.

Finally, God says,

“Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isaiah 1:18.

No matter how far we have strayed from the straight and narrow path that leads to salvation, God has made a way of escape from judgment, if we repent and move from our wicked ways, and humble ourselves before Him. Our accepting Jesus as the Saviour is the door God has made for our salvation to eternal life.

The election of Trump may be a sign of America’s repentance of her many sins. Trump’s election could possibly cause a delay in God’s judgments on America.

Though the country of Israel temporarily repented of the sins of Manasseh, who had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, God would not altogether pardon them nor turn from the fierceness of His great wrath. The nation repented under Josiah, Manasseh’s son. However, on Josiah’s death, they turned back to their evil ways. God said that the provocations under Manasseh’s reign were so great, that they merited His judgment.

2 Kings 23:26 “Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, wherewith His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal.”

2 Kings 24:3-4 “Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this (the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem) upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did. And also, for the innocent blood that he had shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.”

We will look at Manasseh and Josiah’s reigns in a future class and see what we can learn from them.

End of Part 1 (To go to Part 2)

Originally published March 13, 2025. Republished February 21, 2026.

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