Forgiveness and Restoration

The title of the psalm makes it clear that this psalm was written at the time when Nathan visited David ‘after he had gone in to Bathsheba’. David has sinned by sleeping with another man’s wife and murdering her husband by proxy. He is in desperate need of forgiveness and restoration. This is probably the most classic of all the penitential psalms. In it we are given a clear view of the route we need to go down, after sinning, if we are going to have our relationship with God restored.

Psalm 143 - Getting what you don't deserve!

David is not asking for what he deserves in this Psalm, he is asking for mercy from God. He is reminding God of His excellent character and saying that it would be out of character for Him not to show mercy, kindness etc. David is not ignoring the fact that God is holy but he has learned that no one will ever live up to the holy standard of God (v2) and therefore everyone needs mercy.

Psalm 38 - The effects of sin in a believer's life

 King David, despite his periods of failure was a man who was really in touch with God. He is called ‘a man after God’s own heart’ in 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse 14 and in Acts chapter 13 verse 22. It appears that he knew the way that God thought and was happy to talk honestly with him. The question is, am I, are you?

Psalm 32 - Learning from your mistakes

In the book of Psalms there are different categories of Psalms. Some Psalms are grouped according the author i.e. David, Moses etc. Some are called Messianic Psalms as they focus on the coming Messiah who Christians believe was Jesus. This Psalm is in the group of ‘maschil’ Psalms. Maschil means that the reader should learn something from the Psalm. It is a good principle to learn from your own mistakes but it is even wiser to learn from another person’s mistakes.

Psalm 6 - Heartbroken in the Presence of God

Have you ever felt heart broken in the presence of God as a result of sin? You might say that thankfully this has not been your experience very often since conversion. Great men of God, like David, had these experiences on a fairly regular basis. If you have never felt like that maybe you have become desensitised to sin in your life.  

Psalm 6 has three sections.