Burning Heart | Psalm 51
Have you heard of Alex Murdaugh? He is an attorney from a small town in South Carolina whose family goes back in that town for generations and basically built the town. In his trial, he was convicted of being a vicious criminal, using his family’s connections to cover up his crimes for years. All kinds of evidence have come out involving massive theft from people he was supposedly helping, robbing, and murdering friends and even family members. Perhaps what’s most intriguing to people, however, is the difference between how Mr. Murdaugh presents publicly and what you’re finding out about his private life. During the trial, the Judge pleaded with him to admit his crimes, in the face of overwhelming evidence and he just wouldn’t do it. Even after being convicted and he still wants to maintain the illusion of being a polite, respectable, gentle father who just cares for his family and wants to do the right thing. I’m afraid that this is where many in the church are, they are hiding beneath the veneer of being a good person but deep inside they need to change. There is sin hiding underneath that is destroying their souls and potentially ruining their lives. Today is a loving warning.
Psalm 51 is known as a penitential psalm: a psalm of repentance. A prayer by one who is deeply troubled and alarmed by their sin. Psalm 51 is written during the darkest moment of David’s life and is a case study in what does it look like to truly repent of our sins and be restored in a right relationship with God. We are going to look at this psalm from two angles over the next two Sundays: the reality of David’s sin and the repentant attitude of David’s heart. To understand the reality of David’s sin, we must see the decision he made and the confrontation that convicted him that would lead him to repentance and restoration.