Psalm 51 Analysis

Introduction For God to have a place in anyone's life they must first want him. This desire must be sincere, and it requires adherence to God’s requirements on the individual for him to do his work. For God, there is clear cut activity that must take place on the side of the person. In Psalm 51, the writer is seeking God’s presence. More than that he seeks redemption from his transgressions against God. He understands that he did wrong. There is knowledge on his part for recognizing what he did wrong. He knows what to do to make it right between he and the Lord. It’s the work that he has to do to reattain the Lord’s presence that makes him cry out. There is a brokenness in him, and a contrite spirit that understands he has a lot of work to do in
His suffering is the product of sin, in this case, sin against God (51:3-4). The first priority the writer has is to call on God. He seems to have an understanding of God’s love. There is an implied knowledge and relationship between the writer and God (51:1-2). This implication adheres to a relational call on God, which makes the reader question the motive of the writer. The writer has sinned (vs.2), and is now speaking to Yahweh expectantly. If the writer knew that God was merciful, why did he sin? This writer is clearly feeling at fault. He speaks humbly, but confidently. Yet there is a confusing dilemma, he claims to only have sinned against God (vs.4a). This is confusing because this isn’t possible. Sin is something that doesn’t stay hidden within a community of faith (Num 32:23). Sin is infectious, and can easily affect others regardless of intention(Gen 3:3-13). The largest argument against this instance is in Exodus 34, the next generation suffers the sin of the present one (Ex 34:6-7). There is no sinning against god alone, but that isn’t the point here. This Psalmist is writing concerning a specific issue that is disturbing