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Psalm 32
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Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (ESV)
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Sinners Like David
Martyrdom of St. John the Baptizer
29 August 2012
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Parents are supposed to be good examples to their children. However, in too many cases this does not work out as the Lord planned. Take King Solomon as an example. When he accedes to the throne of his father, David, the Lord tells him to reign over Israel following the example of David. For the Lord had promised David: "You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me" (1K 8:25). I read these instructions to Solomon and his successors to be eminently unhelpful. Look at the actual life of David. So let's walk as David walked! Murder and adultery, and that just for starters. David makes God a laughing stock among the Gentiles because what he does holds God up to ridicule. Therefore, this encouragement to walk before the Lord as David walked cannot merely be a reference to his moral life or his external piety. For on those accounts he could hardly be described pious. He would more likely be described as a derelict or a castaway rather than holy.
So why does God set before the eyes of Solomon the example of David? It couldn't be because he was a paragon of moral virtue. It was because He trusted God completely for everything that was central to his life in God's sight. When he fell into sin and was confronted by faithful proclaimers of the Word of God, like Nathan, he immediately confessed his sin, even in public (2Sa 12): "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" (Ps 51:4). He sought the Lord that the Lord would turn a compassionate heart to him in his abject need as a sinner in His sight. He did not cover his iniquity; he said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and the Lord forgave the iniquity of his sin (Ps 32:5). David sought not moral purity in God's but theological purity. By theological purity I mean that purity and righteousness that comes from God alone, imputed to us for the sake of Christ, the Messiah, of whom David was a forerunner. David was an orthodox believer. He believed what God said about sinners. He knew that their help was in the name of the Lord. This means that He did not merely believe a set of sterile propositions about God as good, kind, omnipotent, and so forth. David trusted the God who revealed Himself as compassionate and gracious as His only Savior from sin and death.
Perfect obedience to the divine law is impossible, so righteousness in the sight of God cannot be accomplished by obedience to the law. The believer is left with the divine promise even against the accusations of his own heart. When Solomon was directed to the model of David, his father, this is the Davidic characteristic to which he was directed. He was to humbly trust the Lord who forgave sinners like David to forgive him too. This how all of us live. Not in some kind of moral perfection or perfect belief but in a radical trust in the God who forgives sinners like David and like us.
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Martin Luther
"'And the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David' (Zech 12:8). I consider very simply that the meaning of this passage is that in Christ's kingdom the merit of the faithful will no longer be looked at, but only the mercy, grace, and goodness of God. This is why Christ's kingdom is also called the kingdom of grace. In sum, the meaning is: All things work together for good for those who believe (Rm 8:28), because they are the children of grace. All things are forgiven them. They can't go wrong. Even if they have been foolish at times and weak, divine goodness shuts its eyes to it. It holds them faultless. After all, all the sins of the faithful, even if they are mortal, are nevertheless venial. But on the other hand, however much those who are outside of grace may weary themselves with many high and most excellent works, the Lord does not approve of them. They displease God no less than did Saul. Because God had cut him off from grace. He approved nothing that he did. On the other hand, He forgave David the most shameful acts: adultery, murder, and the fact that he had surrendered to the heathen an opportunity for blaspheming the Lord. All this is in the sacred histories. Although, as I say, all these were as mortal sins, yet they were made venial. For David was one of His dear little children who just cannot go wrong.
Here the prophet says that this happens with all the righteous, that David is a type and image of all the faithful. Just as David's sins, even the worst, were overlooked, so also the faithful in Christ are forgiven everything, provided that they do not fall away from the faith. Therefore he [Zechariah] here presents an outstanding description of the kingdom of Christ. That is, it is nothing other than a kingdom of the overlooking, forgiving, and remitting of sins. But the job and task here is that we remain in the kingdom, that we do not fall away from it. You see, we must be concerned here, that that false idea which deceived many may not deceive us: the idea that people think that they are in Christ's kingdom, when they really are not. These major premises are most certain: Every child of the church is a child of remission and grace; and: No child of the church can sin mortally. But if you should add the minor premise: I am a child of grace, you are a child of grace, he is a child of grace; you could easily be deceived. Because of this, it happens afterward that the impure run into the sanctuary, where they pollute everything and become an occasion for others to blaspheme against the grace of Christ. David came to grace by no merit of his own, if you even consider merit. He had deserved judgment and wrath. However, because he acknowledged his guilt when he immediately kept saying, "I have sinned," he received pardon. The prophet [Nathan] immediately adds: "The Lord has put away your sin" (2Sa 12:13). After all, if this confession is genuine in the heart, the Lord cannot but make them children of grace.
Martin Luther, Lectures on Zechariah, 12.8
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Prayer
Dear Jesus, watch over poor sinners and give us the faith of David, that we might trust You in the midst of our sorrowful repentance and receive from You Your perfect mercy. Amen.
For all those who doubt God's ability to forgive even them, that they might receive the Spirit of Christ and trust in God's grace
For Paul Lodholz, in thanksgiving for his continuing recovery from heart bypass surgery
For the people of New Orleans and environs, that would be kept safe from Isaac
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Art: DÜRER, Albrecht The Adoration of the Trinity (1511)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2012
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