Have you ever felt really guilty? There was a young boy who became excessively fearful during the great New York blackout of 1977. When his parents questioned their son, he confessed that at the exact moment the lights went out, he had kicked a powerline pole. As darkness engulfed the city, he thought he was to blame and would be punished! Sometimes we are like that boy and carry feelings of guilt around with us.

Psalm 51 records David’s reaction to the remorse he experienced over his two worse actions – murder and adultery. But more than that it shows us how to overcome the overwhelming guilt which can cripple us. As we discussed in the previous lesson, I believe that in this psalm David gives us 12 specific things we can do to deal with the guilt which may have silenced our joy and crippled our spirit. We have already covered the first 6 steps.

Step 1 (verses 1-3) – Acknowledge the reason for your guilt and obtain God’s forgiveness once and for all.

Step 2 (verse 4) – Admit that there is no rationalizing your wrong behavior.

Step 3 (verse 5) – Realize that there will be times when you are disobedient to God, as is everyone else.

Step 4 (verse 6) – Be honest with yourself.

Step 5 (verses 7-9) – Have confidence that you are forgiven. Trust God and let go of your guilt.

Step 6 (verse 10) – Let God change your attitude.

Let’s continue through the end of the psalm and learn what else David teaches us about dealing with our guilt.

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

1. Why was it necessary for God to restore David’s joy of salvation? After we come to God for forgiveness, why do we still dwell on our past wrong behavior?

These verses bring us to Step 7 – Be happy in your new-found freedom.

The accent on verses 10, 11, and 12 is on the spirit. In verse 10, "put a new and right spirit within me," verse 11, "do not take your holy spirit from me," and verse 12, "sustain in me a willing spirit." If we want to be truly happy, we must stop placing our emphasis on our physical feelings and allow God’s spirit to minister to our spirit. This is why David says in verse 11, "restore to me the joy...." He has been allowing his emotions, his feelings of guilt, to crush his joy.

Have one or two people read Psalm 16:11 and Zephaniah 3:14.

How have you felt when you have experienced God’s forgiveness?

You must make a conscious effort to be happy. You have been set free by God’s Spirit. Why not rejoice? As Psalm 16:11 tells us, "You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore." And Zephaniah 3:14 says, "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart...."

Some people feel they’re being dishonest with themselves if they try to force themselves to be happy. They think it’s fake and not real. But the fact is by forcing ourselves to be happy, we are disciplining our thoughts and re-training our mind. We are molding ourselves to be the way the Creator had intended us to be – joyful and happy.

Share some things that you do to lift yourself out of despair.

Sometimes it’s not easy to lift our minds out of misery, so here are some helpful hints that can dispel the dark feelings:

1. Think happy thoughts

2. Force yourself to smile

3. Recite the good things that happened today

4. Sing a favorite hymn or chorus

5. Begin worshipping God out loud

6. Read a psalm or favorite section of scripture

7. Think of all the good things God has done for you over the years.

Whose Spirit is Verse 12 Talking About?

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

2. How would David be especially effective reaching transgressors? How do you share your faith with others?

This is Step 8 – Stop worrying about yourself. It’s now time to reach out to others.

Introspection and examining our feelings is good because it brings us closer to God. But after we have communed with God and been encouraged by the Holy Spirit, continued self-examination can be counter-productive. We must stop spending too much time thinking about ourselves and analyzing our emotions, and begin thinking about others and reaching out to them. If we don’t do this, we will be like the Corinthians concerning whom Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 3:2, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready." God does not want us to remain babies; but wants us to grow up. Part of growing up is being able to take our mind off of ourselves and start reaching out to others.

David has experienced the return of the joy of his salvation (in verse 12), and so now he wants to tell others and share the good things God has done for him. As Maclaren aptly puts it, "A man who has passed through such experiences as the psalmist’s, and has received the blessings for which he prayed, cannot be silent. The instinct of hearts touched by God’s mercies is to speak of them to others."

Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

3. How can singing help us out of despair? After you have come through an especially difficult time, what song or songs did God place in your heart?

This is Step 9 – Sing aloud how God has delivered you. You must believe everything is OK.

Have you ever noticed how when you’re in an especially happy mood, you find yourself humming a tune? There is something therapeutic about singing which causes our emotions to be lifted. This is why the Bible instructs us in many places to sing.

And that is why David here in verse 14 says, "my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance." He knows the value of singing. We see recorded in God’s word how David composed songs during most of the times of real crisis in his life. In triumph he sang and in despair he sang. Here in Psalm 51, although he is filled with sorrow, he knows, by faith, God has delivered him from his sin of bloodshed. So he must sing. His mind told him he was guilty unto death, his heart told him to despair and be filled with remorse, but his spirit told him – to sing!

As we sing unto the Lord, we are allowing ourselves to believe everything is OK. This is essential for our emotional well-being. God has delivered us, in spite of our persistent feelings of guilt. So rejoice and sing aloud. You will begin feeling better immediately.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

4. Why did David ask God to open his lips? Why do we find it so difficult to worship God when we are overwhelmed with feelings of guilt?

This brings us to Step 10 – Praise God and rejoice.

This step is similar to the previous one. After we begin singing, we will find our spirit being lifted, and we will want to worship God. As we praise God, our mind is focusing on the divine goodness, mercy, deliverance, and promises. As we center our attention on God, our problems seem to fade in the background. And as we focus our thoughts toward God, the Holy Spirit is able to minister to us. So I’m a firm believer in spending time worshipping our Deliverer.

In the 1800’s James Edmesten wrote a poem which would be a good prayer for us each day:

Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us

O’er the world’s tempestuous sea;

Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,

For we have no help but Thee;

Yet possessing

Every blessing

If our God our Father be.

Saviour breathe forgiveness o’er us;

All our weakness Thou dost know;

Thou didst tread this earth before us,

Thou didst feel its keenest woe;

Lone and dreary,

Faint and weary,

Through the desert Thou didst go.

Spirit of our God descending,

Fill our hearts with heavenly joy,

Love with every passion blending,

Pleasure that can never cloy:

Thus provided,

Pardoned, guided,

Nothing can our peace destroy.

For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

5. What could David do to make things right concerning Uriah and Bathsheba? Have you ever felt like you needed to fix past wrongs even though you knew you couldn’t?

This is Step 11 – Realize there is nothing more you need to do.

There is a deeper meaning to verses 16-17 as it relates to David than is apparent. It is true that God desires a broken spirit and a contrite heart more than an animal sacrifice. As it says in Hosea 6:6, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

However, the fact of the matter is that there is no sacrifice provided in the Old Testament law for David’s sins. In the matter of adultery Deuteronomy 22:23-24 calls for stoning of both parties, and as for the murder of Uriah, Genesis 9:6 calls for the murderer to die. An Israelite could appeal to the king, but as king, David had already pronounced sentence upon himself when he told Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:5, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die."

David knows only too well his only hope is the mercy of God. There is nothing he can do. He has already come to God, asked for forgiveness, and placed his trust in divine mercy. Matthew Henry comments on David’s attitude, "It is a heart breaking with itself, and breaking from its sin; it is a heart pliable to the word of God, and patient under the rod of God, a heart subdued and brought into obedience; it is a heart that is tender...and trembles at God’s word. Oh that there were such a heart in us!"

We should strive to be like David. We must realize that there is nothing more we need to do. We are now in God’s hands. We must stop trying to do anything more. We must stop beating our breast and moaning over our failings. We must stop allowing ourselves to be crippled with guilt. We must stop blaming ourselves. We must stop feeling miserable. When we truly realize there is nothing more we can do, then finally we will stop trying to do ... anything, everything.

Comments from an Early Restoration Movement Leader

In 1816 Elias Smith wrote, "The day appeared dark, and every thing seemed to mourn around me. This was the situation I thought myself in; guilty before God, and guilty of crimes of the deepest dye. Every wrong ever committed, whether in thought, word, or deed, appeared before me, and things which before appeared small, now rose like mountains between me and my Creator. It appeared to me that I was a criminal deserving death, without one plea in his own behalf. I said, O that I had not sinned, but I have, and now it is too late! Notwithstanding all I had heard of Christ, I was ignorant of forgiveness through him. My situation seemed like that of a murderer, who laments that he has deprived an innocent man of life; wishes he had not done it; is sorry for it, and says, if I had not done it, I should now be clear; but it is done; the law says such shall die; the law is just, and if justice takes place, death is my portion. ... This led me to say, O that I had never been born, or that I had been any thing but an accountable creature! No one can tell the distress I felt, unless they have felt the same. While in this distressing situation, I stood on a log with my ax for the purpose of cutting it off. A thought passed through my mind to step down on the ground and pray; then another thought arose, I am lost forever, and it is in vain to pray, and I had been taught that God would not hear sinners, and that it would be useless to pray; however, my distress was so great that I kneeled down on the ground...."

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,

then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

6. Who do you think is best able to repair any damage we’ve done by our actions? Share about damage you have caused that God repaired.

This is the last one, Step 12 – Let God repair any damage you’ve done. You cannot undo the damage yourself.

In verse 18 David turns his attention to the damage he has done to his nation. As Stedman points out, "As the king he has caused his whole nation to be in jeopardy because of his sin." And MacDonald paraphrases David’s thoughts in verse 18, "My sins have doubtless hindered the progress of your work. I have brought reproach upon Your name. Now may your cause move forward without hindrance."

This is how we feel after we have come to God to cleanse us from our guilt. We realize we have hurt others or caused damage – to our family, our friends, our church. We want to repair the damage. God takes away our feelings of guilt for our sin and we replace it with guilt over the damage we’ve done. We must realize we cannot fix everything. We must allow God to do the repair work. We cannot undo the damage ourselves.

In spite of what we have done in the past, it is now time to look forward. David was afraid that his sin might bring devastation on Israel, so he prayed. He could not undo the adultery and he could not bring Uriah back to life. All he could do was place it all in God’s hands. Now he was ready to look forward. God answered David’s prayer and built up Israel and brought it to its highest point under David’s successor.

It is time to look to the future in your own life. God will build up the walls of your life, of your family, of your church. God will repair any damage. You are forgiven. It is time to stop looking back and start looking forward. Allow the guilt of the past to go, and start rejoicing for God has set you free.