Psalm 51:8-10 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. David's prayer here is for more than forgiveness, more than remission of punishment, more than abolition of sin; it is for restoration to what he was before. I. HE ASKS GOD TO FORGET IT ALL; to. forget the home left, the squandered property, the being driven in to God, unwilling and degraded. And all this to be as if it had never been! Is this possible? In one sense, yes; in another sense, no. Think only how we have altered our lives. It is said to have been the constant prayer of a very holy man, "O my God, make me what I might have been if it never had sinned!" Some of the Jews every Friday go to a place in Jerusalem, known as the Jews' wailing-place, where there are just a few foundation-stones of the old temple, and there lament their fallen greatness. There are wailing-places, it may be, and always will be, in our own lives. But a new city has risen up, and new duties and new hopes, and God has promised to forget. II. HE ASKS FOR RESTORATION TO STRENGTH, as shown in the clean heart and right spirit. The clean heart being a desire for right things in the seat of the affections; the right spirit being a susceptibility to heavenly influence in the seat of the conscience, the inner man. III. HE ASKS FOR THE COMFORTS OF RELIGION. "The comfort of Thy help." How much there is in these words! (Canon Newbolt.) Parallel Verses KJV: Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.WEB: Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice. |
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