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There can be little doubt that David composed this psalm after Nathan came to him. Psalm 51. was the confession of his great sin, and the prayer for forgiveness. This is the record of the confession made and the forgiveness obtained, and the blessedness of his position as a son restored to his Father's house.

I. THE GREATEST MISERY.

1. The knowledge that we have sinned. That we have been guilty of one great sin leading on to another, as David had been; and not of some isolated sin of infirmity, or of some transient temper that spends itself at the moment. None but a good man would feel the awful misery here described. Bad, burdened men sin and feel no burden of shame or guilt.

2. The attempt to reason away our guilt. "In whose spirit there is no guile," or self-deception. David was an Eastern monarch, whose temptation would be to think he might do as he pleased, and thus to reduce his sin to the minimum point. We extenuate our evil deeds by pleading circumstances, temptation, temperament, and we deceive ourselves.

3. The attempt to suppress the consciousness of guilt. We "keep silence," and try to hide from ourselves our sin, and relapse into only a dull consciousness of it. But there was a smouldering fire beneath that dried up the vital moisture of his being and consumed his very bones. Afraid to confess his sin either to God or to himself, he could not escape the burden which the Divine hand laid upon his conscience; and hence his misery. He "roared" all the day long under it. This is God's mercy and anger towards our sin - to drive us to seek release and forgiveness.

II. THE GREATEST BLESSEDNESS.

1. We must begin by the fullest acknowledgment of our sin to ourselves. This must be done before we can sincerely make confession to God. We must be angry with ourselves before we can feel God's auger or his mercy towards us.

2. The fullest, most penitent confession to God. (Ver. 5.) "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." Most sins have a threefold aspect - as done against another, against ourselves, and against God, the Fatherly Lawgiver.

3. The consciousness of forgiveness. This includes two things - the free remission and the inner cleansing.

(1) The transgression is taken away;

(2) covered by God, not by the sinner; and

(3) not imputed, because taken away. It is throughout a real transaction, nor a fictitious one.

Then is a man blessed with the peace of God. - S.

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KJV: {A Psalm of David, Maschil.} Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

WEB: Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.