Psalm 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.… 1. It is a good means to prepare to true repentance and humiliation for them (Lamentations 3:40). 2. It is a special means to make us hate them, and dislike them, seeing the danger of them, how loathsome they be in God's sight. 3. The remembrance of our sins makes us wary, that we fall not into them again; but our former falls make us to take heed of falling in time to come. 4. The remembrance of our sins makes us pity other men, because, though they fall dangerously, yet we know we have fallen as well as they, therefore we hope God will give unto them repentance. 5. The continual remembrance of our own sins puts us in mind of God's mercy in the pardon of them; and when men calmly suffer their old sins to pass away and slip out of their minds, they will easily fall into new, and soon forget the mercy of God, and how much they are bound unto Him. Paul gives this excellent example, who, remembering how he had persecuted the Church, said, "Notwithstanding God was merciful unto me," so that the continual remembrance of our sins puts us in mind of God's merciful dealing with us, and must stir us up to thankfulness. (S. Smith.) 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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