The Penitential Psalms

by JAS. MARTIN | Category: Meditations On The Psalms | Nov 1961

Those of us who have attained years of maturity have learned by experience, at least, even if we have been slow to assimilate from God's word, that this life is a wonderful mixture of sweetness and bitterness, gladness and sorrow, prosperity and adversity, desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, and remorse of failure in defeated efforts thereto. These contrasts are not all to be deplored. Some of the saddest experiences have been fertile soil for the sweetest fruits for God in His tilled land, the Church of God. The wonderful hand of our Creator and Lord, in our natural life and in our spiritual life, has graciously traced out the pattern, which shall be for His glory and our present and ultimate good.

The entrance of sin into the world, through one man, is the cause of man's ruined condition, and incidentally the cause of all his sorrows and vexation of spirit. This fact, so unquestionably proved from the records of Scripture concerning the lives of men and the histories of nations, and from all actual experience we have ever had, is the cause of the shallows and shoals that have ship-wrecked many lives. Either men have closed their eyes to the presence of the insidious germ of sin in the heart, or they have used the world's specifics to try and effect a cure - in both cases disaster is the result. Therefore we betake ourselves to the recorded experiences of men guided by the Holy Spirit, who have written in the Psalms out of the grief and sadness of their hearts. The divine breath has passed over the slackened strings of the soul, as it were, and the result has been dirges and laments. They have realized the cause of failure, the existence of sin, and they have shown that contrite spirit, which is acceptable in God's eyes.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:

A broken and a contrite heart,

0 God, Thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 5i. 17).

The greatest of the Penitential Psalms is Psalm 51. The following are recognized by students of the Word as in the same category Psalms 6, 32, 38, 102, 130 and 143. This does not exhaust the class. Of these seven, 102 and 130 are by unknown writers, and the other five are attributed to David. Some meditations on these Psalms follow.

PSALM 6

This psalm is for the Chief Musician, on stringed instruments, set to the Sheminith (i.e. the eighth, R.V.M.). Learned scholars cannot definitely define Sheminith. It may mean "octave " - the full scope of the musical interval, and by allusion, may take in the full scope of life; or it may mean "to the bass," the lower and the more mournful notes. The occasion which called forth this lament is not revealed, therefore it has a more universal appeal, or application. It would appear that David is experiencing a sickness nigh unto death. The chastening hand of the LORD is upon him. His bones are vexed, he is hoarse with his groaning, his pillow has been soaked with tears, and above all his soul is vexed. This surely is not an uncommon experience of many children of God throughout the centuries.

This culmination of troubles draws from David, "0 LORD, how long?" What a pregnant phrase! It speaks of man's extremity and absolute submission. Is there anything such a soul can plead? Yes, only the lovingkindness of the LORD. His mercy alone is the effective plea. For David does desire to glorify God and give thanks, and he knows the impossibility of that in Sheol or in death. It would appear that he knew little, at this time, of the LORD'S plans for the future, but whether or no, the right chord is struck, that if man willeth to give thanks, in time alone can it be a voluntary giving. From all his fears David emerges triumphantly in the assurance,

"The LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD hath heard my supplication; The LORD will receive my prayer" (verses 8, 9).

In the earlier portion of the psalm David had cried, "0 LORD," five times-perhaps denoting weakness-now thrice he asserts that Jehovah has heard and will receive his prayer. We may not be stretching the suggestion too far, if we see in this the triune GOD. We ask what had spoken most eloquently in Jehovah's ears? It was "the voice of his weeping," the eloquent appeal of sorrow, the unmistakable language of all the diverse children of Adam's race, the tears that God treasures in His bottle-liquid prayers.

"Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear."

Job could say, "Though He slay me, yet will I wait for Him" (Job 13.15), and Habakkuk triumphantly concludes his prayer (chapter 3), despite the distress and anguish of his body and the famine and pestilence all around, with,

"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the GOD of my salvation.

Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength,

And He maketh my feet like hinds' feet,

And will make me to walk upon mine high places."

PSALM 32: MASCHIL

This a Psalm for instruction (maschil). Other maschil Psalms are -52, 53, 55, 142 by David, 42, 43, 44, 45 by the sons of Korah, 74, 78 by Asaph, 88 by Heman the Ezrahite, and 89 by Ethan the Ezrahite.

Those who have had experience are usually the best teachers. True repentance is certainly manifest when the penitent one seeks to teach others repentance. David is so delighted with the results of his experience that he commences his song with thanksgiving. The word for "blessed "is in the plural-there is no limit to the blessings - " oh, the blessedness" of such a man! We have noted the name of the LORD thrice repeated in Psalm 6. 8, 9. Here in verses 1 and 2 we have a trinity of evil overcome transgression, sin, iniquity-but it is transgression forgiven, sin covered, iniquity not imputed, giving peace within the heart with no duplicity. But David finds it necessary to record the experiences prior to this happy state. "Roaring all the day long" is not repentance, though it is a condition associated with it. This crying but made his frame wax old. He was silent with regard to his sins, and the crushing of Jehovah's hand caused him to pause (Selah). The right course was revealed, sin had to be acknowledged, iniquity uncovered, transgression confessed, and the germ of the malady was purged out. Well might he insert another Selah ... a pause.

We are minded of the Master's word to Peter: " when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren" (Luke 22.82). There is a turning point. It must not be missed. It is vital. "Let every one that is godly pray unto Thee in the time of finding out sin" (verse 6, R.V.M.). Sin is, derivatively, a " missing of the mark." It may be less terrible than " transgression," " a stepping-aside

deliberately, a moral revolt, or that " iniquity," which is a "crooked perversity" ; but the simplest stepping-aside, when discovered, must be confessed if a compass of songs of deliverance would be the sinner's girdle. How much more pleasant to be instructed with the doctrine that drops as the small rain upon the tender grass, than to be drawn up with the deterrents that hurt! James, in his epistle, helps us to understand the use of bit and bridle (3.3). Beware of the tongue, the restless evil, and be wisely advised by one who has had experience - " I will instruct" (verse 8) is of the same derivation as "maschil." The issues are plainly stated, sorrows many to the

wicked, shouts of joy for the upright. If our gladness is "in the LORD," and there the forgiven man's joy ought to be, there will be no need to limit its bounds. It will be, "Be glad ... rejoice shout for joy" (verse 11).

JAS. MARTIN | Nov 1961
Meditations On The Psalms