Psalm 51: 1 – For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
Psalm 51 is David’s confession of his sin in the matter of Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. David starts the Psalm by asking for God to be gracious to him. What is foreign to us today is that David asked for God to be gracious to him “according to Your lovingkindness” and “according to the greatness of Your compassion.” He saw that his sin was so great that nothing but forgiveness according to God could possibly deal with his sin. He then moves on to v. 2 where he wanted God to wash and cleanse him from his sin. He knew that he was in the hands of a great and glorious God and that his sin was not something that he could deal with himself. In v. 3 he said that he knew his transgressions and that his sin was ever before him. Verse 4 explains verses 1-3. The reason that he saw sin as so hideous and awful is that it was against God Himself. The reason that David cried out for God to be gracious to Him according to His lovingkindness and the greatness of His compassion is that his sin was against God and only a grace and compassion from God was big enough to deal with a sin against God. The reason that he asked God to wash and cleanse him from his sin is because only God is big enough to deal with sin against Him.
If we look at the words of David in Psalm 51 we can see something of the enormity of sin. Sin is a heart and/or act that is against God. While we would not want to say that David’s heart hated God, his sin was still against God Himself and the act was an act of hatred. The act of sin is so malignant and vile that in itself there is venom and hostility toward God. We can see something of the sin of others and then of our own sin by David’s view of sin here. David was involved in the death of Uriah the husband of Bathsheba. In fact, though David was not at the battle and even though it was enemy soldiers that killed Uriah, II Samuel 12:9 speaks of David as striking down Uriah with the sword. David was guilty of murder. Genesis 9:6 tells us what is wrong with murder: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
The phrase at the end of the verse tells us why murder is wrong. It is because man is the image of God. Murder of a human being is an attack on God because man is the image of God. With each murder God is attacked and the nature of sin is expressed. David had attacked God in setting up Uriah to be killed by the swords of the enemy. There we see the real nature of sin and why God alone can forgive that sin and why God alone can take that sin away. When David planned to have Uriah killed, he was casting the true God out of his knowledge by disregarding the truth of who God is to take action on this plan. He carried out the plan as if Uriah was his (David’s) to dispense with as a matter of convenience for him when in fact the only person that had the right over Uriah’s life was God. But surely, some would say, David wronged Uriah as well. Perhaps, but Uriah was owned by another and did not belong to himself. As in the OT days of slavery, when a slave was killed the owner was the one wronged. So in all of humanity murder is an attack on God and wronging Him because He owns all.
But how were David’s acts of adultery hatred against God? II Samuel 12 has the answer: “‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife'” (vv. 9-10). By taking Bathsheba in adultery and then as his wife David despised the word of the Lord and God Himself. The seventh commandment is a clear command against adultery and the sixth command is very clear against murder. Yet all the commandments can only be kept out of love for God and they can only be broken out of hatred (of the heart or action) for God. David looked on Bathsheba and desired her for himself. In that desire he did not love God or his neighbor. Instead his heart lusted (coveted his neighbor) and then he took the steps to have her. In all of this he did not love God or his neighbor. In all of this he loved himself and chose his own desires over God. Matthew 6:24 is clear on this: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one & love the other, or he will be devoted to one & despise the other.” David’s master was himself at this point and he was mastered by his own coveting heart. This is serving another master and a hating of God.
God Loves... Himself 
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