“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity” (Psalm 51:8,9).
Three years ago I broke the first bone I’ve ever broken in my body, the tip of my finger. Something very heavy dropped on it. Man, that hurt! It crushed the little finger tip bone and split it in half.
I remember thinking, “If I’m in this much pain with a broken finger tip bone, what about all those people who break the big stuff? Yowza!”
For months, I’d bump it or even just rub it along something and, “Ouch!” The nerve endings were so sensitive to the touch.
So it was such a joy when it finally healed, and the sign to me that it finally healed was I didn’t notice any pain when I’d bump it, put my hands in my pockets, use it to open a car door, or just type on my laptop.
The bone that I crushed rejoiced!
Now, see that word in this psalm, it’s plural. Many “bones.” Imagine if every bone in the human body (do you know how many there are? 206). What if every one of those 206 bones were broken. Crushed! Ouch!
That would hurt for months, but then, healing and rejoicing! They probably wouldn’t all heal at the exact same time, though, so you’d have multiple moments of joy.
Look again at this psalm. Do you see it? There is one “iniquity,” that’s a word that means guiltiness. One, massive, shameful piece of sin is what we were, but in Christ, God forgave us in one, massive work of salvation when Jesus paid the price for our sins and suffered divine justice.
Now, instead of just saying, “I forgive you,” one time and telling you that you better remember it or you’ll be said, God says, “I forgive you” for each one of your sins, and says it often.
Every bone rejoices. Every one of your sins every day is fully forgiven, specifically, individually, again, and again. Now be careful and take care of those bones, in the joy of forgiveness.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, you broke your entire being for me and gave yourself as a sacrifice in place of my brokenness, a perfect sacrifice to please God for me. As you restore me, forgiving my sins, renew my joy. Help me to live free from sin’s shame and guilt, in joy and gladness. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: Psalm 51 is classified as one of the seven penitential psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). Page through them for a dose of repentance and forgiveness today—straight from God.
