The Songs of Israel: Seeking Forgiveness from God
Text: Psalm 51
Rev. Dr. John E. Manzo
July 17, 2011


Rev. Michael G. Clark is a Lutheran Minister in Wichita, Kansas. Some years ago I saw him on television and my heart went out to him.

While no group of people can ever be totally lumped together or said to be all the same, most clergy have several tendencies.

A lot of us tend to be a bit on the neurotic side. We tend to take a lot of things personally, tend to take a lot of the issues of the world on our shoulders, and tend to be more critical of ourselves than people are of us. And the fact that we spend most of our lives in the line of fire, that’s saying a lot.

The other tendency many clergy seem to have is a need to be affirmed and liked. We want people to like us.

And thus, it was, Rev. Michael Clark was in a room and the previous President of his Church Council was praising him on national television, saying how Pastor Clark was his ‘main man’ and was a great inspiration to him and the Council President explained he wouldn’t be the man he was today without Rev. Clark in his life.

Rev. Michael Clark’s facial expression was one of horror because the speaker, the former Church Council President, was Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK serial killer. And Clark sat there, mortified.

But, in Clark’s lap, the entire time, was an open Bible turned to Psalm 51 which he was praying over and over again. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of repentance and forgiveness----and that was all Clark felt he could do. Pray for forgiveness that this monster before him had come from the congregation that he, Clark, was serving. And Clark never knew... and the guilt of being connected to this monstrous man was consuming him.

So he prayed a Psalm, a very specific Psalm of forgiveness.

Forgiveness and the stark, even harsh beauty of this Psalm.

Psalm 51 is an amazing Psalm that has the author begging God for forgiveness. When we ask forgiveness, it’s the ultimate way of saying, I’m sorry or apologizing. In the words of the Psalmist what God seeks is not a burnt offering or any other act. God wants one thing:

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart

A broken spirit, a contrite heart is a way of saying “I’m sorry,’ in a profound way.
It is learning to say “I’m sorry,” when we are wrong.

I have found that there is nothing as character building as apologizing. Having the humility and courage to admit that you are personally wrong and have made a mistake, is liberating. Often a good apology clears the air between people. Families who learn to apologize to one another, live healthier and happier lives.

One thing that is crucial, however, is learning to truly apologize as opposed to pretending to apologize.

There is several words in the English language that ought never be in an apology. The word is ‘but.’

When we say, “I am sorry for offending you, but....” When we say this, we are putting the issue of offense on the person we offended. We are trying to justify our actions.

“I’m sorry for hurting you, but...” You deserved it.

“I’m sorry for stealing from you, but...” I wanted the money more you needed it.

You get the point.

Or when we use the word ‘if.’

“I’m sorry IF I offended you, “ and we’re really saying you need to have thicker skin.

“I’m sorry IF I hurt you,” and we’re really saying you need to be tougher.

“I’m sorry IF you needed that,” and we really saying I needed it more.

True apologies end with “I’m sorry.” We can add, “Because I offended you, or because I hurt you, or because it was uncalled for, but we can’t use the word ‘but’ or ‘if.’

The words of this Psalm are a real apology to God and seeking forgiveness and it does so in gut wrenching ways.


And sometimes that forgiveness comes hard.

I was pondering the words from the Psalm:

Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Sometimes this is hard, teaching others God’s ways.

William Self, a Baptist Pastor in Georgia tells a wonderful story about Corrie Ten Boon.

Corrie ten Boon was a Dutch lady who during World War II hid the Jews from the Nazis in her home. When the Nazis found out, she was taken out of her home and placed in a concentration camp. When the war was over, she went around the cities of Germany and Holland preaching that everyone should forgive one another for what had happened during that terrible time.

One day Corrie was preaching her sermon on forgiveness in a Hamburg church. When it was over, the people were lined up to speak to her, and in the crowd of faces around her, she saw one particular face and a hand reaching out to her.

The man said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?"

This was the man who controlled the shower room for the women. Once a week the women were herded into a communal shower, they were disrobed, the water was turned on, and this man was perched above them on a platform where he could observe and control the room. He rather enjoyed the indignity of this moment as the cold water hit the bodies of the very frightened women.

Corrie said that of all the people in that prison, he was the one she hated the most.

She said she couldn't get rid of the hate she had for him and the look on his face as he leered at them in their humiliation. That's the face that possessed the hand that came to her, and he said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?" And she said, "I stopped and prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to give me the power and strength to forgive this man."

She said it was the hardest thing that she ever did.

This Psalm confronts us with the issue of sin, but more than that, apologizing to God, and asking forgiveness. It invites us to ask for forgiveness by breaking our spirit and will and apologizing, profoundly to God with know and’s, it’s or but’s. It reminds us of the power of being forgiven and healed from the burdens of our own failures.

And there is its beauty.