This is David’s psalm following Nathan the Prophet’s rebuke after he had slept with Bath-sheba and had her husband killed on the front line of battle.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. . . .
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (KJV).
Psalm 51 is David’s confession of his sin of adultery with Bath-sheba, his attempted cover-up of the deed, his murder of her husband Uriah, a second cover-up, all the while yet holding forth to his lie. The historical context for this is found in II Samuel 11-12. This account includes the exposure of it all by God to Nathan the Prophet, who goes to David, captures his heart by a tender story of a shepherd, which turns into this gripping parable that lassos him, by which Nathan then calls him out in no uncertain terms.
The conviction and shame of sin is real and it must have hit David like a ton of bricks. Only God could have known this. And for me, it can be unsettling how much David is like us, as I’m drawn into the tale as if it were about me. That’s Scripture. It’s not a stretch to say that all of David’s Psalms are beloved and relatable. But in this study our focus will simply be an examination of the very deep and searching statement of verse six, which David set to poetry, where two thoughts run parallel, comparing each to the other.
Consider David’s entire prayer of confession in the whole of Ps. 51. Although adultery is the primary sin, other sins developed out of it. There is the guilt of blood about Uriah. There is scandal put into the mouths of enemies of the Lord. And then the sin of David’s own self-delusion and his lies. Here is the manifold impact of sin and its entanglements that greatly affect others. Sin produces the intimate and ghastly grip of deception’s fruit. It is an ingrained stain, much like leprosy. It reveals a hot steaming pile of guilt with David’s name all over it. And it wounds a living sensitive conscience deeply, more than superficially. Sin is an ongoing matter of unrest and pain, winning no merit with God though regret is intense. And all sin against mankind ultimately is against God, and him alone. He takes sin very personally, for it reveals our fundamental relationship to God (cf. C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the OT: Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1982, p. 135). Let’s look at our verse again:
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts” (Psalm 51:6a).
Our Lord has some very strong feelings about ‘truth,’ to say the least. First off note: It’s impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). Ponder that. The root word for truth (in Hebrew: aman) denotes a reality that is ‘firm’, ‘solid’, ‘valid’, ‘sure’, and ‘binding’, i.e. true. Truth is incontestable, indisputable, and has veracity. It is the operating principle in the process of judgment. Truth is the foundation of all God’s own actions and words. And he requires truthfulness of man. Interestingly, this word is often translated as ‘faith’. Ponder that too. (cf. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; Gerhard Kittel, editor; “The OT word emeth”, by Gottfried Quell; Vol. 1, Eerdman’s Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 1964: pp. 232-34).
Let’s identify just what these ‘inward parts’ are. This is an ancient depiction Scripture used to describe not only the rational mind, but also and equally important, the emotions. So many issues of the emotions can either vex us or vindicate us. For example: bitterness, rage, revenge, rejection, regret, pride, arrogance, envy, lust, and fear can really make us deceived about reality. But romance, love, acceptance, anticipation, pleasure, expectation, faith, trust, and justification can be based in truth. It’s all happening in the inward parts.
These emotions and feelings, especially matters of the conscience, find their harbor in our ‘inner parts’. To put body organs to this we arrive at: the liver, the kidneys, and the bowels or gut. It is here that so many potentialities get sorted out. Either it leads to stress or to peace. Stress is rooted to many awful results on the body, like our mental health, physical health, disease, even our whole outlook. We are all experts in stress. But peace is critical to good mental health, physical health, and confidence about our entire situation. How one evaluates experiences, and his perception of these moments, will impact him for a life time.
So this is why God is so concerned for truth in the ‘inward parts.’ Not only does he desire it, he longs for truth be established there, so that the peace of Christ can rule in our hearts (i.e. the gut – Col. 3:15). We are to think on ‘whatsoever things are ‘true’ (Phil. 4:8). We are to love the truth, because to not love it is the one thing that leads to deception and delusion (II Thess. 2:12). David must have realized after the fact, that, had truth been in his inward parts at that moment, he would not have been deceived about Bath-sheba. Look what it cost him. Look at the collateral damage. Ok, now see the second part of our verse:
“And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” (Ps. 51:6b).
What is this ‘hidden part’? Well, first off, here’s what it’s not. It’s not an obscure undefinable something, that you can’t quite put your finger on . . . mystery about yourself. If there is truth in the inward parts (truth is always from God), then the ‘hidden part’ is no longer a secret. It is not obstructed, stopped up, and concealed. (These words are alternate definitions to the Hebrew word for ‘hidden’, as in Genesis 26:18 where the Philistines ‘stopped up’ the wells of Abraham to make them ‘hidden’ from Isaac).
The ‘hidden part’ gets affected from the ‘inward parts’ and becomes operational. It is that one ‘missing piece’ that you have longed for beyond longing. The hidden part, because of ‘truth in our inner parts’, is no longer obscured. It is no longer some secret part of us that we instinctively knew was there all along but eluded us. Instead, on the inside it gets enabled by God’s truth, and becomes the receptor of revelation. That revelation is ‘wisdom’, a unique wisdom where God causes us to learn practical wise things so we can be blessed in this life. That gets set in motion inside you! It’s not some kind of ‘knock-off’ cheap brand of wisdom, but the real deal, the exact reproduction of that which made Jesus wise. As it is written: “Even the hidden wisdom. . . which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (I Cor. 2:7-8). And where you live, that wisdom gits ‘er done.
Application
1 Take a good, long, hard look inside. Your conscience, your innards are saying, Come and see. Is truth there? This is a Yes or No moment. If not, you’re at war with yourself. So win already! Let’s solve this right now. You win by establishing truth in the core of who you are. A miracle will happen inside you. By the way, truth is actually a Person, i.e. Jesus. Ask for him to come there. He wants to be asked. You won’t arrive in truth without him.
2 If there’s a big decision, something pending, wise up. Just ask God, and he’ll make sure you get wisdom. But wait for its marker: purity and peace (James 3:17). It will just naturally happen if you choose truth. Start here: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps.111:10). Go for it like your life depended on it. It does.
3 So maybe you are in the grip of some sin, like David was. Listen up. Who are you going to be? A wise man who loves the truth? He confesses what he’s done, to man and to God. That’s called repentance. Or are you a man who rejects the love of the truth because you think the lie is better? What’s that going to cost you? One choice leads to inestimable gain: and the other, to inestimable loss. You can change where you’re headed right now.
As it is written: “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:20-21).
Tim Halverson
lionsheadcafe.com 