Psalms 51:8

Psalms 51:8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Beloved, it is a sweet thing when we come to close dealings with God like this. David wants cleansing, but he will not have it except from God; he wants peace and comfort, but he will look only to God for them: "Make me to hear joy and gladness." If you go out into the streets when you are sad, you may hear sounds of joy and gladness, which will seem like a mockery of your sorrow. "As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart." But when God speaks in mercy, when he opens the ear to hear his melodious accents of pardon, then the very bones which have been broken begin to rejoice. Probably there is no more refined pleasure of a human kind than that which comes to a man who is getting convalescent, one who is gradually being restored after a very severe illness; so there is certainly nothing more sweet than that calm quiet happiness which comes of pardoned sin when the broken heart begins to be healed: "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice."