What did David mean when he asked God to "restore to me the joy of your salvation" (Psalm 51:12)?

Following the judgment of the person comes the reference to his actions, — sins and iniquities, which David desired hidden and blotted out, which only God in pure grace can do (v. 9). For this section brings us into the sanctuary, the presence of God, where it is required that one be totally sanctified. Thus, God's creatorial work is necessary to make a difference in the individual, renewing in him a steadfast spirit (v. 10). When this is true, there is no possibility of one being banished from His presence, or of his losing the gift of the Holy Spirit (v. 11). It is clear that David did have God's Spirit as enabling him for his duties as king, and David realized that his sin was such that he deserved to have the Spirit taken from him. But he could still count on the grace of God to maintain him in spite of his guilt. Blessed grace indeed!

David asks that God will restore to him the joy of God's salvation, — not salvation itself, for he had not lost this in spite of his shameful failure. But one away from God cannot be enjoying God's salvation, and this joy required restoration. He asks also to be upheld by a willing spirit, which seems to be the correct translation of this last phase of verse 12, that is, that Word would work in him a spirit of willingness to obey Him. How much better is this than a selfish spirit of wanting our own way!

“Restore unto me the JOY of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit” (Ps. 51:12).

Note carefully, he did not ask for salvation, but the JOY of salvation, to be restored. Salvation is a blessing, once given, never to be withdrawn, blessed be the Lord. Our Lord became the “Author of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:9).

But presently he comes out of the corner with broken will and broken heart confessing the whole thing from first to last, so that you see he hates the disobedience and naughtiness as much as you do, and you take him in your arms and cover him with kisses. His joy is restored because communion is restored.

When David sinned so grievously in the matter of Uriah's wife, he did not say, "Restore unto me Thy salvation," but "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" (Ps. 51:12).

When David sinned so grievously in the matter of Uriah's wife, he did not say, "Restore unto me Thy salvation," but "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation." (Psalm 51:12).

When David sinned so grievously in the matter of Uriah's wife, he did not say, "Restore unto me Thy salvation," but, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation." (Ps. 51:12.)

As stated before, when a Christian sins, he does not forfeit the relationship of a child with his father, but he does forfeit the joy of it. After his sin, David did not pray for restoration of salvation, but for restoration of the joy of salvation (Ps. 51:12).

What then is the position of the saint, who sins after conversion? If he is really founded in the truth of the gospel he knows that sin has been eternally cleansed away by the precious blood of Christ, that on the Cross our Lord bare our sins in His own body on the tree. And it is the knowledge of this that is the most potent element in his repentance. The believer has sinned. He does not lose his salvation, righteousness imputed to him is still true of him, justification is his, eternal life his possession, but he loses the JOY of his salvation. Even David, who sinned grievously in the case of Bath-sheba, did not cry, “Restore unto me Thy salvation,” but Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation (Ps. 51:12). Communion is broken. Misery fills the heart.

Let us not forget that it is "in the Lord" we are to rejoice. Some rejoice in their homes, in their families, in their wealth, in their learning: but such joys all fade: but when we rejoice in the Lord we have a joy that no man taketh from us. True, sin may rob us of it: and we may have to pray "Restore unto me the joy of Thy Salvation". (Not, you will note, "Restore unto me Thy Salvation!"). But our Epistle does not touch on this subject: and neither shall we. It may be found in the First Epistle of John. Our Epistle is too full of its theme of joy. Eleven times, I have counted "Rejoice", and five times "joy", in this little Epistle. Here is the key-note of the normal Christian life.

102 And David in the same way, having sinned, could so speak but a Christian could not. The cry might come from an inexperienced Christian who had not found peace, nor knew that God does not take His Spirit from the Christian, but not from one who knew the truth. A Christian knowing the truth, but having failed in walk, and assaulted by the enemy, might deprecate the practical loss of that action of the Spirit which alone keeps us in communion, and the shield of faith up, and this would be all right. So could one who had thus lost it, say, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, though in the extreme of such a case; neither is that the state of soul, but only where it is getting back. In the extreme case it is the thought of being lost, though after all, hope is never absolutely given up. But, on the returning of such a soul verses 11, 12 are, practically used, though never "take not thy Holy Spirit from me." But there is a constant action of the Holy Ghost which keeps faith alive - may be, a source of great joy when we walk with God, but, when we have not joy, keeps the enemy from bringing doubt on our souls before God; keeps, as I said, faith alive. He is not between our souls and God, the power of darkness. This is practically what is desired here, and the sensible joy of God's salvation to be restored, but without the knowledge of the indwelling Spirit founded on redemption.

What verse 12 looks for we may have to look for, the joy of salvation to be restored, and the having the heart established with God's free Spirit, that liberty before God and in His service which is enjoyed through the ungrieved Spirit by the soul that knows redemption and the blessed light of God's countenance. In David there was the uncertainty of repeated forgiveness (abiding acceptance being unknown) and of great sin. In Israel, in the latter days, the knowledge of long enjoyed relationships, all now in question, though God be trusted for them. But this is not the Christian's state: if he knows that the Holy Ghost dwells in him, he knows it abides there.

Once more to return. David's sensations, as they are here expressed, were those of a man of God. God never loses His true place in his mind, while judging and acknowledging his sin. His peace, indeed, was gone; the joy once known, of salvation in His presence, is interrupted. This is the necessary effect of a defiled conscience. True peace of soul cannot consist with practical unrighteousness. Nor when the evil is confessed, and the soul is again recovering its right position before God, is peace, generally speaking, immediately restored. It may be so, for in reality no obstacle to peace continues on God's side. "If we confess — He is faithful and just to forgive." Still when the Spirit of God is working deeply upon the heart and conscience, full recovery of the joy of salvation is usually a gradual process. The soul is at bottom sustained by a sense of the unalterable character of God, and of the perfect sufficiency which exists in Christ to meet all sin; but the direct appropriation of this is not usually immediate. Indeed, it is a suspicious symptom when it is so. For this indicates an imperfect apprehension of the evil which had interrupted conscious fellowship with God. But, longer or shorter as the process of restoration may be, its means are found in the simple recognition of the truth, both as it respects the evil, and the grace which on God's part is to meet it. So David felt. He is here cast upon God, because he is as he is. The necessity of sin is the opportunity of grace. Faith, knowing this, lives through all, though fearful billows of cumulative evil may well threaten to bury all hope, until the heart of the self-condemned sinner is turned to the remembrance of Him who is overcome of no evil, and whose glory is to rescue and deliver, for His own name's sake, the self-ruined vessels of His mercy. David's part is to declare the truth; to justify his Maker in His sayings. God had of old spoken evil of the heart of man, and the son of Jesse had by his own example fully verified His words.