For years I’ve been singing Rob Smith’s lyric ‘Let these broken bones rise up and rejoice’ without really reflecting on their origin from Psalm 51, and without considering that the sentiment is not ‘Let these healed bones rise up and rejoice’, but that our joy is expressed from a place of brokenness.
Paul Tripp explains (from Desiring God):
It’s a bit of a strange word picture, the kind that causes you to wonder and to feel just a bit uncomfortable. But it says volumes about what you need and about what it is that God is doing.
If you’re confused about what God’s agenda is in your life, or if it doesn’t always seem like his promises are being fulfilled, then this strange little prayer from Psalm 51 is helpful and clarifying. In his psalm of repentance after his sin against God, Bathsheba, and Uriah, David writes this provocative little prayer, “Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.” What in the world is he talking about and how in the world can it give perspective and hope to you and me?
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