Psalm 51

It took me about 2 minutes to read this song, written while David was king over all of Israel. He wrote after years of leading in righteousness, after bringing the ark of God into Jerusalem, after humiliating himself before his people and before God. Something happened later in David's life: pride snuck in and took up residence. Soon David was acting like every other king he knew. When he saw something he wanted, he took it for himself. David's selfishness was no different than mine, but his means to fulfill his selfish desires exceeded mine considerably. It took Nathan, one of God's prophets who helped the king, to expose that pride and the sinful adultry it had produced.(2 Samuel 12:7) That's when David wrote this song. A broken and contrite heart before God catches his attention.
Stuart