Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the
stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I
recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone,
have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight...Purify me from my sins,
and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back
my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. Don’t keep looking at my
sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a
loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take
your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me
willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will
return to you. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject
a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Psalms 51:1-13, 17 NLT)
I
love the transparency of David! At some point in the Psalms David
displays everyone emotion known to man. He struggled with the same sins
and temptations we struggle with today, those Paul described in Galatians
5:19-23.
David
also knew the key to not living, not remaining or making this sin his lifestyle
by choice, was being open and transparent before God and others; recognizing
that at the very core of our sinful nature is rebellion against God; and not
remaining in the guilt of the past. The above Psalm was penned after his adultery
with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband to hide the sin.
Hidden
sin will always remain a stumbling block to any recovery and restoration. Sharing how God has worked through it is
critical to our freedom. Too often we
fall short of this freedom because of fear from what others might think or
do. Sometimes freedom comes from the
hand of confrontation.
Being
remorseful (sorrow) is the doorway leading to repentance, never the end
result. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
7:9-10
"...the pain caused you to repent and
change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have...For
the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and
results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow,
which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death."
Acknowledgment
of sin = sorrow = repentance = change.
Sorrow is not repentance. Sorrow
is a feeling; repentance is an action which results in change. David experienced and lived this
process. Was he perfect? No, his sin brought consequences to his
household for generations to come. But
because he choose true repentance over just sorrow God called him "a man
after my own heart."
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