sorrow=repentance=change

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."