Psalm 51:1-4 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
Psalm 51 is King David's Psalm of repentance. The man who God called "a man after My own heart" had committed adultery and murder. Although David's actions were ugly, this Psalm is beautiful. What he did was evil, but what God saw of David went beyond his actions, right to the heart; a heart of repentance. Nonetheless, it wasn't David's words of sorrow and remorse that make this Psalm beautiful. No...the beauty is found in the fact that God responded with mercy and forgiveness. After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, in an attempt to cover it up, his heart grew hard. However, God did not give up on David. Instead, He sent Nathan to confront him about what he had done. David's response to that confrontation was a broken spirit that led to true confession of his sins. He bowed his heart before God and confessed that His evil actions were offenses against the God who had been so good to him. God saw passed David's words and right to his heart. God saw true remorse and sorrow for what he had done, and the fact that he acknowledged his sins to be what God said they were. God accepted David's repentance and confession, and forgave him. Far too often, we only confess our sins because we got caught, or we are hoping to avoid the consequences of being caught, and there is no real sorrow for sinning against God. We have a God who sent His Son to pay for our sins. As born again believers, in Christ, we have mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Today, we make far too many excuses in an attempt to justify our sinful actions, words, and deeds. We are quick to point the finger at others and fail to be accountable for our behavior. I would encourage us to take inventory of our lives and ask the Lord to show us what is in our hearts and lives that need to be brought before Him in repentance and confession. We have a God who does not give up on us, but He is also a God who demonstrated His hatred for sin when He poured His wrath upon His own Son for the payment of our sins. Let us be people after God's own heart and come before Him with a contrite and broken spirit, and allow Him to heal us and remove the wall that may be hindering our fellowship with Him.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Romans 10:13).
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