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Repent

Psalm 51:1-2| “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

We’ve all made mistakes in our lives that could go down in record books for ultimate fails. Sometimes we may feel like we are all alone in how bad we’ve messed up and that God can’t forgive us for what we’ve done. However, in the Bible we see a man who sinned against God and yet because of his response to sin was still called a “man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Let’s explore how that can happen…

In this passage David found himself having sinned greatly before God. We see the story in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14: One day David was enjoying the sun on his deck when he saw a beautiful woman on the roof next to him. David then takes the woman for himself and she becomes pregnant. There’s a problem though … she’s married. So, David tries to fix his problem by bringing her husband back from the battlefront, thinking that he will be with his wife so no one will ever know. However, the man refuses to be with his wife since all the rest of the troops are in battle and can’t be with theirs. David then fixes this whole situation by killing the husband and marrying the woman.

There are many parallels to what David did in this situation and what do when we sin: (1) We are tempted to sin, (2) we sin, (3) we try to hide our sin, and (4) we hurt ourselves and those around and our relationship with God is damaged.

However, that’s not the way that David’s story ends. David is told that he wronged this woman and her husband, and he repents (turns from his sin) and returns to God. That’s when he writes this Psalm asking God to have mercy on him and wash his sin away. David wasn’t called a “man after God’s own heart” because he never sinned but because of the way he responded to sin.

Reflect:

• Have you ever felt like you’ve sinned in such a way that God could never forgive you? How does reading about David change your view?
• If there is a sin that has created distance between you and God, take some time and pray Psalm 51 to God and ask him to have mercy on you according to his unfailing love.