Designed for Greatness: A 10-Day Bible Plan for MenSample

Forgiveness and Joy

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. PSALM 51:3-4 NKJV

What could David have been thinking when he prayed this confession?

David had committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and then arranged for her husband, a man named Uriah, to be killed. The baby conceived from this adulterous affair died soon after birth. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with his terrible sin, and David repented.

Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession. First, he acknowledges his sin. Then he acknowledges that he sinned against God. In verse 10 David asks God to create a “clean heart” within him and then says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (verse 12 NKJV).

David’s confession and repentance did not change the earthly consequences of his actions—Uriah was still dead; David and Bathsheba’s baby was still dead. But David’s heart was changed. He wanted to get right with God. He wanted to experience the joy that can only come from a restored relationship with God.

This psalm of confession and repentance gives us evidence of why elsewhere in the Bible God calls David “a man after His own heart” (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Faced with the horrifying reality of his sin and its consequences, David understood that he had disobeyed God and that his relationship with God was in need of healing. He knew in his heart that what he needed most was God’s forgiveness and mercy.

Not all of us commit adultery and murder like David did, but we all sin. And our sin keeps us from growing in our relationship with God. Is there sin in your life that you haven’t repented of? Is it holding you back from having a relationship with God? Is it keeping you from experiencing joy? Ask God to help you follow in David’s footsteps, and then confess your sin, repent of it—choose to turn from your sin and live in a way that honors God—and ask for God’s forgiveness and mercy. And then go forward in the joy of His salvation.

PRAYER:

Father, forgive me for sinning against You. Help me to become more like David—more devoted to You than to anything or anyone else. In Jesus’ name, amen.