Please note: This article is for adults. Although the themes it contains are all biblical, adults may wish to preview it before showing it to children.
Have you ever made a mistake that you didn't want anyone else to know about? I sure have. It's so easy to hide the mistakes we make because we are ashamed of them. We are tempted not to tell anyone about our sin, and to either "put our guilt on mothballs", or justify our sin. Everyone is susceptible to it. Take the example of King David.
There are few men in the Bible with as respected a reputation as King David. He's known as one of the greatest heroes in the Old Testament. He has a position in the Hall of Faith, a collection of men and women who had faith in God mentioned by the writer of Hebrews. Plus, he is the only person to have the title "a man after God's own heart". (Acts 13:22) But he had his fair share of bad choices.
You've probably never thought of sleeping with someone else's spouse and then killing them in an effort to hide it. I think I can safely say that most people wouldn't. But David, the mighty, God-fearing king of Israel, did. There was a woman named Bathsheba. David was already a polygamist, but when he was walking around on the roof of his palace, he saw Bathsheba bathing, and instead of turning around and leaving her alone, he sent for her, although he had already been told she was married. Then he got her pregnant. His response at this point was repentance and tears, right? Wrong. Although he should have just admitted what he had done, he instead invited Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite to his palace, and after getting him drunk, tried to get him to sleep with Bathsheba so that when she gave birth the child would be thought to be Uriah's and not David's. The plan fell through, since Uriah would not go home. Finally David sent to his army commander, and told him to put Uriah at the front lines so he would die. That worked. But God, who is way smarter than any man, and sees all of our hearts, knew what David did, and called him on it, pronouncing judgment on his sin through the Prophet Nathan.
"Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” (2 Samuel 12:7-14 NKJV)
Did you notice how David responded? He did not storm against God. He did not justify or deny his sin. He did not say "Well, I'm not going to die. That's all that matters." He said "I have sinned against the Lord".
Shortly after this incident, David wrote this song:
"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.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar. (Psalm 51 NKJV)
There are a few things in this Psalm I would like to examine.
1. Acknowledgement. We have trouble acknowledging our sin. It's not easy to admit we've messed up in any capacity. But it's exactly what David did.
"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." (verses 3-4)
David doesn't excuse himself. He makes himself vulnerable by admitting his sin. He also declares the justice of God. When we sin, it's never God's fault. It's not the devil's fault. It's not our neighbor's fault, our parents' fault, or the dog's fault. It's ours. David understood this, and it was the first step in his redemption.
2. Cleansing. After openly admitting our sin, we have to ask God to cleanse us from it. Christians have to do this everyday.
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (v. 7)
3. Strengthening.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me." (v. 10-11)
David wants to avoid future sin as well. He asks God to renew his passion to follow God steadfastly. In essence, he asks God to help him stay on the straight and narrow from now on.
David's sin had some serious repercussions in his life, and the lives of others. But his sin did not ruin his life, although it seems like a mistake that no one could bounce back from. The secret to David's success was his response. David had to have his sin brought out of the dark before he repented, but when he did, it was complete and genuine repentance. That's what God wants from us as well.
It's so easy to live two lives and keep our sin in the dark. But here's the deal: everyone sins, and God is not standing there with a big wooden mallet looking to smack you the first time you mess up. He is simply waiting for you to repent, so He can forgive you and you can move on. There is a grand exchange of forgiveness and peace that comes when we simply confess our sin to God. He wants to redeem us from our mistakes, but we have to let him. Don't leave your sin in the dark. Step into the light of God's forgiveness.
(NKJV Means New King James Version)
Have you ever made a mistake that you didn't want anyone else to know about? I sure have. It's so easy to hide the mistakes we make because we are ashamed of them. We are tempted not to tell anyone about our sin, and to either "put our guilt on mothballs", or justify our sin. Everyone is susceptible to it. Take the example of King David.
There are few men in the Bible with as respected a reputation as King David. He's known as one of the greatest heroes in the Old Testament. He has a position in the Hall of Faith, a collection of men and women who had faith in God mentioned by the writer of Hebrews. Plus, he is the only person to have the title "a man after God's own heart". (Acts 13:22) But he had his fair share of bad choices.
You've probably never thought of sleeping with someone else's spouse and then killing them in an effort to hide it. I think I can safely say that most people wouldn't. But David, the mighty, God-fearing king of Israel, did. There was a woman named Bathsheba. David was already a polygamist, but when he was walking around on the roof of his palace, he saw Bathsheba bathing, and instead of turning around and leaving her alone, he sent for her, although he had already been told she was married. Then he got her pregnant. His response at this point was repentance and tears, right? Wrong. Although he should have just admitted what he had done, he instead invited Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite to his palace, and after getting him drunk, tried to get him to sleep with Bathsheba so that when she gave birth the child would be thought to be Uriah's and not David's. The plan fell through, since Uriah would not go home. Finally David sent to his army commander, and told him to put Uriah at the front lines so he would die. That worked. But God, who is way smarter than any man, and sees all of our hearts, knew what David did, and called him on it, pronouncing judgment on his sin through the Prophet Nathan.
"Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” (2 Samuel 12:7-14 NKJV)
Did you notice how David responded? He did not storm against God. He did not justify or deny his sin. He did not say "Well, I'm not going to die. That's all that matters." He said "I have sinned against the Lord".
Shortly after this incident, David wrote this song:
"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.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar. (Psalm 51 NKJV)
There are a few things in this Psalm I would like to examine.
1. Acknowledgement. We have trouble acknowledging our sin. It's not easy to admit we've messed up in any capacity. But it's exactly what David did.
"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." (verses 3-4)
David doesn't excuse himself. He makes himself vulnerable by admitting his sin. He also declares the justice of God. When we sin, it's never God's fault. It's not the devil's fault. It's not our neighbor's fault, our parents' fault, or the dog's fault. It's ours. David understood this, and it was the first step in his redemption.
2. Cleansing. After openly admitting our sin, we have to ask God to cleanse us from it. Christians have to do this everyday.
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (v. 7)
3. Strengthening.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me." (v. 10-11)
David wants to avoid future sin as well. He asks God to renew his passion to follow God steadfastly. In essence, he asks God to help him stay on the straight and narrow from now on.
David's sin had some serious repercussions in his life, and the lives of others. But his sin did not ruin his life, although it seems like a mistake that no one could bounce back from. The secret to David's success was his response. David had to have his sin brought out of the dark before he repented, but when he did, it was complete and genuine repentance. That's what God wants from us as well.
It's so easy to live two lives and keep our sin in the dark. But here's the deal: everyone sins, and God is not standing there with a big wooden mallet looking to smack you the first time you mess up. He is simply waiting for you to repent, so He can forgive you and you can move on. There is a grand exchange of forgiveness and peace that comes when we simply confess our sin to God. He wants to redeem us from our mistakes, but we have to let him. Don't leave your sin in the dark. Step into the light of God's forgiveness.
(NKJV Means New King James Version)
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