Psalm 51:1-4, 10, 12 (NIV)
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. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
“You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7)
With those words, the Prophet Nathan exposed King David publicly for the grievous sins he had committed in laying with Uriah’s wife, and then conspiring to have him killed after his plan to trick him into thinking the resulting child was his own. Surely, David thought he had gotten away with it. Any despotic king in his day would not have thought twice about taking what he wanted, and it’s not much different, today. How often do any of us stop and think – long and hard – about the sin we commit, before we commit it. And once committed, how often does it just fade into the past? Numbers 32:23 reminds us that “you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” Sometimes, as is the case with David, it finds you publicly. But always, in every single case, it finds you through the omniscient presence of the God of the Universe. So, what are we to do?
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love.”
Even before his confession, David threw himself upon the mercy of his Lord. Charles Spurgeon remarked, “The sight of mercy is good for eyes that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act of pure mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner flies.” When faced with one’s undeniable guilt, a cry for mercy should emanate naturally from a Child of the One True God. Surely, by now, you know how good and loving and kind your Lord and Savior is! Before you even knew Him, he took to a bloody cross for you. And once you came to the knowledge of that most precious gift and accepted it’s pardon for every sin you will ever commit, His lovingkindness covered every single transgression of yours with an ocean of his blood. Accordingly, the first act of true repentance must begin with a cry for mercy based simply on who your Father is.
“I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Sam. 12:13)
No excuses. No blame shifting. No rationalizing. When confronted with his many sins, David humbled himself and owned every single one of them. It is one thing to mistreat another person or people, but the most dreadful crime is committed against a Holy, Righteous, and Loving God. This is why David’s repentance was not directed at people, but at his Lord. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” Spurgeon notes that, “The penitent’s heart was so filled with a sense of the wrong done to the Lord himself, that all other confession was swallowed up in a broken-hearted acknowledgment of offence against him.” Have you ever been truly broken-hearted over your sins? Not just the so-called “big ones” that left a wake of damage, but the seemingly “small ones,” too. In true repentance, God desires a broken and contrite heart (Ps. 51:17).
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Lastly, true repentance must include a sincere desire to change. David asked for “a willing spirit” so that he could move forward in obedience. David earlier exclaimed, “My sin is ever before me,” so he was painfully aware of his propensity to violate God’s laws…and on a regular basis. Paul echoed this terrible reality a thousand years later when he admitted, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Rom. 7:15). Not many a fallen man has been able to repent once and be done with it. The fight with the old self is on-going until the day we are finally and fully glorified in the presence of the Lord…but it had better be a fight. There is a great tension that must exist in the Christian life as we battle our sin nature while resting in our forgiveness. If your sin is “ever before you,” it enables true humility and helps fight the urge to point your finger at everyone else’s speck rather than dealing primarily with your own plank (Mt. 7:3). Every Believer must lead a lifestyle of true repentance by owning their sin, crying out for God’s mercy, and asking for – and acting on – the desire to change.
