To be fully HUMAN — A Daily Reflection

 

 

2 Samuel 12:13 NIV:

    Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
    Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. (NIV)

 

Psalm 51 NIV

 

Finally, David’s eyes were opened.  After all he had done wrong, one sin compounded by the next, David had not slipped so far away from God that he’d lost the desire to come back.  Nathan’s story had opened David’s eyes to his own guilt.  And he was crushed.  His first reaction was to say, “I have sinned against the Lord.”  Yes, David’s sins had hurt a number of people, but his greatest sin was rebellion against God.  That’s what all sin is – rebellion against God.  And David had a very long list of rebellions to deal with.  Out of this realization of what he had done came several Psalms, the most revealing of which is Psalm 51. 

 

David begins this Psalm with a cry for mercy.  David knew he had done wrong.  He knew he was guilty of horrible wrongs.  And he was terrified of God.  He was terrified of what he knew God could do to him to punish him for his sins.  So he cried for mercy.  In David’s terror of God’s wrath, he also was aware of God’s other awesome qualities – His unfailing love, His compassion, His ability to blot out our sins… to completely forget them… and especially His deep desire to forgive. 

 

That’s right, God’s desire to forgive.  He wants to forgive you and me for each and every thing we’ve ever done wrong.  He proved that by sending His Son to die for us on the cross.  This was a hard lesson for me to learn and, even more, for me to understand… God wants to forgive me for what I have done!  When I looked at my life, it was filthy with sin.  Of course, to any outside observer (other than God), I looked pure as the driven snow…  After all, I had just spent the past 30 years trying to work my way to heaven, so I appeared to the world to be a really good person.  But when I saw Jesus for who He really is, in all His glory and perfection, I felt like a walking garbage dump.  It was incredibly difficult for me to understand how God could forgive me, much less that He would want to!  It was only when I read about David – the man God called a “man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV)… the only person that the Bible calls by name and says that God loved him… it was only when I saw how God forgave David’s terrible sins that I finally understood God’s mercy.

 

If you’ve sinned against God, follow David’s example.  Acknowledge that sin.  Then ask for God’s mercy.  He will forgive you.  He wants to.