{"id":1434,"date":"2016-09-14T18:01:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T22:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2016-09-14T18:01:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T22:01:52","slug":"davids-confession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/davids-confession\/","title":{"rendered":"‘DAVID’S CONFESSION’…"},"content":{"rendered":"

K<\/span>ing David was relaxing on the roof of the palace when he saw her.<\/b>\u00a0Probably in his early fifties, he was attracted by the beauty of the young woman bathing on a nearby rooftop. He invited her over. But she was the wife of one of his army officers. \u2018He is away\u2019, he may have thought. \u2018No-one will know; and after all, I\u00a0am<\/b>\u00a0the king.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

But Bathsheba became pregnant. And David\u2019s clumsy attempts to arrange for Uriah her husband to return home and sleep with her, failed. So he developed a more devious plan. Uriah was taken to the battle-front so he would die in battle. Like the dentist in Woody Allen\u2019s\u00a0Crimes and Misdemeanors<\/i>, David seemed to have committed the perfect crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

But David had not reckoned on God<\/b>. In 2 Samuel 13, we read that Nathan the prophet set up a time to meet with his king and speak to him. Knowing the power of kings, Nathan told a story of a wealthy man who had many sheep while a poor man had just one little ewe lamb. When asked to provide a sheep, the rich man, instead of taking a sheep from his own flock, took the poor man\u2019s lamb. David, the former shepherd, was furious: \u2018The man should be taken to court\u2019, he said. At which Nathan replied:\u00a0\u2018You are the man\u2019<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

DAVID’S CONFESSION<\/h2>\n

Psalm 51 is a poem that David wrote following this humiliation<\/b>. While he wrote it about himself, it speaks to us too. For it shows us what we need to do about our own failures.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, we must be honest and acknowledge that we all fail God<\/b>. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put it this way:\u00a0If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes when we have failed God we make excuses, thinking of it as a misdemeanor. At other times we express self-righteous indignation. Or we try to bury the very thought of what we have done. However, as studies show, the guilt festers and can surprisingly reappear in ways not necessarily related to the original issue at all \u2013 including physical sickness.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we are going to find peace of mind, our hearts need changing.\u00a0Repression has to give way to confession<\/b>. This first step is not easy.\u00a0I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me<\/i>, David writes (Psalm 51:3).<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, we need to be honest with God<\/b>:\u00a0Against you, you alone, have I sinned,..<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i>(Psalm 51:4).\u00a0Many find David\u2019s words here difficult, even unfair: \u2018What about Uriah? Bathsheba may have consented, but what about Uriah?\u2019 we might ask.<\/span><\/p>\n

David is acknowledging something we all have to come to terms with.<\/b>\u00a0We have all sinned against God. Committing adultery and murder break the second commandment, \u2018Love your neighbor\u2019. But\u00a0in breaking the second commandment we also break the first<\/b>, for the second commandment is consequent upon the first. To sin against our neighbor is to sin against God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guilt is not just a psychological hang-up.<\/b>\u00a0It is something objective that stands between God and us. God is not just some impersonal force. He is a moral being, a holy judge. When we sin against him, we\u2019re not just violating social conventions.\u00a0\u00a0God is\u00a0justified in\u00a0<\/i>his\u00a0sentence and blameless when\u00a0<\/i>he\u00a0passes judgment.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Third, David knew that supernatural therapy is needed<\/b>:\u00a0Create in me a pure heart, O God,<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i>he prays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Too often our problem is that we don\u2019t want to pray this prayer.\u00a0<\/b>But unless God\u2019s mercy and grace are at work within us, we won\u2019t want to change.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, David continues:\u00a0The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(Psalm 51:17).<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalm is a letter of trust in God.<\/b>\u00a0\u2018All I have Lord\u2019, David is saying, \u2018is a broken and contrite heart. But God, I know that you won\u2019t despise that.\u2019 David knew that God, as well as being pure and just, is also willing to forgive.\u00a0Have mercy on me, O God,<\/i>\u00a0according to your unfailing love,\u00a0<\/i>he says in verse 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Love<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0compassion<\/i>\u00a0are words of tenderness \u2013 as of a parent for a child<\/b>. No matter what we have done, God in his mercy is willing to forgive us.<\/span><\/p>\n

And we have something David didn\u2019t have.\u00a0We have the scene of a cross and the man who died for us. The blood Jesus shed is God\u2019s means of saving us. Jesus\u2019 resurrection is God\u2019s pledge to us that his promise is true.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ing David was relaxing on the roof of the palace when he saw her.\u00a0Probably in his early fifties, he was attracted by the beauty of the young woman bathing on a nearby rooftop. He invited her over. But she was the wife of one of his army officers. \u2018He is away\u2019, he may have thought. 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