COURAGE TO REPENT

• DAY 183
• FEAR FILES: DAVID
• SCRIPTURE: 2 SAMUEL 12:

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” 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. 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.

2 SAMUEL 12:5-9, 13

The amazing thing about the mercy of God is that even when we are deep in our mess and we keep digging ourselves deeper in, it doesn’t let us wallow in it, God doesn’t let us stay there, He extends His mercy. And even when He rebukes, He rebukes us in His mercy. This is what our today’s text is all about. 

David is the man after God’s heart and we’ve seen from scripture that it is only the people that God loves that He corrects. If you can clearly recall when the spirit of the Lord was still upon Saul, he rebuked him when he did wrong, but Saul didn’t listen. Later on when the spirit of the Lord departed from him, God no longer rebuked his wrongdoings. That’s why the psalmist said, “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17).

But our focus today is not only that God showed David Mercy or gave him an opportunity to retrace his steps and do what is right and repent before him. Our focus is on the heart of David. David hears of his sin, he hears of the gravity of what he had done, painted in a beautiful picture that even makes him unknowingly condemn his own actions. But guess his reaction; he breaks down before the Lord, and he goes before God and asks for mercy. And that is what gave birth to Psalm 51. 

Psalm 51

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.

In this Psalm, we can clearly see the process he used to plead with God for mercy, how he lay bare before the presence of God and did not create justification for his actions. That is the difference between Him and Saul. And I know that this is not about the juxtaposition of both kings, but it shows us why David is the Man After God’s Heart. Because he was quick to repent and restitute his ways. He did not see where he had fallen, make excuses or try to be proud of being beloved. 

You’re not perfect, so you would definitely make mistakes, but the difference between you and the others is that instead of making excuses, you make amends. Thank God for the blood of Jesus that is available for us to be cleansed of all unrighteousness at any given time.  When God chastises you, He’s not trying to condemn you, He’s giving you an opportunity to come back. He’s telling you “I know what you did. I want you to repent so that I can bring you back into the warm embrace of my love”. 

Repent

Don’t allow fear to turn into pride in your heart and make you not admit your wrongs. There are so many reasons and thoughts that could have gone through the mind of David. He could have continued to save face, but he just said, I have sinned against the Lord and therefore, I must repent. See eh, it’s better to be open from the beginning than to cover up and make everyone see you as right, only to be discovered as wrong.

Can you be honest with yourself, if you know that you have failed, can you say, “I have sinned before the Lord”? Can you not be afraid? Can you not be proud and repent before Him? May the little sins that you consider little be brought to your heart by the Holy Spirit. Let’s not allow those things to linger, let’s repent before the Lord so that our relationship can be restored. 

 I pray that the Lord will give you the grace to do so. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Shalom.