Psalm 51 was written by King David. The Bible describes David as a ‘man after God’s own heart’. David tried to live a life that glorified God, but David was a man. David wrote Psalm 51 after the biggest mistake of his life. This wasn’t the only mistake that David made but it was the one that followed him around for the rest of his life.
One of the problems with sin is the damage it does to our lives. Some sins leave only temporary marks like bruises. Over time these bruises heal, and we may not be able to tell that we had made the mistake. Other sins leave scars that never fade. This was one of those sins for David.

David was king of Israel and God had blessed him with much more than he needed. In a moment of weakness, David took something that didn’t belong to him, Bathsheba, the wife of one of David’s ‘mighty men’. He took her and she became pregnant. To cover it up David recalled her husband from the war and encouraged him to go home and sleep with his wife. He wouldn’t while the rest of the army was engaged in the war as a matter of principle. And so, David conspired with his general to put Uriah where he would be killed in battle.

David probably thought he had gotten away with it, but David was too important in God’s plan to allow him to carry this guilt around for the rest of his life. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. David’s response was immediate – He humbled himself before God and confessed his sin. David knew that his sin was against God above anyone else. Psalm 51 is a song of repentance and desire for a restoration of the relationship he once had with the Lord.

Repentance is a gift from God. It is one of His greatest expressions of grace and mercy. All sin is against God even of we commit that sin against other people. Because God is holy, He is obligated to His holiness to judge and punish all sin, whether they are small or huge, like David’s – adultery and murder. God would be perfectly righteous to judge and punish sin immediately. He doesn’t – instead He waits for the sinner to repent. He doesn’t have to do that. He does have to give people a chance to repent, and He doesn’t have to wait patiently for them to do it.

All sin harms our relationship with God. As Christian, we are not concerned about God eternally judging us – Jesus took our judgment to the cross. God created us to be in intimate, communion fellowship with Him and the only thing that can get in the way of that is our own sin. Repentance washes us clean of our sin and restores our relationship to God – as if the sin had never happened. Take a moment and thank God for the gift of repentance. And if you need to, repent of any sin that comes to mind. Do it now – don’t carry the burden of guilt. Give it to Jesus through confession and repentance. Jesus, help us to repent immediately when we sin.

Read: Song of Songs 5:1-8:14; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15; Psalm 51:1-19; Proverbs 22:24-25