Commissioned: Jesus Saves: From Brokenness to FreedomSample

David Sees His Sin and Receives God’s Mercy

The ability to see our sin is a gift from God. He uses many different ways to show us our sin. In David’s case, God sent him Nathan the prophet. Nathan’s tragic story of a rich man abusing a poor man penetrated David’s defenses, pierced his heart, and stirred him to righteous anger. Then Nathan turned David’s judgment on himself: “You are the man!” David finally came face to face with his sin.

How did David respond? He threw himself on God’s mercy. Psalm 51 records David’s prayer of repentance. Here are a few of the many things we can learn from it.

• David did not forget God’s mercy and compassion. He remembered that God’s unconditional love was greater than his sin.
• David called on God to cleanse him from his sin—he knew that he could not overcome his sin without God’s saving power.
• David realized that his sin was against God himself, that his relationship with God had been broken and needed to be restored.
• David acknowledged that God desired true sincerity of heart—he saw the way that sin had made him into a dishonest person.
• David asked the Lord to restore his joy. He knew that it was not God’s desire to make him live a miserable life because of his sin, but to cleanse him and let him enjoy abundant life again.

David went on to lead a glorious kingdom. Jesus was called the Son of David. God is not ashamed to associate himself with sinners. He’s not ashamed of us. He loves us.

Stop, think and pray:

Let’s ask God for the gift of seeing our sins. Let’s meditate on Psalm 51 and pray the psalm as our own personal prayer. Let’s receive the sacrament of reconciliation at the next possible opportunity and make it a regular part of our spiritual life. Let’s focus especially on the joy that comes after we have been absolved of our sins!