Psalm 51:1-19
Verse 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Another form of prayer which is needed in a healthy spiritual life is repentance. While David was great at writing songs of praise, he also knew the need for opening up in repentance to the Lord. We don’t come to a point of repentance until we own the wrong we have done. It takes us past being sorry it happened to actually admitting we made the choice to sin.
We often take the easy route and find all the excuses and justifications we can to keep from admitting we made the decision to act against God’s will. No one likes to think they have made a choice against God but it can be so easy to choose for our own desires instead of God’s. There is a responsibility we have to confess these sins to God, repenting of choosing self over Him. In a way it is us repenting of two sins at once – the one we have done and the heart of worshiping ourselves instead of Him alone.
David understood how it felt to come to the realization that we have broken covenant with God. The king after God’s own heart felt the heartbreak of knowing he had put self before his relationship with the Lord. Although he had enjoyed the sin, the pain he was now feeling as he saw it from God’s perspective, brought him to his knees in repentance.
Because of the conviction he was experiencing, David found his heart breaking with what broke God’s heart. When we take the time and make the effort to see things from God’s perspective we will likely be overwhelmed with what we see, our sin will look so dark in comparison to His perfect holiness. This is what had David crying out for mercy, he understood how only God’s mercy could save Him from the death he deserved.
True repentance should lead to another request when we realize His mercy, we need to beg Him to change us. Because repenting brings us to see how our sin disrupts our relationship with the Lord, the natural step after repentance is to ask God to create in us a new heart, one which loves Him first and foremost and then live in the way He points us.
Making It Personal
When have you repented fervently? How could knowledge of His forgiveness help you? What do you need to repent of today?
Making It Personal Kids
How can repenting help you grow to be more like Jesus? Do you feel bad when you do something which Jesus said not to do? In what way do you need Him to help you live better?
Closing Prayer
Father, we need Your mercy, because we can’t do it on our own. Give us clean hearts so we can bring You glory in how we live. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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