Isaiah 47-49
1 Thessalonians 4
“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge.” Psalm 51:4
A professor of philosophy once gave his students an exercise. He asked them to write an anonymous essay, where they could honestly write about some struggle that they had in working out things between good and evil, right and wrong. Several of his students said that they could not write the essay because, in all honesty, they had done nothing wrong! To a greater or lesser degree, all of us struggle with that realm in our lives. It is so much easier to be aware of somebody else’s fault, their sins and shortcomings than our own. But even when we become aware of it, it is hard to acknowledge and verbalize what we have done and be truly repentant. How do we express genuine repentance?
During King David’s reign, in a moment of weakness and vulnerability, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah, one of his mighty men. When David discovered that Bathsheba was pregnant, he used his authority to arrange for Uriah to be assigned to a very dangerous part of the battlefield, hoping that he would be killed. Uriah died, so David married Bathsheba and continued to govern the kingdom as if nothing was wrong until one day, God sent Nathan to confront David with a parable. David’s response was something that no eastern monarch would do—he acknowledged what he had done wrong and repented.
David wrote Psalm 51 as an expression of his repentance. He cried, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge” (Psalm 51:1-4).
David’s repentance was not superficial. He called what he did by three different names: transgression, which carries the idea of rebellion against someone in authority; iniquity, which carries the idea of something being crooked on the inside as opposed to something straight; and sin, which is missing the mark. Most remarkably, he said to God, “Against You and You only have I sinned.” But what about Bathsheba’s family? What about Uriah’s family?
What consumed David was the central figure with whom he had to deal with when it came to sin and, first and foremost, that was God. Genuine repentance comes when we acknowledge the central issue that we are dealing with in rebellion is our relationship with God.
Dear Lord, open my eyes to recognize the sin that is within me. In genuine repentance, I want to return to a right relationship with You. Thank You, Lord
1 Thessalonians 4
“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge.” Psalm 51:4
A professor of philosophy once gave his students an exercise. He asked them to write an anonymous essay, where they could honestly write about some struggle that they had in working out things between good and evil, right and wrong. Several of his students said that they could not write the essay because, in all honesty, they had done nothing wrong! To a greater or lesser degree, all of us struggle with that realm in our lives. It is so much easier to be aware of somebody else’s fault, their sins and shortcomings than our own. But even when we become aware of it, it is hard to acknowledge and verbalize what we have done and be truly repentant. How do we express genuine repentance?
During King David’s reign, in a moment of weakness and vulnerability, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah, one of his mighty men. When David discovered that Bathsheba was pregnant, he used his authority to arrange for Uriah to be assigned to a very dangerous part of the battlefield, hoping that he would be killed. Uriah died, so David married Bathsheba and continued to govern the kingdom as if nothing was wrong until one day, God sent Nathan to confront David with a parable. David’s response was something that no eastern monarch would do—he acknowledged what he had done wrong and repented.
David wrote Psalm 51 as an expression of his repentance. He cried, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight; so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge” (Psalm 51:1-4).
David’s repentance was not superficial. He called what he did by three different names: transgression, which carries the idea of rebellion against someone in authority; iniquity, which carries the idea of something being crooked on the inside as opposed to something straight; and sin, which is missing the mark. Most remarkably, he said to God, “Against You and You only have I sinned.” But what about Bathsheba’s family? What about Uriah’s family?
What consumed David was the central figure with whom he had to deal with when it came to sin and, first and foremost, that was God. Genuine repentance comes when we acknowledge the central issue that we are dealing with in rebellion is our relationship with God.
Dear Lord, open my eyes to recognize the sin that is within me. In genuine repentance, I want to return to a right relationship with You. Thank You, Lord
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